ANCIENT CIVILIZATION OF MESOPOTAMIA

The four ancient civilizations of the world are-
Mesopotamians,Egyptians,Greek,Chinese civilizations.

To be a civilization, society must have a majority of these:

mesopotamia

•           Cities                             Specialized labor
•              Government                   Science & tech
•              Religion                         Art
•              Taxes                         Social classes
•              Written language

MESOPOTAMIANS CIVILIZATION -
MESOPOTAMIA is a greek word that means "between the rivers" specifically the area between TIGRIS RIVER AND EUPHRATES RIVER(present day Iraq).It lasted for approx. 3000 years.
Cities associated with Mesopotamia

•              Sumer 
•              Akkad 
•              Babylon 
•              Assyria

Sumer -

•           Polytheism
•           Run by soldiers
•          Temples called Ziggurats
•           Invented sail, plow, wheel & 1st to use bronze
•          Developed geometry & arithmetic
•          Developed arches, columns, ramps
•           Developed cuneiform (wedge writing in wet mud which was allowed to dry)

Akkad

•            Sargon of Akkad conquered Sumer 

  

  cities of mesopotamia

•            Created world’s first empire
•            Dynasty lasted 200 years

Babylon

•           Based on Euphrates river
•           Empire hit peak under Hammurabi
•           Hammurabi’s Code

Hammurabi's Code-

•           Needed single, unified code of law to unify people
•           Written in stone 
•            Placed throughout the empire
•           “eye for an eye”
•            Law applied to everyone, but applied differently to men/women & rich/poor.
• 
  
•    Assyria-
•        10th century BCE, Assyria emerged as dominant force in the north
•           City of Assur- became important trading and political centre
•          After Hammurabi’s death, Babylon fell apart and kings of Assur controlled more of surrounding area and came to dominate
•           Made conquered lands pay taxes (food, animals, metals or timber)
•          Rule by fear as  kings were first to have a permanent army made up of professional soldiers  (estimated 200 000 men)
•          Made superior weapons of bronze and iron
•          iron changed lifestyles in Mesopotamia in weapons and in daily life ie.  replaced wooden wheels and applied to horse drawn chariots.

Prominent Mesopotamians gods
ENLIL- SUPREME GOD AND GOD OF AIR
ISHTAR-GODDESS OF FERTILITY AND LIFE
AN-GOD OF HEAVEN
ENKI- GOD OF WORLD AND UNDERWORLD
SHAMASH-GOD OF SUN AND GIVER OF LAW