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Daniel Raygoza Mrs.Klipstein 23 January 2014 English 9A-4 Ancient Samarians The Sumerians were the most incredible people who ever lived on the face of the earth. They created civilization when most of the rest of the world was still living in the Stone Age. The Sumerian civilization was already ancient when it ended in 2004 B.C., twenty centuries before Julius Caesar, sixteen centuries before Socrates, and seven centuries before Tutankhamen. The Egyptians were the only people with a civilization comparable to the Sumerians. There is no mention of the Egyptians in the Sumerian archives and there is no direct evidence that they had a noticeable influence on one another, except for their ability to build giant pyramids. The religion of the ancient Sumerians has left its mark on the entire middle east. Each city holds a temple that was the seat of a major god, the gods controlled the powerful forces which often controlled a human's fate. The city leaders had to please the town's patron deity, not only for the good will of that god or goddess, but also for the good will of the other deities in the council of gods. There were monthly feasts and annual, New Year celebrations. Although the gods preferred justice and mercy, they had also created evil and bad luck. Their family god or city god might intrude, but that would accordingly happen. After all, man was created as a broken, labor saving, tool for the use of the gods and at the end of everyone's life. Early in Sumerian civilization, eighty to ninety percent of those who farmed did on land they considered theirs rather than communal property. The Sumerians indicated a trend that was common among others.... ... middle of paper ... ...on the move and food was no longer an issue. Populations grew and the excess of food kept growing. The remaining of food is the most important factor of all. At first the people would barter the things they made for the things they need. Populations continued to grow and so did there conclusion. My life would be totally different in that time period. It would have had different technology and the culture would be different. I wouldn’t like it only because I’m used to my generation and if I was a part of ancient Sumerian generation I would be confused cause they had a different style of living. Some elements would be the same, but the technology would be different and religious beliefs would also be different. There wouldn’t be any equal value of trade and our culture values would be different. It would be like living in a whole different world.
Imagine a world without the wheel. Picture a world without math. Now, without knowing time. Well, these are some of the many contributions that the Mesopotamians made to society.
As farming procedures improved and therefore allowed for surplus, the Sumerian civilization began to grow not only in numbers, but also in the complexity of how it functioned on every level; its religious leaders became more powerful, its degree of specialization more complex and inventions and discoveries came fast...
The Epic of Gilgamesh is generally regarded as the greatest literature about tales of a great king. The Epic of Gilgamesh served to show us a lot of things. The time period of BCE is very blurry, and this story attempts to describe many different things in not only Sumerian beliefs, but also Sumerian's culture as a whole. Like many stories from BCE the truth itself is questionable, even though a lot of the information is fact. The factual information that Gilgamesh teaches us about Sumerian Civilization is that had had many craftsman and artistic skills, and also a strong belief in Gods.
The school system of the Sumerians set the educational standards for Mesopotamia culture and other cultures to follow. Their studies included mathematics, botany and linguistics. Some students tha...
How did people revere their gods differently among three civilizations? Did they worship with the same general intent? What were gods’ role(s) in people’s lives? A brief exploration into the religions of Egypt, Greece, and the Hebrew people may bring insight to these questions. Although the main idea of higher beings remains constant throughout societies’ religion, their form of presence in people’s lives varies. I will present the relationship between the leaders and the gods, as well as resemblance to monotheism and systems of government.
Sumerians praised their gods and goddesses by building temples for them known as Ziggurats. Sumerians were constantly trying to praise the gods due to the fact that their climate was erratic. They believed that the gods and goddesses were in full control therefore they must pay them homage for future wealth and good weather. Yet they could not comprehend why such disasters would happen after such praise. According to the Mesopotamian Prayer, one can view the attitudes of the Sumerians towards the gods and goddesses. This prayer is very grim and pessimistic. It portrays the gods as “hostile, demanding and inscrutable...
