Mesopotamia

• Mesopotamia was located in modern day Iraq​ between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

• People settled between these rivers​ for many reasons, but they were often a source of life.

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​Mesopotamia

​The land between two rivers

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​The Cradle of Civilization

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• ​Mesopotamia was the birthplace of many things we depend on today: agriculture, written language, government, law, and religion

• ​Mesopotamia is more of a geographic region than one particular civilizations. There were multiple civilizations and empires that existed throughout History here, but they were all bound together by the same culture.

• The people of each civilization within this region used the similar written language, laws and religion.​

Social Studies

Mesopotamia

​Why were the Rivers important?

​Rivers provided many benefits for early civilizations:

​-Irrigation for crops

-Water to drink

-Trade

-Fishing

-Transportation​

Social Studies

Mesopotamia

The Region of Mesopotamia was divided up into smaller regions called

city-states.

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City-states would refer to the large population centers (cities) and the surrounding areas and farmland just outside the city.

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These city-states ​operated like small independent countries, having their own laws and government.

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Mesopotamia​

People in Mesopotamia believed in many gods and goddesses...over 1000!!​

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​The belief in many gods is called polytheism

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Many early religions were polytheistic​

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​Mesopotamia

​Religion

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Mesopotamia was an area with a very dry climate. Due to the lack of trees, this meant that most buildings were made of mud bricks instead of wood.

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​Many cities in Mesopotamia had large temples made of these bricks called Ziggurats.

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​Mesopotamia

​Ziggurats

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​Government and Laws

Many early systems of government in Mesopotamia were built on the Sumerians religion. The citizens believed that cities belonged to the gods. Ziggurats would be placed in the center of each city and dedicated to gods and goddesses. Many early governments were theocracies, or governments that were built around religious practices.​

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Social Studies

Mesopotamia​

Mesopotamians came up with one of the earliest known systems of writing, called cuneiform​

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​Mesopotamia

​Writing

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​Over the course of Mesopotamia's existence, there were multiple empires in control of the region

Sumerian Akkadian

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Babylonian Assyrian​

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Mesopotamia​