Unit 2 - Mesopotamia Achievements. Please copy this. QuestionMesopotamian Accomplishments Impact on todayVisual How did technology and culture influence.

Unit 2 - Mesopotamia

Achievements

Please copy this.Question Mesopotamian

AccomplishmentsImpact on today Visual

How did technology and culture influence

future civilizations?

Writing

The Sumerians invented the world’s first system of writing - Cuneiform.

Cuneiform• The ancient Sumerians believed in education.

Record keeping was very important to them. They wanted their sons to learn how to read and write.

• Their written language began as pictographs, pictures of things that acted as words. Pictographs worked, but they were rather cumbersome (difficult to work with).

• Soon, the clever ancient Sumerians started to use wedge-shaped symbols for objects and ideas instead of pictures.

• Today, we call this written language of wedge-shaped symbols cuneiform.

Writing• We know a great deal about the ancient

Sumerian civilization from the written records they left behind in stone and clay. The ancient Sumerians kept excellent records and lists of things.

• They listed:– household goods– court activity– sales and purchases– list of their kings that was updated from time to

time, as new kings came to power.

Words

• Some Mesopotamian words are still in use today.

• Words like:– crocus, which is a flower,

and – saffron, which is a spice,

are words borrowed from the ancient Mesopotamians.

Does any of this impact your

society?

Gilgamesh• One of the best things the ancient Sumerians

wrote down was a great story called The Epic of Gilgamesh. The Epic (long poem) of Gilgamesh is perhaps the oldest recorded story in the world.

• It tells about the adventures of a king of Uruk, one of the city-states in ancient Sumer. King Gilgamesh may actually have existed. His name is on the list of Sumerian kings, a list we know about because the ancient Sumerians wrote it down.

Gilgamesh

• According to the story, Gilgamesh was not just a hero. He was the first superhero!

• He was part god and part human. He had many special powers.

Do you have super heros in your society?

Advances & Inventions

– Advances and Inventions – Mesopotamians achieved in many forms of technology!• Wheel• Sailboat• Plow• Sewers• Bronze tools and weapons• Glass and Jewelry• Math• Science

– Astronomers and the Lunar Calendar

• Medicine

• Frying pans• Razors• Cosmetic sets• Shepherd’s pipes• Harps• Kilns to cook bricks and

pottery• Bronze hand tools like

hammers and axes• Plow seeder

Math and Science

• They invented a system of mathematics based on the number 60.

• Today, we divide an hour into 60 minutes, and a minute into 60 seconds.

• Circles divided into 360 degrees.

• Year into 12 months.

Sumerian Calendar

Science Calendars

were created to keep track of the seasons – and more importantly – the Floods!

Are any of these accomplishments

in your society today?

Art

– The Arts – the Mesopotamians designed great building and numerous works of art!• Architecture – the study of

building– Arch

• Ziggurat• Music• Instruments• Sculptures• Jewelry• Cylinders

Lyre – plays music

Ziggurat – with arches as doorways

Cylinders• A cylinder seal is a cylinder

engraved with a 'picture story', used in ancient times to roll an impression onto a two-dimensional surface, generally wet clay. Cylinder seals were invented around 3500 BC.

• Cylinder seals are important to historians as they often tell a story about a specific timeline and civilization. Images depicted on cylinder seals were mostly theme-driven, often sociological or religious

Seals and Cylinders

Is anything you just read about

influencing your society?