1. Point of View pictures and Sumerian Vocab

6. Vocab for Sumer
Fertile Crescent – Area of land in Asia that is shaped like a crescent and is good for growing crops.

7. Mesopotamia
Greek word for “the land between two rivers”. Can be used as a synonym for the Fertile Crescent

8. Tigris – Euphrates
The two rivers that flow through Fertile Crescent to the Persian Gulf. They are wild and often overflow – which is what makes the area so fertile

9. Sumer – Sumerian
Southern section of the Fertile Crescent. Sumerians lived in Sumer, one of the first civilizations in the world.

10. “History begins with Sumer”
Sumerians were the first to develop a form of writing. Their writing (cuneiform) propels them into history where writing records their stories and their way of life.

11. “Cradle of Civilization”
What we call the Fertile Crescent or Mesopotamia. This land was the “cradle” for holding the “new-born baby” that was civilization.

12. Civilization Three requirements A group of people Share a way of life
Can read and write

13. Culture A way of life that includes
Dress, customs, holidays, language, religions, foods, stories, heroes and traditions.

14. #1 - Ancient Sumer and Babylonia
On the map
Present day Iraq (near Iran)
Few resources besides clay (needed stone, wood, gold)

16. Good water – two rivers surrounding the land
Good crops (flax, barley)
About 6 great cities in an area about the size of Massachusetts

17. “First” civilization Sumer was responsible for the first:
Casting of bronze and copper
Engraving
Sculpting
Writing
Law-making

18. Government
Weights and Measures
Astronomy
AND MORE!!!!

19. #2 - Sumerian Economy Different jobs Farmers Herdsmen Fishermen
Merchants
Scribes
Potters
Masons
Jewelers

20. Farmers Farming was the most popular job Used donkeys and oxen
The oldest piece of literature found is a farmers almanac – 5000 years old!

21. Barley was their best grain – they used it for porridge, flour, and beer

22. Traders Traders were needed to obtain stone, wood and metal.
What about the location of Sumer made it a good trading community??

23. #3 - City-states
Once the people of Sumer were able to produce sufficient food, their population could grow.

24. They created cities with canals built for irrigation, walls for protection and temples for honoring their gods.

26. Population Growth
By 2000 B.C. the cities within Sumer grew so large that some, like Ur, had more than 200,000 residents.

27. Protection Cities were protected with walls and moats.
The city of Uruk had a wall that was 6 miles long with over 900 towers.

28. Houses Most houses were made of clay bricks covered smoothly with mud.
There was very little city planning and the cities were very unattractive!!
Most houses had a family burial crypt below the house.

29. Garbage
Garbage and Sewerage were thrown into the streets until they piled higher than the house!!

30. Upper - class
Although most houses were only one story, upper class members of Sumer had two story houses with more rooms and WOOD FURNITURE!!
Why was wood furniture a big deal??

31. Decorations
Residents would decorate their houses with animal skins and rugs and woolen wall hangings to cover the walls and floors

32. Market place
The business area of town was filled with booths for merchants to supply the townspeople with all their material needs
How do you think people “paid” for things??

33. #4 – Fun and Games
Archaeologist have found a “board game” buried in royal graves. They have not been able to find any rules, but the game consists of pieces and dice just like any game you would play today.

34. More fun
The board game may have been an “upper-class” recreation. Other forms of recreation that we know of include harp playing, monkey shows and bare-fisted boxing matches

35. #5 – Education
The biggest impact Sumerians had on education was developing cuneiform.
The wrote on clay tablets with a sharpened reed called a stylus

36. Cuneiform
The “scribe” wrote from left to right and from top to bottom (Why?)

37. School School was referred to as the “tablet house”
The school was for males only and the head of the school was called the “school-father”

38. School faculty Other workers had special responsibilities:
The teacher assistant (“Big Brother”) – checked homework, prepared new tablets

39. Penmanship teacher
Grammar teacher
Attendance Keeper
Discipline (“Man with the whip”)

40. Curriculum The main focus of school was to become a scribe
Single classes lasted from morning to sunset

41. Discipline
Discipline appears to have been a problem in schools, but was solved with the whip or cane

42. One boy’s story He was caned for Being late Grammar mistake
Wearing dirty clothes
Speaking without permission
Standing without permission
Taking something without permission
Poor script work
Poor spoken grammar

43. He invited the teacher to have dinner at his house where the boy’s father gave the teacher new clothes, a ring and a raise in pay and the teacher praised the boy from then on!

44. #6 - Ziggurat Temples built for many years in each Sumerian city
The Ziggurat in Ur had over 3 million bricks!

45. Ziggurat
They were different from pyramids. Pyramids were resting places while Ziggurats were believed to be stairways from heaven.

