Introduction
Over the course of history, thousands of civilizations developed all around the world, some thriving and emerging as empires, and others declining and fading from memory. They left behind many legacies, such as cultural traditions and political systems; however, their greatest contributions were their inventions. They allowed the civilizations to grow and advance, eventually progressing to become what our society is today. Nearly all modern day inventions have roots dating back to early civilizations, such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Rome. Ancient inventions had a powerful and undisputable impact on the modern world, as they stimulated progress in past civilizations, resulting in technological advancement overtime to become sophisticated and essential to our needs.
Argument #1 – Mesopotamia
Introduction
Ancient Mesopotamia is one of the earliest civilizations to emerge, dating back to 3100 BCE. Its people, the Sumerians, are credited with the invention of some of the most important human creations, such as the first form of writing, the wheel, and various aspects of mathematics. Being such an early civilization, these inventions were fairly basic, and were greatly improved over the next two thousand years, to become indispensable to the people of today.
Point #1 - Cuneiform
For instance, the first form of writing was invented in Ancient Mesopotamia, which revolutionized the world of communication. With the use of a stylus, the Sumerians made wedge-shaped marks on wet clay tablets [13], recording everything from household goods, to which kings were in power [16]. This form of writing was called ‘cuneiform’. Most information known to us about that time period came from cuneiform tablets [15], and even after the d...
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... an extremely important concept, used not only by accountants, engineers, and contractors, but also by regular people. Without the fundaments discovered in Ancient Mesopotamia, our society would not be as well developed in the field of mathematics, which would in turn affect the progress of various fields of science and construction.
Conclusion
The impact of Mesopotamian inventions on the modern world can be clearly seen through the influence their technology had on subsequent civilizations. Each invention was revolutionary, and became even more so after being further studied by civilizations like Egypt and Greece. After thousands of years of progress, these inventions are not only still used, but have become necessities. Despite being one of the first civilizations to emerge, Ancient Mesopotamia and its technology had a profound impact on the rest of the world.
The ancient cultures of Mesopotamia and Egypt developed into successful civilizations. One civilization the Egyptians developed was in the Nile River valley. Based off the "Mesopotamia and Egypt DBQ" packet, "Ancient Egypt was an advanced civilization in many areas including religion, architecture, transportation, and trade. Ancient Mesopotamia was one of the first civilizations that developed a form of government as well as organized people in political states." Based on the documents, Egypt and Mesopotamia developed into successful and advanced civilizations by effectively using the resources that surrounded them to solve problems and live happily.
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.
There have been many inventions throughout history and some of them have been a lot more helpful than others. The GPS, the Pacemaker, and the cell phone are all very important innovations made to the new world. Without these modern day inventions a lot of thing and the way we interact would be different
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.
In every society and culture writing is very important by which it allows us to transmit ideas or knowledge for others to see. Writing allows us to look back at information from centuries ago and understand what it was like. According to chapter 12 “The two indisputably independent inventions of writing were achieved by the Sumerians of Mesopotamia somewhat before 3000 B.C. and by Mexican Indians before 600 B.C. Egyptian writing of 3000 B.C. and Chinese writing (by 1300 B.C.) may also have arisen independently” (Diamonds, pg. 218). Other cultures may have adopted writing by ideas inspired by theses writing systems. Diamonds also points out that Sumerian Cuneiform is one of the oldest writing systems. One way the writing system was developed was by using clay tablets to write on by using pointy objects to scratch the surface. He also describes three basic strategies in writing that were used such as logograms, syllables, and letters that are in the alphabet. The alphabet that we use today was developed due to blue print copying. He continued to describe the...
Scientific, medical, and mathematical advances have changed the world; without them the human race would be very different. Inventions have shaped the world that is known today. In Asia and Europe these developments have been very prominent since 1648. Each continent has several similarities and differences between their innovations. Both continents had similar use of electricity, created victims, and innovated mathematics. The main differences consist of the use of steam, the lack of industrial revolutions in Asia, and the differences in medicine. These differences and similarities in the advancements in Europe and Asia have improved the standard of living for most; however, there are drawbacks to them.
