Chapter 2 Flashcards
WHat is the best known individual of anceint mesopotamian society?
IT was a man named Gilgamesh, the 5th king of Uruk
How long di d GIlgamesh rule?
For a period of 126 years according to one soruce and he lef his community in its conflicts wiht Kish
Gilgamesh was the subject of numberous what
poems and legends and mesopotamian badrds made him the centra figrue in a cycle of stories
What were the stories about Gilgamesh called?
The Epic of Gilgamesh
AS a figure of legend, Gilgamenhs was a figure of what?
Gilgamesh was the greatest hero figure of ancient MEsopotamia. ACcordint to the stories, the Gods granted Gilgamesh a perfect body and endowed him with a superhuman strength and courage
WHat do the stories of Gilgamesh recount?
The adventures of this hero and his cherishe d friend Enkidu as thyey sought fame. They killed an evil monster, rescued Uruk form a ravaging bull.
What happened to Enkidu?
HE offended the gods and died.
What does the name Mesopotamia mean?
The land between the rivers..and it refers specifically to the fertile valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern day Iraq
What was the climate life in Mesopotamic
It recieves little rainfall, but the Tigris and Eupharates brought large volumes of freshwater to the region.
Early cultivators realized that by tapping these rivers, building reservoirs and digging canals, they could do what?
irrigate fields of barley, wheat and peas
When did small scale irrigation begin in Mespotamia?
After 6000 BCE
Whtat did Artificial irrigation lead to?
iINcreased food supplies which in tun supported a rapidly increasing human population and attracted migrants from other regions
Where did Human numbers grow fast?
IN the land of SUmer in the southern half of Mesopotamia. It is possible that the people known as teh SUmerians already inhabited this land in the sixth century
By what day did people start consturcting irrigation networks?
5000 BCE
The wealth of SUmer also attracted migratnts from other regions, who were tey
Semitic people
What SEmitic tounges
Aramaic, HJebrew,and Phoenician
WHo were the Semitic peoples/
THey were nomaidc herders who went to MEsopotamia from the Arabian and Syrian deserts to the south and west. They often intermarried with the SUmarien, and they largely adapted to SUmerian ways
Beginning around 4000 BCE as human numbers increased in souther Mesopotamia, the Sumerains buit the worlds first
cities, they differed from the neolithic vilalge st hat proceded them.
What were Sumarian citties?
They were the centers of political and military authroity and their jurisdiction extended into the surrounding regions
What were some Sumerian cities that came up/
Eridu, Ur, Uruk, Lagash, NIppur, Kish and others dominated public affairs in Mesopotamia.
The cities faced what?
External and internal pressurs. They needed to maintain aorder and ensure taht inhabitants coopeated on community projects. With their expanding populations, the cities also needed to prevent conflicts between urban rsidents from escalating ito seriosu civil disorder
What were all of the cities really
City states
While preserving the peace, govenment authorities, also organized work on what>
Projects of value to the entire community.
Palaces, temples and defensive wall
dominated the SUmerian cities and all were the work of laborers recruited and coordinated by the government authorityes such as Gilgames
What were the ziggarouts?
They were distinctive step pyramids tha thoused temples and alters to the principal local deity
WHo was the fertility goddes
Inanna.
About how long did it take to cnostruct the ziggaruts
15000 laboreres for 10 hours per day for 5 years
Even more important than buildings were the irrigation systems that supported productive agricultrue and urban societ. As their popultiaoin grew, what did the SUmerians expand on?
Their networks of reservoirs and canals. The construction, maintenance and reparir of the irigation system required the labor of untold htousands of workers
What were some external pressurs that the Sumerian cities faceD?
The wealth that was stored attracted the interest of peopels outside the citie . This is because Mesopotamia is very easy to attack
What were the earliest Mespotamian communities?
They were assemblies of prominent men who made decisions on behalf the whole ocmmunity, Whenc rises arose, assemblise yielded their power who had full authority
How did the individual kings get established?
They gradually unsurped the power of these assembleis
Once they had organized effective states, what did MEsop[otamians venture to do?
They started to have conflicts between each other, that led to war. BEcause ambitious kings sought to punish or conquer their nieghbors at war
What di dthe King of Kish do?
he wanted to extend his rule,. TO southern Mesopotamia.
