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Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia. Unit III, Section 1. Section Overview. This section will allow students to develop a basic understanding of one of the World’s earliest civilization, Mesopotamia.

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Mesopotamia

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  1. Mesopotamia Unit III, Section 1

  2. Section Overview This section will allow students to develop a basic understanding of one of the World’s earliest civilization, Mesopotamia. We will look at physical features, historical events, and artistic attributes. Through this foundation we will develop further into the region as we look at the Middle East & North Africa as a whole in Unit III, Section 2.

  3. Section Objectives • Define the geographic make up of the Fertile Crescent region. • Analyze the cultural significance of the peoples of the region. • Understand how the region is a cradle of agriculture, learning, and civilization.

  4. Geographic Features • Known as the Fertile Crescent • Between Tigris & Euphrates Rivers • Arable lands on flood plains • Dangerous & unpredictable floods • Southern Border • Persian Gulf • Northern Border • Zagros Mountains

  5. Urban Centers • Babylon • Uruk • Ur • Excavated by Sir C. Leonard Woolley • Discovered over 1800 graves and 16 royal tombs • Vast wealth • Gold, silver, electrum, lapis lazuli, & carnelian • Animal and human sacrifice

  6. Art • Royal tombs gave insight into Mesopotamian artistic features • Highlights • Bearded Bulls • Big eyes • Curly hair • Clasped hands • Fringed garments • Votive figures

  7. “Ram Caught in a Thicket”

  8. Women’s Headdresses

  9. Jewelry of Queen Puabi

  10. Bull-headedHarp

  11. Silver Lions Head

  12. Gold Vessels

  13. The Standard of Ur

  14. Ceremonial Dagger

  15. Sumerians • 3000 B.C.E. • 1st Civilization • City-States • Central administrative city • Smaller surrounding villages • Farm/pasture lands • Developed arch & architecture • Ziggurats • City Center • Tombs, temples, & storehouses

  16. Development of Writing • Pictograms- Pictures • Ideograms- Ideas • Phonogram- Sound • Cuneiform • Wedge shaped • Stylus used to make markings • Pressed into wet clay • Baked to become permanent • Library of Nineveh • Cylinder Seals • Form of formal signature

  17. …Continued • Used practically and decoratively • Scribes • Highly trained • Read and write for a fee • Henry C. Rawlinson • Translated cuneiform in 1835 • Rock of Behistun

  18. Edubbas • School for boys ages 5-15 • Memorized law, poetry, & history • Other Classes: Divination, medicine, mathematics, & astronomy • Math based on 60, used decimals, spheres/cubes used • Year round schooling • 25 days a month • Extremely strict

  19. Religion • Polytheistic • Pantheon of gods, demons, and monsters • Patron gods/goddesses of cities, trades, and natural aspects • Major deities • Enlil- god of wind, ruler of heaven and Earth’s people • Ishtar- goddess of fertility, love, and war • Nabu- god of wisdom and learning • Ereshkigal- goddess of the underworld

  20. Daily Life • Male dominated society • Women’s place was in the home • Own property and obtain a divorce • Farming vital part of life • Onions, barley, turnips, grapes • Beer and wine widely available • Highly trained class of artisans, priests, and craftsmen • Caste of slaves • Homes built of sun-dried mud brick • System of credit and loans (banking)

  21. Intermittent Periods • 2500 B.C.E. Sumer falls to Akkad’s King Sargon • 2050 B.C.E. Immigration • Indo-Europeans (Southern Russia) • Amorites & Semites (Arabia) • Hittites (Turkey) • Introduced horse drawn two-wheel chariots • Replaced donkey/oxen driven four-wheeled wagons

  22. Hammurabi • Babylonian king • Ruled from 1792-1750 B.C.E. • Code of Hammurabi • Written on a stele • 282 laws • “Eye for an Eye” policy

  23. Assyria • Founded around 2000 B.C.E. • City-states under multiple imperial rulers through early history • Begins expanding outward in 1392 B.C.E. • Grew into great military power throughout known world • Ruthless warriors and leaders • Unmerciful and severe rulers • Deport/importation of people groups throughout expansion periods

  24. Post-Assyrian World • Destroy in 612 B.C.E. • Nebuchadnezzar of the Chaldeans • Re-established Babylon (Neo-Babylonian Empire) • Ishtar Gate/Hanging Gardens • King of the Book of Daniel • Neo-Babylonians fall under Belshazzar’s control • Persia takes power

  25. Ishtar Gate

  26. Hanging Gardens of Babylon

  27. Persia • Rose in 539 B.C.E. • Cyrus the Great • Expanded empire • Largest world empire to date • Bureaucratic system • Four capitals • Ecbatana • Susa • Babylon • Persepolis

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