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Mesopotamia:  __**Location:**__ Persian Gulf Mediterranean Sea Tigris River Euphrates River Modern day Iraq Southwest Asia

__**Geography:**__ Curved shape Flat Swampy land Rich soil/silt "Fertile Crescent" Desert climate Mesopotamia means "land between the rivers"

__**Economy/Agriculture:**__ Traded grain and cloth Received stone, wood, and metal Grew wheat, barley, sorghum Exchanged ideas through trade

__**Time period:**__ 4500 B.C. People began to farm 3300 B.C. Sumer

__**Challanges:**__ Unpredictable flooding No natural resources Resources were limited Little rain= desert No natural barriers Not a lot of building materials Needed water for crops, living, built irrigation systems

__**War/military/defense:**__ Built city walls Constant war between city states Hard to defend due to no natural barriers Spread culture during times of war Men picked leader during a war

__**Literature:**__ Epic of Gilgemesh Gives us information of how they might have lived Story is similar to Noah's Ark

__**Social Class:**__ Top: kings, land owners, priests Next: wealthy merchants Ordinary people: people who worked in fields or shops Lowest: Slaves

__**Equality:**__ Women could be merchants, farmers, artisans, priests Women could own property Upper class learned to read and write Women had more right than most ancient socities

__**Technology:**__ Inventions: wheel, plow, bronze, sail Needed math for construction Arithmetic and geometry Base 60 Arches, ramps, pyramid, ziggurat Cuneiform

__**Institutions:**__ City-state: Independent, self governing city including its surrounding farmland Empire: Independent countries/city-states being ruled by one leader Sargon created first empire Babylonian empire invaded Mesopotamia Dynasty: Series of rulers from one family

__**Religion:**__ Polytheism God controlled nature Land of No Return after deat

__**Architecture:**__ Arches Ramps Columns Pyramids Ziggurat