SUMER CIVILIZATION

CULTURE VS. CIVILIZATION

What is CULTURE? Answer: It has been called to be the “way of

life” for an entire society. What is CIVILIZATION? Answer: It is a highly organized society marked

by advanced knowledge of trade, government, arts, science and often times, written language.

GRESASAW: Government, Religion, Economic activity, Social stratification, Architecture, Science, Arts and Writing

G-R-E-S-A-S-A-W

As we continue with our discussion, identify GRESASAW for the Sumer civilization.

Write them down on your notebook.

WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE AREA REPRESENTED BY THE ORANGE STAR?

MESOPOTAMIA

• WHAT IS THE LITERAL MEANING OF MESOPOTAMIA?

•Mesopotamia is located at the Fertile Crescent. •This is an arc of fertile land that spans from the Persian Gulf up to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.•What are the two rivers that can be found here?

BASED ON YOUR WORLD MAP, WHAT IS THE CURRENT NAME OF THE AREA WHERE MESOPOTAMIA USED TO BE?

IRAQ

Were there small villages within the

Fertile Crescent even earlier than Sumerian

civilization?

DURING THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD...

Communities thrived within and outside the Fertile Crescent.

Jericho on the West bank of Israel around 7000 BCE

Catal Huyuk and Hacilar in Anatolia (Turkey) around 6000 BCE

Villages in Zagros Mountains found in the border or Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Persia (Iran) around 5700 BCE

WHAT COULD HAVE CAUSED FOR SOME OF THESE COMMUNITIES

TO DISAPPEAR?

.Answer:The environment have reached its limit and

capacity to sustain life for some communities.

ON THE OTHER HAND, THE SUMER CIVILIZATION THRIVED AND WAS

CONSIDERED TO BE THE “CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION”.

CITIES OF SUMER: Ur-capital

city of Mesopotamia

Uruk Eridu Lagash Nippur Kish

CITY-STATES OF SUMER

Independent and autonomous Rectangular in shape with wide roads and

protected with high and thick walls The ziggurat is found at the center of the city

and became the point of reference for the layout of the rest of the city.

Around the ziggurat are granaries, quarters of officials and shops.

They are led by priest-kings who were mediators between the gods and the people.

Their form of government is theocracy.

ZIGGURAT

Largest structure in the city

A temple to honor the gods/goddesses

Polytheism - An (god of the heavens), Enlil (god of air), Enki (god of the waters), Ninhursag (goddess of the earth)

CUNEIFORM

A system of writing Written by scribes Creation of the first

schools Record business

transactions, myths, essential traditions, epics and more

Written on clay tablets Became the basis of

historians for the exact date on which an event occurred

EPIC OF GILGAMESH

The world’s first epic It tells the adventures of Gilgamesh,

king of Uruk , who embarked on a quest for immortality and failed.

It also has a“flood story” that is similar to the “flood story” of Noah’s ark.

CODE OF UR-NAMMU

It was the first written set of laws It divided society into two classes: free people and

slaves. Slaves usually worked as servants but also as

craftsmen. They were owned by their masters, but their legal status was relatively free. They could give evidence in court, get married and own possessions.

The years in which Ur-Nammu created his code are therefore called "Year in which Ur-Nammu the king put in order the ways from below to above", and "Year Ur-Nammu made justice in the land".

CODE OF UR-NAMMU

1. If a man commits a murder, that man must be killed. 2. If a man commits a robbery, he will be killed. 3. If a man commits a kidnapping, he is to be imprisoned and pay 15

shekels of silver. 13. If a man is accused of sorcery he must undergo ordeal by water;

if he is proven innocent, his accuser must pay 3 shekels. 18. If a man knocks out the eye of another man, he shall weigh out

½ a mina of silver. 19. If a man has cut off another man’s foot, he is to pay ten shekels. 20. If a man, in the course of a scuffle, smashed the limb of another

man with a club, he shall pay one mina of silver. 21. If someone severed the nose of another man with a copper knife,

he must pay two-thirds of a mina of silver. 22. If a man knocks out a tooth of another man, he shall pay two

shekels of silver.

OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS OF SUMER Wheel, 360 degree circle Plow, wheelbarrow Wheel-spun pottery, the sail Lunar Calendar Bronze metallurgy Silver currency The decimal system Sexagesimal - a numeral system with sixty as

its base. This is why we have 60 seconds=1 minute, 60

minutes=1 hour.

HISTORY OF SUMER

Sumer was established around 3500 BCE.

Due to rivalry over land and water, civil wars among the city-states erupted and led to the decline of the Sumerian civilization.

Around 2334-2400 BCE the Akkadians conquered Sumer led by Sargon I and unified the independent city-states.

CHALLENGE:1. CHOOSE ONE FROM THE MANY DISCOVERIES OF SUMER CIVILIZATION TO MANKIND. 2. EXPLAIN WHY THAT PARTICULAR DISCOVERY IS VERY IMPORTANT TO MANKIND.

CHECKING OF GRESASAW ON SUMER CIVILIZATION WILL BE ON

THE NEXT MEETING.