1. Features of Sumerian Civilization

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3. Farming the land
Farmers used technology to turn Mesopotamia’s land into productive farmland.
Technology - practical application of knowledge to accomplish a task.
Examples of technology:
Irrigation
bring water to their crops.
Seed Funnel
allowed the seeds to automatically drop into the soil as farmers plowed.

4. Sumerian Irrigation System

5. Sumerian Seed Funnel

6. CITIES EMERGE Sumer was a collection of city-states in Mesopotamia
Increase in food production, populations also grow
this growth in populations led to the creation of cities and eventually city-states.
city-state - an independent state that includes a city and its surrounding territory
A city-state also has its own government.
Sumer was a collection of city-states in Mesopotamia

7. City of Ur drawing, 3,800 B.C.

8. TRADE Each city-state was the center of trading.
Trading was often done through the barter method.
Barter method – exchanging goods or services of similar value, not using money

9. SOCIAL CLASSES
The Sumerians had a class system that had three distinct classes:
Upper(priest, landowners, wealthy merchants, rulers)
Middle(farmers and skilled workers)
Lower(slaves).

10. Social Classes in Sumeria

11. Sumerian religion there was a God for every aspect of their lives.
Sumerian people practiced polytheism
the belief in more than one God.
there was a God for every aspect of their lives.
Sun, moon, earth, water
They believed that the Gods lived like humans
they married, had children
but they did not die like humans.

12. SUMERIAN RELIGION
Pic of Ziggurat, Sumerian religious temple.

13. Sumerian Writing Sumerians initially started drawing pictographs.
this led to Cuneiform that uses triangular-shaped symbols to stand for ideas or things.
The priests of Sumer created this system.
Cuneiform used to record things such as taxes paid, agreements, and sales

14. SUMERIAN WRITING Sumerian Alphabet Image shows that they
used phonics in their
pronunciation of words.
Image taken from:
ancientscripts.com

15. Cuneiform

16. Sumerian government
Image shows the Sumerian king Anunnaki sitting on the throne. Image taken from:
1anunnaki.co.cc

17. KINGS, PRIESTS, LAWS, ACHIEVEMENTS
Priests were known as the major rulers of city-states.
When states went to war, priests often appointed someone to be a military leader.
When the war was over, the military leader sometimes would retain their power and thus they became kings.
Think:
How could priests take advantage of this system to increase their own power?

18. KINGS, PRIESTS, LAWS, ACHIEVEMENTS
Kings were careful to respect the rights and the powers of the priests.
Kings had city laws written about slavery, marriage, and causing harm to others.
Sumerians developed bronze because it made better weapons and tools