Chapter 3: Ancient Mesopotamia Lesson 3 Life in Sumer

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main ideas Culture Sumerian society was divided into several classes, with kings at the top and slaves at the bottom. Science & Technology Sumerians invented tools and developed special knowledge to improve their lives. Culture Sumerians created a written language called cuneiform that was based on picture writing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_King_List - The Sumerian King List is an ancient manuscript originally recorded in the Sumerian language, listing kings of Sumer (ancient southern Iraq) from Sumerian and neighboring dynasties, their supposed reign lengths, and the locations of kingship — mentions a flood. http://www.ime.gr/chronos/01/en/nl/economy/bone_t.html - Among the material remains of Neolithic settlements, an abundance of artifacts of bone and deer antler in a large morphological variety have been unearthed. http://www.angelfire.com/un/sumeria/edu.html - Cuneiform originally evolved from pictures.  Originally these pictures represented what they looked like, but they eventually ended up representing the sound of the what they looked like.  For example, a picture of water would have originally meant water, but later it would mean the syllable "sh", for the sound that the water makes.

EQ: What were the social classes that made up Sumerian society? • Sumerian society grew complex, split into social groups, or classes - class systems define who has power & prestige vs. less desirable jobs & influence • King, priests led the upper classes (landowners, government officials, merchants) • Most people were of in-between class, including farmers, artisans • Slaves made up lowest class

EQ: What were the social classes that made up Sumerian society? Slaves • Some societies used slaves as cheap labor. Slaves were war prisoners, orphans, poor children, debtors & slaves could do business, borrow money, buy freedom Role of Women • Women had more rights in early Sumer than in later Mesopotamia. Some upper-class women were priestesses, landowners, merchants, artisans; most raised children

http://realhistoryww.com/world_history/ancient/Misc/Sumer_additional/Sumer_add2.htm 2. Sumerian Woman 2500 BC 3. Sumerian Female Harpist 2000 BC

EQ: What tools did the Sumerians invent? Sumerian Science and Technology EQ: What tools did the Sumerians invent? Early Inventions • Plow ca. 6000 B.C., Wheel ca. 3500 B.C., Bronze & Potter’s Wheel 4,500 B.C. Mathematics • Sumerians developed arithmetic to record crops, trade goods • The number system was based on the number 60. Time is one example—60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour. Measuring time helped create calendars • Used triangle, measuring rope to set land boundaries & other geometric shapes to make bricks, ramps, dig canals

Creation of Written Language EQ: How did the Sumerians invent writing? Picture Writing • Invented writing ca. 3000 B.C. for business records, to label goods. First used clay tokens with image of products, later clay tablets. These symbols were pictographs— “picture writing.” Cuneiform • First pictographs showed actual objects, but later stood for ideas, Eventually they stood for sounds; combined sounds to write words • Used sharp reed—stylus—to make wedge-shaped markings in clay - pictures replaced by cuneiform—wedge-shaped symbolic writing Written History • At first records were used mainly for business; later used writing to record history of wars, floods, kings • Assyrian King Ashurbanipal’s library had over 24,000 clay tablet histories, records.

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Lesson summary & so what . . . Sumerian society had several classes. Kings and priests were at the top of society. Slaves were at the bottom. Inventions, such as the wheel and the plow, and mathematical knowledge improved Sumerian life. The Sumerians created a system of writing to record business transactions and histories. Why It Matters Now... The Sumerians developed the first system of writing. Writing makes it easier for people to pass on knowledge from generation to generation.