Middle+East

River valley civilizations start: Between Tigris and Euphrates

Economy: agriculturally based - annual flooding makes it fertile Writing: cuneiform (cone-shaped) Religion: polytheistic, ziggurats (stepped temples, storage, statue at top of the god it was dedicated to), cosmic rhythms Theocracy -> Monarchy Nobles / commoners / slaves Royal Graves at Ur: how buried their bodies (religion) Royal Standard: importance of army, how they viewed their king Gilgamesh: First story, epic poem, example of how they viewed gods, story of king's quest for immortality
 * Sumer:** 3000 BCE: first civilization

Semitic speaking people Sargon I: c. 23540 BCE: first empire
 * Akkad:** north of Sumer

1st Babylonian Empire: conquered Sumer and Akkad Hammurabi Law Code: 282 laws; oldest, most intact law code; shows importance of marriage, family; "eye for an eye"
 * Ammorite Babylonians:**

Semitic speaking people; empire; iron weapons notorious for their cruelty (ex: cut tongues out, burned people alive) they used terror to control those that they conquered
 * Assyrians:**

2nd Babylonian empire Originally a satrapy w/in the Assyrian empire; governor joins with Medes and others - they overthrew Assyria in a year Nabopolassar was the governor/first king Nebuchadnezzar: famous because he conquered Judah (S. Jewish Kingdom), hanging gardens of Babylonians
 * Chaldean Babylonians:**

coast of Mediterranean they were allowed to roam the seas because they weren't political: just traders they sailed for trade, not for exploration were transmitters: simplified writing to 22 characters
 * Phoenicians: 1200 - 800**


 * Jewish history:**