SUMERIAN CIVILIZATION

The First Civilization and People in History

In Ancient Mesopotamia

GROUP 2
GRADE 12National
Maulana Azad FIDELITY
Institute of Technology
The world’s first civilizations all began in
river valleys  Good farming
conditions
 Provided fish and
freshwater
WHY?
 Easy to travel
 Easy to trade (way
goods and ideas
moved from place
to place)
To the north and
Mesopotamia west, it fades into the
Civilization plains of Syria
The Tigris and
Euphrates rivers sit
in the land as
dominant physical
feature
To the south and
west, it fades into the
Arabian desert
The Sumerians were the first civilization in this area.
GEOGRA
PHY
Early Mesopotamia was situated in
the Middle East, in which is now
present day Iran and Iraq. Back
then, Mesopotamia was a
mountainous country. The two
rivers that Mesopotamia was amid
by were the Tigris and the
Euphrates rivers. The Tigris was
on the east while the Euphrates
was on the west.
 The first civilizations
appeared in the Fertile
Crescent, in the fertile
plains between the
Tigris and Euphrates
rivers.
 FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT
T H E T I G R I S A N D E U P H R A T E S R I V E R S A R E F L O O D E D O N C E PE R Y EA R , L E A V I N G B EH I N D F E R T I L E S O I L
I D E A L F O R F A R M I N G O F T E N C A L L ED T H E “ FERTILE CRESCENT ” OR THE
“ CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION ”

 Probably settled before 5000 B.C.

 Lasted for approximately 3000 years
 The Mesopotamian plain – mainly
alluvial
Clay – abundantly and cheaply
available
building materials.
Brick manufacture – sun dried or
Kiln burnt
 The district was named as
IMPACT OF GEOGRAPHY (LOCATION)
Unpredictable
Limited flooding
natural during periods
resources, of little rain
especially / dry summer
building
No natural barriersLack for
of protection,
building city walls were built
materials
months
materials
around cities ditches, brought water to fields
Dug irrigation
‐ stone, wood, metal
Used Mud Bricks

Trade
Traded with people around them for the
products they lacked
 SOCIAL
STRUCTURE
Pri
est Powerful priests held much
s Privileged-groups:
Non-privileged
Mesopotamian
Slaves:
political power in the groups:
group without
beginning.
Kings and controlled
produced
rights.
Military theproducts
the
They
commanders power
were and
their
eventually
hierarchy: privileged
the
became
neededwealth.
monarch creating a new
by property.
society
Nobility master’s They
groups and non-
structure
The of government
Monarch
Farmers, peasants,
became slaves through
called a
Dynasty.
Scribes The priests
stockbreeder
privileged groups.
conquest
Dynasty
The army
(war
is a series
and
prisoners)
of
the
rulers
civil
Merchants,
descending or from
traders,
a single family
servants debts.
Craftsmen and Peasants line.craftsman

Slaves
SOCIET
Y  Population increased thanks
to the production of food
and the prosperity achieved
through commerce.
 They were urban
civilizations. Most of the
people lived in the city-
state.
 The social division
increased. It was connected
to their function within the
city.
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION
The monarch controlled
the
Due
The city-state
to
most and was city-
agricultural
important in
Need of:
charge for defense led to
states
and incommercial
Sumer were Ur,
an increase
Executive in the
power:
Uruk and Lagash.
prosperity,
importance
governmentof neolithic
military
They had in common
Legislative
commanders
villages power: law
and,
became
racial features but they
Military
finally, topower:
the army
creation
independent
were independent
Religious power:
city-
in
of monarchies.
politics.
states.
connections to the god
Judicial power: justice
 MESOPOTA
MIAN
RELIGION
Each city-state was
Polytheistic: their gods were
under the protection of a
similar to human beings but
god.
they were immortal.
They
Templesbelieved
were theingod’s
life
after deathonand
residences buried
Earth. They
their built
were deadonwith
stepped
pyramids
everything called
theyziggurats.
would
possibly need.
 ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTERSTICS
 Mud was the main building material.
 Mud was formed into sun brick and built into massive walls
 Spaces were narrow because of the walling material.
 Façade of buildings were whitewashed and painted to hide the lack of
attraction of the material.
 Temples was their major building type.
CONTRIBU
TIONS
Inventions and customs of
the Sumerians and
Babylonians were copied
and improved upon by
other cultures.
CONTRIBU
 Invented the wheel
TIONSwhich
Oldestaided
Invented written
the sailboat
 Invented the plow
transportation
 Developed
records
which
which ina the
replaced
allowed12muscle
month
world

 The wheel was
calendar
power
farmers based
First written
with
to wind onalso
laws
grow the
power
more
 used
cycles forthe
of
Cuneiform
Sailboats
food chariots
moon for
was athem
enabled
Ittobattle.
marked
model thethe
for
participate
 With times
in offor
other
advent
religious
The wheel helped
people’s
commerce
the plow,festivals
system andof
of
withlabor
the
them
a few get
planting
writing
relatively intosustain
faraway
could battle
lands,
quicker. 
including
many. lands as
distant as India.