Name(s): AJ Avagliano Class Period: 3 First Marking Period Quarterly: Honors Sumerians 1. Social Organization – The Sumerians had a very developed social hierarchy. The most important people were the ruling family, leading officials, and high priests. The next group included regular priests, scribes, merchants, and artisans, followed by the largest group consisting of peasant farmers. The final group of people were the slaves, who had little to no importance. 2. Art and Literature – The Sumerians were very skilled at making crafts and that type of art was a big part of their culture. Objects such as large temples, fine jewelry, musical instruments, and pottery have been found by archaeologists. The Sumerians also had a very rich …show more content…
Language – The Sumerians were the first known civilization to use a system of written language. Although it is nothing like the ones we have today, it still was a remarkable advancement to language in general and allowed for the development of language at a much faster rate after that. The language was expressed in cuneiform and allowed the society to finally record complex topics such as tax records and literary works, but also more simple topics such as shopping lists. 4. Job Specialization – The Sumerians, during the time when they were most successful, had many types of jobs and many different people specializing in each job. Some of the most important jobs were: construction, because of the regular seismic activity and floods; fine masons, who were very valued for their work; traders who went out and traded things such as leather, pottery, and metal wares with nearby societies; and of course all the other people who farmed, made pottery, and everyone else who allowed the trade to happen. 5. Polytheism – The Sumerians, like the majority of the other ancient civilizations, worshipped and believed in many different gods. The people believed that the gods controlled all aspects of life, most importantly the forces of nature. It was believed that the gods preferred truth and justice, but they were also believed to be accountable for suffering and violence if you did not please your city-state’s chief …show more content…
Elimination – The early Assyrian society was destroyed by the Babylonians around 1750 BC in an attempt from the Babylonians and other surrounding societies to take the land because of the prosperous environment. After many years, the Assyrians regained their independence around 1350 BC. The Assyrians learned to use scare tactics and terror to keep their enemies away and avoid further war and fighting. 12. Human Intellectual Development – The Assyrians were one of the first societies to use a very developed type of defense system to keep their territory safe from intruders. They used scare tactics such as beheading and burning people alive to create a strong reputation that said they didn’t want to be messed with. After a few hundred years, nobody wanted to put up a fight with them, they were the most feared people in a very large surrounding region. 13. Haves/ Have Nots – The Assyrians all seemed to possess similar basic necessities, such as homes, but what they had inside their homes and the luxuries that they had created a group of people who were considered wealthy and people considered poor or peasant. One difference between the haves, or the wealthy, and the have nots, or the non-wealthy peasants, was that in the courtyard of their homes (a courtyard was very common), the wealthy would grow small trees in clay pots, whereas the poor would have nothing, and also the wealthy would have primitive locks on their doors, whereas the poor did not. These simple differences
During Mesopotamian times, wars were what divided ruling periods. There were many different peoples that dominated Ancient Mesopotamia and the Assyrians were one of them. The Assyrians prospered mainly because of their divine talent to defensively resist and offensively overwhelm their enemies. At no point of Assyrian rule was there ever a time without conflict of some sort.
Without the Mesopotamians we would not have all the luxury we have today. Could you ever imagine a world without writing? You may think, life would not be so bad without it, but without writing we would not have stories, we could not write to the bank, we could not text. Two major contributions made to society were the first forms of writing known as Cuneiform and Hammurabi’s Code.
Religion was a major part of Ancient Egyptians’ lives. Their faith was so engrained in them that it was more of a lifestyle than a set of beliefs. The Egyptians practiced polytheism, or the worship of many gods, and they believed that their pharaoh was a god on Earth (Doc 3). The people worshipped the pharaoh and gave him all respect and power. They believed that their two main goals in life were to keep the pharaoh and the other gods happy and to live a good life so that they may enjoy a happy life after death. Their shared faith strengthened their society because everyone was working toward the same goal. Groups were not divided based on what god they worshipped. Instead, the fact that every person lived to please the same gods and wished to go to the same afterlife gave them something in common and brought them together as a community. Sumerians also practiced polytheism and believed that their priests were connected to the gods. The people thought it was their responsibility to keep the gods happy, and believed that if the gods were pleased, they would allow their people to be content as well (Doc 6). Because of their desire to please the gods, Sumerians performed every task to the best of their ability. For example, they invested lots of time and money into their ziggurats, or temples, because they only wanted to give their best to the gods. The Sumerians’ devotion to every task ensured that everything was done well and helped their civilization
"The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature." Last modified 12 18, 2002. Accessed March 10, 2014. http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/index1.htm.
