Sumerian contributions

Sumerian contributions: to technology, architecture, mathematics, education, trade network, science. The Sumerian civilization was a rise in the river valley of Euphrates and Tigris, and this civilization formed as a part of this area. These lower valleys of the Euphrates are previously called summer and rise before the birth of Christ 5000 years ago.

The people of Sumer make various cities such as Eridu, Kish, Nippur, Ur, Lagash and Umma, also promote their civilizations. The Sumerians are also well-known for analysis of archaeological remains of old lands as they are the administrator of literature, trade, art of writing, art, commerce and architecture.

Sumerians were inventors of unlimited technologies such as cuneiform script, arithmetic, sandals, chariots, the wheel, geometry, harpoons, beer, irrigation, saws, and complete tools in this civilised nation.

They were also well known due to the making of pottery, music, irrigation for forming, sculptures, jewellery, dance, and seals of the cylinder. Sumerians produced the statues of gods for temples and many tremendous and delicate works.

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Sumerian contributions to technology

The Mesopotamians made many technological discoveries. The first people were Mesopotamians who used the potter’s wheel to create bet pottery. Besides this, they used iron and bronze metal to make weapons and other vital tools.

Prior watering systems for crops were complicated, but that used irrigation for water supply to crops. From wool, Mesopotamians used to weave cloth.

Mesopotamians discover many exciting technologies. The Seven Ancient Wonders of the World were The Walls of Babylon. These were two massive walls by which that whole city was surrounded. Archaeologists estimate that both divisions were 50 miles long; each wall was 35 feet tall and 23 feet wide.

Along the wall, there were massive towers that were thousands of feet tall. They are also creators of a simple but effective machine called the Archimedes’ Screw. It helped to raise water to heights in the famous Hanging Gardens and the plants of Babylon.

The glazes for pottery, art and glasswork of various things are fabulous creations of Sumerians. They made Eighteen different canals to supply water to the Assyrian Empire, the capital of Nineveh.

Beside the invention, the Sumerians improved various technologies such as arithmetic, geometry,

saws, cuneiform script, irrigation and the wheel. While another of their primary inventions was beer, harpoons, sandals, and chariots. Without comparing, we can say that Sumerians were great people who contributed to many technologies, writing systems and art. Their primary invention in technology was cuneiform scripts that helped us to document everything.

Sumerian contributions to architecture

The architecture of Mesopotamia was founded in the areas of the Tigris–Euphrates river system. This area was the centre of different cultures, and its period was the 10th millennium BC to the 6th century BC.

The main Mesopotamian architectural accomplishments were ziggurats, courtyard houses, and urban planning. There was no professional architectural system, but their construction consisted of royalty, nobility and the Government system.

The Sumerians create palaces, Ziggurats and many cities with footprints on the sands. Their main construction consists of burnt brick structures. The Ziggurats are narrower at the top and are famous eight storeyed buildings.

The civilised nation knows the arch, vault, column and dome with the proportion that’s why they keep care from essential to finishing things of every architecture.

Additionally, they created carvings in cylinder seals, statuettes and incredible freestanding sculptures. The creation of carvings indicates that artists keep care for creating detailed structures.

Most figurines found in the temple were in cylindrical shapes and common natures. In the fourth millennium BC, They created sophisticated works of architecture using domes, arches and vaults, and most construction has consisted of bricks.

Mesopotamian architecture contains the top three architectural characteristics: palaces, temples, and fortifications. They used advanced techniques and materials such as bricks, half columns, buttresses, and recesses to create unique arts. The temple of Sumerian was based on earlier Ubaid temples.

The central architecture was based on mud-brick walls facing glazed brick and walls articulated by pilasters. The city of Babylon, which is well known for the famous Tower of Babel, is furnished with enamelled brick friezes of lions and bulls. Last but not least, people recognised the buildings of Sumerian Art due to their arched doorways and flat roofs.

