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Ancient Sumer
3300 B.C.-1900 B.C.
Fertile Crescent
Region of rich soil in the middle
east, curving from the Persian Gulf
to the Mediterranean Sea.
Mesopotamia
Region between the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers. Name given to this region by the
ancient Greeks meaning “between the
rivers”
Ziggurat
A large stepped platform with a
temple on top used for religious
ceremonies in ancient times.
Cuneiform
Earliest form of writing. Consisted
of wedge shaped marks in clay
tablets.
Sumer
 World’s First Civilization. (3300 B.C.)
 Located in Mesopotamia.
 Part of the Fertile Crescent.
Floods and Irrigation
 Tigris and Euphrates flooded frequently,
destroying topsoil and homes.
 Leadership in the form of temple priests
or royal officials allowed for an organized
effort to control the flooding and use it for
irrigation.
 Dikes to hold back floods.
 Ditches dug for irrigation.
Innovative people.
 Sumer lacked timber and stone for
building.
 Used clay to make bricks, which led to the
building of some of the world’s first great
cities, including Ur and Uruk.
 Trade brought riches to Sumerian cities.
 Traders travelled down the rivers or across
the desert to trade with distant regions. (As
far away as Egypt and India)
City-States
 Sumer divided into at least 12 city-states.
 City-States ruled at first by war leaders
who battled each other for control of land
and water.
 Rule by war leaders leads to hereditary
rule.
 These rulers were responsible for…..
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Maintaining walls for protection.
Irrigation systems.
Conducting warfare.
Enforcing laws.
Employing Scribes to collect taxes and keep
records.
 Lead ceremonies meant to please their gods.
Social Classes in Sumer
 Highest Level
 Ruling family
 Leading officials
 Priests
 Middle Class
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Lesser Priests
Scribes
Merchants
Artisans
 Lowest Class
 Peasant farmers
 Slaves
Religion
 Polytheistic
 Believed gods controlled every aspect of life,
especially nature.
 Believed their highest duty was to keep the
gods happy, to ensure the safety of their citystate.
 Each city built a ziggurat dedicated to their
gods.
 Believed in a grim afterlife in an underworld
from which there was no release.
Invention of Writing
 Cuneiform (from Latin word cuneus for
“wedge”) Created around 3200 B.C.
 Scribes would carve wedge-shaped marks on
clay tablets using a sharp tool called a stylus.
 Evolved out of a system of pictographs used to
record goods brought to the temple
storehouses.
 Became more complicated over time.
Other contributions from
Sumer.
 Started developing astronomy and
mathematics.
 Divided the hour into 60 minutes.
 Divided a circle into 360 degrees.
 The “Epic of Gilgamesh”
 Narrative Poem about a hero named
Gilgamesh who may have been a real King
in Uruk.
The End of Sumer
 Around 2500 B.C., invaders began
conquering Sumer city-states.
 By 1900 B.C., Sumerian city-states had
all been over-run by invaders.
Wrap up Question????
 Why did cuneiform have such a major
impact on the ancient world? Why is it
such a major step in history?
 The development of Cuneiform meant the beginning
of written communication and also, as a result, the
beginning of an actual written record of history.
Invaders and Empires
Codify
To arrange in orderly fashion and
write down.
The first empires of
Mesopotamia.
 Some of the more powerful invaders of
Mesopotamia begin to create large, well
organized empires.
 This brings peace and prosperity to the
region as warfare among individual citystates ends and trade flourishes.
Akkadian Empire
(2350-2300 B.C.)
 Sargon
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ruler of Sumer city-state Akkad.
Invaded neighboring city-states.
Built first known empire in history.
Appointed local rulers to oversee the empire.
Did not last long, ended after Sargon died.
First Babylonian Empire
(1790 B.C. - 1595 B.C.)
 Hammurabi, King of Sumer City-State
Babylon.
 Brought much of Mesopotamia under the
control of his empire.
Hammurabi’s Code
 Set of nearly 300 laws carved on a stone
pillar.
