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Early Civilization of the Near East: Sumer and Akkad, PPT Notes, What is a…

- - - - used Sumerian letters to make language
- - - - good for creating crops: floods
        
        to create fertile, rich soil
        
        to gates on ditches to control amount of water flow
        
        made a surplus of food
        
        gave spare time
- - - - hooked up to an animal: bull, ox...
- - - - sometimes more than half of the population
  - - - how to deal with and distribute surplus
  - - - kings and priests use the money for the army, repairs, etc.
- - - - to be humble
    - - everyone is mortal, so try to achieve as much as you can
      - it's ok to fail, keep trying but be humble
      - even kings cannot match gods - their mortality and failures make them very human
      - do not try to find happiness elsewhere - look closer to home (gilgamesh became a kind king to his people)
- - - - Sumerians believed in four main gods: gods of sky, wind, foothills, and fresh water
    - - then as other civilizations invaded, they needed a stronger leader
        
        kings
        
        cities were being invaded because they were becoming more wealthy and bigger
        
        people turned to more powerful men for help (against invaders)
        
        turned to people called Lugal-gals, or "big man"
        
        overtime, as they were more needed, they became the leaders
        
        the land they ruled were called kingdoms
        
        and a part of their role was to make laws
        
        1 more item...
- - - - walls were very thick
        
        to keep the heat out
      - a typical sumerian city house had a courtyard covered with palm leaves (placed over wooden beams)
        
        loose layering of palm leaves allowed cooking smoke to escape
        
        also helped protect Mesopotamians from the sun
    - - lower class had one storey houses (?)
  - - - gathered reeds from river
- - - - priests of the ziggurat ran the irrigation systems
        
        people of the city paid the priests with grain and other goods for the irrigation
        
        priests controlled the storage of surplus grain
        
        often controlled most of the city's "money"
        
        one of the upper classes
- - - - city of uruk was close to the euphrates river
        
        uruk controlled 76 nearby villages and was enclosed in a 4 mile long brick wall
    - - located on euphrates river, and south of uruk
        
        as it was so close to the river, it kept the city well-supplied - including wealth (money?)
        
        river-trade; trading by river
        
        but because it was so close to the river, when the river changed its course, ur lost all its wealth and power
- - - - source of ivory, gold, and carnelian beads