World History Chapter 4 Outline
I. Mesopotamia- means land between rivers in Greek.
A. This is the earliest known civilization developed in Mesopotamia.
B. Today it is known as Iraq.
C. This region was between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
D. In 4,000 BC farming villages began to develop along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
1. Farmers used floodwaters to irrigate the land. Rivers carried SILT which fertilized the land.
2. Since food became plentiful, not all people needed to farm. Some became artisans who specialized in making certain goods, such as metal products, cloth, weapons, or pottery. Later, goods began to be traded.
E. By 3,000 B.C., several villages had developed into cities in SUMER, a region in southern Mesopotamia because they could grow crops and had water near them.
F. Sumerian cities were cut off from one another because of surrounding mudflats and deserts.
G. SUMERIANS began/invented the following:
a. City-states, self-governing regions that included a city and its surrounding states
b. Irrigation Systems-because little or no rain fell in the summer, so there was not enough water for the crops in the fall.
c. Religion-polytheism (several gods)-Ziggurats temples means “to rise high”
d. Government- monarchy (KING), this position was hereditary.
e. Social Groups developed.
i. Upper class-kings, priests, warriors, and government officials
ii. Middle Class-merchants, farmers, fishers, and artisans
iii. Lower Class-enslaved people
f. Writing System called cuneiform
g. The wheel
h. A wooden plow
i. Sailboats
j. An epic Poem, The Epic of Gilgamesh, the world’s oldest story.
Lesson 2
II. Mesopotamian Empires
A. In 2340, an Akkadian King named Sargon conquered the Sumerian city-states, thereby forming an empire.
B. In the 1800s BC, the Amorites conquered Mesopotamia and built their own cities. The grandest was Babylon.
C. Hammurabi, the Babylonian King, conquered the Amorite-controlled cities and formed the Babylonian empire.
D. He created a collection of laws called the CODE OF HAMMURABI.
a. Hammurabi’s code influenced later law codes.
b. This code demanded an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. This meant the that the punishment should match the seriousness of the crime.
E. In 900 BC, Assyrians used their well-trained soldiers to take over Mesopotamia. The Assyrians built a great army to protect their land from invasion and in the process harshly treated the people they conquered.
F. The Assyrian Empire extended from the Persian Gulf in the east to the Nile River in the west.
a. The empire’s capital was Nineveh.
b. The empire was ruled by a King and was divided into provinces.
c. The Assyrians modeled their culture on the culture of the Babylonians.
G. In 600 BC, The Chaldeaen Empire conquered the Assyrians and formed the New Babylonian Empire.
a. King Nebuchadnezzar reconstructed Babylon by stealing from neighboring city-states.
b. He built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which became one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
c. Babylonians traded with caravans (by camels) that passed through the city and thereby brought much wealth to the city. They also make many scientific advances.