1. City-States in Mesopotamia

2. Rivers=Life Blood Tigris and Euphrates Rivers Flow
From modern day Turkey
To Persian Gulf

3. Geography Mesopotamia Fertile Crescent Greek=“Land Between the Rivers”
Fertile plains
Rain=Flooding
Flooding=Silt
Silt=Farmland
Wheat & Barley (villages grow)

4. Environmental Challenges
Settling & farming began Southern Mesopotamia
Sumerians 3500 B.C.
Mixed w/ farms
Language b/c dominant
Attracted
Good soil
Flat
Swampy
Land of Sumer

5. Disadvantages Flooding = unpredictable rivers Sumer small region
Becomes desert
Little/no rain
Sumer small region
Massachusetts
Open plain
Clusters of reed huts
Natural Resources limited
No supply of stone, wood, metal

6. Solutions Irrigation ditches Defense (mud make city walls)
Traded grain, cloth, & tools w/ mountain people
Solutions = ?
Organization
Leadership
Laws
Government

7. Sumerians create City-States
5 characteristics of civilizations
3000 B.C. had # of cities
Uruk
Kish
Lagash
Umma Ur
What is City-State?

8. Ziggurat Center of city Place of worship Government center (pay taxes)
Priests have power
Political
Religious

9. Sumerian Culture Religion Polytheistic Enlil (most powerful god)
Udugs (wickedness gods)
Cause disease
Misfortune
Any human trouble
3,000 gods
Like humans
We are servants
Angry gods = natural disasters
Sacrifices
Death = “Land of no return”

10. Sumerian Social Classes

11. Science & Technology Inventions Bronze Writing Known maps 2300 B.C.
Wheel
Sail
Plow
Bronze
Writing
Known maps 2300 B.C.
Recorded scientific investigations
Geometry & arithmetic
# system based on 60
60 seconds = 1 minute
360°

12. Empire Builders Wars City-states @ war w/ one another 3000-2000 B.C.
Weaken state
Culture survived

13. Sargon of Akkad 2350 B.C. defeats Sumer From North
Semitic language = related to Hebrew & Arabic
1st Empire
Mediterranean coast in West
To present day Iran in East
Lasted 200 years
Civil War
Famine
Invasions

14. Babylonian Empire 2000 B.C. nomadic warriors (Amorites) invade
Overwhelm Sumerians
Babylon b/c capital
Hammurabi B.C. (peak)

15. Hummurabi’s Code Uniforming code in kingdom Collected Existing rules
Judgment
Laws

16. Code cont. Engrave in stone
Places throughout empire
282 Laws
Community
Family relations
Business conduct
Crime
Laws apply to everyone different punishments
Rich & poor
Men & women
Eye for an Eye
Significance
Government responsible