World History Ch. 2Section 1

City-States of Ancient Sumer

Geography’s Impact

• Fertile Crescent- fertile area in the Middle East known for its rich soils – around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers

• Mesopotamia – inside the Fertile Crescent• “Between the Rivers” – area of land between

the Tigris and Euphrates rivers• Flows from Turkey, through present day Iraq

into the Persian Gulf

Sumer• 3300 B.C. – Worlds first civilization developed in

South East Mesopotamia• Sumer = Sumerians• The Epic of Gilgamesh – first told orally in Sumer• Describes great flood that destroyed the world• The Tigris and Euphrates rivers often flooded

washing away everything around – seemed like the flood waters washed away the world.

• Does this remind you of another story you have heard of?

Sumer• Problem: Flood Waters• Solution: build dikes to hold back flood waters and

irrigation ditches to divert water into fields• Sumerians – not many natural resources available to them

– no timber or stone• They did have a lot of clay – used it to make pottery and

bricks• Used the bricks to make buildings – City of Ur • Trade helped to make Sumerians wealthy• Sumer thrived and in a few hundred years included 12 city-

states

Sumerian Government

• Ruler is responsible to people for:1.Maintaining Walls2.Maintaining Irrigation3.Enforcing laws4.Collect Taxes - used Scribes for this5.Keep Records – used Scribes for thisRuler was seen as chief servant of the gods

Sumer Social Structure

• Hierarchy – system of ranking groups• Social Hierarchy -• Top: Ruling family, Officials, High Priests• Middle: Lesser Priests, Scribes, Merchants,

Artisans• Bottom: • Peasant Farmers – worked other peoples land• Slaves – most captured in war, some were sold to

pay off debts

Religion

• Polytheistic – belief in many gods• Gods thought to control daily life• Believed gods and goddesses behaved like people –

ate, drank, married, families,• Believed it was their duty to keep gods happy– Worship them in temples

• Ziggurat – large, stepped platform topped by a temple dedicated to the city’s chief god or goddess

• Afterlife – people lived in a grim world in which there was no release

Sumer Writing

• 3200 B.C.• Cuneiform – wrote by making wedge shaped

marks on tablets• Grew out of a pictograph system• Scribe were trained very strictly• If they talked or were messy with their

copying they were caned!!

Legacy of Sumer• 2500 B.C.• Armies came in and conquered Sumer• By 1900 B.C., Sumerian civilization had been replaced by

other civilizations and Empires• Left behind cuneiform and it was used by the Akkadians,

Babylonians and Assyrians• Sumer Scholars – developed astronomy and math• Established a number system based on dividing the hour

into 60 minutes, and they divided the circle into 360”• Babylonians built upon this and created Algebra and

geometry in order to create accurate calendars

HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES• CITY-STATE CREATION. Using posterboard and colored

pencils, the student designs a Sumerian city-state based on the description in the textbook. Items that should be on the map include: a title, compass rose, scale of miles, legend, a ziggurat, city wall, farmland, irrigation system, narrow winding streets, government buildings, courtyards, and homes of the different social classes.

• http://hypermedia.educ.psu.edu/k-12/edpgs/su96/meso/mesopotamia.html#fun

• http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/SUMER.HTM