Discovering How Sumerian City-States Emerged
Discovering How Sumerian
City-States Emerged
Assignments to hand in: Critical Thinking Questions
Overview: You are going to view pictures of ancient Mesopotamia ("land between two rivers") showing some sort of problem these people faced, read descriptions about them, and then solve the problem for them. At the end, you will learn what historians believe happened.
Step 1: The Setting or Geography: Below is a map of Mesopotamia. Notice how each city marked on the map lies between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, hence the name Mesopotamia. This area is currently called Iraq.
Map of Mesopotamia
Step 2: Solving Sumerian Problems: Look at each of the following pictures and their scenario/problem descriptions. Answer the Critical Thinking Questions at the end of the description, then come up with a solution to the problem. Write down two reasons that justify your decision. Record your answers on the back of the Description Handout.
Food Shortage: Picture/Transparency Problem Description
Uncontrollable Water Supply: Picture/Transparency Problem Description
Building & Maintaining an Irrigation System: Picture/Transparency Problem Description
Attacks by Neighboring Communities: Picture/Transparency Problem Description
Step 3: Conclusion
The first Sumerian city-states were well-protected regions on the southern Mesopotamian plains. These city-states were designed with villages and farmlands surrounding a central city. Some scholars believe that city-states grew out of cities' need to protect themselves from their neighbors during times of war. For this reason, Sumerian city-states had high walls that stretched for as far as six miles around the city. According to the Sumerian "Epic of Gilgamesh," these strong walls had bronze entrance gates and were built of sun-dried brick that seemed to possess the "brilliance of copper." People also dug moats around the city walls to prevent enemies from entering. Most people's homes were located inside the city walls, while their farms lay outside. During a military attack, people living outside of the city's walls fled inside the city for protection.
About 15 city-states arose in the Tigris-Euphrates river valley. Many city-states may have had a population as great as 50,000 people. Near the center of the city were houses that belonged to members of the upper class, which included priests and merchants. Upper-class houses were two stories high and had woolen carpets and whitewashed mud walls. Located near the houses of the rich were one-story, middle-class homes, belonging to crafts-people and some government officials. Ordinary or lower-class Sumerians, such as fishermen and some farmers, lived in small, mud-brick houses at the edge of the city. Finally, slaves owned no property and lived in their owners' houses. Members of each city-state worshipped the city-state's particular God and paid taxes to their government and king.