Download First Cities of Sumer

the middle east
First Cities of Sumer
;
mesopotAmiA lies between the Tigris and the Euphrates
rivers—an area that now covers much of modern Iraq. It was
the ancient Greeks who named this region Mesopotamia,
meaning “the land between the rivers.” In about 5000 bce, the
farming people of Sumer founded small settlements that
grew into the world’s first cities, each with its own ruler
and god. Since Mesopotamia lacked raw materials,
Sumerian merchants began to travel to distant lands,
trading surplus food and luxury goods for stone,
timber, and metals. By 3100 bce, the Sumerians had
developed cuneiform, one of the world’s first known
writing systems.
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this Map shows the major cities of Sumer (southern
Mesopotamia), including Ur, Uruk, and Nippur.
euphrateS river
the city of ur ▶
▲ the rivers
Every year, the Tigris and the Euphrates
rivers flooded. But this flooding took
place too late in the year to water the
crops that were already growing in the
fields. So the Sumerians worked together
in organized groups, digging canals to
irrigate the land and building reservoirs
to store the floodwater for later use.
The walled cities of Sumer contained
a vast network of mud-brick houses,
temples, and grand palaces. Each city
was dominated by a huge temple
tower called a ziggurat. The Sumerians
worshiped many gods, and each city
had its own patron god. The city of Ur
was home to the Moon god Nanna.
moSaic on a box
▲ kings at war
Sumerian city-states were governed by kings who claimed to rule on behalf of
the local god. There were about a dozen city-states whose kings often went to
war with each other over land and resources. This mosaic from Ur shows a
Sumerian king (middle top row) receiving prisoners captured in battle.
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(c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
trading ships
set sail from the
harbor at Ur