Chapter 4.1

The Sumerians

Standards• 6.8 On a historical map, locate and describe the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, Zagros

and Caucuses Mountains, Persian Gulf, Caspian and Black Sea, Dead Sea and Sea of Galilee and explain why the region is referred to as the Fertile Crescent. (G)

• 6.9 Summarize Sumer, Babylon, and Assyria as successive civilizations and empires and explain the development of city-states, identify Kish, Akkad, Ur, and Nineveh, and the significance of Sargon and Hammurabi. (G, H)

• 6.10 Trace the development of agricultural techniques that permitted economic surplus and the emergence of cities as centers of culture and power. (C, E, H)

• 6.11 Explain the significance of polytheism (the belief that there are many gods) as the religious belief of the people in Mesopotamian civilizations. (C, H)

• 6.12 Explain the effects of how irrigation, metal-smithing, slavery, the domestication of animals, and inventions such as the wheel, the sail, and the plow on the growth of Mesopotamian civilizations. (C, E, H)

• 6.13 Analyze the important achievements of Mesopotamian civilization, including its system of writing (and its importance in record keeping and tax collection), literature (Epic of Gilgamesh), monumental architecture (the ziggurat), and art (large relief sculpture, mosaics, and cylinder seals). (C, E, G, H)

• 6.14 Write an informative piece explaining the significant contributions of Mesopotamian leaders, including Hammurabi and Sargon, and explain the basic principle of justice in Hammurabi’s Code (“an eye for an eye”). (C, E, H, P)

The First Civilizations in Mesopotamia

• Developed in 3000 B.C.

The Two Rivers

• Mesopotamia earliest civilizations

• Developed in southern Iraq

• Mesopotamia means between two rivers

• Developed between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

Fertile Crescent

• Mesopotamia was located in Fertile Crescent

• Extends from Mediterranean Sea to Persian Gulf

• Includes Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan

Early Valley Dwellers

• People first settled about 7000 B.C.– They were hunters and herders– By 4000 B.C. farming villages develop

Taming the Rivers

• Farmers used water from rivers to water crops

• Melting snow from mountains caused rivers to overflow

• Rivers were filled with silt

• Silt was good for the soil

Tigris River

Euphrates River

Controlling Floods

• Farmers used dams and irrigation to control the flooding of the rivers

Irrigation

• Irrigation is a system that supplies dry land with water through ditches, pipes, or streams

Food Surplus

• Food surplus led to job specialization

• People could become artisans or skilled worker

• Made pottery, tools, and weapons

• Gave rise to cities, trade and civilizations

Sumer’s Civilizations

• People were know as Sumerians

• They built the cities of Ur, Eridu,, and Uruk

City-States Arise

• A city-state is a city with its own government and the surrounding farmland– Protected by a large wall– Mud was the main building material– City-states fought and traded with each other

Gods, Priests, and Kings

• Sumerians were polytheistic– Polytheism is the belief in many gods– Believed gods had power over nature and

people

Ziggurat• Sumerians built ziggurats to honor its god

• Ziggurat means to rise high

• A holy place was at the very top– It was the god’s home

Social Groups

King,

priests, warriors, and government officials

Merchants, farmers, fishers, and artisans

slaves

Farmers and Traders

• Most people in Sumer were farmers

• Wheat, barley, and dates were main crops

• Trade was major part of economy

• Trade routes linked Sumer to places as far away as India and Egypt

Sumerian Merchants

• Traded wheat, barley, and tools for timber, minerals, and metals• Sumerians valued a red stone called carnelian from India’s Indus

River Valley

• Searched for a blue stone called lapis lazuli from Afghanistan

• • Traders returned with iron and silver from Turkey

Sumerian Contributions

• Writing-most important contribution• Writing was called cuneiform• Contained wedge shaped symbols• Wrote on clay tablets• Only wealthy learned to read and write• Became scribes-a person who wrote documents often a

record keeper• Used for record keeping and tax collecting

Technology and Mathematics

• Invented the Wheel

Sailboat

Bronze

• Sumerians were the first to make bronze with copper and tin

Geometry

• Used geometry to measure the size of fields

Place value

• Sumerians used a place value based on 60

• 360 degree circle

Time

• 60 minute hour

• 60 second minute

Calendar

• 12 month calendar

plow

Large Relief Sculptors

Mosaics

Cylinder Seals

A cylinder seal is a cylinder engraved with a 'picture story', used in ancient

times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally wet clay

Uses of Cylinder Seals

• The seals were needed as signatures, confirmation of receipts, or to mark clay tablets and building blocks