Fertile Crescent

History and Culture

Geography
Southwest Asia from Mediterranean Sea to western Iran Tigris and Euphrates Valley
Start in mountains of ancient Armenia Flow to the Persian Gulf Flooding common, changed paths Called Mesopotamia land between rivers Windy, dry, little rainfall, few trees Floods left rich, fertile soil good farming

Map

Geography
Evidence of people as early as 6000BC
Dug channels from rivers to irrigate fields Plants brought into region adapted well, good yields

New migrants around 4000BC

Had words for weaver, potter, and carpenter

Sumerians appeared around 3500BC

Short, had black hair Men wore woolen kilts, women wore dresses attaching over one shoulder Men wore beards, women wore braids Language is not related to any living language Wrote in Cuneiform used styles and clay tablets

Ancient Sumer
12 large city-states
All surrounded with walls Each was politically independent Conflict over farming land and irrigation Each city had 10,000 to 14,000 people Uruk was oldest had 5 mile long wall
Other cities: Kish, Ur, Lagash, Eridu

Government by Assembly
Most important people held power Became unwieldy and ineffective
Especially with crisis Maintence work is esp important irrigation canals, dams, resevoirs

Ancient Sumer
Single leader lugal
Controlled the army and regulated irrigation Expands later to have religious authority Eventually develops into hereditary kingship Built special tombs for lugal
Buried with servants, slaves to help in afterlife Size of tomb showed importance, power

Sumerian Religion
Religion and language tied Sumerians together
Temple important for worship and civic life
Priests and priestesses led prayers and sacrifices

Gods created men/women to do their work Animists believed there were spirits/gods everywhere, had different roles
Woo protecting deities with prayer, festivals to keep on good side

Sumerian Religion
An/Anu god of heaven Ki protector of the eather Enlil wind and storms Inanna/Dumuzi fertility Gods oversaw and interferred with people Important festivals in the spring
Ensure good harvest, healthy herds Ask gods to send just enough water in floods not too much, not too little

Sumerian Religion
Ziggurat built next to the temple
Some made of stone, word, mud brick Artificial mound, got smaller on top Tower of Babel most famous, biggest in Ur

Most worship focused on fertility of the land and the people

Ritual prostitution

Temple area housed goods, animals, tools

Ziggurat

Circa 2100BC - Ur

Development of Writing
Clay tokens stamped with symbols
Animals, tools, cloth Used to keep inventory (for temples) Would wrap tokens in clay ball, break open upon delivery to double-check shipment Eventually, put symbol of cow and number

Drawings called pictograms

Scribes began using approx 3500 BC

Development of Writing
Eventually scribes developed ideograms
Simplified short hand way to show images Began to use verbs as well

Last step was to use symbols for sounds

Symbols become more complex and abstract Scribes learned 6,000 symbols Written on wet clay with a reed stylus
Almost exclusively men

Cuneiform

Development of Writing
2800 BC, Sumerians began to write stories, myths, hymns
Change from oral tradition Often passed on religious stories Worlds first literature, also legal codes Surrounding people adopted Used for 3,000 years, replaced by alphabetic writing

Economic Activity
Temples required staff to run things, increased number who came
Become market places

Most are farmers

Come into the city to trade/sell wares Had to ensure plenty of water during hot summer
Needed careful slopes to prevent water from standing, getting land too salty

Economic Activity
Raised wheat, barely, vegetables
Fermented into ale, common beverage Date palms provided shade, fruit, tall reeds for roofing

Cattle, goats, sheep, onagers (type of donkey)

Used to plant by scattering seeds

Plow allowed neater planting, deeper roots, easier cultivation

Economic Activity
First plow basically big stick/small tree Eventually made out of metal, pulled by animals Increased physicality of farming changed family roles
Women slowly shift more towards home Men take on bigger roles in political and business

Economic Activity
Used math to calculate boundaries of their land
Used base of 60 rather than 10 60 min in hour, 360 in circle

3400 BC began to use wheel to spin pottery

Began to use wheels for transport Could carry 3X as much w/cart as w/animal

Also built wooden boats

Economic Activity
Jewelry and gold become popular
Used to show status and wealth Gold esp important, hammered and shaped

Cloth makers used cotton

Dyed many colors Weavers often slaves, women

Tanned leather to make shoes, bags

Economic Activity
Merchants developed unique seals to use as signature Pharmacists who dispensed drugs ordered by doctors Artisans and farmers kept Sumerians cities filled with trade and business Also traded with other areas to gain wood, stone, and metal ores Copper and tin esp important for making bronze cooking utensils and weapons

