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9/23 Focus: Early civilizations developed in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers

9/23 Focus: Early civilizations developed in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers There were few natural barriers in this region which made it a crossroads where people shared customs and ideas. Important Terms Cultural Diffusion, City-State Do Now

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9/23 Focus: Early civilizations developed in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers

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  1. 9/23 Focus: • Early civilizations developed in Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers • There were few natural barriers in this region which made it a crossroads where people shared customs and ideas. • Important Terms • Cultural Diffusion, City-State • Do Now • Identify two characteristics of a civilization? *******Essay due Wednesday 9/28******

  2. Cities & Government Public Works Religion Civilization Social Classes Specialization Of Labor Writing & Record Keeping Arts Architecture

  3. Mesopotamian Civilizations Sumer and Babylon

  4. Mesopotamia • Fertile Crescent • “The Land between the Two Rivers” • Tigris and Euphrates Rivers • Fertile farmland from silt left by floods • Floods unpredictable • Lack of natural barriers allowed frequent migrations of people and invasions • Cultural diffusion • the exchange of ideas, customs, and goods between cultures

  5. Sumer • The first civilization to develop in Mesopotamia • 5,500 B.C.E • City-States along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers • An independent political unit with its own government • Ur, Uruk, Kish, Lagesh • protected by defensive walls

  6. Sumer • Ziggurats were found at the center of each city • A large, tiered, structure • Built for the god or goddess of each city

  7. Religion • Were polytheistic • Believed Gods controlled natural events • Viewed their gods as hostile and unpredictable • Similar to their environment • Priests held high status in Sumer • Worked to keep the gods pleased

  8. Government • War chiefs often became Kings • Kings performed rituals to please the gods • Dynasties developed • A series of rulers from one family

  9. 9/26 Focus: • The first known civilization arose in Mesopotamia, and its culture and innovations influenced later civilizations in the region for thousands of years. • Important Terms • Cuneiform • Do Now • Describe the impact that a lack of natural barriers had on Mesopotamia. *******Essay due Wednesday 9/28******

  10. Trade • Traded with people across Southwest Asia • Cultural diffusion • Lacked many natural resources • Traded for timber, stone, metals

  11. Writing • Cuneiform • Form of writing that used sharp tools to make wedge shaped symbols on clay tablets • Scribes had a high place in society

  12. Literature • The Gilgamesh Epic • One of the oldest surviving works of literature • 4,000 year old story • Sumerian hero who seeks immortality • Originally passed on through oral tradition

  13. Closure • Explain how the Sumerians viewed their gods. • What geographic characteristics of Mesopotamia encouraged cultural diffusion?

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