48. Each Ziggurat had two temples
The higher one was for receiving their heavenly visitor
The lower one was for helping their visitor rest before ascending again

49. Religion
Soon, priests were praying for the entire community in the Ziggurat all day long (Why?)
The temple became the center of the community and markets and courts starting to form around the Ziggurat

50. #7 – Death pit of Ur
Sometime around 2000 B.C. the Death Pit of Ur was destroyed by enemies.
We have learned much of daily Sumerian life from the remnants of these pits.

51. When a king died he was buried with his most valuable possessions, as well as voluntary human sacrifices of his:
Guards, musicians, servants, court officials, wives, donkey (although properly not as voluntary for the donkey)

53. #8 – Rules of the Dead
They believed that Gods lived above the earth and the dead descended to the nether world below the earth.

54. They believed that even the moon and the sun spent time in the nether world.
The nether world was portrayed as a place of darkness

55. They believed that Gilgamesh was responsible for enforcing the rules of the nether world.

56. To go into the nether world, the dead were not allowed to wear oils, sandals, carry a weapon, make noise or even wear clean clothes
Any violation and their soul would be trapped.

57. They also believed that by bringing gifts to the Gods who ran the underworld they could achieve greater happiness and contentment in the nether world.

58. Many of the Sumerian beliefs in the after life are also present the later cultures of Greece and Rome

59. Map Quiz

63. Goodbye Sumer, Hello Babylon
When: 1750 B.C.
Where: Sumer, Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia
Who: Hummurabi (from the North)

64. How
The three W’s
Watched – all the fighting between Sumerian city-states
Waited – for them to get tired

65. WON!! – surprised them and they would not co-operate with each other to beat Hammurabi

66. What Hammurabi accomplished the following:
Fixed up / remodeled the city-states, especially his new beautiful capital of Babylon (re-named the land after it)
Made the fighting stop!!
Left everything else alone

67. Importance Hammurabi and the Babylonians were given credit for:
Bringing peace to the land
Creating a 12-month / 360 day calendar

68. Inventing the Sun Dial
Inventing the Water Clock
Creating the Ishtar Gate
Establishing Hammurabi’s Code of Laws

69. Other people of the Fertile Crescent
The fertile crescent was an area of non-stop WAR
Many civilizations conquered the land, set their own rules and culture and then were swept away

70. The Sumerians were first, but there were many others to follow . . . . . .

71. Babylonians
Nickname: The TIME people
Leader: Hammurabi

72. Contributions: Things having to do with time
Sundial
Water Clock
Calendar
Hammurabi Code
Ishtar Gate

77. Hebrews Ancestors of Jewish people
They gave us the idea of monotheism – One God instead of 3,000
They also gave us one of the greatest pieces of literature ever written – the Bible

78. Assyrians Nickname: Poor Winners
They were ruthless conquerors, but had good fashion sense
Famous ruler: queen named Semiramis

79. She sent armies to the north and south and WON.
She also invented trousers. They were more comfortable to wear on horseback and the enemy could not tell if the soldier was a man or a woman when they wore trousers.

80. Persians Nickname: the Big Bad Bullies of Asia
They ruled all of Asia!! (not just the crescent)
BIG – lots of members

81. BAD – loved to take over anything and everything
BULLIES – targeted weaker people and didn’t play fair

82. Phoenicians Nickname: The A-B-C-D People A- Alphabet
They were different from any other people of the crescent. They did NOT farm, they were sailors and traders.
They lived near the coast of the Mediterranean.

83. A- “Alphabet”
To keep a record of their sales they developed the Alphabet

84. B – “Big Mouths”
They were salesmen and good talkers. They had to be!

85. C – “Carriers of Civilization”
They not only went from place to place to trade goods, but they also brought with them new ideas and shared them with all the people they traded with.

86. D – “Dye” Dye was their best selling item
It was a certain shade of purple that came from shellfish in the Mediterranean
It was so expensive that in Rome, only Emperors were allowed to wear a stripe of it on their togas.

87. “Stars” of the Fertile Crescent
Hammurabi – Babylonian
Nebuchadnezzar –
Babylonian King.
Constructed the hanging gardens of Babylon for his
wife

88. More stars
Semiramis
Enlil-Bani – interesting way to become King

89. Enlil-Bani
On New Year’s Day Mesopotamians had a huge celebration and at the end of the day they were suppose to sacrifice their king to bring them good luck for the next year.

90. But . . .
The real king had no intention of kicking the bucket, so the people went out and got a KING FOR THE DAY

91. The Royal Treatment
This guy was given the best treatment in the world for the entire day And then ……………..

92. Enlil-Bani
Enlil-Bani got lucky though He was “chosen” as king for the day but during his day, the real king DIED!! He went on to rule for 24 years!!!!

93. Sargon the Great Sargon means “True King”
He began in a simple herding family and rose all the way up to be King
He was the first ruler of the land (before Hammurabi)