2.  The image above is the code of Hammurabi.  The code of Hammurabi is an ancient set of laws.  Historians believe that the Code was created roughly 2000 BC.  The code was created in Babylon by the sixth Babylonian king Hammurabi.  The stone was discovered in 1901.  The Code contains civil laws, economic laws, and consequences for broken laws.

3.  After the emergence of sedentarization writing began to develop.  People needed to keep track of their possessions as well as their surplus.  Furthermore, people needed to have evidence of trade, first “bills”  People also began to document events, first written history began during this time.

4.  The Fertile Crescent had an abundance of fertile land due to the flooding of several rivers.  However, these rivers did not overflow at the same time every year.  People had to take precautions to protect their fields.  Furthermore, precipitation was irregular and very light.

5.  People began to create irrigation canals.  These canals allowed farmers to water their fields event during times of drought.  This ensured a constant abundance of food.  People also began building dikes.  These dikes protected fields from overflowing rivers.  Reservoirs were created to store water encase of severe drought.

6.  Agriculture allowed for more people in a society to be fed.  This allowed for more people to develop trades.  Over time these villages grow and become cities.  Chiefs turn into Kings or Emperors, which pass laws that their people must follow.  Writing allowed these laws to be documented

7.  Civilizations are very much like humans.  They are born, they develop and decline and eventually die.  The death of a civilization usually occurs when their way of life is significantly disrupted.  This could be due to wars, death of a king, famines, disease, or natural phenomena.  Ex: Ancient Rome

8. WWriting was a new way of communicating. IIt was also a perfect way to keep track of surplus and trading. IIt was the surpluses produced by farmers that led to the development of craftsmen and trade. IIn Mesopotamia the population split in to more diverse groups.

9.  Each of these new groups had a specific role and provided a specific service. 1. Peasants: farmed the land, raised livestock, provided manual labour. This group made up most of the population. 2. Craftspeople: made tools, bricks, weapons, pots, etc. They also provided labour to upkeep public buildings. 3. Merchants: were responsible for trading. They imported products different areas. 4. Soldiers: protected the territory and routes used by merchants.

10.  Merchants would travel very long distances to trade their goods.  Trading journeys could last months or even years.  These trade routes were often very dangerous. Soldiers were needed to protect the caravans.  Merchants used the wheel to help carry products over long distances.  It was this invention that started the first shipping businesses.

11.  For a long time historians believed that the wheel was invented in Mesopotamia around 3000 BC.  New evidence suggests that the first wheel was used in Caucasus (modern Russia) around 3650 BC.

12.  Cuneiform took almost 1000 years to develop into the written language known to the Mesopotamians.  3500 BC people began drawing objects and pictograms on clay tablets.  Once the clay had dried the drawings remained, which created the first written documents.

13.  Pictograms were to represent animals, crops, or religious figures.  It was harder to represent complex situations. For example: conversations.  As the need to record more complex situations pictograms became simpler.  These symbols eventually began representing sounds.  Eventually symbols did not look like the original drawing. They were a system of lines and wedges.

14.  Cuneiform comes from the Latin word, which mean s nails or corner.  This written language had over 700 different symbols.  It is read from left to right and in rows.  It was used account for surplus, trade, laws and religious traditions.  Not everyone in ancient Mesopotamia could read or write this was seen as an honour and reserved for scribes.  Scribes had to study from when they were very young.

15.  Very wealthy farmers and merchants employed their own scribes.  Scribes used a sharpened reed or piece of bamboo called a “calamus”  This allowed scribes to make the lines and wedges.

16.  Mesopotamian society was very hierarchical.  Hierarchical: social organization each group in society must submit and obey to a more powerful group.  There were many social groups.  At the head of society was the king.  Every city in Mesopotamia had its own organization, its own king and its own laws.

17. TThere were roughly ten major cities in Mesopotamia. EEach of these cities were independent from one another, but all shared the same religion. AAll cities were built near farms and were protected by a large stone wall. TThere were two parts to every city the higher part and the lower part.

18.  The part were broken up into the higher city and the lower city.  The lower city contained houses, shops, and markets.  The higher city included the royal palace, royal warehouses, and the Ziggurat.  The Ziggurat was a temple and considered very sacred land. Very few people were allowed to set foot within its walls.  The higher city was also protected by another wall.  See page 40 in your workbooks.

19.  In Mesopotamia the closer you lived to the higher city the higher your social position.  Therefore if you worked for the king you lived closer to the higher city. Free People Elite King Slaves

20.  Mesopotamian kings made laws.  Once the laws were made it was up to the king to enforce these laws.  The King enforced these laws through his military.  Whoever was caught breaking the kings laws were punished.  One example was the code of Hammurabi  Different cities had different laws.

21.  Mesopotamian religion is the oldest known religion.  The Mesopotamians worshiped many gods.  Different Gods had different powers and were worshiped for different reasons.  Religious leaders (high priests) maintained the temples.  Mesopotamian temples were called ziggurats  Priests organized feasts and other festivals.