Sumerian contributions to mathematics

Babylonian Mathematics is the sign of mathematics developed in Mesopotamia. In the 530 bc, From the fall of Babylon to the days of the early Sumerians, the development of the Babylonian Numeral System is well known.

From 3000 BC, The ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia were very generous and created a complex metrology system. From 2600 BC onwards, They wrote division problems, geometrical exercises, and multiplication tables on clay tablets. They invent the latest counting procedure. They use numeral unit 60 to manage to count. For the weight system, 60 ‘shekels make one pound, while 60 ‘shekels are used to divide a circle.

They divided one minute into sixty seconds and one hour into 60 minutes. Mainly, they use a water clock for the measurement of time. They fill water in the pot, and waterfalls drop on the bank from a hold. They mark the pool and estimate the time duration with the numbering. At that old-time, this was a great invention in mathematics.

Besides this, the invention of the calendar to judge the months and year was an outstanding achievement by the Sumerians as they invented 12 lunar months in one year.

The moon’s movement determines a month, and each month consists of 30 days. The Sumerian kings added one month after a few years and that year consisted of 13 months.

Though there was a bit of a default in the calendar of Sumerians because it could not adjust the five days, that’s why they changed their career again and again. Later, Arabians modified the Sumerian calendar and accepted it.

Sumerian contributions to education

Sumerians were one of the oldest civilizations, but their contribution to the education system was outstanding and still is used. The most advanced achievement made by Mesopotamians of Sumerians was the invention of writing.

After writing, the first recorded law was written, called Hammurabi’s Code. Besides this, Epic Tale of Gilgamesh, which was a great piece of literature, was written after the invention of the writing system.

The prominent educator was a priest, and education took place in temples. Education started from the sun and ended with the sun, while only rich people were allowed to take instruction.

During their education, they focused on practising writing and learning complex grammar. Mostly male and wealthy families were students because the poor could not afford such costly and time taking education. If a student’s work was good, Sumerians were praised, while in case of mistakes, they punished the student with lashes from cane and sticks.

In the education system, they called priest or teacher mummia, meaning expert, while school or temple was edubbas which means tablet house. It was the first time in history to use the formal education system.

There is no chance that you are a child of a poor farmer and can get an education. Besides this, it takes many years to learn a scribe’s number systems, language systems, mathematics, and conventions.

The sexagesimal number system was based on sixty ancient Sumerians invented, and it takes years to memorise and copy cuneiform texts.

The education is established to train ascribes an expert person who can write documents, books, keep track of the record, manage the financial system by hand.

It was necessary to run the economy, administer the land, and satisfy tribes in the temple and places. The number of students increased, and Sumerian schools came into existence. Later, it was changed into a great learning system and centre of culture.

Sumerian contributions to a trade network

The trade links of Sumerians were established by people in the Indus Valley, Syria, Persia and Anatolia. There were remarkable similarities between the pottery of Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley, which means these two regions were linked for trade.

Sumerian marketing has consisted of wine, grains, wool, oil, cloth and jewellery. Besides this, they also trade for copper, ivory, textiles, stone, wood, reeds, barley, pearls, and carnelian.

The Sumerians were very strong, and their trading links were strong with Asian countries such as India and connected with Egypt. The trading of goods was necessary for Sumerians because they lacked lumber or metal; they bought these things in return for grains.

The UR city was the centre of international trade, and Sumerians imported important dates, metallic goods, silk dresses and wool from this city. After a time, they used silver instead of food grains for trade.

Sumerian contributions to science

In the field of science, the achievements of Sumerians were outstanding. In astrology and mathematics, they were fantastic and created saws, beer, wheels, cuneiform script, arithmetic, sandals, chariots, geometry, and irrigation.

The priests remain inside the chamber of Ziggurat and learn the movements of stars and planets; that’s why they predict Good and bad things. Besides this, they were experts in making soaps.