1. Empires of Mesopotamia

2. The Rise of Sumer
In southern Mesopotamia, a people known as the Sumerians developed the world’s first civilization. No one knows where they came from or when they moved into the region. All we know is that by 3000 BC, several hundred thousand Sumerians had settled in a land they called Sumer.
The first cities had about 10,000 residents. Over time, some of these cities grew to have more than 100,000 residents.

3. Rise of the Akkadian Empire
Just north of Sumer, the Akkadians built another society developed along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Although they were very different from the Sumerians and even had a different language, they lived in peace for many years.
Eventually, that peace was broken in 2300 BCE when Sargon, the Akkadian ruler, sought to extend Akkadian territory.

4. Sargon (ruled BC)
According to legend, a gardener found a baby floating in a basket on a river and raised him as his own child.
As a young man, Sargon served the king of Kish. Later he rebelled, took over the city, and built a military power. He was among the first military leaders to use soldiers armed with bows and arrows.
Sargon gained loyalty from his soldiers by eating with them every day.

5. Sargon’s Empire
Sargon and his soldiers conquered all the city states in northern Mesopotamia and established the world’s first empire, or land with different territories and peoples under a single rule.
Don’t let the fact that it was the first empire fool you. He had a very impressive palace at Khorsabad, parts of which can now be seen in some of the world’s most famous museums.

6. The Sumerians Return
Sargon ruled as emperor for more than 50 years. However, his empire lasted only a century after his death. Later rulers couldn’t defend against invaders.
A century of chaos followed.
In the meantime, the Sumerians rebuilt, gained strength, and conquered the rest of Mesopotamia. Ur was their capital city.

7. Sumerian Achievements - Cuneiform
The Sumerians made one of the greatest cultural advances in history. They developed cuneiform, the world’s first system of writing.
They used sharp tools called styluses to make wedge-shaped symbols on clay tablets.

8. Sumerian Achievements - Cuneiform
Earlier written communication had used pictographs, or picture symbols.
In cuneiform, symbols could also represent syllables or basic parts of words.
Not everyone knew how to write. A scribe could be hired to keep track of items people traded. Government officials and temples hired scribes to keep their records.
Becoming a scribe was a way to move up in social class.

9. Sumerian Achievements - Cuneiform
Sumerian students went to school to learn to read and write. Like today, though, some students did not want to study. A Sumerian story tells of a father who urged his son to do his schoolwork:
“Go to school, stand before your ‘school-father,’recite your assignment, open your schoolbag, write your tablet. . .After you have finished your assignment and reported to your monitor [teacher], come to me, and do not wander about in the street.”
-Sumerian essay quoted in History Begins at Sumer, by Samuel Noah Kramer

10. Sumerian Achievements - Cuneiform
So, are you ready to “write your tablet”?

11. Sumerian Achievements - Cuneiform

12. Sumerian Achievements - Cuneiform

13. Sumerian Religion
The Sumerians practice polytheism, the worship of many gods.
They believed their gods had enormous power and could bring good harvests or disastrous floods, illness or good health, wealth or poverty. Success depended on pleasing the gods.

14. Sumerian Religion They built pyramid-shaped temples called ziggurats.
Priests, people who performed or led religious ceremonies, had great status.

15. Sumerian Achievements – Daily Life
Wheel – resulted in carts
Potter’s wheel – spins the clay
Plow – greatly increased farm production
Bronze – tools and weapons
Sewers under city streets

16. Sumerian Achievements – Science & Math
Made lists of thousands of animals, plants, and minerals.
Produced medicines using ingredients such as milk, turtle shells, figs, and salt.
Developed math system
Based on number 60
Circle = 360 degrees
Divided year into 12 months
Areas of rectangles and triangles

17. Sumerian Achievements – Math
Let’s try some Mesopotamian math!

18. Sumerian Achievements - Arts
Makeup
Jewelry – gold, silver, glass
Cylinder seals
Musical instruments – reed pipes, drums, tambourines, lyres

19. Sumerian Achievements - Epics
Sumerians wrote stories, proverbs, songs, and epics. Epics are long poems that tell stories of heroes.
The Epic of Gilgamesh
King Gilgamesh of Uruk
Enkidu – wild man tamed by a woman
Enemies who became close friends and go on a big adventure

20. Later Peoples of the Fertile Crescent – Babylon
Many peoples invaded Mesopotamia.
Each new culture inherited the earlier achievements of the Sumerians and added to them.
Babylon – located 59 miles from modern day Baghdad, Iraq
Most famous Mesopotamian city

21. King Hammurabi – ruled 1792-1750 BC
Brilliant war leader
Established the Babylonian Empire
Brought wealth through increased trade
Best known for his code of law

22. Hammurabi’s Code
Hammurabi considered himself to be a fair and righteous “father” of his people.
Not first laws, but first written ones.
282 laws
Carved onto black stone pillars
Covered trade, loans, theft, marriage, injury, murder, etc.
Punishment considered fair because it was the same no matter whether you were rich or poor.

