Era 1 Unit 2 Mesopotamia

Bellringer Agenda What are five similarities between the River Valley Civilizations? Lecture Hammurabi’s Code Excerpt Map activity

Geography of Mesopotamia Translates to “land between two rivers” Lies within Fertile Crescent Fertile land between Mediterranean Sea and Persian Gulf Tigris and Euphrates River provided rich soil and water farming Zagros Mountains and Syrian Dessert protect from invasion

Politics Ruled by kings and priests​ city states formed Theocracy  rule by religious ​authority ​ city states formed Later came empires The first laws were written Hammurabi’s Code.

Economy Mostly agriculture Artifacts revealed metal work 90 percent of the people were farmers.​ But, evidence that they traded along rivers with Egypt.​ Artifacts revealed metal work  bronze, gold and copper​

Religion Polytheistic Constructed Ziggurats What does this mean? Constructed Ziggurats Huge pyramids Sumerians, people from Sumer, had a negative view of the afterlife where their souls would wander​ in the land of no return​

Society

Society cont. Women had more rights than in later society But were not educated Why are priests in the upper classes?

Intellectual Cuneiform Two important written documents Wedge shaped characters made in clay Based on picograms Two important written documents Hammurabi's Code Epic of Gilgamesh

Epic of Gilgamesh The Epic of Gilgamesh is possibly the oldest story ever written.  It was found ​on clay tablets and tells the story of a king (Gilgamesh) and a man (Enkidu) who ​fight an evil God named Humbaba.  The man is mortally wounded and Gilgamesh realizes that men are not immortal.      ​

Hammurabi's Code laws What laws might have been carved? carved onto a​ basalt (stone) slab called a stele Put on public display Why? What laws might have been carved?

Achievements Agriculture Job Specialization Invention Surplus Merchant Farmer Priests Etc. Invention Plow Wheel Sail Irrigation systems Metal work

Crash Course https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sohXPx_XZ6Y