5 TRAITS OF CIVILIZATION ASSIGNMENT: Use pages 91-103 to find examples of how each of the 5 traits related to life in Sumer.
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ADVANCED CITIES
CITY-STATES: communities
that included the city and
nearby farmlands.
Centers of learning, trade,
religion.
Between 10,000 and
100,000 people living in
one.
Sumer had at least 12 citystates
Large food surpluses
supported large
populations.
Cities had narrow, winding
streets and protective
walls.
Gates allowed people to
come and go.
Houses were built of mud
and were thick to keep
heat out.
Houses had multiple rooms
arranged around a
courtyard where the
cooking area was.
Cities had a temple called a
Ziggurat.
It was the center of city
life.
o City Hall
o Where priests ran
the irrigation
system.
o Where priests
controlled the
surplus grain
SPECIALIZED WORKERS
Priests
o Priests worked to
satisfy the gods
o People viewed
priests as leaders
o Priests controlled
the irrigation
system
o Priests controlled
the surplus grain.
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Kings
o Highest-ranked
leader of a group
of people.
o Eventually Sumer
became a
kingdom under
one king.
SOCIAL CLASS: based on who has
power and specific jobs.
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Top Class
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Kings and Priests
In Between Class
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All free people (most)
o Farmers
o Artisans
Lowest Class
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Slaves
All social classes included women.
Women took on many roles but the
main one was to raise children.
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Scribes
o
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Professional
record keepers
They were highly
respected
COMPLEX INSTITUTIONS
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Religion
o Belief in many
gods and
goddesses
(Polytheism)
o 4 main gods
(sky, wind,
foothills, fresh
water)
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Each city-state worshiped
its own gods.
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Thousands of lesser gods.
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Belief that gods looked
and acted like people.
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Belief in an afterlife: the
land of no return.
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Negative view was
probably because life was
so hard.
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RECORD KEEPING
As trade expanded,
merchants needed records
of business exchanges.
Sumerians wanted to
label goods.
Done by scribes
People eventually started
writing about:
o Wars
o Floods
o Reigns of kings
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY
Plow
o Helped
farmers
by
breaking up hard soil.
Wheel
o Helped farmers take
crops to the market
easier.
Potter’s Wheel
o Sumerians could make
pottery faster.
Bronze
o Mixture of copper and tin.
o Lasted longer and stayed
sharper.
Arithmetic
o Based on 60
o Led to calendars
Geometric Shapes
o Used
to
set
land
boundaries.
o Used to make bricks
o Used to build ramps
o Used to dig canals
Picture Writing
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Pictographs were first
used by drawing pictures
of clay tablets.
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Eventually
Sumerians
stopped using pictures
and used symbols called
Cuneiform.
Cuneiform
was written by using a
stylus
and
wedged
shaped marks into clay.
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600 different symbols.