Mesopotamia Flashcards
What was the writing in Mesopotamia?
Cuneiform
What were the river valleys in Mesopotamia?
Tigris & Euphrates Rivers
Religion in Mesopotamia
-Told people to believe in one god (monotheism)
-Called Jews
-Torah - most sacred text/first 5 -books of the Hebrew Bible
-Talmud - additional laws & customs
Judaism
Earliest recorded works of literature
-Gilgamesh - historic king of Uruk
-Gilgamesh (hero) and his companion Enkidu voyage
Epic of Gilgamesh
- Unpredictable floods
- Made soil fertile
- Built irrigation systems to help bring water from flood to their homes
- Main source of water for agriculture
Tigris & Euphrates Rivers
What is the religion of Mesopotamia?
Polytheism
Law codes that were created by Hammurabi in Mesopotamia
-There were 300 laws that were carved into stone pillars & placed in public view
-Civil laws
-Criminal law
-Punishment varied according to social status
Code of Hammurabi
Polytheistic
- Storm-god was the most powerful god
-Largest building in Uruk was the temple to Ishtar
-Human king played an important role in religion
-He was believed to be the intermediary between gods and human beings
Sumerian religious beliefs
-Sundial to keep time
-Astronomy - chart constellations
-Math - # system based on 60
-Plow
-Sailboat
-Ziggurat
-Cuneiform
-Epic of Gilgamesh
Sumerian achievements
Largest structure inside each temple; stepped platform made from bricks
Ziggurat
-Renewed covenant with God
-Led jews out of Egypt -> left and went to the desert (40 years)
Moses
-God gave these laws to Moses
-Teach people to lead a kind, fair, and honest lives
10 commandments
“father of the Israelites”
Abraham
Civil laws
Personal
Criminal laws
Offenses against others
How did the Sumerians get their wealth?
Agriculture and herding
Believed the universe was divided into good & bad, light & darkness
Zoroaster
-Ashur was the chief
-Only interested in preserving tradition and the arts & sciences of armed conflict
-Earned a reputation for being the most feared warriors in history
-Relied on terror and intimidation
Downfall of empire:
-Alliances between the people that suffered from the them rose up & destroyed the empire
Assyrian Empire
Dividing the government into different parts
Bureaucracy
-Emperor of the Persian empire
-He created a bureaucracy
-He enhanced trade and encouraged the use of coins
Darius I
Persian Empire
- Huge empire
- Darius I was the emperor
