Download File - Mr. Williams

Empires of
Mesopotamia
Part I
The Rise of Sumer
• In southern Mesopotamia, a
people known as the Sumerians
developed the world’s first
civilization. No one knows where
they came from or when they
moved into the region. All we know
is that by 3000 BC, several hundred
thousand Sumerians had settled in
a land they called Sumer.
• The first cities had about 10,000
residents. Over time, some of
these cities grew to have more
than 100,000 residents.
Rise of the Akkadian Empire
• Just north of Sumer, the Akkadians built another
society developed along the Tigris and Euphrates
rivers.
• Although they were very different from the
Sumerians and even had a different language,
they lived in peace for many years.
• Eventually, that peace was broken in 2300 BCE
when Sargon, the Akkadian ruler, sought to
extend Akkadian territory.
Sargon (ruled 2334-2279 BC)
• According to legend, a gardener found a baby
floating in a basket on a river and raised him as
his own child.
• As a young man, Sargon served the king of Kish.
Later he rebelled, took over the city, and built a
military power. He was among the first military
leaders to use soldiers armed with bows and
arrows.
• Sargon gained loyalty from his soldiers by eating
with them every day.
Sargon’s Empire
• Sargon and his soldiers conquered all
the city states in northern
Mesopotamia and established the
world’s first empire, or land with
different territories and peoples
under a single rule.
• Don’t let the fact that it was the first
empire fool you. He had a very
impressive palace at Khorsabad, parts
of which can now be seen in some of
the world’s most famous museums.
The Sumerians Return
• Sargon ruled as emperor for more than 50 years. However, his empire lasted
only a century after his death. Later rulers couldn’t defend against invaders.
• A century of chaos followed.
• In the meantime, the Sumerians rebuilt, gained strength, and conquered the
rest of Mesopotamia. Ur was their capital city.
Sumerian Achievements - Cuneiform
Cuneiform
• The Sumerians made one of the
greatest cultural advances in
history. They developed cuneiform,
the world’s first system of writing.
• They used sharp tools called
styluses to make wedge-shaped
symbols on clay tablets.
Sumerian Achievements - Cuneiform
• Earlier written communication had
used pictographs, or picture symbols.
• In cuneiform, symbols could also
represent syllables or basic parts of
words.
• Not everyone knew how to write. A
scribe could be hired to keep track of
items people traded. Government
officials and temples hired scribes to
keep their records.
• Becoming a scribe was a way to move
up in social class.
Sumerian Achievements - Cuneiform
Sumerian students went to school to learn to read and write.
Like today, though, some students did not want to study. A
Sumerian story tells of a father who urged his son to do his
schoolwork:
“Go to school, stand before your ‘school-father,’recite your
assignment, open your schoolbag, write your tablet. . .After you
have finished your assignment and reported to your monitor
[teacher], come to me, and do not wander about in the street.”
-Sumerian essay quoted in History Begins at Sumer, by Samuel Noah Kramer
Sumerian Achievements - Cuneiform
So, are you ready
to “write your
tablet”?
Sumerian Achievements - Cuneiform
Sumerian Achievements - Cuneiform
Sumerian Religion
• The Sumerians practice polytheism,
the worship of many gods.
• They believed their gods had
enormous power and could bring
good harvests or disastrous floods,
illness or good health, wealth or
poverty. Success depended on
pleasing the gods.
Sumerian Religion
• They built pyramid-shaped temples
called ziggurats.
• Priests, people who performed or led
religious ceremonies, had great
status.
Sumerian Achievements – Daily Life
• Wheel – resulted in carts
• Potter’s wheel – spins the clay
• Plow – greatly increased farm production
• Bronze – tools and weapons
• Sewers under city streets
Sumerian Achievements – Science & Math
• Made lists of thousands of animals,
plants, and minerals.
• Produced medicines using ingredients
such as milk, turtle shells, figs, and salt.
• Developed math system
•
•
•
•
Based on number 60
Circle = 360 degrees
Divided year into 12 months
Areas of rectangles and triangles
Sumerian Achievements – Math
Let’s try some
Mesopotamian math!
Sumerian Achievements - Arts
• Makeup
• Jewelry – gold, silver, glass
• Cylinder seals
• Musical instruments – reed pipes,
drums, tambourines, lyres
Sumerian Achievements - Epics
• Sumerians wrote stories, proverbs,
songs, and epics. Epics are long poems
that tell stories of heroes.
• The Epic of Gilgamesh
• King Gilgamesh of Uruk
• Enkidu – wild man tamed by a woman
• Enemies who became close friends and go
on a big adventure