Sumer · About 2900-2000 BC

Ur and the city-states of Sumer

Sumer was not one country but a land of rival city-states, each with its own god and ruler. Students visit Ur, Nippur and Lagash, look into the Royal Tombs of Ur and meet the oldest law code that survives.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, 2500 BC to 2450 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Sumer was not one country but a land of rival city-states, each with its own god and ruler. Students visit Ur, Nippur and Lagash, look into the Royal Tombs of Ur and meet the oldest law code that survives.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain what a city-state was and name four Sumerian city-states.
  • Describe what the Royal Tombs and the Ziggurat of Ur tell us about Sumerian society.
  • Explain why Sumerian cities fought each other and how they tried to make peace.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

2500 BC

A land of city-states

Open the map in 2500 BC and zoom in on southern Mesopotamia. Follow the Euphrates toward the Gulf and find Ur on its banks. Why was a river city a good place for trade?

Open this view on the map
b

2100 BC

The ziggurat

Jump to 2100 BC and turn on Cities. Find Ur, where King Ur-Nammu built a great ziggurat for the moon god Nanna. Drag the slider between 2500 and 2100 BC: does Ur's dot grow?

Open this view on the map
c

2450 BC

A border war

Jump to 2450 BC and look north of Ur for Lagash and Umma. These two cities fought for generations over the fertile fields between them. Why would a strip of farmland be worth a war?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Sumer had many city-states with their own gods and rulers, but one shared culture. Why did they not unite?
  2. Lagash and Umma fought over farmland and water for generations. What does that tell us about life in a dry land?
  3. Leonard Woolley found the Royal Tombs of Ur full of gold, lyres and a board game. What do grave goods tell us about a society?
  4. In some royal tombs, many attendants were buried with the dead, and historians still debate how they died. How should museums present this?
  5. Ur-Nammu's law code is the oldest that survives. Why would a king want laws written down?
4

Game round

10 min

Play one round of Rule History as Hatshepsut, the earliest ruler in the game. Then compare her with Ur-Nammu of Ur: both built great monuments for their gods. Why did early rulers spend so much on temples?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.