MESOPOTAMIA

How did the Mesopotamian Civilization develop and what were its major

characteristics? What led to its fall?

THE FERTILE CRESCENT

•Mesopotamia (the land between 2

rivers), is a valley between the

Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

•These rivers often overflow and

leave silt, which makes the soil rich

for an agricultural society.

•The SUMERIANS developed the

first Mesopotamian civilization.

THE SUMERIANS

• By 3,000 B.C.E. the Sumerians had

formed a number of city-states centered

around cities such as Ur and Uruk

• These states controlled the surrounding

countryside politically and

economically.

• City-states were the basic political unit

of the Sumerian Civilization.

GOVERNMENT:

• WHAT IS AN EMPIRE?

• The Akkadians lived north of the

Sumerian city-states.

• They were considered Semitic people

because they spoke a Semitic language.

• Around 2340 B.C.E. the leader of the

Akkadians, Sargon, conquered the

Sumerian city-states and set up the

world’s first empire.

• The temple (most important building) was

built on top of a massive stepped tower

called a ziggurat.

• Sumerians believed gods and goddesses

owned and ruled the cities.

• In the beginning, the Sumerian state was a

theocracy (a government ruled by divine

authority).

SOCIETY & RELIGION • three classes;

–Nobles- included the royal family,

royal officials, priests and their

families.

–Commoners worked for large estates

as farmers, merchants, fishers, and

craftspeople.

–Slaves worked on large building

projects, wove cloth, and worked the

farms of the nobles.

POLYTHEISM

•Like the Egyptians, the

Mesopotamians were polytheistic

because they believed in many gods

and goddesses.

•3,000 gods have been identified

through archaeology and

anthropology.

ECONOMY • The Sumerian economy was agricultural, but

manufacturing of metalwork and trade of

wheat were also important.

• The Sumerians are credited with the

invention of the wheel around 3,000 B.C.E.

and this greatly facilitated trade.

SYSTEMATIC FARMING

• Developing consistent agriculture

required controlling the water supply.

• People in Mesopotamia developed a

system of drainage ditches and

irrigation works.

• Careful farming methods resulted in

large food supplies and made possible

significant population growth and the

emergence of civilization in

Mesopotamia.

MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS

• SUMERIAN ARCHITECTURE

• The Sumerians built largely with mud

bricks, they built their homes on top of

mounds to protect them from floods.

• Using them they invented the arch and

the dome and built some of the largest

brick buildings in the world.

CUNEIFORM • The Sumerians were important

inventors. They created a system of

writing called cuneiform (wedge-

shaped). They used a reed stylus to

make wedge-shaped markings on clay

tablets. Writing was for record keeping,

teaching, and law.

REED STYLUS

LITERATURE

• The Epic of Gilgamesh, the most

important piece of Mesopotamian

literature, teaches the lesson that only

gods are immortal. Gilgamesh is wise

and strong, a being who is part human

and part god.

• Gilgamesh befriends a hairy beast

named Enkidu. When Enkidu dies,

Gilgamesh feels the pain of his friend’s

death, and he searches for the secret of

immortality. He fails.

TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION

• The Sumerians invented important

technologies, such as the wagon wheel.

• In mathematics they invented a number

system based on 60, and they made

advances in applying geometry to

engineering.

• In astronomy, the Sumerians charted

the constellations using their number

system of 60.

OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS:

•Sundial

•potter‘s wheel

•1st to make bronze out of copper and tin, creating finely crafted metalworks

SECOND EMPIRE: BABYLONIA

•The rise and fall of empires is an

important part of history.

• In 1792 B.C.E. Hammurabi of

Babylon, a city-state south of

Akkad, established a new empire

over much of both Akkad and

Sumer.

MAJOR CONTRIBUTION:

FIRST SYSTEM OF WRITTEN LAW

• The Code of Hammurabi is one of the

world’s most important early systems of

law.

• It calls for harsh punishments against

criminals.

• The principle of retaliation; “an eye for

an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” is

fundamental in Hammurabi’s code.

PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY

•Hammurabi’s code expresses the

patriarchal nature of

Mesopotamian society.

