Royal City of Ur, Sumer/Akkad/ BabylonMesopotamia, Inventions, Religion Flashcards
Flooding of Tigris and Euphrates
Pros- It gave silt which made land fertile
Cons- it was unpredictable and it could flood crops
Result- made people create Gods to explain disasters
Royal City of Ur
Ancient city
Graves contained useful information
Fertile Crescent
The region where there is fertile soil
Where first civilizations appeared due to river valleys
Sumer’s history
Switch from nomadic life to farming
Systematic agriculture discovered
Mesopotamia meaning
Land between the rivers
Farming tools
Plow and Ox
Wheel
Inventions
- Plow and ox
- Cuneiform
- Potter’s wheel
- Wheel (3000BC)
- Mud bricks
- Arch
- Number system based off sixty
- Calendar
- Sundial
- Bronze
Ziggurat
A huge square building with a distinctive stepped shape
Kings (beliefs on kings)
Believed to be chosen by God
-so going against them was going against God (divine right)
Divine Right
The king was chosen by God and can communicate with him
How can divine right backfire
If the king dies or is killed/usurped it can be said that it was God’s will
Taxes
- Having a house (spend time working), livestock, food
- Pays for army king, repairs
Hierarchy
- King
- Priest
- Nobles (kings workers)
- Peasants (farmers)
- Slaves
Economy
- Barter Economy
- Textiles
- Pottery
- Metalwork
- Barley/Wheat
- Imports: copper, tin, timber
Society
- Hierarchy
- 90% farmers
- Slaves were owned by the rich
Cities
- Uruk
- Ur
- Eridu
- Each city was dedicated to a God
- If cities grew powerful
- They had a ziggurat at the center, the noble houses surrounding it, and then the peasantry
Religion
Polytheistic
Rulers
- Priests and priestesses held great power
- this caused a theocracy
Royal Standard of Ur
An artifact found at a royal cemetary
- Depicts war and peace
- useful to scholars
- side 1: king recieving prisoners
- side 2: soldiers killing enemies
- side 3: men carrying tributes to their conquerors
Why are their inventions still useful today
We use a form of them
How were the Gods
Easily angered, needed sacrifice
Babylon, Sumer, Akkad
Kingdoms
Akkad
- North of Sumer
- Kingdom
Fall of Akkad
- Naramsin attacked nomads who attacked him back
- other kingdoms attacked him
- then Hammurabi came
Sargon
Took over city states -c. 2340BC
-Was cupbearer to old king and took him over
First empire
Sargon’s Empire