...f the divine world but the kings were in charge of vocalizing god’s wishes on earth. The most famous of these law codes was Hammurabi’s law code. The Hebrews tried to establish order by using Yahweh’s Ten Commandments and the Torah. Mesopotamian deities were hard to please and easily angered. The Mesopotamians constantly felt they were letting their gods down and usually didn’t even know the reason behind it. Hebrews had a much more forgiving god. Through texts like “The Book of Job”, it is apparent that Yahweh was a tough god but always forgiving and fair in the end. He had few demands of his people and all of them were ethical and easy to adhere to. As long as his devotees followed Yahweh’s laws, they were all capable of receiving his blessings. Through it all, it seemed that God and religion was at the center of every aspect of life in the ancient civilization.
Of the first civilizations, Mesopotamia and Egypt left behind the most widely available documented look at the past (92). Interestingly enough, the basis for societal rank was comparable between these two civilizations. But despite similarities in social stratification, Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilization had very dissimilar views on life and the afterlife.
The factors of irrigation, inherent topography, and useful bronze-age technical innovations paved the way for the agricultural revolution to occur in the land of Sumer and Akkad. The people of the Tigris and the Euphrates basin, the ancient Sumerians, using the fertile land and the abundant water supply of the area, developed sophisticated irrigation systems and created what was probably the first cereal agriculture. This historical factor resulted in an excess of production of cereals, dates, and other commodities. The consequence of excess is the emergence of a productive peasant agricultural system and a redistributive economy that fuels the progress of civilization.
The people thought of all the gods to be wise and would seek their guidance in certain situations. Their religious beliefs brought this respect, and in some ways fear, to honor the gods so they would be gracious in return. “Religious beliefs instilled fear of the gods, who could alter the landscape, and desire to appease them” (Bulliet, 19). The Mesopotamians believed that the gods were human like in form, but that if they were to be unhappy by something the people did, they could alter anything in their lives, and in some cases even kill
Religion has a large place among humans, in self-healing through to political debates, and has existed since man began to think. Humans have always had faith that some divine force is guiding them through their everyday rituals and tasks to lead a better life, and every religion has its differences. The Hittites were not discreet about their beliefs; there are some who may even say that the Hittites were unrestrained in their religious practices. Wherever you stand on it, you cannot deny that Hattic religion and their thousand gods played a large role in the lives of their people. For one example, their surplus of gods would have had a large impact on how and where they practiced their faith, and their extreme polytheism would have altered their acceptance of other cultures. This paper examines the religion of the Hittites, the role of this faith, and where the divine entities and temples fit in within their religion.
Societies of the ancient world’s prosperity relied heavily upon their agricultural capabilities. While Rome, Egypt, Greece, and Mesopotamia all learned to adapt to meet their agricultural needs, each ancient society faced different barriers that they would have had to adapt to in order to overcome and become prosperous enough to build strong civilizations. Such barriers included their climates, reliable water sources, and fertile lands.
Gilgamesh had great admiration for his kingdom Uruk and explores many other lands during his journeys. Uruk was part of a group of state-cities in which many advancements and new discoveries were made. The people of the Sumeria were pioneers in writings and literatures; they learned how to survive by agriculture, hunting and fishing and used this to build a strong and stable economy to trade merchandise with other stat-cities. They were geographically well placed which made them have rich resources and have protection against any attacks from enemies and if in any case they were being attacked a leader would step in and take charge. This great civilization lasted for years but soon saw its end after being invaded but nevertheless their great discoveries and contributions to the Modern World persist.
To Conclude, The Sumerians terrible answer to the terrible question is the belief the human race had been created to serve the gods. They held this belief to every aspect of their culture. The Sumerians showed this belief in their creation stories of their literature as seen in the “Atrahasis Poem”, and the “Enuma Elish” poem, the massive ziggurats of their Architecture, and their remaining artwork. The Sumerians were true believers of their gods and would have done anything for their gods. In their culture their religion was held to the highest of standards.
The rise of chiefdoms and states came gradually as bands and tribes grew population wise and technologically. With the intensification of agriculture and the production of a surplus, inequality began to grow and become more and more apparent within the structure of society. Thus, social stratification came about and created different levels of importance amongst members of society. The most important factors, however, that contributed to the rise of chiefdoms and states are what major modes of subsistence were used (i.e. agriculture vs. foraging), what the predominant mode of distribution was, the population size of the society, the division of labor and the level of social stratification present in the society.