Economic Activity
Homes built with mud brick, reed roofs
Next to one another, sometimes w/common wall Space at premium, narrow streets Wealthy had wooden furniture, carpets
Bedrooms opened onto courtyard, places to entertain

Economic Activities
Land ownership major source of wealth
Some merchants among upper classes
Social elite, also priests

Society divided between rich and poor

Obtaining, trading costly items sign of elite Artisans pooled resources, formed guilds

Economic Activities
Women owned property
Kept dowry if divorce or death
Could divorce if not taken care of properly

Parents chose spouses Could have more than 1 wife if childless

Slaves at bottom, usually captives

Could be ransomed if family had enough money Laws to prevent mistreatment

Culture in Ancient Sumer

Artisans took care in creating beautiful objects
Decorated jewelry, small statues
Believed to be gods, or people praying?
Perhaps left to pray at alter while Sumerians worked?

Culture in Ancient Sumer

Music highly developed
Harp and lyre
Most famous lyre had bulls head (found in tomb)

Literature written down

Epic of Gilgamesh most famous
Story about king who tried to find immortality

Invaders in Mesopotamia
People who lived in hills adopted Sumerian inventions
Larger yields w/plow due to increased rain
Allowed larger armies, populations Rules envied Sumerians lifestyle

First the Elamites came from Zargos mountains

City of Susa similar in size, more aggressive army

Invaders in Mesopotamia
Akkadians replaced, Semitic people from Arabian peninsula
Adopted everything but Sumerian language Ruled for 300 years Sargon, ruler approx 2350 BC expanded to Mediterranean
Spread use of writing Empire didnt survive Sargons death for long Volcano eruption caused people to move south, overstretch Akkadian resources Civil unrest, Amorites move in with herds of animals

Invaders in Mesopotamia
Brief Sumerian renaissance about 2100 BC
Elamites returned, took Ur and destroyed the great Ziggurat Amorites (also Semitic) were nomadic herders
Some settled into urban life Mostly concerned with finding pastures Wars had taken toll, Sumerian canals clogged

Invaders in Mesopotamia
Hammurabi Amorite king 1800 BC
Issued code of 282 laws 8 ft tall, cuneiform King and Marduk (god) shown together Harsh punishments (eye for an eye)
Protect women and children from exploitation Following laws a moral obligation

Anatolian Civilization
Anatolia is in modern day Turkey
High plateau lands with harsh climate Valleys had rich soil Archeologists believe a comparable culture developed here
Still looking for evidence

Hittites
2000 BC Hatti occupy most of Anatolia
New people emerged, Hittites
Spoke Indo-European language (not related to SE Asians) Used hieroglyphs, oldest Indo-European writing

Hittites were large, ruling elite

Population diverse

Hittites
King was ruler, but had to be careful or nobles would elect rival monarch
1st king Labarnas reincarnated into each new king Associated with the sun, divine
Also high priest

Wore a long garment with shawl over 1 shoulder , a close fitting cap, staff in his hand Queen active in politics if her son was on throne Kings sons might hold governorships

Building the Hittite Empire

1660 BC began a series of conquests
Hattusilis I took N. Syria Mursilis I took Babylon from Amorites
Armies were over extended, chaos in palace

Telipinus set strict line of sucession Height of empire 1460-1190 BC

Had advantage of iron (vs. bronze) and chariots Invincible for centuries

Building the Hittite Empire

Took on Hurrians, Mittanit, even Egyptians
1299 BC indecisive battle w/Ramses Eventually settled for peace

Farming important occupation

Wheat, barely, olive and almond trees, bee keeping Also smelting copper and iron ore
Tried to keep secret, soon got out Most important contribution

Empire weakened, Assyrians and sea peoples anxious to replace

Syrian Peoples
Syria south of Anatolia, west of Mesopotamia
Influenced by both First cities were Byblos, and Ugarit
Populated by Canaanites 2700 BC begin to extend to nearby areas Animal herding important occupation

Syrian Peoples
2300 BC Sargon conquered Canaanites, 2000 BC brought into Hittite Empire
Between, city of Elba flourished
140 acres Large palace for kings 1,400 tablets now being decoded

Tablets at Elba cuneiform, those at Ugarit show steps towards alphabetic script
30 signs for consonants, 3 for vowels All alphbets in the world derived from Ugaritic script

Conclusion
Sumerians laid foundations for civilization
Important discoveries

Cycles of history emerge

Strong leader, creates an Empire After a few generations, Empires crumble Outside invasions, internal weakness

Living in cities meant a price

Requires war and violence to keep safe Finding deadlier weapons obsession ever since