Unit 1 

: Ancient Civilizations
Lesson : Mesopotamia’s Civilization

I/ Before you Read: Circle the letter that best completes the statement.
1 Mesopatamia saw the emergence of the earliest of known civilizations :
a) The Egyptian civilization
b) The Phoenician civilization
c) The Sumerian civilization
2 Mesopotamia is a Greek word that means :
a) fertile crescent
b) between the rivers
c) lands of great pottery
3 The Tigris and Euphrates are:
a) mountains
b) gods
c) rivers
Text:
In Southern Mesopotamia, a people known as the Sumerians developed the World’s first civilization.
No one knows where they came from or when they moved to the region. However, by 3000BC, several
hundred thousand Sumerians settled in Mesopotamia. In the land, they called Sumer.
The Tigris and Euphrates rivers are the most important physical features of Mesopotamia.
Mesopotamia means “between the rivers” in Greek. The region is part of a large area called the Fertile
Crescent, a large arc of rich or fertile farmland.
Although Mesopotamia had fertile soil, farming was not easy there. When a great amount of rain
fell, water levels got very high. Flooding destroyed crops, killed livestock and washed away homes.
Farmers knew they needed a way to control the river’s flow. To solve their problems, Mesopotamians built
irrigation canals.
Irrigation increased the amount of food farmers were able to grow. Before long, the desert was
blooming with a surplus of barley, dates, and other crops. This surplus allowed many people to do other
jobs than farming. For the first time, people became merchants, crafters, religious leaders and government
workers. They helped build the cities and increase the wealth of the city-states through trade with
neighboring societies.
A city-state was made of the city and the farmland around it. The Sumerians were very proud of
their cities. Often, one city-state would go to war with another. Stronger military city-states controlled larger
areas.
At the center of each Sumerian city was a temple, called a ziggurat. The word “ziggurat” means
“mountain of god”. Each ziggurat was believed to be the home of the city’s chief god. Only priests could
enter the home of the god. Priests had a great status in Sumer. People relied on them to gain the god’s
favor. In fact, priests were just below kings in Sumer’s social hierarchy. The kings claimed that they had
been chosen by the gods to rule. In all, there were more than 3,000 Sumerian gods.
The Sumerians made one of the greatest cultural advances in history. They developed cuneiform,
the World’s first system of writing. They wrote on clay tablets, using a reed pen called a stylus. Sumerians
firs used cuneiform to keep business records. A scribe, or a writer, would be hired to keep track of the
items people traded.
One of the Sumerians’ most important development was the wheel. They were the first people to
build wheeled vehicles. The plow was another important Sumerian invention. Pulled by oxen, plows broke
through the hard clay soil of Sumer to prepare it for planting. Sumerian advances improved daily life in
many ways. They learned to use bronze to make stronger tools and weapons.
Adapted from: ‘Mesopotamia and the fertile Crescent ‘
II/ While you Read:

Complete the blanks in the statements below

1. Sumerian lifestyles
a. The Sumerians settled down to farm along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers about
………………… BC.
b. The Sumerians built irrigation canals to …………………………..………..
c. Sumerian farmers grew  …………………………………………
d. Food surplus allowed Sumerians to ………………………………………
e. The Sumerians worshiped their gods at huge temples they called ………………………….
f. They had at least ………………………gods.
2. Specialization of labour and class division
For the first time people became:
- farmers - ……………………….
- ………………….. - ……………………………………….
- ..........................
3. The Sumerian system of writing
- The Sumerian system of writing is called…………………………..
- The Sumerians wrote on clay……………………………………..

4. Sumerian inventions and achievements.

- Which of the following is a Sumerian invention. Circle the correct letter.
a) farming d) the plow
b) glass e) toys g) the chariot
c) the water wheel (Chatouf) f) the arch h) writing
III/ Post Reading
Summarize the text using the notes above.
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