2.+The+Fertile+Crescent

Sumerians Babylonians Assyrians Chaldeans Phoenicians Israelites
 * 1/24/12 Fertile Crescent Projects**
 * You will be working in groups to present some information about the one of the civilizations of the Fertile Crescent we have studied. Here are the civilizations we have studied: **

Your group will choose one, and then you have several jobs to complete for this project. 1. Use ScribbleMaps and outline the area in the Fertile Crescent where your civilization was - you may need to include other info on the map if their civilization expanded their empire or moved.

2. What/who were some of the important people and events that had a big effect on this civilization? You will make a slide show that includes pictures that depict these people and events, some text to help explain the person or event AND why they were important (5 words per slide only), and approximate dates that those things took place.

3. Your group will create an artifact that represents an accomplishment of that civilization. You may take a picture or video of your artifact to post along with items 1 and 2. Ms. Weisz can help groups individually in coming up with ideas for the artifact.

All three requirements will be posted on your blogs in ONE post titled "The Fertile Crescent".


 * 1/23/12 **
 * Mediterranean Civilizations **

While the great empire of Hammurabi was rising and falling, the people of a poor city on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea were getting rich by gathering snails.

The snails that washed up on the shores of the city of Tyre were not ordinary snails. These snails produced a rich purple dye. This dye was highly valued by wealthy people throughout the Mediterranean region. Ships from Tyre sold the dye at extremely high prices. The profits soon made Tyre a wealthy and active city.


 * The Phoenicians: Sailors of the Mediterranean **

Tyre was a big and important city in a region called Phoenicia. The Phoenicians did not look to the West toward Mesopotamia to make money. They looked to the East, toward the Mediterranean Sea, where they could trade with many great cities.

The Phoenicians had settled in a land that didn't have many resources. But the few resources they had were valuable. Besides the snails, they had dense forests of cedar trees. Phoenicians sold these resources to neighboring peoples around the Mediterranean.

As trade grew, the Phoenicians looked to the sea to increase their profits. In time, they became the world’s first trading empire. From about 1100 B.C. to 800 B.C., Phoenicia was a great sea power. Phoenician ships sailed all over the Mediterranean Sea. They even sailed out into the stormy Atlantic Ocean. They came back from these trips with stories of horrible monsters who lived in the ocean depths. Did the Phoenicians really believe these stories? Nobody knows for sure. But the stories did help keep other people from trying to compete for trade in the Atlantic.

Trade brought rich goods from lands around the Mediterranean Sea to the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon. Bazaars swelled with foods brought from faraway places. These foods included figs, olives, honey, and spices. In the bazaars, merchants sold strange animals, such as giraffes and warthogs from Africa and bears from Europe.

Travelers throughout the Mediterranean area were awed by the grand ships and the overflowing markets of Tyre.


 * The Phoenician Alphabet: One Sound, One Letter **

Because they had so much trade, the Phoenicians needed to simplify writing. Cuneiform, with its hundreds of symbols, was just too complicated.

The Phoenicians found a way to write using just 22 symbols. This was the Phoenician **alphabet**, a set of symbols that represented the sounds of the language. It forms the basis of the alphabet that people in the United States and many other countries use today. Each of the 22 letters in the Phoenician alphabet stood for one consonant sound.

The simple Phoenician alphabet was far easier to learn than cuneiform. Before the alphabet, highly educated scribes controlled the power of writing. With the alphabet, many more people could learn.


 * The Rise of the Israelites **

South of Phoenicia, a small band of people settled along the shores of the Mediterranean. They were called Hebrews, and were later known as the Israelites. Although the Israelites never built a large empire, they made a deep impact on our civilization.

The Israelites traced their beginnings to Mesopotamia. For hundreds of years, they lived as shepherds and merchants who grazed their flocks outside Sumerian cities.

According to the Bible, a leader named Abraham led his people to a belief in one God. This practice is called **monotheism**. //Mono// is the Greek word for “one.” //Theism//, refers to //gods//. The Bible explained that God promised Abraham that his people would have their own land if they would follow his word. The Bible also explained how, around 1900 B.C., Abraham led the Israelites from Mesopotamia to a new home in Canaan. Around 1800 B.C., a famine spread across Canaan. A **famine** is a time when there is so little food that many people starve. The famine caused the Israelites to flee south to Egypt.

