Sumerian DBQ Analysis

The Ancient Egyptian culture dates all the way back to 5500 BCE to the time where there were pharos that ruled the lands. Ancient Egypt is one of the very first recorded civilizations with a very distinct way of life. They have traditions that have been passed down and influenced other cultures around the world. The earliest records of Ancient Mesopotamia culture dates back to around 3100 BCE. Mesopotamia had four different empires that was included in it. Those four empires were Assyria, Akkadia, Sumer and Babylonia. The four of those empires were in the lands of what today is known as Iraq.

During 600 BCE and 600 CE, many countries was going through a drastic change. When analyzing early civilizations, it’s evident there is similarities and differences. The Middle East, China, and Africa were among few countries that advanced during this aeon. All of these empires within the countries have risen and fallen, developing these civilizations to what we know of today.

Cuneiform was a system of writing created in Mesopotamia around 3,000 BCE. Scribes used a reed to make “wedge shaped” indentations on a clay tablet. Cuneiform started as way of keeping track of business transactions but was later used to create alphabets for the languages spoken in Ancient Mesopotamia. The Code of Hammurabi (discussed later) was written in cuneiform.

Jared Diamond, the author of Guns, Germs and Steel, was asked a question by New Guinean politician named Yali. Yali asks, “Why is it that you white people developed so much cargo and brought it to New Guinea, but we black people had little cargo of our own?” Jared then thinks about this question. He realizes it is a rather difficult question. He knows that there is still a huge difference between the lifestyle of the average New Guinean and the average American or European. He wants to find out why these two peoples are so different. He rephrases Yalis question into why is human development more advanced in some places and not developed as much in other places. For example he also wants to find out why Europeans were the ones to end up with guns and steel, instead of Africans or Native Americans. Jared Diamond wrote Guns, Germs and Steel to prove that some civilizations are more advanced than others because of the environment around them.

The Neolithic period was the start of the new age, 11,00BCE-4000BCE and it brought changes like the production of food surplus, domestication of animals, trade, agriculture and the process of stone tools.

Religion in Western civilization has undoubtedly played a pivotal role in shaping and developing Western society. Regardless of the form of religion, such as polytheism or monotheism, people in ancient societies believed in a God or Gods. This belief in a higher power was an important part of human progression and expansion. Religion was the backbone of Western civilization and has always been a very important foundation of culture, schooling, philosophy, art, and social interaction. Before Judaism and Christianity, philosophers such as Aristotle ponder the thought of a higher power and in his book Metaphysics wrote about eternal motion was an unmoved mover. Throughout time and from the expansion of ancient people, new religions formed from the thoughts of morality and virtue. With the help

Ancient Mesopotamia"Land between the rivers" (3500 B.C.E) and Ancient China(as early as 3500 B.C.E) are two of the many civilizations in history. Both civilizations left evidence of their way of life and accomplishment Mesopotamia ranging from the 12- month calendar, plow, cuneiform, ziggurats and number system based of on 60 count. China from ink, pictographs martial arts, great wall of China, and the art of porcelain. Mesopotamia had several civilizations within its own such as Assyrians, Sumerians, Babylonians etc.

The first point that Hebrews exhibit all features of a civilization is after their Exodus from Egypt and rise in Jerusalem, in my opinion. Although the Hebrews did live in tribes and show pieces of civilizations beforehand, they had adopted aspects of the Mesopotamian civilization and did not fit into all categories for a civilization. The Hebrews needed to exhibit several things, on their own, and those things are: a writing system, complex government, job specialization, complex religion, art and architecture, rise in cities, public works, and finally social classes. To start, Moses helped them with religion and transformed them into a nation in the early 13th century, as well as, helped them believe in Yahweh, the one god. After Moses, the Hebrews had their first king, Saul, which can be assumed that at this point they had a complex government. With having a place to call their homeland,

In 1500 BC, AD 1345 and sometime in the twelfth century BC, there was three societies. In 1500 BC it was the Mayan society, the society grew in Central America. In AD 1345 it was the Aztecs, a group of people in Central Mexico looking for a new home. In the twelfth century BC it was the Inca, the first ruler of the Inca moved his tribe to the Cuzco . these three societies influence us now and in the past.

In the year 3,500 B.C.E. the first civilizations appeared. There were seven major civilizations that were scattered around the world. There were civilizations in Sumer (southern Mesopotamia), the Nile River Valley (northeast Africa), Norte Chico (Central coastal Peru), Indus and Saraswati River Valleys (Pakistan), China, central Asia, and in the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The first civilizations tended to develop from earlier, competing chiefdoms that already had some social rankings and economic specializations. In these civilizations, there were a lot of differences such as; some were big, some were small, some had elaborate planned cities, some practiced irrigation agriculture, some died out, and some maintained impressive cultural continuity until modern times. (Strayer, Robert W. "Chapter 2 First Civilizations Cities, States, and Unequal Societies." Ways of the

“Inequalities in the First Civilizations.” In the year 3,500 B.C.E. the first civilizations appeared. There were seven major civilizations that were scattered around the world. There were civilizations in Sumer (southern Mesopotamia), the Nile River Valley (northeast Africa), Norte Chico (Central coastal Peru), Indus and Saraswati River Valleys (Pakistan), China, central

The early civilization is always a thing that is remembered and held with high esteem in the modern society. The civilization was carefully crafted given that it took time to be accepted and was not substantial. The development of early civilization took time to blend and grow and it had to go through a series of centuries to develop what we see and read about in the modern world. The customers as well as ideas and material things are just a development that took even a number of centuries to be realized and accepted by the people who lived at this time. The same are the base of modern civilization. The early civilization is somehow connected to the religious and philosophical values systems which are known for the birth and development of this civilization.

With the help of laws that had punishments like loosing a hand or an eyeball, looking back into Babylonian society was made a lot easier. These laws were created by the king of the city-state Babylon around 1792 BCE, Hammurabi. His reasoning for enforcing the laws, known as Hammurabi’s code, was to protect the weak and those who could not help themselves (doc B). He created 282 laws, and carved them onto a stele, a pillar-like stone. The multiple steles, he created and placed around the kingdom, consisted of a carving of him with Shamash, the god of justice, a prologue, the written laws and an epilogue (doc A). Hammurabi’s code includes laws whose punishments range from death to receiving shekels of silver. Since the repercussions are either very extreme or relatively fair, Hammurabi’s code is both just

Humans are undoubtedly the smartest and most powerful species on Earth. Most of the credit for this goes to our disproportionately sized brains, but this knowledge didn’t come into being overnight. It took thousands of years and hundreds of generations of people and societies slowly adding to the bucket of

All ancient numeral systems are unique at the hand of their culture and time period. Some numeral systems have adapted from each other, or originated from another civilization but they all have something in common. Whether its their originality, or their base, or just a rule they use, they are all similar. In this paper I will research and summarize three different ancient numeral systems. The Babylonian, Roman and Mayan numeral systems. I will describe their origins, characteristics, symbols, and many more.