Chapter 3 Section 2 Rise of Sumeria

1. Chapter 3 Section 2Rise of Sumeria

2. Section 2: The Rise of Sumer • The Big Idea • The Sumerians developed the first civilization in Mesopotamia. • Main Ideas • The Sumerians created the world’s first advanced society. • Looking at Sumerian history and government • Religion played a major role in Sumerian society.

3. Source Material • Since the 1840’s, excavations has brought to light tens of thousands of clay tablets in cuneiform, and ancient cities buried underneath the sand. • Scholars deciphered the Sumerian language by comparison of linguistic styles with Babylonian/Assyrian/Persian (Farsi) languages. • Many clay tablets still lay inside museums , untouched, until scholars have a chance to study and interpret them.

4. Who were the Sumerians

5. The Origins of the Sumerians • The creators of Mesopotamian civilization were the Sumerians, a people whose origins remain unclear.

6. The Appearance of Sumerians • They were a short and stocky people • Many were wore beards some with the upper lived shaved. • They clothed themselves in fleece and wool. • Men had clothes bound at the waist • While women draped garments from the left shoulder. Jewelry made the women of Sumeria show-windows of their husbands prosperity.

8. The City States of Sumer • Most Sumerians were farmers that lived in rural, or countryside, areas. • The center of Sumeria was the urban, or city, areas. • The first cities had about 10,000 residents while by 2000 BC, some cities may have had 100,000 residents. • As a result, the rural and urban areas of Sumeria merged together to become a city state.

10. Characteristics of a City-States • A city-state consisted of a city and all the countryside around it. • The amount of countryside in each city-state depended on its military strength. • Fought each other to gain more farmland • Gained and lost power over time • Had wall around it to protect inhabitants of the city-state from attack

11. History of Sumeria The City States, Akkadian Empire, and Ur Dynasty

12. The First City-States • The City of Kish, was the first major city that dominated Sumeria around 3500 BC. • Its supremacy was short-lived, but later rulers called themselves the “King of Kish” in honor of the city.

13. Other city-states followed, such as Uruk (2700 BC-2650 BC) and its most famous king Gilgamesh, Ur (2650 BC-2550 BC), and finally Lagash.

14. The First Conqueror • King Eannatum of Lagash defeated both armies of Uruk and Ur. • To commemorate his victory, built a stele. It has been called the “Stele of the Vultures”

15. Sumerian Armies • The Sumerians were first to introduce bronze into warfare and fought as spearmen in a mass infantry formation. • The infantry was protected with a large cloak, a large shield, and a bronze helmet • They had a limited number of chariots, which were driven by donkeys. They were slow (15 mph) and the sole purpose was to crash into enemy formations. They would then use their javelins and spears.

17. The First Reformer • Lagash became powerful and ruled an area the size of Rhode Island • King Urukagina (2415-2400 BC), was a reformer who issued decrees aimed at the exploitation of poor by the rich, and of the people by the priests. • “The high priest must no longer come into the garden of a poor mother and take wood from..”

18. The First Reformer • His reign was ended by King Lugal-zaggisi of Umma • Lugal means Great Man • The King destroyed the temples, citizens were massacred in the street, and the idols of the gods were led away in bondage.

19. A new people emerges • Because of Lugal-zaggisi, the Sumerian cities were once again united but weakened by constant conflict. • In time, another people appeared north of the Sumerian city-states. They were called the Akkadians. • The Akkadians were a Semitic people from the Arabian deserts.

20. The First Military Dictator • Sargon (means legitimate king) the Great of Akkad began to build an empire in 2334 BC. • His origin is a legend • “My humble mother conceived me; in secret she brought me forth. She placed me in a basket-boat of rushes; with pitch she closed my door.” • He was rescued by a workman and became a cup-bearer to King of Kish.

21. Sargon the Great • He grew in favor and influence, rebelled, displaced his king, and built a new throne at Akkad. • He took the name “King of the Universe”. • He conquered the neighboring city states and northern Mesopotamia. • In the cities he conquered, he garrisoned the it with Akkadian troops, and replaced other rulers with Akkadian officials.

22. Sargon’s Army • Relied on a permanent professional force of 5,000 men plus local conscripts from vassal cities. • An infantry based army with a mix of chariots and archers. It could only march 50 miles from a logistics base (city). • The first secret of his success was relying on

23. Sargon’s Army • The second secret of Sargon’s success was siegecraft. • With this army he was victorious in 34 battles.

25. The First Empire • For 55 years he ruled the first great empire in history that stretched from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. • He standardize weights and measures, and built a tax system. He held hostage nobles in his capital to keep cities from revolting. • Empire – land with different territories and peoples under a single ruler. • His reign closes with the empire lasting for 100 years before falling into open revolt.

