1. Sumer Civilization
History Alive Textbook

2. Stable Food
Supply
 Used (1) IRRIGATION SYSTEM to
farm in the (2) FERTILE
CRESCENT in Mesopotamia
 Invented the (3) PLOW to till the
soil and prepare it for planting
 Before, they poked holes in the
ground using animal bones, which
took a very long time.
 Used (4) OXEN to pull the plow

3. Social Structure
 (5) UPPER: priests, land owners, government officials
 Had large two-story homes made of whitewashed mud walls
in the city center
 (6) MIDDLE: merchants and craftspeople
 Used gold, silver, tin, led, copper, bronze
 Made swords, plows, hoes, mirrors, jewelry
 (7) LOWER: Slaves
 Had no property and lived with owner

4. Government
 City-states were led by kings (8) CHOSEN BY GODS
 Enforced laws, collected taxes, maintained irrigation
and army
 Army made of professional soldiers and temporary
citizen-soldiers
 Foot soldiers, (9) CHARIOT DRIVERS
 (10) GOVERNORS ruled towns outside the main city
 (11) SCRIBES recorded laws

5. Religion
 Affected all parts of life and created a bond between
people
 Believed they could please the gods by showing love and
devotion
 King built and maintained huge temples, or (12)
ZIGGURATS, where the gods lived
 Staircases allowed gods to come down to Earth
 Statues showed people (13) WORSHIPPING
 Religious (14) CEREMONIES involved music and
sometimes human sacrifice

6. Arts
 Painting, architecture, music
 (15) METALWORKERS made weapons, cups,
jewelry, mirrors
 (16) MUSICIANS played music to entertain and
please the gods and people
 Played the drums, pipes, and (17) LYRE, a wooden
instrument with strings that was often decorated

7. Technology
 Most important: (18) WHEEL in (19) 3500 BCE
 Used for pottery, farmer carts, army chariots
 Before, used a (20) SLEDGE, or flat-bottom cart
 Wheeled carts were faster and easier for oxen to pull
 Invented upside-down U and V (21) ARCHES to
make stronger doorways and more beautiful
buildings

8. Writing
 Invented (22) CUNEIFORM, a highly
developed written language, around 2400
BCE
 Wrote on (23) CLAY TABLETS
 Used to track trade
 Based on (24) PICTOGRAPHS, or symbols
that stand for real objects

9. Standard of Ur - War

10. Standard of Ur - Peace