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wagon wheel

arch

potter's wheel

sundial

number system based on 60

12 month calendar

bronze

metal plow

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polytheistic (worshipped many gods)

each god- natural force like rain, moon, air

human activity- plowing, brick making

An- seasons

Enlil- created hoe

predicted gods and goddesses- unpredictable, selfish

beings

angry- misfortunes- flood/famine

religious ceremonies and rituals

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Commerce and trade

writing- dominated Sumerian city-states

system of writing- keep accounts and prepare documents

believed to be oldest writing system

cuneiform- pictograms/ hundreds of wedge shaped markings

end of sharpened reed on wet clay tablets

dried or baked tablets until hardened

pictograms- developed into symbols representing complex ideas

scribes- eddubas (schools)

scribes, rose to high positions in Sumerian society

business records, historical dates and literary works

Epic of Gilgamesh- epic poem 1850 BC

oldest story in the world

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Each city-state governed itself independently

Later, faced threats of invaders, compete for land

and water rights, citizens chose military leader

2700 BC leaders of several city-states ruled as kings

kingships- hereditary

Sumerian king- military leader/high priest

theocracies- governments mixed with religion

king and priests closely monitored farming

king- enforced law/set punishments

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3500 BC- people from either central

Asia or Asia Minor- Sumerians arrived

in Mesopotamia

settled in lower part of Tigris-Euphrates

river valley- Sumer

Sumerian City-States

3000 BC Sumerians formed 12 city-states

in Tigris-Euphrates valley

Ur, Uruk and Eridu

city-state- city itself and land surrounding it

population- ranged from 20,000- 250,000

Sumerians- similar culture

ziggurat- temples made from sun-dried brick

only priests/priestesses allowed to enter temple

dedicated to city-state's chief deity

raised to shrine to the sky

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Tigris and Euphrates to water crops

did not have regular supply

no rain fell in summer

water shortages- fall planting season

spring harvest season- rivers swelled

with rain and melting snow

silt

overflowing

strong floods- swept away whole villages

and fields

flooding- never predictable

dams, channels, ditches-irrigation

farmers- producing food in abundance by

4000 BC

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5000 BC- herders journeyed north

from Arabian Peninsula

Rainfall declined- lakes and grasslands

were dried up

other people from highlands (present

day Turkey) moved south

poor weather- fled war and overpopulation

both groups- crescent-shaped fertile land

Mediterranean Sea to Persian Gulf

Fertile Crescent- included parts of modern

Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Syria and Iraq

many chose to settle in Mesopotamia

eastern part of Fertile Crescent