While I was on a 15 month tour to Iraq in 2006 I spent about 6 months near Basrah city. I started researching that area and discovered the history of the Sumerian people. I head other soldiers say we were in the cradle of civilization, but I was unaware of the rich history in this part of the world. Language, technology, astronomy, government, laws, and even taxes originated there. When I discovered this knowledge I was hooked. I was really excited to be able to write a paper on a subject that Im already so passionate about.
The Fertile Crescent, located in the Middle East is where the earliest known complex civilizations that possessed a written language were established. The Fertile Crescent consisted of 4 civilizations, Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, and Phoenicia. Archeological discoveries show evidence of communal life as far as the sixth millennia B.C.E. During the fourth millennia B.C.E., two major cities appear in the south, Uruk and Jemdet. This is considered to be the birthplace of civilization. The emergence of complex societies brought about technological advances, language, science and government.
Geography
Lying within the borders of modern day Iraq, with some parts in Syria and Turkey, Mesopotamia – means “The Land between the Rivers”, refers to the Tigris and Euphrates. The ancient Greek words “mesos” meaning between and “potamos” meaning river and the suffix “ia” for a place. The two rivers also named by the Greeks, were known to the Mesopotamians as Idiglat and Buranum.
The river valleys of Mesopotamia consisted of desert, the mountains and the sea. In the northeast are the mountains of Turkey and Iran; to the south is the Persian Gulf and in the west, the Syrian Desert. The Tigris and Euphrates riv...
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...ll. The Sumerians are the first known civilization to have a written language. The language known as cuneiform was written using cut reeds from the river imprints were made in fresh clay. The Sumerians recorded everything from transaction receipts to the Epic of Creation.
Mesopotamians were lovers of knowledge and great scientists. Their understanding of astronomy and mathematics allowed them to develop a calendar, and established the 60 minute hour. Some historians believe that Sumerians only knew of a hand full of stars and didn’t draw so much focus to the sky as later civilizations. Other historians believe that they had a great understanding of the stars and even had knowledge of the planets in the solar system. Historian and author Zecharia Sitchin claims that various art works imprinted on clay tablets depict the planets in our solar system.
Religion
Cuneiform was the first ever form of writing. The Sumerians were the main inventors of this writing. The symbol as we know them now consist of lines and wedges. One of the
During the years of 3500 BC to 2500 BC, the geography of a land often impacted a civilizations development in great measures. Depending on the resources available or the detriments present due to certain topographical characteristics like rivers or deserts, a civilization could flourish or collapse. By studying the geographic features of growing societies like the Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris Rivers as well as the Mediterranean Sea of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the link between developing cultures and geography will be examined through sources, including Egypt: Ancient Culture, Modern Land edited by Jaromir Malek and Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek. To determine the extent of its influence, this investigation will attempt to compare and contrast the role of geography in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, focusing on the civilizations’ various periods of development and settlement.
Early civilization remains permits us to observe how life was lived in earlier times. Until the Neolithic Era humans were fairly nomadic. When they became knowledgeable of farming they began to realize that they would not have to be nomadic anymore thus forming civilizations. These early civilizations were typically polytheistic, which means that they believed in many gods. During these civilizations they also learned to tame animals and their technologies grew more and more advanced. Almost all early civilizations have failed but they all left a lasting mark that will continue forever. The Nile River Valley Civilization and the Mesopotamia Civilization are both amazing but they both have their differences in their political and social aspects.
The ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt began to develop circa 3,000 B.C. Located near rivers, the lands offered fertile soil and an excess of crops that drew in many people. As more people arrived, the small settlements flourished into large, thriving civilizations. Many aspects of Mesopotamia and Egypt, such as their cities, their strongly organized government, and their religion, greatly contributed to the success of these two civilizations.
Before the beginning of history, people from across the land gradually developed numerous cultures, each unique in some ways while the same time having features in common. Mesopotamia and Egypt are important to the history of the world because of religious, social, political and economic development. Mesopotamia was the first civilization, which was around 3000 B.C., and all other countries evolved from it. Mesopotamia emerged from the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The soil was rich and agriculture was plentiful. The Semitic nomads occupied the land around Akkad. The Sumerians established the city-states. Villages became urban centers. Because of the formation of the city-states everything flourished. However, Mesopotamian agriculture lacked stones; therefore mud brick became their major building block. Their diet consisted of fish from the rivers. The rivers were flooded frequently destroyed the cities. Mesopotamians made their living from crops and pottery.
