world literature timeline

7/28/2019 World Literature Timeline

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World Literature

Timeline: The Ancient

PeriodPrepared for English 2332

Central Texas CollegeDr. Brenda Cornell


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B. C. E. (Before Common Era) 7000-2000

7000-1500 Farmingcommunities; mothergoddesses were

worshipped; weaving andmetallurgy were some ofthe early art formspracticed.


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3500-3000 Beginning of Cities

Sites along the Tigris andEuphrates Rivers ofMesopotamia ( Greek forbetween the rivers), which

is now Iraq, and the NileRiver in Egypt founded thefirst cities.

Though primitive societies,these cities saw important

developments in irrigation,mathematics, calendars,bureaucracies, and patriarchalinstitutions.


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Ziggurats

These structures stood in front of a temple as akind of sanctuary to the gods. In addition to itsreligious function the ziggurat also served as a

granary and/or storehouse for other valuablegoods.


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Farming

The inhabitants of Mesopotamia raised crops onthis rich but dry land by developing and usingcomplex irrigation systems so successful that

they resulted in a surplus of food.


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Feeding the People

A societys ability to producefood was one of the mostfundamental criteria for thedevelopment from tribal andnomadic hunter-gatherer

societies to more sedentarycivilizations. It was possibleonly with the development ofa number of significantinnovations in early science,

such as in astrology andastronomy (at that time notas separate as they are seentoday).


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Feeding the People (Continued)

Without the ability to organize workersaccording to reliable patterns beyond day andnight, like the measurement and organization of

the seasons or the use of heliacal stars toincrease the precision of the agricultural year,the consistent production of a food surplus

would not have been as effective.


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No Boundaries

Since Mesopotamia had no natural boundaries(such as mountain ranges or large rivers), theinhabitants were physically and psychologically

open to external cultural influences. Theadvantage was Mesopotamias stature as one ofthe first significant multicultural societies inhistory. It boasts 3,000 years of development

and 4 major periods under different rulinggroups (Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, andPersian).


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Mother of Culture

Mesopotamias culture also influenced its

neighbors: the Egyptians, the Ancient Hebrews,and, to the east, India. Furthermore, the

domestication of wild plants and animals wasaccomplished in Mesopotamia around 8500B.C.E., well before any other nascent

civilization. We might call Mesopotamia themother of civilization and culture.


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Women in Mesopotamia


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Rules for Women

During the earliest period, the Sumerian womenenjoyed the greatest social and sexual freedom,although their strongest and most respected positionswere within the temple, as priestesses, caretakers, ortemple concubines. Each year they enacted thesacred marriage rite of the fertility goddess Inannaand the high priest or king represented the god. Suchsexual freedom did not extend throughout the society.

Adultery was punishable by death and a woman'ssocial "value" was based on the number of herchildren.


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Beginning of Writing: Cuneiform

History (from the Greekhistorameaning "investigation") relies onwritten records. The invention of

cuneiform writing in Mesopotamiaempowered humans to hold ontoaspects of their past in a formother than the fluid tales of the oralpoet. With the recording of thosestories, the development of

mythology, cosmology,metaphysics, philosophy, literature,and other valuable pursuits wasestablished.


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Nonliterary Messages

Pottery, sculpture, and otherartworks can tell us just as muchabout a culture as its writtenrecords. They can help bring life tothe dry facts of royal succession,

wars, trade disputes, and laws.Museums and libraries are intendedto protect these priceless objectsand keep them for posterity. Bygiving everyone the chance to viewrecords of the past, as well as

specialists a place to work andadvance prior scholarships, theyallow a community to publiclyquestion and understand its past.


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Works Cited

Mesopotamia: The Formation of Citiesand the Earliest Literatures. WorldLiterature Online. 20 Aug 2006.

http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/worldlit/default.asp?b=1&c=&r=&i=&uid=0&rau=0
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/worldlit/default.asp?b=1&c=&r=&i=&uid=0&rau=0http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/worldlit/default.asp?b=1&c=&r=&i=&uid=0&rau=0http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/worldlit/default.asp?b=1&c=&r=&i=&uid=0&rau=0http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/worldlit/default.asp?b=1&c=&r=&i=&uid=0&rau=0

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