Societies, Civilization, Sumerians Essay Examples

A society qualifies to be a civilization after a number of elements of in any human community develops into a level of sophistication. One of the basic elements is the rising of settlements to what is referred to as cities or even towns. For towns and cities, to rise, they need an efficient and effective food production system that which will supply food to the respective society. Majority of the people in such a society will be engaged in specialization of other activities; which include art, warfare, and construction among other activities. The part of a community that remains in the food production sector is depended on by the other members to deliver sufficient and constant food supply. Most importantly, in a civilized society the administration should be a centralized bureaucracy which can to run all the activities in the community without breakdown. The Sumerians in Mesopotamia are believed to be a good example of civilization. Civilization is believed to have started from Sumer. The Sumerians developed cities and towns as well as vast irrigation schemes. They discovered writing, the wheel, arithmetic, a bureaucratic government, formal education and the first set code of laws and ethics among other systems that qualified a civilization.
A civilized society is characterized by the city. This comprises of urbanization that a city design as well as building projects. Urbanization entails a complex system with technology and human mobilization. Agriculture comes in to subordinate the city in terms of food production. Agricultural products ensure that there the continuous supply of food. The citizens of Sumer, during civilization, they began to develop specialization in different areas a part from agriculture. They, therefore, did not require committing much of their time to agriculture. The specialization created room for trade enabling the Sumerian society to have improved skills that led to the development of towns and cities. Those who remained in the agriculture sector has to increase their production to subordinate the city dwellers. This indicated civilization.
In order for a community to be considered as a society it should be relatively large with a high population. This high population should behave in a specific manner. A civilized society is, therefore, a society with a high number of people who have a defined way of operating. Just like the Sumerians, they can be seen to have lived together in communities in the beginning; they later on merge their various communities to form a large society. This merging was due to an increase in warfare making it for them compulsory to join forces with other Sumerians communities in order to withstand the attacks. This resulted in a large population and shift to warrior rulers. This resulted in the kings’ ruling the lands and not priests as it was before.
A centralized rule is what characterizes a modern civilized society. It can be seen that the Sumerians had a means of centralized rule. They lived in communities that were governed by priests. With time, it can be noted that this changed as they shifted to warrior rulers who were referred to as kings. The rulers were the central of leadership in the Sumerians. The Sumerians were the first community to display civilization in that they had an organized system. Their rulers had the final say in law and were observed with respect by the community members. They combined with other communities. After this, their territory grew larger hence fulfilling one of the characteristics of a civilized society which is having a large territory. They also controlled trade around their locality hence proving to be superior as compared to their neighbors.
With the introduction of the kingship system with time, they had a well-defined government with the economy and rules. The Sumerians were the first to know how to write, recording keeping and irrigation. With this, they seemed to be more civilized as compared to the other communities as they recognized economic activities earlier that the others. The Sumerians were, therefore, more advanced and civilized as compared to the other communities of their ages. The Sumerians were known to be craftsmen as they used to craft and make ornaments for their people.
Historical records were used to keep the progress and the rich culture in which they did possess. The Sumerians can be seen to have practiced writing way earlier hence this was a hobby to them. It is indicated that the Babylon archives are the ones that were found with records containing the history of the Sumerians. This shows that communities used to write the history of the other communities. In this way, the record of the civilization of other communities can be used to show the advancement of the civilization era of different communities.
In summary, if it were not for the Sumerians introducing the various civilizations in this world, the world may have not been as it is now. This means that historical records are important to consider and understand the history of civilization. Civilizations compose historical records in order to keep track of the progress that has been made and educate others who are not in the know how