Sumerian/ Mesopotamia Civilization

1. Sumerian/ Mesopotamia Civilization Coral Davids, Jessica Waleski, Miranda Vawter, Sierra Manzanares, and Janeen Reynolds

2. Social Classes • Upper Class (Amelu): • Priests: Used to work in fields alongside others, but were separated from them. • Became the largest landowners in Sumerian creating power and wealth. • Were trained to be scribes and be with the city council of elders. • Government Officials • Professional Solders • Middle Class (Mushkinu): • Craftspeople • Farmers • Merchants • Laborers • Artisans • Fishermen • Comprised of the middle-class poor and rich. • They owned their own land and livestock. • This is the largest class of the three.

3. Social Structure: Land over Money • In the Sumerian society, your wealth was measured by how much land you owned and your harvest rather than riches. • Those who failed to harvest enough food had to borrow harvest from another landowner and wait until the next season to repay. If they had another bad year and couldn’t return their loan, they would have to work for the farmer the borrowed from.

4. Slaves • How to become a slave! • They were prisoners of war. • They fell into too much debt to pay out. • They were born into slavery • Husbands can sell their wives into slavery and parents can sell their children into slavery as well. • Rights • They can borrow money for necessities only. • They can own little property to pay debts. • They can engage in some trade. • Can serve as a witness in a legal matter • Buy their freedom (once freed, they can’t go back to slavery.)

5. Political/ Rulers Political ruler: Hammurabi • Background • Meaning of his name : • Hammu = Relative or Uncle • Rabi = Great • Translation-- The Uncle Is Great • He was the 6th King of the tribe known as the Amorites from Syria • He was the son of Simmuballit, a king who had worked to unite control of Sumer and Akkad • He never gained control of all of Babylonia. He reigned for 43 years (about 2067 - 2025 BC) Hammurabi's accomplishments- • he worked for the welfare of his people-he was an excellent administrator • strengthened his kingdom by conquests • built canals to improve agriculture • build roads to improve communication • set up maximum prices and minimum wages • set up soldiers who were stationed all over the kingdom to keep peace • set up posts for carrying mail -- runners carried clay tablet letters

6. Economy/ Trade • (Trade) Mesopotamians had to acquire non-indigenous sources from direct or indirect trading with far-off lands. A widespread trade network evolved along the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers which connects Mesopotamia to Anatolia (Turkey present-day) through Syria’s northern area. Many trade routes in the Mesopotamia region are nearby rivers. • (Labor) The requirements of specialized labor, irrigation and agriculture, probably have contributed to creating early Mesopotamian organization of socio-political. Dependence on these particular social structures also had leaded the Mesopotamians toward political and economic authority besides social.

7. Economy/ Trade continued… • (Agriculture) Mesopotamian farmers use the oxen for plowing and the other are eventually for eating like: • Cattle, Sheep, Goats, Pigs, Ducks, Geese. • Mesopotamian farmers grew barley, the chief crop, which is a salt-tolerant kind of wheat which grows perfectly in semi-salty soil of Mesopotamia. The barley kernels and grains are used in popular foods and drinks across the Mesopotamia. Many other known food crops include: • Oil-rich sesame, Linseed plants, Lentils & Peas, Garlic & Beans, Cucumbers & Lettuce, Apples & Grapes, Figs & Date Palms. • Beans and lettuce, shade ground crops, needs to be away from the hot sun. So farmers of Mesopotamia created a technique called the shade-tree gardening, where particular crops grow under the palm and other fruit trees’ branches. Another alternative way is to dig canals or irrigation ditches from close by rivers.

8. Technology • Mesopotamian farmers used tools that are mainly made of wood for farming. From these tools it includes: • Wooden plow drawn by oxen • Metal-tipped axes mounted on wooden handles • Particularly for harvesting crops the Mesopotamian farmers used wooden sickles with sharpened flint blades attached to them.

9. City Structure/ Architecture Ziggurat: • The Great Ziggurat was built as a place of worship, dedicated to the moon god Nanna (or Sin), in the Sumerian city of Ur in ancient Mesopotamia. • The word "ziggurat" meant "mountain of god" or hill of heaven. The temple which resembles a huge stepped platform was constructed approximately in the 21st century BC by king Ur-Nammu. • In Sumerian times it was called Etemennigur. Each ziggurat was made up of a series of square levels. Each level was smaller than the one below it. Stairways led to the top of the colossal ziggurats, which were believed to be the home of the city's chief god. Only priests could enter this sacred area. • Today, after more than 4000 years, the ziggurat is still well preserved in large parts as the only major remainder of Ur in present-day southern Iraq.

10. City Structure/ Architecture continued… • . They were organized in city-states where each city had its own independent government ruled by a king that controlled the city and the surrounding farmland. Each city also had its own primary god. At the center of each Sumerian city was a temple, called a ziggurat. Around the ziggurat were courts, the center of Sumerian life. Artisans worked there; children went to school there; farmers, artisans, and traders stored their goods there; and the poor were fed there. • Schools were for the sons of the rich only. Poorer boys worked in the fields or they learned a trade. When a student graduated from school, he became a scribe. The ziggurat, the palace, the government, or the army then employed him.

