002Mesopotamia From Nomads to Farmers

00:13:58
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqIPVa8mvo4

Resumo

TLDRNisaba's journal entry provides insight into life in ancient Sumer, particularly in the city-state of Nippur. She highlights the shift from a nomadic lifestyle to settled agriculture through domestication and farming innovations. The fertile river valley allowed for abundant food production, but also posed challenges with flooding. The Sumerians developed tools, writing, and a calendar, facilitating governance and trade. Religion played a central role, with a belief in many gods and a structured priesthood. The ziggurat served as a religious and administrative center, while the king ruled with divine authority. Society was hierarchical, with various occupations and a system of taxation to maintain the city-state.

Conclusões

  • 🌾 **Agricultural Developments**: Sumerians transitioned from hunting to farming, improving food security.
  • 📝 **Invention of Writing**: They created writing on clay tablets for record-keeping.
  • 🚀 **Irrigation Innovations**: Developed levees to control floodwaters for crops.
  • ⛪ **Religious Importance**: The ziggurat served as a sacred space dedicated to Enlil.
  • 👑 **Leadership Structure**: Kings ruled with the belief they were chosen by the gods.
  • 💰 **Taxation System**: Citizens paid taxes in goods and labor to support the city-state.
  • 🔍 **Daily Life**: Information about various jobs and social hierarchies illustrated.
  • 🌌 **Cultural Identity**: A description of Sumerian beliefs and daily practices in their civilization.

Linha do tempo

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The story unfolds in the ancient Sumerian city-state of Nippur, where a student named Nisaba starts a journal about her life and heritage. She narrates how her ancestors transitioned from a nomadic lifestyle of hunting and gathering to settled farming after discovering agriculture, particularly the domestication of wheat and livestock. Located in the fertile land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, her community invented irrigation techniques to control floods and ensure a stable food supply, leading to a thriving agricultural society rich in various crops and domestic animals.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:13:58

    In the subsequent part of her journal, Nisaba highlights the advanced systems her civilization developed, such as writing on clay tablets, the creation of a lunar calendar, and the invention of the wheel, all driving progress. The emergence of villages grew into city-states, each overseen by a king and dedicated to one of their many gods. She describes their religious practices, the social hierarchy including priests and artisans, and her family's roles, including her aspirations to become a scribe, illustrating a complex society underpinned by agricultural wealth, religious devotion, and governance.

Mapa mental

Vídeo de perguntas e respostas

  • What agricultural advancements did the Sumerians make?

    The Sumerians discovered domestication of animals and planting of grains, allowing them to settle and farm instead of constantly hunting.

  • How did the Sumerians control flooding?

    They built levees and irrigation systems to manage river water for their crops.

  • What was the significance of the ziggurat in Nippur?

    The ziggurat was a temple dedicated to the god Enlil and served as a center for religious and administrative activities.

  • What role did writing play in Sumerian society?

    Writing allowed for the recording of laws, keeping track of trade, and maintaining records on clay tablets.

  • What types of jobs existed in Sumer?

    Jobs included farming, crafting, trading, and priesthood, among others.

  • Who maintained order and governance in Sumerian city-states?

    Each city-state had a king chosen by the gods, who enforced laws and administered the state.

  • What taxes did Sumerians pay?

    Sumerians paid various taxes, including goods and services, but also had a tax called 'the burden' where men worked for the city.

  • What was the role of the priests in Sumer?

    Priests took care of the gods, conducted ceremonies, and managed the distribution of resources to the people.

