Transcript Chapter 3: Mesopotamia Section 1: The Rise of Sumer

Chapter 3: Mesopotamia
Section 1: The Rise of Sumer
3500 BC-1700 BC
Page 54-59
The Rise of Sumer
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People settled in 3500 BC
Short, black haired people
Sumerians lived in Sumer-south
Earliest known civilization
They knew how to control the two
rivers and grew wheat, sesame,
flax, fruit, and other vegetables.
• They set up a govt, with laws
Cities
• As their population increased, they
built cities.
• Didn’t have stone or wood, so they
used sun dried bricks to build them
• Two great cities were Sumer and
Ur.
Ziggurat at Ur
City-States
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Each city was its own state.
Cities had their own gods and govt
A great wall surrounded each city.
The rich lived in the center of the
city in two story buildings.
• The middle class lived behind the
rich in one story bldgs with open
courtyards.
Classes
• The upper class included: priests
and merchants.
• The middle class included:
government officials, shopkeepers,
and artisans.
• The lower class included: farmers,
unskilled workers, and fishermen.
Religious Life
• At the center of each city was a ziggurat
or temple.
• A great stairway led to the top of each.
• Sumerians believed the city’s god lived
here.
• Only priests were allowed to enter.
• All of a town’s activities took place in the
courts around the ziggurat.
• School, markets, shops, celebrations
Gods and Nature
• Sumerians believed gods
controlled nature: wind, floods,
fires.
• 3000 Sumerian gods
• The Sumerians’ goal in life was to
please the gods.
• Priests were the only people who
could speak to gods.
• Priests became very powerful and
administered all the land in the
city.
• They also ran the schools.
Schools and Education
• Schools were only for the rich males.
• They were called tablet schools and
mostly taught writing.
• Sumerian writing was called cuneiform
and is wedge shaped.
• Writing started to keep track of business
deals.
• Graduating students were called scribes.
Women
• Women had the right to buy and
sell property, run businesses, and
own and sell slaves.
• Men had right to divorce and sell
their wives and children into
slavery for three years.
• Children were expected to support
their parents when they got old.
Priests and Kings
• Priests were also the kings of city
states.
• The oldest known story in the
world is about Gilgamesh of Uruk.
• Written in 1700 BC
• Tells about his search for eternal
life and a flood that is very similar
to the story of Noah’s Ark.
• Priest-kings took advice from an
assembly.
• When war broke out a member was
appointed military leader.
• By 3000 BC, military leaders took
the place of priest kings.
• Kingship became hereditary and
was passed down from parent to
child.
• 1. What area are we studying?
• 2. What current country is this?
• 3. What does “Mesopotamia”
mean?
• 4. What two rivers are located
in Mesopotamia?
• 5. What was at the center of a
Mesopotamian city?
• 6. Where did the rich live in
Mesopotamia?
• 7. What types of people made
up the lower class?
• 8. What types of people made
up the middle class?
• 9. What types of people made
up the upper class?
• 10. What city was located in
southern Mesopotamia?
• 1. Mesopotamia
• 2. Iraq
• 3. Land Between Two Rivers
• 4. Tigris and Euphrates
• 5. In the center of the city in
two story houses
• 6. Farmers, Unskilled Workers,
and Fishermen
• 7. Government Officials,
Shopkeepers, and Artisans
• 8. Priests and Merchants
• 9. Ziggurat
• 10. Sumer