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Characteristics of Civilization
• high level of culture and order
• social classes
• different types of jobs
• science and the arts
• government
• values and beliefs
Mesopotamia is the land between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. It is located in Southwest Asia. The first known civilization started there. A civilization is a group of people who have a high level of culture and order. People in a civilization belong to different social classes and do different types of jobs. A civilization has science and the arts. It also has a government, values, and beliefs. People first stayed in Mesopotamia around 7000 B.C. These people hunted. They also raised animals for food. People started to farm around 4000 B.C. They did this in the valley between the two rivers. To grow crops, farmers need water for the soil. Farmers in Mesopotamia got water from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Sometimes, though, it rained too much. This caused the rivers to flood. A flood is when water overflows from a river onto land. Floods could destroy crops, but they also left the land covered with silt. Silt is a rich soil. It is good for farming.
To control the floods, the people of Mesopotamia built dams. A dam is a wall that stops the flow of water. They also dug canals. A canal is a ditch that lets water flow to the fields. Watering crops using canals is called irrigation. By using irrigation, farmers could grow large amounts of food. The people of Mesopotamia had extra food, or a surplus. As a result, not everyone needed to farm. Some people could become artisans. An artisan is a person who makes a good, such as cloth, tools, or weapons. Soon people began to live together in places that helped them trade goods. Before long, small villages grew into cities. By 3000 B.C., many cities had started and grown in Sumer. Sumer is the region in southern Mesopotamia.
Sumer’s Civilization
The people of Sumer were called Sumerians. They built many cities. The cities of Sumer had deserts around them. Deserts were hard to travel across. As a result, each city stood alone. As cities grew, they gained control of the land around them. In this way, they formed city-states. Each city-state had its own government. It was not part of a larger nation. Historians believe that each city-state was surrounded by a large wall. Sometimes Sumerian city-states fought each other. During times of peace, they traded with each other. The Sumerian people worshiped many gods. This type of belief is called polytheism. Each city-state, though, claimed one god as its own. To honor this god, the city-state
built a large temple called a ziggurat. A temple is a building used to worship a god or many gods. People in Sumer were divided into social classes. The upper class included kings, priests, warriors, and government workers. People in this class were powerful and wealthy. The middle class had farmers, fishers, and artisans. It was the largest group. Enslaved people made up the lowest class. They had no money and no power. The basic unit of Sumerian life was the family. Men were the head of the family. Women ran the home and cared for the children.
Sumerian City-State -
Had its own government
_Worshiped many gods but claimed one god as its own
Formed alliances with other city-states
Owned surrounding land
Grew its own crops
Ruled by a king