1. Era 1 Unit 2
Mesopotamia

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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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​

6. 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​

7. Society

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

9. 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

10. 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.      ​

11. 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?

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

13. Crash Course