Download city-state - Warren County Public Schools

Flashback!
•
How did the Sumerians gain their wealth?
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What were the Sumerians' three major contributions
in terms of technology?
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What was the social structure of Sumer?
Sumer
Why are we studying
Mesopotamia & Sumer anyway?
It was the beginning of River Valley
Civilizations, which are civilizations that
form near rivers where good farming
conditions make it easy to feed large
numbers of people
Specialization in Sumer
•
Most people farmed
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Artisans were skilled workers that made pottery,
metal products, or cloth.
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Others worked as merchants.
8 Aspects of Culture
Art
Religion
Writing
Clothing
Government
Music
Daily life
Food
Cuneiform
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Writing that uses wedgeshaped characters
•
Highly-developed system
of writing
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Few people wrote--mostly
boys from wealthy
families
Religion in Sumer
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Had many gods
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Built ziggurats, which were temple towers with outside
staircases and a shrine at the top
Development of City-States
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Geography isolated areas
in Sumer
•
Each Sumerian city
became a separate citystate
•
A city-state is an early
city that was like a small,
independent country with
its own laws and
government.
Government in Sumer
•
Why would you need a
government?
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Sumerians believed gods
chose the rulers, so kings
were powerful
•
City-states attacked each
other; kings led army
•
Scribes, people who write,
helped record laws
Empire
•
Sumer is so successful! So, where is it today?
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Akkadians of northern Mesopotamia conquered Sumer
•
King of Akkadians was named Sargon. He setup the world's
first empire.
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Empire: group of many different lands under one ruler
Hammurabi
•
In the 1800s B.C.E., the
Babylonians were powerful in
Mesopotamia
•
Built city of Babylon by Euphrates
River; became center of trade
•
King Hammurabi created the
Babylonian Empire
•
Best known for his laws, called the
Code of Hammurabi
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