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    1.1 Mesopotamia

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    Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, known as the Fertile Crescent. Several Sumerian city-states arose in the 4th millennium BC, though they were not united under a single empire. Writing, irrigation agriculture, and an economic system centered around temples defined Mesopotamian civilization. The Babylonian Empire rose to power under Hammurabi in the 18th century BC and established one of the earliest legal codes, though it eventually fell to the invading Hittites in 1600 BC.

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    1.1 Mesopotamia

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    Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, known as the Fertile Crescent. Several Sumerian city-states arose in the 4th millennium BC, though they were not united under a single empire. Writing, irrigation agriculture, and an economic system centered around temples defined Mesopotamian civilization. The Babylonian Empire rose to power under Hammurabi in the 18th century BC and established one of the earliest legal codes, though it eventually fell to the invading Hittites in 1600 BC.

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    1.1 MESOPOTAMIA

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    Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, known as the Fertile Crescent. Several Sumerian city-states arose in the 4th millennium BC, though they were not united under a single empire. Writing, irrigation agriculture, and an economic system centered around temples defined Mesopotamian civilization. The Babylonian Empire rose to power under Hammurabi in the 18th century BC and established one of the earliest legal codes, though it eventually fell to the invading Hittites in 1600 BC.

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    30 views2 pages

    1.1 Mesopotamia

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    Mesopotamia was located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, known as the Fertile Crescent. Several Sumerian city-states arose in the 4th millennium BC, though they were not united under a single empire. Writing, irrigation agriculture, and an economic system centered around temples defined Mesopotamian civilization. The Babylonian Empire rose to power under Hammurabi in the 18th century BC and established one of the earliest legal codes, though it eventually fell to the invading Hittites in 1600 BC.

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    NPS

    1.1 MESOPOTAMIA AND THE BABYLON EMPIRE

    Mesopotamia location:
    • ‘ land between the rivers’ Euphrates and Tigris rivers
    • was part of the Fertile Crescent; wild sheep, cow lived here; hot but fertile territory
    suitable for growing crops and vegetables
    • irrigation agriculture = riverine civilization ( folyómenti) BUT the silt leaves back mineral
    salts later it became alkali soil and the population constantly moved towards north;
    building irrigation canals was done by the government
    • was rich in clay but lack of wood, stone and metals therefor people were obliged to trade
    with other regions
    • Mesopotamia lays at the crossroad of different trading roads; was exposed to
    constant invasions

    • 4th millennia Sumerians (sumérok) arrived from the Zagros mountain they established the
    first city-states( városállam) e.g. Ur, Uruk, Larsa, Eridu, Nippur, Girsu, Lagash, Surripak
    • cities weren’t joined into an empire, we can’t call Mesopotamia a country;

    Society:
    • the leader of the city-state was the priest-king =ensi/patesi he had despotic power
    He was the lawgiver and the highest judicial authority in the city-state, the city ruler was
    responsible for order
    • nobility: priesthood, the official aristocracy and soldiers
    • free citizens ( farmers, merchants, craftsmen)
    • slaves - prisoners of war or citizens who became slaves until paying their debts
    • developed an oikos economy:( templomgazdaság)= economic structure based on
    government’s control over production and distribution ; it meant a closed self-supplying
    system, market had no rule in the structure( was good for the citizens because it organised
    the jobs and granted protection against enemies)
    • its centre was a ziggurat( zikkurat),functions: 1. temple, 2. secure place in case of invasion
    or flooding 3. had stores for storing goods

    Culture:
    • Culture: they invented the oldest known writing system the Cuneiform script ( ékírás)
    • originally it was a pictographic script but eventually pictograms became more abstract
    a mixture of logophonetic and syllabic script ( szó és szótagírás)
    • for writing they used a clay tablet and a sharpened reed stylus
    • Writing and reading was the task of the scribes who gained great power and influence in
    society. Scribes were taught at the Edubba schools
    • the most famous Mesopotamian literary work is the Epic of Gilgamesh
    NPS

    Religion:
    • polytheist 450-3600 gods and goddesses (each cities had its set of gods and patron
    gods); anthropomorphic deities; deities were cruel and frightening ones
    • there were god triads e.g. Anu the sky god, Enlil god of atmosphere and Ea god of
    ocean( he created the men using clay and blood)
    • the chief gods were: Marduk -god of thunderstorm, later the national god of
    Babylonia
    • Shamas: god of sun
    • science: Sumerians were good at astronomy, knew 5 planets
    maths: they invented the sexagesimal numeral system e.g. 12 months, 2x12 hours in
    a day, divided a circle into 360 degrees

    Old-Babylonian period: (Ó-BABILONI BIRODALOM)


    • starts with the emergence of the first Amorite ( amarru) dynasty - the dynasty of
    Larsa
    • Babylon became the new centre, here stood the Babel tower mentioned in the Bible
    • reached its height under Hammurabi (c. 1792 - c.1750 BC)
    • the Code of Hammurabi- had great influence on legal history ( contains 282 rules)
    it was based on lex talionis ( talio elv) =’an eye for an eye ’BUT penalties depended
    from social status - awelum= free citizens ( teljes jogú szabad)
    muskenum – citizens with limited rights ( nem teljes jogú szabad)
    • the fall of the empire arrived with the Hittite ( hettita) invadors in 1600 BC who used
    chariots and iron weapons

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