Section 3-1 The Rise of Sumer pp. 55-59
Sumerian civilization is the oldest on Earth.
Chief crop was barley.
Built buildings with mud bricks.

City-States
Surrounded by a wall.
Ziggurat was at the center of the city-state.
Courts were around the ziggurat.
Artisans worked in courts.
Farmers, artisans, and traders stored goods there.
Poor were fed at the courts.

Classes of People
3 Classes of People: Upper Class, Middle Class, Lower Class
Upper Class: priests & merchants
Middle Class: Governenment officials, shopkeepers, artisans.
Lower Class: farmers, unskilled workers, fishermen.
City-states fought with each other.

Religious
Sumerians worshiped 3000 Sumerian gods.
The first Sumerian gods were all males.
Female gods appeared.
Humans were made to be servants of the gods.

Schools
Schools were for the sons of the rich.
Poorer boys worked in the fields.
Schools called tablet houses.
When a student graduated he became a scribe.
He worked for the temple, palace, government, army.
Some scribes worked for merchants.
Some scribes became public writers.

Cuneiform: Sumerian Writing
Sumerian writing was called cuneiform.
Writing developed to keep track of business.
At first pictures represented ideas.
Later pictures represented syllables.

Family Life
Women could buy and sell property, run businesses, sell slaves.
Husband was the head of the household.
He could divorce his wife by sayin, "You are not my wife."
He could sell or rent his wife and children as slaves for three years.
Children were expected to support their parents.

Priests and Kings
Gilgamesh was a famous priest-king.
Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest known story in the world.
Epic Gilgamesh tells about a great flood.
An asembly of free men advised the priest-kings.
Military leaders took the place of priests as kings.
Kingship became hereditary.