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Big Idea

The Sumerians of the Fertile Crescent.

Essential Question

What were the characteristics of the world’s first civilization?

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Words To Know

Fertile Crescent – A region in the Middle East where civilizations first began.

Migrate – to move to another home.

City-state – like our modern cities, the Sumerians lived in

different city-states in the region of Sumer (Fertile Crescent).

Cuneiform – one of the earliest systems of writing, was

invented by the Sumerians. It is distinguished by its

wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets.

Ziggurats – Sumerian temples built in Mesopotamia.

Let’s Set The Stage…

The Fertile Crescent curves from the Persian Gulf to the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Within the Fertile Crescent lies a region that the ancient Greeks later named Mesopotamia, which means “between the rivers.” Mesopotamia is the area of land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which flow from the highlands of modern-day Turkey through Iraq into the Persian Gulf. Around 3300 B.C., the world’s first civilization developed in southeastern Mesopotamia, in a region called Sumer.

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Sumer was located in the Fertile Crescent.This region of the world is also called the Cradle of Civilization, the birthplace of civilization.

Mesopotamia

The first civilization of history was established in the Fertile Crescent, which includes all lands of the Tigris-Euphrates river valley. Mesopotamia (between the rivers) was located between the Tigris-Euphrates Rivers.

TIGRIS

EUPHRATES

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The Mesopotamian region is relatively flat with few mountains and few forests.This made the people who lived there vulnerable to foreign invasion and conquest, because there were few natural places to hide.

The first people to live in this region grew crops, made tools and goods out of metal (metallurgy) and leather, weaved clothes, built structures with stones (masonry), made bowls and jars (pottery) and traded.

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Mesopotamia owed its prosperity in large part to the flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in the spring.

Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

The floods brought silt, which made the soil fertile. The silt from the floods contained nutrients and minerals that helped crops to thrive.

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Controlling the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers was very important.Floods often washed away farms and destroyed mud-brick villages.

Floods

About 4000 B.C., the Fertile Crescent fell victim to the largest flood in its history.The Tigris-Euphrates river valley was submerged by water and all traces of the people who lived there were wiped out.

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The SumeriansAround 3300 B.C., people probably originating from Asia Minor (now Turkey) migrated to the fertile lands of Mesopotamia.

These people known to us as the Sumerians established themselves by settling and forming farming communities.

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Sumerian City-StatesThe Sumerians established twelve great city-states as the heart of their civilization.Each state was comprised of a city protected by walls. Each city-state worshipped its own god, whose temple was in the middle of the city.

The Sumerians were famous for building temples known as ziggurats, which were terraced step-pyramids with a shrine at the top.

Ziggurats

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The Sumerians were polytheistic.The major Gods included An, the god of the heavens, Enlil, the god of wind and storm and Enki, the god of water and human culture.

PowerPower in Sumer first belonged to the citizens but as rivalry between the different city-states increased, each city-state recognized a King.

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The Sumerians invented many important items, like the wagon and the wheel, the arch and the sundial, the number system, a twelve month calendar, bronze and the metal plow.

Their greatest innovation was in the area of irrigation, where they used dikes and dams to control waterways and increase farming output (grow more crops).They traded with people in the Indus river valley and the Mediterranean Sea.

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Cuneiform

Around 3100 B.C., the Sumerians invented the earliest form of writing called cuneiform.Cuneiform was written on clay tablets.

Essential Question AnsweredWhat were the characteristics of the world’s first civilization?

The world’s first civilization were the Sumerians of Mesopotamia in the Fertile Crescent.

Mesopotamia means “between the rivers”.

The Fertile Crescent is located in what we call today, the Middle East.

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The Sumerians formed farming communities and established twelve great city-states.

The Sumerians built ziggurats, which were temples.

Each city-state recognized a King as their ruler.

Essential Question AnsweredWhat were the characteristics of the world’s first civilization?

The Sumerians invented the wagon and the wheel, the arch and the sundial, the number system, a twelve month calendar, bronze and the metal plow.

Sumerian priests also developed a writing system based on wedge-shaped markings known today as cuneiform.

Essential Question AnsweredWhat were the characteristics of the world’s first civilization?