Sumerian/Mesopotamia

Sumerian/Mesopotamia By Jhasmyn O’Connor, HaileyRose Parker, Andrew Wentworth, Christian Gomez, and Anthony Tran

Social Structure • King- pinnacle of the social order, head of the army • Priests- the upper class of society • Scribes- Educated class, sons of the wealthy • Merchants & Artisans- Invented cuneiform to document trade deals • Commoners- laboring lower class of the kingdom • Slaves- the bottom of the social hierarchy

Rulers • City states were ruled by “priest kings” who served as agents for the gods • Sargon the First, an Akkadian warlord, conquered and united all of the city states under his rule • Some time after Sargon, Hammurabi came into power and established the kingdom of Babylon • Hammurabi wrote the Code of Hammurabi which was the first written set of laws

Religion • Originally polytheistic • Had four main gods: • An- god of the sky • Enlil- controlled thunder • Ninkhursag- goddess of the earth • Enki- god of water • In the 18th century BCE, the region of Adiabene adopted Judaism as its primary religion

Technology • Regulators used to divert flood and river water and control water flow to crops • Oxen pulled plows and bronze sickles would have been used to farm • Sumerians had access to wheeled vehicles and potter’s wheels • Developed copper into bronze through the addition of tin, also eventually moved to production of iron • What piece of technology of the Sumerians is said to be part of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? • The Archimedes' Screw

economy • the ancient economy was ruled by specialists called priests • based on fertile soil and lots of water • the goddess Ninhursag was “mother earth” and the god Enki was the deity of fresh water beneath the soil • each city worshiped their own patron divinity whose beneficence was sought through prayer and sacrifice • without Mesopotamia’s productive economy, civilization could not be developed • due to the organization of land and maintenance of rivers and waterways it lead to the rise of law and government

trade • One of the major reasons Sumer became an important city was trade • Sumer did not have many natural resources other than fish, reeds, and mud bricks • people who lived in the mountains and traveling merchants had many resources such as wood, and metals such as copper • People who lived in the Zagros and Taurus mountains needed wheat and barley from the city-state of Sumer • the mountain people would give Sumerians timber, limestone, gold, silver, and copper in exchange for the wheat and barely • riverboats were used to trade items • Money paper was very symbolic because paper wasn’t used for anything else • coins weren't as symbolic the value of copper in our pennies is worth more than one of their cent • Mesopotamians usually did barter • Barter is a form of trade that is not symbolic and where the units of exchange have intrinsic value • In order from least valuable to most, the money of ancient Mesopotamia was: • A.barley • B.lead (especially in northern Mesopotamia [Assyria]) • C.copper or bronze • D.tin • E.silver • F.gold • barely and silver were the main forms and used more commonly

Writing System • Earliest known writing system that is dated back to 8,000 BC. • They wrote in Cuneiform on clay tablets. • Developing a pictograph and other symbols that help tell for trades and to calculate and keep records of supplies. • The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest story written on earth. Written on 12 stone tablets which were about the adventures King of Uruk.

Architecture • Ziggurats were towers that were sacred to the local gods • Ziggurats got taller overtime but usually had a small brick house on top • ziggurats were usually on a platform with city like structures which operated around the temple • Homes were built mainly of mud brick and mud plaster but varied in consistency and size greatly • How were palaces most commonly decorated ? • With Statues of mythological creatures, gold, iron, bronze , and copper

code • During the first two decades of his forty-two year reign (1792-1750B.C.), Hammurabi fortified several cities in northern Babylonia • By 1762, Hammurabi claimed to have "established the foundations of Sumer and Akkad • The Code of Hammurabi is the longest surviving text from the Old Babylonian period • the code is far more significant in legal history than any of its forerunners • 282 laws, carved in forty-nine columns on a basalt stele • address a variety of topics in civil, criminal, and commercial law • Hammurabi describes the code as "laws of Justice" intended to clarify the rights of any "oppressed man."

Tigris River • The eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq. • Length: 1,150 miles (1,850 km) • Source: Turkey • Cities: Diyarbakir Euphrates river • The longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia, flows through Syria and Iraq to join the Tigris in the Shatt al-Arab, which empties into the Persian Gulf. • Length: 1,740 miles (2,800 km) • Sources: Murat & Karasu rivers • Countries: Iraq, Turkey, Syria

Mesopotamia • Area for the Tigris-Euphrates river system. • Greek word meaning “between the rivers”. • Northern area is made up of hills and plains. Fertile land due to seasonal rains, and the rivers and streams flowing from the mountains. • Early settlers farmed the land and used timber, metals & stones from nearby mountains. • Southern area is made up of marshy areas and wide, flat, barren plains. • Cities developed along the rivers which flow through the region. • Early settlers had to irrigate the land along the banks of the rivers in order for their crops to grow. • Since they didn’t have many natural resources, contact with neighboring lands was important.

