1. Birth of Civilization:
Mesopotamia
Humanities I
Dr. Whitney Vandiver
Redlands Community College

3. Ancient Societies
 Sumer
 ~ 4,000-2,000 BC
 Assyrian Empire
 Regional settlements united ~ 2,300 BC with Sumerian settlements
 Babylonian Empire
 ~ 2,000 BC with the combination of Sumer and Babylonian
settlements
 Persian Empire (First)
 ~ 550-350 BC
 Hebrews
 Nomadic society

4. Sumer
 A network of city-states with individual rulers
 Greatly agriculturally-based
 Bronze-age brought about greater agricultural tools
 Nomadic tribes were the greatest threat because of small
“cities” and no unified force.
 Sargon I united the city-states ~ 2350 BC and ruled as
theocratic monarch for 56 years
 first multi-ethnic empire
 fell to nomadic tribes who improved systems and tools
 Polytheism, theocratic monarchy, and systems of bartering
continued through changes in societies and rule.

5. Class & Social Order
 Division among society is recorded as early as 2700 BC
 Religious servants, military, royal staff, and the educated served separate
purposes, which offered a social stature.
 “Standard of Ur” panel depicts division among class
 War, trade, and social expectations continued through the goal of
societal success.

6. Babylon
 ~ 2000 BC, Babylonian and remaining Sumerian city-
states were combined for the First Babylonian Empire.
 Hammurabi (6th Babylonian monarch)
 Code of Hammurabi
 combination of statutes from city-states
 282 laws engraved on a 7-foot tall stele
 most specific and comprehensive law of ancient society
 resembles story of Moses on Mount Sinai
 punishment and application differed based on social class

7. Changes in Gender Views
 The Babylonian Creation
 earliest cosmological myth, ~ 2,000 BC
 similar to a big bang story with a simultaneous creation of
the universe and gods
 The Great Mother, Tiamat, is destroyed by hero-god
Marduk
 offers shift from matriarchal society to patriarchal gods
 Code of Hammurabi labeled woman as property of men
despite having commercial abilities and protection
because of child-bearing status.

8. Gilgamesh
 First recorded epic poem, long narrative about a hero
 Initially orally spoken, written down ~3000 BC
 Possibly based on an early Sumerian ruler
 2/3 god, 1/3 mortal—a Hercules-type figure who rejects the
goddess Ishtar and loses his companion
 Only recourse is to search for eternal life, which he discovers in
the form of a plant to restore youth
 Symbolism resembles some Biblical literature
 mortal who saves humankind from a flood
 serpent who steals the plant

9. Mesopotamian Architecture
 ziggurat—religious buildings for burial and rituals to
rise closer to gods