Transcript Slide 1

River Cities
Rise and Fall of Sumer
How did the first civilizations use
religion and government to organize
people to control nature?
What is the best way to enforce
laws?
Unit Two: Sumer
The Problem:
How do you get people to work
together on complicated tasks?
In this class we have a complicated task. We have
much to learn so that everyone is prepared to go
out in the world and work to make it a better
place. You will share the world with everyone in
this room. Each of you need to know that you can
rely on everyone else in here to do their part.
How do we make sure that people do
not distract one another, and that all
learning is completed?
Lesson 1: People had to work together to control nature.
From village
to city
~4000 bc Neolithic farming villages in Mid East
began to fail.
People left highlands and congregated in the river
valleys where there was more water
The first cities developed in Sumer, an area of
Mesopotamia. “Land between the rivers”, Tigris and
Euphrates.
Controlling
the Rivers
Before they could build their cities
though, they had to learn how to change
the environment to control flooding.
Using evidence from this picture: what are all of the ways the
Sumerians altered the environment to help them survive in this area?
What sort of things need to be organized and enforced in order to build
and maintain these changes?
Review Slide: Lesson 1
Historical Literacy: Record the definition for the following words in your
Historical Literacy Sheet in your packet when you review your notes tonight.
Fertile Crescent
Mesopotamia
Levees
Rise and Fall Concepts:
1. Why did Neolithic farmers have to leave their land and move into the
river valleys?
2. What advantages does a river give? What problems do they present?
3. Give me three examples of how the Sumerians changed the
environment to better use the river or protect themselves from it.
4. Three examples of things that the government of Sumer would have
to control to keep things working.
Lesson 2: The Sumerians had to organize a more complicated government to
control people to control the environment.
City States Sumer civ. was organized into
independent cities made up of the
actual city and surrounding farmland.
Had same culture as neighboring cities,
but not the same leaders.
Theocracy
A government run by the religion Sumerian first type of government.
All laws, rules and leadership were
based on peoples religious beliefs.
So – first we need to understand their
religious beliefs…
Lesson 2: The Sumerians had to organize a more complicated government to
control people to control the environment.
Sumerian
View of their
environment
Tricky, uncontrollable place full of unpredictable
floods and droughts that needed a lot of
explanation
Role of gods
3000+ gods to explain everything in nature.
Everything not understood. /Polytheistic = having
multiple gods. They are the ones who make the
uncontrollable environment
Sumerian
Afterlife
Motivation
in Life
A grey cold place where everyone just kind of
wanders around
Keep the gods happy with sacrifices and
offerings so they don’t punish you and you die
before you have to.
Lesson 2: The Sumerians had to organize a more complicated government to
control people to control the environment.
Priests
Responsible for remembering all gods, how to
appease them, all rituals , and sacrifices.
Role of The Priest acted as head of church and a king of the
Priest King land./ Controls society by making people keep
the gods happy and threatening that they’ll
punish people who don’t.
The
Assembly
Ziggurats
Made up of all free men/ gave Priest King advice/
chose military leader during times of war.
The place where government and religion came
together./ Temples to the gods where sacrifices
were made and kept./ Dominated center of city.
/Trade goods were stored beneath and
surrounded by markets
Lesson 2: The Sumerians had to organize a more complicated government to
control people to control the environment.
Laws
It was the job of each Priest King to settle
disputes and issue punishments
Civil Laws: Settle disputes over things like
ownership. Land, inheritance, legal rights.
Criminal Laws: Someone breaks a law.
Each Priest King in each city though would
do it differently.
Social
Stratification
Developed idea that some jobs of some
people made them more important than
others.
Developed a Hierarchy of jobs
Peoples place in the society was reflected
in where they lived in the city. Closer to Zig,
more important you were.
How Sumerian Hierarchy was seen in where you live:
Review Slide: Lesson 2
Historical Literacy: Record the definition for the following words in your
Historical Literacy Sheet in your packet when you review your notes tonight.
Theocracy
Polytheistic
Ziggurat
Hierarchy
Priest King
Social Stratification, Civil Law, Criminal Law
Rise and Fall Concepts:
1. What is a city state? How does it differ from our modern cities and
countries?
2. How did the Sumerians opinion of their gods and afterlife motivate
them to do the “right” thing in life?
3. How would a Sumerian Priest King get people to stop using plastic
water bottles? How would President Obama do it? Which do you
think is more effective?
4. How does a building like a Ziggurat help to organize people and
work?
