Sumerian Civilization

Way before civilizations were formed, people were nomadic. The Merriam- Webster Dictionary (2015) defines nomadic as “roaming about from place to place.” With the discovery of farming and pastoralism, nomadic ways of the people then slowly disappeared. Ever since this semester started, Ma’am Velarde has been reiterating that farming was the reason why civilizations appeared. Through farming, the people then learned to settle in one area, specifically near a body of water. They did not need to transfer to one place to another because they already had their food within the area. Fruits and vegetables were within their reach. “The arrival, now, of the town or city marked a great change in the way people lived, and it is important to understand
Asia is the cradle of the earliest civilizations. Many early civilizations emerged here because of the fact that water was, and still is, abundant in the area. The Sumerian Civilization, the world’s earliest civilization in the world, emerged in Mesopotamia. They were the first people to invent a system of writing. This was cuneiform. Writing was made possible with the use of a stylus which was made of reed and with the use of this, Sumerians were able to write on clay tablets. Although cuneiform was used only by the ancient Mesopotamians, this led to the subsequent development of the modern writing system. Aside from cuneiform, the early settlers of Mesopotamia also invented the wheel which revolutionized transportation in the modern world. The Sumerians gave the world the ziggurats which served as the home and temple of the city-state’s patron god or goddess. The utilization of wind power by sea vessels was pretty evident in the discovery of sails. As previously stated, farming was the major way of living of the people then which is why with the invention of the plow, agricultural activities were made easier. Other inventions of the Mesopotamians are the water clock, the twelve-month calendar, the use of the principles of geometry, the sexagesimal system or counting by 60s which paved the way for the systematic division of time and the circle, and astrology and the 12 zodiac signs. They were also first ones to utilize bronze in making tools. Furthermore, the world’s first written law was drafted by Ur-Nammu. With the decline of Mesopotamia, other civilizations emerged in the Mediterranean. The Hitties first used Iron, which is more durable compared to bronze. Coins as a form of exchange was developed by the Lydians. The phonetic alphabet that we use now was made by the Phoenicians. (Boncan et al, 2010, pp.