Download Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia
World Map
Map Activity
Please label the following…
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Ur <Sumer>
Uruk <Sumer>
Mesopotamia
Euphrates River
Akkad
Persian Gulf
Red Sea
Mediterranean Sea
Tigris River
Babylon
Map
Foldable Part 1

1.
Sumerian Background
What is a levee and what is it used
for?
2.
How did the Sumerians control their
environment?
3.
How did the flooding of the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers make the
Sumerians more organized?
The Rise of Sumer

Who were the people who
settled in Southern
Mesopotamia?

The Sumerians: They
were a short, stocky, blackhaired people who settled
in Southern Mesopotamia.
The Rise of Sumer

How did the Sumerians control their
environment?
1.
2.
3.
4.
When the floodwaters went down,
natural levees, or raised areas of soil,
remained behind.
The Sumerians built the levees higher
and used them to keep back the
floodwaters.
When the land became dry in the
summer, they poked holes in the levees.
They used water in the canals to water
their crops.
The Rise of Sumer
What is a levee and what is it
used for?


A levee is a raised area of soil
or earth that is used in the
irrigation of crops.

How did the features/bodies of
water affect the people of
Mesopotamia?

The rivers would flood
annually which made the land
around the rivers extremely
fertile.
The Rise of Sumer

How did the flooding of the
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
make the Sumerians more
organized?

To figure out when the rivers
would flood the Sumerians
created a calendar.

The irrigation system took
much planning. People had
to learn how to work
together. The Sumerians
set up governments to make
laws so they would know
what was expected of them.
Foldable Part II

1.
City- States
How did the Sumerians
build their cities? (materials
used)
2.
What areas made up a
Sumerian city-state?
3.
What is a city-state?
City-States
What is a city-state:


It is a city that has it’s own
government and acts as an
independent country.
How did the Sumerians
build their cities?


They used sun-dried, mudbrick because there was
little stone and timber to
build with.
City-States

What areas made up a Sumerian citystate?

City-state: Each city-state was made up of
the city and the farmland around it.
At the center of each Sumerian city was
the ziggurat.
Each city was surrounded by a wall of
sundried mud bricks.
Near the center were the houses of the
upper class priest and merchants.
Next were the houses of the middle class
such as government officials shop keepers
and artisans.
The farther out were the homes of the
poor, farmers and fishermen.





Key Vocab
Define artisan:


Skilled worker
Cuneiform-


Sumerian writing
Scribe


A writer
Foldable Part III

Religion and Family Life
1.
What was the Ziggurat?
2.
What was the purpose of a ziggurat?
3.
What is cuneiform?
4.
Why did writing develop?
5.
Who has all the power in a Sumerian house hold?
Religious and Family Life
How were Sumerian schools different
from the wealthy children?


They were only for the sons of the
rich.

They were known as tablet houses
because their main purpose was to
teach students how to write.
Religious and Family Life

Why was writing
developed?

People had to keep
track of business
deals. As cities grew,
there were too many
people and goods to
remember.
Write-Pair-Share

What was life like for
Sumerian women?

Overall life for women was
difficult women could be sold,
rented, or easily divorced.

Women did have some rights
however, they could buy and
sell property. They could run
businesses and own and sell
enslaved people.
Homework:

Who was Gilgamesh?

Who is Gilgamesh's best friend?

What is Gilgamesh searching for?

What is his story similar to?