IN efforts to move beyond constant conflicts, what did conquerors dpo?
They worked to establish order on a larger scale.
Tehse regional empires emerged as SEmitic peopels such a the Akkadians and the Babylonians of north Mesopotamani becan to do what
Overshadow the mesopotamians
Who was teh creator of emmpire in MEsopotamia?
Sargon of Akkad, a cituy near kish and Bablyon
What was teh background oif Sargon?
He was a very talented administrator and a brilliant warrior. He began his carrier as a minister to the king of Kish. At aroudn 2334, he organized a coup against the King and went on the offensive
No one could overshadow Sargon’s empire, but what di dhe do?
Kept conquring
What did Sargon’s empire represent?
The conqueror worked to devise ways and emans to hold his possessions together. He relied heavily on his persnoal rpesence to maintian stability
What was the inconvienice that Sargon put on a lot of people?
The loging and ifnancial support. IT cause a lot of resentment for the conqueror.
BY controlling and taxing trade, Sargon obtained financial resources to maintain
his military juggernaut and transform his capitla of Akkad into the wealthiest and most powerful place in teh world
BY 2150, Sarggon’s empire had colllapsed because of?
Chronic rebellion
Which king styled himself oas the king of the four quarters of the world?
Hammurabi (1792-1750)
The Babylonian empire dominated Mesopotamia until about 1600 BEC. Hammurabi improved n Sargon’s administrative techniques by relying on
centralized beauraucratic rule and taxation
Instead of traveling form city to city withi an army, what did Hammurabi and his successors dO.
Stationed deputies in teh territories that theyc tonrolled.
INstead of condiscating supplies and other wealth in the unfortunate regions, what didi Hammurabia nd later rulers do>?
INstituted less ruinous but more regular taxes, collected by their officials
What was Hammurabi’s codeof law
IT was borrowed from his predecessors. IT prescribed high stadards of behavior and stern punishments for violators. They had death penalties, theft, and false accusation
What was the famous saying form teh cod
an eye for an eye
What did the code take account of?
Social stadnign. If a noble hurt another noble, he would have to hurt himself, but if he hurt a commoner,he could get off easily
What invader s attacked the babylonian empire
Hittitie assaults.
IMperial rule returned to Mesopotamia with the who
Assyrians, a hardy people from the nnorthern EMopotamia who had built a comapct state in teh Tigris river valley during the ninteenth centruy BCE
Taking advantage of their location on the trade routes running in all of the directions, what id dthe Assyrians fo?
built flourishing cities at Assur and Nineveh. They ha an army
How were Assyrian officers appointed
BEcause of merit, skilla nd bravery rather than noble birth or family connections. THey supplemented infantlry with cavalry forces and and ligth chariots
Who came up with the light chariots?
the HIttites
AFter the collapse of the Babylonian empire, the Assyrian state was one oamong many jockeying for power and position in
Norhtern Mesopotamia
AFter about 1300 BCE, ASsyrians gradually extended their authority to much of southwest Asia. THey made use of what
recently invented iron weapons. They had a lot of troo[s
What king is associated with thei high tide of Asyrian domination?
Assurbanipal
What were the administravive techniques pioneered by thier Babylonian predecessors that were used?
The code of Hammurabi, a mesopotamian literature, and other cholarly things
What brought down the wealth of the Assyrian empires?
The internal rebellion adn external assault
For half a century form 600 to 500 BCE, who dmonated
Babylon under King NEbuchadnezzar, lavishe wealth adn resources on his capital city
In the NEw Babylonian Empire, what was there?
THee were a lot of decorated papaces and defensive walls were very thick there
With the emergence of cities and the congregation of dense populations in urban spaces, what happened?
specialized labor proliferated. The mesopotamian economy became very divese
What was expanded when a lot of people congregated in cities
The amount of specialized labor that could be done
Metallurgical innovations ranked among what
The most important developments that came about because of specialized labor. IN neolithic times, craftsman had fashioned copper into tools and jewelry.
What did MEsopotamian metalworkers discover about metal
That if they allooyed copper with tin, they could maek much harder and stronger implements
What military effects did Bronze have an impact
on military affairs as craftsmen turned out swords, spears, axes, shields, and armor made of hthje recently invented metals
