Ancient Literature And Its Impact On Modern Civilization

Writing, record keeping, and literature are cornerstones of civilization as we know it. Without our predecessors developing alphabets and grammar and recording what was going on around them, modern day humans would not know where they came from. Humans also, however, have a tendency to destroy history. While ancient humans created books and libraries, they destroyed just as many, if not more. Writing has proved a very important practice to societies throughout human history and although ancient literature and writings that have been preserved enhance modern civilization, the inherent pattern of destroying libraries and books has likely inhibited the progress of humanity to a certain extent, because conflicting societies in ancient times would

Because the clay tablets were obviously not holding against the tests of time, the development accelerated of a more durable means to preserve memory. Books and writing were very valuable to the ancient Mesopotamian people. Sumerians attributed the invention of books to the goddess of grain, Nidaba. Writing was a highly valued practice, as demonstrated in the legend of Enmerkar (ca. 2750 BCE)--a king of the city of Uruk was said to have been sentenced to drinking putrid water in hell for not having his deeds recorded during his life and reign. Writers were also highly valued--the position of scribe was one of the most coveted occupations. Scribes prayed to Nidaba before and after writing, they were educated in all facets of knowledge and scholarly works and they had a hierarchy within their community. The primary rank was known as dub-sar, simply meaning scribe. After several years of commendable work, a scribe was promoted to ses-gal, or great brother. Finally, a scribe rose to the level of um-mi-a, meaning master. Scribes on this level were deemed above all laws. Fast forward about a thousand years to between 2000 and 1000 BCE. Writing and books aided ancient Mesopotamia’s most famous ruler in what made him

Babylonian king Hammurabi, who reigned from 1792 to 1750 BCE, would not be a well known name today were it not for his famous law codes (likely written by scribes). This work of writing is one of the earliest and best preserved from ancient Mesopotamia because of its famous ideas such as “If an awīlu should blind the eye of another awīlu, they shall blind his eye” (Hammurabi), “If he should break the bone of another awīlu, they shall break his bone” (Hammurabi), and “If an awīlu should knock out the tooth of another awīlu of his own rank, they shall knock out his tooth” (Hammurabi). Hammurabi’s ideas are still a prevalent topic in this day and age because they were preserved. The practice and habit of preserving books and writings became a concern within societies. Towards the end of the second millennia BCE, libraries had sprung up in Isin, Ur, and Nippur--all around modern day Iraq. In Ur, tablets containing family archives from 1267 BCE were discovered in the ruins of homes, showing the growing importance of writing to