Download Ancient Sumer/Sumeriams

Ancient Sumer/Sumerians
 Fertile Crescent: had few natural barriers, became the crossroads for many people
-cultural diffusion (spreading ideas and products)
 Mesopotamia: the land between the rivers in the fertile crescent;
Mesopotamia means "land between the rivers"
 What rivers? The Tigris and Euphrates
 Sumer (Sumerians): 1st civilization here; grew into 12 separate city-states
(independent, self governing) like a country
Problems: 1. floods not regular-sun quickly turned silt to clay
2.
no protection from enemies
3.
lacked stone, metal, and wood ; Homes and city
walls made of Clay
 Ziggurats: stairstepped temples soaring to the heavens topped with a
shrine; each city-state had one -pg. 33
 Religion: polytheistic; people were servants of the gods
 Afterlife: gloomy, joyless place under the earth's crust
 Bazaar- like a mini mall; buy,sell, and trade goods
 Scribes developed a system of writing called CUNEIFORM
 Fighting between city-states led to weakness and Sargon the Great
conquered Sumer; created 1st empire- control of independent groups by
one ruler
 King Hammurabi: conquered Sumer after Sargon; Code of Laws- 1st
collection in history
 Other conquerors of the Fertile Crescent:
1. Hittites-forged iron tools and weapons
2. Persians-coins for trade; Ruler Zoroaster created new religionsingle god called Ahura Mazda (monotheism)
3. Phoenicians-sailors and traders "carriers of civilization"
4. Hebrews- monotheistic; recorded history in sacred book called
the Torah- included laws called the Ten Commandments;
Judaism directly influenced other religions such as Christianity
and Islam.
5. Assyrians- military; brutal fighting styles