The First Civilizations - Baby's First Year

Copyright © by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Name Date Class
READING ESSENTIALS AND STUDY GUIDE 1-2 (continued)
Advances in Science and Math The Mesopotamian’s creativity also
affected technology, mathematics, and time calculation.
(See chart below.)
Mesopotamian Inventions
Technology • irrigation system
• wagon wheel
• plow
• sailboat
Mathematics • geometry (to measure fields, put up buildings)
• number system based on 60 (based for today’s
60-minute hour, 360-degree circle)
Time • watched skies (to time crop-planting and religious
festivals)
• recorded positions of stars and planets
• developed 12-month calendar based on moon
cycles
13. Of all Sumerian inventions, why is writing probably
the greatest?
Sargon and Hammurabi (page 23)
siders.
Sumerian city-states lost power when they were conquered by out-
Over time, conflicts weakened Sumer’s city-states.
Now they were vulnerable to attacks from outsiders.
One such enemy was the Akkadians of northern
Mesopotamia.
The king of the Akkadians was named Sargon. In
about 2340 B.C., Sargon conquered all of Mesopotamia.
He set up the world’s first empire. An empire is a group
of many lands under one ruler. Sargon’s empire lasted for
more than 200 years before falling to invaders.
In the 1800s B.C., a new group came to power in
Mesopotamia. These people built the city of Babylon by
11