Fertile Crescent • A crescent-shaped region containing the moist and fertile land of otherwise arid and semi-arid Western Asia, the Nile Valley and the Nile Delta of northeast Africa. • It covers Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq. • For the Sumerians, it was also called Mesopotamia. • It was around 4000 BCE the Sumerians moved to this area. • After the Sumerians, many civilizations began to take over the Fertile Crescent. • The Akkadian, Babylonian, Hittite, Assyrian, Chaldean, Persian, Phoenician and the Lydians civilizations took control over the Fertile Crescent.

Role of Women • Women were not allowed to act as individuals outside of content with family. • They were know as daughter of the father or wife of there husband. • As Children they are trained for the role of wife, mother and housekeeper. • After puberty there were ready to be married, families would arrange the bride and groom. • Men dominated over the women if her husband died she was put under control of his father or if she had an older son.

Military • Other ancient civilizations viewed Mesopotamia as a prize to be conquered • Two military processes took place in Mesopotamia; one to constantly battle for supremacy over surrounding lands and the other for defending against frequent attacks from nomadic invaders • Between 3,000 BCE and 1,000 BCE, the army advanced its technologies and developed ways to travel over water and started using metal weaponry

Citations • "Ancient Mesopotamian Farming." ,Agriculture,Tools,Crops,Techiniques,Water,Floods. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2013 • Guisepi, Robert A., and F. R. Willis. "Sumeria, Ancient Sumeria (Sumer), A History of Ancient Sumer Including Its Contributions." Sumeria, Ancient Sumeria (Sumer), A History of Ancient Sumer Including Its Contributions. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2013. • "TimeMaps." The TimeMap of World History. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2013. • Elixir Of Knowledge." Mystery|HistoryMystery|ScienceMystery|UnknownFacts and Interesting Facts. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2013. • Ager , Simon. Omniglot The online writing systems & systems. Omniglot, 15 Apr 2010. Web. 11 Jan 2013. <http://www.omniglot.com/writing/sumerian.htm>. • . "Cuneiform." History World International. History World International, 20 Spetember 2009. Web. 11 Jan 2013. <http://history-world.org/cuneiform_writing.htm>. • Ager , Simon. The Epic of Gilgamesh. Academy for Ancient Text, 19 Oct 2008. Web. 11 Jan 2013. <http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/>.

Citations • Brant, John. "A Look at Ancient Mesopotamian Miliary." Helium.com. Helium, 14 Apr 2012. Web. 11 Jan 2013. <http://www.helium.com/items/1804982-ancient-mesopotamian-military?page=3>. • “Rulers of Mesopotamia ." tripod.com. Tripod, 04 Mar 2009. Web. 11 Jan 2013. <http://mesopotamia3.tripod.com/rulers.html>. • . "Mesopotamian Religion." Mesopotamian Religion. Sitemap, 30 Jan 2010. Web. 11 Jan 2013. <http://www.mesopotamianreligion.com/>. • . "Mesopotamia: Role of Women." . The Oriental Insitute of University of Chiacgo, 18 Febuary 2011. Web. 11 Jan 2013. <http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/MUS/ED/TRC/MESO/women.html>. • Smitha, Frank. "Sumerian Polytheism, Sin and a Myth of a Great Flood ." . Macrohistoryandd world report, 26 Jun 2008. Web. 11 Jan 2013. <http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch01.htm>.

Questions • What piece of technology of the Sumerians is said to be part of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon? • How were palaces most commonly decorated? • Who was the Sumerian God of the sun? • Who was the Akkadian warlord that united the city states under his rule? • Between which years were metal weapons developed? • At what age are women forced to get married? • What form of writing did the Sumerians use? • What is the Greek word meaning for Mesopotamia? • List the names of the civilizations that took control of Mesopotamia after the Sumerians in order? • What were towers that were sacred to the local gods?

Answers • The Archimedes' Screw • With Statues of mythological creatures, gold, iron, bronze , and copper • An • Sargon the First • 3,000 BCE and 1,000 BCE • After puberty • Cuneiform • “Between the Rivers” • Akkadian, Babylonian, Hittite, Assyrian, Chaldean, Persian, Phoenician and the LydiansCivilizations • Ziggurats

Sumerian/Mesopotamia