Chapter Two Flashcards
The best known person in mesopotamian society was
Gilgamesh. The 5th king of uruk
When did gilgamesh rule?
He ruled at around 2750 for a period of 126 years.
What were some characteristics of Gilgamesh?
He was a hero that had th eperfect body and was endowed with supperhuman strength and courage.
The stories of Gilgamesh and Enkindu explored themes of
frendhip, loyalty, fear of death
As people congregated in cities, what did they need?
A way to resolve disputes. SO, they recognized political authorities.
What did cities foster?
Specialized labor and they could trade
During the 4th millenium, what happened to the human population?
It increased rapidly in mesopotamia
What does the name Mesopotamia mean?
It means the land between the rivers, refering to the area of the valleys of the Tigris and Eupharates rivers in Iraq
What did the two rivers do?
brought constand resources, letting cultivators tapp them and start small scale irrigation
What were the small scale irrigations for?
They wanted to irrigate fields of barley, wheat and peas
What did artificial irrigation lead to
increased food supplies which supported a rapidly growing population
Where did human population grow especially fast?
In the land of Sumer, the southern half of mesopotamia.
Who inhabited Sumer
Sumerians, in the 6t millenium, but it is likey that they were migran s
By 5000 BCE, what were the Sumerians doing?
They were constructing elaborate irrigation netweos that helped them realize abundant agricultural harvests
By 3000, BCE< what did the poplation of Sumer approach
100,000
Many of the migrants that sumer attracted were
speakers of the Semitic tounges. Aramaic, Hebrew, and Phoenician
Semitic people wer e
nomadic hearders who went to mesopotamia from the arabian and syrian deserts to the south and west. They intermarried with the sumerians
At around 4000 BCE, what did Sumerians do
Built the cites, center fro political and military autority
