Transcript Bellringer
Bellringer - What advantages did River Valleys offer for starting a civilization? - List the 5 characteristics of a civilization. STAIR Specialized workers Technology Advanced cities Institutions Record keeping Glossary Help • Glossary: Social classes = groups with different rights, responsibilities, or respect (objective S9) Problems in Sumer • In groups, discuss the three problems Sumerians faced and try to identify the solution that will keep your society alive! (We will fill in the chart at the end together) Problems in Sumer PROBLEM SOLUTION 1. Unpredictable flooding Irrigation Cooperation (institutions) 2. No natural resources Trade 3. No natural barriers Defensive walls (of mud) Organize armies Sumer GRAPES Sumer: Geography • Southern Mesopotamia • Part of the Fertile Crescent Aleppo Jericho Glossary Help • Mesopotamia- The land between two rivers (in the Middle East) – the first river valley civilization • Fertile Crescent- A crescent-shaped area of fertile land in the Middle East Physical Geography • Two rivers, lots of fertile land • Flat • Mountains and deserts beyond the flat land • Neighbors were nomads in the desert and northern Mesopotamia…we’ll meet them soon Sumer: Religion • Polytheism – belief in many gods –What did their gods do? • Ziggurat – temple and city-center –Animal sacrifices and offerings • Why are priests so important in Sumer? Temple to Nanna, Ur This large temple, dedicated to the god Nanna, was built around 2100 B.C. by King Ur-Nammu, in the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur. (Michael S. Yamashita/Corbis; ABC-CLIO) Offerings to the Gods King Ur-Nammu makes an offering to the moon god Nanna. Ur-Nammu reigned over the Sumerian city of Ur from about 2112 to 2095 B.C. The stela dates to around 2060 B.C. (Bettmann/Corbis; ABC-CLIO) Sumer: Achievements • Inventions – Wheel – Sail – Plow – Base-60 math (used today in clocks and circles Achievements • Architecture (ziggurat) • Writing – cuneiform –Earliest writing used pictograms, pictures that stand for words –Later evolved into a set of symbols representing about 300 sounds Early Writing Clay tablet with pictograms from Mesopotamia. (Multimedia Library; ABC-CLIO) Sumerian inscription, detail of a statue of Gudea of Lagash, 22nd century BC (Brittannica) Ancient Sumerian tablet with cuneiform, one of the earliest forms of writing. This tablet, from 2039 BC, tracks disbursements of wages to supervisors of day laborers. (Library of Congress; ABC-CLIO) Detail from an Assyrian tablet with cuneiform writing. The Assyrian alphabet contained 19 simple letters and approximately 300 cuneiform symbols. (Shutterstock; ABC-CLIO) DRAW A PICTURE OF CUNEIFORM AND DESCRIBE THE CHARACTERISTICS! Arts Sumerian figurine of a woman sitting and holding a small vase. (Erich Lessing/Art Resource; ABCCLIO) Standard of Ur – War Standard of Ur – Peace Sumer: Political • Priests ruled in peace, military leaders during wars • Eventually, a military leader made himself king and created a dynasty Sumer: Political • Each city-state had its own king –Ur, Uruk, Umma, Lagash, Kish • Leaders collected taxes and organized labor (for, say, irrigation) Sumer: Economic • Agriculture-based • Trade very important –Traded food for stone, wood, and metal –Then made tools and traded them for more stuff Sumer: Social Priests Wealthy Merchants Working Class (Farmers, Artisans) Slaves (Foreign Prisoners, Sold Children) Why were merchants so respected? Women’s Rights • Women could –Own property –Be educated –Have important jobs • Women could not –Rule the city or be the head priest Fall of Sumer NOT a Country • Sumer is not a country! –Individual city-states with their own leaders and laws –Not united…fought each other often –Linked by similar cultures • Cultural diffusion Sumer’s Neighbors • Northern Mesopotamia was not as fertile, many nomads lived there • Why might they cause problems for the Sumerians? • Why were the Sumerians unable to defend themselves from invasion? Mr. Kahn’s Rules of World History Rule #1: Divided, you fall Sargon of Akkad Sargon of Akkad [Time Life Pictures/Getty Images]; ABC-CLIO Political Units • • • • City City-state Kingdom Empire Nomads Invade • Akkad declines –Famine –Internal fighting –Invasions • Nomads from the west invade –Found new empire in the city of Babylon Mr. Kahn’s Rules of World History Rule #2: Beware the nomads Babylon • Babylon, on the Euphrates and near the Tigris, controls all trade on both rivers • Dominates Mesopotamia for 300 years • Why did Babylon last, while Akkad did not? Mr. Kahn’s Rules of World History Rule #3: He who controls trade, controls the world Sumer’s Legacy • Cuneiform and ziggurats used throughout Mesopotamian history for thousands of years after the fall of the Sumerian city-states CULTURAL DIFFUSION! Post-Sumerian Ziggurat View of the Mesopotamian ziggurat at Choga Zanbil in present-day western Iran, 13th century BC. (Diego Lezama Orezzoli/Corbis; ABC-CLIO) Babylon [Ridpath, John Clark, Ridpath's History of the World, 1901]; ABC-CLIO Homework • Describe the history of Sumer using 10 words from your Glossary –(NOT including any words from Skills Objectives)