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    sh
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    in Sumer part of the ancient land of
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    Mesopotamia there was a famous city
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    state called nepur one day a teacher in
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    nepur asked his students to start a
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    journal about their lives and their
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    country this is the story of one student
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    nisaba and her
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    journal okay here we go nisa's journal
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    entry one teacher one wants us to write
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    about our lives what is my life like
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    here in
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    Sumer I think I'll tell the story of my
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    people from the very
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    beginning my grandfather knows all about
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    it he says the first thing we samarians
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    did was get really good at
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    farming my ancestors used to make their
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    living by hunting wild animals for food
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    they were constantly on the Move
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    following the herds
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    as they traveled they would also gather
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    wild berries nuts and greens to
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    [Music]
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    eat but they often didn't know where
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    their next meal would come from it was a
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    hard way to
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    live then they discovered they could
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    plant and harvest a kind of wheat they
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    found growing
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    wild and they also found out how to tame
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    wild goats and sheep and raise them for
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    food grandfather calls that
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    [Applause]
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    domestication it meant they didn't have
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    to hunt for food anymore they could grow
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    it themselves and so my ancestors
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    stopped wandering and stayed here they
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    discovered that food grows better here
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    than almost anywhere
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    [Music]
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    else that's because we're in a river
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    valley right between two rivers in fact
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    Mesopotamia actually means land between
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    the
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    rivers One River is is the tigress and
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    the other is the
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    Euphrates my grandfather says it's easy
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    to grow food in our Valley because the
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    soil here is so fertile and he says that
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    is because of the mountains up north it
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    snows a lot up there in the winter when
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    the snow melts all that water runs down
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    into the valley and into the
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    rivers then the rivers rise over their
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    Banks and flood the valley and they dump
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    a lot of really good dirt dirt on the
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    land it's great for growing food
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    in so now we eat really well we grow
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    barley and wheat lots of beans and fresh
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    vegetables and fruits like melons dates
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    apples figs and
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    grapes our animals give us milk cheese
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    and meat and there are always plenty of
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    fish in the
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    rivers when my ancestors first started
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    farming here their biggest problem was
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    never knowing when a flood might come
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    and wash away their
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    crops even if the crops survived that
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    they might die in the summer when it's
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    so hot and there's not enough
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    water but my people didn't give up
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    instead we actually invented a way to
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    control the river first we learned how
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    to build levies those are big piles of
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    Earth between the fields and the river
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    they're too tall for the river to get
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    over so they prevent the
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    floods then we made gated ditches around
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    the fields and when the crops needed
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    water in the summer we would just open
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    the gates and let some river water flow
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    in to plant our crops we use a great
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    tool called a plow it's a Sumerian
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    invention and we use an Ox to pull a
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    plow another of our great
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    ideas some of our smartest people
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    invented a calendar based on the moon
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    and stars my grandfather says nobody had
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    ever thought of a way to measure time
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    like that before it helps us know when
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    the floods will
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    come in our calendar each year has 12
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    months and each month has 30
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    days each month is represented by one of
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    the constellations in the Sky they're
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    called the
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    Zodiac our priests watch the Zodiac to
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    know which month it
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    is that way they know when the floods
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    from the mountains will
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    arrive we samarians also invented
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    writing my grandfather says that in the
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    old days nobody knew how to write well
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    if you can't write how do you keep track
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    of how many animals you sold last month
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    what are you supposed to do paint them
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    on Cave walls
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    no we're much more modern here in suer
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    we figured out how to write on clay
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    tablets you just take a piece of read
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    and cut a stylus from it that's a sort
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    of hard pointed
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    tool you press the point into some wet
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    clay and pretty soon you're
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    writing our style of writing is called
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    cfor with writing you can keep records
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    of everything you do it's great cuz then
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    you don't have to remember it all
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    you also can make things permanent when
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    you write them down for example we were
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    the first people to write down our
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    [Music]
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    laws but this is maybe the best thing we
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    invented the wheel you'd think somebody
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    back in the old days would have thought
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    of it sooner but we were the
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    first before carts and wheels we used to
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    just drag things
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    around that was
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    hard but like I said we are very modern
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    here in
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    [Music]
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    Sumer my grandfather says that in the
