Download Ch 2 Ancient Mesopotamia Fertile Crescent

Chapter 4 Mesopotamia
Lesson 1: The Sumerians
A Sumerian warriorgod, gold figurine
The First Civilizations in
Mesopotamia
A. The Two Rivers
1. The first known civilization started in
Mesopotamia.
2. A civilization is a group of people who have a
high level of culture and order.
Where Civilization Began
City-States in Mesopotamia
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.
3. Mesopotamia is the land located
between the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers.
4. Mesopotamia is located in Southwest
Asia.
Mesopotamia was referred to as the “fertile
crescent” due to its fertile and abundant soil
and because the place where Mesopotamia
was located appeared to be shaped like a
crescent.
5. People first stayed in Mesopotamia around
7000 B.C.
6. These people hunted and
raised animals for food.
7. People started to farm around
4000B.C.
“meso” means
middle
Tigris River
Euphrates River
This is the area around the
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. It
is known as the Fertile
Crescent. The earth in this
region is very dry.
Civilizations developed here
because the two great rivers
provided the natural
resources needed to sustain
life.
Over time, people in the
Fertile Crescent learned how
to harness the power of the
rivers.
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.
9. They farmed in the valley
between the two rivers.
B. Irrigation
1. To grow crops, farmers need water for the
soil.
2. Farmers in Mesopotamia got water from the
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
3. Sometimes it rained too much causing
the rivers to flood.
4. Floods could destroy crops, but they
also left the land covered with silt.
5. Silt is a rich soil and good for farming.
6. To control the floods, the people of
Mesopotamia built dams.
7. A dam is a wall that stops the flow of
water.
8. Mesopotamians also dug canals.
9. A canal is a ditch that lets water
flow to the fields. Watering crops
using canals is called irrigation.
10. By using irrigation,
farmers could grow large
amounts of food. The
people of Mesopotamia
had extra food, or a
surplus.
An irrigation system makes it possible to
grow crops. These crops will help sustain life
in an otherwise dry region.
C. Cities Grow
1. Because of a surplus of food, not
everyone needed to farm.
2. Some people could become artisans.
An artisan is a person who makes a good,
such as cloth, tools, or weapons.
FYI: Sumerian Jewelry
• Carnelian was made into jewelry by Sumerians. It is a semiprecious
mineral that was much prized by the Greeks and Romans. Carnelian
jewelry keeps its bright gloss better than other stones.
3. People began to live together in
places that helped them trade goods.
4. Before long, small villages grew into
cities. By 3000 B.C., many cities had
started and grown in Sumer. Sumer is
the region in southern Mesopotamia.
D. Sumer’s Civilization
1. The people of Sumer were called Sumerians.
2. They built many cities. The cities of Sumer
had deserts around them, which were hard to
travel across so each city stood alone.
3. As cities grew, they gained control of the
land around them.
4. They formed city-states.
5. Each city-state had its own
government. It was not part of a larger
nation.
6. Sometimes Sumerian city-states
fought each other, but during times of
peace, they traded with each other.
E. Polytheism
1. The Sumerian people worshiped
many gods.
2. Worshipping many gods is called
polytheism. “Poly” means many;
“The” means god.
3. Each city-state, though, claimed
one god as its own.
Bas-relief
depicting priests
intervening between
worshipers and gods
.
4. To honor this god, the city-state built a
large temple called a ziggurat.
5. A temple is a building used to worship
a god or many gods.
ziggurat
The Ziggurat at Ur was first excavated by British archaeologist Woolley in 1923.
The Iraqi Directorate of Antiquities restored its lower stages in the 1980s.
”
Marduk, the Dragon god
PP Design of T. Loessin; Akins H.S.
F. Social Classes in Sumer
1. People in Sumer were divided into
social classes.
2. The upper class included kings,
priests, warriors, and government
workers. People in this class were
powerful and wealthy.
3. The middle class had farmers, fishers, and
artisans. It was the largest group.
4. Enslaved people made up the
lowest class. They had no money
and no power.
5. The basic unit of Sumerian life was the
family.
6. Men were the head of the family.
Women ran the home and cared for the
children.
G. Sumerian Contributions
1. Sumerians created a way of writing called
cuneiform.
2. Cuneiform was written by using wedgeshaped marks cut into damp clay. Only a few
people learned to read and write cuneiform.
One of the first writing systems - Cuneiform
3. Some of these people became
scribes. A scribe is a person who
records business dealings and
important events.
4. The oldest known story in the world comes
from Sumer. This story is called the Epic of
Gilgamesh.
5. An epic is a long poem that tells the story of a
hero.
6. The Sumerians were the first
people to use the wheel. They were
also the first to use sailboats and
wooden plows.
7. Sumerians were the first to make
bronze out of copper and tin.
8. Sumerians studied mathematics
and astronomy. Astronomy is the
study of planets, stars, and other
objects in space.
9. Sumerians learned the best times
to plant crops by observing the
positions of the stars.
End of Chapter 4 Lesson 1 PPT