Tigris & Euphrates River Valley

Map SUMER

Fertile Crescent

=Located in present day Iraq =Areas 1. Mesopotamia - Cities: Akkad, Babylon 2. Sumer -City: Ur

Farming

• T & E flooded at least once a year, left a thick bed of mud called silt • Used irrigation to produce a surplus of wheat and barley • Surpluses allowed for growth of villages and specialized jobs

City-States and power • • • city-state-a city and its surrounding lands functioning as an independent political unit (like a country functions today) Features: surrounded by a high wall, ziggurat (temple) in the center Priests ruled at first, during war time power was given to military commanders who eventually became rulers

Population growth • • More surplus=>more people=>more trade Cultural diffusion-process of a new idea or a product spreading from one culture to another

Polytheism • • • Believed in many different gods Various forces in nature were controlled by gods (ex. Floodings and droughts)

Epic of Gilgamesh-

earliest work of literature, told myths and legends of Mesopotamia

Social Structure

PRIESTS & KINGS WEALTHY MERCHANTS FARMERS AND WORKERS SLAVES

Science and Technology

• Wheel • The sail • Plow • 1st to use bronze • Writing system: Cuneiform

Early Rulers

• Hammurabi was the ruler of Babylon • Created a single code of laws and engraved them in stone, placing copies all over Babylon • 282 laws that dealt with everything from family relations to crime • WHAT WOULD YOU DO?