The Emergence of a Civilization

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The Emergence of a Civilization
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• The image above is the code of Hammurabi.
• The code of Hammurabi is an ancient set of laws.
• Historians believe that the Code was created
  roughly 2000 BC.
• The code was created in Babylon by the sixth
  Babylonian king Hammurabi.
• The stone was discovered in 1901.
• The Code contains civil laws, economic laws, and
  consequences for broken laws.

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How was Writing Invented?

• After the emergence of sedentarization writing
  began to develop.
• People needed to keep track of their possessions
  as well as their surplus.
• Furthermore, people needed to have evidence of
  trade, first bills
• People also began to document events, first
  written history began during this time.

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Irrigation

• The Fertile Crescent had an abundance of fertile
  land due to the flooding of several rivers.
• However, these rivers did not overflow at the
  same time every year.
• People had to take precautions to protect their
  fields.
• Furthermore, precipitation was irregular and very
  light.

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• People began to create irrigation canals.
• These canals allowed farmers to water their
  fields event during times of drought.
• This ensured a constant abundance of food.
• People also began building dikes.
• These dikes protected fields from overflowing
  rivers.
• Reservoirs were created to store water encase of
  severe drought.

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First Civilizations

• Agriculture allowed for more people in a society
  to be fed.
• This allowed for more people to develop trades.
• Over time these villages grow and become cities.
• Chiefs turn into Kings or Emperors, which pass
  laws that their people must follow.
• Writing allowed these laws to be documented

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• Civilizations are very much like humans.
• They are born, they develop and decline and
  eventually die.
• The death of a civilization usually occurs when
  their way of life is significantly disrupted.
• This could be due to wars, death of a king,
  famines, disease, or natural phenomena.
• Ex Ancient Rome

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Labour and Trade

• Writing was a new way of communicating.
• It was also a perfect way to keep track of
  surplus and trading.
• It was the surpluses produced by farmers that led
  to the development of craftsmen and trade.
• In Mesopotamia the population split in to more
  diverse groups .

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• Each of these new groups had a specific role and
  provided a specific service.
• Peasants farmed the land, raised livestock,
  provided manual labour. This group made up most
  of the population.
• Craftspeople made tools, bricks, weapons, pots,
  etc. They also provided labour to upkeep public
  buildings.
• Merchants were responsible for trading. They
  imported products different areas.
• Soldiers protected the territory and routes
  used by merchants.

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• Merchants would travel very long distances to
  trade their goods.
• Trading journeys could last months or even years.
• These trade routes were often very dangerous.
  Soldiers were needed to protect the caravans.
• Merchants used the wheel to help carry products
  over long distances.
• It was this invention that started the first
  shipping businesses.

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• For a long time historians believed that the
  wheel was invented in Mesopotamia around 3000 BC.
• New evidence suggests that the first wheel was
  used in Caucasus (modern Russia) around 3650 BC.

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Cuneiform and its evolution

• Cuneiform took almost 1000 years to develop into
  the written language known to the Mesopotamians.
• 3500 BC people began drawing objects and
  pictograms on clay tablets.
• Once the clay had dried the drawings remained,
  which created the first written documents.

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• Pictograms were to represent animals, crops, or
  religious figures.
• It was harder to represent complex situations.
  For example conversations.
• As the need to record more complex situations
  pictograms became simpler.
• These symbols eventually began representing
  sounds.
• Eventually symbols did not look like the original
  drawing. They were a system of lines and wedges.

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• Cuneiform comes from the Latin word, which mean s
  nails or corner.
• This written language had over 700 different
  symbols.
• It is read from left to right and in rows.
• It was used account for surplus, trade, laws and
  religious traditions.
• Not everyone in ancient Mesopotamia could read or
  write this was seen as an honour and reserved for
  scribes.
• Scribes had to study from when they were very
  young.

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• Very wealthy farmers and merchants employed
  their own scribes.
• Scribes used a sharpened reed or piece of bamboo
  called a calamus
• This allowed scribes to make the lines and wedges.

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Mesopotamian Society

• Mesopotamian society was very hierarchical.
• Hierarchical social organization each group in
  society must submit and obey to a more powerful
  group.
• There were many social groups.
• At the head of society was the king.
• Every city in Mesopotamia had its own
  organization, its own king and its own laws.

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Politics in Mesopotamia

• There were roughly ten major cities in
  Mesopotamia.
• Each of these cities were independent from one
  another, but all shared the same religion.
• All cities were built near farms and were
  protected by a large stone wall.
• There were two parts to every city the higher
  part and the lower part.

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• The part were broken up into the higher city and
  the lower city.
• The lower city contained houses, shops, and
  markets.
• The higher city included the royal palace, royal
  warehouses, and the Ziggurat.
• The Ziggurat was a temple and considered very
  sacred land . Very few people were allowed to set
  foot within its walls.
• The higher city was also protected by another
  wall.
• See page 40 in your workbooks.

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• In Mesopotamia the closer you lived to the higher
  city the higher your social position.
• Therefore if you worked for the king you lived
  closer to the higher city.

King
Elite
Free People
Slaves
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Mesopotamian Law and Justice

• Mesopotamian kings made laws.
• Once the laws were made it was up to the king to
  enforce these laws.
• The King enforced these laws through his
  military.
• Whoever was caught breaking the kings laws were
  punished.
• One example was the code of Hammurabi
• Different cities had different laws.

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Mesopotamian Religion

• Mesopotamian religion is the oldest known
  religion.
• The Mesopotamians worshiped many gods.
• Different Gods had different powers and were
  worshiped for different reasons.
• Religious leaders (high priests) maintained the
  temples.
• Mesopotamian temples were called ziggurats
• Priests organized feasts and other festivals.