River Valley Civilizations – Mesopotamia

1 of 13

Lab

el t

he

follo

win

g o

n t

he

map

:

•U

r

•B

abyl

on

•M

emp

his

•Th

ebes

•M

eso

po

tam

ia

•Fe

rtile

Cre

scen

t

•Su

mer

•Ti

gris

Riv

er

•Eu

ph

rate

s R

iver

•N

ile R

iver

•M

edit

erra

nea

nSe

a

•R

ed S

ea

•P

ers

ian

Gu

lf

•C

asp

ian

Sea

Co

lor

the

follo

w:

•A

ll w

ater

way

s –

Blu

e

•M

eso

po

tam

ia –

Pu

rple

•Fe

rtile

Cre

scen

t–

Gre

en

•Sa

har

a D

eser

t –

Yello

w

Use

tri

angl

e to

re

pre

sen

t th

e G

reat

P

yram

ids

Dra

w in

up

sid

e d

ow

n

Vs

to r

epre

sen

t th

e Za

gro

s M

ou

nta

ins

Mes

op

ota

mia

& t

he

Fert

ile C

resc

ent

(Pg

25,2

8, &

34)

2 of 13

Mesopotamia Vocabulary Terms Pages 17 – 32

Term Definition Symbol or Picture

Civilization

Specialization

Artisan

Institution

Scribe

Cuneiform

Bronze Age

Barter

Ziggurat

3 of 13

Term Definition Symbol or Picture

Fertile Crescent

Silt

Irrigation

City-State

Dynasty

Cultural Diffusion

Polytheism

Empire

Hammurabi

4 of 13

Chapter 2 Section 1

****Read Pages 27-32

Define Fertile Crescent - ______________________________________________________________________

Draw a quick sketch of the Fertile Crescent (see map on page 28) below- be sure to include the rivers:

Describe silt and why it's important to civilizations -

List the 3 environmental challenges of the Fertile Crescent and their solutions:

Challenge Solutions

City-State - ________________________________________________________________________________

What was at the center of all Sumerian Cities? ____________________________________________________

Dynasty - __________________________________________________________________________________

Cultural diffusion - __________________________________________________________________________

Polytheism - _______________________________________________________________________________

Describe the power of the priests in no less than two sentences:

Why did Priests begin to lose some of the power and who emerges as the new leaders of the city-states?

Sumerian SOCIAL CLASS from highest to low:

5 of 13

Sumerian science and technology included what 15 items:

Who was Sargon of Akkad, what did he take control of, and what did the create?

Empire: ___________________________________________________________________________________

What happen to the Dynasty of Sargon?

What year was the Babylonian empire created? _________________________

Who was Hammurabi and what is his legacy?

Explain the importance/significance on the code of laws?

What three groups would later adopt many of the Sumerian ideas?

What other civilization was experiencing a rise a fall similar to Mesopotamia around the same?

_________________________________________

6 of 13

The Fertile Crescent & Mesopotamia The Fertile Crescent

• The Arc of land between

_______________________________________

and the

_______________________________________

in Southwest Asia.

One Land … Two Rivers • Mesopotamia means = “land between the

__________________________________”

• _____________________ River and

______________________________ River

• Modern Day _________________

• Both rivers ___________________________ once a year and left thick bed of __________________.

• ___________________: rich, new _________________ farmers could plant and harvest enormous

quantities of wheat and barley

Natural Problems with Geography

Sumer’s Solutions

Unpredictable flooding

Lack of natural barriers/small area (size of Massachusetts)

Lack of natural resources (wood, metal, stone)

Sumer • The Sumerians stand out in history as one of the first groups of people to form a

_______________________________.

• Sumerians had built a number of _____________________, each surrounded by fields of barley and

______________________________.

• Although these cities shared the same __________________________________, they developed their

own __________________________________, each with its own __________________.

• Each city and the surrounding land it controlled formed a ____________________________________.

A city-state functioned much as an independent __________________________ does today. Sumerian

city-states included Uruk, Kish, Lagash, Umma, and ____________.

7 of 13

Political • Power of the Priests

o Sumer’s earliest governments were controlled by temple _________________

▪ _____________________ believed they needed blessings for success of their _________

▪ Priests were the ________________ man for the Gods

▪ Priests demanded portion of farmer crops as ________________

• Later followed ___________________ rulers: when the power is passed down to __________________

Economy • _______________ tools and weapons (_________________, iron)

• Increasing __________________________ surplus (better ___________________, plows, _________________)

• Increasing ____________________________ along rivers – traded with ________________

• Development of the world’s first __________________

• Specialization of _____________________

Religion • Belief in multiple gods: ______________________________

o Sumerians had _______________ (close to ______________) of gods for everyday purposes

• Religion major part of everyday life

o Why?

