1. Chapter 2 Section 1 Notes

2. I. Geography of the Fertile Crescent

3. A. The Fertile Crescent is an upside down crescent running from the Persian Gulf north along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to the Coast of Israel

5. B. The valley between two rivers becomes known as Mesopotamia “ Land Between the Rivers”

6. 1. Each year the rivers would flood and leave a rich layer of soil called silt

7. C. People began to live there around 4500 B.C. but the Sumerians would settle there around 3500 B.C.

8. D. Environmental problems

9. 1. Unpredictable floods

10. 2. Sumer was a cluster of small villages on a plain with no protection

11. SUMER

12. 3. Limited natural resources

13. E. Solutions for problems

14. 1. Irrigation canals

15. SUMERIAN IRRIGATION

16. 2. For defense they built city walls of mud brick

17. 3. Traded grain for other natural resources

18. II. Sumerians Create City States

19. A. One of the first groups to form a civilization ( 5 Characteristics )

20. B. Each of the City- states was independent, had their own ruler, and surrounding farm lands

21. C. Power of Priests

22. 1. Theocracy is a government in which the religious leader is also the ruler

23. 2. Priests controlled early government

24. 3. Communicated with the gods

25. 4. Collected taxes

26. D. How monarchs came into leadership

27. 1. In times of war commanders took control

28. 2. Gradually commanders took control of standing armies

29. 3. Eventually commanders became the full time rulers

30. 4. Dynasty is a series of rulers from the same family

31. E. Spread of cities

32. 1. Contact from other peoples help create more Sumerian Cities

33. 2. Cultural Diffusion is the process of a new idea or product from one culture to another

34. III. Sumerian Culture

35. A. A religion of many gods

36. B. Polytheism the believe in many gods

37. 1. Nature gods

38. Reptilian Nature god

39. Inanna Queen of Beasts

40. 2. 3000 gods

41. 3. gods had human characteristics

42. 4. “Land of No Return”

43. a. Dismal, gloomy place between earth’s crust and the ancient sea

44. C. Epic of Gilgamesh

45. 1. Earliest works of literature, Gilgamesh’s unsuccessful quest for immortality

46. D. Life in Sumerian Society

47. 1. Social classes developed

48. a. Priest and Kings

49. b. Merchants

50. c. Fieldworkers majority of people

51. d. Slaves

52. E. Sumerian Science and Technology

53. 1. Wheel 2. Sail 3. Plow

54. Sumerian wagon

55. Sailboat of the Sumerians

56. 4. First to use bronze 5. First system of writing

57. 6. Astronomy, chemical substances, symptoms of disease

58. 7. Numbering system based on 6

59. Sumerian Numbering System

60. a. 60 minutes, 60 seconds b. 360 degrees

61. 8. Architectural

62. a. Arches, columns, ramps

63. IV. The First Empire Builders

64. A. Sargon of Akkad ( Semitic- Arabic and Hebrew cross )

65. Sargon the Great

66. 1. Around 2350 B.C. Sargon from Akkad from north and conquered the Sumerians

67. 2. His city state Akkad had long adopted Sumerian ideas

68. 3. He conquers both territory in the north and all of Sumer thus creating the worlds first empire

69. a. An Empire is when a ruler conquers one or more city-states or territory

70. B. Babylonian Empire

71. 1. Another Semitic group, the Amorites overwhelm the Sumerians and start the Babylonian Empire

72. 2. Hammurabi from 1792-1750 B.C. Rules the Babylonians at its height

73. a. Hammurabi’s Code of Laws

74. Hammurabi and Sample of Laws

75. 1. Reorganized all of the laws of the Sumerians

76. 2. 282 specific laws

77. 3. Different punishments for rich and poor