Lesson 2: The Sumerians (The Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia, and the Persian Empire)
🏙️ An Advanced Society
🌆 City-States of Sumer
Long ago in southern Mesopotamia, people built cities like Ur, Uruk, and Lagash. Each city was its own city-state. That means it had:
Its own king
Its own army
Its own gods
But the cities often fought each other over land and water.
👑 Fun Fact: The city of Uruk had over 50,000 people! That’s bigger than many towns today.
⚔️ Rise of the Akkadian Empire
In time, a powerful leader named Sargon of Akkad came from the north. He had a strong army and took over many Sumerian cities.
He made the first empire in the world!
🗺️ Story: Sargon started poor. He worked for a king, but later became king himself and ruled over many people from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea!
🙏 Religion Shapes Society
⛪ Sumerian Religion
The Sumerians believed in many gods. Each god had a job—one for the sun, one for water, one for war.
They built tall temples called ziggurats to worship the gods. Priests lived and worked there.
👂 Story: People believed gods could bring good crops or bad floods, so they gave gifts and prayed to keep the gods happy!
👥 Sumerian Social Order
Sumerian society had different classes:
Kings and priests were at the top
Farmers and workers were in the middle
Slaves were at the bottom
This helped keep the cities organized.
🧕 Men and Women in Sumer
Men usually ruled and had jobs like priests or builders.
But some women were priestesses, and some even ran businesses!
📜 Fun Fact: One Sumerian woman, Enheduanna, was a priestess and a famous poet. She’s the first known author in history!
✍️ The Invention of Writing
Around 3,200 BCE, Sumerians created cuneiform — the first writing system. They used a reed (a small stick) to press marks into clay tablets.
They used writing to:
Record trade
Write laws
Tell stories
📘 Story: One famous story is The Epic of Gilgamesh, about a strong king who searched for eternal life. It's one of the oldest stories in the world!
🛠️ Advances and Inventions
🧪 Technical Advances
The Sumerians were inventors! They made:
The wheel
The plow
The sailboat
These made farming, travel, and trade much easier.
🚜 Fun Fact: The plow helped farmers break the soil faster, which meant more food and more people!
➗ Math and Sciences
Sumerians loved numbers! They used math to:
Measure land
Build walls and temples
Create calendars
They counted in groups of 60 — that’s why an hour has 60 minutes today!
🔭 Story: Sumerian priests studied the stars and moon to predict seasons for farming.
🎨 The Arts of Sumer
🏛️ Architecture
Sumerians built beautiful ziggurats from mud bricks. These buildings were tall and shaped like steps. People believed gods lived at the top.
They also built homes, walls, and palaces.
🎭 The Arts
Sumerians made:
Pottery
Jewelry
Statues
Music
They even played harps and flutes!
🎶 Story: In the city of Ur, archaeologists found an old harp made of gold and wood. It was over 4,000 years old!
🌟 Why It Matters
The Sumerians gave us:
Writing
The wheel
Laws
Great stories
And the idea of cities
They were the first people to build a civilization, and their ideas still shape our world today.