Bellringer- What advantages did River Valleys

offer for starting a civilization? - List the 5 characteristics of a

civilization.

STAIR

Specialized workersTechnology Advanced citiesInstitutionsRecord keeping

Glossary Help

• Glossary: Social classes = groups with different rights, responsibilities, or respect (objective S9)

Problems in Sumer

• In groups, discuss the three problems Sumerians faced and try to identify the solution that will keep your society alive!

(We will fill in the chart at the end together)

Problems in SumerPROBLEM SOLUTION

1. Unpredictable flooding

IrrigationCooperation (institutions)

2. No natural resources

Trade

3. No natural barriers

Defensive walls (of mud)Organize armies

Sumer GRAPES

Sumer: Geography

• Southern Mesopotamia • Part of the Fertile Crescent

Jericho

Aleppo

Glossary Help

• Mesopotamia- The land between two rivers (in the Middle East) – the first river valley civilization

• Fertile Crescent- A crescent-shaped area of fertile land in the Middle East

Physical Geography

• Two rivers, lots of fertile land• Flat • Mountains and deserts beyond the

flat land• Neighbors were nomads in the

desert and northern Mesopotamia…we’ll meet them soon

Sumer: Religion• Polytheism – belief in many gods–What did their gods do?

• Ziggurat – temple and city-center–Animal sacrifices and offerings

• Why are priests so important in Sumer?

Temple to Nanna, Ur

This large temple, dedicated to the god Nanna, was built around 2100 B.C. by King Ur-Nammu, in the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur. (Michael S. Yamashita/Corbis; ABC-CLIO)

Offerings to the Gods

King Ur-Nammu makes an offering to the moon god Nanna. Ur-Nammu reigned over the Sumerian city of Ur from about 2112 to 2095 B.C. The stela dates to around 2060 B.C. (Bettmann/Corbis; ABC-CLIO)

Sumer: Achievements

• Inventions–Wheel–Sail–Plow–Base-60

math (used today in clocks and circles

Achievements

• Architecture (ziggurat)• Writing – cuneiform –Earliest writing used pictograms,

pictures that stand for words–Later evolved into a set of symbols

representing about 300 sounds

Early Writing

Clay tablet with pictograms from Mesopotamia. (Multimedia Library; ABC-CLIO)

Ancient Sumerian tablet with cuneiform, one of the earliest forms of writing. This tablet, from 2039 BC, tracks disbursements of wages to supervisors of day laborers. (Library of Congress; ABC-CLIO)

Sumerian inscription, detail of a statue of Gudea of Lagash, 22nd century BC (Brittannica)

DRAW A PICTURE OF CUNEIFORM AND DESCRIBE THE CHARACTERISTICS!

Detail from an Assyrian tablet with cuneiform writing. The Assyrian alphabet contained 19 simple letters and approximately 300 cuneiform symbols. (Shutterstock; ABC-CLIO)

Arts

Sumerian figurine of a woman sitting and holding a small vase. (Erich Lessing/Art Resource; ABC-CLIO)

Standard of Ur – War

Standard of Ur – Peace

Sumer: Political

• Priests ruled in peace, military leaders during wars• Eventually, a military leader made

himself king and created a dynasty

Sumer: Political

• Each city-state had its own king–Ur, Uruk, Umma, Lagash, Kish

• Leaders collected taxes and organized labor (for, say, irrigation)

Sumer: Economic

• Agriculture-based• Trade very important–Traded food for stone, wood, and

metal–Then made tools and traded them

for more stuff

Sumer: SocialPriests

Wealthy Merchants

Working Class (Farmers, Artisans)

Slaves (Foreign Prisoners, Sold Children)

Why were merchants so respected?

Women’s Rights

• Women could–Own property–Be educated–Have important jobs

• Women could not–Rule the city or be the head priest

Fall of Sumer

NOT a Country• Sumer is not a country!–Individual city-states with their own

leaders and laws–Not united…fought each other often–Linked by similar cultures•Cultural diffusion

Sumer’s Neighbors

• Northern Mesopotamia was not as fertile, many nomads lived there• Why might they cause problems for

the Sumerians?• Why were the Sumerians unable to

defend themselves from invasion?

Mr. Kahn’s Rules of World HistoryRule #1: Divided, you fall

Sargon of Akkad

[Time Life Pictures/Getty Images]; ABC-CLIO

Sargon of Akkad

Political Units

• City• City-state• Kingdom• Empire

Nomads Invade• Akkad declines–Famine–Internal fighting–Invasions

• Nomads from the west invade–Found new empire in the city of

Babylon

Mr. Kahn’s Rules of World History

Rule #2: Beware the nomads

Babylon

• Babylon, on the Euphrates and near the Tigris, controls all trade on both rivers• Dominates Mesopotamia for 300

years• Why did Babylon last, while Akkad

did not?

Mr. Kahn’s Rules of World HistoryRule #3: He who controls trade, controls the world

Sumer’s Legacy

• Cuneiform and ziggurats used throughout Mesopotamian history for thousands of years after the fall of the Sumerian city-states

CULTURAL DIFFUSION!

Post-Sumerian Ziggurat

View of the Mesopotamian ziggurat at Choga Zanbil in present-day western Iran, 13th century BC. (Diego Lezama Orezzoli/Corbis; ABC-CLIO)

Babylon

[Ridpath, John Clark, Ridpath's History of the World, 1901]; ABC-CLIO

Homework

• Describe the history of Sumer using 10 words from your Glossary–(NOT including any words from

Skills Objectives)