Civilizations themselves were seen as a way of life within cities that were governed by political states, a

central authority having control at its core. These cities demonstrated complex organizations of labor,
trade, culture, religion, and other complex aspects of human life. Western civilizations were first notated
by the Greek when they geographically associated “west” with the rising of the sun much like east is
where the sun sets. As of now though, western civilizations can loosely be used to describe civilizations
that lay beyond the boundaries of Europe.

The first real western civilization was in Mesopotamia, named Sumer, and it demonstrated a few of the
major changes that are still held as importance’s in the modern world today. A few of these major
changes involved agricultural advances, writing, trade, and the emergence of cities. Combining these
advances with their social hierarchy made this civilization a major turning point in how human kind
works.

One of the most important things early civilizations created was writing. The writing aspects the Sumer
civilization started introduced many opportunities for communication in later human interaction, such
as keeping economic records, personal information, or just sharing messages that were meant to be
sent between people either within the cities or farther away. Their form of writing was called
cuneiform, which were wedge like figures they pressed into clay tablets. Being able to scribe things
made teaching future generations their way of literacy or even religious beliefs obtainable, and made
passing stories around much easier. One other well-known example of a type of early writing is Egyptian
hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphics are the picture like symbols that adorn almost every aspect of the Egyptian
civilization, being seen anywhere from the walls of their structures and tombs, to their parchments that
have been greatly lost to time. This artistic language they created had depicted stories describing their
legacy, and although most of it was wiped out over the centuries, what can still be deciphered shows
that the writing was quite the advancement based on the time period.

As another key essential, agriculture and trading allowed Sumer to thrive and prosper. They used much
of the land around them for farms, and in the process made materials needed for trading such as grain
and wool. The circle of growing and trading was very profitable, seeing as it gave Sumer natural
resources like metals and wood. Without these acquired resources, the Sumerians couldn’t have
invented things that would make living a bit easier, like a sturdier wheel for long distance travels. Their
cities could be enhanced with this financial trade off, which in my eyes seems essential. Agriculture
advancements also allowed better food supplies to be maintained, making surviving much easier.

Many of these tactics are still used today as we see farms all over the earth, an abundant trade and
economic system, and writing used in everything from typing 0to writing books or laws. These
civilizations were quite advanced and managed to create revolutions out of the simplicities they had at
their disposal.

Works Cited

Hunt,L., Martin, T. R., Rosenwein, B. H., Smith, B. G.(2012).The Making of the West peoples and cultures

Volume 1: To 1750(4th ed.). Boston, MA. Bedford/St. Martin’s