Ancient World History

Today in class, we did something different and unqiue besides watch more of the video. The students recorded notes in their journals of what the context was on pages 26-34. The law of the Babylonian Empire- Hammurabi's Code- holds people responsible for their actions. Someone who steals from the temple must repay 30 times the cost of the stolen item. The region's curved shape and the richness of its land led scholars to call it the Fertile Crescent. It includes the lands facing the Mediterranean Sea and a plain that became known as Mesoptamia. Mesoptamia in Greek is "land between the rivers". People first began to settle and farm the flat, swampy lands in Southern Mesoptamia before 4,500 B.C. Each city and the surrounding land it controlled formed a city-state. It functioned much as an independant country does today. Such a series of rules from a single family is called a dynasty. After 2,500 B.C many Sumerian city-states came under the rule of dynasties. The process in which a new idea or a product spreads from one culture to another is called cultural diffusion. The belief in one or more than one god is called polytheism. By taking control of both Northern and Southern Mesoptamia, Sargan created the world's first empire. The Babylonian Empire reached its peak during the reign of Hammurabi from 1792 B.C to 1750 B.C. Projects such as irrigation systems required leadership and LAWS (organized government). They were controlled by priests, military, leaders, and/or kings. Early civilization developed bronze tools, the wheel, the saul, the plow, writing, and mathematics. These spread through drade, wars, and the movement of people. The earliest civilizations formed on fertile river plains, facing challenges such as seasonal flooding and a limited growing area. In 3,000 B.C city-states form in Sumer, Mesoptamia. (Bronze head of an Akkadian ruler). In 2,660 B.C Egypt's old kingdom develops (Egyptian scribe statue). In 1792 B.C, Hammurabi develops code of laws for Babylonian Empire. In 1750 B.C Indus Valley civilzation declines (fragment of a Harappan Pot). Lastly, in 1027 B.C, Zhou Dynasty forms in China (Zhou bronze vessel). That is all the notes I recorded and thought were important in the context given to us.