The First Civilizations

1. The First Civilizations Chapter 1, Section 2 Mrs. Thompson 8th Grade World History

2. Mesopotamians

3. Mesopotamian Civilization Main Ideas: Began in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. “Land between two rivers”

5. Ancient Mesopotamia

6. Over thousands of years, some of the early farming villages developed in complex societies called civilizations CIVILIZATIONS INCLUDE: • Cities • Organized governments • Art • Religion • Class divisions • Writing

8. Mesopotamian Civilization What is civilization? a complex society with cities, an organized government, art, religion, a system of writing, and class divisions

9. Why Were River Valleys Important? The 1st civilizations arose in river valleys because: 1. Good farming conditions made it easy to feed large numbers of people. 2. Rivers also made it easy to get from one place to another and trade.

10. Why Were River Valleys Important? Trade provided a way for goods and idea to move from place to place. The growth of cities led to the need for organization and the formation of governments.

11. Leaders took charge of: • Organizing food supplies • Building projects • Assembling armies • Making laws to keep order People in river valleys began to: • Develop religion and the arts • Invent ways of writing to pass on information • Create calendars to keep track of planting seasons

12. The Rise of Sumer The earliest known civilization arose in the Tigris and Euphrates River Valley. The area was called Mesopotamia and it was located where southern Iraq is today.

13. Mesopotamia Mesopotamiais Greek for “the land between the rivers.” The area between the Tigris and Euphrates is also called the Fertile Crescent because it is a curving strip of land that extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf

14. The Ancient Fertile Crescent Area The Middle East: “The Cradle of Civilization”

15. Mesopotamia • Mesopotamia had a hot, dry climate and depended on the flooding of the rivers to provide water for farming. • The flooding was very unpredictable, so the farmers believed they needed gods to help them. • Eventually farmers learned to build dams and channels for irrigationto water their crops.http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/geography/challenge/cha_set.html

16. Try your luck at being a farmer in ancient Mesopotamia!! • http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/geography/challenge/cha_set.html

17. Mesopotamian Civilization What effect did irrigation have on the people of Mesopotamia? Irrigation allowed farmers to grow plenty of food. More food meant more people could be fed, so the population grew.

18. Sumerians By 3000 B.C. many cities had formed in Mesopotamia in a region called Sumer

19. Sumerian cities were isolated from each other by geography and each had their own government. Sometimes the cities of Sumer went to war with one another. What were City-States?

20. What were City-States? • Sumerians built walls around their cities from river mud mixed with crushed reeds to form sun-dried bricks. • They also built homes and temples, from sun-dried bricks. Ziggurat http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/ziggurats/challenge/cha_set.html

21. Gods and Rulers Sumerian Religion – Polytheistic or belief in many gods or “deities” Innana Enki

22. The Annunaki

23. Gods and Rulers • Sumerians believed in many gods, each thought to have power over a natural force or human activity. This is called polythetheism For example: flooding • To please their gods, Sumerians built grand temples called ziggurats to the chief god.

24. Ziggurat at Ur • Temple • “Mountain of the Gods” • Ziggurat means “mountain of gold” or “hill of heaven.”

25. At the top of the ziggurat was a shrine where priests and priestesses could enter and pray to the gods. • Priests and priestesses were powerful, controlled much of the land, and may have been rulers. Religion http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/tombs/challenge/cha_set.html

26. Eventually, war-hero kings took control of the government and made their position hereditary. • Hereditary means that the oldest male inherits the right to rule. • Sumerian kings lived in large palaces while the ordinary people lived in small mud-brick houses. Sumer

27. Mesopotamian City-State

28. What to do in Sumer? • Most people in Sumer farmed but some were artisans who made metal products, cloth, or pottery. • Sumerian traders and merchants traded tools, wheat, and barley to other cities in exchange for copper, tin, and timber.

29. Mesopotamian Harp

30. Sophisticated Metallurgy Skillsin Mesopotamia

31. Board Game From Ur http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/tombs/challenge/cha_set.html

32. Society • People in Sumer were divided into 3 social classes: • The upper class included kings, priests, and government officials. • The middle class included artisans, merchants, farmers, and fishers. It was the largest group. • The lower class included enslaved people who worked on farms or in the temples.

33. Society • Enslaved people were forced to serve others and were thought of as property. People who were slaves usually were: 1. Prisoners of war 2. Criminals 3. Debtors

34. Society • In Sumer, men and women had separate roles: • Only men attended school and they headed households. • Women had rights, could buy and sell property, and could run businesses.