I.        Sumerians Create City-States
·     1stgroup to form a civilization
-      Five key characteristics”
1.    Advanced cities
2.    Specialized workers
3.    Complex institutions
4.    Record keeping
5.    Improved Technology 
·     3000 B.C.- Sumerians built multiple cities
-      All surrounded by fields of barley and wheat
a)    City-state
= functioned as an independent country does today 
1.    Priests and Rulers share control
·     Earliest governments were controlled by the temple priests
·     During war the priests didn’t lead the city, they would choose a tough fighter 
a)    Dynasty
= series of rulers from a single family
2.    The Spread of Cities 
·     2500 B.C.- new cities were arising all over the Fertile Crescent (now Syria)
a)    Cultural diffusion 
= process in which a new idea or a product spreads from one culture to another
     II.        Sumerian Culture
1.    A religion of many gods
a)    Polytheism 
= the belief in more than one God
·     Sumerians built ziggurats to appease their gods 
2.    Life in Sumerian Society
·     Classes of people:
1.    Highest class- kings, landholders, and priests
2.    “Middle class” (ranked next)- wealthy merchants 
3.    Lowest class- slaves
·     There were three different classes of people
3. Sumerian Science and Technology 
·     Three ideas/classes
1. Arithmetic and Geometry
2. Architectural innovations 
3. Cuneiform 


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