 First attempt to codify all the laws that
would govern a state.
 Addressed both civil law and criminal
law.
 Created order.
(Page 37 in book)
Objective of Hammurabi’s
Code…
 “..to cause justice to prevail in the land, to
destroy the wicked and evil, to prevent
the strong from oppressing the
weak,..and to further the welfare of the
people.”
Other contributions of
Hammurabi.
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Improved Irrigation.
Organized a well trained army.
Repaired temples.
Promoted his own patron god “Marduk” in
order to bring religious unity to the
empire.
Hittites (1400 B.C. – 1200
B.C.)
 Invaded Mesopotamia out of Asia minor.
 Brought with them the knowledge of how to
extract iron out of ore.
 Far superior iron weapons compared to softer
copper or bronze weapons.
 Iron was more plentiful so the Hittites could arm
more people at less expense.
 Tried to keep this technology a secret, but as their
empire collapsed their ironsmiths looked for work
elsewhere.
 This technology spread across Asia, Africa, and
Europe (cultural diffusion) ushering in the Iron Age.
Assyrian Empire
(1350 B.C. – 612 B.C.)
 Lived on the upper Tigris river.
 Also learned to forge iron weapons.
 Gained a reputation as the most feared
warriors in history.
 Took great pride in their warfare.
 Well ordered society
 Built large palaces and well planned cities.
 Founded one of the world’s first libraries at Nineveh.
 Defeated by an alliance of neighboring
peoples.
New Babylonian Empire
(625 B.C. – 539 B.C.)
 King Nebopolassar brings Babylon back
into power.
 Quickly revived its powers under its
second king, Nebuchadnezzar.
Nebuchadnezzar
 Aggressive and ruthless king.
 King during part of the biblical story of Daniel.
 Made the city of Babylon into one of the most
highly regarded cities is Mesopotamia.
 Rebuilt canals, temples, walls, and palaces. (85 ft.
thick brick walls and nine solid gateways)
 Enlarged the city’s ziggurat.
 Famous “Hanging Gardens of Babylon”
 One of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
Persian Empire
(539 B.C. – 330 B.C.)
 Cyrus the Great.
 Defeated Babylon in 539 B.C. (Daniel)
 Largest empire yet, from Asia minor to India.
 Tolerated customs of conquered people.
 Darius I (522 B.C. – 486 B.C.)
 Skilled organizer.
 Divided empire into provinces ruled by a governor.
 Each province paid taxes based on resources and
wealth.
 Like Hammurabi, Darius drew up a single code of laws
for the empire.
 Hundreds of miles of roads are built or repaired.
 Established a common set of weights and measures.
 Encouraged use of coins which helped bring merchants
and traders out of the old barter economy and into an
early form of money economy.
Zoroaster (600 B.C.)
 Persian thinker
 Rejected the old Persian gods.
 Believed in a single wise god (monotheism)
who was constantly fighting against the
prince of lies and evil. Each person must
choose their side.
 Believed in a final judgment day.
Phoenicians
 Small state of cities along the Mediterranean
coast. (modern day Lebanon and Syria)
 Famous as sailors and traders.
 Established colonies from North Africa to
Spain in order to promote trade. (Some sailed
as far as Britain for trade)
 Created their own alphabet, which the Greeks
later adapted for their own use and which later
led to our own alphabet.
Wrap up Question?????
 What effects did the formation of
empires, and the establishment of trade,
have on the ancient world?
 The formation of empires and establishment
of trade led to more interaction between the
various civilizations which allowed for
cultural diffusion, the spread of ideas and
technological developments throughout the
ancient world.
Kingdom of the Nile:
Ancient Egypt
Cataract
A waterfall on the Nile river.
Delta
Triangular area of marshland formed
by deposits of silt at the mouth of a
river.
Pharaoh
Government and religious head of
ancient Egypt. The king of Egypt.
Dynasty
Chain of rulers from the same
family.
The Nile River
 Longest river in the world.
 Made travel throughout Egypt easier.
