Changes

Genesis 2:8-14 describes the beginning in Mesopotamia as follows: "Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. ... A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. ... The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur.  And the fourth river is the Euphrates."<ref>This course uses a variety of translations for the Bible, this time using the well-established "NIV" version.</ref>  Using the ages mentioned in the Bible and counting backwards, biblical scholars have dated this as about 6000 years ago, or about 4000 B.C.  This is about 500 years before our earliest record of ancient writings, which is what one might expect; it wouldn't take long for man to start writing messages, but the oldest messages are unlikely to be "extant" (still existing today).

Genesis 2:8-14 describes the beginning in Mesopotamia as follows: "Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. ... A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. ... The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur.  And the fourth river is the Euphrates."<ref>This course uses a variety of translations for the Bible, this time using the well-established "NIV" version.</ref>  Using the ages mentioned in the Bible and counting backwards, biblical scholars have dated this as about 6000 years ago, or about 4000 B.C.  This is about 500 years before our earliest record of ancient writings, which is what one might expect; it wouldn't take long for man to start writing messages, but the oldest messages are unlikely to be "extant" (still existing today).

In the fourth millennium before Christ, between about 3500 and 3000 B.C., cities began to sprout up with their own political and economic systems.  Both of these developments occurred in southern Mesopotamia.  The first such city that we know of was called Sumer and its occupants were the Sumerians.

In the fourth millennium before Christ, between about 3500 and 3000 B.C., cities began to sprout up with their own political and economic systems.  Both of these developments occurred in southern Mesopotamia.  The first such city (that we know of) was called Sumer, and its occupants were the Sumerians.

We owe a great deal to the work of the Sumerians.  They developed the first system of writing (the cuneiform), the first codes of law and the first "city-state" (essentially a nation consisting only of a large city).  Their inventions were marvelous: the seed plow, the sailboat, and the potter’s wheel.  (Distinguish "cuneiforms" from "ideograms", which show ideas with symbols such as arrows for war, from "phonograms", in which symbols represent sounds).

We owe a great deal to the work of the Sumerians.  They developed the first system of writing (the cuneiform), the first codes of law and the first "city-state" (essentially a nation consisting only of a large city).  Their inventions were marvelous: the seed plow, the sailboat, and the potter’s wheel.  (Distinguish "cuneiforms" from "ideograms", which show ideas with symbols such as arrows for war, from "phonograms", in which symbols represent sounds).