Ch 5 Was Ancient Sumer a Civilization?

Ch 5 Was Ancient Sumer a Civilization? • Introduction • Characteristics of Civilization • Stable Food Supply • Social Structure • Different jobs and social levels. High levels have greater status than others • Government • Religion • The Arts • Technology • Writing • Summary

Introduction • Was Sumer a civilization? • Mid 1800's archeologists began find artifacts in the area known as Mesopotamia • tablets, pottery, city ruins • written language • Standard of Ur • Found where the ancient city of Ur stood • Made of wood and decorated with pieces of shell and lapis lazuli • Shows Sumerians in times of peace and war

Characteristics of Civilization • Stable food supply • social structure with different social levels and jobs • system of government • religious system • highly developed culture - art • advances in technology • highly developed written language

Stable Food Supply • Complex irrigation systems • networks of canals, dams, and reservoirs • Provide crops with regular supply of water • Plow • Tool for tilling the soil to prepare it for planting • Made out of wood • One end bent for cutting into the ground to turn the soil • Farmers pushed or pulled the plow along the ground or used animals to pull it

Social Structure • Different jobs and social levels. High levels have greater status than others • Upper class • priests, land owners, and government officials • largest and most luxurious home near the center of the city • houses were two stories high • whitewashed mud walls • Common class • merchants and craftspeople • Included highly skilled metal workers • worked with gold, silver, tin, lead, copper, and bronze • Made items for army, farmers and upper class • Made swords and arrowheads • Made tools like plows and hoes • Made mirrors and jewelry • farmers and fishermen • lived in small, mud-brick houses at the edge of the city • Slaves • Lived in their owners' homes • had not property of their own

Government • Kings • Believed kings were chosen by the gods to rule in their place • Very powerful • Sumerians believed they must obey the will of the gods • Enforced laws and collected taxes • Built temples Made sure irrigation systems were maintained • Led army • Army • professional and temporary citizen-soldiers • foot soldiers • soldiers who drove chariots • Governors • ruled outlying towns • Scribes • helped record laws • First people to develop a system of written laws • Canal Officials • patrolled the canals • Looked for damage • Made sure farmers didn't take water illegally

Religion • Definition • a set of beliefs, usually in a god or gods, together with forms of worship • Influence • Sumerians tried to please gods • growing crops • settling disputes • Religion bound them together in a common way of life • Expression • Built temples and religious towers called ziggurats • Ziggurats made of mud bricks • Special temps built at the top • Long staircase attached so gods could climb down to Earth • Kings and priests stood inside the towers to ask for the god's blessings • King's duty to build and maintain ziggurats • Built statues • showed people worshipping gods with eyes gazing upward • Ceremonies • played music • may have involved human sacrifice

The Arts • Metalworkers • practical objects like weapons and cups • decorative items like mirrors and jewelry • Architecture • Designed temples and ziggurats • Musicians • Sumerians believed that music brought joy to the gods as well as people • Played instruments and sang during temple ceremonies • wrote love songs and entertained guests at feasts • Instruments • drums • pipes • lyre • wooden instrument made of a sound box and strings • decorated with precious stones and carvings made of horn

Technology • Wheel • most important invention • Uses • used as a surface for shaping clay into pots • on its side the wheel was used to create wheeled carts and chariots • arch • Inverted U or V • Made by stacking bricks made of clay and straw • rose in steps from the walls until they met in the center • Arches added strength and beauty to buildings

Writing • Cuneiform • Latin word for "wedge" • Etched into clay tablets with a wedge-shaped stylus • developed around 2400 BCE • Used to record information about the exchange of goods • May have begun with up to 2,000 symbols; reduced to 700 • Based on pictographs

Summary • Sumerian culture was a civilization • Lasted 1,500 years from 35000 - 2000 BCE

Ch 5 Was Ancient Sumer a Civilization?