Chapter 2 Section 1 Notes. I. Geography of the Fertile Crescent.

Chapter 2 Section 1 Notes

I. Geography of the Fertile Crescent

A. The Fertile Crescent is an upside down

crescent running from the Persian Gulf north along the Tigris and

Euphrates Rivers to the Coast of Israel

B. The valley between two rivers becomes

known as Mesopotamia “ Land Between the Rivers”

1. Each year the rivers would flood

and leave a rich layer of soil called

silt

C. People began to live there around 4500

B.C. but the Sumerians would settle there around

3500 B.C.

D. Environmental problems

1. Unpredictable floods

2. Sumer was a cluster of small

villages on a plain with no protection

SUMER

3. Limited natural resources

E. Solutions for problems

1. Irrigation canals

SUMERIAN IRRIGATION

2. For defense they built city walls of

mud brick

3. Traded grain for other natural

resources

II. Sumerians Create City States

A. One of the first groups to form a civilization ( 5

Characteristics )

B. Each of the City-states was

independent, had their own ruler , and

surrounding farm lands

C. Power of Priests

1. Theocracy is a government in

which the religious leader is also the

ruler

2. Priests controlled early government

3. Communicated with the gods

4. Collected taxes

D. How monarchs came into leadership

1. In times of war commanders took

control

2. Gradually commanders took control of standing

armies

3. Eventually commanders

became the full time rulers

4. Dynasty is a series of rulers from

the same family

E. Spread of cities

1. Contact from other peoples help

create more Sumerian Cities

2. Cultural Diffusion is the process of a new

idea or product from one culture to

another

III. Sumerian Culture

A. A religion of many gods

B. Polytheism the believe in many

gods

1. Nature gods

Reptilian Nature god

Inanna Queen of Beasts

2. 3000 gods

3. gods had human characteristics

4. “Land of No Return”

a. Dismal, gloomy place between

earth’s crust and the ancient sea

C. Epic of Gilgamesh

1. Earliest works of literature,

Gilgamesh’s unsuccessful quest

for immortality

D. Life in Sumerian Society

1. Social classes developed

a. Priest and Kings

b. Merchants

c. Fieldworkers majority of people

d. Slaves

E. Sumerian Science and Technology

1. Wheel 2. Sail

3. Plow

Sumerian wagon

Sailboat of the Sumerians

4. First to use bronze

5. First system of writing

6. Astronomy, chemical

substances, symptoms of

disease

7. Numbering system based on 6

Sumerian Numbering System

a. 60 minutes , 60 seconds

b. 360 degrees

8. Architectural

a. Arches, columns, ramps

IV. The First Empire Builders

A. Sargon of Akkad ( Semitic- Arabic

and Hebrew cross )

Sargon the Great

1. Around 2350 B.C. Sargon from Akkad from north and conquered the

Sumerians

2. His city state Akkad had long

adopted Sumerian ideas

3. He conquers both territory in the north

and all of Sumer thus creating the

worlds first empire

a. An Empire is when a ruler

conquers one or more city-states

or territory

B. Babylonian Empire

1. Another Semitic group, the Amorites

overwhelm the Sumerians and

start the Babylonian Empire

2. Hammurabi from 1792-1750 B.C.

Rules the Babylonians at its

height

a. Hammurabi’s Code of Laws

Hammurabi and Sample of Laws

1. Reorganized all of the laws of the

Sumerians

2. 282 specific laws

3. Different punishments for rich

and poor