Chapter 5: Is Ancient Sumer a Civilization?

Directions: Below is a chart showing 7 characteristics of a civilization. In the column next to each characteristic, describe each characteristic in Ancient Sumer and what it was like.

Characteristic of a Civilization / Characteristic in Ancient Sumer
Stable Food Supply / Ø  People can only survive if they have enough food to survive
Ø  One item created was an irrigation system which included canals, dams, and reservoirs which brought water to the land when it was needed
Ø  2nd item was a wooden plow which would turn the soil to make sure it was ready for planting
Ø  Pushed across ground themselves or used oxen to pull it
Social Structure / o  Social structure included different jobs and social levels to which people belonged to
o  People at higher levels had a higher status or importance than those below
o  Upper level: priests, government officials, and land owners which had the large and luxurious houses in the center of the city
o  Middle class: common class which included merchants and craftspeople such as metalworkers
o  They made swords and arrowheads for army, plows and hoes for farmers, and luxury items such as mirrors and jewelry for the upper class
o  Common class also included farmers and fishermen who lived in small, mud brick houses at the edge of the city and worked to build and fix irrigation systems and served in army if need be
o  Bottom class: slaves who lived in owners’ houses and owned no property of their own
System of Government / v  Sumerian city states were ruled by a king who was chosen by the gods to rule and were very powerful because people believed they should obey the gods
v  Kings enforced laws and collected taxes as well as building temples and ensure irrigation systems were cleaned and useful
v  Leading army one of most important jobs of king because fighting over water and land borders happened often
v  Army consisted of professional soldiers and temporary citizen soldiers with some traveling on foot and others driving chariots pulled by horses
v  Under the kings were governors who ruled the towns and scribes who wrote laws
Religious System / §  Included set of beliefs in a god or gods with forms of worship
§  Religion was very important part of daily life including growing crops and settling disputes
§  Sumerians built temples and religious towers called ziggurats which the king maintained and were made of mud bricks located near temples
§  Believed Gods lived in ziggurats and added long staircase so gods could climb down
§  Statues also used to express beliefs and were detailed and lifelike including those praying to the gods
§  Many ceremonies for religion occurred with music and human sacrifice, or killing of a person as an offering to god
Highly Developed Culture / ü  Culture included arts such as painting, architecture, and music
ü  Made practical objects or items with uses and decorative items including designing temples and ziggurats
ü  Music was believed to bring joy to gods and people played instruments and sang including love songs
ü  Instruments included drums, pipes, and the lyres which was a small harp
Advances in Technology /
  • Most important invention was the wheel dating back to 3500 BCE
  • Used by pottery makers to make clay into pots as well as for farmers on carts and chariots for army
  • People used to carry their goods on flat bottom carts called sledges which used to get caught in mud before the creation of wheels
  • Oxen could now carry 3 times the weight on carts with wheels
  • Another advance was the arch built above doorways and added strength and beauty to Sumerian buildings

Highly Developed Written Language / Ø  Created written language known as Cuneiform which used a sharp pointed tool called a stylus to write into clay tablets
Ø  Believed to be created around 2400 BCE and was used in earliest forms to record information about trades Sumerians made
Ø  Started out at about 2,000 symbols to stand for ideas and sounds but then limited to about 700
Ø  Based on the idea of pictographs which are symbols that stand for real objects
Ø  When drawing the symbols and the clay dried, it became a permanent record