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COMPARING CULTURES
SUMERIAN AND AMERICAN
By
Sarah Brase
INTERDICTION
Is Mesopotamia a civilization? They need a
stable food supply, a complex social structure, a
government system, a religious system, and a
highly developed arts, technology and a written
language. Do they have these things to make a
civilization? Read to find out.
WRITING
There are many reasons why Sumerian and
American writing are the same and different.
The similarities are that we both have
characters (letters in English) used to form
words and sentences in a highly developed
written language. The differences are that they
had up to 2000 symbols (pictographs), reduced
to 700, to represent words and letters. In the
English language we have only 26 letters used
to make words. The Sumerians used pictographs
to represent real objects. Cuniform is the
writing of the Sumerians written by scribes
using a stylus on wet clay. These are some
similarities and differences of writing in
American and Sumerian culture.
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
There are many reasons why American and Sumerian
culture are alike and different in social structure. Some
similarities are that we both have different jobs and social
levels. For example the Sumerians had metal workers ,
farmers and fisherman and we have people who work in
factories, farmers and fisherman expect ours are more
advanced. They had people who were rich and people who
were poor. Rich people like priests, land owners, and
government officials. The common class included farmers
and fisherman. In the American culture we have different
classes, but sometimes it is not as easy to tell the rich from
the poor. For example people in the middle class all seem
about the same, but the people from the upper class and
lower class are easier to tell apart. These are some of the
social structure similarities and differences.
RELIGION
There are many similarities and differences
between Sumerian and American religion. We
both have a God except the Sumerians have
multiple gods. We both have places to
worship. The Sumerians called their places of
worship temples or ziggurats. Ziggurats are
large towers that could be seen from 20 miles
away. The Sumerians believed their gods lived
in the ziggurats so they would make stairs so
their gods could climb down to earth.
American Christian religion believes in one
God. He saved us from our sins by dying on
the cross. We have churches where we
worship but no fancy towers for God to climb
down to earth. These are some of the religion
similarities and differences.
GOVERNMENT
There are many similarities and
differences between Sumerian and
American government. All civilizations
have a system of government to direct
peoples behavior. In Sumerian culture
they believed Kings were chosen by the
gods. In American culture we elect a
president by voting. In Sumerian culture
the king would lead the city state army
which was a very important job to the
king and the entire kingdom. The
president leads the US military. In
Sumerian culture they fought over land
because land was very important to the
Sumerians. In American culture
sometimes we still fight over land but lots
of times it is to keep world peace.
ARTS/CULTURE
There are many similarities and
differences between Sumerian and
American arts and culture. The
Sumerians had practiced many arts some
of the ways are painting , music and
architecture. The metal workers and
carpenters made the ziggurats for the gods.
The Sumerians painted pictures of their
gods on the front gates of their city state.
The Sumerians loved music because they
thought it pleased their gods. They played
the lyre in the ziggurat daily to enjoy gifts
from their gods. Americans also enjoy
painting, music and architecture. In our
culture painting is done for a lot of
different reasons, for religion, for fun, for
jobs, for decoration, and for art class at
school. Music is played not just for gods but
enjoyment , for music class and people who
TECHNOLOGY
There are many similarities and
differences between Sumerian and
American technology. The Sumerians
had lots of tools. They made basic tools
like hammers and screwdrivers but
they also made the pottery wheel. They
used basic tools for building. They made
pottery for decoration and for eating
and drinking. In American culture we
also have lots of basic tools but our
technology is more advanced. Today we
have computers, Ipads, and Kindle
Fires. In American culture we use
pottery but we also have glass, plastic ,
paper and Styrofoam for plates and
dishes.
SUMMARY
Was Mesopotamia a civilization? They had a stable
food supply, a complex social structure, a
government system, a religious system, and a
highly developed arts , technology and written
language. For these reasons the Sumerians were 1
of the first civilizations. They lasted up to 1500
years!!! America is still a living civilization today,
and I hope that it will stay that way for millions of
years. 