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Sumerian Vocab
Vocab for Sumer
Fertile
Crescent – Area of
land in Asia that is
shaped like a crescent
and is good for growing
crops.
Mesopotamia
Greek
word for “the land
between two rivers”.
Can be used as a
synonym for the Fertile
Crescent
Tigris – Euphrates
The
two rivers that flow
through Fertile Crescent
to the Persian Gulf. They
are wild and often
overflow – which is what
makes the area so fertile
Sumer – Sumerian
Southern
section of the
Fertile Crescent.
Sumerians lived in
Sumer, one of the first
civilizations in the world.
“History begins with
Sumer”
 Sumerians
were the first to
develop a form of writing.
Their writing (cuneiform)
propels them into history
where writing records their
stories and their way of life.
“Cradle of Civilization”
 What
we call the Fertile
Crescent or Mesopotamia.
This land was the “cradle”
for holding the “new-born
baby” that was civilization.
Civilization
Three
requirements
A group of people
Share a way of life
Can read and write
Culture
A
way of life that includes
Dress, customs, holidays,
language, religions, foods,
stories, heroes and
traditions.
#1 - Ancient Sumer and
Babylonia
 On
the map
 Present day Iraq (near Iran)
 Few resources besides clay
(needed stone, wood, gold)
 Good
water – two rivers
surrounding the land
 Good crops (flax, barley)
 About 6 great cities in an
area about the size of
Massachusetts
“First” civilization
 Sumer
was responsible for
the first:
Casting
of bronze and copper
Engraving
Sculpting
Writing
Law-making
Government
Weights
and Measures
Astronomy
AND MORE!!!!

#2 - Sumerian
Economy
Different jobs
Farmers
 Herdsmen
 Fishermen
 Merchants
 Scribes
 Potters
 Masons
 Jewelers

Farmers
 Farming
was the most popular
job
 Used donkeys and oxen
 The oldest piece of literature
found is a farmers almanac –
5000 years old!
 Barley
was their best grain –
they used it for porridge, flour,
and beer
Traders
 Traders
were needed to obtain
stone, wood and metal.
 What about the location of
Sumer made it a good trading
community??
#3 - City-states
 Once
the people of Sumer
were able to produce sufficient
food, their population could
grow.
 They
created cities with canals
built for irrigation, walls for
protection and temples for
honoring their gods.
Population Growth
 By
2000 B.C. the cities within
Sumer grew so large that
some, like Ur, had more than
200,000 residents.
Protection
 Cities
were protected with
walls and moats.
 The city of Uruk had a wall
that was 6 miles long with
over 900 towers.
Houses
 Most
houses were made of clay
bricks covered smoothly with
mud.
 There was very little city planning
and the cities were very
unattractive!!
 Most houses had a family burial
crypt below the house.
Garbage
 Garbage
and Sewerage were
thrown into the streets until
they piled higher than the
house!!
Upper - class
 Although
most houses were only
one story, upper class members
of Sumer had two story houses
with more rooms and . . . . . .
WOOD FURNITURE!!
 Why was wood furniture a big
deal??
Decorations
 Residents
would decorate their
houses with animal skins and
rugs and woolen wall hangings
to cover the walls and floors
Market place
 The
business area of town was
filled with booths for
merchants to supply the
townspeople with all their
material needs
 How do you think people
“paid” for things??
#4 – Fun and Games
 Archaeologist
have found a
“board game” buried in royal
graves. They have not been able
to find any rules, but the game
consists of pieces and dice just
like any game you would play
today.
More fun
 The
board game may have been
an “upper-class” recreation.
Other forms of recreation that we
know of include harp playing,
monkey shows and bare-fisted
boxing matches
#5 – Education
 The
biggest impact Sumerians
had on education was
developing cuneiform.
 The wrote on clay tablets with
a sharpened reed called a
stylus
Cuneiform
The
“scribe” wrote from
left to right and from top
to bottom (Why?)
School
 School
was referred to as the
“tablet house”
 The school was for males only
and the head of the school
was called the “school-father”
School faculty
 Other
workers had special
responsibilities:
 The teacher assistant (“Big
Brother”) – checked
homework, prepared new
tablets
 Penmanship
teacher
 Grammar teacher
 Attendance Keeper
 Discipline (“Man with the
whip”)
Curriculum
 The
main focus of school was
to become a scribe
 Single classes lasted from
morning to sunset
Discipline
 Discipline
appears to have
been a problem in schools,
but was solved with the
whip or cane
One boy’s story
 He
was caned for
 Being
late
 Grammar mistake
 Wearing dirty clothes
 Speaking without permission
 Standing without permission
 Taking something without permission
 Poor script work
 Poor spoken grammar
 He
invited the teacher to
have dinner at his house
where the boy’s father gave
the teacher new clothes, a
ring and a raise in pay and
the teacher praised the boy
from then on!
#6 - Ziggurat
 Temples
built for many years
in each Sumerian city
 The Ziggurat in Ur had over 3
million bricks!
Ziggurat
 They
were different from
pyramids. Pyramids were
resting places while Ziggurats
were believed to be stairways
from heaven.
 Each
Ziggurat had two
temples
The higher one was for
receiving their heavenly
visitor
The lower one was for
helping their visitor rest
before ascending again
Religion
 Soon,
priests were praying for
the entire community in the
Ziggurat all day long (Why?)
