The Basics
known as the "cradle of civilization"
Mesopotamia
What does irrigation allow farmers to do?
Water their crops
What system did Mesopotamians use to exchange goods before money?
Bartering
Sumerian people worshiped many gods, a type of belief known as blank
Polytheism
earliest known writing system developed
What is Cuneiform
What two rivers border Mesopotamia?
Tigris and Euphrates
An excess amount of crops, more than needed
Food Surplus
Name two main crops grown in Mesopotamia
Barley, Wheat, or dates
built to honor a god, a large temple
Ziggurat
Sumerian writing developed for what purpose?
Keep records, track agriculture, share information
name one invention developed by Sumerians
Wheel, sailboat, plow, geometry, based 60 system, calendar based off the moon cycles
What was the effects of Irrigation
allowed for the production of more food, supporting larger populations
Farmers, merchants, fishers, and artisans all belonged to this class
Middle Class
Where would a priest rank hierarchically
Upper Class
"Official record keepers"
Scribes
a long poem that tells the story of a hero
Used to channel water to crops in Irrigation
canals
linked Sumer to places far away as India and Egypt, a network of paths used to transport good
Trade Routes
What did Mesopotamians believe would happen if they did not honor their gods?
Natural Disasters (floods, draught, famine)
Sumerian's wrote on what type of surface
Clay Tablets
How were Sumerian city-states different from modern cities?
sovereignty, acted as its own independent government
Flooded rivers were filled with blank, or small particle of soil. This proved to be very good soil for farming.
Silt
Merchants in a traveling group
Caravan
Who acted as mediators between the gods and the people in Ancient Sumerian life?
Priests
Sumerian writing was not phonetic, but rather this type of writing in which characters represented names, objects, or numbers.
Pictographic