First Civilizations Review

The First Civilization

What did early civilization and ways of life look like in Sumer?

Reorder

Reorder the following communities in order of when they began (1-earliest and 4-most recent)

• Simple Villages

• Complex Villages

• Large Cities

• Civilizations

1

2

3

4

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

Drawing Connections

Simple
villages

Complex
villages

Large
cities

Civilizations

★ Civilization: The society, culture, and way of life in

a particular region.

★ We consider civilizations to be advanced and

complex.

Why?

Because they work
together to solve

problems!

Multiple Choice

Which Mesopotamian civilization was considered the first group to emerge in this region?

• Akkadian

• Egyptian

• Sumer

• Babylonian

Rise of Civilization

●

Sumer was considered the first
civilization in 3300 BCE.

●

Sumer was located between the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers in
southern Mesopotamia.

●

The Sumerians created a government
to solve problems and build/clean
irrigation canals.

Open Ended

Why would ancient people choose to live in cities? List one reason.

Sumerian City-State

More and more people began to live in

cities for:

___________________________

More

___________________________

More

___________________________
Protection

Food

Jobs

Sumerian City-State

Multiple Choice

Which of the following was considered the most important building in a Sumerian city-state.

• The Irrigation Headquarters

• The Capital Building

• Homes

• Ziggurat

Sumerian City-State

● The ziggurat was

considered the mecca (or
most important religious
building) of each city.

● Homes were constructed

from mud and reeds. Walls
were thick to keep out the
heat.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following jobs did priests NOT perform in ancient Sumer?

• Perform religious ceremonies

• Manage surplus

• Manage irrigation

• Create laws for each city-state

Sumerian Religion

● Priests were one of the

most important leaders of
a city-state.

● They worked at the

ziggurat where they ran
the irrigation system and
managed the surplus.

Sumerian Religion

Sumerians were polytheistic, or believed in many gods.

God of
storm

God of
water

God of
wisdom

God of

sun

Draw

Label the three social classes on the pyramid for ancient Sumer.

Sumerian Society

People were grouped into social classes based on income & power.

Upper
Class

Middle
Class

Lower
Class

Upper Class

Kings & Priests were believed to

have a link to the gods.

Landowners, government

officials and military leaders .

Upper
Class

Middle Class

Most Sumerians were in this

social class including farmers,

artisans & free people.

Middle
Class

Lower Class

Enslaved people. No rights or

freedom.

Lower
Class

Sumerian Society

The primary role of women was to take care of the children.