Characteristics of the Sumerian Civilization



Characteristics of the Sumerian Civilization

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| |Social Structure includes different jobs and social levels. |

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| |There were several different classes of people in who lived in Sumer. |

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| |There was an upper class that included priests, land owners and government officials. These |

| |people had the largest homes near the center of the city. Evidence shows their homes had |

| |whitewashed mud walls. |

|In your notes make sure you have | |

|information about all 3 classes |The middle is called the common class. This class included merchants, craftspeople, farmers and |

|that existed in Sumer. |fishermen. They worked with metals and wood to make tools and weapons. They grew and hunted the|

| |food. They also made jewelry and crafts for the upper class. They lived in houses at the edge |

| |of the city. |

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| |At the bottom of the social structure were the slaves. They did not own homes or property. |

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|Question: | |

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|What are the social classes in | |

|the United States? | |

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|Which class is the largest and | |

|strongest class in the United | |

|States? | |

| |Sumerians invented two things to help them create a stable food supply. |

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| |The first invention was their complex irrigation system. |

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| |The second invention was the invention of a plow. |

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| |The third invention was a plow. |

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| |About the Plow: |

|In your notes make sure you have |A plow is a tool that tills or turns the soil to prepare it for planting. |

|information about all 3 farming | |

|techniques that were invented by |Before the plow was built farmers used animal horns or pointed sticks to poke holes into the |

|the Sumerians. |earth. |

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| |The first plow was made out of wood. |

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| |One end of the plow was bent for cutting into the ground. |

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| |Farmers would push and pull the plow themselves or use large animals to do the job. |

|Question: | |

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|What are some farming tools and | |

|techniques that are used by | |

|modern farmers? | |

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|How are modern farmers able to | |

|produce food for millions of | |

|people? | |

| |Government is meant to make life orderly among large groups of people. |

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| |Sumerian city-states were ruled by kings that the people believed were chosen by gods. |

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| |Sumerian kings enforced laws, collected taxes and led the army. |

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|In your notes make sure you have |Sumerians needed an army because they were constantly fighting over land and the use of water. |

|information about: | |

| |Sumerian soldiers were both professional and temporary citizen-soldiers. |

|What is government? | |

| |Some fought on foot and other fought with chariots or on horses. |

|Who ruled Sumer? | |

| |Kings had governors who ruled outlying towns. |

|What did kings do? | |

| |Scribes helped record the laws. |

|Why did they need an army? | |

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|What are governors? | |

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|What did scribes do? | |

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|Questions: | |

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|What type of government do we | |

|have in the United States? | |

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|Why do we need our armed forces | |

|(army, air force, navy, marines, | |

|coast guard)? | |

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| |In Sumer, religion affected every part of daily life. |

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| |Sumerians tried to please their gods by planting crops and settling disputes. (A dispute is an |

| |argument or a fight) |

| | |

|In your notes make sure you have |Sumerians also worshipped by building temples and religious towers called ziggurats. |

|information about: | |

| |It was the king's job to makes sure the ziggurats were built. Some were so large they could be |

|What did Sumerians do to please |seen from 20 miles away. |

|the gods? | |

| |Sumerians believed the gods lived in the ziggurats. Outside of the ziggurats they built stairs |

|What did the Sumerians call their|so the gods could climb down. |

|religious buildings? | |

| |Sumerians also built statues, held ceremonies and played music to honor their gods. |

|Who made sure ziggurats were | |

|built? | |

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|What extra things did Sumerians | |

|do to please their gods? | |

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|Can you: | |

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|Name 2 similarities between | |

|Sumerian religion and any modern | |

|religion. (Christianity, Islam, | |

|Judaism, Buddhism or Hinduism) | |

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| |There were many kinds of artists and craftspeople in Sumer. |

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| |Sumerian metal workers made more practical items like weapons and cups but they also made |

| |decorative items like mirrors and jewelry. |

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| |Musicians also brought joy to the gods and people of Sumer. Musicians played instruments and |

|In your notes make sure you have |sang. |

|information about: | |

| |Instruments of the time were drums and pipes. There was also a lyre which was made of a sound |

|What kinds of craftspeople worked|box and strings. |

|in Sumer? | |

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|What jobs did craftspeople do? | |

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|What types of instruments did | |

|Sumerian musicians use? | |

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|Questions: | |

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|What types of instruments do we | |

|use to play music? Are they the | |

|same or similar to Sumerian | |

|instruments? | |

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|Why do we create music? | |

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| |The Sumerians most important invention was the wheel. |

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| |The earliest forms of the wheel date back to 3500 B.C.E. |

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| |Pottery makers used a circular, wheel shape to make pots. When Sumerians flipped the wheel on |

|In your notes make sure you have |its side they realized it would roll forward. |

|information about: | |

| |Before the invention of the wheel, people had to use sleds or flat bottom carts to move their |

|What are TWO of Sumer’s greatest |goods around. Sleds would get stuck and were much harder to move. |

|inventions? | |

| |Oxen could carry three times as much with a wheeled cart. |

|Why was the wheel so important? | |

| |Sumerians also invented the arch structures above doorways. |

|What was an arch and what are two| |

|reasons Sumerians used the arch? |Arches added strength and beauty to the Sumerian architecture. |

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| |Some historians feel the arch was their greatest invention. |

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|Questions: | |

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|What products / inventions do we | |

|have because of the invention of | |

|the wheel? | |

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|Can you think of a modern | |

|building or place where the arch | |

|is used for its strength and | |

|beauty? | |

| |Sumerians had a system of writing. |

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| |There writing was called cuneiform. The name comes from a Latin word for "wedge." |

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| |The Sumerians used a sharp wedge tool to etch their writing onto clay tablets. |

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|In your notes make sure you have |Sumerians developed cuneiform around 2400 B.C.E. |

|information about: | |

| |The first examples of their writing are believed to show records of goods exchanged from one |

|What is cuneiform? |person to another. |

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|How did the Sumerians write |At first they used as many as 2,000 symbols but eventually reduced the number to 700. |

|cuneiform? | |

| |Cuneiform's earliest form was pictograph. Pictographs are symbols used to stand for real |

|What was the earliest form of |objects. |

|cuneiform called? | |

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|Questions: | |

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|What would life be like if you | |

|did not have the ability to | |

|communicate through reading and | |

|writing? | |

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|What is possible in modern times | |

|because of our ability to read | |

|and write? | |

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