11. General Geography • Mesopotamia/Sumer is the region around and between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. • Sumer can be found in the southern half of Mesopotamia • “Mesopotamia” means “between the rivers” in Greek • Climate has occasional, severe rain storms but is usually very dry and flat • Because of the two rivers in Mesopotamia the soil is very fertile, thus earning it the nickname of the Fertile Crescent

12. Roles of Sumerian Women • Their rights depended heavily on their social status • Higher-class women were able to read and write • Lower-class women stayed at home taking care of the house and the children • Some women run small-scale farms while the men work in the fields • Women were also allowed to go into the market to buy and sell things

13. Military • The most influential part of Sumerian military is their very poor strategic position • Sumerian soldiers usually used small bronze swords , spears , large shields, and bronze armor • They fought in many inter-city battles • Sumerians invented the chariot and ergo were the first to use them in battle

14. Religion/ Faith • Believed that many gods controlled the various forces of nature (polytheism). • Demons known as Ugallu protected humans from the evil demons who caused disease, misfortune, and misery. • They built impressive ziggurats for the gods and offered rich sacrifices of animals, food, and wine.

15. Sumerian Law • King Hammurabi (1792-1750 BCE) had laws inscribed on stone stelae and placed in various places throughout his realm • Mesopotamians believed that laws came from the gods • On the stela of law is a prologue describing Hammurabi’s appointment by the gods as the ruler of his people • May have been older forms of law but they were lost over time • Nearly every bit of life was recorded on a tablet which was used as evidence when conflict arose • Before reaching court an attempt to settle the matter was made with a maskhim (mediator), when/if that failed it was brought to court with a panel of judges known as dikuds • How did Hammurabi come to power? He inherited the throne from his father Sin-muballit.

16. Sumerian Writing • Cuneiform from Latin ‘cuneus’, meaning “wedge” • Any script is cuneiform as long as it’s wedge-shaped • Many languages (Sumerian, Eastern Semitic, Elamite, Eblaite, Hittite, Hurrian, Utartian, Ugaritic, and Old Persian) were written in cuneiform • Earliest forms of Mesopotamian symbols are on clay tokens used as early as 8000 BCE for record keeping • Sumerian cuneiform from 3300 BCE to 100 CE • Gilgamesh, king of Uruk in Babylonia about 2700 BCE • Epic of Gilgamesh, perhaps oldest written story on earth, about the adventures of King Gilgamesh • Written on 12 clay tablets, revised to eleven since tablet twelve appeared to be a sequel

17. 10 Questions! • What were the three caste systems and describe who were included in them? • What tools did the farmers of Mesopotamian used for farming? • What kind of crops did the Mesopotamian farmers grow? • What was the basis for cuneiform writing and how were they first drawn? • How did Hammurabi come to power? • How does their location affect their military? • How are women treated differently from men? • Name 3 things King Hammubari accomplished. • What god was Ziggurat dedicated to and what does the name mean? • How did Sumerians worship the gods?

18. Works Cited Page • Crystal, Ellie . "Sumerian Social Systems." Crystal Links Metaphysics and Science Website. N.p.. Web. 14 Jan 2013. <http://www.crystalinks.com/sumersocialsystem.html>. ‘ • Url: http://www.thenagain.info/WebChron/MiddleEast/Hammurabi.html • "Farming." The Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Ancient Mesopotamia. Don Nardo. Ed. Robert B. Kebric. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. 115-117. Gale World History In Context. Web. 11 Jan. 2013. • "Agriculture." World Eras. Ed. Ronald Wallenfels. Vol. 8: Ancient Mesopotamia, 3300-331 B.C.E. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 148-151. Gale World History In Context. Web. 11 Jan. 2013. • "Trade Routes." The Ancient Near East: An Encyclopedia for Students. Ed. Ronald Wallenfels and Jack M. Sasson. Vol. 4. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2000. 127-129. Gale World History In Context. Web. 11 Jan. 2013. • "Long-Distance Trade." World Eras. Ed. Ronald Wallenfels. Vol. 8: Ancient Mesopotamia, 3300-331 B.C.E. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 164-166. Gale World History In Context. Web. 12 Jan. 2013. • Raymond, W. J. "Mesopotamia: The Rise of the First Civilization." Mesopotamia: • First Civilization. N.p., 2010. Web. 11 Jan. 2013. • "Daily Life of Women." , Ancient Sumer Part B, Ancient Sumer, SOSE: History Year 8, VIC. Red Apple Education, 2013. Web. 11 Jan. 2013 • "Sumerian." Angel Fire. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2013 • Love, Anthony Michael . "Sumerian Society." Ancient History. N.p.. Web. 11 Jan 2013. <http://www.sarissa.org/index.php>. • "Sumerian Society." Sumerian Society. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013. • "Ancient Mesopotamia: Law & Government." Mesopotamia: Law & Government. Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013. • "Epic of Gilgamesh." Epic of Gilgamesh. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013. • "Ancient Scripts: Cuneiform." Ancient Scripts: Cuneiform. Ancient Scripts, n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2013. • url: http://www.bible-history.com/babylonia/BabyloniaThe_Ziggurat.htm • http://members.tripod.com/~terrie_lynn/sumerians.html • http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/worldhistory/introancientmiddleeast2.htm