River Valley Civilization

River Valley Civilization

Bellringer• Glue in the papers you picked up and glue in the

following order• Page 20: Unit 2: Vocabulary • Page 21: Preview• Page 22: STAIRS notes• Page 23: GRAPES notes• Page 24: Problems with Sumer• Page 25: Process• Page 26:Homework

Agenda• Notes starting with the STAIRS worksheet• GRAPES• Problem with Sumer • Process • Homework

Homework• Ancient Middle East and Ziggurats and Cuneiform

articles

S.T.A.I.R.s Specialized workersTechnology Advanced citiesInstitutionsRecord keeping

Sumer GRAPES

What is GRAPES?• Geography• Religion• Achievements• Political• Economics• Social

GRAPES

Sumer: Geography

• Southern Mesopotamia • Part of the Fertile Crescent

Jericho

Aleppo

Glossary Help• Mesopotamia- The land between two rivers (in

the Middle East) – the first river valley civilization

• Fertile Crescent- A crescent-shaped area of fertile land in the Middle East

Physical Geography

• Two rivers, lots of fertile land• Flat • Mountains and deserts beyond the flat land• Neighbors were nomads in the desert and

northern Mesopotamia…we’ll meet them soon

Sumer: Religion• Polytheism – belief in many gods

o What did their gods do?• Ziggurat – temple and city-center

o Animal sacrifices and offerings

• Why are priests so important in Sumer?

Temple to Nanna, Ur

This large temple, dedicated to the god Nanna, was built around 2100 B.C. by King Ur-Nammu, in the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur. (Michael S. Yamashita/Corbis; ABC-CLIO)

Offerings to the Gods

King Ur-Nammu makes an offering to the moon god Nanna. Ur-Nammu reigned over the Sumerian city of Ur from about 2112 to 2095 B.C. The stela dates to around 2060 B.C. (Bettmann/Corbis; ABC-CLIO)

Sumer: Achievements

• Inventionso Wheelo Sailo Plowo Base-60

math (used today in clocks and circles

Achievements• Architecture (ziggurat)• Writing – cuneiform

o Earliest writing used pictograms, pictures that stand for wordso Later evolved into a set of symbols representing about 300 sounds

Early Writing

Clay tablet with pictograms from Mesopotamia. (Multimedia Library; ABC-CLIO)

Ancient Sumerian tablet with cuneiform, one of the earliest forms of writing. This tablet, from 2039 BC, tracks disbursements of wages to supervisors of day laborers. (Library of Congress; ABC-CLIO)

Sumerian inscription, detail of a statue of Gudea of Lagash, 22nd century BC (Brittannica)

DRAW A PICTURE OF CUNEIFORM AND DESCRIBE THE CHARACTERISTICS!

Detail from an Assyrian tablet with cuneiform writing. The Assyrian alphabet contained 19 simple letters and approximately 300 cuneiform symbols. (Shutterstock; ABC-CLIO)

Arts

Sumerian figurine of a woman sitting and holding a small vase. (Erich Lessing/Art Resource; ABC-CLIO)

Standard of Ur – War

Standard of Ur – Peace

Sumer: Political

• Priests ruled in peace, military leaders during wars

• Eventually, a military leader made himself king and created a dynasty

Sumer: Political• Each city-state had its own king

o Ur, Uruk, Umma, Lagash, Kish• Leaders collected taxes and organized labor (for,

say, irrigation)

Sumer: Economic

• Agriculture-based• Trade very important

o Traded food for stone, wood, and metalo Then made tools and traded them for more stuff

Sumer: SocialPriests

Wealthy Merchants

Working Class (Farmers, Artisans)

Slaves (Foreign Prisoners, Sold Children)

Why were merchants so respected?

Women’s Rights

• Women couldo Own propertyo Be educatedo Have important jobs

• Women could noto Rule the city or be the head priest

Mesopotamia: Did the Sumerians create a civilization?• Using the S.T.A.I.R.s work sheet provided in your

packet, walk around to the different posters hanging to decide if the question above it correct.