 Trade flourished in Egypt as its merchants traveled
up and down the Nile in sailboats and barges
exchanging the products of Africa, the Middle East,
and the Mediterranean region.
 Life blood of Egyptian empire.
 Fertile soil that was replenished by yearly
flooding.
 Wheat and flax ( a fibrous plant used for clothing)
grew well here.
Flood control
 Every Spring the Nile floods from rain in
the interior of Africa.
 Cooperation was needed to control these
floods.
 Early governments in Egypt built dikes,
reservoirs, and irrigation ditches to channel
flood waters and store water for the dry
seasons.
Two Regions of Ancient
Egypt.
 Upper Egypt
 Actually Southern part of Egypt.
 Started at the Nile’s first cataract and
continued to within 100 miles of the
Mediterranean sea.
 Lower Egypt
 Actually Northern part of Egypt.
 Covered the delta plain region of the Nile at
the Mediterranean Sea.
 3100 B.C.
 Menes, king of Upper Egypt unites
the Upper and Lower regions.
 Establishes Egypt’s first capital at
Memphis.
 Utilized the Nile as a highway between
the Upper and Lower regions which
created unity in Egypt.
Divisions of Egyptian History
 Old Kingdom (2575 B.C. – 2130 B.C.)
 Middle Kingdom (1938 B.C. – 1630 B.C.)
 New Kingdom (1539 B.C. – 1075 B.C.)
Old Kingdom
(2575 B.C. – 2130 B.C.)
 Pharaohs
 Leaders in ancient Egypt.
 Organized a strong centralized state.
 Were believed to be gods, therefore they
had absolute power and owned all of Egypt.
 Took pride in justice and order.
 Delegated responsibilities in the empire.
Pyramids
 Built by the Pharaohs for tombs.
 Most located near Memphis.
 Considered homes for the dead in
eternity.
 Pharaohs were buried with everything
they would need in the afterlife.
Reasons for Old
Kingdom’s collapse.
 Power struggles
 Crop failures
 Building costs of pyramids
Middle Kingdom
(1938 B.C. – 1630 B.C.)
 After more than 100 years of disunity,
new pharaohs reunited Egypt.
 Middle Kingdom is a turbulent period in
Egyptian history.
 Nile did not flood regularly.
 Corruption and rebellion are common.
 There were some positives.
 New land was drained for farming.
 Region of Nubia is occupied by Egyptian forces,
giving Egypt a new source of gold, ivory, cattle, and
slaves.
 Trade with Middle East and island of Crete
increases.
 1700 B.C., foreign invaders called
Hyksos occupy the delta region, bringing
an end to the Middle Kingdom.
 Hyksos introduced war chariots to Egypt,
which the Egyptians would master in time.
New Kingdom
(1539 B.C. – 1075 B.C.)
 New Powerful and ambitious pharaohs
establish a large empire, stretching from
Nubia to Syria.
 Age of conquest which leads to greater
contact with other African and Southwest
Asian peoples.
Powerful Rulers
 Hatshepsut
 First female pharaoh.
 Encouraged trade.
 Thutmose III
 Stepson of Hatshepsut.
 Great military general who stretched Egypt’s
borders.
 Ramses II
 Regained control of old borders to Syria.
 Big time boaster, built great temples and
monuments to himself for his victories.
Decline of Egypt
 After 1100 B.C., Egyptian power slowly
declines.
 Constant warfare and invasions take its toll.
 Invaders such as the Assyrians and Persians
conquered the Nile region.
 Last Egyptian dynasty ends with Greek control
in 332 B.C.
 Roman armies take over in 30 B.C.
 The Nile valley continued to be an important
resource for each of its conquerors.
Wrap up question???
 How did the Nile River influence the rise
of the powerful kingdoms of ancient
Egypt?
 The Nile river was the life blood of the Egyptian
empire. The fertile soil around the Nile allowed the
Egyptians to grow surpluses of crops to support
their civilization. The Nile unified the various
regions of Egypt because it allowed for easy travel
throughout the empire. Trade also flourished
because of travel on the Nile.