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    old days most everybody had to work at
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    farming the land but not anymore we
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    Sumerians got so good at growing food
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    some people could quit farming and let
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    others grow enough for
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    everybody of course you had to be
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    neighbors for that to work so people
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    settled down close to each other in
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    villages
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    and The Villages grow into city
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    states each city state has its own King
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    and each one is sacred to one of the
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    Gods my city state is called nipor it's
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    on the banks of the Euphrates river and
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    it's the most holy city in all of
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    Sumer nippur is sacred to the God enil
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    our greatest god his Temple the zigurat
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    is right in the middle of the
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    city our zigurat is named EDU mon which
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    means the house finding Heaven and Earth
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    the zigurat is a huge Square building
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    sort of like a pyramid it's made of
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    several layers or
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    stories as you go higher up each story
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    is smaller than the one below the very
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    top story is the temple where the God
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    lives around the zigurat are houses
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    where the wealthy people live like
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    priests and Merchants for
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    instance they live in twostory houses
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    further away from the temple are
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    one-story houses where shopkeepers and
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    Crafts People
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    live and Beyond them live the farmers
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    and
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    [Music]
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    fishermen all the land outside the city
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    belongs to the city state too but most
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    people live inside the city
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    walls we are very good at making bricks
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    out of mud that's a good thing because
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    there's a lot of mud
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    Here We Gather a bunch of mud patted
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    into to square
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    molds and bake the mud bricks in the sun
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    until they're dry we use them to make
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    all of our
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    buildings here's my
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    house my family lives in one of the
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    two-story houses close to the
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    zigurat that's because my dad works for
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    the
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    king my mom runs the house our slaves do
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    the actual work but my mom supervises
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    them they prepare meals keep the house
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    clean and do other household
  • 00:09:01
    chores mother also weaves beautiful
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    cloth to make
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    clothing her cloth is made of fine wool
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    from our own sheep she sells a lot of it
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    to the trader
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    Caravans my younger sisters help my mom
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    spin yarn and weave
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    cloth but I begged my dad to send me to
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    tablet
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    school I'm learning to write so I can be
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    ascribe it's a really important job
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    there are a lot of other jobs in
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    Sumer like being a Potter or a
  • 00:09:35
    fisherman some people grind grain into
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    flour and brew beer some are Traders and
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    some just play music hey that wouldn't
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    be so
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    bad but it would be bad to be a slave
  • 00:09:50
    some slaves were captured in war and
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    others became slaves because they owed
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    money they have to work for 3 years
  • 00:09:57
    often in the grain fields
  • 00:09:59
    and then they are set
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    free besides the king and his family the
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    people with the highest positions are
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    the
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    priests they care for the gods and make
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    sure they're
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    happy that reminds me I should write
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    something about our
  • 00:10:19
    religion it plays a big part in our
  • 00:10:22
    lives we believe in seven Great gods of
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    the earth sky
  • 00:10:30
    Sun
  • 00:10:32
    Moon
  • 00:10:33
    saltwater fresh water and
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    wind my city nipor is protected by the
  • 00:10:41
    god enel the god of wind we believe he
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    lives in his temple on top of the
  • 00:10:47
    zigurat we spend a lot of time praying
  • 00:10:50
    to our Gods a lot of people even make a
  • 00:10:53
    little statue of themselves praying and
  • 00:10:55
    leave it in the temple the statues keep
  • 00:10:57
    on praying while the people go about
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    their daily
  • 00:11:01
    chores our priests hold ceremonies to
  • 00:11:04
    honor the gods and offer them food twice
  • 00:11:06
    each
  • 00:11:07
    day my older brother Shuli is a priest
  • 00:11:10
    in the zigurat only priests are allowed
  • 00:11:13
    inside Shuli reminds me of that every
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    chance he
  • 00:11:19
    gets we believe the gods own the land
  • 00:11:21
    and everything on it so we give the gods
  • 00:11:24
    everything we grow then the priests
  • 00:11:27
    share it with all the people they make
  • 00:11:29
    sure everyone gets
  • 00:11:34
    enough each city state in Sumer has a
  • 00:11:37
    king called an
  • 00:11:39
    ny we believe he was chosen by the gods
  • 00:11:42
    to rule us and that it was the gods who
  • 00:11:44
    gave us our
  • 00:11:46
    laws our King makes judgments when
  • 00:11:48
    people have
  • 00:11:49
    arguments he's in charge of all our
  • 00:11:52
    trade with other
  • 00:11:53
    cities he decides who gets to farm our
  • 00:11:57
    fields and he makes makes sure the God's
  • 00:12:00
    temples are in good repair and that all
  • 00:12:02
    the right offerings are made he's got a
  • 00:12:04
    whole lot to
  • 00:12:06
    do so obviously he needs other people to
  • 00:12:09
    help him do it my dad is one of them and
  • 00:12:12
    of course my brother helps cuz he's a
  • 00:12:15
    priest maybe I'll work there too when
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    I'm older scribes keep records on clay
  • 00:12:20
    tablets of everything that happens each
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    year the king and the priests all work
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    in the zigurat it's full of offices and
  • 00:12:27
    work rooms and storage spaces
  • 00:12:31
    to support the king and the priests our
  • 00:12:33
    people pay taxes throughout the
  • 00:12:35
    year usually it's something like a
  • 00:12:38
    couple of sheep or bags of grain but
  • 00:12:40
    there are taxes on almost
  • 00:12:43
    everything we get taxed on the livestock
  • 00:12:45
    we own and on the fish we catch we even
  • 00:12:49
    get taxed on our
  • 00:12:52
    funerals in our city every man who is
  • 00:12:55
    head of a household has to pay a tax
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    called the burden
  • 00:12:59
    it's not the usual kind of tax it's time
  • 00:13:02
    not
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    Goods the men have to spend time working
  • 00:13:06
    for the government doing things that
  • 00:13:08
    help or protect the
  • 00:13:09
    city for example my uncle helped to
  • 00:13:12
    harvest The Barley
  • 00:13:14
    crop other men have to go dig out the
  • 00:13:17
    irrigation ditches to keep them
  • 00:13:19
    clear our neighbor sent one of his
  • 00:13:22
    slaves to do his work my dad says you're
  • 00:13:24
    not supposed to but people do it if they
  • 00:13:27
    can afford it
  • 00:13:29
    all the taxes go to the king they pay
  • 00:13:31
    for our army which is pretty expensive
  • 00:13:34
    and also for repairs and improvements to
  • 00:13:36
    our
  • 00:13:37
    city my grandfather always says there
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    are priests and there are Kings but the
  • 00:13:43
    tax man is the one you should be afraid
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    of well that's my journal entry for
  • 00:13:49
    today I think it's a pretty good picture
  • 00:13:51
    of who we Sumerians are and how we live
Etiquetas
  • Sumer
  • Agriculture
  • Writing
  • Religion
  • Ziggurat
  • King
  • City State
  • Social Structure
  • Taxes
  • History