this video is brought to you by captivating history most scholars around the world agree that the ancient Sumerians were the earliest developed civilization in our recorded history they are the culture that gave us a lot of firsts the first kingdom and then Empire the first city-states the 1st democracy the first autocracy they pioneered writing schooling organized religion lawmaking art and literature yes the Sumerians were the first in many areas of expertise who were the Sumerians the Sumerians were a civilization that started circa 6500 BC and ended around 40 100 BC this civilization would go on
to influence the entirety of the ancient Middle East and their accomplishments and innovations echo and diverse ancient cultures such as Egypt Greece Rome Ethiopia and more from a practical mundane standpoint they were highly religious agricultural society they put great emphasis on art culture and the written word as is the case with all cultures they developed from simpler hunter-gatherer societies based on the Bronze Age site scattered about the area that comprised ancient Sumer they were an innovative inventive imaginative people and interestingly enough had parallels with even modern day societies in both positive and negative aspects of
their daily lives where did the Sumerians live the area where the earliest civilization lived took up the territory of southern Mesopotamia in parts of modern Iraq in Kuwait it is nestled between two important rivers for the region the Tigris and the Euphrates as well as the Persian Gulf to the southeast their earliest countries were numerous city-states that depending on the time period either dominated the region were enslaved by other cities or even other people's or acted independently rule from their earliest days the Sumerian city-states actually enjoyed a level of democracy not unlike the one we
have today in the Western world most major government positions were elected rather than in a council made important decisions regarding critical state matters it was only during increasing warfare between the city states as well as clashes with the barbaric tribes from both the east and the west of Sumer that the need for a single ruler arose and this was when the King or lougle big man and Sumerian would take control an ancient Sumerian had a vast array of professions to choose from we should differentiate between two groups the first includes the Sumerian upper classes in
the second includes their plebs depending on how you were born or what you did during your life in Sumer you could jump between these two groups jobs and professions the high class Sumerians for the most part who are other priests scribes members of royalty or minor noblemen in terms of craftsmen we find a wide array of professions there were sculptors jewelers lapidaries carpenters Smith's leather workers Fuller's basket makers builders et cetera based on the works of ancient Sumerians crimes these were not sought-after professions and most children and their parents with high aspirations were encouraged to
pursue academic or theological professions Sumerian technology and inventions vast and diverse areas of Technology including transportation tools war hunting agriculture and brewing have their origins in ancient Sumer the wheel the pickaxe and the different types of land and water vessels are only the tip of the iceberg the crew nough formed script is by far the earliest writing system and it was so influential that it became widespread throughout the ancient Middle East and was even in use until around the 1st century BC a whole 5 plus millennia after its invention mathematics was a major part of
the Sumerian schooling system they single-handedly birthed arithmetic and geometry largely for practical uses like measurement in accountancy I also need to mention the first use of the lunar solar calendar later to be implemented in cultures both east and west of mesopotamia sumerian foreign policy relations with other nations as is the case with modern-day nations the sumerians relationship with their immediate neighbors was a complicated one there was no shortage of bloody battles coos hostile takeovers hostile Liberation's submissions and destructions however nearly all of these groups were influenced by the Sumerians in no small way and considering
how geographically distant they were from the prominent Sumerian city-states that speaks volumes of just how influential the first civilization of the world really was the religion and mythology of ancient Sumerians understanding this particular aspect of the ancient Sumerians is of vital importance to world culture in general and no this is not a statement made lightly most of what we see in the ancient myths of Sumer either directly or partially corresponds to numerous world myths the hierarchy and behavior of gods the creation of man the great flood the Giants the creation myths all of these were
present in Sumerian mythology first the Sumerians envisioned the heavens as domes made of different precious stones whenever a Sumerian would die according to mythology they would go directly to kur an interesting concept that is almost unique to the Sumerians is that their underworld isn't necessarily the place of eternal darkness as the Sun sets and gives way to the moon on the surface it would actually illuminate kur essentially bringing daylight to it within the realm of ur s giggle the dead would be judged by the Sun God mu tou and at times even his father the
moon got Nana those judged righteous would go on to live in bliss for eternity those judged unfavorably would suffer for an eternity there you have it Sumerian civilization explained in seven minutes obviously a lot went on toll here so to discover more about this fascinating civilization check out our new book Sumerians a captivating guide to ancient Sumerian history Sumerian mythology in the Mesopotamian Empire of the sumaré civilization also please hit the like button if you enjoyed the video it's subscribe if you want more videos like this lastly don't forget to pick up your first mythology
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