Ancient River Valley

Civilizations
Characteristics of Civilizations

Cities
Government
Complex Religions
Job Specialization
Social Classes
Art & Architecture
Public Works
Writing
 Sumerian Civilization
Archaeological excavations indicate that between 4000
B.C and 3500 B.C other nomadic people migrating from
the Armenian Plateua northwest of the delta , conquered
the delta region.
The newcomers, the Sumerians, created the first known
civilization in ancient Middle East.
That civilization that emerged in Tigris-Eupharates Valley
differed in many ways from Egyptian civilization.
The Sumerians outlook on life, their government and their
religion were unlike those in Egypt.
ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA
Oldest known
civilization
Cradle of human
civilization
Old Testament
Nebuchadnezzar
Ziggurat (right)
Hanging gardens
The Fertile Crescent:Crossroads
of the World
The Tigris-Euphrates Valley lies in the eastern end of the Fertile
Crescent, an area that stretches from the Persian Gulf to the
Mediterranean sea.
The Fertile crescent received its name from the rich soil of the region and
its half circle or crescent shape
The Fertile crescent has often been called the crossroads of the world
because it commands access to three continents:Asia, Africa, and
Europe.
Unlike Egypt, the Fertile Crescent has few natural barriers. The Arabian
and Syrian deserts offered less protection to early civilizations that the
Libyan Desert did in Egypt.
The positions of the region made it subject to frequent migrations and
invasions. Waves of migrating peoples descended from the mountains
north and west of the Tigris-Eupharates Valley.
Invaders such as Hittites swept into the Fertile Crescent from Asia Minor
because of the migrations and invasions, Fertile crescent was the site of
frequent warfare.
Geography

Earliest civilizations
rose in the valleys
between the Tigris
and Euphrates Rivers.
Some say this Fertile
Crescent was the real
Garden of Eden.
Tigris and Euphrates Rives
Land Between Two Rivers
The Greeks called the Tigris and Euphrates Valley
“Mesopotamia” meaning “land between two rivers. Like the
Nile in Egypt, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers dominated the
lives of the people in Mesopotamia.
The two rivers originate in the rugged highlands of the
Armenian Plateau and run parallel for over 1, 000 miles(1, 600
kilometers).
In the spring or early summer, melting snows from the
mountains sometimes cause the rivers to overflow. However
the floods of the Tigris and Euphrates unlike those of the Nile,
are unpredictable.
In ancient times, many floods swept across lower
Mesopotamia. About 4,000 B.C flood waters deposited a bed
of clay eight feet(2.4 meters)thick. The flood destroyed farms,
villages, and animals and drowned many people.
Despite the danger of the flood, however, the rivers
supported the development of an advanced civilizations.
Trade along the rivers contributed to the wealth of
Mesopotamian cities.
Silt left by floods made the soil fertile, Good soil meant
that the people living in Mesopotamia could rely on a
stable food supply in most recent years.
In what modern day country was
the Fertile Crescent?
Kingdoms of Mesopotamia

Sumerians
Babylonians
Assyrians
Persians
Sumer, 3200-2350 Sargon’s Empire, 2350- The Dynasty of Ur,
B.C. 2320 B.C. 2100-2000 B.C.

