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The Ancient Sumerians The First of 39 Major Contributions to Human Kind { Land Of Abraham's Birth } (948 hits)

Sumerian Values and Beliefs

The Sumerians of the ancient world were a highly influential and fascinating people. They were pioneers and visionaries. Their participation in the development of early civilization led to a system of values and beliefs that set them apart from all other ancient cultures. In the aspects of religion, law and education they were particularly distinct.

The Sumerian religion was not a happy one. There was no shining golden afterlife, only pain and suffering in Kur. Cosmically located between the earth's crust and the primeval sea, and incredibly similar in description to the Greek Hades. It is in Kur that the first resurrection story takes place. An idea that reappears in later religions, but this account is most assuredly Sumerian. The story is of Inanna, a goddess seeking to hold sway in both the "Great Above" and "Great Below". One uniquely Sumerian aspect of her descent in to the netherworld is that, along with her jewels and finery, she gathers divine laws in preparation for the journey. This shows the underworld to be a place still governed by a strict law code. Even in death, Sumerians could not escape the law. This coincides with the Sumerian belief in the inherently evil nature of man, in that even after death men still require laws they must adhere to.

Another facet of Sumerian religion, that is unique to their culture is the absolute inferiority of men to their gods. In most other religions of the region the faithful believer is generally afforded some comfort upon death, though not necessarily equally applied to all those who practice it. Beginning with the Sumerian creation story man is never seen as able of attaining any sort of paradise. The Sumerian paradise, similar to the Hebrew Eden, was never a place where men dwelled. Only the immortal could dwell in paradise, never mortal men. Another effect of the Sumerian belief that men were born evil and would remain so. No salvation, or even an original divine state exists in Sumerian religion. A belief uncommon in many ancient religions.

Unlike even Egyptian religion, where wealth and status were determinants in the afterlife of the deceased, Sumerian kings were still bound to the same Kur as all mortals.
The laws of Sumer were also a deeply ingrained part of Sumerian culture. They put great value in the laws that gave civility to this first civilization. Their use of legal precedent is particularly impressive. This concept would not reappear in common use for centuries. Meticulous record keeping allowed Sumerian courts to look back at old cases and use the rulings in similar cases as part of the legal process. Not only did the Sumerians have the first law codes, they had a complex legal system to accompany them. Fair practice in law through the use of detailed law codes, a structured system and fair application of the law were ideals of Sumerian civilization.

Though many oversimplify, or misunderstand Sumerian law codes, particularly that of Hammurabi, as a simple eye for eye, tooth for tooth law code, it, as well as the earlier law codes of Lipthar Ishtar and Ur Nammu, were reasonable and detailed lists of assorted crimes, and their associated punishments, most commonly monetary compensation. This is distinct to the Sumerians. Fees and fines would come back in to use many years later, but as early as 2000 bc Sumerians were paying fines for broken bones and damaged appendages. No other early civilization would develop such comprehensive codes, with punishments as progressive as fines. Hebrew law is far bloodier, with exile, and death as far more common levies on serious crimes. In law cases involving two citizens of Sumer, the Sumerian law codes were far more forgiving than Mosaic law involving two Hebrews.

As early as 3000 bc Sumerian scribes were laying the foundation for a school system that would produce scribes for the myriad administrative duties that would become integral to this burgeoning civilization. Clay tablet "textbooks" dating from the 2500s are evidence of the growing importance of education, to keep up with the growing importance of written records. Cuneiform, the phonetic form of the Sumerian language was their greatest contribution to civilization, and is distinct to their culture. The concept of scribes, and written languages, would travel from Sumer, to Egypt and beyond. More advanced than Egyptian hieroglyphs, cuneiform is a unique, and difficult. It is no wonder that it necessitated an education system to teach young scribes, who would specialize in specific functions, recording law, or business records, and even literary works.
The growth of Sumerian civilization made scribes and record keeping integral in its development. These were no lowly pencil pushers however. Scribes, were affluent, men from upper class families. Their fathers were wealthy, important in Sumerian society and so were these scribes. The vast scope of civilization was built upon their work. Though scribes were of great importance in many ancient cultures, solely the Sumerians would elevate the job to such levels, or invest so much in their training.
With education comes the universal dilemma of forcing young boys to withstand it, and so we have the first documented case of "apple polishing". The idea of "apple polishing" is by no means unique, but its account gives us a window through which to view the Sumerian education system, and in particular, its harshness. These boys were training to be scribes, not soldiers, and yet these schools were conducted with a nearly martial level of discipline that included caning for what is in essence poor penmanship, talking, and skipping class. Harsh punishments would be the norm in education but the liberal use of caning, followed by the father's active participation in the basic bribery of the teacher is something not found in early civilizations, especially not documented form.
The civilization of the ancient Sumerians was broad in scope, incredibly advanced, and encompassed the ideals and values of its people. Their beliefs regarding religion, their strict application of law, and their specialized education system are all facets of the Sumerians that embody these values. Copied, mimicked, and stolen, their ideas reappear in many civilizations of the ancient world, but only to the Sumerians are they truly original and unique.

