Mesopotamia Study Notes

Fertile Crescent

Crescent shaped area with fertile soil

Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

Tigris (north); Euphrates (south); two major rivers that supported agriculture and civilization in ancient Mesopotamia. Had unpredictable flooding, clay bed caused problems.

Ubaid Period

Hunting/gathering and beginnings of farming; painted pottery; settled at Eridu (Coast City in south)

Uruk Period

Rise of cities based around gods/priests; priests ran governments by managing taxes, division of labor, and keeping gods happy; first beginnings of temples; cities were divided by canals and soon lugals (kings) took power; pottery wheels

Dynastic Period (Rise of City States)

Rise of cities based around kings (Claimed they were like gods), Enmebaragesi - first named kings; walled cities and development of writing

Important city states

Eridu, Ur, Uruk

Ur

divided into neighborhoods, had structures for flood and water control, ziggurat - temple, Inanna - patron goddess, port city - got traded goods and got to set prices

(Epic of) Gilgamesh

several poems put together into one, 2/3 god, 1/3 human, probably a king of uruk

fall of sumer

Eannatum united sumer for one generation (next king was weak)

Cosmology of Akkad

Enuma Elish

creation story that spans sumer, akkad, and babylon (based on cosmology of ANE)

Afterlife

buried bodies right side up; dark and gloomy, at dust unless food offerings were provided; if not buried, then became tortured demon who tortures family members willingly

Sargon the Great

Founder that unified Mesopotamia, birth legend similar to Moses; Victory Stele of Sargon - not found, probably shows his military victories

Enheduanna

First known named author, high priestess of Inanna and daughter of Sargon the great, combined myths of sumer and akkad to unify them, composed many poems

Fall of Akkad

Drought and famine (soil analysis, abandoned cities, poem about Egyptian droughts)

hammurabi

Babylonia expanded influence, transfers religious center from Nippur to Babylon (New god is Marduk); great leader/warrior/builder

Law Code Stele of Hammurabi

top features Marduk giving law codes to hammurabi, meant to unify and preserve order, laws applied to everyone (theoretically)

Rise of Babylonia

small town during Akkadian Empire that grew in power under Hammurabi’s rule

Fall of babylonia

weak rulers, Hittites, Assyrians, Amorites, Kassites attacked

Decline of Bronze Age

Collapse of Mesopotamia society - destroyed cities, chaos in levant, interrupted trade routs, decreased literacy; possible reasons - volcanic eruptions from Iceland, drought and famine, Sea peoples

Ashur

city and god of Assyrians, caused move towards monotheism and women’s rights declining

Military Innovations/tactics of Assyrians

Siege tactics - battering rams and iron weapons; royal roads that went throughout the empire

Treatment of people

cruel punishments for opposition, and scrambled people from a home town across the whole empire

Rise of Aramaic

TP3 - commissioned translation of Akkadian/Sumerian documents into Aramaic

fall of Assyrians

Got too big (Expanded beyond royal roads), too tyrannical (people rebelled), other towns sacked it

Nebuchadnezzar II

Ruled for bulk of Neo-Babylonian Empire, built walls of Babylon and 3 major palaces/shrines (Went back to polytheism)

Art of Neo-Babylon

Used blue, lions'; Hanging Gardens of Babylon - big maze with trees, flowers, waterfalls

Military of Neo-Babylon

sent top 10% of a town to serve the king

Cyrus Cylinder

story of how Cyrus the Great (Persia) conquered Neo-Babylon

Rise of Persia

nomads who started to invade other city states

Cyrus the Great

took city states; united Indus Valley, Egypt, and Mesopotamia under 1 government

Darius the Great

ruled at peak, succeeds Cyrus, made Aramaic official language, built roads, standardized weights, currency, and measures. Immortalized on Behistun Inscription - shows Darius’ life in lots of languages and super high

Fall of Persia

Got too big and bold, failed series of invasions of Greece - lead to heavy taxation - people rebelled, lost territory, Alexander the Great invades

Art of Persia

rock carvings (not a lot left) on walls, metal work, weaving

Zoroastrianism

Monotheistic, Zoroaster was founder, Main god - Ahura Mazda, prioritized good vs evil and free will, death - soul stays near body for 3 days while God evaluates

Persian Peace

Sent everyone exiled by Assyrians and Neo-Babylon home