1. WARM UP/ EQ  What are the five characteristics of a civilization?

2. Mesopotamia Fertile Crescent

3. Geography  Fertile Crescent: Arc of land between Persian Gulf and Mediterranean  Mesopotamia: “land between the rivers”- Tigris and Euphrates flood yearly, leaving rich soil (Modern-day Iraq)

5. Map of Iraq

6. Environmental challenges Around 3300 BC Sumerians begin farming Mesopotamia  Floods are unpredictable, sometimes no rain  Land has no barriers to invasion  Land has few natural resources- lacks building materials

7. Solutions  Build irrigation ditches to control water, produce crops  Build walled cities for defense  Trade grain, cloth, and tools for raw materials (stone, wood, metal)  Organization, leadership, and laws are beginning of civilization

8. Sumerians Create City- States  City-state: independent political unit  By 3000 BC Sumerians have built city-states surrounded by fields of crops  Uruk, Kish, Lagash, Umma, and Ur are largest

9. Ziggurat

10. Sumer

11. Priests and Rulers  Early governments are controlled by priests  After 2500 BC, military leaders become rulers, establish dynasties.  Dynasty: Series of rulers from a single family  By 2500 BC, many new cities in F.Crescent- Sumerians exchange products and ideas with other cultures  Cultural diffusion: process of one culture spreading to others

12. Religion  Polytheism: Belief in many different gods: this is what the Sumerians believe  Gods believed to control the forces of nature. They behave as humans do, but people are gods’ servants

13. Culture  Sumerians have social classes- kings, landholders, priests at the top  Merchants next, slaves are lowest  Women have many rights- become priests, merchants, artisans

14. Science/ Technology  Invent wheel, sail, plow, bronze  Develop arches, columns, ramps, pyramids  Study arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, chemistry, medicine

15. Empire builders  Constant war from 3000 to 2000  Sargon from Akkad defeats Sumer around 2350, creates Empire: independent states under control of one leader  Lasts 200 years

16. Babylonia  Amorites take control of region around 2000 BC, make Babylon the capital  Hammurabi- great leader (1792-1750)  Code: Comprehensive code of laws for empire  282 laws cover all topics- Goal is for government to take responsibility for order and justice.

17. Ishtar Gate