Mesopotamia - World History to 1500 | HIST 1005, Study notes of World History

Download Mesopotamia - World History to 1500 | HIST 1005 and more Study notes World History in PDF only on Docsity! Mesopotamia Two Rivers Tigres & Euphrates Rise of the earliest cities Fertile land People need water as agrarian society is growing Late neolithic area- rise of metalizing Rise of bronze brought about movement to river areas Beginning of the Bronze Age- 4000 BCE-1500 BCE Alloy Tools necessary to move into river valleys and develop complex river valley societies Mesopotamia covers today- Kuwait, Iraq, Seria Sumer 5000 BCE- Towns, elaborate irrigation systems allowing water to be brought from The river into fields and towns Method of controlling the waters Rise of larger cities Uruk Ur Sumer Sematic in origin- so far as family tree goes City- market center, military and political center governing the surrounding areas, cultural Walls and other civic structures What was the basic currency of government More defined hierarchy of social classes Elders- those who have accumulated power and wealth City-states Problems that city-states encountered: Facility for recruitment and training and equipping of military structure Rise of religious institutions becoming bigger and bigger Zygratt City-states ruled by assemblies of prominent men Kings with nobles Writing Codified law Hammurabis Code Idea of the welfare of the people, justice Criminal laws Death penalty for murder, theft, fraud, adultery Lex Talionis Class division on various levels Aristocracy, free man, slave Property, class, and gender are important Evidence of writing