In Egypt, the Israelites lived well for about 600 years. Many of them reached high positions in the government. Later they were enslaved when an Egyptian king grew jealous of their wealth and suspicious of their power.


 * Return to Canaan: ** The Bible explains how an Israelite hero named Moses led his enslaved people out of Egypt. For the next 40 years, the Israelites wandered through the desert of the Sinai Peninsula. The Bible explains that while in the desert, God gave the Israelites the Ten Commandments, a code of laws. At last, the Israelites returned to Canaan. There, over time, the Israelites moved from herding to farming and built their own cities.


 * Conquest of Canaan: ** As they moved further north into Canaan, the Israelites faced opposition. Slowly, through fierce wars, the Israelites conquered all of Canaan. Two kings led them to victory. Saul, considered the first king of the Israelites, defended them against many enemies. The next king, David, united the 12 Israelite tribes into a single nation. David established his capital at the city of Jerusalem.

After David died, his son, Solomon, inherited the kingdom. Under Solomon’s rule, Israel grew prosperous through trade. The Israelites sold palm and olive oils, honey, fruits, vegetables, and grain to neighboring peoples. King Solomon also developed a sea trade with neighboring lands. On the very first voyage, an Israelite ship brought back more than 13 tons of gold.

Solomon transformed the city of Jerusalem into a magnificent capital. His most prized monument was a beautiful temple in the center of Jerusalem. It became the central place of worship for the Israelites.

Solomon’s building projects were very expensive, however. The country faced hard times, and after his death, it split into two kingdoms. The northern kingdom was called Israel. The southern kingdom took the name Judah. The divided kingdom was vulnerable to invasion, and its dangerous neighbor, Assyria, was gaining power.

In 722 B.C., the Assyrians seized the kingdom of Israel. They punished the Israelites by exiling thousands to distant parts of their empire. To exile people means to force them to live in another country. About 135 years later, the kingdom of Judah fell to the Chaldeans. The Judeans were exiled as well.


 * 1/19/12 **
 * The Legacy of Mesopotamia **

What kind of justice system do you think we would have if our laws were not written down? What if a judge was free to make any law he or she wanted? What if the judge could give any punishment? Would people think that laws were fair? A written code, or organized list of laws helps make sure laws are applied fairly to all.
 * Hammurabi’s Code **

We owe the idea that all laws should be written down and applied fairly to the Babylonians. It was King Hammurabi who set down rules for everyone in his empire to follow. These rules are known as Hammurabi’s Code. The code told the people of Babylon how to settle conflicts in all areas of life.

Hammurabi’s Code contained 282 laws organized in different categories. These included trade, labor, property, and family. The code had laws for adopting children, practicing medicine, hiring wagons or boats, and controlling dangerous wild animals.


 * An Eye for an Eye: ** Hammurabi’s Code was based on the idea of “an eye for an eye.” In other words, a man who blinded another person would have his own eye put out. However, the code did not apply equally to all people. The code gave different punishments for breaking the same rules. The harshness of the punishment depended on how important the victim was. The higher the class of the victim, the stiffer the penalty for the criminal. So, an ox owner would pay half a mina of silver if the ox gored a nobleman. If the victim was a slave, the owner would pay only 1/3 of a mina.

A person who accidentally broke a rule was just as guilty as a criminal. Results were what mattered. People such as doctors, who could not control the outcome of their work, had to be very careful. One law said;

//“If a surgeon performed a major operation on a citizen with a bronze lancet (knife) and has caused the death of this citizen, his hand shall be cut off.”//


 * Laws for Everyone: ** You probably know a lot of rules. Thee are rules for taking tests, playing ball, and just living in your home. People follow – and break – rules all the time. What, then, was the importance of Hammurabi’s Code?

