River Valley Civilization

1. River Valley Civilization

2. Bellringer • Glue in the papers you picked up and glue in the following order • Page 20: Unit 2: Vocabulary • Page 21: Preview • Page 22: STAIRS notes • Page 23: GRAPES notes • Page 24: Problems with Sumer • Page 25: Process • Page 26:Homework

3. Agenda • Notes starting with the STAIRS worksheet • GRAPES • Problem with Sumer • Process • Homework

4. Homework • Ancient Middle East and Ziggurats and Cuneiform articles

5. S.T.A.I.R.s Specialized workers Technology Advanced cities Institutions Record keeping

6. Sumer GRAPES

7. What is GRAPES? G • Geography • Religion • Achievements • Political • Economics • Social R A P E S

8. Sumer: Geography • Southern Mesopotamia • Part of the Fertile Crescent Aleppo Jericho

9. Glossary Help • Mesopotamia- The land between two rivers (in the Middle East) – the first river valley civilization • Fertile Crescent-A crescent-shaped area of fertile land in the Middle East

10. Physical Geography • Two rivers, lots of fertile land • Flat • Mountains and deserts beyond the flat land • Neighbors were nomads in the desert and northern Mesopotamia…we’ll meet them soon

11. Sumer: Religion • Polytheism – belief in many gods • What did their gods do? • Ziggurat – temple and city-center • Animal sacrifices and offerings • Why are priests so important in Sumer?

12. Temple to Nanna, Ur This large temple, dedicated to the god Nanna, was built around 2100 B.C. by King Ur-Nammu, in the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur. (Michael S. Yamashita/Corbis; ABC-CLIO)

13. Offerings to the Gods King Ur-Nammu makes an offering to the moon god Nanna. Ur-Nammu reigned over the Sumerian city of Ur from about 2112 to 2095 B.C. The stela dates to around 2060 B.C. (Bettmann/Corbis; ABC-CLIO)

14. Sumer: Achievements • Inventions • Wheel • Sail • Plow • Base-60math (used today in clocks and circles

15. Achievements • Architecture (ziggurat) • Writing – cuneiform • Earliest writing used pictograms, pictures that stand for words • Later evolved into a set of symbols representing about 300 sounds

16. Early Writing Clay tablet with pictograms from Mesopotamia. (Multimedia Library; ABC-CLIO)

17. Sumerian inscription, detail of a statue of Gudea of Lagash, 22nd century BC (Brittannica) Ancient Sumerian tablet with cuneiform, one of the earliest forms of writing. This tablet, from 2039 BC, tracks disbursements of wages to supervisors of day laborers. (Library of Congress; ABC-CLIO)

18. Detail from an Assyrian tablet with cuneiform writing. The Assyrian alphabet contained 19 simple letters and approximately 300 cuneiform symbols. (Shutterstock; ABC-CLIO) DRAW A PICTURE OF CUNEIFORM AND DESCRIBE THE CHARACTERISTICS!

19. Arts Sumerian figurine of a woman sitting and holding a small vase. (Erich Lessing/Art Resource; ABC-CLIO)

20. Standard of Ur – War

21. Standard of Ur – Peace

22. Sumer: Political • Priests ruled in peace, military leaders during wars • Eventually, a military leader made himself king and created a dynasty

23. Sumer: Political • Each city-state had its own king • Ur, Uruk, Umma, Lagash, Kish • Leaders collected taxes and organized labor (for, say, irrigation)

24. Sumer: Economic • Agriculture-based • Trade very important • Traded food for stone, wood, and metal • Then made tools and traded them for more stuff

25. Sumer: Social Priests Wealthy Merchants Working Class (Farmers, Artisans) Slaves (Foreign Prisoners, Sold Children) Why were merchants so respected?

26. Women’s Rights • Women could • Own property • Be educated • Have important jobs • Women could not • Rule the city or be the head priest

27. Mesopotamia: Did the Sumerians create a civilization? • Using the S.T.A.I.R.s work sheet provided in your packet, walk around to the different posters hanging to decide if the question above it correct.