The Super Sumerians!

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The Super Sumerians!

• 3500 B.C. 2000 B.C.

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Ancient Sumer

1. Located in Southern Mesopotamia near the Persian
   Gulf
2. The rivers would flood annually which was good
   for crops but not good for living conditions
3. Created dams and channels to control the flooding
   and dug waterways and canals to irrigate their
   crops.

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City-States

1. There was no country of Sumer
2. Many separate city states different ways of
   doing things
3. Almost like many different countries
4. These cities often fought with each other over
   power and land
5. Each city usually had a wall around it for
   protection

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Religion

1. Sumerians believed in many gods like the god of
   farming and god of flooding polytheistic
2. Built Ziggurats for Priests and Priestesses so
   they could worship these gods. Only they could
   enter the Ziggurats
3. Ziggurats means mountain of god or hill of
   heaven

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Daily Life

• Most people lived by farming
• Some were artisans which means they worked with
  metals, cloth or pottery
• People were made slaves because
• They owed money and were working off their debt
• They were captured in a war and were now a
  prisoner of Sumer
• They committed a crime and that was their
  punishment

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Three Social Classes

• Upper class (rich)
• Smallest number of people
• Kings, Priests, Government Officials
• Middle Class
• Most amount of people
• Artisans, Merchants, Fisherman, Farmers
• Lower Class
• Slaves who worked on farms or in temples

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Writing

1. Sumerians were the very first people to develop a
   written language
2. Writing was called cuneiform
3. Only a few people knew how to read and write.
   They were called scribes.

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Other Advances/Inventions

1. Invented the wheel
2. Created the plow for farming
3. Made first sailboat wind power
4. Divided time into 60 minute hours and 60 second
   minutes
5. Created the 360 degree circle
6. Studied the stars and moon Beginnings of
   Astrology
7. Created the 12 month calendar

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The End of Sumer

1. Over time, fighting lead to the weakening of
   these city-states and other empires began to take
   control of the region known as Sumer.
2. The Akkadians under the leadership of Sargon
   eventually dominated all of Mesopotamia
   (including Sumer) by 2340 B.C.
3. Sumerian culture eventually blends in with the
   new cultures of the area, but cuneiform is used
   until the 1st century A.D.!!!

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Sargon and the Akkadian Empire!