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Journal 3
Lecture Notes
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Written record of Mesopotamian history begins with the Sumerians.
Sumer was a collection of independent City-States.
The created an irrigation system in the Tigris-Euphrates River Valley that
received very little rainfall.
Religion
 The city center was a ziggurat, a temple – which was controlled by priestsrulers.
 They believed the success of their crops depended upon the gods.
 Farmers paid taxes to these priests.
 In times of war the Sumerians would appoint a commander to control the
troops and eventually the priests gave them power over all armies.
 Eventually, priests succumbed to the power and authority of these rulers and
they began to pass their power down and that began dynasties.
 They were polytheistic. They feared their gods.
 Enlil – the god of storms and air was among the most powerful. Enki - He was
the deity of crafts mischief; water, seawater, lakewater, intelligence and creation.
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Their gods had human-like qualities (quarreled, had children, fell in love) –
so did the Greeks.
 Did not believe in a lush afterlife. They believed that their souls went to the
“land of no return” – between the earth’s crust and the ancient sea.
o A Sumerian poem reads, “Dust is their fare and clay is their food”
Society
 As the civilization grew so did the social classes.
 Kings, landholders and priests make up the highest class.
 Merchants were the next level, followed by farmers and slaves.
 Slave population was comprised of captives in war and debt slaves that were
sold into slavery as children.
 Women could be priests, merchants and artisans.
 Some women were scribes. They held more power in society than some later
civilizations.
 Sumerian inventions:
 The wheel, sail and plow.
 Geometry was invented by the Sumerians.
 They came up with 360 degrees and 60 seconds in a minute.
 Arches, columns, ramps, and the pyramid shaped design of the ziggurat.
 Cuneiform – Sumerians system of writing. Wedge-shaped writing in clay
tablets.