Meso+JKM

===Group Names - Masuda Mimi, Kiersten Lenherr, Joshua Adkins   ===

-Government-
-City-states were ruled by kings, sumerians believed to have been chosen by the gods to rule in their place. -Kings enforced laws,collected taxes, built temples, and made sure irrigation systems were maintained. -Kings also led their city-states's army, which all city-states needed because they were constantly fighting over land boundaries and the use of water. -A typical army would include both professional soldiers and temporary citizen-soldiers, who were either foot soldiers, or riders of chariots, which were two-wheeled vehicles pulled by a horse. -Kings had other officials under them who would help with his duties. -Scribes helped record laws, while governors ruled over the outlying cities. -Sumerians were the first people to develop a system of writing laws. -A special group of officials looked over canals, and looked for damage and made sure the farmers didn't steal water.

-**Religion- -**A religous system of a civilization includes a set of beliefs, usually in gods or a god, mixed together with a specific form of worship. -Religous beliefs influenced every part of a Sumerians's daily life, and they tried to please their gods in every way, including growing crops and settling disputes. -Sumerians showed thier religous beliefs by building holy temples, called ziggurats. -Some were extremely large, and could be seen 20 miles away. -Since Sumerians believed that gods lived in these ziggurats, they built very special temples at the top of these temples for them, along with a staircase, so the gods could "climb down" to Planet Earth. -Kings and Preists stood inside the temples to ask for blessings from the gods. -Sumerians also used statues to express their beliefs. -Many of the statues were very detailed and lifelike, and showed people worshipping thier gods, with thier eyes pointing towards the heavens. -Sumerians believed that their gods were pleased when they showed devotion, obedience, and love towards them. -Sumerians had many kinds od religious ceremonies, including having human sacrifices, which invlved killing someone as an offer to the gods.

=Stable Food Supplies: = ===Sumerians built many things to help them make a stable food supply because they had a complex society. One of them is the irrigation system. They built canals, dams, and reservoirs to keep a regular supply of water for the plants. They also built plows to prepare the soil for planting. Before the plow was invented farmers used to poke holes in the earth. That took too long so they had to come up with a faster way. Sumerians were the first people to build a plow out of wood. They also had animals like oxen to pull it. ===

=Social Structure: = ===There were a lot of social structures in Sumer. For example, there were different jobs and social levels. At first there was upper class. Upper class people included priests, government officials, and land owners. They were very rich and had beautiful homes. Next was the middle or common class. They were merchants, craftspeople, farmers, and fisherman. They made stuff for the upper class. For example they made jewelery and mirrors. They had houses made of mud-bricks at the edge of the ===


= The Arts: =

=-include creative forms of expression= - include painting, architecture, & music - sumerian metalworkers: weapons and cups - also made mirrors and jewlery - architects made temples and Ziggurats - music was very important - sumarians believed music brought joy to gods - they played drums and pipes -also played small harps called lyres - lyres: wooden instruments made of sound box & strings

= Technolog y: = - sumerians made many technological advances - most important invention:wheel - sumerian potters used wheels as surface for shaping clay into pots - used dicovery to make chariots for army and wheeled carts for farmers - before wheel, dragged carts on flat surfaces called sledges - oxen could pull 3 times more weight with wheeled carts - another great advance: arch - arch: upside down U or V shaped structure that supports weight above it, as in a doorway - arches became common feature of temple entrance & upper class homes