Tuesday February 11 2020

Topic- Early river valley civilizations

Lo1 - Define Mesopotamia, summer city-state, cultural diffusion, polytheism, Hammurabi

Lo2 - Identify the region of summer + discuss aspects of Sumerian culture

Lo3 - explain the impacts of agricultural revolution on Sumerian culture

HOMEWORK -  Chapter 2 section 1

Reading guide + assessment (assessment in a blog)

Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life, teachings, and miracles of Jesus of Nazareth, known by Christians as the Christ, or "Messiah", who is the focal point of the Christian faiths? It is the world's largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers, or 33% of the global population. Christians make up a majority of the population in 158 countries and territories. The basis of Christianity is that they believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as the Messiah (the Christ) was prophesied in the Old Testament. Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization.

But the annual revenue of every society is always precisely equal to the exchangeable value of the whole annual produce of its industry, or rather is precisely the same thing with that exchangeable value. As every individual, therefore, endeavors as much as he can both to employ his capital in the support of domestic industry, and so to direct that industry that its produce maybe of the greatest value; every individual necessarily labors to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was no part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good. It is an affectation, indeed, not very common among merchants, and very few words need be employed in dissuading them from it.

The harvest has failed and, like many others, you have little to eat. There
are animals in the temple, but they are protected by law. Your cousin
decides to steal one of the pigs to feed his family. You believe that laws
should not be broken and try to persuade him not to steal the pig. But he
steals the pig and is caught.
The law of the Babylonian Empire—Hammurabi’s Code—holds people
responsible for their actions. Someone who steals from the temple must
repay 30 times the cost of the stolen item. Because your cousin is unable to
pay this fine, he is sentenced to death. You begin to wonder whether there
are times when laws should be broken.

With civilization came the begin-
ning of what we call social classes. Kings, landholders, and

some priests made up the highest level in Sumerian society.

Wealthy merchants ranked next. The vast majority of ordi-
nary Sumerian people worked with their hands in fields and

workshops. At the lowest level of Sumerian society were the
slaves. Some slaves were foreigners who had been captured

in war. Others were Sumerians who had been sold into slav-
ery as children to pay the debts of their poor parents. Debt


slaves could hope to eventually buy their freedom.