MESOPOTAMIA

POLITICAL MESOPOTAMIA

• Composed of several city-states
• No central government
• Smaller regional governments ruled by kings
• Internal conflicts between regional kings for land and resources
• Kings were responsible for their region's welfare

POLITICAL MESOPOTAMIA

• Mesopotamia was a hereditary monarchy; a king's son was to be the next ruler
• There were distinct social classes; women had very few rights
• Very little Nationalism; obligations towards family

CULTURAL MESOPOTAMIA

• Polytheists
• Demons-good or bad, created by gods
• Blamed disasters on the anger of the gods; tried to please their gods
• Ziggurats -religious temples
• Each city had its own patron deity
• Men worked specialized jobs, women attended to children at home

CULTURAL MESOPOTAMIA

• Boys were taught specific job skills
• Girls were raised to be wives and mothers
• People made pottery, metals, cloth, glass, mud-bricked huts
• The first to write
• Built temples (ziggurats) and palaces