Mesopotamia (Sumerians) Notes



Mesopotamia (Sumerians)

3500-1600 B.C.

Fertile Crescent – The region’s curved shape and the richness of the land due to river flooding led to its name.

Geography

Desert climate

Between Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea

Two rivers irrigate landscape

Tigris

Euphrates

Very few trees for building materials and limited natural resources

Traded with people in the mountains and desert

Flat land left village susceptible to attacks from neighbors

Built walls with mud bricks

Creation of City-States

Functioned liked independent countries today

Formed by the city and the surrounding land it controlled

Priests and Rulers shared controls

Farmers believed crops depended on blessings of the gods

During times of war, fighters controlled city’s soldiers

Military leaders passed power onto sons to create dynasties

Sumerian Culture

Religion – Polytheistic

Believed in many different gods that controlled nature

Their gods did many of the same things humans did

Offered sacrifices of food, animals and wine

Hoped for protection in this life, not afterlife

Social Classes

Kings, landholders, and priests made up highest level

Merchants were in the middle

Farmhands and common workers after that

Slaves were the lowest class

Prisoners of war

Poor people to satisfy debt

Women had more rights than later societies

Could hold property

Work farmers, merchants, and priests

Technology and Science

Invented wheel, sail, and plow

First to use bronze

Developed a number system

Used geometry to build walls and irrigation systems

Designed ramps, columns and pyramid shaped designs

System of writing of cuneiform

First Empire Builders

Sargon of Akkad

Around 2350 B.C., Sargon from Akkad defeats Sumer

Creates first empire—under control of one leader

His dynasty lasts about 200 years

Babylonian Empire

Amorites, nomadic warriors, take control around 2000 B.C.

Make Babylon, on Euphrates River, the capital

Babylonian Empire at peak during Hammurabi’s rule

1792–1750 B.C.

Hammurabi’s Code

Hammurabi creates a code of laws for the Babylonian Empire

282 laws on all aspects of life;

Engraved in stone and made public

Set different punishments depending on social class, gender

Goal is for government to take responsibility for order, justice

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Unpredictable flooding and lack of rain made farming difficult and rewarding simultaneously.

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