Transcript PowerPoint - Day 6 - Doral Academy Preparatory

Civilization of Sumer
 Location: Fertile Crescent in the Middle East
 Includes Mesopotamia
 “land between rivers” in present-day Iraq
 Rivers were the Tigris and Euphrates
Agriculture in Mesopotamia
 Soil is rich and fertile
 Farming, raising of sheep and cattle
 Rivers carried fertile soil called silt down from mountains
 Heavy spring floods, harsh summers
 Sumerians irrigated the land (supplied water)
 Built irrigation canals
 Used technology to grow crops in a harsh environment
City-states of Sumer
 3400 BC cities started to emerge
 First city was Uruk. Remember it?
 Other Cities: Ur, Lagash, Nippur
 First city-states: independent state that includes a city and
surrounding territory
 Each city-state had its own government
 City-states were center of trade
 Barter: exchange of goods without use of money
 Used rivers as transportation
 Developed social classes
Sumerian Religion
 Practiced Polytheism
 Belief in more than one god
 Believed these gods controlled every aspect of life
 Believed gods needed to be kept pleased
 Gave offerings to the gods
 Only priests could communicate with gods
 This gave great power to priests
 Ziggurats: temples that were pyramid-shaped brick towers
 Priests kept grain and other farming products close to the
temple
Sumerian Writing
 At first, they used pictographs, simple pictures that represent
objects
 Cuneiform (3400 BCE): new system of writing that uses
triangular shaped symbols to stand for ideas or things
 Wedge –shaped marks in clay tablets
 Originally used to record trade
 Later used to record poems (ex. Epic of Gilgamesh) 2000 BC
 Stories were myths but they might have been based on real
people
Sumerian Government
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First leaders were priests
Conflicts between cities started over resources
Priests would choose best suited warriors to lead cities
Some military leaders kept control after wars were over
Kings and Priests needed each other to stay in power
 Priests said that kings had been chosen by gods
 Kings created code of laws for their cities
 2100 BCE: Ur-Nammu – oldest developed laws
 Rules on slavery, marriage, etc.
 Produced great achievements: wheel, sail, irrigation
 Started using bronze
 Better for tools and weapons
Sumerian Civilization
 http://vimeo.com/8856268
The End – PowerPoint 6