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The Ancient Middle
East
Mesopotamia
►
Mesopotamia-land between
the rivers
 valley of Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers
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Fertile Crescent fertile land between
Mediterranean Sea and the
Persian Gulf
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Silt –
 deposited by rivers; helped
farming
The Cradle of Civilization
The Fertile Crescent:“Crossroads of the World”
-Connected Europe, Asia and Africa
-Flooding was unpredictable : miserable outlook on life
People Groups of Mesopotamia
1. The Sumerians
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1st Civilization
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About 4500 BCE – current day
Iraq
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Began building city-states
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Early city-states – Ur, Erech &
Kish
cities and surrounding
countryside
Religion in Sumerian city-states
► Polytheism-
belief in many gods
 Nature was controlled by gods (floods, harvests)
 Thought gods were like people- ate, drank, fell in
love, married, fought
 Made offerings to them through priests/priestesses
► Each
city-state worshipped their own gods
► Ziggurat-
temple on top of pyramid
Government:
Theocracy – a government
ruled by divine authority
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Ruler’s/government’s job
maintain city walls,
irrigation systems, lead
army, enforce laws,
collect taxes, keep
records
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Kings were the gods
representatives on earth
ziggurats
Tower of Babel?
Warm Up
#3
► Analyze
the Maps:
“Conquering the Fertile Crescent”, p. 40
and 41 (top of page) and answer the 2
questions.
Turn in parent letter/ late work to the bin.
Writing
►
Sumerians- developed the first
writing system
 Cuneiform – wedge shaped
writing done with a stylus
 Used for business purposes, to
record religious rites, tax records
 Clay tablets and clay envelopes
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Scribe- writer
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Epic of Gilgamesh- Sumerian
literature about a legendary king
on a journey
Sumerian Technology
► First
to invent the
wheel
► Sails for boats
► Irrigation systems
► Plow
► 12 month calendar
► Arches, columns,
► Bricks made of sun
ramps and inclined
baked clay
walks
► Math based on 60
► Sewers!
 Second
► Buildings made of mud
 Minute
 360 degrees
Create:
People of Ancient Mesopotamia Pamphlet
1 piece of paper, fold twice in half
Staple twice on spine
Cut off top- for pages to turn
LABEL book title page and then with following pages!
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Sumerians
Akkadians
Babylonians
Hittites
Assyrians
Chaldeans
Phoenicians
► Sumerian
city states were on flat plains, easily
invaded by warrior societies
 ceased to exist about 1750 BC
-constant warfare
-invaded and taken over
► Invaders:
 Sargon- leader of the Akkadians from the North
 invades and sets up the world’s first empire
2. The Akkadians- First Empire
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2330 BC- Sargon founds the first
empire!
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Empire- Consists of many nations
and people
 (easy to build, hard to maintain)
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Borrow many things from Sumeria
because of cultural diffusion
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Lasts for 140 years, falls to eastern
tribes
 1792 BC, Hammurabi sets up
empire in Babylon and gains
control of Sumer & Akkad
3. Babylonians
Code of Hammurabi –
-“eye for an eye” very harshpunishment fit the crime:
-282 laws carved in stone
-on public display
- laws: based on social status
- first written set of LAWS
Society:
-patriarchal =men controlled; women had few rights
-Arranged marriages
-Sumerian culture/language/cuneiform- still being taught
Invaded:
1600 BC Babylon fell to the Hittites
-Iron stronger than bronze
Indo-Europeans
►
Group of people who speak a language from one mother tongue
(Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, Persian, Germanic Languages)
► 4.
Hittites-group of Indo-Europeans
 used iron weapons, brought them to
Mesopotamia
 Use of CHARIOTS for invasion
 destroyed c. 1200 BC by sea peoples
5. Assyrians
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Militaristic; Tortured, beheaded, (skinned?) prisoners.
Deported troublesome people to outer edges of region
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Built capital at Nineveh (1st library)
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 King Assurbanipal builds the world’s first library with 22,000 clay
tablets
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Used iron weapons, empire by 700 BC
Very efficient communications
Very ruthless people, no mercy on captured peoples
 Practiced assimilation: forcing people to give up their identity and
become like the conquerors
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Finally overthrown by Medes (Iran) and Chaldeans
Assyrians
6. The Chaldeans (a short-lived Empire):
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612BC –people deported by Assyrians attacked and destroyed Ninevah
► Chaldeans –
 Babylon becomes capital again
 math and astronomy to use for astrology
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King Nebuchadnezzar –
 rebuilt Babylon
 Hanging Gardens for wife
 Fights Egyptians & Jews
 Captures Jerusalem
Deports and enslaves Jews to Babylon
► King Solomon’s Temple destroyed
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Persians conquered Babylon from the east!
