1. Bellwork
Bellwork Aug. 2
"My intention is not to write histories, but lives. Sometimes small incidences, rather than glorious exploits, give us the best evidence of character. So, as portrait painters are more exact in doing the face (where the character is revealed) than the rest of the body, I must be allowed to give my more particular attention to the marks of the soul of men. By these, rather than the historical events they participated in, I try to portray their lives. I leave the task of a more complete historical chronicle to others". - Plutarch "Lives of Noble Greeks and Romans“
Response
Many people see history as only a series of events and they fail to see the humanity in history. What is Plutarch’s man point in this quote? What are the merits of looking at history in this way?

2. 3500 BCE
Large numbers of people groups move into to the fertile crescent. It is here that what we call “western civilization” begins.

3. The Land Between The Rivers
The Tigris and Euphrates rivers created a land that was abundant in harvest and prosperity. Without the natural barriers like mountains, this land was easily settled by nomadic people groups.

4. The Start of the Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a time period characterized by the use of bronze tools instead of stone.
The Bronze Age timeline for Mesopotamia begins around 2900 B.C. Unlike other civilizations, the Mesopotamian Bronze Age has the three phases of Early, Middle, and Late. It spanned the Early Dynastic period of Sumer, the Akkadian Empire, and the Old Babylonian and Old Assyrian periods.

5. 3000 B.C.E.
The first Civilization that we define as “Western” develops in Sumeria. This is the southern portion of the Tigris and Euphrates River Valley.

6. Sumerian Advancements
Sumerian culture advanced in the development of writing and agriculture
Sumerian cuneiform is the earliest known writing system.
Farmers raised grain, fruit, vegetables, and barn yard animals.

7. Sumerian Writing
Sumerian cuneiform is the earliest known writing system. Its origins can be traced back to about 8,000 BC and it developed from the pictographs and other symbols used to represent trade goods and livestock on clay tablets. Originally the Sumerians made small tokens out of clay to represent the items. The tokens were kept together in sealed clay envelopes, and in order to show what was inside the envelopes, they press the tokens into the clay in the outside.

8. Sumerian Writing
Over time they realized that the tokens were not needed as they could make the symbols in the clay. They also developed a numeral system to represent multiple instances of the same symbol rather than just inscribing them all. The symbols became stylized over time and eventually evolved into a complete writing system. The earliest texts come from the cities of Uruk and Jamdat Nasr and date back to 3,300BC.

9. Examples of Cuneiform

10. Notable features
Type of writing system: semanto-phonetic - the symbols consist of phonograms, representing spoken syllables, determinatives, which indicate the category a word belonged to and logograms, which represent words.
Direction of writing: variable - early texts were written vertically from top to bottom, but by about 3,000 BC the direction had changed to left to right in horizontal rows. At the same time the signs were rotated 90° anticlockwise and started to be made up mainly of wedges.
Number of symbols: between about 1,000 in older texts to 400 in later texts.
Many of the symbols had multiple pronunciations.
Used to write: Sumerian

11. Cuneiform’s relevance to Western Civ
You will soon read the Epic of Gilgamesh in your English class. Gilgamesh sits down after his long journey to write his whole story on a clay tablet. What type of writing do you think he used in writing said story?
This is the first form of writing know to history, and with creation of this writing, we are able to know so much more about this civilization. It also sets the stage for other forms of writing that are so important to a society. Write down a few examples of written works that have changed the world. Share with the class.

12. Sumerians were the first known civilization to build religious temples called Ziggurats. We will explore more about the relationships of the gods and the people of Mesopotamia tomorrow.