The First Civilization:
Sumer
By,
Mr. Amster
Silent Do Now
• What are the 7 characteristics of a
civilization?
Agenda
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Do Now
Agenda
Homework
Geography Notes and Worksheet
Homework
• No homework
Key Vocabulary
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Mesopotamia – Land between two rivers (Tigris and Euphrates).
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Fertile Crescent – Area of rich soil in Mesopotamia surrounded by dry areas
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City-state – Early city that was similar to a small, independent country. It had its owns laws
and government.
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Arid – Dry area that lacks water.
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Silt – Thick bed of mud. Excellent for growing crops.
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Irrigation – Method of bringing water to a field from another place to water crops.
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Levee – A wall of earth built to prevent a river from flooding its banks.
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Cuneiform – Sumerian written language, made up of wedge-shaped markings. First
KNOWN written language.
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Scribes – A record keeper or writer.
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Chariot – Two-wheeled vehicle pulled by a horse.
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Ziggurat – An ancient Mesopotamian temple tower.
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Arch – An upside-down U- or V-shaped structure that supports weight (doorway).
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Polytheism – The belief in multiple gods.
Mesopotamia Geographic Introduction
• Located mostly in present-day Iraq, but also Iran, and Turkey.
• Area is a river valley, located between two major rivers, the
Tigris and Euphrates. It was ideal for the growth of civilizations.
– River valleys are where the first civilizations arose all over the world
• They had good farming conditions
• The rivers provided fresh water, fish and an easy way to travel and trade.
(Why are these important?).
• Known as the Fertile Crescent because despite the region
surrounding it being very arid, this crescent-shaped area has
rich soil.
– HOW? Every year the valleys are flooded by rain and snow from the
mountains (Example is the Zagros Mountains).
– Leaves behind silt.
Mapping Activity
• You will receive a worksheet with a blank
map and a list of locations you need to fill
in. Make sure to take your time and fill in
your answers neatly.
• You will be using the Journey Across Time
textbooks. You will be using pages 17 and
R19.
– R19 – refers to the Reference Atlas at the front
of the textbook.
Do Now
• Define:
– Cuneiform
– Mesopotamia
– Ziggurat
– Polytheism
– Scribes
Agenda
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Do Now
Agenda
Homework
Class Notes
Activity
Homework
• Problem Solving Essay!
• Due Wednesday
Rough Times in Sumer
• Mesopotamia is not an easy place to live.
• There is little rain, soil is hard and dry, rivers only floods once
a year, lack of building materials on the plains, and stone
was scarce, and few natural barriers from invasion.
• Key problems facing Mesopotamians:
• Food shortage in the hills
• Uncontrolled water supply
• Attacks from neighboring communities
• Difficulties in building and maintaining irrigation systems to help multiple
villages
• They need to find solutions to each of their problems, if they
wanted to survive
Food Shortage and Water Problems
• People originally lived in Zagros Mountains.
• The hills there provided rain, good place to farm, but there was a problem!
• Around 5000 BCE, there was not enough land for farming to support the
growing population.
THE SOLUTION: people moved to south to the plains between two rivers.
Although dry most of the time, every year brought floods for the farm.
• The new region became known as Sumer!
NEW PROBLEM!!!
• The flooding was uncontrollable and its timing was never known. The rest of
the year, the soil was dry.
THE SOLUTION: people built levees or dams to control the water.
• This allowed the people to water their thirsty fields year round.
Dam Problems and Unfriendly Neighbors
The Problem!
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How to maintain irrigation across village boundaries?
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The system had to be constantly maintained. One clog brought the whole system
down.
The Solution!
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Farmers no longer lived far apart, they need to work together for the common
good.
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Each village had workers in charge of maintaining the irrigation.
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Towns are beginning to form.
New Problem!
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Sumerians battled over access to the water. Cities upstream built dams and
levees that prevented other cities from getting enough water. Invasions occurred
not for land, but for control of water!
The Solution!
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City-states were created by the building of walls around the main parts of their
city. They also created moats to limit the access points into to the city. During an
attack, farmers would leave their farms for the protection of the city. By 3000
BCE, most Sumerians lived in city-states.
Activity/Homework
• After learning about Sumer and its ways for solving
problems, it is your turn.
• You will write an one page essay about a problem you
have faced and how you solved it through teamwork and
solid problem solving skills.
• You may also create a problem scenario and solve it
through teamwork and solid problem solving skills.
•
What is a timeline?
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SILENT DO NOW!!!
Timeline
A way of displaying a list of events in chronological order. It can show steps of development of an event.
Sumer’s Timeline (remember to indent the bullets a little bit)
– Pre – 5000 BCE: Neolithic people live in rolling hills of the Zagros Mountains. Good area for farming.
– 5000 BCE: Zagros Mountain area not able to support population, people moved to the south to the
plains around Mesopotamia.
– 3500 BCE – Wheel invented
– 3500 – 3000 BCE: Growth of city-state like Ur and Uruk.
