Inventions that changed the world of the Sumerians

Most of the knowledge and technology we have today originates from the ancient world.

We pride ourselves on being the most advanced generation in human history, but most of the knowledge and technology we have today originates from the ancient world. Of these, the Sumerians contributed to four inventions that, without them, we would not have today.

Writing

According to archaeological research, the Sumerians inhabited the southern region of the Tigris and Euphrates river deltas. By the end of the fourth millennium BC, they had large, fortified settlements with high walls and deep moats for protection. The society was also divided into classes with the Sumerian king as the leader.

Prosperous economic life is said to be the main reason promoting the birth of Sumerian writing. Because, in a bustling commercial environment and increasingly far-reaching trade distances, residents need something to keep informed and connect with without limit.

Based on archaeological findings, cuneiform was born around 3500 BC at the latest . The first characters are the drawings that represent the goods and their distribution route. For example, minimalist drawings of animals, cereals, recipients or delivery locations.

More and more, cuneiform developed stronger and went beyond commercial purposes. Finally, it became a writing system with an almost limitless vocabulary and turned into an effective tool of expression in the poetic art of poets.

The first written Sumerian epic was probably Gilgamesh. It emphasizes the complexity of emotions and revolves around themes that will continue to be explored by posterity: love, fear, hope and death. Interestingly, in addition to stories, Gilgamesh is also a 'textbook on geography, nature and mineralogy' , transmitting details of Sumerian knowledge.

From the Sumerian civilization, cuneiform spread and became the main language of many other ancient civilizations. Over thousands of years, it became the basis of many languages, including Akkadian, Babylonian, Hittite and Persian.

Numbers and math

Plimpton 322 trigonometry table. (Photo: Thecollector.com).

As with cuneiform, the Sumerians also invented numbers for commercial purposes. Although they were not the first to create the concept of arithmetic, their number system is the hexadecimal system (base 60) that is popular and has been passed down and applied for a long time and far and wide.

According to speculation by historians and mathematicians, the Sumerians created base 60 because it has a high number of divisors (60 is the smallest number divisible by all numbers from 1 to 6) and is easy to calculate mentally. with fingers. In today's mathematics, base 60 is still a popular coefficient, included in the coefficients for measuring units of time, angles, and coordinates.

Also from the Sumerian base 60, later mathematicians developed geometric equations and arithmetic formulas. The most impressive 'students' of Sumerian mathematics were probably the Babylonians.

They left behind the world's most important ancient trigonometry table, Plimpton 322, which serves as a premise for the Pythagorean theorem that everyone knows, a2 + b2 = c2. It is completely accurate to assert that the ancient Sumerians were the inventors of mathematics.

Pharmacy

Seal of the physician Ur-Iugal-Edinna, 2000 BC. (Photo: Thecollector.com).

Like most civilizations in their early days, the Sumerians also believed that illness was a punishment from the gods and to treat it, they prayed and sacrificed. However, the object they use to perform rituals is the medicine.

The Sumerians had two types of physicians, Asu - a practitioner who treated the sick with medical knowledge and Asipu - a shaman who chased away evil spirits and invoked gods with medicine. Although there is opposition between the two, they both share the same desire to heal and are responsible for both physical and mental treatment.

According to ancient documents found, the main medicinal ingredients of Sumerian physicians were herbs, minerals and salts. They often crush them and mix them with water, beer, wine or honey to help the patient swallow easily.

In addition, Sumerian physicians also emphasized cleanliness. They always advise patients to clean their bodies and places regularly and never forget to wash their hands before medical examinations or minor surgeries.

Sumerian surgery was surprisingly advanced. They have learned to use catheters to solve drainage and urinary tract problems. One piece of clay found described the process of draining excess fluid from the liver requiring an incision between the third and fourth ribs. Another piece instructed how to drill the skull to drain the abscess.

In Sumerian society, physicians were highly respected. In return, they are very responsible and willing to take responsibility for negligence. Today, doctors know the Hippocratic Oath by heart. Interestingly, the principles in this oath have their roots in Sumerian medical laws and practices.

Agriculture

Sketch of ancient Sumerian agriculture. (Photo: Thecollector.com).

The Sumerian habitat was the fertile Tigris and Euphrates river delta, extremely suitable for large-scale agriculture. Every year, floods cause this vast, flat land to be deposited with an additional layer of alluvium, making it more and more fertile.

However, about 5 - 6 thousand years ago, the climate heated up and the weather rarely rained. To maintain agriculture, the Sumerians were forced to find a reasonable way to distribute irrigation water and they created a wonderful irrigation system .

Around the Sumerian ancient city of Uruk, archaeologists discovered many traces of canals, ditches and water reservoirs. The Sumerians were also the owners of the water pulling rod , designed to take advantage of the weight of a heavy object tied to one end of a pole to easily lift a water barrel from a low place to a high place.

Around 1000 BC, the Sumerians invented the plow using the traction of oxen. They even know how to tie seed bags to plows to reduce the effort of sowing seeds.

The Sumerians were the owners of the ancient Mesopotamian civilization that thrived during the late 4th - 3rd millennium BC. They are recognized as one of the four earliest and largest civilizations in the world, along with Ancient Egypt, Norte Chico, and the Indus Valley.