Ancient Greeks And The Sumerians

Mesopotamian Civilizations contributed massively to the development for future civilizations. To begin, the Sumerians created the first written language. Cuneiform was the writing system to keep track of business dealings when it comes to trading with the people who lived in lands that were thousands of miles away. Cuneiform also kept records and allowed new ideas to be passed from generation to generation (Doc 1). Cuneiform is developed from pictographs that were sideways and used

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

About 3500 B.C., the first cities were built in Mesopotamia. The first system of writing was invented about 3300 B.C. Sumerian is credited with these accomplishments.

The society of Sumer, as said in a document “ was home to a privileged class of elites who headed households by nearby irrigated land”. Sumer was a growing civilization with a written language, education, government, religion, economy, and family hierarchy. “Sumer was a particular civilization that developed in the region of Mesopotamia.” Due to Mesopotamia being so plentiful, this let Sumer bloom into a great civilization. A written language in Sumer was in the form of cuneiform, characters formed by the arrangement of small wedge-shaped elements.

Ancient Mesopotamia was a geographical area in modern-day Iraq that centers around the Tigris-Euphrates river system and is considered the beginning of advanced society. Mesopotamia encompassed several different civilizations and the first city states. The Mesopotamian civilization spanned from the Sumerian Empire in approximately 3500 B.C.E. to the end of the Assyrian empire in the 7th century. One notable leader was Sargon of Akkad, who started the first recognizable empire, won significant military victories, built substantial infrastructure and bureaucracy, and left a legacy large enough to span millennia. In 612 B.C.E., towards the end of the Assyrian Empire, there were still plays being written about Sargon.

The architectural Innovations by the Sumerians included things like ramps, purchase, and columns as well as pyramid shaped as ziggurats ( Doc 1 ). Sumerians also developed weapons and tools made out of bronze and copper (Doc 1). As well, the Sumerians also came up with the first known form of writing, known as cuneiform ( Doc 1 ). These achievements help to develop and contribute to later civilizations of humankind. Their developments and architecture influenced later building styles of throughout Mesopotamia ( Doc 1 ).

Describe the ancient Sumerian and Egyptian civilizations in terms of political structure, religion, society, and culture. Account for the similarities and differences between them.

There are three major cultures that arose in Mesopotamia form 3000-1600 B.C. The Sumerian, Akkadian, and Babylonian Kingdoms are the cultures that arose in Mesopotamia. Each culture wanted to succeed, do great things, and become powerhouses that no one wanted to mess with.

Sumerians were one of the first civilizations that existed and had an established developed government. The Sumerian’s lived in Mesopotamia which was located right between Tigris river and Euphrates river and the land in the middle was a great place for people to settle in because it was fertile. The people who lived here were no longer hunters and gatherers and there were more that people could do. Farmers contributed their crops to others and so people had the chance to acquire other skills. With plenty of food and great innovation, the population of the Samarians grew they populated other areas which became city-states.

Sumer was the first civilization in a region called Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia means “between the rivers” because it had two major rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates River Valley. Its advanced cities were Uruk, Umma and Ur and they densely populated with about 50,000 people. Its form of record keeping was cuneiform where a scribe would write down records of business transactions, barters, historical events customs and traditions in soft clay with a stylus. Advanced technology included irrigation, a system that brought water to crops, metalworking and the invention of the wheel plow and sail boat as well as the creation on bronze weapons and armor. Their workers included farmers, artisans and scribes and their complex intuitions included a formal

The Sumerians remain in history as one of the first ever recorded people to have a stable society and culture. From their creation story to the end of their lives on earth, the Sumerians followed their religion in accordance to their gods. They lived their whole lives through their religion, making it a huge part of their culture.

Mesopotamia was the foundation of western civilization. This was around 3500 BC when cities started evolving in world history. It was also known as the “land between the rivers.” The first city-states developed in southern Mesopotamia by the Sumerian citizens around 4000 BC. The history begins at Sumer; this society brings many things to the table for a starting civilization. In 3500 BC the Sumerian people learned their own writing system. They would write on cuneiforms, clay blocks which were easy to be transported but they were very fragile. The Sumerian people had an independent government which was ruled by a king, Sargon. The cities as well as

Sumer is the earliest civilization known to mankind, stretched from the first settlement of Eridu until the rise of Assyria and Babylon. Akkadian Empire on the other hand, was regarded as the world’s first empire until it was split into Assyria and Babylonia. At the east of Sumer and Akkad, is ancient Elam. Before Elam was part of the Assyrian Empire in the 9th to 7th centuries BC, it is the kingdoms on the Iranian plateau. From 3200 BC to 2700 BC, where the proto-Elamite civilization was heavily influenced by the cultures of the iranian plateau was characterized as the Banesh period. The Amorites, nomadic Semitic people, controlled the west of Euphrates from 3500 BC and eventually settled in Mesopotamia. Middle Bronze Age includes Assyria, Babylonia, Canan, and the Hittite Empire. Assyria became a powerhouse after enduring a short period of Mitanni domination, ruling much of the near east. Babylonia founded by Amorite tribes and was under the rule of Kassites for more than 4 centuries. Canaan was a combination of Ugarit, Kadesh, Megiddo, and Kingdom of Israel. The Hittite Empire dominated Asia minor and the Levant until it was taken over by

Sumer was the world's first civilization that developed in southeastern Mesopotamia around 3300 B.C. Sumer’s downfall was around 1900 B.C., due to a conquest of armies. In Sumer chief servants of the gods became rulers. Sumer had a complex government. Each of the 12 city-states had a ruler responsible for complex projects such as irrigation systems, enforcing laws and leading armies in war. Like most ancient civilizations Sumer structured their society using a hierarchy, a system of different ranking groups. The highest class consisted of the ruling family and high priests. The middle class was made up of lesser priests, scribes, merchants, and artisans. The lowest class consisted of peasant farmers. Whatever social class Sumerians were born into Sumerians also died under that same social class. Sumerian women never held legal rights equal to men. Sumerian had a barter economy meaning they exchanged one set of goods for another. Sumerians were polytheistic. They used a ziggurat, a large, stepped platform topped by a temple to worship the city’s chief god or goddess. They believed in the afterlife and celebrated holy days. In their afterlife, once a person entered the underworld there was no release. Sumerians also believed gods and goddesses behaved like regular people. Major innovation Sumerians invented include the first wheeled vehicles, a form of writing called cuneiform and developments in math and astronomy. Sumerians invented the first wheeled vehicles that were used to travel across deserts and to carry goods long distances. Sumerians used cuneiform to record economical changes, myths, prayers, laws and business contracts. Cuneiform was invented around 3200 B.C. and marked the period when writing began. Scholars from Sumer studied skies, movement of stars and planets. They also established a number system based on six. Such as, dividing the hour into sixty minutes and dividing the circle into 360 degrees, much like times today.

Cuneiform is considered the most significant among the many cultural contributions of the Sumerians. Cuneiform writing is traced back from c. 3500 - 3000 BC. The writing wasn 't first actually words. They used pictographs for writing in their records. Instead of writing letters “s-u-n”, a Sumerian would imprint a pictograph of what they had as a sun on a clay tablet. Also,