 Show
4a. Life in SumerCourtesy University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology This beautiful artifact, called by archaeologists "Ram in the Thicket," was squashed for 4,500 years or so before Sir Leonard Woolley excavated it from the Royal Cemetery at Ur in Mesopotamia. How did he know how to piece it together? The first writing system. The plow. The sailboat. The first lunar calendar. These accomplishments and more were the products of the city-states of Sumer, which arose on the flood plains of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now modern-day Iraq. The Sumerians began to build their walled cities and make significant advances beginning around 3500 B.C.E. Their domination of this region lasted until around 2000 B.C.E, when the Babylonians took control. Sumerian culture and technology did not disappear but were adopted by its conquerors. Located in what the ancient Greeks called Mesopotamia, which literally means "the land between the rivers," Sumer was a collection of city-states that occupied the southernmost portion of Mesopotamia. Most were situated along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, lying just north of the Persian Gulf. Bordered by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, ancient Sumer was located in southern Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia is a Greek word meaning "between two rivers." The physical environment there has remained relatively the same since about 8000 B.C.E. The landscape is flat and marshy. The ground is primarily made up of sand and silt, with no rock. The climate is very dry, with only about 16.9 centimeters of rain falling per year. Natural vegetation is sparse, and no trees other than palm trees grow there. The rivers overflow their banks in the spring, sometimes violently and destructively. During this process, they deposit a rich layer of silt on the surrounding floodplain. The Cradle of CivilizationConsidering the harsh and forbidding natural environment, how did the first civilization arise in Sumer? Surprisingly, the environment was part of what made civilization possible. The silt carried by the rivers down from the northern mountains provided rich fertilizer for growing crops when the rivers overflowed. The constant sunshine was also good for crops. But without water, they would have easily dried up and died. Through the leadership of priest-kings, Sumerians organized farmers in each city-state to build extensive irrigation systems of canals and dams. Before long, the desert was blooming with a surplus of barley, dates, and other crops. This surplus allowed many people to pursue occupations other than farming, while still being able to meet their basic needs. These people became artisans, merchants, and craftspeople. They helped build the cities and increase the wealth of the city-states through trade with neighboring societies. Sumerians also developed high-quality crafts, evidence of which was found in the royal tombs of Ur, excavated by Sir Leonard Woolley in the 1920s. Trade also helped the Sumerians to secure vital items such as timber from Lebanon and luxury goods such as the semiprecious stone lapis lazuli from the Indus River Valley.
Gettin' Ziggy with ItThis clay plaque (c. 17th century B.C.E.) depicts what some archaeologists believe is the Sumerian goddess Inanna, patron deity of fertility. Makes you wonder who'll find those Barbie dolls you buried in the backyard. Because of the surplus grain, the government could grow in size to support numerous officials and priests. It could also pay thousands of workers with barley while they were building canals, city walls, and ziggurats or while they were fighting to defend their city-state or extend its influence over the region. The barley was collected as a tax from the farmers. Farmers were also required to give some time to the government to work on projects. Slaves and hired workers also contributed. As the government and economy grew in size and complexity, officials and merchants required a sophisticated writing system to record transactions. First came number markings and simple pictograms, the writing system began to incorporate pictures representing a physical object or idea (such as a picture of the sun to represent the sun). As trade and government activity increased, the writing system began to incorporate more abstract pictograms and phonograms, or symbols representing sounds. These new forms provided greater flexibility and speed in writing. They were adopted by other cultures (such as the Assyrians) who did not even speak Sumerian. Sumerian WisdomThe Sumerians wrote on clay tablets, using a reed pen called a stylus. Once dried, these tablets became hard and, fortunately for today's researchers, endured for millennia in the hot, dry climate. Thousands of these tablets have been unearthed. Some libraries have even been discovered with over 10,000 of these clay tablets. And although the vast majority of these tablets contain records of goods collected and distributed by the governments and trade transactions, some contain myths, stories, and letters. These documents have provided much information about the culture and history of the Sumerian people. With their ingenuity, the Sumerian people developed complex irrigation system and a written language. They were the first people to use the plow to lift the silt-laden soil of their crop fields and they invented the sailboat. They were the first people to design a calendar based on the phase of the moon and they developed a numerical system, based on the number 60, that is still used to measure seconds and minutes. GilgameshGilgamesh was likely an actual king of Uruk in Babylonia who lived about 2700 B.C.E. Sumerians recorded stories and myths about Gilgamesh, which were written on clay tablets. The stories were combined into an epic tale. Versions of this tale were translated into other langauages including Akkadian, which was spoken by the Babylonians. The fullest surviving version is derived from twelve stone tablets, in the Akkadian language, which were found stored in the famous library at Nineveh of Assyrian King Assurbanipal. The epic relates the heroic deeds of Gilgamesh, who is the king of Uruk. His father is mortal and his mother is a goddess. Since Gilgamesh is part mortal, he knows he must die one day. However, he longs for immortality, whether through doing great deeds or discovering the secret of eternal life. He roams the earth on this quest and meets Utnapishtim, the only human granted eternal life by the gods. He tells Gilgamesh many stories, including one of a great flood that covered the Earth. What happens to Gilgamest? Read the tale and find out. The following is an excerpt from Gilgamesh. O man of Shuruppak, son of Ubartutu: A culture of many firsts, the Sumerians led the way for other societies that followed them. Mesopotamian Mathematics Report broken link The Collapse of Mesopotamia Report broken link The Nippur Expedition Report broken link Accessing Women's Lives in Mesopotamia Report broken link The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature Report broken link Sumerian Mythology FAQ Report broken link Gilgamesh Study
Guide Report broken link Gilgamesh Report broken link White Temple and ziggurat, Uruk Report broken link If you like our content, please share it on social media!What ideas and inventions did Sumerians pass on to other civilizations?Contents. Mass-Produced Pottery.. Writing.. Hydraulic Engineering.. The Chariot.. The Plow.. Textile Mills.. Mass-Produced Bricks.. Metallurgy.. How did Sumerian culture spread?Sumerian culture was spread through Mesopotamia by cultural diffusion, as Sumerian ideas and products were introduced to neighboring peoples as travel and trade expanded.
How did Sumerian civilization influence other civilization?The incredibly important invention of the wheel is also credited to the Sumerians; the earliest discovered wheel dates to 3500 BCE in Mesopotamia. Sumerians built ships that allowed them to travel into the Persian Gulf and trade with other early civilizations, such as the Harappans in northern India.
What are some Sumerian inventions and advances in learning that influenced the development of later civilizations?The wheel, plow, and writing (a system that we call cuneiform) are examples of their achievements. The farmers in Sumer created levees to hold back the floods from their fields and cut canals to channel river water to the fields. The use of levees and canals is called irrigation, another Sumerian invention.
Why is the discoveries of the Sumerian civilization important to modern mathematics?One of the greatest aspects of Sumerian technology was their amazing concepts of mathematics. They invented some of the most commonly used math concepts in the modern world, like the basic number system and the basic concept of dividing time into minutes, seconds, etc.
How did science and technology affect Sumerian civilizations?They were the first to use the potter's wheel to make better pottery, they used irrigation to get water to their crops, they used bronze metal (and later iron metal) to make strong tools and weapons, and used looms to weave cloth from wool.
|
How did Sumerian mathematical and technological ideas spread to other civilizations
zusammenhängende Posts
Urheberrechte © © 2024 decemle Inc.
