The Sumerians: The Invention Of Uniform

The Sumerians were one of the earliest urban societies to emerge in the world, in Southern Mesopotamia more than 5000 years ago. They developed a writing system whose wedge-shaped strokes would influence the style of scripts in the same geographical area for the next 3000 years. Eventually, all of these diverse writing systems, which encompass both logophonetic, consonantal alphabetic, and syllabic systems, became known as cuneiform.
It is actually possible to trace the long road of the invention of the Sumerian writing system. For 5000 years before the appearance of writing in Mesopotamia, there were small clay objects in abstract shapes, called clay tokens, that were apparently used for counting agricultural and manufactured goods. As time
went by, the ancient Mesopotamians realized that they needed a way to keep all the clay tokens securely together (to prevent loss, theft, etc), so they started putting multiple clay tokens into a large, hollow clay container which they then sealed up. However, once sealed, the problem of remembering how many tokens were inside the container arose. To solve this problem, the Mesopotamians started impressing pictures of the clay tokens on the surface of the clay container with a stylus. Also, if there were five clay tokens inside, they would impress the picture of the token five times, and so problem of what and how many inside the container was solved.

There were four main classes of people in ancient Sumer - the priests, the upper class, the lower class, and the slaves. The priests: were powerful. They were in charge of making sure everyone behaved in a way that would make the gods happy. They were the doctors of the time. If you were sick, you called for a priest.
There is a written record of two priests, by the bed of a sick boy, dressed to look like fish to better speak with the water god. (This author does not know why the priests wanted to talk to the water god. Perhaps the boy became sick in the water or from drinking the water.) The upper class: Men and women wore jewelry, especially rings. Men wore skirts and had long hair, curly moustaches, and long beards. Women wore dresses, off one shoulder. They had long hair, which they braided or wore up in fancy arrangements. It was easy to tell who were the priests. The priests shaved their heads. Everyone wore cloaks made from sheep wool to keep warm in winter.The Lower class: In ancient Sumer, people were paid for their work. If they ran a shop or worked in the fields, they were paid for their goods or labor. Stealing was a serious crime and punishment was severe. Everybody paid. The slaves: When the Sumerians conquered another town, they brought prisoners back with them to act as slaves. Slaves worked for the king, the temple and the wealthy. Slaves were bought and sold. Records have been found recording the amount paid for a slave. Typically, a slave bought at auction cost less than a donkey but more than a cow. Sumerian city-states were the center of the Sumerian culture. The cities probably began as centers of religious worship and festivities. As the cities grew people began to take refuge behind their walls from the growing number of raiders who preyed upon the open defenseless villages. City-states were independent entities who shared a common culture, though they were sometimes united under a single king. Such as Ur, Girsu, Ger, Kish and Uruk.

Sumerian rulers were responsible for for maintaining city walls and irrigation systesm, public works, projects, collecting taxes, and leading the army. Sumerian culture was based on the taxation of the surplus produced by agricultural villagers to support the urban ruling class and its public-works programme, which included state-controlled irrigation.

Ancient Sumerians had many jobs in Sumer, the first civilization. Some occupations were Potters, Stone Carvers, Brick makers, Goldsmiths, Farmers, Fishermen, Shepherds, Weavers, Leather dealers, Accountants, Merchants, Kings, Priests, Carpenters, Judges, Scribes, Architects, Armies, Commanders, Bakers, Basket makers, Butchers, Chariot drivers, Cooks, Harpists, Horse trainers, Musicians, Perfume makers, Doctors, Royal bodyguards, Singers, Tax collectors, and Veterinarians. The continual state of warfare prompted city rulers to erect massive walls around the cities. Bronze weapons of war were manufactured in increasing quantities.

Sumerian art and architecture was ornate and complex - primarily used for religious purposes - painting and sculpture the main median used.Sumerian techniques and motifs were widely available because of the invention of cuneiform writing before 3000 B.C.
Pretty much all Sumerian sculpture served as adornment or ritual equipment for the temples. No identifiable cult statues of gods or goddesses have yet been found. Male statues stand or sit with hands clasped in an attitude of prayer. They are often naked above the waist and wear a woolen skirt curiously woven in a pattern that suggests overlapping petals. Many people beleive that the rarity of stone in Mesopotamia contributed to the primary stylistic distinction between Sumerian and Egyptian sculpture. Now in spite of minor variations, all these figures adhere to the single formula of presenting the conventional characteristics of Sumerian physiognomy (the art of determining characteror personal characteristics from the form or features of the body, especially of the
face.)

Sumerian religion has its roots in the worship of nature, such as the wind and water.
The ancient sages of Sumer found it necessary to bring order to that which they did not understand and to this end they came to the natural conclusion that a greater force was at work. The forces of nature were originally worshipped as themselves. However, over time the human form became associated with those forces. Gods in human form were now seen to have control over nature. The Sumerians regarded the universe as consisting of heaven and earth. The Sumerians believed that the dead descended into the nether world, also known as the under world. The souls of the dead entered the nether world from their graves, but there were also special entrances in cities. A person could enter the nether world from one of these special entrances, but could not leave unless a substitute was found to take their place in the world below. The gods of Sumer were human in form and maintained human traits. They ate, drank, married, and fought amongst each other. Even though the gods were immortal and all-powerful, it was apparent that they could be hurt and even
killed.

The government of Sumer grew very complex as history progressed, and each city-state had begun to collect taxes and employed scribes to keep meticulous records. Each city-state had complicated irrigation systems, whose management the ruler oversaw. And the ruler also took on the role of chief priest, leading rites and procession in order to honor the gods. Back then, the Sumerians were affected politically by the invention of a government. They invented it to organize labor. Officials were appointed and sorted out problems and worked on construction projects.
They were affected economically, because of the newly-organized labor, people could work together to build an economy and build canals and roads that made trading easier.
The invention of government affected the Sumerians socially by giving the people something to do, and a way to earn a living. Now, government is what keeps the world from becoming a place of anarchy and chaos. Politically speaking, government affects us now because of electing officials to represent us and our beliefs on how America should be run. They work out how to deal with poverty and unemployment. They organzie labor when it comes to the military and the national guard and such. When it comes to economics, the government supervises imports and exports. It provides funding for infrastructure, such as building highways.