The Amorite invasions, 2100- Reign of Hammurapi of Babylon,

1900 B.C. 1792-1750 B.C.
CITY-STATE GOVERNMENT
By 3000 B.C, the Villages of lower Mesopotamia had grown into
prosperous cities. Tens of thousands people lived in the chief Sumerian
cities of Ur, Erech, and Kisk.
Each city was an independent city-state with its own government and
ruler.
In a city-state, a large town or city and the sorrounding countryside
cooperate for mutual defense. In addition, the government of a Sumerian
city-state supervised the building and maintenance of dikes and canals in
the surrounding farmlands.
The government also constructed strong defensive walls and stored food
in case of invasion. When threatened by attack, farmers took refuge
behind the city walls.
Each city –state worshipped its own god or goddess as well as other gods.
The people of the city-state believed they were wholly dependent on their
city’s god for food and protection.
The land and everything people produced belong to the god. Farmers
turned over about two thirds of each harvest to the temple.
CITY-STATE GOVERNMENT
Each sumerian city-state was ruled by its local priest. The priest were not
worshipped as gods, but the people believed that they represented the
gods on earth.
Priest alone knew how to appease the gods and acted as intermediaries
between citizens and the gods. As a result, the priest ruled in the name of
the gods in early city-states.
As Sumerian city-states grew, they were in constant conflict. Frequent
warfare gave military leaders who could successfully defend their city-
states increased power. Gradually, these military leaders replaced priest as
rulers of the Sumerian city-states.
 The City-States of Sumer
1. KISH- a dynasty in Northern Sumer ruled by the first notable ruler Etana in
2, 800 B.C.
2. ERECH(Biblical Uruk)-a dynasty in Southern Sumer founded by
Meskiagsher, a ruler who extended his rule to the Zegros Mountains and the
Meditteranean Sea. His son Enmerkar an his successor Lugalbanda were
noted for conquest in Attrata, a city-state in Iran that was renowned for its
wealth of metal and stone which are lacking in Sumer. Following
Lugalbanda’s reign , Erech’s power was seriously threatened by the last two
rulers of Kisk, Enmebaragges and Agga who were not only of military
figures but oustanding religion leaders as well.
3. NIPPUR- was a religious and cultural center in Central Sumer where the
Sumerians founded Ekur, a temple of Enlil, Sumer’s leading deity.
4. UR- a city-state in the south of Sumer founded by Mesannepapa. After his
death, Erech again became the leading city-state of Sumer which was under
the control of Gilgamesh, the supreme hero of the Sumerian story and
legend.
5. ADAB- a city-state in Central Sumer ruled by Lugalbanda. He restored
Sumer from the Elamites and controlled the empire. Not long after him,
mesilim of Kish was noted for settling a bitter territorial dispute between
The City-States of Sumer
6. LAGASH- a city-state in Sumer headed by Eannatum. He extended his way
overall of Sumer, but the power he established did not last more than a
generation after his death. Urukagina, the last king of Lagash Dynasty, he was
one of the reformers and in one of his inscriptions the word “freedom”
appears for the first time in written history. He curtailed the oppressive
practices of a greedy bureaucracy, reduce taxes, and put an end to gross
injustice and exploitation.
7. UMMA- a city-state northwest of Lagash ruled by Lugalzagges. He was an
ambitious leader who overthrew Urukagina and burned much of Lagash to
destruction.
Education
• Schools were held in temples with boys and girls attending. Girls were
taught domestic jobs by priestesses. The boys were taught a profession by
a priest.
• Each boy sat cross-legged on a stone beneath with a pottery container of
clay at his side. During the course of a school day each student made many
clay tablets for his assignments. Students learned mathematics, geometry,
algebra and calculus.
• The need for accurate records led to the development of writing after 3500
B.C. Sumerian writing originated as pictograms and ideograms but scribes
gradually simplified the system using symbols to represent sounds and
syllables.
• Sumerians used stylus or sharpened instrument to make symbols on tablets
in a wet clay. Then, they baked the tablets to harden its clay. Because the
symbols were made of wedge-like shapes, this system of writing was later
called cuneiform from the latin word “cuneus” or wedge shaped.
• As the Sumerian city-states grew the need for scribes increased. Priest
employed scribes to write down laws, treaties and religious ceremonies.
Merchants also hired scribes to record business deals, property holding and
contracts.
Religion
• The most important building in each Sumerian city-state was the Ziggurat,
the home or temple of the god of that city. The ziggurat was a pyramid-
shaped and often six to seven stories high.
• The Sumerians believed that gods descended to earth using the ziggurat as
a ladder.
• The Sumerians were polytheistic. They worshipped other gods, they
believed that a council of gods and goddesses ruled the earth, deciding the
fate of individuals and cities. They had some idea of life after death but did
not believe in heaven or hell.
