1st+hour+2011-2012+Sumer

Intro By:Jake bledsoe ===The Persian gulf to the Mediterranean sea. The dark rich soils and golden wheat fields were called the Fertile Crescent. Nomadic herders and invaders. They all came here and traded to make this land a civilization. The first known in the Fertile Crescent were Mesopotamia. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers define Mesopotamia.===

WRITTEN LANGUAGE By: jake bledsoe ===By 3200 B.C. Sumerians had invented the earliest known writing it was called cuneiform. Cuneiform grew a system of pictographs that priest’s would use to record or keep count of goods. Later on when they had took it to more complicated they could keep record of myths, prayers, laws, treaties, and business contracts.=== **Social classes by Jordan Antongiorgi** **Government** **The ruler of ancient Sumer was the king. The king had more to do in his kingdom be sides ruling his people. He was also the chief priest. The rulers lived in magnificent palaces. At one point the ruler established new jobs for those didn’t have any and created the job of scribe. Another king known as Hammurabi of Babylon made the code of Hammurabi which protected women and slaves and established the saying an eye for an eye.** Code of Hammurabi
 * The system of social classes is known as the hierarchy and the highest in the ranks are**
 * The ruling family is the family or descendents of the king,** **Leading officials: generals, and** **High priests.**
 * The middle class consists of the people with the following jobs**
 * Sumerian Hierarchy**
 * Merchants,** **Artisans: skilled decorative craftsman,** **Lesser priests,** **And scribes: the people who keep record of events.**
 * The lowest level were peasants and unfortunately the majority of the people were peasant farmers. The peasants did the hardest, dirtiest work for little pay. It was because of this fact that some people sold themselves to slavery.**

**Prestige** **If you are the king then your prestige is greater .Prestige is another word for power or wealth. Peasants have the lowest prestige which means they probably can’t afford accessories or schooling. The ruling family has the greatest prestige the order of greater prestige to the lowest is in the same order as the hierarchy pyramid. The higher prestige you have the more slaves you would have as well because of your wealth.**

**Religion** **The Sumerians were, like many other ancient civilizations, polytheistic or believe in more than one god. One Persian visionary said that only one god known as Ahura Mazda ruled the world. To the people of ancient Sumerians everything that happens is because of the gods. Ziggurats were built like a pyramid and it is an entire temple dedicated to ne god. The ruler was also known as the chief servant of the gods and was at the head of all of the religious celebrations.**


 * work citation**

[|http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/] [] [|dc/Code_of_Hammurabi.jpg/135px-Code_of_Hammurabi.jpg]

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Cities By: jake bledsoe Sumerian cities were usually rectangular surrounded by high walls. Inside the city gates were broad avenues used for victory parades. The largest buildings were ziggurats, pyramid temple that soared toward the heavens. Their slopping sides raced down with stairs. Also at the top of every ziggurats theirs a shrine at the top of either a goddess or god.

Job Specialization By: jake bledsoe
The sumerians had a lot of jops, but the most inportant is trade. If it worn’t for trade they would not be a civilization. They also had some work in art and architexture. They also specialized in ironworking. They found out that irons harder and sharper edges than cooper or bronze. Sumerian cities were often made irregular shapes like rectangles with high walls surrounding and protecting the city. The largest building were called **__Ziggurats__**, which were pyramid like temples that “soared toward the heavens” (Gaynor and Elser, 1997). The ziggurats has steep sides and wide steps that were sometimes planted with trees and shrubs. On each of the ziggurats was a shrine of each god that the Sumerians worshiped.
 * __Public__ __Works By: Jake Mercieca__**


 * __Ziggurat__**-A temple with steep sides and wide steps, with statues of gods on the top. (tracingthepast,2011 )

To control the tigris and the euprates was a key action to the development of Mesopotamia. Each river frequently caused floods that killed top soil and destroyed mud-brick villages. Temple priests organized villagers to work together and bulid irrigation ditches so that the villagers could take the water back to the village. This carried on to later mesopotamian villages to use this irragation system. (Gaynor and Nelson,1997).
 * __Art/Arcitecture By: Jake Mercieca__**


 * __Sumer river connecting with other coutries. __**


 * __Conclusion By: Jake Mercieca __**

Sumerians were and still are one of the first races to start farming and and irrigation, and they set a milestone in history. They had ideas that no other village would’ve thought of and they made their own plans for how to fix problems. They just thought differently from the rest. Sumerians were the most civilized race in the human race.

WORK CITED:
Unknown, (2011). Sumer.Tracing The Past. The Place Of Ancient Civilizations.[] [|http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/] [] [|dc/Code_of_Hammurabi.jpg/135px-Code_of_Hammurabi.jpg]

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