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GROWTH OF CIVILIZATION IN
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA
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AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION
Started in the Fertile Crescent
Shift from eating wild grains to growing their
ownDeveloped storage methods
Permanent settlements
Domesticated animals Population increase
Society became increasingly complex
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BIRTH OF WRITING
Initially done only for economic reasons
Pictographic at first
Did evolve over time to represent more abstractterms
Developed more efficient means of
writing/preserving
Very difficult to learn
Few were literate
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CUNEIFORM WRITING
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SUMERIANS
Bronze Age civilization
Lived in different city-states
Common language, culture, and religion Still very competitive
Stratified society
Dominated by the priests and warriors
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ZIGGURAT OF UR
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SUMERIAN RELIGION
Gods no longer seen as mere forces of nature
Looked and acted like humans
Reciprocal relationship
humans honored gods
gods would listen to petitions
Kings divine right
Misrule could bring about the anger of the gods
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EPIC OF GILGAMESH
Based on historical Ur
king
Mistreated his people
Gods sent Enkidu to
deal with him
Battle b/w civilization
and wilderness Futility of human
existence?
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BABYLON
Rise of new empire
Goal extend control of the region
Religion as tool to control the conqueredpeople
Chief god of the Babylonians made ruler god for
everyone
Need to obey the king
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HAMMURABIS CODE - LAW
Very stratified society
Didnt deal with all legal
situations
Probably more
propaganda
Not mentioned in
surviving legal records
Some protections for
women
Hammurabi receiving the code
from the sun god
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HAMMURABIS LEGACY
Empire endured for several centuries following
his death
methods copied by later rulers
Written law represented a shift from older ways
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