G.R.A.P.E.S. Theme Chart for

Mesopotamia / Sumer, Chapter 3

Geography

  • Tigris and EuphratesRivers flooded so the used levees to help with the flooding – to water crops
  • Poked holes in levees to water crops – canals
  • No stone or timber – used mud bricks for building
  • Desert – modern day Iraq

Religion

  • Ziggurat – home of the gods
  • So tall to get them closer to heaven
  • Only priests could enter the top level of the ziggurat
  • Had over 3000 gods – to represent forces of nature
  • Only on earth to serve gods
  • Each city-state had own god
  • Thought there were only male gods at first but then female gods

Achievements

  • City states were a city with a wall around and then farmland on the outside
  • Ziggurat was in the middle, then upper, middle, and on the edge the lower class houses
  • Made statues, pottery,
  • Had bronze gates (bronze a new metal)
  • Cuneiform (writing
  • Invented the wheel
  • 360 degree circle
  • 60 min hour, 60 sec. min.
  • Calendar based on moon
  • Invented sailboat
  • Invented plow
  • Cradle of Civilization (first civilization)
  • Oldest written records were Sumerian
  • Their ideas were copied and improved by others
  • Rise:
  • Neolithic Revolution caused villages to start because people could stay in one place – then villages developed into civilizations (Sumer)
  • Specialization (jobs) started
  • Writing developed
  • Sargon I – pushed the civilization to become larger
  • Hammurabi – pushed it even farther and wrote down laws (Code of Laws)

Politics

  • Hammurabi was best known for Code of Laws – given to rule each city-state
  • Priests were kings, hereditary (parent to child)
  • At the beginning each city-state had an independent government
  • Sargon I (from Akkad)– ruled for 50 years – he united city-states – worlds first EMPIRE
  • Akkadian become the language
  • Pushed civilization to become larger
  • When he died empire fell
  • Hammurabi (Babylon) – ruled for 40 years
  • Golden Age of Babylon
  • Improved city-states
  • Made judges to give punishments
  • Upper class punished harsher
  • Increased trade
  • When he died Mesopotamia fell and divided into small city states

Economy

  • Fisherman/ farmers
  • Government officials / priests
  • Merchants / shop keepers
  • Artisans / metal workers
  • Scribes / teachers (went to school to learn to be one)
  • Pottery makers (artisans)
  • Traders with the rest of the world
  • Cuneiform (writing) – keep track of trade

Social Systems

  • Upper class – priests and merchants (trader)
  • Middle class – government officials, shop keepers, artisans (skilled workers)
  • Lower class – farmers, unskilled workers, fisherman