What, allegedly, is the oldest

civilization?

Answer: Sumer Civilization (about

5,500 BC-3,000 BC)

Where was the Sumerian civilization located?

answer: MESOPOTAMIA

Where was Mesopotamia?

Mesopotamia - The Land Between Two Rivers

Mesopotamia was a place where many cities began to grow. As its name suggests, Mesopotamia was located between two rivers. The two rivers were the Tigris River and the Euphrates River.

Mesopotamia was located in the Middle East, and surrounded by desert. People came to Mesopotamia because the soil between the two rivers was very fertile.

Question:

Where was Mesopotamia on the World Map?

Mesopotamia was located in the Middle East.

USAUSA

Question:

Mesopotamia was part of which famous piece of land?

stretched from the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea down to the Persian Gulf

Question:

Where now is Mesopotamia?

Mesopotamia was located in what is now the country of Iraq.

What neolithic vilages existed before Sumerian cities?

Jericho (now part of Israel)

What neolithic vilages existed before Sumerian cities?

Catal Huyuk

(now part of Turkey)

Question:

What were the city states of Sumer civilization?

City-States Formed Along the Rivers

Many city-states formed along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia. They each had their own form of government, and the people worshipped different gods and goddesses. Some of these cities were Ur, Uruk, Eridu, Lagash and Kish.

Why Did These Cities Develop?Due to the fertile soil in Mesopotamia, farming was very successful. In fact, people were able to create surpluses of food. This meant that some people could stop farming and begin doing other things, like building a city.

As cities began to develop, people began to worry about others who might come and invade their city. They wanted to protect themselves from enemies, so people in Mesopotamia built walls around their cities.

What are the Sumerians so famous for?

Sumerian Writing (CUNEIFORM)

Scribes used a sharp point called a stylus to etch words/pictographs into clay tablets. These tablets have been discovered by archaeologists and looked at by historians.

Another example of Cuneiform

Example cuneiform script (Hammurabi)

If a man the eye of a son of man destroys

eye his they will destroy.

Epic of GilgameshGilgamesh was one

third man and two thirds god. Due to his special abilities, Gilgamesh felt he was worthy of everyone's praise, and therefore bossed everyone around. The citizens of Uruk were displeased with Gilgamesh's behavior and asked the gods for help.

The Epic speaks of his adventures.

Sumerian Religion & Ziggurat

Sumerians worshipped many gods, not just one. This belief in many gods is called polytheism. “Poly” means many and “Theism” means gods.

The picture above shows a ziggurat. Ziggurats were the main temples used to worship the gods of a city. Ziggurats were built in the center of the city. They had steps and ramps, and it was believed that the gods descended to the Earth using the ziggurat as a ladder.

The Ziggurat

ziggurat Gods

Sumerian Mythology

Sumerian myths, or stories, explained people’s beliefs. Sumerians believed that a person must keep the gods happy by going to the ziggurat and praying to them. They believed that the gods would reward them for good service. They also believed that the gods would punish the people who made them angry.

PrintingSumerians  should 

also  be  credited  with theinvention of printing.   They  used  ready-made  "type" of  the  various  pictograph  signs...  which  they  used, as  we  use  rubber  stamps  to impress  the desired  sequence of  signs in  the  wet  clay.   

Mathematics"sexagesimal", 

combined  a  mundane  10  with  a  6,  to  obtain  the  base  figure  60. 

the  decimal  system

The  360  degree  circle   Calendar 

Sumerian CalendarThey used the phases of the moon, counting 12 lunar months as a year.

Zodiac - Astronomers recognized and cataloged the brightest stars, outlined a rudimentary set of Zodiacal constellations, and noted the movements of the five visible planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn), as well as the Sun and Moon amongst the stars of the Zodiac.

Plow and Wheelbarrow

The first clothing and medicine

Metallurgy and codified laws

Question:

But why did such a great civilization fall or vanish?

The Downfall of the Sumerians

Each of the Sumerian city-states had a ruler, and these city-states began fighting each other. They fought over land and the use of river water. Since the Sumerians were constantly at war with each other, they became weak. By 2000 BC, Sumer was a weakened area, and by 1759 BC, Sumer was conquered by another group of people - the Babylonians, who were from the north.