– 3200 BCE: Pictographic used for record-keeping.
– 3000 BCE: Pictographic signs write the Sumerian language
– 2500 BCE: First written account of war.
– 2400 BCE: Signs become cuneiform
– 2300 BCE: Sumerian cities are united by Sargon
– 1900 BCE: Akkadian becomes the main language of Mesopotamia
– 1800 BCE: Hammurabi unites all of Sumerian cities with the capital of Babylon.
FYI
1800s CE, Sumerian cities start being excavated.
1900s CE, Sumerian language translated
Agenda
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Do Now
Agenda
Homework
Timeline of Sumer
Timeline Activity
Homework
• Create a timeline of the key events in
Sumer
– Each event must have a picture that shows
the event.
– Due Tomorrow
Additional Do Now
• Identify two geographic features that allowed for
Sumer and the rest of Mesopotamia to be
successful.
• When a big problem is in front of you, what is the
first thing you should do?
Creating a Visual
• Now it is time to create your own timeline.
• Use a ruler to create a line across the
page. Keeping it to scale, insert important
dates, the event it corresponds to, and a
picture that represents it.
Do Now
• Share your timelines with your partners
• Be prepared to go through to confirm
answers.
Agenda
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Do Now
Agenda
Homework
Create your own notes
Share notes
Homework
• Is Sumer a civilization? How so?
– Write a paragraph that sites three examples
for the days notes that support your answer
– Due Tuesday
Questions for Each Characteristic
• Does Sumer have this characteristic?
• If so, what are examples of the characteristic?
• What did having (or lacking) this characteristic do to
the development of Sumer?
Sumer’s Culture
Sumer’s Food Supply
1.
Yes, they had a stable
food supply.
2.
3.
1.
2.
Yes, they had an advanced
culture.
Examples:
They invented irrigation
1.
systems and the plow.
2.
3.
4.
5.
It gave them ability to
survive and focus on
other activity. This
gave them ability to
continue to develop.
3.
Metal workers – weapons,
cups, mirrors, and jewelry.
Musicians – lyre, drums, pipes.
Artists – paintings.
Craftsman
Architect – designed
temples/Ziggurats.
These pieces of culture
showed Sumerians values,
their views on entertainment,
expressing their feelings,
and desire to bring to joy to
daily life.
Sumer’s Religion
1.
Sumerians’ were
polytheistic.
2.
Performed numerous
rituals including
weddings, sacrifices.
Gods were apart of
their daily lives.
3.
Religion was apart of
their daily lives. People
believed that if the
Gods are happy, good
things will happen.
Sumer’s Social Structure
1.
Sumer had a well
developed social
structure.
2.
Pyramid
3.
1.
Ensi
2.
Upper Class
3.
Common Class
4.
Slaves
Designated jobs to
different classes.
Sumer’s Technology
1.
Sumer had advances in
Sumer’s Writing
1.
known written language.
technology.
2.
They had the arch,
2.
Sumer used cuneiform or
wedge-shaped markings.
wheel, and were the
Sumerians originally had
first to divide the hour
3.
Sumerians had the first
over 2000 symbols, but
into 60 minutes.
were able to shorten it to
These inventions gave
700 later on.
them ability to move
heavier objects.
3.
This allowed Sumerians to
keep records. Writing
allowed for humans to
develop quicker by learning
from the past.
Sumer’s Government
1.
2.
3.
Sumerians had
government.
Ensis were in charge of
the government. They
were responsible war,
creating/enforcing laws.
The order the
government brought,
allowed Sumerians to
focus on their work.
They knew what they
were allowed to do and
not do.
Do Now
• What is a division of labor?
• Grab your essay from the bin and read
your essay to your partner.
Then…
• Be prepared to discuss the analysis
sentence.
– UNDER LINE THAT SENTENCE NOW!
Agenda
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Do Now
Agenda
Homework
Sumerian Literature Notes
Epic of Gilgamesh
Homework
• Finish answering the questions about the Epic
of Gilgamesh.
• Due Tomorrow
• 50 point MC quiz and binder check Thursday!
– Use your notes on Sumer as the study guide!!!
Sumerian Literature
• Before writing, stories were passed down by oral traditions or
information that is passed down from one generation to
another through word of mouth.
• The Sumerians created several works of literature, none older
or more infamous than the Epic of Gilgamesh.
• It is a story that focuses on King Gilgamesh, who travels
around the world with a friend and performs great deeds.
After the death of his friend, he searches for a way to live
forever.
Do Now (Add to 52) What are
these ancient locations?
F
E
D
C
H
G
I
B
A
Agenda
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Do Now
Agenda
Homework
Mesopotamian Education
Compare and Contrast
Homework
• Create a Venn diagram that compares
Mesopotamian education to education today.
• Then answer the question, “In what way is
education different today than it was in
Mesopotamia.
• Due Tomorrow
• 50 point MC quiz and binder check Thursday!!!
– Use your notes on Sumer as the study guide!!!