Chapter 3: MesopotamiaSection 1: The Rise of Sumer

3500 BC-1700 BC

Page 54-59

The Rise of Sumer• People settled in 3500 BC• Short, black haired people• Sumerians lived in Sumer-south• Earliest known civilization • They knew how to control the two

rivers and grew wheat, sesame, flax, fruit, and other vegetables.

• They set up a govt, with laws

Cities

• As their population increased, they built cities.

• Didn’t have stone or wood, so they used sun dried bricks to build them

• Two great cities were Sumer and Ur.

Ziggurat at Ur

City-States• Each city was its own state.• Cities had their own gods and govt• A great wall surrounded each city.• The rich lived in the center of the city in

two story buildings.• The middle class lived behind the rich in

one story bldgs with open courtyards.

Classes• The upper class included: priests

and merchants.

• The middle class included: government officials, shopkeepers, and artisans.

• The lower class included: farmers, unskilled workers, and fishermen.

Religious Life• At the center of each city was a ziggurat

or temple.• A great stairway led to the top of each.• Sumerians believed the city’s god lived

here.• Only priests were allowed to enter.• All of a town’s activities took place in the

courts around the ziggurat.• School, markets, shops, celebrations

Gods and Nature• Sumerians believed gods

controlled nature: wind, floods, fires.

• 3000 Sumerian gods• The Sumerians’ goal in life was to

please the gods.• Priests were the only people who

could speak to gods.

• Priests became very powerful and

administered all the land in the city.

• They also ran the schools.

Schools and Education

• Schools were only for the rich males.

• They were called tablet schools and mostly taught writing.

• Sumerian writing was called cuneiform and is wedge shaped.

• Writing started to keep track of business deals.

• Graduating students were called scribes.

Women• Women had the right to buy and

sell property, run businesses, and own and sell slaves.

• Men had right to divorce and sell their wives and children into slavery for three years.

• Children were expected to support their parents when they got old.

Priests and Kings• Priests were also the kings of city

states.

• The oldest known story in the world is about Gilgamesh of Uruk.

• Written in 1700 BC

• Tells about his search for eternal life and a flood that is very similar to the story of Noah’s Ark.

• Priest-kings took advice from an

assembly.

• When war broke out a member was appointed military leader.

• By 3000 BC, military leaders took the place of priest kings.

• Kingship became hereditary and was passed down from parent to child.

• 1. What area are we studying?• 2. What current country is this?• 3. What does “Mesopotamia”

mean?• 4. What two rivers are located

in Mesopotamia?• 5. What was at the center of a

Mesopotamian city?

• 6. Where did the rich live in

Mesopotamia?

• 7. What types of people made up the lower class?

• 8. What types of people made up the middle class?

• 9. What types of people made up the upper class?

• 10. What city was located in southern Mesopotamia?

• 1. Mesopotamia

• 2. Iraq

• 3. Land Between Two Rivers

• 4. Tigris and Euphrates

• 5. In the center of the city in two story houses

• 6. Farmers, Unskilled Workers,

and Fishermen

• 7. Government Officials, Shopkeepers, and Artisans

• 8. Priests and Merchants

• 9. Ziggurat

• 10. Sumer