Lesson 12 Sumerian Society

Upper class: Kings and Priests

Middle Class: Landowners, Gov officials, rich merchants

Lower Middle Class: Artisans, Farmers, Free People

Lower Class: Slaves

Most slaves captured during war

Orphans might become slaves to survive

Some people may borrow money and become a slave to work off debt

Slaves could purchase freedom

Developed arithmetic (counting)

Sexagesimal number system (based on 60)

Where we get 60 seconds in a minute 60, minutes in an hour, 360 degrees in a circle

Very good at geometry, made bricks, ramps and canals

First used pictures to represent objects (Pictographs), then ideas, then sounds

They could combine pictures for different sounds to spell words

The pictures eventually developed into wedge shapes call Cuneiform

Used a reed stylus pressed into a clay tablet