Transcript Geography and the Fertile Crescent

MESOPOTAMIAN
GEOGRAPHY &
SUMER
Ms. Engelberth
Do Now
◦What do you know about the geography of
Mesopotamia?
◦Who were the Sumerians? What are they remembered
for?
Geography leads to Civilization
◦ Mesopotamia located in
Southwest Asia, stretching
from modern day Turkey to
Iraq to the Persian Gulf
◦ Also known as the Fertile
Crescent; why?
◦ Mesopotamia=“Land
between Rivers”
◦ Tigris and Euphrates
Geography leads to Civilization
◦ Flooding rivers produced fertile soil
◦ Fertile soil allowed people to settle and develop
◦ Flooding also swept away animals, crops, and homes
◦ Flooding and drought had to be controlled
◦ Basins (collected rainfall)
◦ Irrigation canals (carried water)
◦ Dikes, aka dams (controlled flooding)
◦ Building these projects required organization which led to the first
governments and civilizations
Sumer
◦First Civilization in Mesopotamia
◦Lasted for over 1,000 years
◦Responsible for many cultural achievements that
still impact our lives today
◦Such as…?
Polytheism
Technology
Built Cities
Sumerian
Achievements
Mathematics
First
Writing
System
Sumerian Achievements, Part 1
◦Polytheistic
Religion
◦Built Ziggurats,
temples with
shrines on top to
honor the gods
Sumerian Achievements
◦City-States
◦“city-state”: an independent entity made up of a single city
and surrounding territory
◦ Modern examples include Singapore, Monaco, and Vatican City
◦Sumerian cities did not unite under one ruler
◦12-18 separate cities, each with own ruler, own government,
and own god/goddess
Sumerian Achievements
◦Technology
◦Invented the wheel and the plow
◦Metal working, glass and lamp making, textile
weaving, flood control, water storage, and irrigation
◦Developed from use of copper, bronze, and gold to
iron
Sumerian acheivements
◦Mathematics
◦Numerical system based
on the number 60
◦ 60-minute hour, the 24hour day, 360-degree
circle
◦ Sumerian calendar was
based on the 7-day week
◦What are some everyday
expressions we owe to
Sumerian (and Babylonian)
mathematics?
Sumerian Achievements
◦Writing
◦To record business accounts, laws, literature
(Gilgamesh)
◦Scribes=professional writers
◦Cuneiform—wedge-shaped symbols on clay tablets
◦Earliest known system of writing