Page 18 - 100 Events That Made History

Laws are

written

down

History’s best-known legal document

sets the law in STONE

The world’s first truly civilized
states arose in Mesopotamia By the way…
(modern-day Iraq). This area is My Code is written in
known as “the Cradle of Civilization” cuneiform, an ancient
because it was where many ideas script that some clever
developed, including the wheel, learned to read.
modern folk have
writing, and an important
code of law.

United rule
The heart of Mesopotamia was
the city-state of Babylon. In 1760 BCE,
after a series of wars, the powerful
King HAMMURABI of Babylon
crushed rival city-states to bring
the whole of Mesopotamia
under his rule. He didn’t
stop at being a conqueror.
He wanted his kingdom
to evolve and develop, so
he masterminded building
projects that created
temples, canals, and aqueducts.

What came before…

From around 4000 BCE, the The AKKADIANS under
SUMERIANS prospered in the Sargon the Great (left)
fertile lands around rose to power in the
Mesopotamia’s rivers. King Middle East in 2300 BCE,
Ur-Nammu (seated, on right), creating the first united
was an adept state-builder. empire under one ruler.
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