Essay on Analyzing Early Mesopotamian Civilization

Mesopotamia is credited for inventing the first written language and the first written laws. Sumerians in ancient Mesopotamia needed an efficient way to keep track of their business dealings with other people who lived thousands of miles away. The people often could not remember or agree upon what they had traded; this led to nasty disputes. As a result,the Sumerians created Cuneiform, the first written language. It was quickly accepted and widely used throughout Mesopotamia.

The first civilizations and the rise of empires began with small groups or villages existing with the use of hunting, fishing, and foraging. (William J. Duiker and Jackson J. Spielvogel, World History, vol. 1, 1) Within a few thousand years, people learned how to cultivate food crops and this led to an increase in population. Increased food production resulted in larger communities. The cities began to expand their cultural and religious developments leading to the beginnings of civilization. (Duiker, World History, 1) The first civilizations emerged in Mesopotamia and Egypt during the fourth and third millennia B.C.E and had various components in common. Each of these civilizations was established in a river valley so they were able to provide and produce the agricultural resources needed to survive and uphold the population. (Duiker, World History, 1) Mesopotamia developed in the valley between the Tigris and Euphrates River known as “the land between the rivers.” These rivers provided irregular and catastrophic flooding for the city-state. They created an intensive irrigation system to improve their agriculture. The first people to create Mesopotamian civilization were known as the Sumerians. These people were the first city builders and created the major city’s named Eridu, Ur, Uruk, Umma, and Lagash. These cities were built with surrounding walls and defense towers. A six-mile-long wall enclosed the city of Uruk. Mesopotamia lacked

One of the most important inventions that the Sumerians were famous for was cuneiform. Cuneiform was a type of writing, and it was the first written language (Doc. 1). The Sumerians invented this writing system to keep track of records and business deals (Doc. 1). The way that the Sumerians wrote in cuneiform was by taking pieces of soft clay from the river and carving into it (OI).

Hamilton story is an epic one. He helped the nation in more ways that people can count, he fought every other founding father for his own ideals, and he was killed by his once best friend, being the only founding father to be killed. Although people say that Hamilton’s efforts to change america ended up hindering it more because he attempted to thwart a political race, he has a long history of failure, and because he publicly thrashed founding fathers in his newspaper articles, Hamilton was an amazing man. Hamilton was vowed to fix America financially, he assisted George Washington, and had plans to make america better.

Ancient Mesopotamia, sometimes referred to as the “Cradle of Civilization”, was located in the Fertile Crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, bringing the Greek origin of its name, of “land between rivers”. There were two very different regions in ancient Mesopotamia:

When you look back in history to the development and the contributions of both the Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations, you see that there was a lot accomplished, as well as a lot created. The earliest forms of writing developed in Mesopotamia, while Egypt was referred to the “Gift of the Nile” by traveler Herodotus (McKay,42). Development of cities was another major marker, especially in the “old world”, of how people eventually determined civilizations and what they represented. According to McKay, civilizations were determined by people who considered themselves more “civilized”, urban people mostly. Made up of cities, written rules of law, and social justice codes, Mesopotamia and Egypt would develop into two of the largest civilizations in history.

Two of the biggest and most powerful societies of the ancient world consististed of the Sumerians in Mesopotamia and the Hittites. Mesopotamia was first in many areas including the inventions of many technologies such as writing and complex irrigation systems. Mesopotamia was also located in a central location that allowed it to interact with other cultures at the time, furthering its growth. The Hittites were also one of the most powerful civilizations of the time, dominating through their use of chariots. Looking at both the Hittites and Mesopotamia we can get an understanding of how political power and legal authority was formed and exercised during the Bronze Age.

Ancient civilizations across history have shown unique and incredible feats of mankind. Arguably, two of the most prominent ancient civilizations in the Middle East and even the world are the Mesopotamians (Beginning 5,000 B.C.) and Egyptians (Beginning 3,150 B.C). Even though these two civilizations peaked about 2,000 years apart, they share numerous similarities contributing to their success, and also show even more differences that distinguish how each had a unique culture and way of life.

Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt are both cradles of civilization. Both contributed greatly to human development through their achievements, failures, peoples, scientific accomplishments, philosophies, religions, and contributions.

Ancient river valley civilizations are one of the earliest societies in the world. The rises of these ancient river valley civilizations started the first cradle of civilization. The Indus Valley Civilization, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Mesopotamia, and Ancient China are the earliest civilizations that were successful enough to make enough food for everybody. Every one of these civilizations had three things in common: they all had a special relationship with the river, they created their own writing system, and they all relied on trade.

Generally within textbooks on Western civilization it tells us about how the Sumerians began organized agriculture, domesticated wheat and such animals as the horse and donkey, initiated urban living by building cities, and invented writing and the wheel. The Sumerians, apparently, initiated human civilization 6000 years ago. Nevertheless, European (white) written textbooks do not recognize them like they

The earliest societies, such as Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt exhibiting indicator traits of civilization developed along the floodplains of great rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates in Iraq, and the Nile in Egypt. People had settled in Mesopotamia by 7000 B.C. and the First Dynasty of Egyptian

Mesopotamia developed a form of writing known as cuneiform. Their writing evolved from pictures into signs. Mesopotamians used writing mainly for record keeping. They would put business transactions into writing and had a written code of law. They also had literature like The Epic of Gilgamesh. The Epic of Gilgamesh is about one of the earliest passions of man, the search for eternal life. The Mesopotamians had a school for writing because they wanted trained scribes for

Ancient Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt are two of the earliest and greatest civilizations to ever exist. They both show the transition from a Paleolithic society into a settled civilization. Nevertheless, Mesopotamia has been a worldwide centre of awe and amazement . The first written language created by the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia became the first means of of written communication for humankind.The spread of agriculture created a new way of life and evolved man from nomadic hunters into civilized people . Most important of all, the creation of the wheel opened up a new way for transportation to be carried out. Between both civilizations, it ancient Mesopotamia left the greatest impact on posterity.

It is undeniable that the natural environment of ancient Mesopotamia had a profound effect on the earliest civilizations known to the world. Humankind’s ability to control irrigation waters directly correlates with the rise of mass agriculture. With this mastery of their river environment, early farmers were capable of supporting large urban populations. However, in Mesopotamia the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were both a source of life as well as destruction for early societies. In many ways, the geography of ancient Mesopotamia fostered a sense of catastrophic determinism within the Sumerians, Akkadians, and Babylonians. The scarcity of resources as well as the untamable nature of their deluge environment led these early people to