The Sumerians: A Mesopotamian Civilization
The Sumerians moved to Mesopotamia, land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, about 3500 BCE. We do not know where they came from. They were probably nomads who discovered the fertile land of Mesopotamia. The land was fertile because it was rich in soil, capable of producing vegetation
The Sumerians were the first people to migrate to Mesopotamia. They createda great civilization, the stage of human social development and organization that is considered most advanced. The Sumerians lived in independent walled city-states. Uruk, the first and one of the largest cities in Mesopotamia, had a six-mile long wall with defense towers located at 30-35 foot intervals. Uruk was the city of the legendary hero Gilgamesh who appears in the world's oldest known book, the Epic of Gilgamesh.
The Sumerians made many advances in technology. The wheel, plow, and writing, a system that we call cuneiform,are examples of theirachievements. The farmers in Sumer created levees to hold back the floods from their fields and cutcanals to channel river water to the fields. The use of levees, banks built along a river to prevent flooding,
andcanals, is called irrigation, another Sumerian invention. Irrigation is when you supply the lands with water by artificial means.
Writing
It’s one thing to paint pictures onto rocks or images on cave walls. Combining written symbols that transmit ideas, however, establishes a tangible record of the world’s first form of writing. By 3500 BCE, Sumerian people had developed an incredible tool for organizing and expressing their ideas, providing their people with an abundance of information.
It took the Sumerian scribes, or copiers, many hundreds of years to develop their system of writing. Their initial picture writings were clumsy and confusing. Soon their signs began to stand for words rather than objects. Pictures changed into wedge-shaped marks, which formed sentences when placed in a series. This was known as cuneiform . Eventually, each mark represented a sound instead of an idea or object. This significant step enabled Sumerians to convey in writing whatever they could convey by speaking.
______ were the first people to migrate to Mesopotamia.
______the land between two rivers (Tigris and Euphrates)
______the first and one of the largest cities of Mesopotamia
______the stage of human social development and organization that is considered most advanced
______wedge-shaped writing
______rich as in soil, capable of producing vegetation
______covering or filling with water
______supplying with water by artificial means
______a bank built along a river to prevent flooding
______a class of copiers who recorded business documents onto clay tablets and kept records
______oldest known book
1 Which of the following is not a Sumerian achievement in technology?
A plow
B fertile land
C writing
D wheel
2 How did the people of Sumer deal with the flooding of their fields?
A created levees to hold back the floods
B the Sumerians migrated away from the rivers
C developed a system of writing to record the floods
D built cities along the river
3 Which best describes the change in Sumerian writing over the years?
A soon their signs began to stand for words rather than objects
B painted pictures on rocks
C painted images on cave walls
The Akkadians, People of Akkad: A Mesopotamia Civilization
The Akkadian Empire
The first empire to rule all of Mesopotamia was the Akkadian Empire. An empire is a large territory all under control of a single ruler. The Akkadian Empire lasted for around 200 years from 2300 BCE to 2100 BCE.
Around 2300 BCE Sargon the Great rose to power. He established his own city named Akkad. He attacked the powerful Sumerian city of Uruk, where legendary king, Gilgamesh, once ruled. He eventually conquered Uruk. He then went on to conquer all of the Sumerian city-states and united northern and southern Mesopotamia under a single ruler. Sargon passed his empire on to his son. This was known as a dynasty.
One of the great kings of Akkad was Naram-Sin. He was the grandson of Sargon the Great. Naram-Sin ruled for over 50 years. He crushed revolts and expanded the empire. His reign is considered the peak of the Akkadian Empire.
How the Akkadian Empire Began
The Akkadians lived in northern Mesopotamia while the Sumerians lived in the south. They had a similar government and culture as the Sumerians, but spoke a different language. The government was made up of individual city-states. This was where each city had its own ruler that controlled the city and the surrounding area. Initially these city-states were not united and often warred with each other. Over time, the Akkadian rulers began to see the advantage of uniting many of their cities under a single nation.
Akkadian Vocabulary
dynasty ruling family
empire a large territory all under control of a single ruler
1. A large territory all under the control of a single ruler was known as an ______.
2. The first empire to rule all of Mesopotamia was the ______.
3. Which ruler rose to power around 2300 BCE and united all of northern and southern
Mesopotamia under a single ruler? ______
4. Sargon the great passed his empire on to his
______. Then Sargon’s grandchild, ______became king of the Akkadian empire.
5. A ruling family, in which the crown is passed from one generation to the next, is known as a
______.
6 According to the text what is the difference between the Sumerians and Akkadians?
A religion
B government
C culture
D language
7 Which of the following text details does not show that King Sargon set up an empire?
A he eventually conquered Uruk
B . Initially these city-states were not united and often warred with each other
C united northern and southern Mesopotamia under a single ruler.