▪ Society relied on ____________________ and so needed to pray to the gods for good

______________________

• Gods could be _____________________ at any moment and to keep them happy Sumerians:

o Built impressive __________________________ or temples to sacrifice _________________,

___________________ and animals

o ________________________ of the dead wandered in the land of no return

• Temples: ___________________________

o Surrounded by __________________ for protection

o Served varied purposes: store ______________________, ______________________________,

sacrifices

Social Structure

• Top of the Social Pyramid: ______________________________

• Second Tier: ______________________________

• Third Tier: ______________________________

• Last Tier: ______________________________

• Rigid class system where ________________________ was accepted

Women • Could hold ______________________________

• Join lower ranks of ______________________________

• There were few women ______________________________

o Scholars think that girls were not allowed to attend ______________________

Intellectual • Epic of ______________________________

• Myths and legends recorded in this long ______________________________

8 of 13

• One of the earliest works of ______________________________in the world

Who was Gilgamesh? • Historic 5th King of _____________________ who had a profound impact on Sumerian society.

• The Epic of Gilgamesh was written circa ______________________________ BCE.

• Search for ______________________________

Science and Technology

• Invented the _______________________, the sail, the plow

• First to use bronze.

• Developed system of writing (______________________________)

• Built irrigation systems, buildings, ______________________________ flooded fields.

• ______________________________

• ______________________________ System

Conquerors • Under the leadership of individual kings, leaders start looking to expand their ____________________

o Why? Land (crops, people, crafts) = ______________________________

o This marks the beginning of ______________________________

• Empire: a group of nations or peoples ruled by ______________________________

1st Empire: Sargon Dynasty, 2340 BCE- 2125 BCE • Founder: ______________________________

• Adopted many of the Sumerian practices/beliefs for his empire

• Expanded his city-state from the north of Sumer to the ______________________________

2000 BCE: Babylonians • ______________________________ created an empire out of the former Akkadian territories

• Relocated capital to ______________________________

• Maintained Sumerian practices

o Language and religion

• Hammurabi wanted to stabilize his rule by creating a standard ______________________________

Hammurabi’s Code • First ______________________________code of law

o Meaning it was the same throughout the ______________________________

• Engraved on ________________________ and placed throughout the empire

• First copy found on a stele in ______________________________

o Now in the ______________________________in Paris

• _______________ laws (but no #13!)

• Showed that the government played an important role in ______________________________

o In other words, the government helped to settle ______________________________

• Based on retribution

o An ____________ for an eye, a ____________________ for a tooth

• Laws were applied ______________________________ to different genders and different social

classes

9 of 13

Ziggurat

The symbolism of the mountain in world mythology was of such crucial importance to the concept of cosmic

order that the ancient Mesopotamians tried to replicate the mountain by building pyramidal mud brick towers

called ziggurats. Those towers were constructed in most major cities between 2200 and 550 B.C. and most

likely served as the observatories from which the Babylonians calculated the movements of the celestial

bodies and developed astronomical methods unrivaled even by scientists of the Victorian Age. To a large

extent, the vision of the earth and the sky determined early perceptions of the universe. The Mesopotamians

felt the need to build ziggurats high enough to afford them a panoramic view of the world, and the Maya tried

to achieve something similar with their pyramids and temple towers. Those early people replicated the world

mountain and thus, they believed, simulated the power of the peaks.

The ziggurats of the ancient world also served a purpose that was loftier than mortal sky watching. Like the

world mountain itself, ziggurats provided paths for mortals to reach the sky realm and for gods to descend to

earth. Sumerian sky watchers saw the universe as a mountain that rose from the sea and extended into the

sky, so the ziggurats they built had their base in the underworld and steep external stairways climbing toward

Heaven and to the temples of the gods, built on the summits. The most famous ziggurat was the Tower of

Babel, which accommodated on its summit a temple to Marduk to honor him for his role in creation. Other

ziggurats had temples to other gods, including the structures at Nippur, with its temple to Enlil, the god of air,

and the best-preserved example of a ziggurat at Ur, with its temple to Nanna, the moon god.

1. Why did ancient Mesopotamians build ziggurats?

2. Why did they build the ziggurats so high and who also shared this concept in their temple building?

3. What spiritual purpose did ziggurats serve for the people and their gods?

4. What was the most famous ziggurat and who was honored on top?

5. Three gods are mentioned in the reading. Who are they and what do they represent?

10 of 13

Cuneiform

One of the world's oldest known writing systems, cuneiform made it possible for the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia to keep track of their expanding empires via a literate bureaucracy. The invention of a symbolic writing system also allowed the people of the region to record their spiritual, social, and political values, as well as literature and history.

