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The Sumerians

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  • What were the major crops and raised animals in Sumer? (2 of each to win)
    Wheat, barley, and dates. / Sheep, goats, and pigs.
  • Describe how the Tigris and Euphrates behaved along the year. (Base your answer on seasonal changes).
    Little rain fell in the summer leaving the rivers low. Rains and melting snow caused the overflow their banks in spring.
  • What were the roles of Sumerian girls and women?
    Running the home, teaching their daughters to do the same and care for children. However they had a few rights and owned businesses.
  • Why were Sumerians considered to be polytheistic?
    Because they worshipped many gods.
  • Why was silt useful for farmers?
    After floods, silt particles brought by water proved to leave fertile soil for farming.
  • What modern territory did Mesopotamia develop in?
    Southern Iraq.
  • Why were Sumerian cities cut off from each other and what did this cause?
    Mudflats and deserts made it hard to travel and communicate which resulted in independent cities with their own politics and economy.
  • What was the Fertile Crescent?
    A curving strip of good farmland that extended from the Mediterranean sea to the Persian gulf.
  • What did the Sumerian family-caring rules say.
    Parents had to care for their children and children had to care for their parents if they needed help.
  • How many people lived in Sumerian city-states approximately?
    From 5,000 to 20,000 people.
  • What does it mean that both the Tigris and the Euphrates ran almost parallel?
    It means that both rivers ran in the same direction almost keeping the same distance between them.
  • What was the main building material people used in Sumer?
    Mud and crushed reed bricks.
  • Explain the process to write in cuneiform.
    In a damp clay tablet people carved wedge-shaped marks with a sharp reed. They they let the tablet to dry.
  • What modern territories does the Fertile Crescent include? (3 to win)
    Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan.
  • How did surpluses change the lives of people in Mesopotamia?
    They didn't need to farm so they became artisans who began to live in places that favored trade making villages to become cities.
  • How is the Sumerian system of writing called?
    Cuneiform.
  • Explain who were part of Sumerian lowest class.
    Slaves and criminals.
  • What were surpluses?
    Extra amounts of food farmers could grow due to the irrigation system people made.
  • Explain who were part of Sumerian middle class. (3 to win)
    Merchants, farmers, fishers, and artisans.
  • Explain the Mesopotamian irrigation system.
    People learned to build dams to control seasonal floods, then they dug canals that took water from a water source to their fields.
  • Why did city-states fight each other?
    Resources, territory, or glory.
  • What kind of relation existed among Sumerian life and their gods?
    Sumerians thought that gods had power over nature and that they guided the things they did so they honored them to help them.
  • What were the roles of Sumerian boys and men?
    Be the head of the home, going to school and be trained for a specific job.
  • How did the first civilizations of Mesopotamia form their social classes?
    Depending on their occupations.
  • Which were the first cities in Southwest Asia built by Sumerians?
    Ur, Uruk, and Eridu.
  • Who were the scribes?
    Men who wrote documents that recorded everyday life in Mesopotamia.
  • How did Sumerians pass from theocracy to monarchy?
    After ziggurat priests ruled, groups of important people started helping, these people became the first kings claiming their power came from the gods.
  • Mention Sumerian contributions related to technology. (3 to win)
    The wheel, wheeled vehicles, the sailboat, bronze, and the potter wheel.
  • How many characters did cuneiform had approximately?
    1,200 different characters.
  • What does the word "Mesopotamia" mean?
    "The land between the rivers".
  • What were the ziggurats?
    Pyramid-shaped structures with a temple at the top.
  • Explain who were part of Sumerian upper class. (3 to win)
    Kings, priests, warriors, and government officials.
  • How did cities become city-states?
    Gaining economic and political control over the lands around them.
  • What were the main two rivers of Mesopotamia?
    The Tigris and the Euphrates.
  • Mention Sumerian contributions related to Math. (4 to win)
    Geometry, a numerical system based of 60, 60 min hour, 60 second minute, 360 degree circle, 12 month calendar.
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