Mesopotamia

1. Chapter 3
Mesopotamia

2. Earliest Known Civilization
•
Civilization – a time when people progressed
culturally, began to live in cities
•
Began in Mesopotamia

3. Mesopotamia
9/7/15

4. Sumer
Irrigation
Used river water to
make canals to
irrigate crops
Area known as the
“Fertile Crescent”
City-States
Each Sumerian city
was its own state
With its own God
and Government
9/7/15

5. City-States

City surrounded by wall of brick w/
Bronze gates

City Center – Upper Class houses

Behind Upper Class – Middle Class

Further Out – Lower Class

6. City-States

Upper Class –
priests and merchants

Middle Class
Govt officials, shopkeepers,
artisans

Artisans – Skilled Workers
Lower Class
Farmers, unskilled workers,
fishermen

7. Religious & Family Life

At center of each
city was a TEMPLE
or a “Zigguart”

“Mountain of
God”
Only priests could
enter
Great stairway led to
the top

9. Religious & Family Life

Around ziggurat
were courts

Center of
Sumerian life
Artisans worked there,
children went to
school, etc.

10. Ziggurat

Only priests could know the will of God

Priests were very powerful

All land owned by city's God
− Priests controlled and administered the land in
God's name
− They also ran schools
− Schools were for sons of the rich
− Poorer boys worked in fields, trade

11. Religion

Believed all forces
of nature were
alive
wind, rain, flood

Viewed these
forces as Gods
More than 3,000
Sumerian Gods

12. Cuneiform – Sumerian language

At first, used pictures to represent
objects

Later, to represent ideas

Still later, to represent syllables

13. 
Scribe – writer

When student graduated from school,
became a scribe

Worked for: temples, palaces,
government, or army

14. 
“The Sumerians believed that at first there were only male Gods.
Then female gods appeared. The male gods found they had to
work very hard to please the female gods. The male gods
decided that they needed servants to do their work. So from the
mud of the rivers, they made humans who would be their
servants. The Sumerians believed that they were on Earth only
to serve the Gods. If the Gods were unhappy with them, their
crops would not grow and they would not live a happy life.
Therefore, the goal of each Sumerian was to please the Gods.”

What was the purpose of a zigguart?

What was the center of Sumerian life?