 The temple became the center
of the community and markets
and courts starting to form
around the Ziggurat
#7 – Death pit of Ur
 Sometime
around 2000 B.C.
the Death Pit of Ur was
destroyed by enemies.
 We have learned much of
daily Sumerian life from the
remnants of these pits.
 When
a king died he was
buried with his most valuable
possessions, as well as
voluntary human sacrifices of
his:
 Guards, musicians, servants,
court officials, wives, donkey
(although properly not as
voluntary for the donkey)
#8 – Rules of the Dead
 They
believed that Gods lived
above the earth and the dead
descended to the nether world
below the earth.
 They
believed that even the
moon and the sun spent time
in the nether world.
 The nether world was
portrayed as a place of
darkness
 They
believed that
Gilgamesh was
responsible for
enforcing the rules of
the nether world.
 To
go into the nether world, the
dead were not allowed to wear
oils, sandals, carry a weapon,
make noise or even wear clean
clothes
 Any violation and their soul would
be trapped.
 They
also believed
that by bringing
gifts to the Gods
who ran the
underworld they
could achieve
greater happiness
and contentment
in the nether
world.
 Many
of the
Sumerian beliefs
in the after life
are also present
the later cultures
of Greece and
Rome
Map Quiz
Goodbye Sumer, Hello
Babylon
 When:
1750 B.C.
 Where: Sumer, Fertile
Crescent, Mesopotamia
 Who: Hummurabi (from the
North)
 The
How
three W’s
 Watched – all the fighting
between Sumerian city-states
 Waited – for them to get
tired
 WON!!
– surprised them and
they would not co-operate
with each other to beat
Hammurabi
What
 Hammurabi
accomplished the
following:
Fixed up / remodeled the citystates, especially his new
beautiful capital of Babylon
(re-named the land after it)
Made the fighting stop!!
Left everything else alone
Importance
 Hammurabi
and the
Babylonians were given credit
for:
 Bringing peace to the land
 Creating a 12-month / 360
day calendar
 Inventing
the Sun Dial
 Inventing the Water Clock
 Creating the Ishtar Gate
 Establishing Hammurabi’s
Code of Laws
Other people of the
Fertile Crescent
 The
fertile crescent was an
area of non-stop WAR
 Many civilizations conquered
the land, set their own rules
and culture and then were
swept away
 The
Sumerians were first, but
there were many others to
follow . . . . . .
Babylonians
 Nickname:
The TIME people
 Leader: Hammurabi
 Contributions:
Things having
to do with time
 Sundial
 Water Clock
 Calendar
 Hammurabi Code
 Ishtar Gate
Hebrews
 Ancestors
of Jewish people
 They gave us the idea of
monotheism – One God
instead of 3,000
 They also gave us one of the
greatest pieces of literature
ever written – the Bible
Assyrians
 Nickname:
Poor Winners
 They were ruthless
conquerors, but had good
fashion sense
 Famous ruler: queen named
Semiramis
 She
sent armies to the north
and south and WON.
 She also invented trousers.
They were more comfortable
to wear on horseback and the
enemy could not tell if the
soldier was a man or a woman
when they wore trousers.
Persians
 Nickname:
the Big Bad Bullies
of Asia
 They ruled all of Asia!! (not
just the crescent)
 BIG – lots of members
 BAD
– loved to take over
anything and everything
 BULLIES – targeted weaker
people and didn’t play fair
Phoenicians
 Nickname:
The A-B-C-D People
 A- Alphabet
 They were different from any
other people of the crescent.
They did NOT farm, they were
sailors and traders.
 They lived near the coast of
the Mediterranean.
A- “Alphabet”
 To
keep a record of their sales
they developed the Alphabet
B – “Big Mouths”
 They
were salesmen and
good talkers. They had to
be!
C – “Carriers of
Civilization”
 They
not only went from
place to place to trade
goods, but they also
brought with them new
ideas and shared them with
all the people they traded
with.
D – “Dye”
 Dye
was their best selling item
 It was a certain shade of purple
that came from shellfish in the
Mediterranean
 It was so expensive that in Rome,
only Emperors were allowed to
wear a stripe of it on their togas.
“Stars” of the Fertile Crescent
 Hammurabi
–
Babylonian
 Nebuchadnezzar –
 Babylonian King.
 Constructed the
hanging gardens
of Babylon for his
wife
More stars . . . .
 Semiramis
 Enlil-Bani
– interesting way to
become King
Enlil-Bani
 On
New Year’s Day
Mesopotamians had a huge
celebration and at the end of the
day they were suppose to
sacrifice their king to bring them
good luck for the next year.
But . . .
 The
real king had no intention of
kicking the bucket, so the people
went out and got a KING FOR
THE DAY
The Royal Treatment
 This
guy was given the best
treatment in the world for the
entire day . . . And then
……………..
Enlil-Bani
 Enlil-Bani
got lucky though - - He was “chosen” as king for the
day but during his day, the real
king DIED!! He went on to rule
for 24 years!!!!
Sargon the Great
 Sargon
means “True King”
 He began in a simple herding
family and rose all the way up to
be King
 He was the first ruler of the land
(before Hammurabi)