1. MESOPOTAMIA AND BEGINNING OF CIVILIZATION Ch.1

2. Pay Attention Write everything on each of the slides unless…. It says Remember at the top of the page It says review at the top of the page It is in Italics Coach Alford says not to write it.

3. Beginning of civilizations. When civilizations began they had needs. These needs included Water Fertile land Transportation Rivers provided all of these needs.

4. Early Humans History is the study of humans in the past and historians are the people who study and write about humans of the past. The early period of Human history is called the Stone Age. The earliest part of the Stone Age is called the Paleolithic period.

5. Paleolithic People Paleolithic people adapted to their environment. Those in warm climates wore little clothing and had little need for shelter. Those who lived in cold climates used caves for shelters. Over time, they learned to create shelters from animal hides and wooden poles.

6. Neolithic People In the beginning of the Neolithic age, people began to domesticate animals. These domesticated animals carried goods and provided meat, wool and milk. People in different parts of the world began to grow crops at about the same time. We call this the farming revolution.

7. Neolithic life Because people needed to stay close to their fields, people began to build permanent homes in newly established villages. Permanent villages provided people with security and steady food. The surplus of food led to a larger population.

8. Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is an area in modern day Iraq and the Middle East. Mesopotamia mean “between two rivers” There are two main rivers in Mesopotamia Tigris Euphrates Modern day Baghdad is located in between the two. This area is thought to be where the Garden of Eden is located

11. Genesis 2:10-14 (New King James Version) New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 198 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 198 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. 10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel; [a] it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.a

14. Mesopotamia Cont…… This region was also called the “fertile crescent”. Farmers in this region used irrigation for their crops. The climate was hot and dry, but with annual flooding during the rainy seasons.

15. The Fertile Crescent was an area of fertile land where food for many people could be grown very easily.

19. Cities in the Fertile Crescent One of the earliest inhabited areas in Mesopotamia was Sumer. Sumer was divided into city states. Each city state had its own government They were independent They often fought one another Bad terrain made communication difficult

20. Sumerians Cont….. Sumerians made several technological advances. Irrigation Wagon wheel Plow Sailboat 60 minute hour, 60 second minute, 360 degree circle

22. Each Sumerian City State had its own ruler. They had all power over their area.

25. Sumerian built temples called Ziggurats to worship their gods. Some of these still survive.

29. Genesis 11:1-9 (King James Version) 1And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. 4And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

30. Cuneiform Sumerians invented a type of writing called cuneiform. This method of writing was accomplished by pressing a stick (a.k.a. stylus) into clay tablets to create a shape. This is one of the first examples of writing we have. This writing was done by special people called scribes.

34. Akkadians Eventually a king named Sargon conquered much of Sumer. He was the head of the Akkadian people He setup the first empire (many different lands under one ruler). His empire lasted for 200 years.

36. Babylonians In the 1800s B.C. a new people came to power. The Babylonians had a capital at Babylon. Their leader was named Hammurabi. Hammurabi invented a code of laws known as Hammurabi’s code. It was one of the predecessors of our modern code of law.

41. Assyrians About 1000 years after Hammurabi, a new group of people came into existence in Mesopotamia. The Assyrians had a very strong military. They were very organized in their military They were the firsts large army to use iron weapons. Their capitol city was at Nineveh Nineveh had one of the first large libraries ever They had laws similar to Hammurabi’s Code

45. Chaldeans The Assyrians rough ways soon led their people to revolt. A group of people called the Chaldeans took over Mesopotamia in 612 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar was the leader that turned the Chaldeans land into an empire. This is the same Nebuchadnezzar from the Bible. Many of the Chaldeans were descendants of citizens of Hammurabi’s Babylon Babylon once again became one of the most prosperous cities on the planet

48. Hanging Gardens of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar built a huge garden to please his wife who missed the mountains of her childhood home. Archeologist thought this was a legend for years, until its remains were found.