Ancient Mesopotamia

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Ancient Mesopotamia
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Geography of Mesopotamia

• Land between rivers
• Tigris and Euphrates
• Fertile land allowed villages to grow
• Several disadvantages
• Unpredictable flooding
• No natural protection
• Natural resources were limited

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Solution to Problems

• People of Sumer addressed these problems through
  organization
• Irrigation ditches to carry water
• Built mud walls for defense
• Trade

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Sumerians

• Arrived on the scene (Mesopotamia) around 3300
  BCE
• Built city-states
• Governments were controlled by priests
• Development of dynasties
• Series of rulers from a single family

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Sumerian Culture

• Believed in more than one god
• Emergence of social classes

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Advanced in Science and Technology

• Arithmetic and geometry
• Architectural achievements
• Arches, columns, ziggurats
• Cuneiform
• System of writing

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Babylonian Empire

• Amorites invaded Mesopotamia around 2000 BCE
• Established their capital at Babylon
• Empire reached peak under King Hammurabi
• Wrote a code of laws
• Significant because it unifying his empire

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Hammurabi's code

• Dealt with family relations, business conduct,
  and crime
• Set different punishments for rich and poor and
  for men and women

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Babylonian Empire

• Language Cuneiform
• Religion Polytheistic
• Similar social structure as the Sumerians
• Economy was based on farming and trade
• Empire eventually became smaller after Hammurabi
• Fell to Kassites
• Over years, new groups dominated the Fertile
  Crescent

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Early Civilizations - Egypt
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Geography

• River-Nile
• Flows north
• Originates in the highlands of Central Africa
• Ends in the Mediterranean Sea
• Longest river in the world at 4,160 miles
• Floods
• Until recently, flooded annually in July
• Floods predictable
• Added moisture to the soil
• Deposited silt, replenishing the soil with
  nutrients
• Caused delta to form at the mouth of the river

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Geography

• Nile River
• Settlements arose along the Nile
• Nile River was predictable
• FLOODS REGULARLY
• Egyptians worshiped it as a god

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Geography

• Some environmental risks
• (1) Dependent on Nile River
• (2) Deserts
• Forced to live on a small portion of land
• Reduced their interaction with other people
• However, the desert shut out invaders.

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Geography

• Two different regions Upper and Lower Egypt
• Upper Egypt River area in the south
• Lower Egypt Area in the north, near the sea
• Nile delta region
• Nile connected two regions

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Egypt Unites into a Kingdom

• Villages date back to 5000 BCE
• Under the rule of two separate kingdoms
• United under Narmer
• Narmer Palette
• Capital at Memphis
• Location where the
• two kingdoms met

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Pharaohs

• Egyptian god-kings were called pharaohs
• Theocracy
• Type of government in which rule is based on
  religious authority
• Pharaoh stood at the center of Egypts religion
  and its government and army

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Pyramids

• The resting place after death
• Great Pyramid of Giza
• Strength of the civilization
• Economic strength
• Advanced technology

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Pyramids
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Egyptian Culture

• Religion important to society
• Polytheistic
• Most important gods Re and Osiris
• Most important goddess Isis
• Worshipped more than 2,000 gods and goddesses
• Believed in an afterlife
• Other World
• Kings and queens built great tombs
• Mummification
• Mummy placed in a coffin inside a tomb

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Life in Egyptian Society

• Social Classes
• Pyramid
• Not locked within social classes
• To win the highest positions must read and write
• Women in Egypt held many of the same rights as
  men
• Later period slavery
• Who were slaves??

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Life in Egyptian Society

• Writing
• Hieroglyphics
• Picture stood for an idea
• Written on stone and clay at first
• Invented a better writing surface papyrus

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Life in Egyptian Society

• Science and Technology
• Calendar
• Developed a number system for counting, adding,
  and subtracting
• Used geometry to survey and reset property
  boundaries
• Mathematical knowledge to construct pyramids and
  palaces
• Most famous medicine in ancient world

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Invaders Control Egypt

• Old Kingdom ended about 2180 BCE
• Strong pharaohs regained control during the
  Middle Kingdom (from 2040 to 1640 BCE)
• Restored law and order
• Improved trade and transportation
• Controlled floodwater for irrigation
• Created thousands of new acres of farmland
• Invaders gained control about 1640 BCE

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• Approximately 30 dynasties (ruling families) from
  2700 BC to 1090 BC
• Dynasties ruled Egypt for a total of 2700 years
• Ancient Egyptian history divided into three
  periods
• Old Kingdom
• Middle Kingdom
• New Kingdom
• Years between kingdoms without ruling dynasty
  usually marked by civil wars and/or invasion

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Compare and Contrast

• Compare and contrast the Egyptian civilization
  with any of the Mesopotamian civilizations.(You
  choose which one)

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Hittite Empire

• By about 2000 BCE Hittites occupied Anatolia
• Controlled most of Southwest Asia for 450 years
• Borrowed ideas from Mesopotamians

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Hittite Empire

• Language Adopted Akkadian (language of the
  Babylonians)
• Government Monarchy
• Accomplishments
• Excelled in technology of war
• Superior chariots
• Iron weapons
• First to work with iron
• Relied on farming
• Tribes from Persia attacked and the empire fell
  quickly

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Assyrians

• Came from the
• northern part
• of Mesopotamia
• Began around
• 850 BCE

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Assyrians

• Language Cuneiform
• Government Monarchy
• Religion Polytheistic

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Assyrians

• Accomplishments included
• Constructing ancient worlds largest library
• Known for their strong and powerful military
• Army, cavalry, and navy
• Eventually, overrun by Chaldeans

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Chaldeans

• Around 612 BCE overthrow Assyrian Empire

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Chaldeans

• Language Cuneiform
• Government Monarchy
• King Nebuchadnezzar
• Religion Polytheistic
• Accomplishments
• Hanging gardens
• Arch
• Astrology
• Empire fell to Persia

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Persian Empire

• Persian Empire began to rise around 1000 BCE

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Persian Empire

• Language Persian
• Government Monarchy
• King Cyrus known for his tolerant diplomacy
• Religion Polytheistic
• Prophet Zoroaster
• Accomplishments
• Road system (Royal Road)
• Coins
• Conquered by Alexander the Great

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Phoenicians

• On the scene
• about 1100 BCE
• Formed wealthy
• city-states around
• the Mediterranean
• TRADE essential
• to Phoenician
• way of life

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Phoenicians

• Language Alphabetic symbols
• Developed to speed transaction quickly
• Used symbols to represent sounds
• Government City-states
• Religion Polytheistic
• Human sacrifice
• Accomplishments
• 22 symbols within alphabet
• Purple dye
• Glass beads
• Overran by Assyrians

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Hebrews

• Date back to 2000 BCE
• Abraham father of the Jewish people
• Moved from Mesopotamia to Canaan
• Hebrews were monotheists

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Hebrews

• Language Hebrew
• Government Monarchy
• King Solomon
• Built a trading empire
• Built temple in Jerusalem
• Kingdom split in two Israel and Judah
• Accomplishments
• Monotheism
• Ten Commandments
• Overran by Assyrians
• Left region

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