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Ancient Sumer
Discovery
 ‘Tells’ are found in the desert of Iraq
 Even after their discovery, Sumer is still considered
to be a legendary, not actual, place.
 1800s – Archaeology is still not very scientific:
dig a hole in the ground and look for treasures.
 A lot of precious artefacts are likely thrown out in the
dirt
 1900s – Archaeology becomes much more
scientific
 Sir Leonard Wooley becomes famous for his
excavations at Ur, an ancient Sumerian city-state.
 Digging down into the depths of the tell, he hit a layer of silt
9 to 12 feet deep, indicating a major flood.
Sumerian City-States
 By 4000 BCE, populations were growing
and villages became towns. By 3500
BCE, these towns had grown into cities.
 Such as Ur, Kish, Lagash, and Uruk (Erech)
 Whenever open warfare broke out, a
city’s council of elders would elect a
“lugal” (meaning ‘great man’ or ‘big man’)
who would have absolute power.
The first Empire
 Around 2340 BCE, Sargon, in legend a
gardener’s son, became the leader of Kish,
and went on to conquer a number of other citystates.
 This first empire was centered in the city of Akkad,
and the language of the empire was Akkadian.
 Later, his descendents were overthrown because of
discontent and the city-state of Ur in the South
became the most powerful city in the region.
Religion and Government
 These two components are inextricably tied
 Kings were careful to link themselves to all facets of their
land’s religion and would turn to temple priests and councils of
elders for advice.
 Sumerians believed in as many as 3000 to 4000 gods
(polytheism).
 Of those, 4 were superior to the others – the gods of heaven,
air, and water, and the goddess of earth.
 To honour these deities, the Sumerians built many
temples and shrines. The grandest of these temples
were known as ziggurats (“mountain of god”)
 The Kings maintained their high status in society by
being the ones who are responsible for looking after
the temples.
 This is in addition to being the one primarily responsible for the
city’s defense, maintenance of city walls, raising of an army,
and expansion of territory.
Society and the Economy
 The economy of Sumer is based in agriculture.
 Wheat, barley, and sheep (for wool) are the most important
 Society is broken into:
 (1) the ruling class which includes the most powerful families
 From these we get the priests, officials, and advisors
 (2) The commoners
 Most of whom are farmers; others are workers, artisans (craftworkers), traders, and lesser officials
 (3) Slaves
 These slaves did have rights – they could own land, marry free
people, work for money (if they had time), and buy their freedom.
 Trade is the second most important activity after farming
– it is trade that gives the cities in the region their wealth
and influence.
 Grain, wool, and manufactured articles are sold to neighboring
peoples for timber, ivory, and metals (all of which Sumer lacked).
Writing
 Sometime between 3500 and 3000 BCE,
writing developed in Mesopotamia.
 First, written matters were simple matters
 Property ownership, lists of goods, etc.
 Gradually, Sumerian writing evolved into a tool to
communicate not only business contracts and tax or
military records, but also religious ideas, laws of
astronomy, mathematics, and poetry.
 Sumerian writing is known as cuneiform (Latin for “wedge
shaped”
Other Sumerian Achievements
 Tools of farming – irrigation, the pickax and the plow
 Tools for religion (tracking the celestial bodies) –
phases of the moon, the equinoxes, and a 12 month
calendar
 Tools for math – their numerical system based on the
number sixty (60) divided the circle into 360°
 Tools for telling time – 60 is also how we, today, break
down our minutes and seconds.
 The may have also devised the first wheel around 3500
BCE – what came first, the pottery wheel or the cart
wheel, we may never know. Both gave Sumerians a
strong trade advantage for some time.