•Women had fewer privileges and

rights than men.

•The code enforced obedience of

children to parents.

•For example, a father could cut off

the hand of a son who had hit him.

THE ASSYRIANS

• The Assyrians of the upper Tigris River

formed the Assyrian Empire by 700

B.C.E.

ASSYRIAN EMPIRE: GOVERNMENT

• A king with absolute power ruled the

Assyrian Empire. They encouraged a

well ordered society – it was organized

well with local officials directly

responsible to the king.

–They developed an efficient

communication system in order to

administer their empire by setting up

a network of posts with horses

carrying messages that took only one

week to reach anywhere in the

empire.

• Their military power came from using

iron and a large, well-disciplined army

of infantry, cavalry, and archers, often

on chariots.

• They also used terror to subdue people;

they were known for committing

atrocities on their captives.

SOCIETY & RELIGION: • Riches from trade & war paid for

splendid palaces

• Women were confined in secluded

quarters and had to be veiled when they

appeared in public.

MAJOR CONTRIBUTIONS:

• Learned to extract iron from ore

• Created state of the art weapons

• Nineveh held one of the ancient world’s

largest libraries

Rebirth of Babylon under the Chaldeans

• After the Assyrian Empire collapsed, the

Chaldean king Nebuchadnezzar made

Babylonia the leading state of western

Asia.

• Babylon became one of the greatest

cities of the ancient world.

• Nebuchadnezzar II conquers Jerusalem,

destroys their temple, and enslaves the

Jews.

• Babylonia did not last long; the Persians

conquered it in 539 B.C.E.

PERSIA – 539 B.C.E.

• The Persians were a nomadic, Indo-

European people living in what is today

southwest Iran.

• One family unified the different groups.

• One member, Cyrus, ruled from 559 to

530 B.C.E.

• He captured Babylon, treating his new

subjects with noteworthy restraint, and

he allowed the Jews to return to

Jerusalem.

GOVERNMENT: • Cyrus captured Babylon, treating his new

subjects with noteworthy restraint, and he

allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem (he

had a reputation for mercy this caused

everyone to accept him as a ruler).

• The Persians based their empire on

tolerance and diplomacy.

• Cyrus’ son Darius (extended the empire

into India and Europe) created the

largest empire the world had ever

known.

SATRAP

• Darius strengthened the Persian

government by dividing the empire into

20 provinces, called satrapies.

• A satrap was the governor of the

province responsible for collecting

taxes, handling legal matters, and

recruiting soldiers.

ROYAL ROAD (contribution)

• The Persians established a

communication system using horses and

regular posts known as the Royal Road,

from Lydia to the empire’s capital at

Susa.

• They built hundreds of miles of roads.

–used barter then coins

–1st coins made of electrum, an alloy, or

natural mix, the image on the coin

showed its value.

THE IMMORTALS

• Much of the Persian power was due to

its military.

• The empire had a standing army from

the entire empire.

• At its core was an elite group called the

Immortals because anyone who was

killed was immediately replaced.

• The Immortals were made up of ten

thousand each of cavalry and infantry.

POWER STRUGGLE

• Factions were struggling for control of

the throne.

• Of the nine rulers after Darius, six were

murdered in plots.

• These bloody struggles weakened the

Persian monarchy and Alexander the

Great conquered Persia during the 330s

B.C.E.

ZOROASTRIANISM

• Zoroaster taught monotheism (belief in one

god).

• The universe was permeated by the good of

the supreme god Ahuramazda, who brought

all into being and an evil spirit named

Ariman.

• People have a free will to choose between the

two but eventually, good will triumph over

evil.

• In the last judgment at the end of the world,

good and evil will separate.

• The good will go to a happy eternal life, and

the evil to damnation.

Contributions:

• The most original Persian cultural

contribution was its religion of

Zoroastrianism (the first monotheistic

religion)

• Persian tradition says that Zoroaster

was born in 660 B.C.E.

• He had visions that caused him to be

declared a prophet.

• His teachings were written in the sacred

book: the Zend Avesta.