Posted By: Yaiqab Saint
Tuesday, July 15th 2014 at 9:06PM
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Sumer was the region of southern Mesopotamia c. 5000/4500-1750 BCE corresponding to modern-day Iraq and Kuwait. The land was inhabited prior to 4500 BCE by people of unknown origin who archaeologists have designated the Ubaid people (after the site of al-Ubaid where excavations first uncovered their existence). The Ubaid are considered the first agents of civilization in the region in that they had rudimentary technological knowledge as evidenced by tools and clay artifacts they left behind. They did not, however, possess the same kind of skill and ingenuity as the Sumerians who came after them. The Sumerians are responsible for inventing many of the aspects of modern-day life that people so often take for granted. In his work, History Begins at Sumer, Samuel Noah Kramer lists 39 `firsts� in human civilization and culture that originated at Sumer. His list includes:

The First Schools, The First Case of `Apple Polishing�, The First Case of Juvenile Delinquency, The First `War of Nerves�, The First Bicameral Congress, The First Historian, The First Case of Tax Reduction, The First `Moses�, The First Legal Precedent, The First Pharmacopoeia, The First `Farmer�s Almanac�, The First Experiment in Shade-Tree Gardening, Man�s First Cosmogony and Cosmology, The First Moral Ideals, The First `Job�, The First Proverbs and Sayings, The First Animal Fables, The First Literary Debates, The First Biblical Parallels, The First `Noah�, The First Tale of Resurrection, The First `St. George�, The First Case of Literary Borrowing, Man�s First Heroic Age, The First Love Song, The First Library Catalogue, Man�s First Golden Age, The First `Sick� Society, The First Liturgic Laments, The First Messiahs, The First Long-Distance Champion, The First Literary Imagery, The First s*x Symbolism, The First Mater Dolorosa, The First Lullaby, The First Literary Portrait, The First Elegies, Labor�s First Victory, The First Aquarium.

In addition to these accomplishments, of course, are the rudimentary invention of time, a system of numbers, the 360 degree circle, geometry, the first wheeled vehicles, children�s toys, writing, writing implements, harnessing the wind, the domestication of animals, agricultural developments such as irrigation, medical advances, dentistry, architectural developments, and urbanization. The Sumerians also seem to have invented the concept of siege warfare and, perhaps, even the `scorched earth� tactic used effectively in military engagements ever since. What this means to an individual in the present is that, every day, one is making use of some aspect of Sumerian invention. The clock which tells one when to get out of bed, the car or bus which transports one to work or school, the newspaper or textbook one reads from, and the concept of an end to the work or school day all originated with the Sumerians. Kramer notes that:

One remarkable fact is that only a century ago nothing was known even of the existence of these Sumerians in ancient days. The archaeologists and scholars who, some hundred years ago, began excavating in that part of the Middle East known as Mesopotamia were looking not for Sumerians but for Assyrians and Babylonians. On these peoples and their civilizations they had considerable information from Greek and Hebrew sources, but of Sumer and the Sumerians they had no inkling. There was no recognizable trace either of the land or of its people in the entire literature available to the modern scholar. The very name Sumer had been erased from the mind and memory of man for more than two thousand years. Yet today the Sumerians are one of the best-known peoples of the ancient Near East. We know what they looked like from their own statues and steles scattered throughout several of the more important museums�Moreover, Sumerian clay tablets by the tens of thousands (literally), inscribed with their business, legal, and administrative documents, crown the collections of these same museums, giving us much information about the social structure and administrative organization of the ancient Sumerians (xx).

Wednesday, July 16th 2014 at 10:58AM
Yaiqab Saint