1. City-States in Mesopotamia

2. The 5 Characteristics of Civilization 1.Advanced Cities 2.Specialized Workers 3.Record Keeping 4.Complex Institutions 5.Advanced Technology These characteristics can be applied to all of our Ancient River Civilizations

3. Mesopotamia “Land Between the two rivers” Tigris and Euphrates- floods once a year leaving silt Fertile Crescent-arc of land between Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Modern-day Iraq

4. Environmental Challenges ChallengeSolution Little to no rain Unpredictable flooding No barriers for protection Limited resources Irrigation Built city walls with mud bricks Trade grain, cloth, and tools for things they lacked such as stones, wood, and metals

5. Sumerian City-States Government: City-State City and surrounding area Share culture but different rulers Functions like an independent country

6. Who Rules the City-States? Priests originally ruled Ziggurat served as temple but also as a “city hall” Because of frequent warfare, military leaders eventually became the rulers Rulers passed down power to their heirs or sons ▫Creates dynasties

7. Cultural Diffusion Sumerian spread their goods, products, and ideas spread from their culture to another Modern Examples? Carpenters lift a coffin shaped in the form of a Coca Cola bottle in Teshie, a suburb of the Ghanaian capital of Accra, January 22, 2004. REUTERS/Wolfgang Rattay/Files

8. Why did the Sumerians need leadership and organization? Many workers are needed to build large projects. Groups need a leader to organize projects.

9. Religion and “Pleasing the Gods” B uild ziggurats Gods control nature Polytheistic ▫3000 gods who could bring fire, floods, enemies Dismal and gloomy afterlife ▫“Dust is their fare and clay their food” ▫“Land of no return” Humans were servants of gods Kings represent the gods

10. Why did the Sumerians think that ziggurats and sacrifices would keep the gods happy? The sacrifices and ziggurats proved that the Sumerians worshiped the gods.

12. Literature Epic of Gilgamesh – ca. 2000 BC ▫Gilgamesh is the legendary figure (king of Uruk) ▫Contains one of several accounts of a universal flood  Older than the Hebrew version in Genesis Epic: Long historic poem that tells the story of a historical or legendary figure “For six days and six nights the winds blew, torrent and tempest and flood overwhelmed the world…”

13. Standard of Ur This panel made of shells and stone comes from the Sumerian city of Ur. It shows livestock captured in war being presented to the victorious king. It is part of a wooden box found in a grave. It is about 4,500 years old.

14. Architecture Ziggurats Arches Columns Ramps

15. Inventions Wheel, sail, plow Saw Pulley Sundial First to use bronze (copper and tin) Number system in base 60 Hour, minute, second Cuneiform Astronomy Medicine

16. Social Classes Kings, Landowners, and Priests Merchants, Artisans, Farmers Slaves

17. Women More rights than many later civilizations ▫Could hold property ▫Could be farmers, merchants, or artisans ▫Could be in the lower ranks of priesthood

18. The First Empire Builders 2350 BC Sargon conquered Sumer and captured other cities to the north. He built the world’s first empire which lasted 200 years.

19. Babylonian Empire Babylonians conquered the Sumerians Reached height with the king Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC) ▫Code of Law had 282 laws. ▫ Its goal was for the government to take responsibility for order and justice. ▫Applied to everyone but the punishments for rich and poor were different. ▫It helped to unify the diverse groups in his empire.

20. Why is the development of a written code of laws important to a society? It reinforced the role of government in society and clearly established uniform laws and penalties for crimes. Turn to page 56 to see summary chart.