7. Phoenicians
Phoenicia
► Phoenicia
Lebanon
► Traders
– now
not fighters
 Major ports
 Controlled by several
empires
► Carriers
of civilization
 Alphabet- 22 letters
LYDIA
► First to use coined
money
► Barter system bad
 Both had to have
something the other
wanted
 Coins could be stored
and saved – livestock
and food could not
Activity:
“The Epic of Gilgamesh”
1. Read the excerpt on p. 38 in the text and answer the two
questions (if you get stuck, look for context clues).
2. Create a visual cartoon of his journey, with a different box
for each step (like a graphic novel):
 Need at least 8 boxes with visuals
 Each box needs a caption (description)
 Complete on blank paper
 Each step needs to be in order
Comprehension Check
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1. Who created the first empire? Name the empire.
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2. Who created the first set of laws? Give the name of the
laws.
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3. What do we call a society ruled and dominated by men?
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4. Explain assimilation.
The Code of Hammurabi
On display at:
la musee de louvre, Paris, France
(The Louvre Museum)
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HW: Read Hammurabi’s law code and
answer the questions.
Hebrews/ Israel
Israel
► Abraham
 migrated from Mesopotamia (Ur) to Jordan River Valley of
Palestine
 founder of the Jews/Israelites (2000 BC)
► 1st
son- Ishmael, denied birthright, sent off
► 2nd, but favored son Isaac
► Grandson Jacob (Israel)- patriarchs
► Jacob had 12 sons, each established a tribe: “12 tribes of Israel”
About 400 years later the Israelites left Palestine for Egypt
because of a drought/famine.
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Egyptians enslaved the Jews
-after a few hundred years the Jews gained their freedom
and left under Moses (the Exodus)
Israel (continued)
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Kingdom divided in half:
 Israel in the north
 Judah in the south
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By 722 BC- Israel conquered by the Assyrians and the people
were assimilated
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By 586 BC- Judah conquered by Babylonians/Chaldeans and
sent into exile (temple destroyed)
 Jewish Diaspora (scattering of Jews outside Judah)
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Eventually some Jews in exile returned to Palestine when Cyrus
and Persians overthrew the Babylonians
 Rebuilt temple (the “second temple”)
Jewish Beliefs
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Monotheism: Only 1 God, called YHWY
 YHWY is good and just and expects his people to be the same
 YHWY made a covenant (contract) with Abraham: God would give the
people a promised land (Israel/Palestine) if they followed His commands
Law: when Jews left Egypt God gave Moses the 10 Commandments
 Jews set apart from other peoples because of their laws (e.g. keeping
‘kosher’)
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Prophets warned Israel:
 when they weren’t following God, or taking care of justice, also showed them
the future
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The covenant, the Law, and the prophets make up the 3 parts of the religion
 Judeo-Christian beliefs and traditions (Christianity builds onto Judaism)
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The first 5 books of the Jewish holy book, the Hebrew Bible
 accredited to Moses- the Torah
 Talmud- finished AD500 by Jewish scholars
► explains and interprets behaviors, other writings, and how to live daily life
Kings of Israel
► 1.
Saul
 First to unite tribes
► 2.
► 3.
David –
 Defeated the Philistines
 Formed a dynasty
Solomon
 – made Jerusalem a great
capital (built temple)
 –height of power
 Lots of building meant lots of
taxes
 One of his wives was a
daughter of Pharaoh.
Judaism
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Fiddler on the Roof- famous musical about a Jewish family living in
Russia in the late 1800’s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRdfX7ut8gw
Persian Empire
► Located
Iran
in modern
Persians
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Cyrus treated conquered people with respect
► Let
people continue to self govern and keep their religion
 mercy and multiculturalism
 Allowed exiled peoples to return home
► (including
►
Hebrews)
RELIGION- Zoroastrianism -600BC
 Zoroaster/ Zarathustra- founder
 Avesta- sacred text
 Monotheistic
 Ahura Mazda- creator god
 Ahriman- evil spirit
 Good and evil forces (dualism)
 Day of Judgment- rewarded or punished
Persian Empire cont’d.
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Cyrus’ son and grandson
(Darius) extended empire,
invaded Greece
 divides the empire into satrapies
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Military very powerful, king’s
guards called immortals b/c
number of soldiers never under
10,000
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Eventually kings cared more
about intrigue and power than
ruling well and empire fell
►
Conquered by Alexander the
Great and the GREEKS
Compare Judaism and Zoroastrianism
► Create
a Venn-Diagram (double-bubble) on the
religion of the Persians and Israelites using p. 49
and 53.
Zoroastrianism
Judaism
In
common