“Sumer and Babylon”

Stripes Team

Yokota

Middle School

READ ALOUD

• “This is an ancient Mesopotamian riddle. See if you can solve it.– ‘He whose eyes are

not open enters it. He whose eyes are wide open comes out of it.

– What is it?’– The solution is: It’s a

school.”

Vocabulary/People/Places

• Cuneiform• City-state• Ziggurat• Polytheism• Code of law• Sargon• Hammurabi• Sumer• Babylonia

The Big Picture

• Sumer begins in 3000 BC as one of the many towns populating the area around the southern area of the Fertile Crescent due to surpluses in produce.

• In Egypt, this is the time Menes is unifying his country.

• Sumerians wanted their independence• Sumerians “worked hard to control the Tigris and

the Euphrates rivers to produce food crops (Banks 108).

The Big Picture Continued

• All Sumerians worshipped similar gods.• Ideas investigated

– Math – Science– System of writing called cuneiform

• Created– wheeled vehicles– Sailboats– Simple machines like pottery wheel

“A System of Writing (p. 109)Definition – system of writing using symbols that resembled he items

expressed. initially but simplified later for faster application.• Writing enabled

– Communities to unite and communicate– Sharing of

• Letters• Laws• Stories• Instructions• Riddles• Records• Proverbs

• Writing used– Sharp reeds for scratching– Clay tablets wet when written on and dry to serve as records– 500 signs– Similarly used like the Egyptian’s hieroglyphs sound and shape to create

symbols

School in Sumer

• Writing meant being able to go to school and bringing honor to yourself and family

• Local School– Boys, usually– Make clay tablets and reeds– Practice – Learn basic cuneiforms

• District schools– Mathematics for accurate records

Subject matters of the scribes

• Love letters• Stories• Laws• Songs• Tax records• Preserved because of

clay tablets

Basic Cuneiform Writing

• Head

• To walk• Hand• Barley• Bread• Water• Day• Bird

City-States of Sumer

• 3500-2500 BC – city-states arose

• Definition – “self-governing city that also governs surrounding villages” (Banks 110).

• Examples:– Ur– Uruk– Eridu

Living in a Sumerian City

• Wars about water• Protection of water resulted in walled cities• Walls included large gates to bring in people,

produce, etc.• Gates allowed the sale of goods from those

living outside the city.• King’s palace was center of law.• King not a god.• Houses of clay and straw bricks

Uniting City-States

• Sargon, King of Kish• 2300 C• Expanded to northern

Fertile Crescent, modern Syria

• Traded with Phoenicians (timber) , Egyptians

• Also spread the use of cuneiforms

Religion in Ancient Sumer

• Ziggurat – “large building with a temple on its peak” (Banks 111).

• In center of city

• Religion

important

Polytheistic

Each city focused on one god/goddess

Gods

• Ishtar – goddess of love and war

• Enki – god of water

The Rise of Babylon

• Rebellion against the empire of Sumer in 2279 BC brought the end of the city-states.

• Sargon had ruled 56 years

• People from the Syrian desert moved into northern Mesopotamia

• Formed Babylon

Northern Empire

• 1800 BC Babylon’s kind, Hammurabi, sought to control the old city-states of Sumer.

• Created dams on the Euphrates

• Could cut off or flood areas south

• Attached the Sumerians

• Controlled Babylon

• Created empire of Babylonia

Northern Babylonia (cont)• Trade Imports

– Silver– Copper– Timber– Wine– Turkey, Syria, Iran

• Trade Exports– Grains– Fruits– Learned to refrigerate with blocks of ice

• Culture– Kept from Sumerians

• Cuneiforms• LanguageBegan dictionaries

A Code of Law

• 200 laws on pillar found in 1901

• Oldest code of law• Written set of laws that

apply to one government• Copies of these found

outside empire• http://www.fordham.edu/

halsall/ancient/hamcode.html

The “New” Babylonia

• Hammurabi dies in 1750 BC• South rebelled• Western Asian saw new powers• Rules from Hammurabi respected and

remained in force• 689 BC Babylon destroyed by Nineveh• 620 BC, Babylon was rebuilt• Became the world largest city

The “New” Babylon (cont.)

• Known for beauty and technology• Structure

– Wall– Moat– Split by Euphrates River– Movable bridge– Underwater tunnels\Huge ziggurat (200 x 100 yards) – Sewer system – Grid streets– 3-4 story homes– Hanging gardens

• something

Sorrow in Babylon

• Many prisoners lived in and hated Babylon

• Prisoners were from today’s Israel

Why It Matters?

