History_Begins_at_Sumer

“To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others” (Robbins, Tony). So often, people underestimate how different and similar we actually are to one another. Few people really understand that there can be several similarities drawn from various groups of people. From a group of people living in 2012, or to a group of people living 4000 years ago, several similarities and differences between the different times can be discovered. In the book History Begins at Sumer, the author, Samuel Noah Kramer, depicts various viewpoints about the Sumerians, and associates them with ours. It is important for people to appreciate the way life was for people who lived 4000 years or more before us. This way we may see why we do certain things the way we do, and how it all came to be. From the book, it is easily seen that there are major differences between society then and now. Whether it has to do with religious practice, how people wrote, education, occupation and more, as expected there are natural occurring differences, yet are still closely related to our modern day society. We as a group of people wouldn’t know some of the skills we use today if it wasn’t for the teachings and practices being passed down from one time era to another. Looking at the similarities and differences between two cultures is something that can be of some interest to those who want to know how we came to be. Samuel Noah Kramer believed that today’s society and the one the Sumerians lived in were easily comparable. Some of the major focuses of comparison were occupation, education, technology, and much more. There are enlightening discoveries and observations that have been made, in which focus is brought upon each societies differences, similarities, and knowing the importance between the two. Finding out about a culture’s different way of life that existed thousands of years ago can be a bit of challenge yet easily comparable. Samuel Noah Kramer states, “It has long been my contention that in spite of the obvious differences, both superficial and profound, between the culture character, and mentality…” (Kramer 259). From this quote, one can see that Kramer has a large scale of knowledge behind this topic, and believes that some differences between the Sumerian way of life and ours is either easily seen or not easily discovered. One large and significantly noticeable difference between our culture of today and the Sumerian way of life is how education was practiced. The Sumerian educational system was based off of what is said to be Sumer’s most noteworthy impact to civilization, the cuneiform system. The cuneiform system is term meaning wedge-shaped, which was developed in the latter part of the Sumerian life. This form of writing, originally known as pictography, allowed for early records of their ways of life to be better understood through hundreds of practice tablets that were found. The Sumerian education system, unlike ours, had a focus on creative writing which allowed past literary creations to be studied. Our goal for developing an education for ourselves is so we may have a better job and better life one day in the future. Unlike ours, however, the Sumerian education system was first established for training scribes that were much needed during that economic time. Men were the only that received an education while women did not. However, because they still had an education system, they are still closely related to us today. Other than in education, there are much more ways of how the Sumerians were far different from our society today. Religion is one of the most notable differences between time eras. While today’s religion is still present, a considerably lower amount of people believe in the cause and are less devoted. In today’s world we explain our existence of how we came to be through science (evolution), whereas back in that time, it was all explained through religion. Being that their religion is closely related to science and our is not, it proves that their science was all being received, where for us we actually test it out and challenged. Although there are major differences between the Sumerian ways of life as we know it, and ours, several similarities can also be drawn when comparing the two. When considering the amount of time between our society and the Sumerian’s society, it’s not a big surprise to hear that it is different nowadays. We are constantly changing our ways and lifestyles whether we notice it or not. There is such a difference even 40 years ago, for instance how cars were made, what resources we used, how our economy was much more. The fact that over the thousands of years that has gone by and we can find similarities is remarkable. One similarity is our government and established laws. Like us, the Sumerians had a written set of rules, or laws, that were designed for the purpose of creating more of an organized society. Their set of rules was written on a tablet, which is similar to our constitution. The tablet was created through influences such as laws of Hammurabi, and more, also similar to how we developed our constitution and laws. Although their education system is far from being the same as ours today, there is still some resemblance to how our education system is today. As Kramer writes, “Sumerian schoolmen also prepared various mathematical tables and many detailed mathematical problems together with their solutions” (Kramer 7). By this, it is understood that much like us, Sumerian students used mathematical tables and formed equations to help give a solution. Their grammar teachings, along with other subjects were taught just modified slightly compared to ours. Discipline was enforced if one were to misbehave. And a curriculum was set in place, must like ours is. Although their education system is fairly different in most aspects, the basis behind the education and what was practiced relates to how we are more similar to the Sumerian people than we know. Agricultural practices are one the most important concepts to us today, and were back then as well. A restored document consisted of a 108 lined set of instructions for good farming techniques was found in 1949. This document showed us that their agricultural practices were important to them, and is like our Farmer’s Almanac. Among all of the superficial and profound similarities, there is a reason why we should pay attention to how life once was. Our society wouldn’t be the same today if it weren’t for learning from our ancestors of past years. Each person, generation, and groups are the way they are through what has been passed down from one time to another and so on. Most people do not realize how much is taken in and how much the people around us influence our lives drastically. If something as simple as being able to write wasn’t a skill that was practiced thousands of years ago, it wouldn’t necessarily be a thing to do in today’s age. This same principle can be adapted to many of the simple things we do daily. Without the story of Jesus Christ, Buddha, or other religious figures, the existence of religion wouldn’t necessarily be a thing of today. Our ways of life change all of the time without us even noticing. Seeing how education, religion, and more were practiced back then is something people should take note of. We are all the way we are because of what we learn from others. The fact that we as a society can even remotely relate to a group of people that existed thousands of years ago is truly remarkable. From the culture, character, and mentality of the Sumerian people, in relation to us can be easily discovered, or it can be right in front of us. Samuel Noah Kramer noted that “…the two groups are ‘fundamentally analogous, comparable, and reciprocally illuminating” (Kramer 259). This quote is meaning that comparing life as we know it today, and how it is believed to have been then is extremely enlightening. Differences can always be discovered, but similarities can’t always be found. It is not common to find so many differences along with similarities when comparing something that is roughly 4000 years older. Knowing that these differences and similarities are important can further advance how we live our lives from day to day. Without seeing how we came to be, life as we know it could be entirely different.