Chapter 4 Mesopotamia

Lesson 4.1 The Sumarians

The first civilizations in Mesopotamia

  1. The first civilizations developed in the river valleys of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China. The need for ______greatly influenced where people settled.
  1. The Two Rivers
  1. Meopotamia means “______” in Greek. The civilization began between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers, which run parallel to one another from the mountains in South East Asia to the Persian Gulf
  2. Mesopotamia is located inside what is known as the ______, which includes parts of the modern countries of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Isreal, and Jordan.
  1. Early Valley Dwellers
  1. Historians believe the first people settled in Mesopotamia around 7000 B.C., and were hunters and herders.
  2. By 4000 B.C. some of these settlers moved to the plains of Tigris-Euphrates valley and built ______along the two rivers.
  1. Taming the Rivers
  1. Farmers in Mesopotamia depended on water from the rivers for their crops
  2. In the summer when there was ______and the rivers became very low. Because of this, farmers did not have enough water for their crops in the fall.
  3. In the spring, rain and melting snow from the ______Mountains caused these rivers to overflow. At times, violent ______swept away crops, and homes
  4. These floods could also be helpful. Floodwaters left behind ______, or small particles of soil, which were good for farming.
  5. People in Mesopotamia learned to build dams and dig canals to allow the water source into their fields. This method of water crops is called ______.
  6. Irrigation allowed farmers to grow a ______of food.
  7. Surplus of food meant not all men were needed to work at farming, allowing them to pick up other trades and crafts.
  8. As artisans made more goods, people’s lives changed. People began to live together in areas that favored ______and several cities developed in Sumer, a region of Southern Mesopotamia.

Sumer’s Civilization

  1. People of Sumer were known as ______
  2. Sumerians built the first cities in Southwest Asia, which became centers of ______and controlled the lower part of the Tigris and Euphrates River Valley
  1. City-States Arise
  2. Mudflats and patches of scorching ______surrounded Sumer’s cities.
  3. Because of this natural isolation from one another, these cities became independent, and formed their own ______
  4. In gaining political and economic control over the individual cities and the lands around them, ______were formed.
  5. Archaeologists believe each city state was protected by high walls built from mud from the rivers as their main building material
  6. Often city-states went to war with one another over ______and political borders, but in times of peace, they traded with one another and formed alliances.
  7. Gods, Priests and Kings
  8. Sumerian people worshipped many Gods, a practice known as ______
  9. They believed different Gods guided various aspects of their lives, and honored the specific God they thought would help with that activity
  10. To honor their Gods, Sumerians built large temples called ______in their city-state.
  11. In the early days, the ______of the ziggurat ruled the city states
  12. Later, Sumerian kings claimed they received the power to rule from the gods.
  13. The rule of the king was ______, meaning after he died, his son would take over
  14. Social Groups
  15. Sumer people were divided into ______, generally from the time they were born.
  16. The upper class consisted of kings, priests, warriors, and government officials
  17. Middle class consisted of merchants, farmers, fishermen, and artisans
  18. The lowest class was made up of enslaved people
  19. Men were the head of the household. Boys attended school and were trained for ______
  20. Women ran the household and had few civil rights
  21. Farmers and Traders
  22. The major crops in Sumer were wheat, barley and ______
  23. Dams and waterways ran through the farmland to water crops
  24. Sumerians traded to get items such as ______and ______, which were not found in their community.
  25. Trade routes linked Sumer to places such as Turkey, India, and Egypt

Sumerian Contributions

  1. Writing
  2. The writing system developed by the Sumerians is the earliest known system in the world
  3. Their system of writing was called ______
  4. Written on clay
  5. Characters represented names, ______and objects
  6. Few people learned to write cuneiform –mostly boys from wealthy families
  7. ______, or official record keepers, wrote documents recording important aspects of everyday life
  8. Some were judges or government officials
  9. Technology and Mathematics
  10. Sumerians were the first people to use the ______
  11. Carts pulled by donkeys
  12. The chariot
  13. For river travel, Sumerians invented the ______
  14. The Wooden plow, Potters wheel, Bronze –(combining copper and tin) were other technological advancements
  15. Astronomy and Mathematics
  16. ______minute hour, ______second minute, and ______degree circle
  17. ______Month calendar based on the cycles of the moon
  18. Planting season based on positions of the ______

