Sumerian/ Mesopotamia Civilization

1
Sumerian/ Mesopotamia Civilization

• Coral Davids, Jessica Waleski, Miranda Vawter,
  Sierra Manzanares, and Janeen Reynolds

2
Social Classes

• Upper Class (Amelu)
• Priests Used to work in fields alongside others,
  but were separated from them.
• Became the largest landowners in Sumerian
  creating power and wealth.
• Were trained to be scribes and be with the city
  council of elders.
• Government Officials
• Professional Solders

• Middle Class (Mushkinu)
• Craftspeople
• Farmers
• Merchants
• Laborers
• Artisans
• Fishermen
• Comprised of the middle-class poor and rich.
• They owned their own land and livestock.
• This is the largest class of the three.

3
Social Structure Land over Money

• In the Sumerian society, your wealth was measured
  by how much land you owned and your harvest
  rather than riches.

• Those who failed to harvest enough food had to
  borrow harvest from another landowner and wait
  until the next season to repay. If they had
  another bad year and couldnt return their loan,
  they would have to work for the farmer the
  borrowed from.

4
Slaves

• How to become a slave!
• They were prisoners of war.
• They fell into too much debt to pay out.
• They were born into slavery
• Husbands can sell their wives into slavery and
  parents can sell their children into slavery as
  well.

• Rights
• They can borrow money for necessities only.
• They can own little property to pay debts.
• They can engage in some trade.
• Can serve as a witness in a legal matter
• Buy their freedom (once freed, they cant go back
  to slavery.)

5
Political/ Rulers

• Political ruler
• Hammurabi
• Background
• Meaning of his name
• Hammu Relative or Uncle
• Rabi Great
• Translation-- The Uncle Is Great
• He was the 6th King of the tribe known as the
  Amorites from Syria
• He was the son of Simmuballit, a king who had
  worked to unite control of Sumer and Akkad
• He never gained control of all of Babylonia. He
  reigned for 43 years (about 2067 - 2025 BC)

• Hammurabi's accomplishments-
• he worked for the welfare of his people-he was an
  excellent administrator
• strengthened his kingdom by conquests
• built canals to improve agriculture
• build roads to improve communication
• set up maximum prices and minimum wages
• set up soldiers who were stationed all over the
  kingdom to keep peace
• set up posts for carrying mail -- runners carried
  clay tablet letters

6
Economy/ Trade

• (Trade) Mesopotamians had to acquire
  non-indigenous sources from direct or indirect
  trading with far-off lands. A widespread trade
  network evolved along the Euphrates and Tigris
  Rivers which connects Mesopotamia to Anatolia
  (Turkey present-day) through Syrias northern
  area. Many trade routes in the Mesopotamia region
  are nearby rivers.

• (Labor) The requirements of specialized labor,
  irrigation and agriculture, probably have
  contributed to creating early Mesopotamian
  organization of socio-political. Dependence on
  these particular social structures also had
  leaded the Mesopotamians toward political and
  economic authority besides social.

7
Economy/ Trade continued

• (Agriculture) Mesopotamian farmers use the oxen
  for plowing and the other are eventually for
  eating like
• Cattle, Sheep, Goats, Pigs, Ducks, Geese.
• Mesopotamian farmers grew barley, the chief crop,
  which is a salt-tolerant kind of wheat which
  grows perfectly in semi-salty soil of
  Mesopotamia. The barley kernels and grains are
  used in popular foods and drinks across the
  Mesopotamia. Many other known food crops include
• Oil-rich sesame, Linseed plants, Lentils Peas,
  Garlic Beans, Cucumbers Lettuce, Apples
  Grapes, Figs Date Palms.
• Beans and lettuce, shade ground crops, needs to
  be away from the hot sun. So farmers of
  Mesopotamia created a technique called the
  shade-tree gardening, where particular crops grow
  under the palm and other fruit trees branches.
  Another alternative way is to dig canals or
  irrigation ditches from close by rivers.

8
Technology

• Mesopotamian farmers used tools that are mainly
  made of wood for farming. From these tools it
  includes
• Wooden plow drawn by oxen
• Metal-tipped axes mounted on wooden handles
• Particularly for harvesting crops the
  Mesopotamian farmers used wooden sickles with
  sharpened flint blades attached to them.

