Download Cornell Notes Topic/Objective: The Rise of Sumer Name: Content

Cornell Notes
Topic/Objective:
The Rise of Sumer
Name:
Content/Class
Class/Period: World History and Honors
Section 3.2
Date: 23 October 2015
Essential Question:
How did Sumer become one of the world’s first civilizations?
Questions:
Notes: * NOT necessarily in complete sentences*
An Advanced Society

By 3000BC, several hundreds of thousands of people
lived in Mesopotamia.
What is the difference between a rural area
and an urban area?
How were city-states set up in Sumer and

The City-states of Sumer
-
Most people were farmers
-
Rural= countryside
-
The centers of Sumerian society were the urban areas
-
Urban= city
-
Small city-states formed and controlled their own land
how did they protect themselves?
What is a city-state?
(usually with military strength)
-
City-state= a city and the countryside around it
(independent city)
-
City-states of Sumer fought each other for farmland
-
City-states had strong armies and walls around the cities
for protection
Who was Sargon and how was he able to

Rise of the Akkadian Empire
-
Lived north of Sumer and were not Sumerian
-
In the 2300s BC Sargon started to attack the Sumerian
start the Akkadian Empire?
city-states
-
Sargon was the first leader in history with a permanent
army (professional soldiers)
-
With his army, Sargon conquered the Sumerian city-
states
What is an empire?
-
Sargon started the world’s first empire
-
Empire= land with different territories under one single
ruler
-
When Sargon died, the Akkadian Empire eventually fell
apart
Religion Shapes Society
What were the characteristics of the
Sumerian religion?

Religion was very important

Sumerian Religion
-
Practiced polytheism
-
Polytheism= the worship of many gods
-
Each city-state has a protector god
-
They thought gods could bring bad floods and bad
harvests
How was the social hierarchy of the
-
They lived their lives to please the gods
-
Priests= people who perform religious ceremonies
-
Priests would “talk” to the gods for the people

Sumerian Social Order
-
Priest were high up because they “talked” to the gods
Sumerians set up?
1st= King
2nd= Priests
(just below the kings)
-
Social hierarchy= the division of society by rank or class
-
Under the priests were the craftspeople, merchants, and
traders
3rd= Craftspeople, merchants, and traders
-
Farmers and Labors were next
4th= Farmers and Laborers
-
Slaves were at the very bottom of the social order
5th= Slaves

Men and Women in Sumer
-
Men held most of the political power (made laws)
-
Women took care of the home and children
-
Mostly only men were educated
-
Some rich women were allowed to be priestesses
What were the different roles of Men and
Women in Sumer?