Since the beginning of man, humans have adapted to their environment by creating tools; some of the earliest being stones and sticks to the introduction of the wheel, in which all were purposed to make life more efficient. Yet there are those who believe that some revolutionary innovations have actually hindered humankind more than helped. However, these pessimist are faulty since even mistakes made in the technological world have still led to unexpected breakthroughs and in turn their positive effects outweigh their negative ones. Evidently, advancements in technology are made simply to facilitate the survival of humans therefore it is clearly beneficial to society and its growth.
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
Abundant technological inventions were created during the Middle Ages. The truth is turbulent times create change, and with change comes the opportunity for inspiration, ideas and implementation (Newman). Inventions in farming were important since famine was a concern.Farming inventions enabled the people of the Middle Ages to increase their food production, helping to feed a growing population (Newman). The changes to these farming processes helped to save time, produce more food and better crops (Newman). These
As the late 19th century progressed, technological ideas and inventions began to thrive. The notion that technology would impact life as we know it was an unbelievable idea to comprehend. People had no idea that something so simple such as the light bulb would become so vital to them and for century’s to come. Inventions such as, the typewriter, barbed wire, telephone, Kodak camera, and electric stove were created, however the major inventions created and use tremendously today are, Medicine, Electricity, and Transportation.
Mesopotamia’s first invention was a form of writing called cuneiform which was written on clay tablets with a sharp reed called a stylus. This permitted for recording events and writing formal laws. The Sumerians, a civilization in Mesopotamia designed the wheel which was used to help transfer heavy objects to and from places. They also began constructing daggers, spears and chariots, which has led to their successful wars. The Mesopotamians were also responsible for the first laws and the discoveries of glass, sailboats, and ziggurats. With interest high in religion and mythology, Sumerians and their successors worshiped gods and goddesses just like Egyptians, Greeks, and Aegean cultures.
The first primary civilization was located in Southern Mesopotamia, known as Sumer. The Sumerians invented the first writing known as Cuneiform. We are left with tens of thousands of written records on many aspects of the Sumerians, the most notable of these being the Epic of Gilgamesh. This is an a...
To many people, when they hear the word “invention” they think of clever gadgets and devices that are now common. Such as the safety pin, zippers, computers, telephones, and cars- all of which have amazing stories behind them. However the word “invention” actually goes back to the Latin word invenire for “to come upon.” Basically an invention can be any tangible device or a process, which is brought out by the human imagination.
Mesopotamia ,now modern day Iraq, is known as the “cradle of civilization” and was located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Fertile Crescent. Mesopotamia was a very rich and very successful civilization; because of its convenient placement it was a very fruitful area having many people and excessive amounts of crops which meant lots of work. With all of these people came some amazing ideas and with ideas came reality. From this ancient civilization came some of the most revolutionary and life changing inventions such as writing, medicine, math and most importantly the wheel. All of these inventions have made an amazing impact on the world we live in now but the most revolutionary invention was the wheel.This invention was by far one of the most important inventions of its time and passes the other inventions such as, math, writing, medicine and other inventions because this made not only work less difficult but life as well ,it Increased supplies and containers, helped explore new lands, made trading with farther places and obtaining more goods easier, fewer men needed for heavy work, etc, while the other invent...
Ancient Mesopotamia was one of the first of the ancient civilizations. It formed in present-day northeastern Egypt, in the Fertile Crescent. The Fertile Crescent is a crescent-shaped region of good farmland created by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The first people to settle in Mesopotamia made important contributions to the world, such as wheeled vehicles, and an early form of writing called Cuneiform. Later, the Phoenicians here developed an alphabet much like the one we use today. Also, the Sumerians of this region developed algebra and geometry. Most importantly, the Sumerians made extensive irrigation systems, dikes, and canals to protect their crops from floods. The Great Hammurabi of Babylon, another empire in the Fertile Crescent, made the Code of Hammurabi. It was the first significant set of laws in history. Also, the Hittites and the Lydians settled in Mesopotamia. The Hittites developed a way to produce strong plows and weapons. The Lydians created a system of coined money. The contributions from the region of Mesopotamia in ancient times are still used today and are very useful.