Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia **//3000-1750 B.C.-Kaylee Stock, Makenzie Preston, Nicole Johnson//** If a man destroys the eye of another man, they shall destroy his eye. -Hammurabi

Ancient Mesopotamia, the land between two rivers, is between the Tigris and Euphrates river. The purpose of the people was to serve their gods and goddesses by giving them precious stones, food, and tributes. Mesopotamia was the first civilization that we know of and that is how it gets the name, "cradle of civilization". Mesopotamia is now in the region today known as Iraq. Sumerians were the first inhabitants of this region and advanced in their culture and technological inventions like levees.

This resulted in the first civilization of people who didn't have to be nomadic and wonder around. This way the people were able to settle down and start their governments. Once city-states and governments developed, ziggurats were invented as a temple, similar to the early Egyptian pyramids. Ziggurats were made of bricks made from dried mud. Sumerians developed a writing system called cuneiform writing, cuneiform ment wedge shaped. Clay tablets were then used and left to dry in the sun and become permanent records.

Even more important discoveries that the Sumerians founded went to the advancing of the world we know today by inventing the calendar and the plow. Without Sumerian advances in technology in the ancient world, human development would have been delayed and disrupted the everyday life we know and have become accustomed to today. When it came to the Mesopotamians religion they worshipped multiple gods and was therefore a Polytheistic society. Each God and Goddess had their own personal name and controlled specific aspects of their life.

** Important People:** Hammurabi- He made the Law code of Hammurabi. He made this so he could regulate the relations of his people then they could live in harmony. Sumerians- The creators of the first Mesopotamian civilization. Akkadians- Semitic speaking people north of the Sumerian city state. Sargon- Leader of the Akkadians. Gilgamesh- part man and part god, legendary king in "The Epic of Gilgamesh"



**Important Facts:** 3500 B.C.- Cities growing across Mesopotamia 3200 B.C.- Pictograph record keeping 3000 B.C.- Signs used to write sumarian 2800 B.C.- Rulers like Gilgamesh 2600 B.C.- Royal Tombs of Ur 2400 B.C.- signs become cuniform 2300 B.C.- Sumarian cities united by King Sargon 2100 B.C.- Ur becomes a capitol for a new empire **Terms:** **__City-States__**-The ancient Sumerians organized themselves into competing city-states. A Sumerian city-state consisted of the city, the surrounding mud brick wall, and the surrounding farmland. **__Ziggurats__**- was a temple. It was located in the center of each Sumerian city-state. It housed the city-state's patron god. The term ziggurat means "mountain of god" or "hill of heaven." **__Cuneiform__**- The ancient Sumerians created the world's first writing system known as cuneiform. The term cuneiform means "wedge-shaped." **__LEVEES__**- In order to control the destructive seasonal flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, the ancient Sumerians constructed levees, or raised areas of earth, in order to hold back the floodwaters. **__IRRIGATE__**- The ancient Sumerians irrigated, or watered, their crops by using a system of irrigation canals. By devising such a irrigation system, the ancient Sumerians were able to successfully establish a permanent civilization. **__STYLUS__**- The ancient Sumerians used a stylus to write. A stylus is a wedge-shaped instrument made out of reed. The Sumerians wrote on wet clay tablets with a stylus. **__SCRIBE__**- After graduating from a Sumerian school, a young man became a scribe, or a writer. __PRIEST__- KINGIn early ancient Sumerian history, the powerful priests were also the kings of the city-states

[|History of Ziggurats] [|geography of Mesopotamia] [|Video of history of Mesopotamia] [|Maps of Mesopotamia] [|Ancient clay tablets]

media type="youtube" key="Q_0N7E7nScc" height="346" width="462" __**Timeline of Important Events:**__ **2750 BC**- Gilgamesh rules Uruk **2350 BC**- Sargon established the Akkadian Empire **2000 BC**- Sumerians developed symbols into a complete writing system called cuneifrom **1790 BC**- Hammurabi conquers Babylon and reunites Mesopotamia **1758 BC**- Hammurabi write Code of Hammurabi **721 BC**- Assyria conquers the kingdom of Israel **490 BC**- Darius I invades Greece - Persian Wars **334 BC**- Conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great
 * 3500 BC-** Sumerian city-states form
 * 3300 BC-** Sumerian writing on clay tablets
 * 3250 BC-** Wheel used