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...
Mesopotamian society consisted of classes and social differences. The nobles, free clients of the nobility, commoners and slaves and Slave women all made up the different classes. The men dominated the women in Mesopotamia. The nobles consisted of the king, his family, the chief priests, and high palace officials. The king was a war leader elected by the citizens. He established an army and led it into battle. Kingship was hereditary. Commoners were free citizens. In ancient Egypt, both women and men could act on their own and were responsible for their own actions. In contrast, Mesopotami...
To start out, the Sumerians invented cuneiform, which had a major impact on the future. It was invented 5,000 years ago (Doc. 1). They used it to keep records about their crops, business dealings, and occasionally love letters (OI). They also used cuneiform to write myths (OI). Cuneiform was written on clay tablets, then baked
These civilizations had retainers and all had slaves, usually slaves were from other villages that they had fought in wars. War was a way of life to these people, they fought throughout their history and basically their empires died without it. They were always expanding the empires through war and when they could no longer do this they fought with themselves within their own empires. When this happened they rapidly declined and where easy prey for the Europeans when they arrived.
Mesopotamia’s climate consisted of temperatures rising from 110 to 120°F in the summer. This led to many dry days that eventually led to a severe drought. Basically, there was little to no rainfall from the months of May until October. This led to the devastation of agriculture. Not only did the Sumerians have to deal with the effects of the droughts, they had to deal with the consequences of flooding as well. The Tigris and the Euphrates surrounded Mesopotamia thus when it would overflow more devastation would occur such as the washouts of embankments. (Hause, 2001, pg. 7)
...eir homes) and erosion. In a cultural and political context there was a competition between kings and nobles as to who led the civilization through war and other events that required military forces.
A consistent characteristic among the first civilizations was social stratification. In most of the first civilizations, social hierarchies included kings, the elites, the working class, and slaves. Social stratification was evident in the Mesopotamian and Egyptian societies based off of the documents from the Babylonian Empire, The Law Code of Hammurabi, and the Egyptian student text, Be a Scribe. In the document The Law Code of Hammurabi, soldiers, farmers, salves, and other jobs are mentioned (96-97). In the document Be a Scribe, farmers, cobblers, soldiers, and various other jobs are mentioned (100-101). It is significant that these jobs are mentioned in both documents because it illustrates the similarities in these civilization’s social hierarchies. But, the similarities in their social structures do not end there. Special treatment based off of social standing was a consistent factor in both of these civilizations as well. This is clearly exemplified in Mesopotamia with the harshness of punishments for crimes being dependent on class (97). In Egypt, evidence of special treatment based off of social stratification is insinuated in the document Be a Scribe. This document delves into the negatives of having low class jobs and encourages people to become educated to grow in class rank (101). Despite these similarities, these two civilizations still held vastly different values and
Without a doubt, the Sumerians were highly innovative people who responded creatively to the challenges of the both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Not just any spot on the planet is a good prospect for irrigation, and it is the topography of the land and the intelligence of the people that allowed efficient irrigation systems to develop.
When comparing cultures it would be difficult to find two that are more diverse than the Mesopotamian and Egyptian cultures. The Mesopotamian culture was filled with tension and instability while the Egyptian people maintained a stable and somewhat more content way of life. In examining these two cultures one can surmise that these differences are mainly due to the political, economic, social, religious, and geographic differences between Egypt and Mesopotamia. These factors added to the overall mentality of the people. These mentalities affected the stability of each culture, whether for the better or worse.
...est- king controls the food and trade routes. On the war side the three registers depict the king leading his troops to war and the army trampling its enemy and bring back prisoners for the king. Through the art of the Sumerian culture it is obvious the Sumerians were heavily involve in their religious practices.
Egypt had many intricate structures that have made history, but the most important of the designs is their social structure. The society of Egypt was structured as a pyramid with the pharaoh at the top. The elite part of society contains the nobles, priests, viziers, and government officials. Next, soldiers and military are used for protection and to keep order throughout the kingdom. The scribes record and keep records about the kingdom. Merchants, artisans, and farmers are a large section of the pyramid. They supply the kingdom with food, money, and jobs. Last, slaves and servants are their to help and support the people above them. Each part of society has their role to benefit the kingdom as a whole. The pharaoh is at the top of the pyramid and must control all of society.