Dear Facearmy,
You wanted to discuss the ancient civilizations of the Iraqi area.
Amerindians crossed the Siberian land bridge into North America at least 15,000 years ago. At that time there were no civilizations on earth.
The first civilization was ancient Sumer. It was in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the area now known as Iraq. No other place on Earth has been more involved, for longer, in civilizations' history than the area that roughly covers the territory of Iraq. This place is called "The Cradle of Civilization." Its glories are in the remote past. For a period of some centuries, until the end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty-first when all eyes are upon it, it was very unimportant.
There is an arc of land between two mighty rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates. They curve down from the mountains of central Asia to flow into the Arabian Ocean. This area is probably the biblical Garden of Eden. It was certainly the site of Sumer, the oldest documented civilization on the planet.
Sumer existed a full thousand years before the "staggering grandeur and unparalleled 3,000-year longevity of Egypt, which overshadowed all subsequent civilizations." Sumer marks the transition of human kind from nomad to city dweller. I wrote about the stage of the City States in one part of my series "The Future of the World."
Sumerian society was dominated by two opposing qualities of the land itself: the first was the two rivers which could unleash devastating floods at any time which could and did wipe away entire peoples. The second was the extreme richness of the valleys, which was caused by the ancient soil deposits that lay in them. The great fertility of the valley's soil attracted migrating peoples who settled, planted, and eventually made possible the growing of surplus foods. This was the first time in recorded history that such a thing had happened. The wildly flooding rivers made a form of collective management necessary. The peoples there worked together to shore up the marshy, low-lying land against flooding. Surplus food production increased, and collective management advanced. A form of urbanization (cities) resulted, and Sumerian civilization took root.
The greatest Myth of Sumer involved a search for immortality within the fragility of human existence. Their Myth also records the destruction of the world in a huge flood, and a wise old man who survived by building an ark.
Sumerians pioneered the development of cereal agriculture. They also invented writing: Cuneiform. This assisted civilization. It looks like bird's feet have walked on wet clay tablets, and was made with the triangular end of a chopped-off reed which had been developed into a stylus. Writing made it possible for them to hand down, from generation to generation, their accumulated general wisdom. They also handed down their discoveries of specific things, such as agricultural techniques. Writing evolved to keep track of property. They developed double-entry bookkeeping, which is used to this very day. They also developed the syllabic alphabet.
More and more innovations poured from their fertile minds. Sumerians invented the wheel and the plow around 3,700 BC, a math system based on the number 60, which is still the basis for our measurement of time. Their society evolved rapidly and in ways that we feel more familiar with in our time than that of any other ancient society. They had a matriarchal civilization, so women were highly respected.
You may remember when I wrote of the Greek gods. I suggested that Matriarchal gods had been taken over by the patriarchal Greek societies. Athena was the goddess of wisdom who taught men to use the plow, the wheel and an incredible number of other things, including writing. I should read to see if I can find her predecessor in matriarchal Sumer.
Private property was unusually important in their daily lives. This was in stark contrast to Egypt, where everything and everyone was owned by the Pharoah, who was considered a god. Sumerian kings were very human, and answerable to their people. They shared the same right as their people to bargain fairly for goods. Sumer's temples can be regarded as the first banks, as they increasingly acted as safe places to keep stored valuables. Everything Sumer did was a first.
The average Egyptian professes scorn for anything earlier than Mohammed, but the average Iraqui is very aware and proud of being a descendant of Sumer whose ancestors gave the world writing, justice and agriculture.
End of part l