D The Akkadian Empire lasted for around 200 years from 2300 BCE to 2100 BCE.
The Babylonians, People of Babylon: A Mesopotamian Civilization
After the fall of the Akkadian Empire, two new empires rose to power. They were the Babylonians in the south and the Assyrians to the north.
Ancient Mesopotamia, as the Sumer civilization lost power, the Babylonian civilization grew in power in the south (in what is now southern Iraq). Their cities were built on the ruins of the Sumer cities. This civilization was named after its most famous city, Babylon. The city of Babylon was built in southern Mesopotamia near the Persian Gulf. It was built to honor Marduk (image to the right), the most powerful god of all to the Babylonians.
In 1792 BCE, Hammurabi, became king of Babylon, located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Hammurabi was shrewd, or clever, who sought great power. By 1754 BCE he controlled all of Mesopotamia. His empire was known as Babylonia. Hammurabi sent officials throughout the empire to carry out his orders and to collect taxes.
One of his main goals was to gain control of the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. This meant he would have control of irrigation systems and the farming economy. Hammurabi was a brilliant warrior, but his military tactics could be brutal. One strategy he probably used was damming a waterway and then releasing it to flood a city.
Hammurabi was tired of people changing the laws whenever they wanted an advantage. So Hammurabi did something no one before him had ever done. He had all the laws written down on stone and clay tablets. He did this so that everyone could know what the law was and no one, not poor man or noble, would be able to say that that wasn't the law. A law was a rule of conduct or action laid down and enforced by the government
These laws helped govern his empire in a new way. This set of 282 laws is known as the Code of Hammurabi. Although the Code of Hammurabi was not the first law code written in Mesopotamia, it is the most complete law code to have survived.
The Code of Hammurabi is famous for demanding punishment to fit the crime (an eye for an eye) with different treatment for each social class. The Code is thought to be Sumerian in spirit but with a Babylonian inspired harshness.
The laws were inscribed on an 8-foot stone pillar, and became known as Hammurabi’s Code. To ensure that everyone knew all 282 laws, they were also probably read aloud in public on a regular basis. That way, no one could be excused for committing a crime because of not knowing the law.
Code of Hammurabi
Law 3. If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense charged, be put to death.
Law 6. If any one steal the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death.
Law 21. If any one break a hole into a house (break in to steal), he shall be put to death before that hole and be buried.
Law 55. If any one open his ditches to water his crop, but is careless, and the water flood the field of his neighbor, then he shall pay his neighbor corn for his loss.
Law 109. If traitors meet in the house of a tavern-keeper, and these traitors are not captured and delivered to the court, the tavern-keeper shall be put to death.
Law 192. If an adoptive son says to his father or mother: "You are not my father, or my mother," his tongue shall be cut off.
Law 196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out. [An eye for an eye]
Law 197. If he break another man's bone, his bone shall be broken.
Law 198. If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina.
Law 199. If he put out the eye of a man's slave, or break the bone of a man's slave, he shall pay one-half of its value.
Law 200. If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out. [A tooth for a tooth]
Law 201. If he knock out the teeth of a freed man, he shall pay one-third of a gold mina.
Law 202. If any one strike the body of a man higher in rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an ox-whip in public.
Law 203. If a free-born man strike the body of another free-born man or equal rank, he shall pay one gold mina.
Law 204. If a freed man strike the body of another freed man, he shall pay ten shekels in money.
Law 205. If the slave of a freed man strike the body of a freed man, his ear shall be cut off.
Law 253. If any one agree with another to tend his field, give him seed, entrust a yoke of oxen to him, and bind him to cultivate the field, if he steal the corn or plants, and take them for himself, his hands shall be hewn off.
Law 218. If a doctor make a large incision with the operating knife, and kill him, or open a tumor with the operating knife, and cut out the eye, his hands shall be cut off.
Law 229. If a builder build a house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.
1 After the fall of the Akkadian Empire, two new empires rose to power. They were the
______in the south and the Assyrians to the north.
2 In 1792 BCE, ______, became king of Babylon, located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
3 His empire was known as ______.
4 He established the ______of ______which was a set of
______laws that would govern Mesopotamia.
5 Why did Hammurabi inscribe his laws on a stone pillar?
A he was tired of people changing the law whenever they wanted
B he wanted his governed people to pay their taxes
C he felt the Sumerian laws were not harsh enough
D he wanted to control the Tigris and Euphrates River
6Which of the following text details show Hammurabi was a brilliant warrior?
A He had all the laws written down on stone and clay tablets.
B Hammurabi sent officials throughout the empire to carry out his orders and to collect taxes.
C One strategy he probably used was damming a waterway and then releasing it to flood a city.
D Although the Code of Hammurabi was not the first law code written in Mesopotamia, it is the most complete law code to have survived.