• When someone died, he was buried with many of his favorite personal
belongings. It was hoped this would please the departed spirit.
• Natural events were explained by the Sumerians as the results of actions
by gods and goddesses. Unlike in Egypt, wherein the favorable climate of
the Nile Valley allowed the people to enjoy life and see their gods as
kindly forces, the Sumerians had gloomy outlook on life probably because
of fear of natural disasters and invasion.
A Written Language
The need for accurate records led to the development of writing after 3500
B.C. Sumerians writing after 3500 B.C, Sumerian writing originated as
pictograms and ideograms, but scribes gruadually simplified the system
using symbols to represent sounds and syllables.
Sumerians used a stylus, or sharpened instrument, to make symbols on
table of wet clay. They then baked the tablets harden the clay. Because the
symbols we made up of wedge-like shapes, the writing was later called
cuneiform, from the latin word “cuneus” wedge.
Traders and conquering armies helped spread cuneiform writing to other
people of the Fertile Crescent.
Architecture
Because they had no source of stone nearby for building , the Sumerians
first used sun-dried bricks, then baked these bricks.
Before 3000 B.C, the Sumerians became skilled builders. They knew how
to construct a vault, arch, and dome.
One of the architectural form of the Sumerians later copied by the
Egyptians for their pyramids was the Ziggurat. This was a temple tower
with a platform build upon another platform , each one a little smaller than
the last. This building is dedicated to their chief Babylonian god “Marduk”
It is believed that the Ziggurat may have been patterned after the Tower of
Babel. They also had a complex sewer system in their cities with pipes of
baked brick.
Tower of Babel
According to the Hebrew record, when descendants of Ham, Shem and
Japheth arrived at the Tigris-Euphrates, everyone spoke the same language.
A great Hamitic ruler named Nimrod unified the peoples of the Valley.
They began to build a tower and a city that would keep all people together.
It is believed that Nimrod thought this tower would make him powerful
enough to rule the world. Suddenly something happened that stopped the
construction. Men began speaking in different languages and could no
longer understand each other. As a result, groups that spoke the same
language moved to many different places in the world.
The unfinished tower and city were later called Babel, meaning
“confusion”Is it in this place that the famed city of Babylon was later build.
Creationist believed the confusion of languages was an act of God because
he was displease with what the people were doing. This supernatural event
resulted in migrations and the beginning of other nations.
The First Empire
As older Sumerian city-states declined, Akkad, a city to the north, rose to
power.
About 2350 B,C, Sargon, an Akkadian soldier of humble origins,
established the first empire in recorded history.With an empire reaching
from southern Mesopotamia to the Meditteranean Sea.
Sargon proclaimed himself “ Lord of the Four Quarters of the World” a
title adopted by many later conquerors, including Alexander the Great.
He repaired and extended the flood control and irrigation systems of
Mesopotamia. He also sent his armies to protect caravans travelling acrosss
the Fertile Crescent.
Akkadian just simply borrowed and adopted cuneiform as their system of
writing. Scribes translated Sumerian religious beliefs and ideas about
government and society.
Later, Akkadian rulers lacked Sargon’s abilities and civil war resumed
among the city-states of Mesopotamia.
About 2500 B.C, Ur-Nammu compiled the first known code of laws. This
code summarized Sumerian ideas of justice, emphasizing the king’s duty
to protect the people and correct any existing wrongs.
The First Empire
As older Sumerian city-states declined, Akkad, a city to the north, rose to
power.
About 2350 B,C, Sargon, an Akkadian soldier of humble origins,
established the first empire in recorded history.With an empire reaching
from southern Mesopotamia to the Meditteranean Sea.
Sargon proclaimed himself “ Lord of the Four Quarters of the World” a
title adopted by many later conquerors, including Alexander the Great.
He repaired and extended the flood control and irrigation systems of
Mesopotamia. He also sent his armies to protect caravans travelling acrosss
the Fertile Crescent.
Akkadian just simply borrowed and adopted cuneiform as their system of
writing. Scribes translated Sumerian religious beliefs and ideas about
government and society.
Later, Akkadian rulers lacked Sargon’s abilities and civil war resumed
among the city-states of Mesopotamia.
About 2500 B.C, Ur-Nammu compiled the first known code of laws. This
code summarized Sumerian ideas of justice, emphasizing the king’s duty
to protect the people and correct any existing wrongs.
Ziggurats
Temples
Ur, the capital city of
Mesopotamia
 Social and political organization:
• The King: he had military powers.
• The Governors: they governed the territories of
the kingdom. They were generals and judges at
the same time.
• The aristocracy: they were priests and traders.
• The peasants: the people who work the land.

