River Valley
Civilization
Bellringer
• Glue in the papers you picked up and glue in the
following order
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Page 20: Unit 2: Vocabulary
Page 21: Preview
Page 22: STAIRS notes
Page 23: GRAPES notes
Page 24: Problems with Sumer
Page 25: Process
Page 26:Homework
Agenda
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Notes starting with the STAIRS worksheet
GRAPES
Problem with Sumer
Process
Homework
Homework
• Ancient Middle East and Ziggurats and Cuneiform
articles
S.T.A.I.R.s
Specialized workers
Technology
Advanced cities
Institutions
Record keeping
Sumer GRAPES
What is GRAPES?
G • Geography
R • Religion
A • Achievements
P • Political
E • Economics
S • Social
Sumer: Geography
• Southern Mesopotamia
• Part of the Fertile Crescent
Aleppo
Jericho
Glossary Help
• Mesopotamia- The land between two rivers (in the
Middle East) – the first river valley civilization
• Fertile Crescent- A crescent-shaped area of fertile
land in the Middle East
Physical Geography
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Two rivers, lots of fertile land
Flat
Mountains and deserts beyond the flat land
Neighbors were nomads in the desert and northern
Mesopotamia…we’ll meet them soon
Sumer: Religion
• Polytheism – belief in many gods
o What did their gods do?
• Ziggurat – temple and city-center
o Animal sacrifices and offerings
• Why are priests so important in Sumer?
Temple to Nanna, Ur
This large temple, dedicated to the god Nanna, was built around 2100 B.C. by King UrNammu, in the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur. (Michael S. Yamashita/Corbis; ABCCLIO)
Offerings to the Gods
King Ur-Nammu makes an offering to the moon god Nanna. Ur-Nammu reigned over
the Sumerian city of Ur from about 2112 to 2095 B.C. The stela dates to around 2060 B.C.
(Bettmann/Corbis; ABC-CLIO)
Sumer: Achievements
• Inventions
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o
o
o
Wheel
Sail
Plow
Base-60
math (used today in
clocks and circles
Achievements
• Architecture (ziggurat)
• Writing – cuneiform
o Earliest writing used pictograms, pictures that stand for words
o Later evolved into a set of symbols representing about 300 sounds
Early Writing
Clay tablet with pictograms from Mesopotamia. (Multimedia Library; ABC-CLIO)
Sumerian inscription, detail of a statue
of Gudea of Lagash, 22nd century BC
(Brittannica)
Ancient Sumerian tablet with cuneiform, one of the earliest forms of writing. This
tablet, from 2039 BC, tracks disbursements of wages to supervisors of day laborers.
(Library of Congress; ABC-CLIO)
Detail from an Assyrian tablet with cuneiform writing. The Assyrian alphabet
contained 19 simple letters and approximately 300 cuneiform symbols.
(Shutterstock; ABC-CLIO)
DRAW A PICTURE OF CUNEIFORM AND DESCRIBE THE
CHARACTERISTICS!
Arts
Sumerian figurine of a woman sitting and holding a small vase. (Erich Lessing/Art
Resource; ABC-CLIO)
Standard of Ur – War
Standard of Ur – Peace
Sumer: Political
• Priests ruled in peace, military leaders during wars
• Eventually, a military leader made himself king and
created a dynasty
Sumer: Political
• Each city-state had its own king
o Ur, Uruk, Umma, Lagash, Kish
• Leaders collected taxes and organized labor (for,
say, irrigation)
Sumer: Economic
• Agriculture-based
• Trade very important
o Traded food for stone, wood, and metal
o Then made tools and traded them for more stuff
Sumer: Social
Priests
Wealthy Merchants
Working Class (Farmers, Artisans)
Slaves (Foreign Prisoners, Sold Children)
Why were merchants so respected?
Women’s Rights
• Women could
o Own property
o Be educated
o Have important jobs
• Women could not
o Rule the city or be the head priest
Mesopotamia: Did the Sumerians
create a civilization?
• Using the S.T.A.I.R.s work sheet provided in your
packet, walk around to the different posters
hanging to decide if the question above it correct.