2. Early River Valley Civilizations

7.  Persian Gulf to Mediterranean Sea  Some of the best farming land, the Fertile Crescent  Plain area called Mesopotamia (land between the rivers.)  Tigris and Euphrates frame Mesopotamia  Flooded once a year, leaving silt

9. Problem  Unpredictable flooding  Little or no rain  No natural barriers  Natural resources limited Answer  Irrigation ditches  City walls built  Trade

10. Domino Effect  People had to work together  Leaders needed  Laws began organized government

11.  Each city acted as independent country  Uruk, Kish, Lagash, Umma, and Ur  Read the Ancient City of Ur

12.  Temple priests controlled government  Manages the irrigation system from the ziggurat and demanded crop as taxes  Wartime men chose a fighter to command soldiers  Some became full-time rulers who passed power to sons creating a dynasty

13.  City-states became rich because of food surplus  Long-distance trade increased  Cultural diffusion occurred

14.  Practiced polytheism  Humans = servants  Discuss views of life  To keep Gods happy, sacrifices offered  Mesopotamian myths and legends found in Epic of Gilgamesh

15.  Social classes began  Discuss the lives of women  Sumerians invented: wheel, sail, plow, arithmetic, geometry, arches, columns, ramps, pyramid, cuneiform

16.  Sargon of Akkad defeated city state of Sumer  First empire

17.  Amorites invade Mesopotamia with their capital in Babylon  Peak during Hammurabi’s reign

19.  Hammurabi established uniform code of laws ▪ Different punishments for rich/poor/men/wo men