SS Chapter 5 (6-9) Flashcards
an ancient Mesopotamian temple tower with an outside ____ and _____ at the top
ziggurat….staircase….shrine
what includes 2 things - a set of beliefs and form of worship
religious system
what influenced every part of daily life
religious beliefs
religious towers and temples
ziggurats (ZIHG-guh-rats)
who’s duty was it to build & maintain the ziggurats
the kings
how far away could they be seen and how big were the ziggurats
- 20 miles away
- 8 stories high
- 200 feet wide
who did the Sumerians believe lived in the ziggurats?
their g-ds
what events took place during religious ceremonies
- musicians played
- human sacrifice
what is culture
a characteristic of civilization that includes the beliefs and behaviors of a society or group of people
What did the ARTS include?
forms of expression like painting, architecture, and music
What did the lyre decorations signify?
how much the Sumerians valued music
What is a lyre?
- a small harp
- wooden instrument made of a sound box and strings
- decorated with stones & carvings
what was the most significant invention
the wheel, dating back to 3500 BCE
how were the first wheels used
shaping clay into pots
what were the flat bottom carts called that people used to drag their goods, before the wheel was invented?
sledges
why were sledges difficult to use?
- got stuck in the mud
- couldn’t support heavy loads
what do some historians say is the Sumerians’ greatest architectural achievement?
arches
what is an arch?
upside-down U or V shaped structures built above doorways
what is cuneiform
Sumerian’s written language, developed around 2400 BCE
where does “cuneiform” come from and what does it mean
- comes from Latin word for “wedge”
- Sumerians used a wedge-shaped stylus (sharp pointed tool) to etch their writing in clay tablets
how many characters did cuneiform have at first and how many did it have over time?
2000 symbols to stand for ideas and sounds. Over time, the symbols were reduced to about 700
what was cuneiform based on
pictographs
symbols that stand for real objects, like a snake or object
pictographs
