1.Students will be able to identify:

•What “Mesopotamia” means.

•The location of Mesopotamia.

•The names of the two rivers.

•Sumerians as the first

civilization.

2.Identify key terms: city-state,

ziggurat, polytheism, theocracy,

cuneiform and scribe.

3.Be able to read and understand

a social structure chart.

4.Identify the accomplishments of

the Sumerians.

•Mesopotamia – Called the “Fertile Crescent,”

this was the first agrarian civilization in the

world.

Archaeologist Sir

Leonard Woolley.

•Mesopotamia –

the “Land

between two

rivers.” The land

between the

Tigris and

Euphrates rivers.

(Modern day Iraq). “The land between two

rivers.”

3000 BC 2340 – 2100 BC 1792-1750 BC 900 BC – 600 BC

Sumer Akkad Babylon Assyria

600 – 539 BC

Chaldean Babylon Persia

559 – 330 BC

How many civilizations controlled the

Mesopotamian region?

•Empires in Mesopotamia fought for

control over the land and water.

•Civilizations in the region - Sumerians,

Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and

Persians. (Sumerian army pictured above).

•Dates back to 3,000

BC. Oldest of the

civilizations.

•Key cities were Ur,

Eridu, and Uruk.

•Cities formed city-

states that acted like

an independent

nation. Above: Archaeologists Sir

Charles Leonard Woolley

•Each City-state -

surrounded by

walls. Defense

towers posted

every 30-35 ft.

•Sun-dried bricks

used to form

buildings and

houses.

Capital city

in the East

and sun-

dried

bricks.

•Vicious weather

patterns- floods,

heavy rain,

scorching winds,

famine and drought.

•Floods of the Tigris

and Euphrates were

unpredictable. Sites from Ancient Ur

•Early civilizations

will create irrigation

and drainage

ditches.

•Serious efforts to

control the flow of

the rivers.

•Enables them to

grow crops regularly. Sumerian farmers irrigate and

work the fields.

•Economy was

primarily based on

farming.

•Trade and Industry

– imported copper,

tin, and timber.

Exported fish, wool,

barley and wheat.

•Traded by land and

sea. Sumerian farmer and tradesman on

a raft.

•Polytheistic – the

belief in many gods.

•Priests and

priestesses were

powerful and may have

been the 1st rulers.

•Gods owned the

cities. Over 3,000 gods.

Statues of worshippers.

In Sumerian religions, the gods created man to

serve him and work the fields.

•Believed the gods

ruled the cities.

•Theocracy – a

government by divine

authority. (Rule by

god).

•Left-Marduk, the god of

the city of Babylon.

•Their religion was very

gloomy.

•The gods were

unpredictable, like their

weather.

•Upon death, they would

go to a terrible underworld

or “land of no return.” Image of Lilitu or the first

wife of Adam. Courtesy of

Wikipedia Commons.

•Ziggurat – temple set

atop a stepped tower.

•Temple was the

center of the city and

its economic and

political life.

•This was the most

important building in

the city.

The Ziggurat or Temple of

Ur in Ancient Sumer.

This temple was the central

focus of life in the city of

Ur.

Above: Artist’s rendering of the city of Ur. In the background,

you can see the temple or ziggurat. Courtesy of Wikipedia

Commons.

1.What does Mesopotamia mean?

2.Name the two rivers that encircle

Mesopotamia.

3.How did most men earn a living in Sumer?

4.Where did the people of Sumer worship?

5.What is polytheism?

King

Nobles

Commoners

Slaves

90% -

Temple

officials,

Farmers,

merchants,

craftsmen

and

fishermen.

Royals and

Priests –

Officials

and

Families.

Slaves –

work on

buildings,

grind

grain,

weave

cloth.

Nobles and

Slaves

make up

less than

10% of the

total pop.

•Kings were divine.

•Led armies.

• Oversaw the building of public works

and structures.

•Organized irrigation projects. •Picture: Standard of Ur Chariots. Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

•Priests kept

calendars, time, and

reported on

harvesting and

planting.

•Scribes wrote careful

records of natural

events on the earth

and in the skies. Statue of a priest of

Sumer.

•Men who recorded all

aspects of Sumerian

life.

•Educated, copyists,

teachers and jurists.

•Upper class,

successful, leaders of

cities, temples and

armies. Sumerian scribe above.

•1st written

language was the

wedge-shaped

writing of the

Sumerians called

cuneiform.

•Scribes wrote on

clay tablets with a

reed stylus. Wedge-shaped Sumerian

writing or cuneiform

above.

Shelves of a tablet library in Babylon.

•Epic of Gilgamesh –

1st Epic poem.

•Oldest poem in the

history of the world.

•Sumerian tales

about a hero named

Gilgamesh.

•1st system of writing

– cuneiform.

•Invented the wagon

wheel.

•Invented the potter’s

wheel.

•1st to make copper

tools.

•Sundial to keep

time.

•Astronomy –chart

constellations.

•Math – number

system based on

60. (60 minute

hour).

•Geometry –

measure fields

and plan

buildings.

•Designed the

arch and the

dome. Ishtar Gate