The laws are important to us because they were written down. With written laws, everyone could know the rules – and the punishments. These punishments may seem harsh to us. But they were the first attempt by a society to set up a code of laws that would apply to everyone.


 * The Art of Writing **

Think how difficult it would be to carry on life if no one knew how to read and write. But writing did not just naturally develop. For most of human life, people did not have the art of writing.

Writing developed in Mesopotamia in about 3500 B.C. Long before Hammurabi issued his code, the people of Sumer developed a system of writing. Writing met the need of Sumerians to keep records. Record keepers were very important – and busy – people in Sumer. Since only a few people could write, it was one of the most valuable skills in the ancient world. Scribes held positions of great respect in Mesopotamia.

The scribes of Sumer recorded sales and trades, tax payments, gifts for the gods, and marriages and deaths. Some scribes had special tasks. Military scribes calculated the amount of food and supplies that an army would need. Government scribes figured out the number of diggers needed to build a canal. Written records then went out to local officials who had to provide these supplies or workers.

The shape and size of a tablet depended on its purpose. Larger tablets were used for reference. They stayed in one place, like the heavy atlases and dictionaries in today’s libraries. Smaller tablets, the size of letters or postcards, were used for personal messages. Even today, these personal tablets can be fun to read. They show that Mesopotamians used writing during the ups and downs of everyday life. Here is one message found on a personal tablet:
 * “Pages” of Hard Clay: ** What did the scribes of Mesopotamia write on? The Tigris and Euphrates rivers provided a perfect material – clay. Each spring, the rivers brought down clay from the mountains. Scribes shaped the soft, wet clay into smooth, flat surfaces called tablets. They marked their letters in it with sharp tools. When the clay dried, it left an almost permanent record.

//“This is really a fine way of behaving! The gardeners keep breaking into the date storehouse and taking dates. You yourselves cover it up and do not report it to me! Bring these men to me – after they have paid for the dates.”//


 * From Pictures to Writing: ** Like most inventions, writing developed over time. At first, people drew pictures to represent what they wanted to say. Grain, oxen, water, stars – each important object had its own symbol.

As people learned to record ideas as well as facts, the symbols changed. Eventually, scribes combined symbols to make groups of wedges and lines known as **cuneiform**. Cuneiform script could be used to represent different languages. This made it highly useful in a land of many people.

Want to find out more? Check out Ancient Mesopotamia for Kids to find out more interesting things about people in this time.

King Sargon II of Assyria must have scowled when he heard the news. The nearby kingdoms of Uratu and Zikirtu had joined forces against him. How dare they challenge the most powerful monarch in the world? In the summer of 714 B.C., Sargon set out to “muzzle the mouths” of his enemies.
 * 1/12/12 **
 * Babylonia Assyria **

The rebels were no match for the powerful Sargon. His armies quickly overcame the forces of Urartu and killed all who resisted. The Assyrians howled with laughter when they saw the king of Urartu fleeing on an old horse. Sargon let him go. He knew that the survivors would serve as a grim warning to others who might later be tempted to oppose the mighty Assyrians.


 * The Two Empires of Mesopotamia **

Sargon II was one of many kings who ruled Mesopotamia after the fall of Sumer: The history of Mesopotamia is filled with stories of conquest by one powerful warrior after another. This was a land worth taking. It brought great wealth to the army that could conquer it. But after winning it, each ruler became a target for another conqueror.

The biggest and most important Mesopotamian civilizations were the empires of Babylonia and Assyria. An empire is an area of many territories and people that are controlled by one government. The beautiful city of Babylon was the center of the Babylonian empire. This empire reached its height around 1750 B.C. The Assyrians, who got their name from the northern city of Assur, controlled a huge empire. It stretched from the Persian Gulf across the Fertile Crescent and through Egypt.

The Babylonians and the Assyrians had two things in common. In their quest for riches, they were vicious warriors. And in the enjoyment of their riches, they built grand cities where culture and learning were highly valued.


