THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS: MESOPOTAMIA

María Jesús Camposlearningfromhistory.wikispaces.com

THE FIRST URBAN CIVILIZATIONS: THE RIVER CIVILIZATIONS

Some 6 000 years ago, some Neolithic villages became cities as a result of agricultural and commercial prosperity.

These civilisations invented writing.

The first great civilizations developed along large rivers surrounded by fertile land: Mesopotamia: Tigris and Euphrates Rivers Egypt: the River Nile India: Indus River China: Huang He (Yellow) and Yangtze (Blue)

Rivers

MESOPOTAMIA, THE LAND BETWEEN TWO RIVERS

The first civilizations appeared in the Fertile Crescent, in the fertile plains between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

These area was called Sumer.

POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

Thanks to agricultural and commercial prosperity, Neolithic villages became independent city-states.

The most important city-states in Sumer were Ur, Uruk and Lagash.

They had in common racial features but they were independent in politics.

Need for defense led to an increase in the importance of military commanders and, finally, to the creation of monarchies.

The monarch controlled the city-state and was in charge of: Executive power:

government Legislative power: law Military power: army Religious power:

connections to de god Judicial power: justice

He was advised by civil servants and scribes (bureaucracy) that collected taxes, applied the orders and the laws…

He controlled the population through the army and the priests.

SOCIETY

Population increased thanks to the production of food and the prosperity achieved through commerce.

They were urban civilizations. Most of the people lived in the city-state.

The social division increased. It was connected to their function within the city.

MonarchPriests

Army and Scribes

(civil servants)Peasants, Farmers,

Merchants, Traders…

Slaves

Mesopotamian hierarchy: privileged groups and non-privileged groups.

Privileged-groups: controlled the power and the wealth. The Monarch The priests The army and the civil servants

Non-privileged groups: produced the products needed by society Farmers, peasants, stockbreeders… Merchants, traders, craftsman...

Slaves: group without rights. They were their master’s property. They became slaves through conquest (war prisoners) or debts.

MESOPOTAMIAN RELIGION

Polytheistic: their gods were similar to human beings but they were immortal.

Temples were the god’s residences on Earth. They were built on stepped pyramids called ziggurats.

Each city-state was under the protection of a god.

They believed in life after death and buried their dead with everything they would possibly need.

MESOPOTAMIAN CULTURE The Sumerian people

are believed to be the first ones to develop a written language.

Cuneiform writing consisted of signs drawn on clay tablets with a reed.

Writing made it possible to organize the state by recording government issues and business transactions.

The first schools were created here to train scribes. Only male children from rich families went to school.

The Code of Hammurabi is one of the earliest legal codes in history. Engraved on a rock around

1800 BC. Based on the law of

retaliation (“an eye for an eye”).

MESOPOTAMIAN ART: ARCHITECTURE Materials: brick and adobe (bricks of clay

and straw) To sustain the ceiling they invented the arch

and the vault. Walls were decorated with brightly coloured

glazed ceramics with floral motives, geometric designs, scenes of war…

Type of buildings: Palaces Ziggurats (temples)

Ziggurats: temples built at the center of the city. They were the house of god on Earth.

MESOPOTAMIAN ART: SCULPTURE Materials: gold, lapis, clay,

wood… Types:

Statues (not attached) Reliefs (different carving

techniques) Themes:

Men and women worshipping Kings Military or hunting scenes…

Examples: King Gudea of

Lagash Standard of Ur

(2700 B.C.) Doorway of the

Khorsabad palace: Lamassu (bull with human head and wings to protect the king from visible and invisible enemies)

MESOPOTAMIAN POLITICAL EVOLUTION Mesopotamia was

divided into 2 regions inhabited by two different people: The Assyrians in the

north The Akkadians and

Sumerians who lived in the South.

The political evolution of Mesopotamia is marked by an alternation of power between these peoples.

Mesopotamian empires:

The Sumerians. The Akkadian

Empire The Babylonian

Empire The Assyrian

Empire The Persian Empire

The Sumerians: city of Sumer. Controlled the territory organized in different city-states during the 3rd millenium.

Akkadian Empire: the city of Akkad controlled the cities of Lower Mesopotamia between the year 2330 BC and the year 2200 B.C. when the empire disappeared and a long period of division started.

Babylonian Empire: around 1800 the city of Babylon founded an empire that was going to last until the 900 BC. (Code of Hammurabi)

Assyrian Empire: expanded from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean sea. Main cities Asur and Ninive. From the 9th century BC to the 6th century whe it was conquered by the Persians.

WHAT DID MESOPOTAMIANS DO FOR US?

Mesopotamians invented

Writting

Legal codes

BricksThe wheel

and the chariot

Zodiac: Astronomy

and Astrology

Developed by María Jesús CamposChusteacherwikiteacher