Ziggurats Research Paper

Table of Contents

Achievements/
Inventions

Writing

The 12 month calendar

The wheel

The ox drawn plough

The sail boat

Irrigation

The first written law code

The invention of a way to measure time

Ziggurats

Sewers

Music and musical instruments

Religion and Gods Writing
The ancient Sumerians believed in education. Record keeping was very important to them, and also a vital part of their life. They wanted their sons to learn how to read and write.
Only a select group of boys were able to attend Sumerian schools. The boys were usually sons of the very wealthy.
All the sacrifice and schooling
During the third millennium B.C., these were made higher and bigger. Eventually it was decided to build even higher temples on platforms which were stepped. These stepped towers we call Ziggurats. By 2000 BC, mud-brick ziggurats were being constructed in many Sumerian cities. Later, Ziggurats were constructed in Babylonian and Assyrian cities, mainly for religious festivals. These were held at the top of the Ziggurat

No one knows for certain why ziggurats were built or how they were used. They are part of temple complexes, so they were probably connected with religion. All year long, people left offerings of food and wine on the steps of these Ziggurats. The priests enjoyed these offerings, as the gods could not eat for themselves. The Ziggurat was built in the center of town. It was the center of daily life. Except for festivals, which, for the most part, were gloomy things, the Ziggurat courtyard was filled with life.

I think that Ziggurats were very important in Mesopotamia. I think this because without them, the religious culture might have been different to this day, as they were originally built for religious purposes.
Music and musical instruments

Much of the music in the Mesopotamian era consisted of singing, and songs. Some songs were written for the gods but many were written to describe important events. Although music and songs amused kings, they were also enjoyed by ordinary people who liked to sing and dance in their homes or in the marketplaces. Songs were sung to children who passed them on to their children. Therefore, songs were passed on through many generations as an oral tradition until writing was more universal. These songs provided a means of passing on through the centuries highly important information about historical events.

The Oud is a small, stringed musical instrument used by the Mesopotamians. The oldest pictorial record of the Oud dates back to the Uruk period, in Southern Mesopotamia over 5000 years ago. It is on a cylinder seal currently housed at the British Museum. The image depicts a female crouching with her instruments upon a boat, playing right-handed. This instrument appears hundreds of times throughout Mesopotamian history. Its name is derived from the word, 'the