|
The Sumerians were one of the first people to contribute to the Middle East. They established patterns of civilization.
The Middle East was also a large battleground where invaders fought for power. This did cause problems but it also allowed
for them to expand in culture with a constant exchange in ideas and beliefs.
Mesopotamia was located along the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley. Mesopotamia was a Greek word meaning "land between two rivers."
This gave them fertile soil, canals for trade, and wild game which attracted many early settlers. This area was also included
in the Fertile Crescent. Some cities in Mesopotamia (ex. Ur, Erech, and Kish) grew large enough to be its own city-state.
Each city-state had its own government, ruler, and worshipped its own god or goddess.
Ziggurats were said to be the home or temple of the god of the city. They were believed to be the ladder which the god descended
to the earth from. People in the city-states worshipped other gods in addition to the god of the city-state. They believed
the gods or goddesses ruled the earth and decided the fate of people and cities. They thought the gods and goddesses controlled
natural.
Sumerians were the first to begin writing as pictograms and ideograms. Most of the writings were made up as wedge like shapes
called cuneiform. Sumerians later invented the 12 month calendar to keep track of seasons for farming.
Hammurabi was a great ruler of the Middle East. Hammurabi was the first person to write a system of laws. This system of laws
was called the Code of Hammurabi. It held 282 laws dealing with trade, family, labor, real estate, and personal property.
One saying he made up that it’s still known of today is “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."
Many cultures and different groups of people lived in the Middle East. Some of the major groups would be Sumerians, Assyrians,
Medes, Chaldeans,Persians, Phoenicians, Lydians, and Hebrews.
The Hebrews made many advances in religion, trade, and writing. They thought of Moses as one of the most important
leaders. He gave the Hebrews the 10 Commandments (a set of religious and moral laws.) The Hebrews believed Moses was given
the laws by God which therefore God made a covenant with them. The Hebrews believed in one god unlike the other religions
in the Middle East.
|