27. The First Barbarian Invasion • The Akkadian Empire falls to revolt and Gutian and Elamite Invasions. • The city of Akkad disappeared and has never been found. • The only remains of the empire will be its history and language • which will be used until the Assyrian Empire. • The city of Ur, under Ur-Nammu, rose to supremacy after Sargon. He re-established law and order and rebuilt ziggurats, roads, walls, and canals.

28. Poem of Ur-Nammu I am Ur-Nammu, I protect my city. I strike those guilty of capital offenses, and make them tremble… My judgments set Sumer and Akkad (region) on a single path. I clamp down on evildoers… I make justice apparent, I defeat wickedness… In the desert, the roads are made up as for a festival, and are passable because of me… I am the good shepherd whose sheep multiply greatly.

29. City of Ur under Ur-Nammu

30. Ziggurat of Ur-Nammu

31. Sumerian Religion

32. The Sumerian Religion • Religion was very important in Sumerian society. It played a role in nearly aspect of public and private life. • The Sumerians practiced polytheism. • Polytheism is the worship of many gods. • Every city had it own god or goddess • Anu, the god of chaos, gave birth to other gods • Shamash was the god of the sun or light • Enlil was the god of air • Inanna(Ishtar)was the goddess of earth • Ningirsu was the god of irrigation (The Lord of Floods) • Tammuz was the god of vegetation. • Sin was the god of the moon • The air was full of spirits to protect or harm souls

35. Sumerian Religion • Sumerians believed that success in every area of life depended on pleasing the gods, and that the gods could bring harvest or floods, or illness and wealth. • Their view of the afterlife was a dark abode of miserable shadows

36. Sumerian Religion • Prayers were offered for advantages here on earth. • Various public rituals, food sacrifices, and libations took place on a daily basis. • It was common for kings to be buried with their retainers, usually persons of importance. In one burial, 68 women were found buried with the king.  

38. Sumerian Prayer from the King Gudea O my Queen, the Mother who established Lagash (The goddess of Bau, patron deity of Lagash) The people on whom you look is rich in power; The worshipper on whom you look, his life is prolonged I have no mother, you are my mother; I have no father, you are my father… My goddess Bau, you know what is good; You have given my life Under your protection, my Mother, in your shadow I will reverently dwell.

39. Sumerian Priests • The people relied on the priests, or ensi, to help them gain the god’s favor. • Priests were people who performed religious ceremonies. • Priests interpreted the wishes of the gods and made offerings to them. • The offerings to the gods included: oxen, goats, sheep, doves, chickens, ducks, fish, dates, figs, cucumbers, butter, oil, and bread. • These offerings were made in temples, or ziggurats. • Enriched by such beneficence, the priests became the wealthiest and most powerful class in the Sumerian city.

41. Sumerian Government and Society

42. Sumerian Social Order • Their was a social hierarchy in Sumeria • Social hierarchy: the division of society by rank or class • Kings were at the top of the order because they claimed to be chosen to rule by the gods. • Social order • Kings • Priests • Skilled craftspeople, merchants, and traders • farmers and laborers made the working class • Slaves

43. Life of the Poor (Rural) • Houses were made of reeds, usually plastered with an adobe mixture of clay and straw moistened with water and hardened by the sun. • The huts had wooden doors, revolving upon socket hints of stone. • The floors were beaten earth; the roofs were arched by bending the reeds together at the top, or were made flat with mud-covered reeds stretched over crossbeams of wood. • Water for drinking was drawn from wells.

45. Life of the Poor (Urban) • Single-story mudbrick homes, arranged along unpaved roads that were only 6 feet in length. • A separate area was set aside to serve as a kitchen, with mud-brick ovens placed outside the rear of the building. • They had no plumbing, so they would bathe in the river and household waste was deposited in the alleyways. (They would put ash and sand over the waste to cover the small)

46. Wealthy Homes • Wealthier Sumerians had homes with several rooms and the house was built in the shape of a U with a garden in the center.  Most Sumerians spent their day in the garden as the inside was always dark, damp and without proper ventilation

47. Life of the Rich • They had separate bathrooms with their own plumbing where slaves poured warm water over them and anointed their body with oils. • They spent their days organizing and planning business ventures, tended religious rites, and entertained guests and visiting dignitaries.

48. A closer look: Sumerian Kings • They were called patesi, or priest king, claiming rule by divine right. • Kings would try to control the priesthood by filling it with their families. • All kings lived in fear of assassination, and lived in an inaccessible palace. • The King led the army and reward commanders with land. • King also established law codes for the territory in which they ruled. Some law codes were shared among the cities.

50. A closer look: Traders • Traders, merchants, and craftspeople formed the middle class of society • Trade was carried chiefly by water, along the major rivers and canals. • Trade was conducted with lands of Egypt and India. • Trade was also conducted normally by barter (primarily with barley), since coinage had not been invented. However, gold and silver were already in use standards of value. • A system of credit even existed