The King

The Governors

The Aristocracy

The Peasantry
 Kish was one of the twelve city-states of ancient Sumer civilization. In this
city lived the famous and magnificent Akkadian King Sargon of Agade,
founder of the first Empire in history. One of the earlier kings in Kish was
Etana who "stabilized all the lands" securing the 1st dynasty of Kish and
establishing rule over ancient Sumer and some of its neighbors. The title King
of Kish became synonymous with King of Sumer.

Ruins of Kish

Grand Palace of Kish

Ziggurat of Kish
 Mesopotamian Law
Code of Hammurabi
Written on a stele (at
right) in cuneiform
Based on the premise
of an“eye for an eye
tooth for a tooth”
The Code of Hammurabi
Hammurabi was one of the great rulers of ancient times. He was an
outstanding general, an excellent administrator, and a patron of the arts.
In hundreds of surviving letters, he shows concern for details such as
clearing blocked river channels, punishing dishonest officials, reforming
the calendar, and honoring the gods, however he is best known for
drawing up a uniform code of laws.
Hammurabi conquered the lower end of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley and
named Babylon as his capital. Babylon was a settlement kingdom
composed of Akkad and Sumer into one Hammurabi extended his rule
over Assyria in the north, Elem(western Persia) in the southland over the
lands bordering Mediterranean Sea.
Under his leadership the Old Babylonian Kingdom rose to greatness.
The basic principle behind this code was “ an eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth”. This means if someone harmed a person, he had to suffer the
same injury/ fate in return.
He carved on a stone column the laws of conduct at a top of the
mountains for everyone to see.
The Code of Hammurabi
Under Hammurabi, the Babylonian Kingdom prospered for forty-two
years. Goods poured into Babylonia and the Kingdom prospered.
When Hammurabi died, his heirs were unable to protect the kingdom
from invasion. In 1600 B.C, a mountain tribe known as Hittites captured
Babylon.
One of the most important regulations introduced by this code was that
even the king has to obey the laws. This put the limits on how the king
could treat people and gave them the right to complain if he acted
unfairly.
Women were given rights under the Hammurabi’s code. They were
allowed to own property and engage in business. These are records
proving that woman hired for jobs usually performed by men were given
equal.
A woman was given a contract when she married and she was protected
by the terms of this contract against abuse from her husband. She usually
brought a sum of money called dowry to her husband.
The Code of Hammurabi provided for every man in the kingdom to serve
in the army, work on public projects, or pay a fine. It set basic prices for
doctors and other specialist so they could not overcharge their customers.
 Hammurabi’s Code
*Strict code of justice with
severe penalties
*Penalties varied according to
the social class of the victim
*Largest category of laws
focused on marriage and the
family – supported the
patriarchal society
 THE HITTITES
According to Biblical records, the Hittites were descendants of Canaan, one
of Ham’s sons. They migrated into the Anatolia, the area known today as
Turkey, where they found people already living.
These people were descendants of Japheth who had entered Turkey from
the black Sea area. The two groups joined together and were called the
Hittites. As they conquered the other tribes living in the area of Turkey,
they became the dominant civilization.
The Hittites owned their military success to careful strategy, skillful
diplomacy, and superior weapons. Expert metalworkers, they were among
the first people to use iron for spears and battle axes.
Iron weapons gave the Hittites an advantage over enemies armed with
softer, bronze spears.
By 1200 B.C, iron was being used in place of bronze, ushering in the Iron
Age.
The Hittites soon lost their military advantage, about the same time, a new
onslaught of invaders swept into Asia Minor and the Fertile Crescent,
destroying the Hittite Empire and the sophisticated city-state civilization of
Mesopotamia.
 The Assyrians
Among the people who invaded the Fertile Crescent after 1200 B.C, the
most feared and hated were the Assyrians.
The Assyrians were hardly nomads who settled in the Tigris Valley, where
they built a city-state named after the chief god, Assur.
Beginning about 1100 B.C, the Assyrians systematically established an
empire that included the entire Fertile Crescent and Egypt.
The mighty Assyrian Empire depended on a highly disciplined army. Iron
weapons, an excellent cavalry, and effective siege, equipment, or machines
used to destroy fortified cities, carried the Assyrians from one victory to the
next.
The Assyrians were the first people to conquer and control people by
terrorism. This term means they used brutality and violence against the
common people in order to control the government.
The Assyrians were so brutal that everyone was afraid to fight them or to
rebel once they have been conquered. No act seemed to cruel or too heartless
for the Assyrians when a city refused to surrender.
Mounds of dead bodies often lay out in front of the city gates. In other cities
prisoners were locked in buildings that were then burned to the ground.
 The Assyrians
The Assyrian King was an absolute ruler. This means that his word was law
and he could do anything he wished. He might have a council to advise him,
but he did not have to follow its advice.
If anyone displeased the king, he could be killed without a trial . There was
no court of appeals and no second chance; when the king gave an order, it is
final an be obeyed.
The Assyrian king Assurbanipal built a great library(the world’s first
library) at Nineveh. In it, he stored a vast collection of over 22,000 clay
tablets written in cuneiform of Sumer and Babylon. Although the Assyrians
were despised as brutal conquerors, they made a lasting contribution to
civilization by organizing and preserving these invaluable records in the
world’s first library.
For thousands of years, Nippur was the religious center of Mesopotamia.
According to Sumerian religion, it was at Nippur where Enlil, the supreme
god of the Sumerian pantheon, created mankind. Although never a capital
city, Nippur had great political importance because royal rule over
Mesopotamia was not considered legitimate without recognition in its
temples. Thus, Nippur was the focus of pilgrimage and building programs
by dozens of kings including Hammurabi of Babylon and Ashurbanipal of
Assyria.
Map of
Nippur
 These carved stone figures, their
eyes wide with awe and their hands
clasped in reverence, were placed in
Mesopotamian temples by
worshippers to stand in perpetual
prayer on their behalf before the god
or goddess to whom the sanctuary
was dedicated.
There were many gods.
For example, Anu was the father of
the gods and the god of the sky; Enlil
was the god of the air; Utu was the
sun god and the lord of truth and
justice; Nanna was the moon god;
Inanna was the goddess of love and
war; Ninhursag was the goddess of
While they served and revered the great gods, most
earth; and Enki was the god of fresh
people felt little connection with these distant
water as well as the lord of wisdom
beings. Ordinary people depended on a relationship
and magic.
with their own personal god - a kind of guardian
angel - who protected individuals and interceded for
them with the great deities.
 Apsu: the fresh waters (male principle)
Tiamat: the salt waters (female principle)