The first civilization to rise was the Mesopotamia, located in present day Iraq, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, and Egypt, along the Nile River. It’s split in two ecological zones. In the south Babylonia (irrigation is vital) and north Assyria (agriculture is possible with rainfall and wells). By 4000 B.C.E., people had settled in large numbers in the river-watered lowlands of Mesopotamia and Egypt. Archaeologists have shown that large-scale irrigation appeared only long after urban civilization had already developed, meaning major waterworks were a consequence of urbanism (population). Mesopotamia cities were made of people called the Summerians in the land of Sumer located on the south of Babylonia. The Summerian city was one of
Mesopotamia was the first primordial, and influential cradle of civilization. Nestled in the valleys of the vehement Tigris-Euphrates Rivers around the time of the Lower Paleolithic period
The ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt are a factor of the evolution of civilizations in present-day. Though, it wouldn’t occur if both of these ancient civilizations didn’t develop into successful ones. There are three similar components that led Ancient Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia to become prosperous. These are the locations, their way of life, and their beliefs. All of these elements will be explored more thoroughly throughout this essay.
The Sumerians practices their religious belief by celebrating and sacrificing tribute to gods in the ziggurat (a temple to god). They also accomplished one of the most important element of a civilization: inventing the first writing system called cuneiform. This
The code of Hammurabi was one of the most important documents in Babylon history. It was adopted from many Sumerian customs that had been around for a while before the Babylonians. Though many of the Laws were adopted from Sumeria they were published by Hammurabi and thus known as the code of Hammurabi. This code had four main parts to it. They were: Civil Laws, Commercial Laws, Penal Laws, and the Law of procedures.
Millions of years ago the procreant low lands in the river basins of Euphrates and Tigris was probably the home of some animal life, but no great civilizations. However, things change over time, and just a few thousand years ago the same fertile low lands in the river basins of Euphrates and Tigris became the home of a very rich and complex society. This first high society of man was located in what some still call "Mesopotamia". The word "Mesopotamia" is in origin a Greek name meaning "land between the rivers." The name is used for the area watered by the Euphrates and Tigris and its tributaries, roughly comprising modern Iraq and part of Syria. South of modern Bagdad, this alluvial plain was called the land of Sumer and Akkad. Sumer is the most southern part, while the land of Akkad is the area around modern Bagdad, where the Euphrates and Tigris are closest to each other. This first high, Mesopotamian society arose as a combined result of various historical, institutional, and religious factors. The reality of these factors occurring at a specific place within the fabric of space / time indeed established the basis for this first high civilization. Items like irrigation, topography, and bronze-age technical innovations played a big part along with the advent of writing and the practice of social conditioning (through the use of organized religion) in this relatively early achievement of man.
Today, we continued to look at the impact the Tigris and Euphrates river had on Ancient Mesopotamia. We then got into small groups and read about the five traits of a civilization. While reading, we filled out a graphic organizer that was glued into our notebook. Once completed, we then applied the five traits of a civilization to Ancient Mesopotamia.
And many inventions that we now take for granted in the world, such as sewers and wheels, were actually invented first in Sumer. The great reason why inventing sewer is hygienic invention. And at that time, the pavement road was also made for the first time. Although there is no paper, it is recorded in clay. I am aware of the Sumerian civilization because it has been detoxified.
People of the ancient world often had questions about their existence and how life and people came to be on earth. Most ancient people answered these questions through religion. The Sumerians were the first important group of people to inhabit Mesopotamia and they were known to practice a form of worship called polytheism, which is the worship of several gods. Mesopotamians associated different gods with natural events, emotions, and other occurrences. Their main deities included An (the god of the heavens), Enlil (Lord Storm), Enki (god of wisdom), and Nihursaga (the mother of all living things)(p.22). The Mesopotamians believed that the gods controlled all of the events and occurrences in life. An ancient text called “Creation of Man by the Mother Goddess” (p.34) helps us understand how the M...
Centuries before Julius Cesar, Galileo, Aristotle, Socrates, and albert Einstein; There was an ancient civilization that arose out of nowhere. They Settled upon the Tigris, and Euphrates Rivers, known as the fertile crest of Mesopotamia. These settlers are known as the Sumerians. The Sumerians were an agricultural society, who lived off their crops and the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers to trade goods. So when presented the terrible question “Why they existed?” The Sumerians believed that they existed to serve their gods by worship and dedicated work. Through the Sumerian Literature, architecture, and artwork the Sumerians let their purpose be known.