Transcript Sumerian/ Mesopotamia Civilization

Sumerian/
Mesopotamia
Civilization
Coral Davids, Jessica Waleski,
Miranda Vawter, Sierra Manzanares,
and Janeen Reynolds
Social Classes
 Upper
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Class (Amelu):
Priests: Used to work in fields
alongside others, but were
separated from them.
Became the largest landowners in
Sumerian creating power and
wealth.
Were trained to be scribes and be
with the city council of elders.
Government Officials
Professional Solders
 Middle
Craftspeople
 Farmers
 Merchants
 Laborers
 Artisans
 Fishermen
Comprised of the middle-class poor
and rich.
They owned their own land and
livestock.
This is the largest class of the three.
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Class (Mushkinu):
Social Structure: Land over Money
 In
the Sumerian society,
your wealth was
measured by how much
land you owned and your
harvest rather than
riches.
 Those
who failed to
harvest enough food had
to borrow harvest from
another landowner and
wait until the next season
to repay. If they had
another bad year and
couldn’t return their loan,
they would have to work
for the farmer the
borrowed from.
Slaves
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How to become a slave!
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They were prisoners of war.
They fell into too much debt
to pay out.
They were born into slavery
Husbands can sell their
wives into slavery and
parents can sell their
children into slavery as well.
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Rights
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They can borrow money
for necessities only.
They can own little
property to pay debts.
They can engage in some
trade.
Can serve as a witness in
a legal matter
Buy their freedom (once
freed, they can’t go back
to slavery.)
Political/ Rulers
Political ruler:
Hammurabi
 Background
 Meaning of his name :
 Hammu = Relative or Uncle
 Rabi = Great
 Translation-- The Uncle Is Great
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Hammurabi's accomplishments he worked for the welfare of his people-he was
an excellent administrator
 strengthened his kingdom by conquests
 built canals to improve agriculture
 build roads to improve communication
 set up maximum prices and minimum wages
He was the 6th King of the tribe known as  set up soldiers who were stationed all over the
kingdom to keep peace
the Amorites from Syria
He was the son of Simmuballit, a king who  set up posts for carrying mail -- runners carried
had worked to unite control of Sumer and
clay tablet letters
Akkad
He never gained control of all of
Babylonia. He reigned for 43 years (about
2067 - 2025 BC)
Economy/ Trade
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(Trade) Mesopotamians had
to acquire non-indigenous
sources from direct or
indirect trading with far-off
lands. A widespread trade
network evolved along the
Euphrates and Tigris Rivers
which connects
Mesopotamia to Anatolia
(Turkey present-day)
through Syria’s northern
area. Many trade routes in
the Mesopotamia region are
nearby rivers.
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(Labor) The requirements of
specialized labor, irrigation
and agriculture, probably
have contributed to creating
early Mesopotamian
organization of sociopolitical. Dependence on
these particular social
structures also had leaded
the Mesopotamians toward
political and economic
authority besides social.
Economy/ Trade continued…
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(Agriculture) Mesopotamian farmers use the oxen for plowing and the
other are eventually for eating like:
Cattle, Sheep, Goats, Pigs, Ducks, Geese.
Mesopotamian farmers grew barley, the chief crop, which is a salttolerant kind of wheat which grows perfectly in semi-salty soil of
Mesopotamia. The barley kernels and grains are used in popular foods
and drinks across the Mesopotamia. Many other known food crops
include:
Oil-rich sesame, Linseed plants, Lentils & Peas, Garlic & Beans,
Cucumbers & Lettuce, Apples & Grapes, Figs & Date Palms.
Beans and lettuce, shade ground crops, needs to be away from the hot
sun. So farmers of Mesopotamia created a technique called the shadetree gardening, where particular crops grow under the palm and other
fruit trees’ branches. Another alternative way is to dig canals or
irrigation ditches from close by rivers.
Technology
 Mesopotamian
farmers used tools that are mainly made
of wood for farming. From these tools it includes:
 Wooden plow drawn by oxen
 Metal-tipped axes mounted on wooden handles
 Particularly for harvesting crops the Mesopotamian
farmers used wooden sickles with sharpened flint
blades attached to them.
City Structure/ Architecture
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Ziggurat:
The Great Ziggurat was built as a place
of worship, dedicated to the moon god
Nanna (or Sin), in the Sumerian city of Ur
in ancient Mesopotamia.
