Mesopotamia first city and primary civilizations.pptx

Mesopotamia first city and primary civilizations

1. Mesopotamia: The Emergence of first cities and Primary Civilization Presented by: Boco , Dominic C.

2. • 1. Fertile Crescent – the boomerang-shaped region of the Middle East that was home to some of the earliest human civilizations. Also known as the “Cradle of Civilization,” •2. Mesopotamia – Greek word meaning, “land between two rivers.” The world’s first civilization. •3. Cuneiform – The first form of writing invented by the Sumerians around 2500B.C.E. that was written on clay tablets •4. Scribes – People trained to write cuneiform and record many of the languages spoken in Mesopotamia. •5. Polytheism – the belief and/or worship of more than one god •6. Hammurabi’s Code – the most famous written law codes, founded by Hammurabi in Babylon. Written on Clay Tablets or Stone Pillars so that everyone in public could see. •7. Sumer - The first major civilization in Mesopotamia •8. Ziggurats – a religious temple built to house the gods. Were the religious and economic centers of early Sumerian city-states •9. Civilization - are complex societies. They have cities, organized governments, art, religion, class divisions, and a writing system Vocabulary

3. Geography of Mesopotamia Divided into two regions: Assyria (North) and Babylon (South). Assyria is being dry and rocky suitable for grazing animals. Babylon is focused on agriculture. Mesopotamia valley was in Sumer . The area was hazardous because of flooding, rain storms land is fertile.

4. 3500-2000 BCE: The first city-states gradually develop in southern Mesopotamia. This is the achievement of the Sumerian people . BCE . 3500: Writing begins to be developed. At first this is based on pictograms, and takes about a thousand years to evolve into a full cuneiform script. BCE . 2300: King Sargon of Akkad starts conquering the first empire in world history . The empire reaches its height in c. 2220. BCE 1792-49: King Hammurabi of Babylon conquers a large empire. Hammurabi is famous for the law code which he issues. His empire begins to decline immediately after his death. Timeline of Ancient Mesopotamia

5. RELIGION

6. Polytheistic religion consisting of over 3600 gods and demigods Prominent Mesopotamian gods Enlil (supreme god & god of air) Ishtar (goddess of fertility & love) An (god of heaven) Enki (god of water & underworld) Shamash (god of sun and giver of law ) Taimat (god of the sea and chaos) Sin (god of the moon) Enlin (god of the sky) Position of King was enhanced and supported by religion Kingship believed to be created by gods and the king’s power was divinely ordained Belief that gods lived on the distant mountaintops Each god had control of certain things and each city was ruled by a different god Kings and priests acted as interpreters as they told the people what the god wanted them to do ( ie . by examining the liver or lungs of a slain sheep)

7. Large temples dedicated to the god of the city Made of layer upon layer of mud bricks in the shape of a pyramid in many tiers (due to constant flooding and from belief that gods resided on mountaintops) Temple on top served as the god’s home and was beautifully decorated Inside was a room for offerings of food and goods Temples evolved to ziggurats- a stack of 1-7 platforms decreasing in size from bottom to top Famous ziggurat was Tower of Babel (over 100m above ground and 91m base) Ziggurat Temple

8. GOVERNMENT

9. Political structure an early form of democracy Frequent wars led to the emergence of warriors as leaders Eventually rise of monarchial system co-operation was the basis of government Followed leadership of god of the city which was interpreted by a council of leading citizens > or > priests > or leader of the city ( ie . king) The Mesopotamians believed their kings and queens were descended from the city gods but, they never believed their kings were actually gods Kings often named them selves “king of the universe" or “great king” Kings had to look after their people. King Hammurabi created a set of rules containing the crimes and their punishments. And citizen conduct. SUMER: Lugal (Big man) SUMER: Ensi (King) AKKADIAN: Sharra (King)

10. Code of Hammurabi Hammurabi’s code was the first attempt by a ruler to codify, or arrange and set down in writing, all of the laws that would govern a state. One section codified criminal law, the branch of law that deals with offenses against others, such as robbery and murder. Another section codified civil law, the branch that deals with private rights and matters, such as business contracts , taxes, and property inheritance . (282 legqal provision) Law 5: If a judge makes an error through his own fault when trying a case , he must pay a fine, be removed from the judge’s bench, and never judge another case. Law 195: If a son strikes his father, the son’s hands shall be cut off Class groupings; elite and priest-peasant and traders-and slaves.

11. Development of Writing Greatest contribution of Mesopotamia to western civilization was the invention of writing allowed the transmission of knowledge, the codification of laws, records to facilitate trade / farming Sumerians wrote on wet clay tablets with the point of a reed > then dried in the sun to make a tablet Scribes were only ones who could read and write and served as priests, record keepers and accountants As society evolved, the first form of writing was developed called CUNEIFORM (meaning “wedge shaped”), dating to 3500 BCE Cuneiform spread to Persia and Egypt and became the vehicle for the growth and spread of civilization and the exchange of ideas among cultures

12. Gilgamesh is an ancient story or epic written in Mesopotamia more than 4000 thousand years ago Gilgamesh is the first known work of great literature and epic poem Epic mentions a great flood Gilgamesh parallels the Nippur Tablet , a six-columned tablet telling the story of the creation of humans and animals, the cities and their rulers, and the great flood ANALYSIS Gilgamesh and the Nippur tablet both parallel the story of Noah and the Ark (great flood) in the Old Testament of the Jewish and Christian holy books Modern science argues an increase in the sea levels about 6,000 years ago (end of ice age) the melting ice drained to the oceans causing the sea level to rise more than ten feet in one century Gilgamesh