1. Chapter 3 Section 2 The Rise of Sumer

2. An Advanced Society
Ancient Ur
today
Ancient UR
What is rural? It means countryside. Most people of Sumer lived in these areas and were called Sumerians.
What is urban? This means a city area. Some of Sumer’s cities had over 100,000 inhabitants.

3. City-States of Sumer What is a city-state?
Babylon
today
What is a city-state?
A city-state consisted of a city and all the countryside around it.
The amount of countryside depended on the military strength, fighting each other for more farmland.
Ancient
Babylon

4. Who was Gilgamesh?
Gilgamesh was one of Uruk’s kings around 2700 BC Uruk was a city-state of Sumer.
To many, he was a mythological demigod, 2/3’s god 1/3 man.
He had the famous walls of Uruk built.
He became a legendary figure in Sumerian literature.
Story
About
Gilgamesh On
Clay tablet
Stone
carving of
Gilgamesh

5. The Rise of the Akkadian Empire
Who were the Akkadians? They were a group of people who lived north of Sumer and were not Sumerians.
They had a different language and lived in peace with the Sumerians for many years.

6. Who was Sargon?
Sargon was an Akkadian king who ruled from BC. He was a king who like to go to war to capture neighboring kingdoms. It was said that his army defeated Gilgamesh and tore the walls of Uruk down.
Soldiers were
first to use
bows and
arrows

7. What is an Empire?
An empire is land with different territories and peoples under a single rule.
Sargon was said to be the first king to create a multi-cultural, centrally ruled empire that lasted for 56 years.
Babylonian
ruins

8. Religion Shapes Society Sumerian Religion
Ziggurat
is a place
of worship
Sumerian
god
What is polytheism? It is the worship of many gods.
Sumerians worshipped many gods.
Each city-state worshipped one god as its protector.

9. Sumerian Social Order
Sumerian
priest
Who are priests? Priests are people who performed religious ceremonies. They had high social status in Sumer. People relied on them to help gain god’s favor. They also interpreted the wishes of the gods.
Ziggurat

10. What is social hierarchy?
King
and
priest
Social hierarchy is the division of society by rank or class.
Kings
Priests/Priestesses
Skilled craftspeople, merchants, traders
Farmers and laborers
Peasants/Slaves
Traders, farmers and laborers made up the large working class.
Laborers
and
slaves

11. Men and Women in Sumeria
Beautiful
headdresses
Men and women had different roles.
Men held political power and made laws.
Women took care of children and the home.
Some upper class women were educated and were priestesses in the temples and helped shape Sumerian culture.
Men
wore
skirts

12. The Sumerian city of Ur
Ur was not discovered until the 1800’s. Until that time, people thought Ur was a legend. Excavations in the 1920’s indicated that the city was established around 4000 BC. In the 1950’s archaeologists found the oldest known written laws at Ur They date back to 2050BC.

13. Hanging Gardens
of ancient
Babylon
Summary
Ishtar’s
Gate
Sumerian city-states were formed early in Mesopotamian history and were very successful. Religion and society were very important in Sumerian’s lives.