Civilizations (World History - 03)

SUMERIAN OR MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION (3000 -1600 BC)

• Sumerian civilisation flourished on the banks of rivers Euphrates and Tigris later came to be known as Mesopotamian civilization.
• The word Mesopotamia means land between rivers.
• The name Mesopotamia was given by the Greeks.
• The area where Mesopotamian civilisation existed belonged to modern Iraq.
• The northern part of Mesopotamia was known as Assiria and southern part was known as Babilonia.
• The first dynasty in the world was established at Ur in Sumeria in 3000 BC.
• Ur, Urukh, Lagash, Uma, Nippor were the major cities of the Sumerians.
• The Sumerian Empire declined towards BC 2650 due to the attack of the Accadians.
• The chief architect of the Acadian empire was Sargon.
• Dungi was the most important ruler of the Sumerians.
• The writing system of the Sumerians was known as Cunieform.
• Mesosoptamian seals throw light on the trade relation between the Indus people and the Sumerians.
• The Mesopotamians invented wheel and glassware.
• Mesopotamian civilization is considered to be the world’s first urban civilisation.
• Mesopotamians discovered the system of Geometry. It was later called ‘‘Pythagorus Theorem’’.
• A Lunar Calendar based on the Moon was one of the major achievements of the Sumerians.
• Mesopotamians were worshippers of multi Gods.
• Their major God was the Sky God ‘Anu’.
• Mesopotamians were the first to invent the system of Multiplication.
• Empires, water supply system, use of gold and silver for transaction, code of laws, libraries, educational centres, poetry, literature, sculpture, palaces, arches, pillars, domes, slavery, autocracy imperialism etc first originated in Sumeria.
• Hammurabi is known as the founder of Early Babilonian Empire
• Hammurabi was responsible for the introduction of a code of conduct to the Mesopotamians. It was based on the principle of ‘‘an eye for eye and tooth for a tooth’’.
• Babilonian people invented water clock and sundial to know the time.
• Assirians were credited for the invention of the system of dividing a circle into 360 degrees.
• Mesopotamian civilisation is also known as the ‘melting pot of civilisation’.

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