ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA-

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ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA- THE LAND BETWEEN TWO RIVERS
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ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA- DEFINITIONS

• CITY STATES- self-governing unit made up of a
  city and its surrounding villages and farmland.

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ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA-GEOGRAPHY

• LOCATED BETWEEN THE TIGRIS-EUPHRATES RIVERS
• BOTH RIVERS FLOW INTO THE PERSIAN GULF
• LOCATED IN PRESENT DAY IRAQ

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Fertile Crescent
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Mesopotamia
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ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA- GEOGRAPHY

• POSITIVE
• abundant amount of clay
• easy till-able soil
• water supply from Tigris-Euphrates Rivers

• NEGATIVE
• few natural resources
• minimal protection from deserts and mountains

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City-States
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ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA- SUMERIAN CIVILIZATION

• BELIEVED TO BE SETTLED CA. 3000 B.C.
• DIVIDED INTO CITY-STATES
• HELPED TO DEVELOP THE FIRST FORM OF ORGANIZED
  RELIGION
• CREATED ONE OF THE EARLIEST FORM OF WRITING

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ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA- SUMERIAN CITY-STATES

• ALWAYS IN CONSTANT CONFLICT OVER WATER RIGHTS AND
  LAND
• CREATED WALLS FOR PROTECTION, WITH MOATS ALONG
  THE OUTSIDE
• FARMS WERE LOCATED ALONG THE OUTSIDE OF THE CITY

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Sumerians invented

• Wheel
• Time 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a
  minute
• 12 month lunar calendar
• arch
• ramp

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Religion
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ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA- SUMERIAN RELIGION

• Ziggurats pyramid site of the temple of the
  main gods.
• Each city-state had their own gods and goddesses
• Sun god most important.
• Life after death was an extension of life.

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Ziggurat Holy Mountain
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Ziggurat

• Large pyramid shaped structures
• Connected to heaven and earth
• Ziggurat center for learning and religion

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How to Build a Ziggurat
How to Build a Ziggurat
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Sumerian Religion

• Monotheism worshiping one god.
• Mono means one
• Polytheism worshiping many gods.
• Poly means many

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WritingCuneiform
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ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA- SUMERIAN WRITING

• CALLED CUNEIFORM (LATIN FOR WEDGE)
• WRITTEN ON CLAY TABLETS
• NEEDED FOR RELIGION, GOVERNMENT, AND TRADE
• LEARNED IN SCHOOL, BY MALES THAT LASTED FROM
  SUNRISE TO SUNSET

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Sumerian Writing cuneiform
Cuneiform is created by pressing a pointed stylus
into a clay tablet.
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Cuneiform
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Economy
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ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA- SUMERIAN ECONOMY

• Make, sell or barter goods.
• Trade helped expansion.
• Development of money
• Will evolve over time.

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ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA- SUMERIAN ECONOMY

• RICH
• government officials
• religious leaders
• traders

• POOR
• Farmers
• craftsman

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ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA- SUMERIAN PASTIMES

• Entertainment
• No longer had to hunt and gather.
• More time for fun times.
• Rich had more time than poor.
• Activities
• BOARD GAMES
• INSTRUMENTS
• BARE FISTED BOXING
• Activities geared toward young and used for
  socializing.

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The invention of Agriculture changed the way
people lived.

• Agriculture (Farming)
• Growth of Cities
• Division of Labor (Specialization)
• Trade
• Writing and Mathematics

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Persians
Akkadians
Babylonians

Sumeria
Hittites
Mesopotamian Civilization
Chaldeans
Lydians
Phoenicians
Assyrians
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Hittites

• Iron Weapons
• Add to your map the location
• Hittites
• Assyrians
• Akkadians

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Assyrians

• Chief god Assur
• Chariots used
• First Cavalry

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Akkadians

• Spoke a Semitic Language related to modern Hebrew
  and Arabic

When heaven above was not yet named, nor earth
below pronounced by name, Apsu, the first one,
their begetter and maker Tiamat, who bore them
all, had mixed their waters together, but had not
formed pastures, nor discovered reed-beds. When
yet no gods were manifest, nor names pronounced,
nor destinies decreed, then gods were born within
them.
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Babylonians

• Chief god Marduk
• Prayed for good harvest and success in business.
• King Hammurabi
• Hammurabis Code
• Earliest code of law
• Based on equal retaliation.

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Hammurabis Code

• 282 laws.
• Harsh punishment for crimes.
• Based on equal retaliation.
• If a man bring an accusation against a man and
  charge him with a capital crime, but cannot prove
  it, the accuser, shall be put to death
• If the slave of a freed man strike the body of a
  freed man, his ear shall be cut off
• Laws were varied for the wealthy and powerful.

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What do you think?

• If a man bring an accusation against a man and
  charge him with a capital crime, but cannot prove
  it, the accuser, shall be put to death
• If the slave of a freed man strike the body of a
  freed man, his ear shall be cut off
• If a man strike a free-born woman so that she
  lose her unborn child, he shall pay ten shekels
  for her loss.
• If the woman die, his daughter shall be put to
  death.

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Chaldeans

• Skilled astronomers
• Hanging Gardens of Babylon
• King Nebuchadnezzar built them for his wife
• One of the Ancient Wonders of the World

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Persians

• Present day Iran
• Spoke an Indo-European Language
• Zoroastrianism
• Belief in final judgment and training for it

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Phoenicians

• Major natural resource lumber from cedar
  forests.
• Invented the art of glassblowing.
• Alphabet
• Then adopted by Greeks.
• Then adopted by Romans
• Please label Phoenicia on your map.

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Lydians

• First to use a money economy.
• An economic system based in the use of money as a
  measure of value and a unit of account.