1. Sumer- The World’s First Civilization
Mesopotamia
Sumer-
The World’s First Civilization

2. Sumer- How do we know?
In the 1900s, archaeologists found the remains of several cities from Ancient Sumer
Eridu is believed to be the world’s oldest city
founded around 5400 BCE
Uruk is believed to have a population of around 80,000 people in 2800 BCE
This is much larger than any other city discovered in Mesopotamia
Gilgamesh was king of Uruk
The Epic of Gilgamesh is believed to be the first written story in history

3. Sumer Sumer is believed to be the oldest known civilization in history
Started in 5300 BCE and lasted until 2000 BCE
Over 3,000 years!
Located in modern-day Iraq, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
The rivers flooded every spring, which made the area fertile and great for growing crops

4. Discovery of Agriculture
This first happened in Mesopotamia in an area called Sumer
People began to settle down and create the world’s first cities

5. Sumer- Irrigation
The Sumerians developed irrigation systems to control the flooding and bring water to their crops
Irrigation- Controlling water to use for agriculture or prevent flooding
Canals, levees, and dams were created to get the water to crops and to stop from flooding their cities

6. Irrigation Systems
Irrigation systems were created to get water to crops and prevent flooding
The people of Mesopotamia would dig a ditch that brought water from the source to the fields
This allowed for more crops to be grown at once

7. Sumer- Job Specialization
Because of the irrigation systems, Sumer was able to grow extra crops
Extra food leads to job specialization (also called division of labor)
Now the people of Sumer did not all have to farmers and they could start doing other jobs:
Pottery
Making tools & weapons
Building
Bakers
Weavers

8. Sumer- Religion Religion was very important to the people of Sumer
They were polytheistic. This means they believed in many different gods
Each city was centered around a ziggurat (temple)
They believed that the god or goddess lived in the ziggurat and would worship them

9. Sumer- Government Each city-state had their own king (called an ensi)
The king had many responsibilities:
Leading religious ceremonies and building ziggurats
Leading the military and protecting the people
Collecting taxes
Building irrigation systems (canals, levees, and dams)
Acted as judges to settle disputes or when a crime was committed

10. Cuneiform
The Sumerians developed the first system of writing around 3500 BCE, called Cuneiform
Sumerians wrote on clay tablets
For the first time ever, humans were able to keep written records

11. Cuneiform Scribe- A professional writer Scribes would work for:
Government officials
Priests
Merchants

12. Impact of Cuneiform
Cuneiform allowed the citizens of Mesopotamia to keep records:
Farmers could keep detailed records of crops
Merchants could keep detailed records of sales
Laws could be recorded and posted where everyone could see
Children went to school to learn how to read and write cuneiform

13. Impact of Cuneiform
We know a lot of information about the Sumerians and way of life in Mesopotamia because they left us written records

14. Sumer- Advanced Technology
The Sumerians also had many more innovations:
Bronze tools and weapons
Calendar- Helped predict flooding
Came up with the idea of 24 hours in a day and 60 minutes in an hour
Developed the world’s first wheel for wagons. This led to more trading and traveling
Plow for planting crops

15. Calendar
The Mesopotamian people were able to create a calendar in order to know when the floods would arrive:
As a result, farmers were able to harvest more food.
This food surplus enabled the cities to support larger populations.
Having surplus food, which could be traded for other goods, also helped Mesopotamians establish trade with other civilizations.

16. Calendar
These ancient calendars were lunar (based on the cycle of the moon)
Today, our calendar is based on the Earth's movement around the sun.
Over time, most kingdoms adopted the Babylonian calendar
Months were around 30 days long and were named after the 12 constellations in the zodiac
The basis of the our modern calendar can be seen in these divisions

17. The Plow The plow made it easier to break up the soil for planting
Plows were made of iron and were pulled by oxen.
By using these new tools farmers could do more work and produce more food

18. The Wheel Before the wheel, people had to carry their items by hand
The wheel allowed humans to use carts
This allowed people to carry more goods and supplies
Wheels allowed for quicker and easier transportation
Animals could also pull the carts

19. Sumer- Social Classes Specialized labor (jobs) created social classes
Each city-state was organized the same
Children fell into the same social class and had the same jobs as their parents
People could not move up in social class

20. Sumer- Social Classes Kings- Rulers
Government Officials- Worked for the king
Priests- Made offerings to the gods and led religious ceremonies to please the gods and keep the city-states safe

21. Sumer- Social Classes
Scribes- Professional writers. They usually worked for the government or help merchants keep track of trade
Merchants- Traded goods between the city- states and would later trade with other civilizations like Egypt and India
Artisans- Made crafts of had specific jobs:
Weavers
Pottery
Made weapons and tools
Bakers

22. Sumer- Social Classes Farmers- Grew crops and harvested food to trade
They would give food to the king for protection and irrigation
They would give food to priests so the gods would reward them with a good harvest
Slaves- People became slaves by being captured during wars or they were criminals and it was their punishment
Their job was usually hard labor, like digging irrigation ditches or carrying bricks for ziggurats