Baby Art

Everything has its start. Humankind came from the dirt. Food comes to plants and animals. Jewelry comes from random minerals. Everything has a beginning. Some of today’s art and literature came from the Sumerians. They gave the modern world beautiful art, great architecture, and exciting literature. The Sumerians came before the Egyptians in art. But how much of an impact did the Sumerians leave on Mesopotamia and the modern world? That answer is not easy to answer in one sentence. It has to be broken down and looked at very closely.

Who were the Sumerians? They were people who originally lived in the mountains. Eventually, they moved into the plains. The Sumerians’ top city was Uruk. They were one of the major groups in Mesopotamia. They added history to the Eastern world of toady. What did the Sumerians bring to Mesopotamia? For starters, they brought to mankind the legend of Gilgamesh. This epic may have been the spark that lit the fire for many more Greek epics to come. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey may have been inspired by Gilgamesh. And the epic’s influence did not stop there. The epic of Gilgamesh is still read to this very day. It still continues to influence modern writers to this day. Then, there was the lovely ziggurat. A ziggurat is “a monumental platform for a temple.” (Kleniner Pg. 529.) These temples were placed up high so that the people could be closer to the gods. The Sumerians were a very religious group of people back then. The ziggurat was not the only evidence of this little fact. On page thirty-five of Gardner’s Art Through the Ages A Global History Thirteenth Edition Volume One, there is a picture of two statuettes of two worshippers. They look like normal people except for one feature. Their eyes are wide with praise and love for their gods. These figures alone prove the Sumerians’ love of the gods back in those times. Not only that, the statuettes also paved the way for artists to start making people look more human in their art. Another thing the Sumerians was pictographs. This was their main method of writing. These were images that told a story with little pictures and symbols. They were essentially like the drawings on cave walls. Many people think the Egyptians came up with pictographs. They were the ones with the hieroglyphics. One could say that hieroglyphics were inspired from pictographs.

The Sumerians gave the world of Mesopotamia heavy and plenty. Art, literature, and writing were the main three influences in Mesopotamia and the modern world. The Sumerians are almost forgotten now, but they are slowly making their way back into history.

Works Cited

My English Class Notes

Kleniner, Fred S. Gardner’s Art Through the Ages A Global History Thirteenth Edition Volume One.

Thomson Wadsworth, Boston, MA: 2009