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3. Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent.pdfChapter 3 Study Guide.pdfKey Terms
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3.1 Geography of the Fertile Crescent
ISN pgs. 40-41
- Fertile Crescent
- silt
- irrigation
- canals
- surplus
- division of labor
3.2 The Rise of Sumer
ISN pgs. 42-43
- rural
- urban
- city-state
- Gilgamesh
- Sargon
- empire
- polytheism
- priests
- social hierarchy
3.3 Sumerian Achievements
ISN pgs. 44-45
- cuneiform
- pictographs
- scribe
- epics
- architecture
- ziggurat
3.4 Later Peoples of the Fertile Crescent
ISN pgs. 46-47
- monarch
- Hammurabi's Code
- chariot
- Nebuchadnezzar
- alphabet
3.1 Geography of the Fertile Crescent
3.1 Geography of the Fertile Crescent
The Fertile Crescent is the region in the Middle East which curves, like a quarter-moon shape, from the Persian Gulf, through modern-day southern Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and northern Egypt.
The flooding deposited silt, which is fertile, rich, soil, on the banks of the rivers every year. This is why Mesopotamia is part of the fertile crescent, an area of land in the Middle East that is rich in fertile soil and crescent-shaped.
The Tigris and Euphrates get their water from high in the Turkish mountains. The reason the Nile has such “gentle” floods is because the melting waters from Africa’s mountains flow first into lakes (Victoria and Tana) before continuing down the river. Mesopotamia doesn’t have this protection system. Their floods were larger and more unpredictable, so the people had to come up with a system or move.
Being smart and hard workers, they built their own series of dikes, canals and even city walls to protect themselves and their crops from these floods.
Being smart and hard workers, they built their own series of dikes, canals and even city walls to protect themselves and their crops from these floods.
Farmers in ancient Sumer grew imported crops like barley in a land without much rainfall and with a limited water supply. One of the ways that they were able to do this was through developing a system for controlling the flow and direction of water from the river.
Canals and irrigation ditches were built for redirecting the water to the fields used for farming. Regulators were then used to raise and lower the water levels in the canals and ditches so the water could be used by the farmers.
During the growing season, each farmer was allowed only a certain amount of water. When it was a farmer's turn to water his fields the regulator was adjusted so that water ran from the canal into an irrigation ditch which ran alongside the farmer's fields. The farmer could then water his fields.
3.2 The Rise of Sumer
3.2 The Rise of Sumer
The Sumerians are thought to have formed the first human civilization in world history. They lived in southern Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in the Middle East.
Click the photo for more information about Sargon of Akkad.
Many historians think that urban cities and towns were first formed in Sumer around 5000 BC. Nomads moved into the rural fertile land and began to form small villages which slowly grew into large towns. Eventually these cities developed into the civilization of the Sumer. This land is often called the "Cradle of Civilization".
As the Sumerian villages grew into large cities, they formed city-states. This is where a city government would rule the city as well as the land around it. These city-states often fought each other. They built walls around their cities for protection. Farmland was outside the walls, but people would retreat to the city when invaders came.
Sumerians believed that humans were put upon this earth to serve the gods. When the gods were displeased, humans suffered. If the Tigris River flooded, for example, and a whole village was destroyed, that meant humans had not been successful at keeping the gods happy.
Sumerians believed it was essential for the survival of the city-state to have people who knew what the gods liked and disliked. A priestly class arose out of this need. Priests specialized in practicing rituals. They could divine (predict or understand) the will of the gods, what to do if the gods were displeased, and how to gain the gods’ favor. This made priests extremely important to the Sumerians, and they became some of the most powerful people in society.
Sumerian priests also developed the first system of writing to keep records of crop yields brought to the temples and record observations of the stars and heavens.
The peoples of Sumer are among the earliest denizens of Mesopotamia. By about 4000 BCE, the Sumerians had organized themselves into several city-states that were spread throughout the southern part of the region. These city-states were independent of one another and were fully self-reliant centers, each surrounding a temple that was dedicated to god or goddess specific to that city-state. Each city-state was governed by a priest king. Priests also performed religious ceremonies.
Social Hierarchy
The highest Sumerian social class were the priests. They told people what to do to keep the gods happy, and they were the people society turned to when they were sick. Priests usually had shaved heads.
Below the priests were the upper classes. Both men and women wore jewelry, as well as wool during the winter to keep warm. Women wore a long dress with one shoulder exposed, and men wore a long skirt.
In addition to rich individuals, the upper classes included government officials and warriors.
The working classes also wore jewels, but theirs did not feature precious stones. In addition, their clothes were less lavish than those wore by the upper classes. The middle classes were made of artisans, merchants and traders, who were known as "freemen."
At the bottom of the Sumerian social hierarchy were the slaves. Usually Sumerians acquired slaves by beating another tribe in a battle, and taking those who were alive home to work for them. Most slaves belonged to the royal family, but wealthy Sumerians could also purchase them.
The most important and famous example of Sumerian literature is the Epic Tale of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh was likely an actual Sumerian king who ruled over the city of Uruk, but the tale tells the story of an epic hero along the lines of Hercules from
The story was first recorded by a Babylonian scribe around 2000 BC, but the tale itself tells of Sumerian people and myths. Likely the story was created much earlier and the scribe was just telling his version of it.
3.3 Sumerian Achievements
3.3 Sumerian Achievements
One of the great contributions the Sumerians made to civilization was their many inventions. They invented the first form of writing, a number system, the first wheeled vehicles, sun-dried bricks, and irrigation for farming. All of these things were important for the development of human civilization.
