Mesopotamian Civilization Over thousands of years, some of the early farming villages developed into civilizations, or complex societies. -advanced cities -class divisions -organized governments -art -religion -writing systems

River Valley Civilizations The first civilizations arose in river valleys because good farming conditions made it easy to feed large numbers of people. Then rivers also made it easy to get from one place to another and to trade. As cities took shape, so did the need for organization. People formed governments to make plans and decisions about matters of common concern.

The Dawn of Civilization

Early Governments Government leaders took charge of food supplies and building projects. They made laws to keep order and assembled armies to fend off enemies. With fewer worries about meeting their basic needs, people in the river valleys had more time to think about other things.

Elements of Civilization They developed religions and the arts. To pass information, they invented ways of writing. They also created calendars to tell time. Class structures developed with different levels of society depending on what work a person did and how much wealth or power they had.

The Rise of Sumer The earliest-known civilization arose in what is now southern Iraq, or a flat plain bounded by the Tigris River and Euphrates River. This area was called Mesopotamia, which is Greek for “the land between two rivers.” Mesopotamia lay in the eastern part of the Fertile Crescent, a curving strip of land that extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf.

“Land Between Two Rivers”

Unpredictable Flooding Mesopotamia had a hot, dry climate. In the spring, the rivers often flooded, leaving behind rich soil for farming. The problem was that the flooding was very unpredictable. It might flood one year, but not the next. Every year, farmers worried about their crops and came to believe they needed their gods to bless their efforts.

Irrigation Systems Over time, the farmers learned to build dams and channels to control the seasonal floods. They also built walls, waterways, and ditches to bring water to their fields. This way of watering crops is called irrigation. Irrigation allowed the farmers to grow plenty of food and support a large population.

Flooding & Irrigation

Sumer’s City-States Sumerian cities were isolated from each other by geography. Beyond the areas of settlement lay mudflats and patches of scorching desert. This terrain made travel and communication difficult, so each Sumerian city and the land surrounding it became a separate city-state. It had its own government and was not part of any larger unit.

Sumerian City-States

City Walls Sumerian city-states often went to war with one another, fighting for glory and the control of more territory. For protection, each city-state surrounded itself with a wall. Because stone and wood were in short supply, the Sumerians used river mud as their main building material. They mixed the mud with crushed reeds, formed bricks, and left them in the sun to dry.

Gods & Rules The Sumerians believed in many gods. Each was thought to have power over a natural force or a human activity—flooding or basket weaving. The Sumerians tried hard to please the gods. They built a grand temple called a Ziggurat to the chief god.

Mountain of God

Ziggurats With tiers like a giant wedding cake, the ziggurat dominated the city. At the top was a shrine, or place of worship that only priests and priestesses could enter. The priest and priestesses were powerful and controlled much of the land. They may have even ruled at one time.

Religious Beliefs

Sumerian Kings Later, kings ran the government. They led armies and organized building projects. The first kings were probably war heroes. Their position became hereditary.

Life in Sumeria While Sumerian kings lived in large palaces, ordinary people lived in small mud-brick houses. Most people in Sumer farmed, but some were artisans. Other people worked as merchants and traders. They traveled to other cities trading, tools, wheat, and barley, for things that they did not have like copper, tin, and timber.

Social Class System People in Sumer were divided into 3 social classes. The upper class was made up of kings, priests, and government officials. The middle classes were artisans, merchants, farmers, and fishers. The lower class included enslaved people who worked on farms or in the temples.

Class Divisions

Roles of Men & Women In Sumer, women and men had separate roles. Men headed the households and only men could go to school. Women did have rights. They could buy and sell property and run businesses.

Sumerian Writing System Sumer’s greatest invention was writing. It helped people keep records and pass on their ideas to others. They developed writing to keep track of business deal and other events. Their writing was called cuneiform. It consisted of hundreds of wedge-shaped marks cut into damp clay tablets.

Sumerian Scribes Only a few people—mostly boys from wealthy families—learned how to write. After years of training they became scribes, or record keepers. Scribes held honored positions in society and often became judges and political leaders.

Cuneiform

The Epic of Gilgamesh The world’s oldest known story comes from Sumer. An epic is a long poem that tells the story of a hero. The hero Gilgamesh is a king who travels around the world with a friend and performs great deeds. When his friend dies, Gilgamesh searches for immortality. He learns that this is possible only through the gods.

Gilgamesh

Advances in Science & Math Sumerian Inventions and Ideas included.. -wagon wheel -plow -sailboat -geometry to measure fields -number system based on 60 -recorded position of stars and planets. -12 month lunar calendar

Sumerian Inventions

Sargon of Akkad Constant conflicts began to weaken Sumer’s city-states and they became vulnerable to attacks by outside groups. The king of the Akkadians was named Sargon. In 2340 BC, he conquered all of Mesopotamia and created the world’s first empire. The empire lasted for 200 years before falling to invaders.

Babylonians In the 1800’s BC, a new group of people became powerful in Mesopotamia. They built the city of Babylon by the Euphrates River, and it quickly became a center of trade. In 1792 BC, the Babylonia king, Hammurabi, began conquering cities to the north and south and created the Babylonian Empire.

Code of Hammurabi Hammurabi is best known for his law code. He took laws for most of the city-states and put them into one code. It covered crimes, farming and business activities, marriage and the family. Although his punishments were cruel, his laws mark an important step toward a fair system of justice.

Sumerian Trade