9
City Structure/ Architecture

• Ziggurat
• The Great Ziggurat was built as a place of
  worship, dedicated to the moon god Nanna (or
  Sin), in the Sumerian city of Ur in ancient
  Mesopotamia.
• The word "ziggurat" meant "mountain of god" or
  hill of heaven. The temple which resembles a huge
  stepped platform was constructed approximately in
  the 21st century BC by king Ur-Nammu.
• In Sumerian times it was called Etemennigur. Each
  ziggurat was made up of a series of square
  levels. Each level was smaller than the one below
  it. Stairways led to the top of the colossal
  ziggurats, which were believed to be the home of
  the city's chief god. Only priests could enter
  this sacred area.
• Today, after more than 4000 years, the ziggurat
  is still well preserved in large parts as the
  only major remainder of Ur in present-day
  southern Iraq.

10
City Structure/ Architecture continued

• . They were organized in city-states where each
  city had its own independent government ruled by
  a king that controlled the city and the
  surrounding farmland. Each city also had its own
  primary god. At the center of each Sumerian city
  was a temple, called a ziggurat. Around the
  ziggurat were courts, the center of Sumerian
  life. Artisans worked there children went to
  school there farmers, artisans, and traders
  stored their goods there and the poor were fed
  there.
• Schools were for the sons of the rich only.
  Poorer boys worked in the fields or they learned
  a trade. When a student graduated from school, he
  became a scribe. The ziggurat, the palace, the
  government, or the army then employed him.

11
General Geography

• Mesopotamia/Sumer is the region around and
  between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
• Sumer can be found in the southern half of
  Mesopotamia
• Mesopotamia means between the rivers in Greek
• Climate has occasional, severe rain storms but is
  usually very dry and flat
• Because of the two rivers in Mesopotamia the soil
  is very fertile, thus earning it the nickname of
  the Fertile Crescent

12
Roles of Sumerian Women

• Their rights depended heavily on their social
  status
• Higher-class women were able to read and write
• Lower-class women stayed at home taking care of
  the house and the children
• Some women run small-scale farms while the men
  work in the fields
• Women were also allowed to go into the market to
  buy and sell things

13
Military

• The most influential part of Sumerian military is
  their very poor strategic position
• Sumerian soldiers usually used small bronze
  swords , spears , large shields, and bronze armor
• They fought in many inter-city battles
• Sumerians invented the chariot and ergo were the
  first to use them in battle

14
Religion/ Faith

• Believed that many gods controlled the various
  forces of nature (polytheism).
• Demons known as Ugallu protected humans from the
  evil demons who caused disease, misfortune, and
  misery.
• They built impressive ziggurats for the gods and
  offered rich sacrifices of animals, food, and
  wine.

15
Sumerian Law

• King Hammurabi (1792-1750 BCE) had laws inscribed
  on stone stelae and placed in various places
  throughout his realm
• Mesopotamians believed that laws came from the
  gods
• On the stela of law is a prologue describing
  Hammurabis appointment by the gods as the ruler
  of his people
• May have been older forms of law but they were
  lost over time
• Nearly every bit of life was recorded on a tablet
  which was used as evidence when conflict arose
• Before reaching court an attempt to settle the
  matter was made with a maskhim (mediator),
  when/if that failed it was brought to court with
  a panel of judges known as dikuds
• How did Hammurabi come to power? He inherited the
  throne from his father Sin-muballit.

16
Sumerian Writing

• Cuneiform from Latin cuneus, meaning wedge
• Any script is cuneiform as long as its
  wedge-shaped
• Many languages (Sumerian, Eastern Semitic,
  Elamite, Eblaite, Hittite, Hurrian, Utartian,
  Ugaritic, and Old Persian) were written in
  cuneiform
• Earliest forms of Mesopotamian symbols are on
  clay tokens used as early as 8000 BCE for record
  keeping
• Sumerian cuneiform from 3300 BCE to 100 CE
• Gilgamesh, king of Uruk in Babylonia about 2700
  BCE
• Epic of Gilgamesh, perhaps oldest written story
  on earth, about the adventures of King Gilgamesh
• Written on 12 clay tablets, revised to eleven
  since tablet twelve appeared to be a sequel

17
10 Questions!

1. What were the three caste systems and describe
   who were included in them?
2. What tools did the farmers of Mesopotamian used
   for farming?
3. What kind of crops did the Mesopotamian farmers
   grow?
4. What was the basis for cuneiform writing and how
   were they first drawn?
5. How did Hammurabi come to power?
6. How does their location affect their military?
7. How are women treated differently from men?
8. Name 3 things King Hammubari accomplished.
9. What god was Ziggurat dedicated to and what does
   the name mean?
10. How did Sumerians worship the gods?

18
Works Cited Page

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