Archaeologist Sir

Leonard Woolley.

•Mesopotamia – Called the “Fertile Crescent,”

this was the first agrarian civilization in the
world.
 Sumer Akkad Babylon Assyria Chaldean Babylon Persia

3000 BC 2340 – 2100 BC 1792-1750 BC 900 BC – 600 BC 600 – 539 BC 559 – 330 BC

How many civilizations controlled the

Mesopotamian region?
 •Empires in Mesopotamia fought for
control over the land and water.
•Civilizations in the region - Sumerians,
Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and
Persians. (Sumerian army pictured above).
•Dates back to 3,000
BC. Oldest of the
civilizations.
•Key cities were Ur,
Eridu, and Uruk.
•Cities formed city-
states that acted like
an independent
Above: Archaeologists Sir
nation. Charles Leonard Woolley
 •Each City-state -
surrounded by
walls. Defense
towers posted
every 30-35 ft.
•Sun-dried bricks
used to form
Capital city
in the East buildings and
and sun-
dried houses.
bricks.
 •Vicious weather
patterns- floods,
heavy rain,
scorching winds,
famine and drought.
•Floods of the Tigris
and Euphrates were
unpredictable.
Sites from Ancient Ur

Sumerian farmers irrigate and
work the fields.
•Early civilizations
will create irrigation
and drainage
ditches.
•Serious efforts to
control the flow of
the rivers.
•Enables them to
grow crops regularly.

The Ziggurat or Temple of
Ur in Ancient Sumer.
This temple was the central
focus of life in the city of
Ur.
•Ziggurat – temple set
atop a stepped tower.
•Temple was the
center of the city and
its economic and
political life.
•This was the most
important building in
the city.
 •1st written
language was the
wedge-shaped
writing of the
Sumerians called
cuneiform.
•Scribes wrote on
clay tablets with a
Wedge-shaped Sumerian
writing or cuneiform
reed stylus.
above.
Shelves of a tablet library in Babylon.
•Epic of Gilgamesh –
1st Epic poem.
•Oldest poem in the
history of the world.
•Sumerian tales
about a hero named
Gilgamesh.
 •Men who recorded all
aspects of Sumerian
life.
•Educated, copyists,
teachers and jurists.
•Upper class,
successful, leaders of
cities, temples and
armies.
Sumerian scribe above.
•1st system of writing
– cuneiform.
•Invented the wagon
wheel.
•Invented the potter’s
wheel.
•1st to make copper
tools.
•Sundial to keep
time.
•Astronomy –chart
constellations.
•Math – number
system based on
60. (60 minute
hour).
 •Geometry –
measure fields
and plan
buildings.
•Designed the
arch and the
dome.
Ishtar Gate