They also had an interest in science including astronomy and the movement of the moon and the stars. They used this information to make a more accurate calendar.
The Sumerians developed the first form of writing--cuneiform. As Sumerian towns grew into cities, the people needed a way to keep track of business transactions, ownership rights, and government records. Around 3300 BC the Sumerians began to use picture symbols marked into clay tablets to keep their records.
Writing was inscribed on clay tablets. Scribes would take a stylus (a stick made from a reed) and press the lines and symbols into soft, moist clay. Once they were done, they would let the clay harden and they had a permanent record.
The initial writing of the Sumerians utilized simple pictures or pictographs called cuneiform. For example, a drawing of a person's head, meant the word "head". Over time, however, the writing of the Sumerians further developed to include sounds and meanings. Scribes would use the stylus to make wedge shaped marks in the clay. This type of writing is called cuneiform writing, which means "wedge-shaped".
Scribes wrote about many things including history, law, grammar, math and stories. Some of these stories were long poem called epics. They often told the stories of heroes (like The Epic of Gilgamesh you learned about in the last lesson).
Click here to learn about the invention of the wheel, which began with the potter's wheel (as seen above).
Advances and Inventions
Advances and Inventions
Mathematics
The Mesopotamians used a number system with the base 60 (like we use base 10). They divided time up by 60s including a 60 second minute and a 60 minute hour, which we still use today. They also divided up the circle into 360 degrees.
They had a wide knowledge of mathematics including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, quadratic and cubic equations, and fractions. This was important in keeping track of records as well as in some of their large building projects.
The Mesopotamians had formulas for figuring out the circumference and area for different geometric shapes like rectangles, circles, and triangles. Some evidence suggests that they even knew the Pythagorean Theorem long before Pythagoras wrote it down. They may have even discovered the number for pi in figuring the circumference of a circle.
Astronomy
Using their advanced math, the Mesopotamian astronomers were able to follow the movements of the stars, planets, and the Moon.
One major achievement was the ability to predict the movements of several planets. This took logic, mathematics, and a scientific process.
By studying the phases of the Moon, the Mesopotamians created the first calendar. It had 12 lunar months and was the predecessor for both the Jewish and Greek calendars.
Medicine
The Babylonians made several advances in medicine. They used logic and recorded medical history to be able to diagnose and treat illnesses with various creams and pills.
Technology
The Mesopotamians made many technological discoveries. They were the first to use the potter's wheel to make better pottery, they used irrigation to get water to their crops, they used bronze metal (and later iron metal) to make strong tools and weapons, and used looms to weave cloth from wool.
Click on the Ziggurat of Ur to learn more about Sumerian art and architecture.
3.4 Later Peoples of the Fertile Crescent
3.4 Later Peoples of the Fertile Crescent
Click on Hammurabi, monarch of Babylon, to see a timeline of his life.
King Hammurabi established firm laws called Hammurabi's Code. This was the first time in history that the law was written down. It was recorded on clay tablets and tall pillars of stones called steles.
Hammurabi's code consisted of 282 laws. Many of them were quite specific, but were meant as guidelines to be used in similar circumstances. There were laws governing commerce such as wages, trade, rental rates, and the sale of slaves. There were laws governing criminal behavior describing the penalties for stealing or damaging property. There were even laws governing adoption, marriage, and divorce.
Rules in Hammurabi's Code
- If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.
- If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death.
- If fire break out in a house, and some one who comes to put it out cast his eye upon the property of the owner of the house, and take the property of the master of the house, he shall be thrown into that self-same fire.
- If a "sister of a god" open a tavern, or enter a tavern to drink, then shall this woman be burned to death.
- If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off.
- If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out. [ An eye for an eye ]
- If he break another man's bone, his bone shall be broken.
The Hittites
The Hittites occupied the region of Anatolia (also known as Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey). They expanded their territories into an empire which rivaled, and threatened, the established nation of Egypt. They are repeatedly mentioned throughout the Hebrew Tanakh (also known as the Christian Old Testament) as the adversaries of the Israelites.
The Hittite empire, first to smelt iron for tools and artifacts, emerged as a civilization and formidable military power around 1600 B.C. before eventually being weakened and defeated around 1200 B.C. Although it had been thought that the Hittite military forces were formidable because of iron weaponry, the Hittites primarily used iron for ceremonial and other highly-prized artifacts and was not suitable for making functional weaponry. Instead, bladed weaponry was more typically bronze, an alloy made of tin and copper.
The Assyrians
The Assyrians had many kings; the most famous was Ashurbanipal, who started a library that eventually contained 25,000 tablets of hymns, stories, and biographies. Among these tablets was the story of Gilgamesh, one of the world's first epic adventure stories.
The Chaldeans
In time, however, the Assyrian Empire grew too large and was taken over bit by bit, mostly by a people called the Chaldeans, who captured the Assyrian capital of Nineveh in 612 B.C.
The Chaldeans' most famous ruler was Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled from 605 to 562 B.C., and who had built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World. He also conquered Jerusalem and forced the Hebrews to move to Babylon. (This is known in the Jewish and Christian traditions as the Babylonian Captivity--we'll learn about this later this year.)
The Chaldean Empire was one of several empires that had Babylon as its capital. In time the Chaldeans called themselves the Babylonians. They were one of the first people to come up with ideas that shaped our modern understanding of mathematics, and they beliefs formed the basis of what we now call astronomy.
By at least the 8th century BCE the Greeks borrowed the Phoenician alphabet and adapted it to their own language, creating in the process the first "true" alphabet, in which vowels were accorded equal status with consonants.
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