5. Even though farmers produce the very food we eat, why did they
become seen as less important?
6. Give an example of a civil law case. Give an example of a Criminal
law case.
Lesson 3: The Sumerians developed new technologies and resources to help
organize their society.
Writing
~3300 developed a system of writing called
cuneiform. Originally developed as a way to record
goods coming into the Ziggurat.
The writing system changed and developed over
time.
Because every symbol represented a word, it was
very complicated. Over 6000 different symbols
Special job of “Scribe” to be able to write.
Developed first schools called “Eddubas” to teach
people how to be a scribe.
Over time, writing could be used to write down all
sorts of ideas. Stories like “Gilgamesh” or even
write down laws for everyone to know.
Lesson 3: The Sumerians developed new technologies and resources to help
organize their society.
Bronze
Sumerian metal workers learned to melt together
copper and tin to create an alloy that was harder
than both. Liquid metal could be poured into molds
to make all sorts of new tools easier.
Bronze made the work of the city much easier. It
also made many more resources available.
Lesson 3: The Sumerians developed new technologies and resources to help
organize their society.
Armies
Once you had bronze, you could equip a larger
group of people to be soldiers.
Most soldiers at this point were citizen soldiers
– not a professional army.
Armies are used to protect the resources you
have, or to take the ones that you don’t have.
One key resource that armies are getting are
slaves – or defeated people from other cities.
Slaves were used for cheap labor. Most were
prisoners of war. They did have rights and
were treated humanely.
Lesson 3: The Sumerians developed new technologies and resources to help
organize their society.
Toys and Games
We know that Sumer had a large toy and
game industry.
This indicates that Sumer had reached a
point where people had leisure time.
But how does this help organize and
control people?
Review Slide: Lesson 3
Historical Literacy: Record the definition for the following words
in your Historical Literacy Sheet in your packet when you
review your notes tonight.
Scribe
Cuneiform
Gilgamesh
Edubbas
Rise and Fall Concepts:
Why did the Sumerians need to create writing? Once they
developed it, what other things could they start doing with it?
How does this help you control your society?
Once you develop metal tools like bronze, what other
technologies and institutions can be developed?
Why did you have to develop bronze before you could develop
armies?
How come Sumerians were able to develop games and other
forms of entertainment? How does this help your society
grow?
Lesson 4: Sumer’s government ordered people to destroy the environment and caused their
collapse:
Problem
with levees
Raises elevation of river/ lowers farmland. Doesn’t
replace nutrients with fresh silt. Similar to New
Orleans
Problem
with
irrigation
Salinization. Soil and ground water becomes too
salty to grow food or to drink. Water logged soil
forces salt up to the surface – especially for cities
down river. Water left on surface evaporates leaving
more salt.
Government
response
Long term
consequences
Should have left the fields to sit and let salt work its
way out, but kings power demanded a large army be
fed so they forced farmers to just keep doing the
same thing.
Soon could only grow Barley, but even that began to
fail. Not enough food for population. Illness and
disease, decline in population
Lesson 4: Sumer’s government ordered people to destroy the environment and
caused their collapse:
The
Akkadians
2200bc – Sargon I, ruler of Akkad, begins to
develop the first Empire.
Empire= A collection of political units (citystates) run by the leader of another political unit
(Emperor)
Advantages to
being in Empire
Disadvantages
Lesson 4: Sumer’s government ordered people to destroy the environment and
caused their collapse:
Nomadic
Raiders
Sumerian
Independence
By 2000 bc. Nomads from Zagros Mountains
were constantly raiding weakened Sumerian
cities. No longer in Akkad’s interest to defend
them.
For 200 years Sumer is independent again – but
have to deal with all their environmental
problems on their own. Quickly begin to collapse
1800bc, conquered by a new Empire out of
Babylon. But, by this time most of Sumerian
The Amorites cities had been abandoned. Sumerians are
refugees to new cities to the north
Review Slide: Lesson 2:5
Historical Literacy: Record the definition for the following words in your
Historical Literacy Sheet in your packet when you review your notes tonight.
Empire
Sargon I
Salinization
Rise and Fall Concepts:
What two problems did the building of levees cause
for the soil of Sumer
What two factors cause salinization, why is it bad for
food production
How did Sumer’s government fail to fix the problem
How would life have been better living in Sargon’s
Empire?
Why didn’t the Akkadians want to hold on to Sumer?
Why is it a good thing to be taken over by another
empire like the Amorites?