• Left records

• Formed – Language– Schools– Literature– Science– laws

MAIN IDEAS

• Cuneiforms probably developed as a way to keep track of farm supplies and surplus. The system was later expanded to communicate more complex ideas as well.

• Mesopotamia was not always unified into a single empire. Both government and religion greatly shaped life on a local level.

• Cuneiform writing helped Sargon, King of Kish, to rule over great distances.

Think About It

• Why was it an honor to become a scribe in Mesopotamia?

• How was Egyptian culture similar to the culture of Mesopotamia? How was it different?

• Hoe did cuneiform help Sargon to create and rule an empire in Mesopotamia?

• Look at the excerpt from the story of Gilgamesh on page 110. Make conclusions about what was important in ancient Sumer.

• Write a one-paragraph response to the laws found in the Code of Hammurabi. How did they protect the people of Babylon?

Gilgamesh

• http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/GILG.HTM

• HISTORYSecond half 5th millennium BCE: A non-Semitic people moves into Mesopotamia, and gradually start developing the area. The people are called proto-Euphrateans or Ubadians (after the village Al-Ubaid, where their earliest remains were discovered). The main achievements of the Ubaidians were draining the marshes so that they could be used in agriculture, they developed trade and established industries like weaving, leatherwork, metalwork, masonry and pottery.

• Around 4000: Semites move in from the desert of modern Syria and Arabia.Around 3500: The oldest document describing the wheel.Around 3300: A people called Sumerians move into the territory. We do not know with certainty from where they came, but it is often suggested that their homeland was today's Turkey.Around 3100: The cuneiform writing system is starting to be used.Around 2800: The king of Kish, Etana, manages to defeat the other city states, and unites the country.28th century: King Meskiaggasher of Erech takes control of Sumer and extends his kingdom an area from Mediterranean Sea to the Zagros Mountains.

• Around 2700: King Enmebaragesi becomes the ruler of Sumer, and wins over Elam. He makes Nippur the cultural centre of Sumer.27th century: King Mesanepeda of Ur defeats the ruler of Sumer, and founds what is referred to as the 1st dynasty of Ur.Around 2500: King Lugalanemundu of Adab extends Sumer to cover the area from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea, bordering the Taurus mountains in the north, and the Zagros mountains in the east.25th century: Conflicts between the city-states of Sumer, making the entire country weaker.

• Around 2330: Sargon 1 the Great conquers all of Sumer, and makes the north-mesopotamian city Agade his new capital. This became the beginning of the Akkadian dynasty.Around 2220: The Gutians from the Zagros mountains conquer and take control over Akkad and Sumer.Around 2150: The rulers of Lagash rise to become important political factors in Sumer, but is still under the governance of Gutian rulers.Around 2115: Sumer comes back under local rulers, when Utuhegal of Erech beats the Gutians.

•Around 2100: Ur-Nammu, a general, founds the 3rd dynasty of Ur.21st century: Sumer flourishes under stable leadership.Around 2000: The Elamites destroy Ur and capture the king.20th century: Many wars between city-states in Sumer, at first between Isin and Larsa, later between Larsa and Babylon.Around 1900: The Semitic tribe Amorites conquers most of Mesopotamia, and establishes their kings in Babylon.1792: Hammurabi becomes king of Babylonia, and over the next 3 decades he made Babylon the strong power in Mesopotamia. From him, we stop talking about Sumer, and start talking about Babylonia. However, Sumerian culture became a central part of Babylonian society.

Babylon• HISTORY

Around 1810 BCE?: Born in Babylon. It is not known when Hammurabi was born, but when he took power in 1792, he was relatively young, although old enough to be an effective leader.1792: King Sin-muballit dies, and Hammurabi becomes ruler.— King Rim-Sin of Larsa conquers Isin, the country between Babylonia and Larsa. This resulted in some clashes between Babylonia and Larsa, but no war.1787: Hammurabi conquers Uruk and Isin.1786: Clashes with Larsa, but there is no final outcome to the conflicts.1784: Fightings with the neighbours in the northwest and east.

• 1764: Hammurabi wages a war against a coalition of Ashru, Eshnunna and Elam, countries that blocked Babylonia's access to the metal-producing areas in Iran.1763: New war against King Rim-Sin of Larsa, where it is believed that Hammurabi dammed the river Euphrates to weaken Larsa. This war ends with the total victory of Hammurabi.1760: War against Babylonia's neighbours in the east.1761: War against Mari in the northwest, despite the fact that King Zimrilim of Mari had been Hammurabi's ally for decades.1755: Eshnunnu in the north is totally defeated by Hammurabi. This time too, it results from damming up the Tigris River.1750: Hammurabi dies, and is succeeded by his son, Sumsuiluna.