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Geography of Sumer
Mesopotamia = “land between the Rivers”
-Land surrounded by the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers
- This land is now known as Iraq
 Living
between the Tigris and Euphrates
would give the Sumerians good fertile soil
 This land was wanted by many
civilizations
 #Critical

thinking#
How could fertile soil help the civilization of
Sumer
Sumerians dealt with constant
warfare due to their lack of natural
barriers
Sumerian city states had to build
high city walls to keep out invaders
The Sumerian view of the Afterlife
 Sumerians
the afterlife
had a very twisted view of
Sumerians were polytheistic, which
meant that they believed in many
gods
Sumerians had a bad view of the
afterlife and feared the gods.
The fear of the gods came from the
unpredictable flooding
 “Death
is where one goes in anD
never comes out again, the
road that, if one takes it, one
never comes out. The place
where souls live on dust, their
food is mud, and there is no
light….only Darkness. Death
brings to the underworld of
filth and torment in which
there is no escape.”
Contributions of Sumer
 A contribution
from a society is anything
positive that the civilization left to the
world.
The Sumerians built ziggurats. Ziggurats
were Sumerian temples to the gods.
 Ziggurats
were also built to show wealth
and strength.
 The bigger the Ziggurat, the more power
the ruler had
Cuneiform was the first kind of
writing and was invented by the
Sumerians
 Cuneiform
is small wedge shaped writing
that almost looks like small scratches into
the stone
 Cuneiform
was invented to help the
Sumerian farmers keep records of their
land
 Why
did Sumerians have a bad view of the
afterlife?
 Why did Sumerians have to build high city
walls.
 Define cuneiform, ziggurat, and
polytheism.
Quiz
 What
does Mesopotamia mean?
 What does it mean to be polytheistic?
 Why did Sumerians have a bad view
of the afterlife?
 Why did Sumerians build high city
walls?
 What is a ziggurat?
 What is Cuneiform?