Sumer (3500 B.C. – 689 B.C.)

• City-state organization• Smelting of materials: Bronze Age, Iron Age• Trading empire with other

river valley civilizations (Egypt, India, China) = “Silk Road”

Wheel

• The wheel was invented by 6000 BC!

• It helped military, farming and trade.

• At right, this is made of wood.

Religion

Polytheistic - Anthropomorphic GodsZiggurats

Cuneiform Writing

Epic of Gilgamesh

Hammurabi’s code (c. 1800 B.C.E.)

Hanging Gardens of Babylon