Ea, the god of intelligence

and wisdom, puts Apsu in a
trance and then kills him.

The statue of the god Marduk

with his dragon, from a
Babylonian cylinder seal.
Marduk killed Tiamat.
Ziggurat of Ur Nammu
 ART &
ARCHITECTURE/PUBLIC
WORKS
The ancient city of Babylon, under King Nebuchadnezzar II, must
have been a wonder to the traveler's eyes. "In addition to its size,"
wrote Herodotus, a historian in 450 BC, "Babylon surpasses in
splendor any city in the known world."
Herodotus claimed the outer walls were 56 miles in length, 80 feet
thick and 320 feet high. Wide enough, he said, to allow a four-horse
chariot to turn. The inner walls were "not so thick as the first, but
hardly less strong." Inside the walls were fortresses and temples
containing immense statues of solid gold. Rising above the city was
the famous Tower of Babel, a temple to the god Marduk, that
seemed to reach to the heavens
Hanging Gardens of Babylon
One of the seven wonders of the Ancient World.
Uruk
Another painting of the hanging
gardens with Tower of Babel in back
Fragment from the Stele of the Vultures, erected by Eannatum
of Lagash. It depicts the battle of Umma with Eannatum of
Lagash defeating the king of Umma, included is a professional
phalanx. Circa 2525 B.C.
Upper Register of the Stele of Vultures
The Standard of Ur comes to us from a royal tombs found in
the ancient Sumerian city of Ur. In the Standard of Ur, a
chariot is shown in the top register on the left. The Standard
presents, on the top 2 registers, the aftermath of another
successful victory for Sumer, with a procession of troops
presenting POWs to the victorious king at the center of the
top.
The Law Code of Hammurapi
WRITING
Writing

