Mesopotamia 8 Flashcards
Mesopotamia means…
-“land between two rivers”(Greek)
-“cradle of civilzations”(Greek)
What two rivers is mesopotamia in between?
Tigris and Eupharates
Why was land so fertile?
annual flooding brought silt that made the ideal land to farm
silt
small particles of rich soil and tiny rocks good for growing crops
Fertile Cresent
an area of rich farmland extending from the Perisan Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea and into Egypt’s Nile delta
Mesopotamia is located in present-day…
Iraq
What was used to control the flow of water from the rivers?
canals, dikes, dams
Irrigation
a way of supplying water to an area of land
Canals
human-made waterways
Surplus
an overbundance of food
Most popular crops for farmers to grow
grain, wheat, barley ,and dates
Sumer Civilzation
-developed the world’s first civilzation
-made up of city-states
-religion played a huge role
-Sumerians were polytheistic
-Ziggurats were the focal point of the city-state
City-State
a political unit that consists of a walled city with rural areas of land on the outskirts of the walls
Polytheistic
the belief of many gods
Ziggurat
a temple tower which rose above each city and was the focal point
Priests significance
they performed religious ceremonies to gain the gods favor
City-State Characteristics
-large
-walls around it
-farmland outside of wall
-developed armies to protect
Sumerians Developed
-wheels
-sailboats
-sanitation
-chariot
-medicine
-Number 60 system mathmatics
-roads
-cuneiform
Wheel purpose
-used for carts and wagon
-plow for farming
-potter’s wheel
Sanitatoin purpose
-sewer systems
Medience purpose
develpoed medience for treating for wounds/illness
Cuneiform
-use symbols called pictographs
-they used clay tablets and a stylus
Scribes
writers, who kept track of items people traded and wrote down government records.
Epics
long poems that tell the stories of heroes
Social Hierarchy
society is ranked by class
Order of social hierarchy
- Kings
- Priests/ Military Commanders
- Merchants, Artisans, Traders (Skilled Workers)
- Farmers (Unskilled workers)
- Slaves (Conquered People)
Akkad Empire
-Sagron broke the peace between Sumer and Akkad by attmepting to extend Akkadian territory. He built a new capital and conquered all Sumerian city-states. He established the world’s first empire, which stretched from Persian Gulf to Mediteranean Sea.
-developed their own language to unfiy land
-eventually fell b/c future kings could not maintain control of such a large area of land
Military tactics
tight battle foramtions using a row a sheilds in front of a row of spears
Babylon
-laws were based on the authority of the king and the gods.
Hammurabi
Babylonian king who unfied his empire by creating a uniform, written code of laws
Hammurabi’s Code
282 laws uesd to maintain order- laws ranged on everything from trade,loans, and theft to marriage, injury, and murder- specific crimes had specific penalties.
Assyria
-extended their empire througout the entire Fertile Cresent
-used horses and iron weapons in battle
-utilized siege warfare
-created the first aqueducts that brought fresh drinking water from 30 miles away
Siege warfare
a strategy in which army soldiers ram to break walls and moveable towers to climb over walls
Neo-Babylon
-King Nebuchadnezzar regained control of Mesopotamia after the Assyrian empire fell.
-took control of land outside Mesopotamia, namely Syria and Canaan (present day Israel& home of the Jews)
-restored the city of Babylon that was destroyed by the Assryians
-
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
-no physical evidence of the Gardens
-possibly a Hanging Garden in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh
-1 of the 7 ancient wonders of the world
-decorated palace with gardens planted on rooftops and tall terraces to make it look like the city was built into a mountian side
Phoenicia
-skilled seafarers sailed at night over open ocean using the North Star (avoided being robbed and helped dominate trade routes at sea)
-colonized islands and terriories throughtout the Mediterreanean like Greece,Italy, and North Africa
-Spread their culture and the alphabet (22 letters) throughout the Mediterranean- led to the development of many modern languages
Culture
-belifs, traditions, customs and social structures shared by a specific group of people
-Language, religion, holidays, customs, traditions, food, clothing, architecture, laws, education
Civilzation
an advanced, complex society
-governemnt, system of writing, humanities, economy, urbanization, specialization