The word "ziggurat" meant "mountain of
god" or hill of heaven. The temple which
resembles a huge stepped platform was
constructed approximately in the 21st
century BC by king Ur-Nammu.
In Sumerian times it was called
Etemennigur. Each ziggurat was made
up of a series of square levels. Each
level was smaller than the one below it.
Stairways led to the top of the colossal
ziggurats, which were believed to be
the home of the city's chief god. Only
priests could enter this sacred area.
Today, after more than 4000 years, the
ziggurat is still well preserved in large
parts as the only major remainder of Ur
in present-day southern Iraq.
City Structure/ Architecture continued…
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. They were organized in city-states where each city had its
own independent government ruled by a king that controlled
the city and the surrounding farmland. Each city also had its
own primary god. At the center of each Sumerian city was a
temple, called a ziggurat. Around the ziggurat were courts,
the center of Sumerian life. Artisans worked there; children
went to school there; farmers, artisans, and traders stored
their goods there; and the poor were fed there.
Schools were for the sons of the rich only. Poorer boys
worked in the fields or they learned a trade. When a student
graduated from school, he became a scribe. The ziggurat, the
palace, the government, or the army then employed him.
General Geography
 Mesopotamia/Sumer
is the region around and between
the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
 Sumer can be found in the southern half of
Mesopotamia
 “Mesopotamia” means “between the rivers” in Greek
 Climate has occasional, severe rain storms but is
usually very dry and flat
 Because of the two rivers in Mesopotamia the soil is
very fertile, thus earning it the nickname of the Fertile
Crescent
Roles of Sumerian Women
 Their
rights depended heavily on their social status
 Higher-class women were able to read and write
 Lower-class women stayed at home taking care of the
house and the children
 Some women run small-scale farms while the men work
in the fields
 Women were also allowed to go into the market to buy
and sell things
Military
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most influential part of Sumerian military is their
very poor strategic position
 Sumerian soldiers usually used small bronze swords ,
spears , large shields, and bronze armor
 They fought in many inter-city battles
 Sumerians invented the chariot and ergo were the first
to use them in battle
Religion/ Faith
 Believed
that many gods controlled the various forces of nature
(polytheism).
 Demons known as Ugallu protected humans from the evil demons
who caused disease, misfortune, and misery.
 They built impressive ziggurats for the gods and offered rich
sacrifices of animals, food, and wine.
Sumerian Law
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King Hammurabi (1792-1750 BCE) had laws inscribed on stone
stelae and placed in various places throughout his realm
Mesopotamians believed that laws came from the gods
On the stela of law is a prologue describing Hammurabi’s
appointment by the gods as the ruler of his people
May have been older forms of law but they were lost over time
Nearly every bit of life was recorded on a tablet which was used as
evidence when conflict arose
Before reaching court an attempt to settle the matter was made with
a maskhim (mediator), when/if that failed it was brought to court
with a panel of judges known as dikuds
How did Hammurabi come to power? He inherited the throne from
his father Sin-muballit.
Sumerian Writing
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Cuneiform from Latin ‘cuneus’, meaning “wedge”
Any script is cuneiform as long as it’s wedge-shaped
Many languages (Sumerian, Eastern Semitic, Elamite, Eblaite,
Hittite, Hurrian, Utartian, Ugaritic, and Old Persian) were written
in cuneiform
Earliest forms of Mesopotamian symbols are on clay tokens
used as early as 8000 BCE for record keeping
Sumerian cuneiform from 3300 BCE to 100 CE
Gilgamesh, king of Uruk in Babylonia about 2700 BCE
Epic of Gilgamesh, perhaps oldest written story on earth, about
the adventures of King Gilgamesh
Written on 12 clay tablets, revised to eleven since tablet twelve
appeared to be a sequel
10 Questions!
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What were the three caste systems and describe who were
included in them?
What tools did the farmers of Mesopotamian used for farming?
What kind of crops did the Mesopotamian farmers grow?
What was the basis for cuneiform writing and how were they first
drawn?
How did Hammurabi come to power?
How does their location affect their military?
How are women treated differently from men?
Name 3 things King Hammubari accomplished.
What god was Ziggurat dedicated to and what does the name
mean?
How did Sumerians worship the gods?
Works Cited Page
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