• Mesopotamia was a succession of

societies
 Sumeria (Sumer)
 Akkad
 First Babylon
 Assyria
 Second Babylon
 Mesopotamian Civilization
• 3000 BC
– Settlement within the fertile crescent increases
– Contact with other cultures in the area
• Sumerian cities develop
– Concentrating in the southern regions of the
alluvial plains of the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers
• Why?
– Most fertile soil
• Geography

Unpredictable rivers (Tigris and Euphrates)

Flat land open to invasion
Semi-arid
• Societies based on city-states
• Influence of geography on development
• Government – theocracy
• Class System
 Monarch / nobility
 Priests / scribes
 Commoners
 Slaves
 Mesopotamian Civilization
• Religion takes important role in
life
• Deities are in human forms and
represent some natural
phenomenon
• No separation of Church and
state
• Ziggurats – religious centers

• Humans were subservient to

the Gods
• Gods are hard to predict
• Art of Divination
Ziggurats - stepped towers topped by temples
Cuneiform- first system of writing
Cuneiform tablet
with envelope
Cuneiform-
developed to keep
record of business
transactions and taxes

Later used for

literature
The first work of
literature was the Epic
of Gilgamesh - a
Sumerian flood story
 Epic of Gilgamesh
• The Epic of Gilgamesh recounts the adventures of
Gilgamesh, king of the ancient Mesopotamian city of
Uruk, in his quest for immortality.
• Composed about 2000 bc on clay tablets. One of the
oldest literary works.
• The poem is probably Sumerian in origin but was
absorbed and adapted by succeeding eastern
Mediterranean civilizations.
• In the first prose passage, the goddess Ishtar tries to entice
Gilgamesh to marry her; Gilgamesh’s rejection enrages
Ishtar and she seeks revenge.
• In the second passage, the sage Utnapishtim reveals that
the gods once attempted to exterminate humankind with a
great flood.
Gilgamesh
Writing was reserved for the wealthy classes
• Trade links with Egypt and Harappa
• Sumerian mathematics based on 60
(clock and circle)
• Sumerian astronomical charts basis for
modern astronomy
• Invented quadratic expressions
• Conquered
Sumeria – Akkad
first empire
• Some
centralization of
power
• Sargon I first
emperor
• Absorbed / took
on Sumerian
culture
• Conquered Akkad
• Hammurabi
• Continued Sumerian
culture
• Code of Hammurabi
 282 laws
 Based on Lex Talonis
(eye for an eye) and
social class
• Conquered
Babylon
• Highly organized
military
• Ruthless and
hated
• Largest of the
Mesopotamian
empires
• King
Nebuchadnezzar
• Hanging gardens
• Continued
Sumerian culture
• Conquered by the
Persians
Thank You