2. ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA Oldest known civilization Cradle of Human Civilization “Fertile Crescent”

3. One land…Two Rivers Mesopotamia means = “land between the rivers” Tigris River and Euphrates River

5. Kingdoms of Mesopotamia

6. Sumerians invented the wheel! The wheel was invented by 6000 BC! It helped military, farming and trade. Wheel made of wood

7. Economy Develops Metal tools and weapons (bronze, iron) Increasing agricultural surplus (better tools, plows, irrigation) Increasing trade along rivers – traded with Egypt Development of the world’s first cities Specialization of labor

8. Political Power of the Priests Sumer’s earliest governments were controlled by temple priests Farmers believed they needed blessings for success of their crops Priests were the middle man for the Gods Priests demanded portion of farmer crops as tax

9. Religious Developments Polytheistic: Belief in Many Gods (3,000!!!) Gods could be angered at any moment to keep them happy, Sumerians: Built impressive ziggurats or temples to sacrifice food, wine and animals

10. Sumerian Society Kings and Priests Wealthy merchants Ordinary Sumerian people Slaves

11. Babylon It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world from c. 1770 to 1670 BC The "holy city" of Mesopotamia Babylon grew and South Mesopotamia came to be known as Babylonia Hanging Gardens of Babylon

12. Hammurabi's Code of Laws

13. Social This is cuneiform. Babylonians wrote using this “wedge- shaped” writing on clay tablets. The Sumerians invented writing.

14. More cuneiform writing

15. Political:Mesopotamian Law Code of Hammurabi “eye for an eye tooth for a tooth”

16. Description of the Laws The Code of Hammurabi an ancient preserved law code created in 1790 B.C in ancient Babylon. It was written by the sixth Babylonian king Hammurabi. Hammurabi ruled from 1796 BC to 1750 BC One nearly complete example of the Code is left today, inscribed on a seven foot, four inch tall, in basalt steel, in the Akkaidain Language.

17. Why was this code created? First ever written entire body of laws, arranged in orderly groups, so that all men might read and know what was required of them. Examples: The judge who lies in a law case is to be removed from his position forever, and heavily fined. The witness who testifies falsely is to be killed. Indeed, all the heavier crimes are made punishable with death. Even if a man builds a house badly, and it falls and kills the owner, the builder is to be killed also. If the owner's son was killed, then the builder's son is killed. This is where the Hebrews learned their law of "an eye for an eye”.

18. Importance to the Ancients Hammurabi's Code of the ancient Mesopotamian society was important because it set the first written laws in human history. The code contained 282 laws written in 12 tablets in the Akkadian language, which was common in Babylonia. This work is also a great source of information about the society, religion, economy, and history of this period.

19. Why is this significant now ? Hammurabi's Code of the ancient society is important because it set the first written laws in human history. It was the first ever written legal document. It teaches us about Mesopotamian society.

20. A Few Laws… If any one be too lazy to keep his dam in proper condition, and does not so keep it; if then the dam break and all the fields be flooded, then shall he in whose dam the break occurred be sold for money, and the money shall replace the corn which he has caused to be ruined. If any one give another silver, gold, or anything else to keep, he shall show everything to some witness, draw up a contract, and then hand it over for safe keeping. If any one place his property with another for safe keeping, and there, either through thieves or robbers, his property and the property of the other man be lost, the owner of the house, through whose neglect the loss took place, shall compensate the owner for all that was given to him in charge. But the owner of the house shall try to follow up and recover his property, and take it away from the thief. If a man take a wife, and she be seized by disease, if he then desire to take a second wife he shall not put away his wife, who has been attacked by disease, but he shall keep her in the house which he has built and support her so long as she lives. If any one owe a debt for a loan, and a storm prostrates the grain, or the harvest fail, or the grain does not grow for lack of water; in that year he need not give his creditor any grain, he washes his debt-tablet in water and pays no rent for this year.