Rise of Sumer ❖ An Advanced Society ➢ City States of Sumer: ■ City­states in Sumer fought each other to gain more farmland, as a result city states built up strong armies and thick walls. ➢ Rise of the Akkadian Empire ■ NOT Sumerians, they even spoke a different language. ■ Lived in peace with Sumerians until the 2300s ■ Sargon (2334­2279 BC) ● Legend: gardener found a baby floating in a basket on a river and raised him as his own child. ● Early years: ◆ Served Ur­Zababa, the king of Kish (Sumerian City State) ➢ Rebelled and took over his city, and built Akkad (Akkadian capital) into a military power. ■ Near the Euphrates River. Near Baghdad today. ● Military leader: ◆ First military leader to use soldiers with bows and arrows. ◆ First ruler to have a permanent army. ◆ Gained their loyalty by eating with them every day. ● Established the world’s first empire. ◆ Stretched from the Mediterranean sea to the Persian Gulf ● Akkad only lasts a Century after Sargon’s death. ■ Ur­Sumerian city state conquered the rest of Mesopotamia and restored the Sumerian civilizations power. ➢ Farming ■ If the Tigris and the Euphrates were not controlled through an irrigation system, then the rivers would flood uncontrollably and devastated cities. ❖ Religion Shapes Society ➢ Sumerian Religion ■ Gods: had the ability to bring good harvests or disastrous floods. ● Enlil­lord of the air ● Enki­god of wisdom ● Inanna­goddess of love and war. ● Utu and Nanna­gods of the sun and the moon. ■ Priests: people who performed or led religious ceremonies. ● Great status in Sumer. ● Interpreted the wishes of the gods and made offerings to them. ➢ Sumerian Social Order ■ Social hierarchy: the division of society by rank or class. ​ ● Kings ● Priests ● Merchants/Traders ◆ Traders traveled to faraway places and exchanged grain for gold,silver, copper, lumber, and precious stones. ● Large working class: farmers and laborers ● Slaves ■ Men and Women: ● Men: held political power and made laws ◆ Often educated ● Women: took care of the home and children ◆ Could be educated if in the upper class. ◆ Could be priestesses. ❖ Sumerian Achievements ➢ Invention of writing ■ Cuneiform ● used sharp tools called styluses to make wedge­shaped symbols on clay tablets. ● symbols could represent syllables or basic parts of words. ● Used to keep business and government records. ■ Early Communications ● Pictographs­or picture symbols. ◆ Each pictograph represented an object. ➢ Advances and Inventions ■ Technical Advances: ● Wheel: ◆ Potter’s wheel­spins clay as a craftsperson shapes it into bowls. ● Plow: ◆ broke through the hard clay soil of Sumer to prepare it for planting. ◆ Increased production. ● Sewers ➢ Math and Science ■ Math: ● Developed a math system based on 60. ◆ Divided the circle into 360 ◆ Divided a year into 12 months ■ Science: ● made lists of animals, plants, and minerals ■ Medicine ● Used ingredients from animals, plants, and minerals to produce healing drugs. ◆ used milk, turtle shells, figs, and salt ● Catalogued their medical knowledge, listing treatments according to symptoms and body parts. ❖ The Arts of Sumer ➢ Architecture: the science of building ■ Palaces: rulers ■ Two­story homes with as many as a dozen rooms: rich Sumerians ■ Most people lived in smaller, one­story houses. ● six/seven rooms arranged around a small courtyard. ● Built with mud bricks ❖ Later Peoples of the Fertile Crescent ➢ Babylonians Conquer Mesopotamia ■ Rise of Babylon ● Babylon was located on the Euphrates river near Baghdad, Iraq. ◆ Was once a Sumerian town. ◆ By 1800 BC it was home to a power government led by Hammurabi. ● Power declined after the death of Hammurabi. ❖ Invasions of Mesopotamia ➢ Hittites and Kassites ■ Hittites ● Built a strong kingdom in Asia Minor, or Turkey. ● Military Advantages: ◆ first people to master ironworking. ◆ Chariots: a wheeled, horse drawn cart used in battle. ● Captured Babylon around 1595 BC. ◆ Ruled did not last long after the Hittites’ king was killed by assassination. ■ Kassites­lived north of Babylon, captured the city and ruled for about 400 years. ➢ Assyrians: ■ Gained control of Babylon in 1200s BC ■ Overrun by invaders, but after 900 BC they began to conquer all of the Fertile Crescent along with parts of Asia Minor and Egypt ■ Military ● Advanced weaponry and chariots. ● Well organized ● Spread terror by looting villages and burning crops. ■ Nineveh: capital city ■ Demanded heavy taxes. ■ Kings ruled through local leaders. ■ Roads were built to link the empire. ➢ Chaldeans ■ Succession wars weakened the Assyrian government, which led to the rise of the Chaldeans from the Syrian Desert. ■ Nebuchadnezzar ● Rebuilt Babylon ● Installed the Hanging Gardens of Babylon ◆ Trees and flowers grew on its terraces and roofs. When you looked up from the ground it appeared to be hanging in mid air. ■ Admired the Sumerian languages and gods. ■ Astronomy ● Charted the positions of the stars and kept track of economic, political, and weather events. ❖ The Phoenicians ➢ Geography of Phoenicia ■ Today’s Lebanon ■ Urbanized ● Cities: Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos ■ Trading resources: Cedar ● Cedar trees were prized for their timber, a valuable trade item. ➢ Expansion of Trade ■ Used the Mediterranean Sea to transport goods. ■ Expert sailors. ■ Carthage ● Located on the northern coast of Africa, was the most famous of the Phoenicians’ colonies. Became the most powerful city on the Mediterranean. ■ Traded silverwork, ivory carvings, slaves, and cloth. ● Phoenician purple fabric with rich people all around the Mediterranean. ■ Alphabet: set of letters that can be combined to form words. ● Impact: made writing easier. .