Point of View pictures and Sumerian Vocab

Vocab for Sumer

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

Mesopotamia

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

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

Sumer – Sumerian

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

 “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.

“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.

Civilization

 Three requirements  A group of people  Share a way of life  Can read and write

Culture

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

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

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

“First” civilization

 Sumer was responsible for the first:  Casting of bronze and copper  Engraving  Sculpting  Writing  Law-making

 Government  Weights and Measures  Astronomy  AND MORE!!!!

#2 - Sumerian



Economy

Different jobs         Farmers Herdsmen Fishermen Merchants Scribes Potters Masons Jewelers

Farmers

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

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

Traders

 Traders were needed to obtain stone, wood and metal.

 What about the location of Sumer made it a good trading community??

#3 - City-states

 Once the people of Sumer were able to produce sufficient food, their population could grow.

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

Population Growth

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

Protection

 Cities were protected with walls and moats.

 The city of Uruk had a wall that was 6 miles long with over 900 towers.

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.

Garbage

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

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??

Decorations

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

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??

#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.

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

#5 – Education

 The biggest impact Sumerians had on education was developing cuneiform.

 The wrote on clay tablets with a sharpened reed called a stylus

Cuneiform

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

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”

School faculty

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

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

Curriculum

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

Discipline

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

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

 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!

#6 - Ziggurat

 Temples built for many years in each Sumerian city  The Ziggurat in Ur had over 3 million bricks!

Ziggurat

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

 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

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

#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.

 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)

#8 – Rules of the Dead

 They believed that Gods lived above the earth and the dead descended to the nether world below the earth.

 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

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

 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.

 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.

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

Map Quiz

Goodbye Sumer, Hello Babylon

   When: 1750 B.C.

Where: Sumer, Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia Who: Hummurabi (from the North)

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

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

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

Importance

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

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

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

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

Babylonians

  Nickname: The TIME people Leader: Hammurabi

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

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

Assyrians

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

 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.

Persians

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

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

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.

A “Alphabet”

 To keep a record of their sales they developed the Alphabet

B – “Big Mouths”

 They were salesmen and good talkers. They had to be!



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.

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.

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

More stars . . . .

 Semiramis  Enlil-Bani – interesting way to become King

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.

But . . .

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

The Royal Treatment

 This guy was given the best treatment in the world for the entire day . . . And then ……………..

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!!!!

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)