Essay, Research Paper: The Boys Of Sumer

The Boys of Sumer When we think of the basis our civilization, we usually think of Rome or Greece. True, these civilizations did form the basis of ours. But where did they come from ? These civilizations, like almost all others before and after, sprung from that of Sumer. Sumer has made a great number of contributions to society including writing , laws, and capitalism. Sumer is the first civilization to develop writing. Sumerian writing was done on clay tablets. The writing itself was performed by pressing a wedge shaped instrument, called a stylus, into the tablet. The writing is called Cuneiform. This word comes from the Latin word cuneus, meaning "wedge". The first kind of writing used by the Sumerians was pictographic. Each character was a little picture representing something. This meant that one had to learn a new symbol for each word one wished to speak. For obvious reasons, this could be a little inconvenient. By 2800 b.c., however, the system had been simplified somewhat. Each pictograph now represented a syllable. There were only 600 syllables at this time, a much more reasonable number. This system was later simplified even further into the phonetic system we are familiar with today. So, without the Sumerians, I would not be writing this paper right now. Then again, without the Sumerians, I wouldn't have any homework, either. Ever. Sumerians are also responsible for the concept of written laws. They had the Romans beat by a thousand years. The most obvious example of Sumerian law is the Code of Hammurabi. The purpose of these laws, according to the Sacred Tome(History Book) was, "to cause justice to prevail in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil, to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak .. and to further the welfare of the people." The most important part of the code was that it made all people equal before the law. This was a concept 3,000 years ahead of its time. It was concerned with the general welfare of the people, a sharp contrast to the feudal system. Another interesting aspect was that it regulated and promoted trade. The third gift of Sumer is capitalism. The Code of Hammurabi, among other things, set minimum wage, set taxes, and regulated interest. Sumer also had a strong merchant class. Sumer's rulers encouraged trade, among other things, because it made for more money in taxes. The economy in Sumer was farm based. The farmers worked common land owned by the city temple. They payed taxes on what they grew, anywhere between one third to one sixth of what they grew. There were also groups of people known as clans, who owned their own land. The gradual usurpation of these lands by temple officials led to the rise of despost who created social equality and promoted capitalism. The most famous of these is Sargon of Akkad. He united the whole Mesopotamian region, and promoted the new class of private merchants. After the fall of Ur around 2,000 B.C., the practice of Capitalism in Sumer reached its peak. The Sumerian merchants shamelessly abused the lower classes, amassing huge personal fortunes. Capitalism at its finest, to be sure. Because of Sumer, we have laws, writing, and capitalism. Our civilization exists because of these contributions.