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Chapter 4.1
The Sumerians
Standards
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6.8 On a historical map, locate and describe the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, Zagros
and Caucuses Mountains, Persian Gulf, Caspian and Black Sea, Dead Sea and Sea
of Galilee and explain why the region is referred to as the Fertile Crescent. (G)
6.9 Summarize Sumer, Babylon, and Assyria as successive civilizations and empires
and explain the development of city-states, identify Kish, Akkad, Ur, and Nineveh, and
the significance of Sargon and Hammurabi. (G, H)
6.10 Trace the development of agricultural techniques that permitted economic
surplus and the emergence of cities as centers of culture and power. (C, E, H)
6.11 Explain the significance of polytheism (the belief that there are many gods) as
the religious belief of the people in Mesopotamian civilizations. (C, H)
6.12 Explain the effects of how irrigation, metal-smithing, slavery, the domestication
of animals, and inventions such as the wheel, the sail, and the plow on the growth of
Mesopotamian civilizations. (C, E, H)
6.13 Analyze the important achievements of Mesopotamian civilization, including its
system of writing (and its importance in record keeping and tax collection), literature
(Epic of Gilgamesh), monumental architecture (the ziggurat), and art (large relief
sculpture, mosaics, and cylinder seals). (C, E, G, H)
6.14 Write an informative piece explaining the significant contributions of
Mesopotamian leaders, including Hammurabi and Sargon, and explain the basic
principle of justice in Hammurabi’s Code (“an eye for an eye”). (C, E, H, P)
The First
Civilizations in
Mesopotamia
• Developed
in 3000
B.C.
The Two Rivers
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Mesopotamia earliest civilizations
Developed in southern Iraq
Mesopotamia means between two rivers
Developed between the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers
Fertile Crescent
• Mesopotamia was
located in Fertile
Crescent
• Extends from
Mediterranean Sea
to Persian Gulf
• Includes Turkey,
Syria, Iraq, Lebanon,
Israel, and Jordan
Early Valley Dwellers
• People first settled about 7000 B.C.
– They were hunters and herders
– By 4000 B.C. farming villages develop
Taming the Rivers
• Farmers used water from rivers to water
crops
• Melting snow from mountains caused
rivers to overflow
• Rivers were filled with silt
• Silt was good for the soil
Tigris River
Euphrates River
Controlling Floods
• Farmers used dams and irrigation to
control the flooding of the rivers
Irrigation
• Irrigation is a system that supplies dry land
with water through ditches, pipes, or
streams
Food Surplus
• Food surplus led to job
specialization
• People could become
artisans or skilled
worker
• Made pottery, tools, and
weapons
• Gave rise to cities,
trade and civilizations
Sumer’s Civilizations
• People were know as Sumerians
• They built the cities of Ur, Eridu,, and Uruk
City-States Arise
• A city-state is a city with its own
government and the surrounding farmland
– Protected by a large wall
– Mud was the main building material
– City-states fought and traded with each other
Gods, Priests, and Kings
• Sumerians were polytheistic
– Polytheism is the belief in many gods
– Believed gods had power over nature and
people
Ziggurat
• Sumerians built ziggurats to honor its god
• Ziggurat means to rise high
• A holy place was at the very top
– It was the god’s home
Social Groups
King,
priests,
warriors, and
government
officials
Merchants, farmers,
fishers, and artisans
slaves
Farmers and Traders
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Most people in Sumer were farmers
Wheat, barley, and dates were main crops
Trade was major part of economy
Trade routes linked Sumer to places as far
away as India and Egypt
Sumerian Merchants
• Traded wheat, barley, and tools for timber, minerals, and metals
• Sumerians valued a red stone called carnelian from India’s Indus
River Valley
• Searched for a blue stone called lapis lazuli from Afghanistan
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• Traders returned with iron and silver from Turkey
Sumerian Contributions
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Writing-most important contribution
Writing was called cuneiform
Contained wedge shaped symbols
Wrote on clay tablets
Only wealthy learned to read and write
Became scribes-a person who wrote documents often a
record keeper
• Used for record keeping and tax collecting
Technology and Mathematics
• Invented the Wheel
Sailboat
Bronze
• Sumerians were the first to make bronze
with copper and tin
Geometry
• Used geometry to measure the size of
fields
Place value
• Sumerians used a place value based on
60
• 360 degree circle
Time
• 60 minute hour
• 60 second minute
Calendar
• 12 month calendar
plow
Large Relief Sculptors
Mosaics
Cylinder Seals
A cylinder seal is a cylinder engraved with a 'picture story', used in ancient
times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally wet clay
Uses of Cylinder Seals
• The seals were needed as signatures,
confirmation of receipts, or to mark clay
tablets and building blocks