The Exploration of the Sumerian Story Although, the ancient stories of the Sumerians are widely attributed to pure mythology, they went to great lengths to understand and create a way to record their history, discoveries, and development. The most accepted view on what makes a culture civilized, “is a culture which has attained a degree of complexity, usually characterized by urban life” (Guisepi). Even though human exploration continues to discover previously unknown chapters of the Sumerian story, the extensive amount of archeological evidence found and the time frame; allows us to accredit them for the foundation of what is considered today, as the standards for human civilization. Everything from their mythological creation, …show more content…
Sumerians say, Nammu gave birth to ‘An’ meaning Heaven, and ‘Ki’ meaning Earth; and this union produced the Anunna or Anunnaki, meaning “those who descended from Heaven to Earth” (Bolman). This creation story has been retold in many forms, most commonly in the Greek Mythology and more recently in Genesis, of the Bible.
The initial evidence showed that there had been human existence around 4500 BCE in southern Mesopotamia, however this date is 500 years too early for the Sumerians. In fact, excavations show that the first settlers of the Fertile Crescent were a person of unknown origins named the Ubaid people. This name is given to them because of where their existence was first unearthed by Henry Hall and later Leonard Woolley, at the excavated mound of al-Ubaid. The settlement and artifacts date back beyond 4500 BCE and the excavation proved the Ubaid people had been hunter-gathers who started to develop signs of agrarian society around 5000 BCE. (Mark, Sumerian Civilization)
The Sumerians settled in Mesopotamia around 4000 BCE, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, known today as southern Iraq. Notice the word “settled” in the previous sentence. Research shows, that the Sumerian people have been traced further through excavations and improved DNA testing, to the Murgab River Delta of Turkmenistan, dating back to the 7th millennium
The Fertile Crescent stretches like a crescent moon from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf, containing Egypt and Mesopotamia. The terms mentioned throughout the essay are different empires and locations. Sumer was the first civilization and is located in the narrowing plain between the lower reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. About 5,000 years ago, Sumerians developed writing, construction of cities, and domestication of animals. The Akkadians took over Sumer around 2350 BCE when Sargon I. became leader and began seizing territories as reward for winning a war. Ancient egypt, laid southwest of the Fertile Crescent alongside the Nile River in Africa. People have lived there since around 5000 BCE and began
The Sumerians created a civilization located in the Fertile Crescent, or Mesopotamia, which is located in the Middle East. The legendary ruler of the Sumerians, Hammurabi, was famous for his set
As Samuel Noah Kramer states, ancient sumerians and modern humans are comparable in ways such as their culture, mentality, and character. These similarities relate specifically to how things are done within the school systems’ regarding the way things are taught and what material is being distributed. Alongside schools, the “sick society” that occurs today just as it did in ancient sumerians lifetime, formed from things and people getting out of hand. This leads to court rulings which decides how an individual would be punished for his/her crimes based on evidence. Relating to court rulings and verdicts, juvenile delinquency was and still is a problem in societies then and now and can cause a negative effect on a society as a whole. On the other hand, something positive such as wisdom plays a role in today as it did in the past. We express this wisdom through proverbs and sayings. The way sumerians and modern humans do things are very closely related due to their same experiences and values on life. The process that ancient sumerians used to establish order and create unity that was also passed along through modern humans was created through these forms of language and belief systems.
The Sumerians were the citizens of the first Mesopotamian civilization and they had created many technological advances such as the wheel, plow, and the cuneiform writing system. The Epic of Gilgamesh is thought to be one of the greatest pieces of cuneiform literature. This story focuses on Gilgamesh, who was said to be the king of the Sumerian city of Uruk, who is two-thirds god and one-third human. It also focuses on Enkidu, who was created by the goddess Aruru in order to rid Gilgamesh of his arrogance. The epic’s portrayal of Gilgamesh and Enkidu’s relationship explains how highly the Sumerians thought of their civilized accomplishments and how they had little respect for the environment
However, their advancement in medicine reached its peak during 2500 B.C. Although the Egyptians have made major contributions, there was another existing civilization who were far more advanced. The members of this civilization, which lived in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley, were known as the Sumerians. The Sumerians wrote and compiled many scriptures containing information about Sumerian medicine. They were triumphant in recording medical practices, but an invasion in about 2500 B.C. caused a decline of documenting information. They may have been conquered by invaders, but they were still able to reside within the new forming nations.
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
Sumerian written history can be dated back to 5300-4100 BC, however the historical remains seems to remain obscure up until the Early Dynastic Period III. After the Sumerian Civilization was established, grew, and expanded greatly, various
The Sumerians, like most cultures, questioned the world around them with such things as, “Who are we?” or “Why are we here?.” The Sumerians thought they floated above a hollow space with heaven in an arch above them. Vast oceans surrounded them, which they believed created the earth they lived on. The Sumerians called the universe “an-ki”, which brought together the names of the god An and the goddess Ki. These two gods, being the most powerful and important, had many children
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.
Sumer and Babylon are two places of civilization that native southern Mesopotamia. In modern times, which is today it is known as Iraq.
“The archaeological cities of Uruk and Ur and the Tell Eridu archaeological site form part of the remains of the Sumerian cities and settlements that developed in southern Mesopotamia between the 4th and the 3rd millennium BCE,” it said.
The Sumerians believed that this world was made into the world it is today through the power of these gods. It is said in their texts that the world was very inhospitable and violent. The gods would make the earth more hospitable. This could be taken to mean that the Sumerians had a pretty low opinion of their environment. Also the use of gods reveals that of course they were polytheistic. It also tells us a little about Mesopotamians and how they seemingly saw themselves as a very small part of this larger plan. To continue he gods did not like doing the labor of making earth hospitable. So in their place they made humans to do work for them.
Ancient Sumer is known to be the oldest known civilization to create structural writing, government, time and most of all, a systemized society. Dating back almost 3000 years B.C.E, in the country of Mesopotamia, was a city-state known as Sumer. Sumer was known to be one of the most important cities due to their establishments. The Sumerians were also very fond of their God’s. The city was ruled by the Priest, also known as the king, because they were able to communicate and deliver the word of their god to the citizens.
Sumer was thought to have brought in the first civilization in the world, but it wasn’t perfect because Sumer had it’s good things and bad things. In “The Epic Of Gilgamesh” written by N.K. Sandars, Sumerian culture is represented through the usage of archetypes. From all of the archetypes, that helped me get a better understanding of Sumerian culture and society I chose three to thoroughly explain throughout this paper. The archetypal mother figure, important event, and mediator made me realize that ancient Sumerian women not only cared for their own children but all children of ancient Sumer, people were scared to confront their kings from wrongdoings and were nice to each other, and that ordinary people of this society weren’t cared
Researchers would often to challenge-Euphratean dialect or one substrate dialect. It has been proposed by them and others, that the Sumerian dialect was initially that of the seeker and fisher people groups, who lived in the marshland and the Eastern Arabia littoral locale, and were a piece of the Arabian bifacial culture. Reliable authentic records start much later; there are none in Sumer of any sort that have been dated before Enmebaragesi (c. 26th century BC). Juris Zarins trusts the Sumerians lived along the shoreline of Eastern Arabia, today's Persian Gulf district, before it overflowed toward the end of the Ice Age.