Mesopotamia quiz

• Mesopotamia is known as "The Cradle of Civilization".

Earliest Civilization: The Fertile Crescent

• Mesopotamia was one of the earliest civilizations with permanent settlements.
• Mesopotamia means "between the rivers" in Greek.
• Mesopotamia is in present day Iraq between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
• Mesopotamia lasted for approximately 3000 years.
• Mesopotamians people were the first to irrigate fields.
• Mesopotamians people were the first to devise a system of writing and mathematics
• Mesopotamians people were the first to invent the wheel, work with metal, and devise a written law code.

Geographic Conditions

• Mesopotamia had little rainfall.
• Mesopotamia had a hot and dry climate.
• Mesopotamia had catastrophic flooding in spring.
• Mesopotamia had Arid soil containing little minerals.
• Mesopotamia had No stone or timber resources

Natural Levees

• Natural levees are embankments produced by build-up of sediment over thousands of years of flooding.
• Natural levees create a high and safe flood plain.
• Natural levees make irrigation and canal construction easy
• Natural levees provide protection.
• The surrounding swamps were full of fish and waterfowl
• Reeds provided food for sheep / goats.
• Reeds were also used as building resources

Government Structure

• Early political structure was an form of democracy.
• Frequent wars led to the emergence of warriors as leaders.
• Eventually it led to the rise of monarchy.
• They followed the leadership of god of the city.
• A council of leading citizens or priests or leader of the city - king interpreted the will of the god

Sumerians

• The Sumerians lived in Southern Mesopotamia from 3500-2000 BCE.
• They irrigated fields and produced 3 main crops barley, dates and sesame seeds by building canals, dikes, dams and drainage systems.
• They developed cuneiform writing and invented the wheel.
• Abundance of food led to an increase of population.
• The first city of the world was Uruk.
• They developed a trade system with bartering mainly barley but also wool and cloth for stone, metals, timber, copper, pearls and ivory.
• Individuals could only rent land from priests, who controlled land on behalf of gods.
• Most of the profits of trade went to temple.
• The Sumerians were not successful in uniting lower Mesopotamia.

Irrigation

• Irrigation ditches were dug to provide water, carried river water to fields, and allowed them to produced a surplus of crops.
• Gates controlled how much water flowed from the river.
• Main canals led from the river and they sloped gently downward to keep the water flowing.
• Medium-sized branch canals led away from the main canals.
• Small feeder canals led water directly to the fields.

Royal Tombs of Ur

• The Royal Tombs of Ur were Excavated from 1922 to 1934.
• The tombs contained Extravagant jewelry of gold, cups of gold and silver, bowls of alabaster, and extraordinary objects of art and culture
• The Great Death Pit was a mass grave containing the bodies of 6 guards and 68 servants
• These servants drank poison to accompany the kings and queens in the afterlife.

Akkadians

• The Akkadians lived in Northern Mesopotamia from 2334 – 2193 ВСЕ.
• Leader Sargon the Great unified lower Mesopotamia after conquering Sumerians in 2331 BCE.
• The capital was established at Akkad.
• The Akkadians spread Mesopotamian culture throughout Fertile Crescent.
• The Akkadians were conquered by invading barbarians by 2193 BСЕ.

Babylonians

• The Babylonians lived in Mesopotamia from 1830-1500 BCE.
• The Babylonians reunited Mesopotamia in 1830 BCE.
• The central location dominated trade and secured control.
• Mesopotamia was not unified for long.
• King Hammurabi conquered Akkad built walls to protect the city and canals and dikes to improve crops.
• The economy was based on agriculture and wool.
• Individuals could own land.
• Artisans and merchants could keep most profits and even formed guilds.
• Grain was used as the medium of exchange, with:
  • Shekel = 180 grains of barley
  • Mina = 60 shekels
• Mina was eventually represented by metals - one of first uses of money but was still based on grain
• Hammurabi's Legacy was his law code.

