<p> Mesopotamia Power-Point Notes</p><p>Name:______Block:______</p><p>Climate: • Hot & Dry • Very Harsh • Intense Rainstorms • Temperatures often above ______• Would be desert if not for the rivers</p><p>Geography: • Greek word that means ______• It refers to the ______• These two rivers flow into the ______• One of the world’s earliest civilizations that existed between 5000-539 B.C.E. • Present day ______• Eastern part of the Fertile Crescent • The northern part was referred to as ______and the southern part was______. • ______(series of canals) made farming possible in this dry land • Many floods, which carried great amount of silt allowed the soil to be constantly replenished • Today, present day Iraq is mostly desert. The land that was once marshes and channels that provided food, protection and life to the people there, no longer exists. • People were attracted to Mesopotamia Area because of the natural ______that occurred along the Euphrates River. Natural levees are embankments produced by the sediment that builds up after thousands of years of flooding. The levee surface slopes gently downward away from the river. Aside from protection, the silt and sediment was fertile, easily drained, planted, irrigated and cultivated.</p><p>Increased cultivated land…Increase in food production, therefore, population increased • It was in this region that humans first abandoned their nomadic lifestyle and built permanent settlements. • Mesopotamia was not a single civilization or culture. • It was an area that was composed of several independent city-states, each with its own religion, laws, language and government.</p><p>The Sumerians:  The first group to ______Mesopotamia.  4000 B.C.E.  They lived in southern Mesopotamia in a number of independent city- states.  Each consisted of a small city and its surrounding area.  The rulers of these city-states constantly were at war with one another.  They used money, which made individuals wealthy.  The head of the military would become King.  War leaders evolved into ______.</p><p>Zigguart:  In the center of each city was a temple that housed the city’s gods.  A ziggurat was a ______that was a religious temple.  They were ______, which means they believed in many gods.  They believed that the gods controlled every aspect of nature and everyday life  It was vital to obey the gods and keep them happy with daily offerings or the gods would send wars, floods, & diseases to punish the people.  The ______was the only one allowed in ziggurats; therefore, he was very important.</p><p>Cuneiform:  The earliest writing was based on pictograms, which were used to communicate information about taxes and crops.  Ancient Sumerian record keepers marked pictographic symbols in soft pieces of clay with a pointed reed. The clay tablets were then baked to make them hard.  Overtime, writing was changed into a ______called ______.  Cuneiform means ______, because the marks in the clay were wedges.  Not everyone learned to read and write. The ones that were picked by the gods were called scribes. Boys that were chosen to become ______(professional writers) began to study at the age of 8. They finished when they were 20 years old. Inventions:  Cuneiform  The ______, which was first used for pottery and then the 1st wheeled vehicles.  They developed a number system based on the unit ______. They divided the ______into 60 minutes and the circle into ______degrees. They also developed basic algebra and geometry.  The water clock.  The 12 ______, The plow, The ______Royal Tombs of Ur: • From 1922 to 1934, an archaeologist named C. Leonard ______excavated the site of the ancient Sumerian city of Ur • City famed in Bible as the home of patriarch ______• many great discoveries such as extravagant jewelry of gold, cups of gold and silver, bowls of alabaster, and extraordinary objects of art and culture • opened the world's eyes to the full glory of ancient Sumerian culture Great Death Pit • Found at Ur was a mass grave containing the bodies of 6 guards and ______(servants of kings and queens) • Servants walked down into the grave in a great funeral procession • They drank a ______drink and fell asleep never to wake again, choosing to accompany the kings and queens in the afterlife</p><p>The Akkadians: • They were from the ______Peninsula. • They were Semitic people. They spoke Semitic language related to languages similar to Arabic & Hebrew. • They formed their own country called Akkad. • ______conquered the Sumerians in about 2500 B.C.E. He united Akkad & Sumer into a nation called the ______. The World’s first Empire. • They adopted much of the Sumerian Culture. They had many clashes with the Sumerians.</p><p>The Babylonians: • ______of England helped find the key to understanding the Babylonian Language. • About 1790 B.C.E. King Hammurabi conquered city-states in the Tigris-Euphrates valley and formed the Babylonian Empire • Adapted and built upon the Sumerian Culture. • Recorded their laws and customs in the Code of Hammurabi, which was the______. • Believed in astrology and recorded data later essential to ______. They also made horoscopes. • ______became leading citizens, as they were educated. • Practices polytheism. Marduk = God of Earth & Anu = God of Heavens • Developed a 12 month calendar with ______. The Code of Hammurabi: • The ______were engraved in stone and placed in a public location for everyone to see. • Hammurabi required that people be responsible for their actions. • Some of Hammurabi’s laws were based on the principle “______” This means that whoever commits an injury should be punished in the same manner as that injury. • An example, would be if a son slapped his father, the son’s hand would be cut off. • The code did distinguish between ______of people. A person’s punishment would depend on who was wronged. • Consequences for crimes depended on rank in society (ie. only fines for ______) The Epic of Gilgamesh: • A long, narrative poem, The Epic of Gilgamesh, is one of the ______. • The poem tells of a great flood that covers the earth may years earlier. • The story details the exploits of King Gilgamesh and his companion, Enkidu.