 * The Babylonian Empire **

A Babylonian king named Hammurabi created the Babylonian empire by uniting the cities of Sumer. Then, he conquered lands all the way to Asia Minor, the present-day country of Turkey.
 * A Crossroads of Trade: ** Babylon’s location made it a crossroads of trade. **Caravans**, or groups of travelers, coming and going from the cities of Sumer to the south and Akkad to the north, stopped in Babylon. In the city’s **bazaars**, or markets, you could buy cotton cloth from India and spices from Egypt. Trade made Babylon rich. So did conquest.


 * Wealth Through Conquest: ** A conqueror – if successful – reaped great rewards. In about 1760 B.C., Hammurabi conquered the city of Mari. He seized Mari’s war chariots, weapons, and tools, which were the best in the world. But all the wealth that Babylon gathered could not save it from conquest. By about 1600 B.C., the empire first conquered by Hammurabi had shrunk and was finally destroyed.


 * The Empire of the Assyrians[[image:bazaar.png align="right"]] **

North of Babylon was a small kingdom of a few walled cities known as Assyria. Its capital, Nineveh, was a sleepy village on the Tigris River. Assyria lay in an open land, which other people could easily invade.

Because they were constantly defending themselves, the Assyrians became skilled warriors. About 1365 B.C., they decided the best method of defense was to attack. By 650 B.C., Assyria had conquered a large empire. It stretched across the Fertile Crescent, from the Nile River to the Persian Gulf.


 * Assyria’s Contributions: ** The Assyrians were more than warriors. As Assyrian power grew, Nineveh became a city of great learning. Nineveh had a fabulous library that held thousands of clay tablets with writings from Sumer and Babylon. Because the Assyrians kept these records, we now know a great deal about life in early Mesopotamia. Most of all, however, the Assyrians were geniuses at waging war. They invented the battering ram, a powerful weapon on wheels that pounded the city walls to rubble. Slingers hurled stones at the enemy. Expert archers were protected with helmets and armor. But the most feared part of the army were the armed charioteers who slashed their way through the enemy.


 * Assyria Overthrown: ** The Assyrians had few friends in the lands that they ruled. Conquered people attempted a number of rebellions against Assyrian rule. Two groups, the Medes and Chaldeans joined together to smash the Assyrian empire in 612 B.C.


 * Babylonia Rises Again **

Under the Chaldeans, Babylon rose again. It became the center of an even more splendid kingdom, known as the New Babylonian Empire. Its greatest king was Nebuchadnezzar II. Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt the city of Babylon, which the Assyrians had destroyed. He put up massive walls around the city for protection. He also built a gigantic palace, decorated with colored tiles. Carved on the tiles were plants, animals, birds, designs – and a boastful sentence by the king. “I am Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon,” it said. Nebuchadnezzar’s royal palace was built on several terraces that rose to the height of some 350 feet. It had a dazzling landscape of trees and gardens. According to legend, he built the gardens for his wife, who came from the high plateau and hated the dry plains of Mesopotamia.

Under the Chaldeans, the New Babylonian empire became a center of learning and science. Chaldean astronomers charted the paths of the stars and measured the length of a year that was only a few minutes different from the length modern scientists have calculated. And Chaldean farmers raised “the flies which collect honey” – wild bees.

Like other Mesopotamian empires, the Chaldeans were open to attack by powerful neighbors. In 539 B.C., the New Babylonian empire fell. But the city of Babylon was spared.


 * 1/11/12 **
 * Land Between Two Rivers **

The first known schools were set up in Sumer over 4,000 years ago. schools taught boys, and a few girls, the new invention of writing. Graduates of the schools became professional writers called **scribes**. **Scribes** were important people in Sumer because they were the only people in the land who could keep records for the kings and priests.Learning to be a scribe was hard work. Boys normally began school at the age of 8 and didn’t finish until they were 20.

As you can see on the map, Sumer was located in a region called Mesopotamia. Like the place where you live, ancient Mesopotamia had special attractions that drew people to settle there. Most important to the people, it had soil and live-giving rivers. These attractions drew people who became farmers and city builders. Sumer’s central location within the ancient world drew many traders. Sumer became one of the most prosperous areas of the ancient world.
 * The Geography of the Fertile Crescent **


 * The Location of Mesopotamia: ** Mesopotamia’s name describes its location. The word //Mesopotamia// comes from Greek words that mean //between the rivers//. The map shows that Mesopotamia likes between two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates.

