Chapter 2 Section 1 City-States of Ancient Sumer

Chapter 2 Section 1 City-States of Ancient Sumer

Terms, People, and Places

Fertile Crescent

Mesopotamia

Sumer

The Epic of Gilgamesh

hierarchy

ziggurat

cuneiform

Note Taking

Checkpoint (s)

What geographic characteristics made the Fertile Crescent a good place for civilization to develop?

How was Sumerian society structured?

What advances did the Sumerians make in mathematics and astronomy?

Map Skills

The Story of the Stars

HW, SECTION 1 Assessment

Reading Skill: Identify Main Ideas

2. Use your completed concept web to answer the Focus Question: What were the characteristics of the world’s first civilization?

Comprehension and Critical Thinking

Draw Inferences

3. Sumerians faced significant geographic challenges, such as floods. How do you think facing these challenges played a role in the formation of a strong government?

Determine Relevance

4. How might the invention of cuneiform writing have strengthened Sumerian government and religious practices?

Analyze Information

5. Describe ways in which later peoples built on Sumerian learning. Would this have been possible without the invention of writing?

Writing About History