</p><p>The Chaldean Empire: • 612 B.C. – 538 B.C. • Known as ______• Suffering under the Assyrians, the city of Babylon finally rose up against its hated enemy, the city of ______, the capital of the Assyrian empire, and burned it to the ground. • Conquered the Phoenicians. • Forced a large part of the Jewish population to relocate. Numbering possibly up to 10,000, these Jewish deportees were largely upper class people craftspeople. This deportation marks the beginning of ______in Jewish history. • Near one the ruler’s palaces were the famous ______built by King Nebuchadnezzar II.</p><p>The Hittites: • 2000 B.C. • Lived in Central ______. • Their culture was greatly influenced by the Babylonians • They were the first to make _____ tools and weapons, thus credited with starting the ______in Western Asia. • There were many miles between the city-states and many city-states maintained their own language and religions. • The city-states often fought among themselves until ______became king. • Made peace with Ramses II of Egypt in the ______. • Warlike People. • One the earliest people to ______. • Their laws were considered the ______of the time. Their law tried to compensate the person who was wronged. The Assyrians: • 100 BC. - 612 B.C. • Named after its original capital ______. • Were the first to outfit armies entirely with iron weapons. And were the first to have a ______(career = soldier). • To besiege cities, they devised new military equipment: moveable______. For 500 years they terrorized the region, earning a lasting reputation as one of the most warlike people in history. • They used ______, which allowed them to move quickly. They had archers and a cavalry. • They terrorized their enemies by deliberately employing cruelty & violence. They ______leading into Babylon. This deprived the Babylonians of water. • Women had to be ______when they appeared in public. • They divided their empire into provinces, which had their own governor that was responsible to the king. The governor reported directly back to the king sending reports by messengers on horseback- ______• Founded one the ______.</p><p>The Persians: • In 539 B.C., Babylon fell to the Persian armies of______. • Located in present-day ______• The Persians were tolerant of the people they conquered. They respected the customs & religious traditions of the diverse group in their empire. • The real unification of the Persian Empire was accomplished under the Persian emperor______, who ruled from 522–486 BC • A skilled organizer, Darius set up a government that became a model for later rulers. • He divided the Persian Empire into provinces, each headed by a governor called a______. • Each satrapy, or province, had to pay ______based on its wealth and resources. • ______, “the eyes and ears of the king,” visited each province to check on the satraps. • Like Hammurabi, Darius adapted laws from the people he conquered and drew up a single code of laws for the empire. • By setting up a single Persian coinage, Darius created______. • ______guided religious beliefs and also helped unify the empire. He rejected the old Persian gods. Instead, he taught that a single wise god, Ahura Mazda, ruled the world.</p><p>The Phoenicians: • 1200-800 B.C. • Prospered on the Mediterranean coast north of______. • Their chief cities were ______• They gained fame as ______& traders • They made ______from coastal sand. • From a tiny sea snail, they produced a widely admired purple dye, called______. This became their trademark and the favourite colour of royalty. • The words ______come from the Phoenician city of Byblos. • Due to their sailing skills, the Phoenicians served as missionaries of civilization, bringing eastern Mediterranean products and culture to less advanced peoples. • Replaced the cuneiform alphabet of ______characters with a phonetic alphabet, based on distinct sounds, consisting of ______letters.</p><p>The Hebrews: • They recorded events and laws in the ______their most sacred text. • To the Hebrews, history and religion were interconnected. • According to The Old Testament,, the male leader of the Hebrews was ______(2000 B.C.). • Abraham changed people’s belief in many gods to one God called Yahweh. • According to the Torah, the Hebrews had lived near ____in Mesopotamia. About 2000 B.C., they migrated, herding their flocks of sheep and goats into a region known as ______(later called Palestine). • Abraham’s grandson was Jacob, who was known as Israel and that is where the term ______comes from. • The Book of Genesis tells that around 1800 B.C. a famine in Canaan forced many Hebrews to migrate to Egypt (led by Jacob’s son Joseph). There, they were eventually enslaved. In time, ______, the adopted son of the pharaoh’s daughter, led the Hebrews in their escape, or______, from Egypt. • For 40 years, the Hebrews wandered in the Sinai Peninsula. After Moses died, they entered Canaan and defeated the people there, claiming for themselves the land they believed God had promised them. • By 1000 B.C., the Hebrews had set up the kingdom of Israel. Among the most skillful rulers of Israel were ______• ______was the 1st king of the Israelites. • According to Hebrew tradition, David was a humble shepherd who defeated a huge Philistine warrior, ______. Later, David became a strong, shrewd king who united the feuding Hebrew tribes under a single nation. • David’s son Solomon, turned Jerusalem into an impressive capital. He built a splendid temple dedicated to God, as well as an enormous palace for himself. King Solomon won praise for his wisdom and understanding. He also tried to increase Israel’s influence by negotiating with powerful empires in ______and Mesopotamia. • The kingdom of Israel paid a heavy price for Solomon’s ambitions. His building projects required such ______and so much forced labour that ______soon after his death about 930 B.C. The kingdom then split into Israel in the north and Judah in the south. • Weakened by this division, the Hebrews could not fight off invading armies. During their captivity, the Hebrews became known as the______. • In time, Hebrew beliefs evolved into the religion we know today as______. • The______: Laws set out both religious duties toward God and rules for moral conduct toward other people.</p><p>The Lydians:  8th Century B.C. to 546 B.C.  Known for their coins (made of gold and silver), which became the ______in the ancient world.  Great traders that sparked a commercial revolution.  ______, the king, was thought to be the richest king in the ancient world.</p>