Sumerians+5th+hour

In Ancient Sumer, the Sumerians had little natural resources. They made the most of what they had. They didn’t have timber or stone so they built with earth and water. They traded to bring riches to the cities and created the first wheeled vehicles. To Sumerians, their highest duty was to keep these divine beings happy and thereby ensure the safety of their city-states . Info from the book, world history, p. 32-34, Nate
 * Ancient **** SUmer **

This is a map where Ancient Sumer was located the city-state was in the middle of two rivers, that made trade possible.

Social Class- Each city state had a social hierarchy. A hierarchy is a system of ranks. The top of it, or the "higher class" includes ruling family's, leading officials, and high priest. The middle class mostly included a lot of merchants, artisans, lesser priest, and scribes. The majorities of the people were on the bottom, one of the lowest classes. The people in this class were basically farmers and peasants. Sumerians also had slaves. Most of them were captured in the war, but some people sold themselves into slavery to pay off debt. info from book page 32, Julia



Writing or record Keeping- The Sumerians invented a type of writing called cuneiform. This was the earliest known form of writing. Cuneiform started or grew from pictographs. pictographs are what priest used to record goods brought to the temples. later on in this era they used symbols or little drawings to describe complicated thoughts or ideas. Writing was becoming more used, so they started to use it for more than just grain harvest they used it for recording myths, prayers, laws, treaties, and business contracts. to become a scribe, or a record keeper you would have to through many years for strict schooling to acquire all the needed skills. info from book page 33, Julia



Job Specialization- Nate Each Sumerian city-state had a distinct social hierarchy; which was a system of ranks. The highest class included the ruling family, leading officials, and high priests. The middle class was made up of artisans, merchants, scribes, and lesser priests. The majority of people were peasant farmers, and even some of them owned slaves. info from book on page, 34. This is a picture of Sumerians farming.

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Public Works- Organized by Temple priest and royal officials to ensure that the frequently rising and over flowing river. The flooded river would go into the farmland. The villages worked together in building duties to help hold back the flooded waters and irrigate the ditches to carry water unto their fields. info from book page 32-36, Julia



This is a ditch in Ancient Sumer.

Cities-

Cities were often in a rectangular shape, and surrounded by high walls. The largest buildings were Ziggurats, pyramids-temples that soared toward the heavens. On top of each Ziggurat stood a shrine to the chief god, and the rulers lived in magnificent places with big courtyards. But the majority of people lived in tiny houses packed in a tangled web of narrow alleys and lanes.

Info from the book, world history. P 33. Nate



This is a picture of what cities look like in Ancient Sumer.

Organized religion- Sumerians had an organized religion. They were polytheistic. They worshiped many gods. They believed all gods controlled all forces of nature. They believed gods favored both justice and suffering. Each city-state had its own particular god or goddess to worship. The Sumerians biggest ceremony was on New Year. This day the king would marry the goddess of love because they believed it would make the New Year fruitful and prosperous. Also, they believed in a dark afterlife in the underworld, where there was no escape.

Breana milne; info from page 34 in the World History book 

This is a picture of the New Year celebration in ancient Sumer.

 Central government and laws-  Sumer was made up of many city-states, that would fight over the land and water.The people turned to resourceful war leaders. The leader was responsible for the city walls and irrigation system.he was in charge of the laws and scribes, who were hired to collect taxes and keep records. -Breana Milne; info from page 32 in World History book

 This is one of the city-sate leaders.

Art and architecture- Sumerian techniques were mostky available because of the invention of cuneiform writing before 3000 B.C. Scientists believe this system of writing developed in the lower Tigris and Euphrates valley, most likely by the Sumerians. The characters consist of arrangements of wedge-like strokes on clay tablets. The history of the script is very similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics. There art was very sophisticated. -Breana Milne; info on []

 This is a picture of one of the discovered artifacts made by the Sumerians. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;"> To conclude Ancient Sumer was located in between two rivers, and was a good city to start trade and buy goods even though that had few natural resources. The Sumerians were polytheistic, and worshiped many gods, these gods thought to control every aspect of life including the forces of nature. Sumerians had a powerful impact on the development of the western world. Info from the book, world history. P 32-36, Nate Above are some artifacts that were found at Ancient Sumer.