Agricultural economy producing a surplus
Urban centers (City or town)
Specialization of labor
Social divisions
Technological advances
Bronze, 4000 BCE
Wheel, 3500 BCE
Writing, 3200 BCE
"Land between the rivers"
*Tigris and *Euphrates Rivers
"A blessing and a curse"
Irrigated agriculture
Agricultural surplus
Prone to flooding and invasion
35 *city-states
*Uruk, Ur, Umma, Lagash, Kish and Nippur
Government
*Polytheistic religion
Enlil
Storm God
Chief god
Patron god of Nippur
Ishtar
Goddess of fertility, love and war
Patron goddess of Uruk
Architecture
Ziggurat
Urban design
Writing
*Pictographs, 3300 BCE
Accounting, tax records
*Cuneiform, 2500-700 BCE
Laws, literature, history, etc.
Example of "SAR"
Akkad
Semites
Sargon (r. 2334-2279 BCE)
Political unity
*Babylon
*Hammurabi (r. 1792-1750 BCE)
*Primary source
1. What is complex society? Why was the complex society of Mesopotamia more complex than the earlier Neolithic town of Catalhoyuk?
2. Why was the geography of Mesopotamia a blessing and curse? Why did agriculture in Mesopotamian rely on irrigation? Why were Mesopotamian cities prone to flooding and invasions?
3. What cultural elements did the early Sumerian city-states of southern Mesopotamia share?
4. How did the writing system of Mesopotamia develop from a pictographic one around 3300 BCE to a cuneiform one in the period from 2500-700 BCE? Why did cuneiform allow more sophisticated forms of writing such as literature?
1. What is the difference between primary and secondary sources? Why is Voyages in World History a secondary source? How do historians use primary sources to learn about the past?
2. What are the characteristics of complex society? What new developments in government, society, and technology occurred in the city-states of Mesopotamia that made them a complex society? Critical Thinking: Should the Neolithic town of Catalhoyuk (Hansen, pp. 21-22 and "Women and Men at Çatalhöyük") be considered a complex society too?
1. Why is "The Judgments of Hammurabi" a primary source?
2. What can we learn from Hammurabi's judgments about Mesopotamian society (roles of men, women, children, peasants, etc.)?
3. What can we learn from Hammurabi's judgments about Mesopotamian
ideals of justice?