Lesson 4.2 Mesopotamian Empires

The First Empires

  1. As the strength of Sumer faded, powerful kingdoms arose in northern Mesopotamia and built ______.
  2. An empire is a group of ______controlled by one ruler
  1. Who was Sargon?
  2. The kingdom of Akkad developed in N. Mesopotamia and was ruled by Sargon
  3. Sargon conquered the remaining Sumerian Cities. In doing so, he built the world’s ______
  4. Eventually, his empire would extend to include all people of Mesopotamia
  5. Who was Hammurabi?
  6. West of Mesopotamia, was a city called ______.
  7. Their king, Hummurabi, began conquering the lands north and south, creating the Babylonian Empire
  8. Hammurabi’s Code
  9. Hammurabi was best known for creating a ______for his empire
  10. These laws dealt with crime and established “an eye for an eye” system of ______
  11. The laws also protected the ______, for example it protected wives from their abusive husbands

The Assyrian Empire

  1. Assyria was an empire which arose about ______years after the empire of Hammurabi and extended into four present day countries; Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Iraq
  2. The Assyrian Army
  3. The Assyrians built a large and powerful ______to defend their territory
  4. The army was made of ______(foot soldiers), ______(horse soldiers) and charioteers
  5. Weapons consisted of slingshots, bows and arrows, swords, and spears
  6. The Assyrians robbed people, set crops on fire, and either took tributes or forced payments from conquered people
  7. One of the keys to the success of the Assyrian army was ______
  8. The ______, located to the North of the Assyrian Empire mastered the production of iron and shared this technology with the Assyrians
  9. Kings and Government
  10. Assyrian Kings divided their empire into provinces, or ______
  11. Roads were built to connect each province and the king chose officials to collect______and ______in each province.
  12. Life in Assyria
  13. ______were built based on what they learned from Mesopotamian people
  14. Had ______with harsh punishments
  15. Writings were based on Babylonian writing
  16. Worshipped many of the same Gods
  17. Assyrians wrote and collected stories
  18. Built one of the worlds first ______
  19. Farming and trade were both very important
  20. Brought in wood and metal from war away to supply their empire with building materials

The Chaldean Empire

  1. In about 650 B.C., fighting broke out to determine who would be the next Assyrian ruler.
  2. While Assyria was in turmoil, the Chaldean’s took power
  3. A New Empire
  4. About ______B.C., the Chaldeans moved to ______and were immediately conquered by the Assyrians. The Chaldeans hated their new rulers and never fully submitted to the Assyrian empire
  5. Around 627 B.C. another group who wanted to break free from Assyrian rule, the Medes, joined the Chaldeans
  6. In 612 B.C., together they burned the Assyrian capital. The Assyrian empire quickly ______
  7. Most of the Chaldeans were ______of the Babylonians
  8. The city of Babylon was chosen to serve as their capital, and because of this, the Chaldean empire is sometimes called the New Babylonian Empire
  9. The Greatness of Babylon
  1. King Nebuchadnezzar of the Chaldeans rebuilt Babylon making it the largest and richest city in the world
  2. Babylon featured:
  1. Grand Palaces and ______,
  2. A 300-foot ziggurat with a gleaming gold roof
  3. Gardens built like huge steps made up the ______, considered one of the seven wonders of the world
  4. Many new canals, making the land more fertile
  1. To pay for all these building projects, and to maintain his army, Nebuchadnezzar had to collect very high ______
  2. Merchants came to the city in caravans to buy Babylonian goods –pottery, cloth, baskets, and jewelry
  1. Trade made Babylon wealthy
  1. Advancements under the Chaldeans included the invention of the______to tell time, and being the first civilization to follow the seven-day week
  1. The Fall of the Empire
  2. After Nebuchadnezzar died, a series of weak kings ruled the empire
  3. ______and slow trade further weakened the empire
  4. In 539 B.C. The ______took advantage and captured Babylon and made Mesopotamia part of their empire while allowing the Chaldeans to maintain their culture