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Mesopotamia

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Mesopotamia Ch. 2, Sec. 1 (pp. 29 - 34) SSWH1a: Describe the development of Mesopotamian societies: include the religious, cultural, economic, and political facets of ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Mesopotamia


1
Mesopotamia
  • Ch. 2, Sec. 1 (pp. 29 - 34)
  • SSWH1a Describe the development of Mesopotamian
    societies include the religious, cultural,
    economic, and political facets of society, with
    attention to Hammurabis law code.

2
Geography Background
  • In the modern Middle East are the Tigris
    Euphrates Rivers
  • The land between these rivers and the land that
    lies along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean
    Sea form an arc of very fertile soil (known as
    the Fertile Crescent)
  • The land between the Tigris Euphrates rivers is
    called Mesopotamia (which literally means land
    between rivers)
  • Remember, the city of Ur was located in Sumer,
    which itself was in Mesopotamia

3
Environmental Challenges
  • Unpredictable flooding
  • So they created irrigation ditches
  • No natural barriers for protection
  • So they built walls around their cities
  • Few natural resources
  • So they traded with their neighbors

4
Ancient Irrigation Ditches
5
Sumerians Create City-States
  • Sumerians built many cities
  • Cities each had their own government rulers
    (similar to modern countries)
  • Cities the surrounding lands were known as
    city-states (because they operated independently
    of one another)
  • Sumerian govt was usually led by both religion
    military leaders
  • Leaders would often come from the same families
    (dynasties)
  • Sumerian ideas often spread to neighboring
    cultures (this process is called cultural
    diffusion)
  • In other words, if Im worshipping a Rain God
    my neighbor sees me doing this starts
    worshipping the Rain God then cultural
    diffusion has occurred

6
City-States in Sumer
7
Sumerian Culture
  • Sumerians were polytheistic (they believed in
    more than one god)
  • These gods were anthropomorphic, yet all-powerful
    immortal
  • The afterlife was seen as very dismal
  • Social classes
  • (Highest class) kings, landholders priests
  • Wealthy merchants
  • Manual laborers (field workshop)
  • (Lowest class) Slaves (debtors prisoners)
  • Technology
  • Base 60 number system
  • Architecture (arches, columns, ramps, etc.)
  • Cuneiform

8
Empire Building
  • From 3000 - 2000 B.C., Sumerians were almost
    constantly at war with one another
  • 2350 B.C., Sargon (an Akkadian from the north)
    conquered Sumer united northern southern
    Mesopotamia for the first time
  • This union lasted 200 years
  • 2000 B.C., the Babylonian Empire (with its
    capital at Babylon) dominated Mesopotamia
  • The greatest ruler of Babylon was Hammurabi who
    created a single set of common laws for
    Mesopotamia
  • Hammurabis Code dealt with property issues,
    family issues, crime, etc.
  • The Code applied to everyone, but dealt
    differently w/ the rich the poor
  • The Code frequently applied the principle an eye
    for an eye a tooth for a tooth

9
A Hammurabi Stele an Inscription of the Code of
Hammurabi
10
The Fall of the Babylonians
  • 1500 B.C., the Babylonian Empire fell to the
    neighboring Kassites
  • Many groups would later come to dominate
    Mesopotamia (Assyrians, Hebrews, Phoenicians,
    etc.)
  • While all this was going on, other people such as
    the Egyptians, Chinese people of the Indus
    River Valley were experiencing the rise fall of
    civilization
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