1. CHAPTER 4: The Rise of Sumerian City-States

2. Mesopotamia: The land between the rivers
Tigris & Euphrates Rivers
Modern-day Iraq
1st cities appear In Sumer
LINK: Interactive Timeline & Map

3. City-States Earliest cities date back to 3500 BCE
Each city was like a small, independent country
Each had its own ruler
Each had its own farmlands

4. A Difficult Environment
Mesopotamians were farmers Farms need water
4 Key Problems:
Food shortages in the hills
Uncontrolled water supply on the plains
Difficulties building and maintaining irrigation systems to serve several villages at once
Attacks by neighboring communities
Q: What might neighbors fight over?

5. Q: Why did people move to the plains?
Food Shortages
By 5000 BCE there is not enough land in the foothills to grow enough food for everyone
Climate:
Foothills: mild weather, plentiful rain, timber for building
Plains: dry, little rain, no trees or stones for building, rivers that flood
The plains were called Sumer and the people who lived there were called Sumerians
Q: Why did people move to the plains?

6. Uncontrolled Water Supply in the River Valley
Spring: rain and melted snow from the mountains flood the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
Rest of the year: sunbaked soil, dry, hard as stone
Either too much water or not enough
Sumerians built levees & dams

7. Euphrates river canal

8. Building and Maintaining a Complex Irrigation System
Canals bring water from the river
Irrigation passed through many villages
Silt clogs canals
Working together helped communities grow
SILT
VERY FINE MUD

9. Village
Town
City

10. Attacks by Neighboring Communities
Cities fought over the right to use water.
The plains offer no natural barriers for protection.
Sumerians build walls to protect their cities.

12. Was Ancient Sumer a Civilization?
Writing
Technology
Stable Food Supply
Social Structure
Government
Religion
The Arts

13. Sumerian Civilization
Cuneiform
Wheel
Plow
Social Class
King
Ziggurat
Music

14. Summary
The people of Mesopotamia solved problems in order to live successfully in their environment
Their solutions led to building large walled city states
Sumer had a complex social structure, government, religion, and culture
Sumer was one of the world’s first civilizations