Sumerians were one of the first people to build a civilization. The cities were surrounded by fields of wheat and barley. Each city had a ziggurat and a temple. The city-states had ziggurats in the middle of them. The ziggurats were the center of the city and were also city halls. From there, priests managed irrigation systems, and acted as a connection cord to the gods they believed in when people came to worship. The priests also demanded portions of taxes from farmers.
Mesopotamia’s early steps included organizing their systems in order to change their disadvantages to advantages. Because they didn’t have natural barriers, they created mud brick city walls for their defense. There were times where there rain was scarce, so irrigation ditches were dug to carry water, which led to a surplus in their crops. Grain and cloth
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Along with boats, caravans were used to carry goods into mountains and the plains. The development of the sail and the wheel made trading a lot easier than it was before and were indeed revolutionary inventions.
There were social classes in Mesopotamia, the kings, landholders, and priests were on top while the slaves were on the lowest level. All in all, most Sumerians worked in the fields or workshops. Craftsman and artisans would create jewelry and baskets to trade with other peoples. They also used raw materials to make goods. Farmers worked with iron tools and the harvests with the irrigation from the river.
The city-states in Mesopotamia included advanced cities, specialized workers, complex institutions, record keeping, and improved technology. The innovations of this civilization were built upon in later civilizations throughout the centuries. The Sumerians have also built a number of cities that shared the same culture but had separate governments. This later inspired how cities were to function like today’s