Code of Hammurabi

• The Code of Hammurabi was created in 1772 BCE.
• To enforce his rule, Hammurabi collected all the laws of Babylon in a code that would apply everywhere.
• It was the first and most extensive law code from the ancient world.
• The code had 282 laws inscribed on a stone pillar (stele) placed in the public hall for all to see.
• They were set of divinely inspired laws as well as societal laws.
• Punishments were designed to fit the crimes, as people must be responsible for their own actions.
• It was the origin of "eye for an eye..."
  • If a son struck his father, son's hand would be cut off
• Consequences for crimes depended on rank in society
  • Poor = hand off, nobles = pay a fine

Assyrians

• The Assyrians lived in Mesopotamia from 1200-700 ВСЕ.
• They earned a reputation for being among the most feared warriors in history for 500 years.
• They used iron for weapons.
• The Assyrians amassed a library of over 22000 clay tablets.

Neo-Babylonians (Chaldeans)

• The Neo-Babylonians lived in Mesopotamia from 626 BCE – 539 ВСЕ.
• The Chaldeans defeated Assyrians and took control of Babylon and became neo-Babylonians
• The Babylonians were eventually defeated by Persians under Cyrus the Great.
• King Nebuchadnezzar II was the most famous neo-Babylonian king.
  • He supposedly built hanging gardens of Babylon -During the Babylonian Exile in 587 BCE, he defeated Judah and destroyed Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, then deported thousands of Judeans (Jews) to Babylon

Religion

• Mesopotamian religion was Polytheistic with over 3600 gods and demigods.
• Mesopotamians believed in Anthropomorphism, the attribution of human characteristics to animals or natural phenomena
• Each city was ruled by a different god.
• Kingship was created by gods
  • the king's power was divinely ordained
• Kings and priests acted as interpreters of gods
• People feared power of gods and blamed natural disasters, poor crops, and illness on a person's social actions

Ziggurats

• Ziggurats were Temples dedicated to the god of the city.
• They were made of layers of mud bricks in the shape of a pyramid on platforms due to constant flooding.
• Temples evolved to ziggurats
  • a stack of 1-7 platforms decreasing in size from bottom to top
• The top of the temple was the god's home
  • It was beautifully decorated and had a room for offerings of food and goods
• One ziggurat was believed to be Tower of Babel over 100m above ground and 91m base.

Writing

• Writing appeared in Mesopotamia around 3200 BCE and allowed the transmission of knowledgethe codification of laws, and records to facilitate trade/farming
• CUNEIFORM means "wedge shaped" using wet clay tablets marked with the point of a reed dried in the sun to make a tablet
• Only Scribes could read and write, they served as priests, record keepers and accountants
• Writing spread to Persia and Egypt and was a vehicle for the growth and spread and exchange of ideas among cultures

Gilgamesh – The First Epic Poem

• Gilgamesh is over 4000 thousand years old and written on 12 clay tablets.
• It an epic battle between Enkidu -wild man, good heart and Gilgamesh controlling king
• The two became friends and had adventures
• They made the gods angry so they killed Enkidu and Gilgamesh wanders the underworld in grief
• Gilgamesh is the earliest known author – Sin-leqi-unninni and mentions a great flood similar to story of Noah's Ark

Mathematics and Science

• Mesopotamia, specifically Babylon, used a mathematical system based on sixty
  • 60 divisible by 1,2,3,4,5 and 6
  • 50 not divisible by 1,2,3,4 and 5
  • 40 not divisible by 1,2,3 and 4 – etc., etc.
• Some parts of the 'base-sixty' system still remain today
  • 360 degrees in a circle
  • 60 seconds in a minute
  • 60 minutes in 1 hour
• The calendar was based on cycles of the moon with the number of days between the appearance of two new moons was set as a month and 12 cycles made up a year

Legacies of Mesopotamia

• Codified laws
• Ziggurats
• Cuneiform writing
• Irrigation
• Metal working and tools
• Trade networks
• Transportation using the wheel
• Mathematics and calendar
• Prosperous living based on large scale agriculture

Test your knowledge about Mesopotamia. This quiz covers key aspects of Mesopotamian civilization, including its rulers, religion, innovations, and historical events. Learn about the cultural and intellectual achievements of ancient Mesopotamia.