Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia  3500-500 BC Sadie and Dylan  // “ And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor. // //”// -from the Bible Map of Mesopotamian Empires

media type="custom" key="12053635" media type="custom" key="12053197" Important People in Mesopotamia 1-Hammurabi- He was the first ruler to create a written code of laws. It contained laws that said essentially, "An eye for an eye." 2-Cyrus the Great- He was the king of Persia, and he founded the Persian empire. 3-Zoroaster- He started the Persian religion, Zoroastrianism. 4-Sargon- "Lord of the Four Quarters of the World", he founded the first empire in history. He was a brilliant military tactician, because he never lost a battle. 5-Darius- He was one of the rulers of the Persians, and ordered the attack against the Greeks at the Battle of Marathon.

Mesopotamian Pottery

Terms Ziggurat- A Sumerian temple dedicated to the chief god or goddess of the city. They were generally shaped like a pyramid made of different levels. Theocracy- A government that also has divine authority, which means the pope and the king are the same person. Pastoral nomads- People who domesticated animals for food and clothing. They usually lived in tents so they could move according to the needs of their animals. Polytheism- The belief in many gods. A polytheistic religion associates aspects of nature with one or more gods. There can be infinitely many gods with this type of religion. Satrapies- The name for the provinces of Persia that were designated by Darius.

Ziggurat in Ur

Overview Mesopotamia, (Greek for "land between the rivers"), was host to three peoples. One of these was the Sumerians. The Sumerians were polytheistic, so they believed in many gods. They also believed the gods ruled the cities through the kings. There were lots of separate city-states, which were basically individual governments/nations formed from each large city. Another of the Mesopotamian peoples was the Akkadians. The Akkadians were a Semitic people to the north of the Sumerians. One of their leaders, Sargon, created the first empire by overrunning the Sumerian city-states. His empire ended in 2100 BC and was not replaced by another united government until 1792 BC, when Hammurabi came into power. After Hammurabi's reign, he was followed by weak replacements, so his empire fell as well. The last of the Mesopotamian peoples were the Assyrians. They were also a Semitic people. This people created an empire in 700 BC by using iron weapons to capture Mesopotamia, and parts of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. It lasted less than a hundred years, though they developed an effective postal system and had a large and disciplined military. Their empire disintegrated in 612 BC into Chaldeans and Medes.

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Cuneiform Writing

For More Information On: [|The Geography of Ancient Mesopotamia] [|The Written Language of Ancient Mesopotamia] [|The God(desses)s of Ancient Mesopotamia] [|The Technology of Ancient Mesopotamia] [|The Government of Ancient Mesopotamia]

media type="custom" key="12053663" Hammurabi's Code of Laws