Geography of the Fertile Crescent Tigris Euphrates Mesopotamia

Geography of the Fertile Crescent

Tigris Euphrates Mesopotamia

Sumerian Civilization Asia Minor 5000 BC • First governments likely formed to coordinate irrigation and flood control projects Arabian Peninsula

Sumerian City-States n n n City-State – A town or city and the surrounding land it controls People of city states shared common culture Built around temples known as ziggurats. Population 20, 000 – 250, 000 Inability of city-states to unite under a single government weakened the Sumerians.

n Sumerian Government n n n City-States had dual governments Monarchies headed by hereditary kings Theocracies headed by a Priest-King called a Patesi Sumerian Religion n n Religion was as at the center of Sumerian life. Sumerians believed that afterlife was grim and empty of light and air. Sumerians were polytheistic Viewed their gods as selfish and angry and punished humans with floods and famine.

Sumerian Economy and Society • Most Sumerians were farmers • Food surpluses went to support temples and priests • Merchants traded goods among city-states Priest-King Nobles Government Officials Merchants Artisans Farmers Peasants Slaves

Sumerian Lifestyles • Men ran daily affairs and controlled all property. • Most aspects of daily life were based on religion. Sumerian Education and Writing • Sumerians developed a pictographic writing called Cuneiform • Only upper class boys were educated and were taught by priests in temple schools

Sumerian Developments, Inventions and Contributions • Invented the arch, the dome, and the vault. • Developed algebra and a numbering system based on 60. • Invented the wagon wheel, potters wheel, metal plows and a 12 month calendar.

Babylonian Civilization

Akkadians Conquer Sumer - 2400 B. C. Akkadian Empire Sargon the Great

Amorites Invade Mesopotamia 2200 B. C. • Absorbed Sumerian culture • Established the city of Babylon • Became known as Babylonians

Babylonia 1. Organized strong central government 2. Improved tax system Hammurabi 3. Built and improved road system throughout the empire 4. Increased trade with other civilizations 5. Established a strong justice system

Code of Hammurabi 1. Combined laws of city-states into one central code 2. Consisted of 282 laws dealing with all aspects of life including family relations, business conduct, and crime. 3. Based on an “eye for an eye” principle 4. Regulated all aspects and levels of Babylonian society but had different punishments depending on social class.

Code of Hammurabi -If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death. -If any one steal the minor son of another, he shall be put to death. -If a man take a woman as his wife, but have no intercourse with her, this woman is no wife to him. - If a man be guilty of incest with his daughter, he shall be driven from the place (exiled). - If a man betroth a girl to his son, and his son have intercourse with her, but he (the father) afterward defile her, and be surprised, then he shall be bound and cast into the water (drowned). - If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off. -If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out. [ An eye for an eye ] -If he break another man's bone, his bone shall be broken. -If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina.

Epic of Gilgamesh