CSMesopotamia

Caitlyn's Hom ePage a. means "land between rivers" b. btwn. Tigris and Euphrates river c. btwn. Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea 2**.** Southwest Asia 3**.** Modern day Iraq 1. Woman could be priests, merchants, farmers, or artisans 2. Woman could own property 3. Some upperclass learned to read and write and become scribes 4. Had more rights tahn women in many ancient societies 1. inventions (Wheel, plow, bronze, sail) 2. needed math to plan and build things 3. arithmetic and geometry a. base 60 [60secs=1min] [60mins=1hr] [360 degrees=circle] 4. Architecture (arches, ramps, pyramids, ziggurat) 5. Cunieform (on clay tablets)-means wedged shape //__**D. Important People**__// 1. Sargon (a king) 2. Sumer (adapted and spread sumer culture) 3. Hammurabi (leader of Babylonian Empire) [ Known for his Code of Law-the eye for eye thing] 1. Controlled by priests at 1st 2. During war men chose a tough fighter to lead (control ended after war was over) 3. with more frequent wars tough fighters=commanders got permanent control 4. Hammurabi's Code of Law 1. Desert like climate = irrigation (built irrigation ditches) 2. NO natural defense walls 3. Trade 4. Unpredictable Floodingm (good soil turned up bad soil; vice versa) 5. Limited natural resources 1. Kings, Landholders, Priests (Highest) 2. Merchants, fieldworkers, ordinary people ('middle' class) 3. Slaves (debt-war) (lowest class) 1. 4500 B.C people began to farm...Sumarians) not farm Sumarians..but the Sumarians farmed :D 1. Believed in many different gods**=Polytheism** 2.God Controls natured 3. Gave offerings to the gods and sacrifices 4. After death-"gross yucky place" or 'land of no return" 1. Clay Tablets in 2300 B.C (first known) 2. Poems/Myths/Legends 3. Women were scribes 4. Epic of Gilgmesh (a king) a. gives us info on how //might've// lived (the story is similar to Noah's ark=Flood) 1. City-state indepedant 2. Self governing city including its surrounding farm land 3. Empires -independant countries/city states brough under 1 Ruler (Sargon created 1st) 1. Arches, Ramps, Columns, Pyramids, Ziggurats (close to gods-temple/church, goverment, gran, 'bazaar') Ziggurats are the religious, political, economic, and social center of city 1. Desert climate around the "Mesoptomia" 2. Arc of land with best farming in SW Asia 3. called "Fertile Crescent" 1. Sumer sates were always at war w/ eachother 2. Built city walls; hard to defend b/c no natural barriers (spread culture) 1. Farming Society 2. Both genders Worked 3. Cultural Diffusion-spread of ideas from one culture to the next
 * //__A. Location__//**
 * 1**. Mesopotamia
 * //__B. Equality and Women's Rights__//**
 * //__C. Technology__//**
 * //__E. Government__//**
 * //__F. Challenges__//**
 * //__G. Social Classes__//**
 * //__H. Time Period__//**
 * //__I. Religion__//**
 * //__J. Writing/Literature__//**
 * //__K. Institutions__//**
 * //__L. Architecture__//**
 * //__M. Geography/Climate__//**
 * //__N. Military/War__//**
 * //__O. Culture__//**