The Sumerians
invented writing.
This is cuneiform.
Babylonians wrote
using this “wedge-
shaped” writing on
clay tablets.
 The Beginnings of Writing
Farmers needed to keep records.
The Sumerians were very good farmers. They raised animals such as goats and cows
(called livestock). Because they needed to keep records of their livestock, food, and
other things, officials began using tokens.

Tokens were used for trade.

Clay tokens came in different shapes and sizes. These represented different objects.
For example, a cone shape could have represented a bag of wheat. These tokens were
placed inside clay balls that were sealed. If you were sending five goats to someone,
then you would put five tokens in the clay ball. When the goat arrived, the person
would open the clay ball and count the tokens to make sure the correct number of
goats had arrived. The number of tokens began to be pressed on the outside of the
clay balls. Many experts believe that this is how writing on clay tablets began.

A system of writing develops.

The earliest form of writing dates back to 3300 B.C. People back then would draw
"word-pictures" on clay tablets using a pointed instrument called a stylus. These
"word-pictures" then developed into wedge-shaped signs. This type of script was
called cuneiform (from the Latin word cuneus which means wedge).

Who used cuneiform?

Not everyone learned to read and write. The ones that were picked by the gods were
called scribes. Boys that were chosen to become scribes (professional writers) began to
study at the age of 8. They finished when they were 20 years old. The scribes wrote on
clay tablets and used a triangular shaped reed called a stylus to make marks in the
 THE ORIGINS OF WRITING: Tokens are small geometric clay objects (cylinders,
cones, spheres, etc.) found all over the Near East from about 8000 B.C. until the
development of writing. The earliest tokens were simple shapes and were
comparatively unadorned; they stood for basic agricultural commodities such as grain
and sheep. A specific shape of token always represented a specific quantity of a
particular item. For
example, "the cone ... stood for a small measure of grain, the sphere represented a large
measure of grain, the ovoid stood for a jar of oil." (Before Writing 161). Two jars of oil
would be represented by two ovoids, three jars by three ovoids, and so on. Thus, the
tokens presented an abstraction of the things being counted, but also a system of great
specificity and precision.
With the development of cities came a more complex economy
and more complex social structures. This cultural evolution is
reflected in the tokens, which begin to appear in a much greater
diversity of shapes and are given more complicated designs of
incisions and holes.
 THE DEVELOPMENT OF
CUNEIFORM: The Sumerian
writing system during the early
periods was constantly in flux. The
original direction of writing was
from top to bottom, but for reasons
unknown, it changed to left-to-right
very early on (perhaps around 3000
BCE). This also affected the
orientation of the signs by rotating
all of them 90° counterclockwise.
Another change in this early system
involved the "style" of the signs.
The early signs were more "linear"
in that the strokes making up the
signs were lines and curves. But
starting after 3000 BC, these strokes
started to evolve into wedges, thus
changing the visual style of the
signs from linear to "cuneiform".
Cuneiform
Sumerian Alphabet
Sumerian Economy
Sumerians
(Mesopotamians) were
known to trade with
the Egyptians, the
Indus Valley
civilizations and the
Chinese.
In later years, these
trade routes became
Silk Road.
 Sumerians invented the
wheel!
The wheel was
invented by 6000 BC!
It helped with the
military, farming and
trade.
This wheel is made of
wood.
Sumer, 3200-2350 B.C.
Sargon of Akkad unifies Mesopotamia:
world’s first empire, ca. 2240 B.C.
The Dynasty of Ur,
2100-2000 B.C.
Reign of Hammurapi of Babylon, 1792-
1750 B.C.
 Mesopotamia Quiz
What law system did Sumerians use?
What was the trade route followed by the
Sumerians called?
Between what 2 rivers did the Fertile
Crescent appear?
What type of writing did they use?
Name one architectural accomplishment of
the Sumerians.