23. ? What would you do? Hammurabi’s Code
What should be done to the carpenter who builds a house that falls and kills the owner? ?

24. What Hammurabi did . . . Hammurabi’s Code
“If a builder builds a house for a man and does not make its construction sound, and the house which he has built collapses and causes the death of the owner of the house, the builder shall be put to death. “

25. What happens if a man is unable to pay his debts?
Hammurabi’s Code
What would you do?
What happens if a man is unable to pay his debts? ?

26. What Hammurabi did . . . Hammurabi’s Code
“If a man be in debt and is unable to pay his creditors, he shall sell his wife, son, or daughter, or bind them over to service. For three years they shall work in the houses of their purchaser or master; in the fourth year they shall be given their freedom.”

27. What should happen to a boy who slaps his father?
Hammurabi’s Code
What would you do?
What should happen to a boy who slaps his father? ?

28. “If a son strikes his father, they shall cut off his hand.”
Hammurabi’s Code
What Hammurabi did . . .
“If a son strikes his father, they shall cut off his hand.”

29. ? What would you do? Hammurabi’s Code
If one man accuses another of something, how does the court determine who is telling the truth? ?

30. What Hammurabi did . . . Hammurabi’s Code
“If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.”

31. Hammurabi’s Code
What does this list of laws tell us about Babylonian society?
What did they value?
What problems did they have?
What do our laws say about our society?

32. After Hammurabi Hammurabi ruled for 42 years.
After his death, rebellions and invasions weakened the Babylonian Empire.

33. Later Peoples of the Fertile Crescent – Hittites
From Asia Minor (Turkey)
Adopted much of the Babylonian way of life.
2 military advantages
Chariots
Iron – First people to master ironworking.
Video - Hittite Army

34. Later Peoples of the Fertile Crescent – Hittites
Tools made with iron were harder and had sharper edges than those made from bronze or copper.
Iron was plentiful, so they could arm more men at less expense.
Tried to guard the secret of ironworking, but the secret still got out and spread to other civilizations.
This brought about the Iron Age.

35. Later Peoples of the Fertile Crescent – Kassites
Hittite rule didn’t last long as the king was assassinated and the kingdom fell apart.
The Kassites, a people who lived north of Babylon, captured the city and ruled for almost 400 years.

36. The Assyrians Rise to Power
Assyria was a small kingdom of walled cities that was located north of Babylon. Their city was located in open land that was easily attacked, and they had to constantly defend themselves against invaders. Therefore, they became skilled warriors.
At around 1365 B.C., the Assyrians decided that the best defense they had was to attack other countries first, before they could attack them. By 650 B.C., Assyria had conquered a large empire. King Sargon II was a successful and ruthless Assyrian ruler.

37. The Assyrian War Machine
The Assyrians were geniuses at waging war. They invented the battering ram, which they used to pound down city walls. They used catapults to throw rocks at enemies, and they protected their archers (people who use a bow and arrows) with helmets and armor.

38. Most hated and brutal invader of Mesopotamia
Assyrian Brutality
Most hated and brutal invader of Mesopotamia
“With their twenty thousand warriors and their five kings I fought and defeated them Their blood I let flow in the valleys and on the high levels of the mountains. I cut off their heads and outside their cities, like heaps of grain, I piled them up I burned their cities with fire, I demolished them, I cleared them away.”
Tiglath-Pileser I, First Great King of Assyria
from an inscription on the temple wall at Nineveh
Video - Assyria, Masters of War (Engineering an Empire)

39. Assyrian Learning
The capital of the Assyrian Empire was a city called Nineveh. Nineveh became a great city of learning. It had a famous library that held thousands of clay tablets with writings from Sumer and Babylon. These records tell us a lot about life in Mesopotamia.

40. Assyria Overthrown
The people that the Assyrians conquered were constantly rebelling against Assyrian rule. Most of the time, the Assyrians crushed the people who tried to fight them. However, in 612 B.C., two groups joined together to smash the Assyrian empire. These groups were the Medes and the Chaldeans.

41. The New Babylonian Empire
The Chaldeans created a new empire, centered at Babylon after they defeated the Assyrians in 612 BC. The greatest king of Babylon was Nebuchadnezzar II. He rebuilt Babylon and put massive walls around the city to protect it. He also built a great palace with hanging gardens.
Video - The Hanging Gardens (7 min)

42. A New Center for Learning
Under the Chaldeans, the New Babylonian empire became a center of learning and science. Chaldean astronomers charted stars and measured the correct length of the year. Chaldean farmers raised bees for their honey. Many people came to Babylon to share ideas and discoveries.
This clay tablet shows the world that was known to the Babylonians

43. The Fall of the 2nd Babylonian Empire
The second Babylonian empire came under attack and was defeated by the Persians, who were led by Cyrus, in 539 BC. Though the Chaldeans were defeated, the city of Babylon was spared from destruction.