Chapter 3: Mesopotamia Section 1: The Rise of Sumer

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Chapter 3 MesopotamiaSection 1 The Rise of
Sumer

• 3500 BC-1700 BC
• Page 54-59

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The Rise of Sumer

• People settled in 3500 BC
• Short, black haired people
• Sumerians lived in Sumer-south
• Earliest known civilization
• They knew how to control the two rivers and grew
  wheat, sesame, flax, fruit, and other vegetables.
• They set up a govt, with laws

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Cities

• As their population increased, they built cities.
• Didnt have stone or wood, so they used sun dried
  bricks to build them
• Two great cities were Sumer and Ur.

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Ziggurat at Ur
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City-States

• Each city was its own state.
• Cities had their own gods and govt
• A great wall surrounded each city.
• The rich lived in the center of the city in two
  story buildings.
• The middle class lived behind the rich in one
  story bldgs with open courtyards.

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Classes

• The upper class included priests and merchants.
• The middle class included government officials,
  shopkeepers, and artisans.
• The lower class included farmers, unskilled
  workers, and fishermen.

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Religious Life

• At the center of each city was a ziggurat or
  temple.
• A great stairway led to the top of each.
• Sumerians believed the citys god lived here.
• Only priests were allowed to enter.
• All of a towns activities took place in the
  courts around the ziggurat.
• School, markets, shops, celebrations

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Gods and Nature

• Sumerians believed gods controlled nature wind,
  floods, fires.
• 3000 Sumerian gods
• The Sumerians goal in life was to please the
  gods.
• Priests were the only people who could speak to
  gods.

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• Priests became very powerful and administered all
  the land in the city.
• They also ran the schools.

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Schools and Education

• Schools were only for the rich males.
• They were called tablet schools and mostly taught
  writing.
• Sumerian writing was called cuneiform and is
  wedge shaped.
• Writing started to keep track of business deals.
• Graduating students were called scribes.

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Women

• Women had the right to buy and sell property, run
  businesses, and own and sell slaves.
• Men had right to divorce and sell their wives and
  children into slavery for three years.
• Children were expected to support their parents
  when they got old.

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Priests and Kings

• Priests were also the kings of city states.
• The oldest known story in the world is about
  Gilgamesh of Uruk.
• Written in 1700 BC
• Tells about his search for eternal life and a
  flood that is very similar to the story of Noahs
  Ark.

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• Priest-kings took advice from an assembly.
• When war broke out a member was appointed
  military leader.
• By 3000 BC, military leaders took the place of
  priest kings.
• Kingship became hereditary and was passed down
  from parent to child.

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• 1. What area are we studying?
• 2. What current country is this?
• 3. What does Mesopotamia mean?
• 4. What two rivers are located in Mesopotamia?
• 5. What was at the center of a Mesopotamian city?

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• 6. Where did the rich live in Mesopotamia?
• 7. What types of people made up the lower class?
• 8. What types of people made up the middle class?
• 9. What types of people made up the upper class?

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• 10. What city was located in southern
  Mesopotamia?

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• 1. Mesopotamia
• 2. Iraq
• 3. Land Between Two Rivers
• 4. Tigris and Euphrates
• 5. In the center of the city in two story houses

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• 6. Farmers, Unskilled Workers, and Fishermen
• 7. Government Officials, Shopkeepers, and
  Artisans
• 8. Priests and Merchants
• 9. Ziggurat
• 10. Sumer