Mesopotamia is part of a larger area that is called the Fertile Crescent. The Fertile Crescent is shown on these maps. To see how this region got its name, place your finger at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea on the map. Move eastward from the Mediterranean coast to Mesopotamia. Then move south to the Persian Gulf. Notice that the region you’ve traced is shaped like a crescent moon. The rivers of this crescent-shaped region made it one of the best places in Southwest Asia for growing crops.


 * Rivers of Life and Death: ** The Tigris and Euphrates rivers were the source of life for the peoples of Mesopotamia. In the spring, melting snow picked up tons of topsoil as it rushed down from the mountains and flooded the land. The floods left this topsoil on the plain below. Farmers grew crops in this soil. The rivers also supplied fish; tall strong reeds used to make boats; and clay for building.

The flood waters sometimes brought sorrows as well as gifts. The floods did not always happen at the same time each year. Racing down without warning, they sometimes swept away people, animals, and houses. Then, the survivors would slowly rebuild and pray that the next flood would not be so destructive.

As farming succeeded in Mesopotamia, communities began to have surpluses of food. In time, food surpluses encouraged the building of cities. By 3500 B.C., Mesopotamia had a number of growing cities in the region of Sumer. People coming to these cities were probably amazed. They saw high walls, built to keep out invaders. They stared at the large temples, the houses, the busy shops, and the splendid royal palace. They may have envied the large farms of the nobles outside the walls.
 * The First Cities **


 * Independent Cities Form: ** As the map shows, cities grew up at different points along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. These cities were separated by long distances, usually including a desert. This made it difficult for Sumerians in different cities to unite under one ruler. Each city acted as a state with its own special god or goddess, its own government, and eventually, its own king. That is why they are called **city-states**.


 * A Brief Tour of a Sumerian City: **Some of the earliest cities arose in the region of Sumer. If you visited a Sumerian city, you’d spend much time in traffic jams. The streets were so narrow that carts could not get through them. People had to press themselves against the buildings to let donkeys squeeze by.

Sumerian houses faced away from the crowded streets, onto inner courtyards, where families ate and children played. On hot nights, people slept outdoors on their homes’ flat roofs. Oil lamps supplied light for Sumerian homes. Clay pipes, buried deep in the ground, carried liquid wastes away. Inventions like plumbing would not come to most other parts of the world for thousands of years.

The public squares buzzed with activity. Merchants displayed goods in outdoor stalls, shouting out to passersby to admire their goods. The streets filled with musicians, acrobats, beggars, and water sellers. Scribes wrote letters for those who could not read or write – for a price.


 * Sumerian Religion **

A stranger coming to a Sumerian city would first notice a giant stone building at the center of the city. This was the ziggurat, the main temple to the gods of the city. Ziggurats were made of terraces, one on top of the other, linked by ramps and stairs. Some were more than seven stories high. At the top of the Ziggurat was a temple. The Sumerians believed that gods descended to Earth using the ziggurat as a ladder.

Click here for more information about ziggurats

The people of Sumer worshipped not one, but many gods and goddesses. This belief in many gods is called **polytheism**. To understand this word, break it up into parts. //Poly//, a Greek word, means “//many//.” //Theism// refers to gods.

Sumerian **myths**, or stories about gods that explain people’s beliefs warned that the gods would punish people who angered them. The myths also promised rewards to people who served the gods well. Sumerians made sure that their gods were properly cared for. Temple priests washed the statues of gods before and after each meal. Music sounded and incense burned as huge plates of food were laid before them. The religious beliefs of the Sumerians give us an idea of what was really important to them.

Unfortunately for Sumer, the wealth of the city-states became their downfall. Sumerian city-states fought each other over land and, especially the use of river water. Constant warfare weakened Sumer’s rulers and exhausted its armies. Sumer was no longer a major power after 2000 B.C. It fell to a northern rival – Babylonia – in 1759 B.C.