1. 7 Characteristics of Civilization 1) Urban centers (cities) 2) Centralized government 3) Organized religion 4) Social classes 5) Writing or record-keeping 6) Monument building 7) Specialized jobs and occupations

2. Mesopotamia: The World’s First Civilization (Began c. 3000 BC)

4. Geography Literally “land between two rivers” (Tigris, Euphrates) -Soil is fertile -Food supply is stable -Flooding is unpredictable -Few natural barriers

5. The Sumerians By 3000 BC, villages grew into city-states (ex.: Ur, Erech, Kish) -Each was independent -Controlled surrounding farmland -Constantly battled w/each other for resources and control

6. Sumerian City-States

7. Sumerian City-State of Ur

8. Lugals (leaders)… were the representatives of the gods on earth commanded absolute power

9. Religion Sumerians believed… -in many gods (polytheistic) -that a council of gods and goddesses ruled the earth -that the gods decided the fate of individuals and cities -in an unhappy afterlife

10. Ziggurats- temples to the gods of the city-states

12. Written Language Need for accurate records led to the development of writing -System began with pictograms and ideograms -Later simplified with the use of symbols to represent sounds and syllables (cuneiform)

13. A stylus was used to make wedge-shaped symbols on tablets of wet clay.

14. Legacy World’s first civilization First to use the wheel, sail, and plow Developed a base 60 number system 12 month calendar Ziggurats may have influenced Egyptian pyramids