When analyzing ancient civilization and how it began, there are many elements and aspects that should be considered. Questions such as how did civilization begin? What lead to its creation? Where did it begin, and why in that particular location? Many of these questions can be examined and answered by researching what many believe is the world’s earliest civilization, Mesopotamia. It is widely believed that this region was chosen and supported one of the world’s first civilizations. This area was settled over 10,000 years ago by a group of people known as the Sumerians (Cunningham & Reich, 2010). Why was this early civilization formed? There are many reasons as to why the Sumerians established the world’s first society. Many of the reasons evolved out of basic necessity or out of simple convenience. One of the most significant reasons was food, which until early cities evolved, finding food often meant traveling from place to place looking for food. Finding food was also usually done alone or as a group of family members. The Sumerians establishment of an early civilization helped to greatly reduce that burden, by staying in one region as a community and taking advantage of what was available nearby. This created a communal approach to finding food sources as well as significantly reducing the amount of energy consumed by constantly moving from place to place in search of food. Farming also became a steady source of food for the early civilization. With established dwellings, communities were able to create crude irrigation systems to support their crops in the very dry dessert like climate. Domestication of animals also became a possibility as well with the more permanent living situation the early civilization h... ... middle of paper ... ... of the Sumerians, a number of significant battles with another fledgling Mesopotamian civilization, the Akkadians, would lead to a loss of control over their city and most of their land. The Akkadians would eventually gain complete control over all of the Sumerian city-states and would ultimately spell the end for the creators of the original Mesopotamian civilization. Works Cited Cunningham, L., & Reich, J. J. (2010). Culture and values: a survey of the humanities (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning. Hirst, K. K. (n.d.). Mesopotamia Timeline and Definition. About Archaeology - The Study of Human History. Retrieved April 17, 2011, from http://archaeology.about.com/od/mterms/qt/mesopotamia.htm Hooker, R. (1999). Mesopotamia. Washington State University - Pullman, Washington. Retrieved April 15, 2011, from http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MESO/MESO.HTM
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.
Around 3500 B.C.E to 3000 B.C.E., civilizations emerged in many places. Egypt and Mesoamerica are distinctive two of them. Considering the different aspects of civilization, historians can find some same characteristics and differences which are valuable for historians to understand civilization in-depth.
—. “Mesopotamia: Crash Course World History #3.” World History. YouTube. Feb. 9, 2012. 12:05. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sohXPx_XZ6Y&list=PLBDA2E52FB1EF80C9&index=3
The emergence of civilizations came with first cities, states, and unequal societies. For instance, Sumer developed as a river valley civilization along with Nubia, which developed on the Nile, closer to the Great Riff Valley, with high elevation. Egypt, however, lived in isolation. On the upper hand, they had a stable community and strong economical power.
Sumeria is one of the ancient civilizations in historical regions in Mesopotamia, which is now modern day Iraq. Historians believe that the area called Sumer was first permanently settled by non -Semitic people who spoke the Sumerian language. The Sumerian civilization took form in the Uruk period (4th millennium BCE). The Sumerian city of Eridu was the world’s first city, where three separate cultures merged – the peasant farmers, nomadic Semitic pastoralists and fisher folks who were the ancestors of the Sumerians. Based on research, historians believe before the Sumerians there was no other known civilization as advanced as the Sumerians. Sumerians were advanced in their technologies, knowledge and development of a society. Sumerians developed and cataloged the brightest stars, and outline zodiacal constellations.
The Sumerian culture emerged around 4000 B.C, among the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now known as Southern Iraq. They invented their own writing which is known as Cuneiform. There wasn’t any organized set of Gods in Sumer because each city/ state had its own patrons, temples, and priest/kings. The Sumerians were well known for their metalwork and invention of the wheel, plow, and writing system. Also from the building of many cities along the river in lower Mesopotamia.
Civilizations first developed about 3000 b.c. in the river valleys of Mesopotamia , Egypt, India, and China. Throughout history, the need to have water for drinking and growing crops influenced where people settled. Although there were differences among the early civilizations, they were alike in many ways. As these early civilizations developed, people formed social classes. The social class people belonged to partly depended on their occupations. They did specialized types of work. Using improved technology, they made more and better goods. They set up governments to pass laws, defend their land, and carry out large building projects. The people of these civilizations also developed systems of values and beliefs that gave meaning to their
Over 10,000 years ago the human race was just beginning to understand the ways of farming and storing in a place known as Mesopotamia. Here is where civilization began to develop and gain knowledge of the world around them. As they progressed many civilizations began to develop governments, religions, and languages that would all help in shaping future societies. One of the first to appear in ancient Mesopotamia was governments (Kagan 1).
Mehta-Jones, S. (2005). Life in ancient mesopotamia. (p. 16). New York: Crabtree Publishing Company. (Mehta-Jones, 2005)
The connection between Mesopotamia and the development of civilization is the Sumerian tribe that arrived to that land. They were the first to read and write, and city-states rumored to have civilizations evolve around them are found surrounding Mesopotamia. Additionally, many of the first creation stories include Mesopotamia as the birthplace of civilization.
The Sumerians, or known as the Sumer Mesopotamia, were mostly short, stock, and black-haired. They were one of the earliest known civilizations and by 3000 BC, many of the villages that were created had grown intro city-states. City-states were self-reliant
Moortgat, Anton. The Art of Ancient Mesopotamia. 1st. New York: Phaidon Publishers Inc., 1969. Print.
Richardson, Seth. "An Assyrian Garden of Ancestors: Room I, Northwest Palace, Kalhu." State Archives of Assyria Bulletin 13 (1999): 145-216.
The ancient civilization of Egypt and Mesopotamia did not last. In Egypt this was due to rival claimants to the title of the pharaoh. While in Mesopotamia, fell because they were unable to conquer territory outside their region. They both had weak bureaucracies that were unorganized and unable to control the growing populations. It also seems that with the growing population, the leaders became greedy and lost sight of what needed to be done in order to gain control again. Though these civilizations developed somewhat strong; political, social, agricultural, and religious systems, they were unable to make it. They both had their similarities and differences within each aspect of the civilization neither one was able to continue. Without these ancient civilizations our world would be a different place today.
Mesopotamia Civilization: The Mesopotamian civilization was developed 6000 years ago and is located in the Fertile Crescent which is now the modern day Iraq. In Mesopotamia, there is an existence of a social structure that was divided into four. The priests were considered to in the top of the pyramid while the slaves which came from the different cities that the Sumerians conquered were considered to be at the bottom of the structure. In Ancient Mesopotamian family, men had more power than women. Men were taught about the business of trading and while women stayed at their homes, cooking and taking care of their family. The men were considered to be the masters of their house, but women have also the right to divorce their husbands (Mark,