Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
World History Ch. 2 Section 1 City-States of Ancient Sumer Geography’s Impact • Fertile Crescent- fertile area in the Middle East known for its rich soils – around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers • Mesopotamia – inside the Fertile Crescent • “Between the Rivers” – area of land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers • Flows from Turkey, through present day Iraq into the Persian Gulf Sumer • 3300 B.C. – Worlds first civilization developed in South East Mesopotamia • Sumer = Sumerians • The Epic of Gilgamesh – first told orally in Sumer • Describes great flood that destroyed the world • The Tigris and Euphrates rivers often flooded washing away everything around – seemed like the flood waters washed away the world. • Does this remind you of another story you have heard of? Sumer • Problem: Flood Waters • Solution: build dikes to hold back flood waters and irrigation ditches to divert water into fields • Sumerians – not many natural resources available to them – no timber or stone • They did have a lot of clay – used it to make pottery and bricks • Used the bricks to make buildings – City of Ur • Trade helped to make Sumerians wealthy • Sumer thrived and in a few hundred years included 12 citystates Sumerian Government • Ruler is responsible to people for: 1.Maintaining Walls 2.Maintaining Irrigation 3.Enforcing laws 4.Collect Taxes - used Scribes for this 5.Keep Records – used Scribes for this Ruler was seen as chief servant of the gods Sumer Social Structure • • • • Hierarchy – system of ranking groups Social Hierarchy Top: Ruling family, Officials, High Priests Middle: Lesser Priests, Scribes, Merchants, Artisans • Bottom: • Peasant Farmers – worked other peoples land • Slaves – most captured in war, some were sold to pay off debts Religion • Polytheistic – belief in many gods • Gods thought to control daily life • Believed gods and goddesses behaved like people – ate, drank, married, families, • Believed it was their duty to keep gods happy – Worship them in temples • Ziggurat – large, stepped platform topped by a temple dedicated to the city’s chief god or goddess • Afterlife – people lived in a grim world in which there was no release Sumer Writing • 3200 B.C. • Cuneiform – wrote by making wedge shaped marks on tablets • Grew out of a pictograph system • Scribe were trained very strictly • If they talked or were messy with their copying they were caned!! Legacy of Sumer • 2500 B.C. • Armies came in and conquered Sumer • By 1900 B.C., Sumerian civilization had been replaced by other civilizations and Empires • Left behind cuneiform and it was used by the Akkadians, Babylonians and Assyrians • Sumer Scholars – developed astronomy and math • Established a number system based on dividing the hour into 60 minutes, and they divided the circle into 360” • Babylonians built upon this and created Algebra and geometry in order to create accurate calendars HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES • CITY-STATE CREATION. Using posterboard and colored pencils, the student designs a Sumerian city-state based on the description in the textbook. Items that should be on the map include: a title, compass rose, scale of miles, legend, a ziggurat, city wall, farmland, irrigation system, narrow winding streets, government buildings, courtyards, and homes of the different social classes. • http://hypermedia.educ.psu.edu/k12/edpgs/su96/meso/mesopotamia.html#fun • http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/SUMER.HTM