Fertile crescent includes modern day countries of

Jordan, Iraq, Israel,Syria, Turkey, Lebanon

 consisted of a city and the surrounding area

city state

ziggurat

a temple made of sun dried brick and decorated with colored tile. It resembled a pyramid and was built in each city state. It raised a shrine to the sky,and was reached by mounting stairs

Theocracy

Government where King served as the military leader and the high priest.

Sumerian Law role of man

Men were head of the household and they had control over wives and children

man could sell wife or children to slavery

Could divorce wife over nothing

Sumerian law rights of a woman

could buy and sell property

could operate own business

could own and sell slaves

cuneiform

the oldest writing system in the world ivented by the sumerians- using pictograms-hundreds of wedge shaped markings made by pressing the end of a sharpened reed on wet clay tablets

Gilgamesh

The oldest story in the world-the epic poem that told the story of Gilgamesh a godlike man who performs heroic deeds

 Polytheistic

developed the wagon wheel

arch

potter's wheel

sundial

Number system based on the cyles of the moon

bronze out of copper

Sargon

Akkad leader who was power hungry and conquered all the city states of Mesopotamia and united them

Changed language from Sumerian to Akkadian

Hammurabi

reorganized tax system

build irrigation anals

strong government

Made Babylon a major trade center

Code of law

Hammurabi's Law Code

greatest achievement-government assumed the responsibility of protecting its citizens in return for their loyalty

282 sections dealing with aspects of daily life

Created specific punishments for each violation

Eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth

Babylonian society

social classes

Kings, priests, nobles

artisans, merchants, scribes, farmers

slaves