Old Sumer
Sumer is the oldest known civilization. It is believed that Nimrod one of Ham's grandsons founded this civilization. There government was dependent on city states. This means that every city was an independent state with it's own ruler. The diffrent states had no loyalty or unity with each other and in many cases they would go to war against each other. They were the first people after the flood to come up with a written language
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Art
This banner called a standard or fieze is a master piece of early Sumerian art. It depicts a prince feasting with his courtiers and recieving booty from enimies
Games
Games have played a part in the lives of all people
Priests
Each Sumerian city was ruled by it's local priest. The priests were not worshiped as gods but the people believed they represented the gods on earth. As a result of the importance of the priests the temple became the center of life for the city-states. During the period from 2800 to 2350 B.C. the power of the priest-rulers grew stronger. Most of the people were forced to pay high taxes to support the extravagant living of the priests.
Education
Schools were held in temples with boys and girls attending . Girls were taught domestic jobs by priestesses. The boys were taught a profession by the priests. Each boy sat cross-legged on a stone bench with a pottery container of clay at his side. During the course of a school day each students made many clay tablets for his assignments. Students learned mathematics including basic arithmetic, geometry, algebra, and calculus. The Sumerian numbers system was base on sixty digits. It a from the Sumerians that the idea of sixty seconds to a minute and sixty minutes to and hour developed. The school day lasted from sunrise to sunset. During the day students participated in organized sports such as racing , wrestling, rope skipping, and ball-playing. They also had a board game similar to checkers
Architecture
Because they had no sources of stone nearby for building the Sumerians firs used sun-dried bricks. Later they baked these bricks in kilns. Before 3000 B.C. the Sumerians became skilled builders. They know how to construct a vault arch and dome. One architectural for later copies by the Egyptians for their pyramids was the ziggurat. This was a temple tower with a platform built upon another platform each one a little smaller that the last. It is believed that the ziggurats may have been patterned after the Tower o Babel. They also had a complex sewer system in their cities with pipes of backed brick
Society
Society classes in the empire were aristocrats, traders, freemen, and slaves
Government officials and priests were the aristocrats. Aristocrats lived in homes that were at least two stories high. Homes were built around a courtyard where families could enjoy the sunny weather. Some of these homes were richly furnished with lovely chairs, tables, chests, baskets, and beds. beautiful items were made from copper, silver, gold, ivory, fine stone, and precious woods
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The lives of the working freemen and traders differed little however from the lives of the slaves. Poorer people lived in low houses with roofs of mud or reeds few decorations graced their homes
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Marriage
Marriage and family relations were governed by law poor men were only allowed to have one wife. Women had some freedom to own property. However the husband had the righto sell his wife and children to pay for his debst
Religion
The Sumerian people practiced polytheism or the worship of may gods. Their priests used the flights of birds various sacrifices omens and rites to foretell the future and to hold their power. They had some idea of a life after death. But did not believe in heaven or hell. When someone died he was buried with many of hi favorite personal belongings. It was hoped this would please the departed spirit. If he were not pleased with the burial they believed he would haunt his former home and the people living there. The Sumerians had a from of astrology in which they associated the planets and stars with their gods and goddesses. They kept careful records on the movements of these heavenly bodies and those record have been used by modern scientist in their studies of the heavens.
Death
Like many ancient civilizations the Sumerians buried people with personal possessions after death