Created by the Sumerians during the fourth millennium B.C., cuneiform writing was a revolutionary invention that changed human history dramatically. The term "cuneiform" is a Latin title that means "wedge shaped," referring to the manner in which cuneiform was created. Sumerian scribes began to write their earliest versions of cuneiform as pictographs, similar to Egyptian or Mesoamerican hieroglyphs in concept.

There were many reasons why cuneiform was necessary, but one of the most important was the need for keeping track of such financial records as tax records and trade and commerce receipts. The earliest cuneiform texts merely count quantities in fragment sentences. By the time cuneiform had developed into a syllabic character set, scribes wrote complete sentences that expressed mental concepts as well as numeric quantities. Thus, cuneiform shifted from a bookkeeping method to a full-fledged literary system capable of recording the laws, literature, and personal writings of entire societies.

Some of the most important documents in ancient history were written in cuneiform, and their significance reflects the impact literacy has on societies in general. Written histories, laws, and religious texts work to fix cultural values and standards in ways that oral traditions do not. Mesopotamian governments benefited greatly from cuneiform by publishing their laws in the language. By presenting the public with written law codes, leaders were able to expect their citizens to actually abide by the rules; citizens could not claim ignorance of the laws. As a result, laws were codified using cuneiform throughout the region.

Cuneiform also made it possible for Mesopotamian cultures to record their myths, legends, and religious values. Theologians wrote histories and genealogies of the gods, compendiums for reading omens, and guidebooks for temple worship. Epic poems were also created, detailing the lives of the gods and events of supernatural phenomena. One of the most important literary works is the Epic of Gilgamesh, a Babylonian tale that tells of a heroic figure who sets out to face the gods. Those texts served not only to educate and entertain, but to disseminate religious faith. Because of the fixed nature of texts, they also worked to solidify beliefs that may have been more malleable had they only passed through oral traditions.

Finally, one of the most important innovations of cuneiform writing was that it allowed individuals to write letters and other ego-documents that historians can use for a glimpse into their inner lives. There are hundreds of thousands of such documents that have been discovered so far. Taken together with the bureaucratic, legal, and religious texts of the Mesopotamians, they give historians a deeper understanding of the readers and writers of cuneiform, far more complete than many other ancient societies that existed without literary documents.

1. What is cuneiform and what does it mean?

2. What was the benefit of publishing laws in the language of their people?

3. Besides laws, tax records and receipts, what else did cuneiform make possible to record?

4. How have historians been able to get a glimpse into the inner lives of the Sumerian people?

11 of 13

The Code of Hammurabi Preamble When Marduk sent me to rule over men, to give the protection of right to the land, I did right and in righteousness

brought about the well-being of the oppressed.

Epilogue Laws of justice which Hammurabi, the wise king, established. A righteous law, and pious statute did he teach the land.

Hammurabi, the protecting king am I. I have not withdrawn myself from the men, whom Bel gave to me, the rule over

whom Marduk gave to me, I was not negligent, but I made them a peaceful abiding-place. I expounded all great

difficulties, I made the light shine upon them .... I have uprooted the enemy above and below [in north and south),

subdued the earth, brought prosperity to the land, guaranteed security to the inhabitants in their homes; a disturber

was not permitted .... That the strong might not Injure the weak, in order to protect the widows and orphans, I have in

Babylon ... set up these my precious words, written upon my memorial stone, before the image of me, as king of

righteousness.

Initial Reactions 1. Why do think you Hammurabi referred to the gods (the underlined words are gods)?

2. Why do you think Hammurabi created his code of laws?

3. What is the purpose of law? Is it to create a fair society, or to scare people into good behavior?

Legal Situations As he prepares a code of laws for your society, the king has asked you and your group for advice on creating laws and

punishments that are fair and just. Discuss how you think these situations should be resolved. Remember that your laws

must please the king, Marduk (the creator god), and Shamash (the god of justice).

1. What should happen when a man accuses another man of a crime, but cannot prove the accusation?

2. What should happen to a person who is found to be in possession of stolen property? What if he bought it and did

not know it was stolen?

12 of 13

3. What should happen in cases of assault? If a man hits or injures another man, what should the punishment be?

Final Thoughts Now that you have talked about some situations and read excerpts from Hammurabi's Code, answer the followlng

questions.

1. Do you think Hammurabi achieved a just and fair legal code?

2. Do you think the Code helped Hammurabi protect the weak?

3. Do you think the strict punishments of the Code would prevent crime?

4. What does the Code show us about women's rights in Babylonian society?

5. What does the Code show us about social inequality in Babylonian society?

13 of 13