2. Mesopotamia and Sumer Preview Starting Points Map: Fertile Crescent
Main Idea / Reading Focus
Geography Promotes Civilization
Sumer
Map: Ancient Mesopotamia
Sumerian Culture
Empires in Mesopotamia
Quick Facts: Mesopotamian Achievements

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4. Mesopotamia and Sumer Main Idea Reading Focus
The first known civilization arose in Mesopotamia, and its culture and innovations influenced later civilizations in the region for thousands of years.
Reading Focus
How did geography promote civilization in Mesopotamia?
What features defined the civilization of Sumer?
What were Sumer’s main cultural achievements?
What events led to later empires in Mesopotamia?

5. Geography Promotes Civilization
Fertile area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers became site of world’s first civilization
Fertile Crescent well suited for agriculture
Farming in Mesopotamia posed challenges:
If water levels too high, crops washed away
If water levels too low, crops died
People developed methods to control water:
Basins, canals, and dikes
Organization: assigning jobs, allocating resources

6. What factors influenced the rise of civilization in Mesopotamia?
Summarize
What factors influenced the rise of civilization in Mesopotamia?
Answer(s): fertile land; plentiful food; need to organize people for jobs

7. Religion and Government
Sumer
Large cities developed by 4000 BC
Structures made of mud bricks
Ziggurat: pyramid-shaped temple
Massive wall encircled each city
Each city and its land formed a city-state, with its own government
The Cities of Sumer
Shaped life in city-states
Polytheism: worship of many gods
Priests had high status and were the first rulers
War chiefs began to rule as kings
Dynasty: series of rulers from one family
Religion and Government

9. Sumerian Culture Writing Math and Sciences The Arts Trade and Society
Cuneiform: Sumerian writing
Business accounts and records
Law, grammar, literature
Scribes
Math and Sciences
System based on number 60
Geometry
May have been the first to use the wheel
Invented the plow
Basic surgery
The Arts
Arches, ramps, columns
Sculpture
Cylinder seals
Trade and Society
Traded for wood and metals
Social hierarchy
Distinct male/female roles

10. Draw Conclusions
Why was the Sumerians’ development of cuneiform a major turning point in history?
Answer(s): After the development of cuneiform, humankind moved from prehistory into the historical age.

11. Empires in Mesopotamia
Each conquering invader adapted aspects of Sumerian culture.
Thus Sumerian civilization continued to influence life in Mesopotamia.
Sargon I:
Around 2330 BC, created first permanent army
Conquered Sumer and northern Mesopotamia
Established world’s first empire, which lasted about 100 years
Sumerian culture spread far beyond Tigris and Euphrates valleys
Sargon’s Empire
Hammurabi became king in 1792 BC
United all of Mesopotamia
Able ruler and administrator
Hammurabi’s Code:
282 laws covering everything from trade to murder
Written for all to see
Babylon became Mesopotamia’s greatest city
The Babylonian Empire

12. Who ruled Mesopotamia after Sumer, and in what order?
Sequence
Who ruled Mesopotamia after Sumer, and in what order?
Answer(s): Akkadians, Amorites, Babylonians