Assyrians And Sumerian Civilization Essay
I believe that every civilization that made up the Mesopotamia and the Nile River in Egypt had an influence in one way or another, the two I want to compare are the Sumerians and the Assyrians. I believe that the Sumerians were the greatest influence during this ancient period. The Sumer Empire reigned from 3200-2350 BC.
The Sumerians were located in the southernmost part of Mesopotamia or modern day Iraq. Since they were on the Fertile Crescent where irregular flooding was common, they created an irrigation network that helped them grow agriculturally. Around 5000 BCE is when they began work on the irrigation. With their advances in agriculture, wealth in Sumer grew. In turn so did the growth in population, drawing other Semitic people. With the agriculture development and the large scale production to support a large …show more content…
population, they needed workers, or commoners, to build the irrigation works, keep them in repair, and distribute the water. This need called for government and laws. Cities were created, and along with all cities comes politics and military. City-states were established to help keep control within the city and also with the outer agricultural territories. The Sumerians didn’t write down their laws. Each city-state had its own king, assembly of people, and military. So the king in one city-state could pass a law and if it was a good law then it would stick around, and be accepted or enforced in all city-states. Once a law was passed, you were expected to know and listen to it, or you would be punished accordingly. Even though they were separate city-states and fought one another, they almost had the same laws and punishments, culture, language, and religion. People were free to move from city to city for trade and also to live.
They are also known for technologies such as the plow, wheel, and a form of writing called cuneiform.
The uses of writing were for trade, astronomy, math (agriculture), and calculation of time. The Sumerians developed a way of counting using the number 60. The 60 second minute, and then the 60 minute hour were derived from this. 24 hour days were also created, along with a time for beginning and ending of the work day, and came up with the idea of days off or holidays. The wheel has been what I believe a great influence in a number of ways. It helped with trade, by being able to create wagons for transporting more goods over a farther distance, and also with agriculture by being able to help transport the produce to the cities for market. The architecture they were able to do included arches, ziggurats, and rounded roofs in the shape of domes. Ziggurats were their temples where they worshipped their gods. They were a polytheistic people, and each of their cities had a local god that they worshipped. The Sumerians were able to govern their people and keep control, along with being able to provide jobs, food, and wealth to
many.
The Sumerians were located in the southernmost part of Mesopotamia or modern day Iraq. Since they were on the Fertile Crescent where irregular flooding was common, they created an irrigation network that helped them grow agriculturally. Around 5000 BCE is when they began work on the irrigation. With their advances in agriculture, wealth in Sumer grew. In turn so did the growth in population, drawing other Semitic people. With the agriculture development and the large scale production to support a large …show more content…
population, they needed workers, or commoners, to build the irrigation works, keep them in repair, and distribute the water. This need called for government and laws. Cities were created, and along with all cities comes politics and military. City-states were established to help keep control within the city and also with the outer agricultural territories. The Sumerians didn’t write down their laws. Each city-state had its own king, assembly of people, and military. So the king in one city-state could pass a law and if it was a good law then it would stick around, and be accepted or enforced in all city-states. Once a law was passed, you were expected to know and listen to it, or you would be punished accordingly. Even though they were separate city-states and fought one another, they almost had the same laws and punishments, culture, language, and religion. People were free to move from city to city for trade and also to live.
They are also known for technologies such as the plow, wheel, and a form of writing called cuneiform.
The uses of writing were for trade, astronomy, math (agriculture), and calculation of time. The Sumerians developed a way of counting using the number 60. The 60 second minute, and then the 60 minute hour were derived from this. 24 hour days were also created, along with a time for beginning and ending of the work day, and came up with the idea of days off or holidays. The wheel has been what I believe a great influence in a number of ways. It helped with trade, by being able to create wagons for transporting more goods over a farther distance, and also with agriculture by being able to help transport the produce to the cities for market. The architecture they were able to do included arches, ziggurats, and rounded roofs in the shape of domes. Ziggurats were their temples where they worshipped their gods. They were a polytheistic people, and each of their cities had a local god that they worshipped. The Sumerians were able to govern their people and keep control, along with being able to provide jobs, food, and wealth to
many.