HIS 1111 World History I Early Civilizations in Mesopotamia Early Mesopotamia Topics Geography of Mesopotamia History Begins in Sumer The Akkadians and Empire The Ascendancy of Ur Old Babylonian Empire Early Mesopotamia Geography of Mesopotamia between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates Alluvium unpredictable sometimes destructive floods No protective mountains Harsh climate Sumer and Akkad The Ancient Near East The Fertile Crescent encompassed land with access to water Employing flood management and irrigation systems the peoples of the region established civilizations based on agriculture These civilizations developed writing law codes and economic specialization Early Mesopotamia History Begins in Sumer c3 200 2 300 B C E Agriculture and irrigation first cities and first kings first writing system civil engineering first mathematics The Royal Standard of Ur This detail is from the Royal Standard of Ur a box dating from around 2700 B C E that was discovered in a stone tomb from the royal cemetery of the Sumerian city state of Ur The scenes on one side of the box depict the activities of the king and his military forces Shown in the bottom panel are four Sumerian battle chariots Each chariot held two men one controlling the reins and the other armed with a spear for combat A special compartment in the chariot held a number of spears The charging chariots are seen defeating the enemy In the middle band the Sumerian soldiers round up captured enemies In the top band the captives are presented to the king who has alighted from his chariot and is shown standing above all the others in the center of the panel British Museum London UK The Bridgeman Art Library Early Mesopotamia Akkad and Empire c2 300 2 150 BCE Geography Sargon I the Great 2 370 2 315 BCE Conquest trade and empire Early Mesopotamia Sargon I the Great c2 370 2 315 BCE Akkadian ruler First empire builder Early Mesopotamia Mesolithic Period The Ascendancy of Ur c2 100 2 000 BCE Several independent cities Cultural and political eminence of Ur Lawgiver Ur Nammu c2 112 BCE Early Mesopotamia Old Amorite Babylonian Empire c2 0001 600 BCE City of Babylon Hammurabi c1 790 1 750 BCE Literature Epic of Gilgamesh Mathematics and astrology Early Mesopotamia Hammurabi c1 7901 750 BCE King of Babylon conqueror Lawgiver Code of Hammurabi Early Mesopotamia Hammurabi stele of the Code of Hammurabi on display at the Louvre Stele of Hammurabi Although the Sumerians had compiled earlier law codes the Code of Hammurabi king of Babylonia was the most famous in early Mesopotamian history The upper part of the stele depicts Hammurabi standing in front of the seated sun god Shamash The king raises his hand in deference to the god who gives Hammurabi the power to rule and orders the king to record the law The lower portion of the stele contains the actual code a collection of 282 laws Re union des Muse es Nationaux Art Resource NY Hammurabi s Empire Hammurabi the man of war was also a man of peace A collection of his letters found by archaeologists reveals that he took a strong interest in state affairs He built temples defensive walls and irrigation canals encouraged trade and brought about an economic revival Indeed Hammurabi saw himself as a shepherd to his people I am indeed the shepherd who brings peace whose scepter is just My benevolent shade was spread over my city I held the people of the lands of Sumer and Akkad safely on my lap 4 After his death however a series of weak kings were unable to keep Hammurabi s empire united and it finally fell to new invaders The Development of Cuneiform Writing This chart shows the evolution of writing from pictographic signs around 3100 B C E to cuneiform signs by about 700 B C E Note that the sign for star came to mean god or sky Pictographic signs for head and bowl came eventually to mean to eat in their simplified cuneiform version Courtesy Andromeda Oxford Limited Oxford England Early Mesopotamia Epic of Gilgamesh Tablet from the Babylonian Epic Portion tells the story of the great flood