SS test 1 part 2

o Some literature were epics, long poems about heros

• A pyramid-shaped ziggurat rose above each city.

• Most people lived in one-story houses with rooms around a courtyard

City-state – a political unit consisting of a city and the surrounding countryside Gilgamesh – a Uruk king who became a legend in Sumerian literature.

Empire – land with different territories and peoples under a single rule Ziggurat – a pyramid-shaped temple tower

• People known as Sumerians created and advanced society – about 3000 BC

• Sargon, leader of Akkadians, established the world’s first empire

• Sumerians practiced polytheism (the worship of many gods)

• Every area of life depended on pleasing the gods.

• People would rely on priests to help them gain the gods favor

• Social hierarchy

o Developed in Sumerian city-states

o Kings were at the top, followed by priests and nobles

o Farmers and laborers made up the large working class

o Slaves were at the bottom

o Most women were limited to the home and raising children o Some upper-class women were educated and some became

priestesses

• Invention of writing

o Sumerians developed cuneiform, the worlds first system of writing o Sumerian scribes used cuneiform for business records.

o Scribes wrote works on history, law, math and literature.

o Some literature were epics, long poems about heros

• A pyramid-shaped ziggurat rose above each city.

• Most people lived in one-story houses with rooms around a courtyard and mathematics

Phoenician Trade and Culture

• Fleets of fast Phoenician trading ships sailed all around the Mediterranean Sea, even into the Atlantic ocean through the strait of Gibraltar

• They founded colonies along their trade routes