Worlds Oldest Civilization That Arose From Human Enlightenment Over the Millennia

The world's oldest civilization came from human enlightenment, leading to magnificent ancient edifices that stood for thousands of years. Many and a few come to mind over many that rose and fell.

Earliest Civilizations

This question seemed to have a simple answer about 30 years ago. In 4000 B.C., the Sumerian finding suggests the oldest civilization in the Mesopotamia region, which is now mainly Iraq, reported Live Science.

Sumerian is located in eastern Iraq, a few miles south of the modern city of Kut. The Ukuk is considered part of an early stage of Sumerian history when the Uruk settlement was established. The oldest relics of the era were discovered here. This is not the case when Ancient Egypt presents evidence to challenge the Sumerians.

The concept of what makes a civilization is blurry, but usually, a culture must achieve several telltale signs, most notably urbanism (cities), irrigation, and writing, every one of which the Sumerians attained. Such concepts that the ancient Greeks expanded on more than 1,000 years later, noted Verve Times.

According to American historian Samuel Noah Kramer, the Sumerians may have created gods by erecting towering monuments known as ziggurats in their urban centers and instituting priestly castes dedicated to the ritual worship of particular divinities were part of the world's oldest civilization.

In the vast Sumerian pantheon, the mightiest god differed based on the region and period. Initially, Uruk was home to the sky god Anu, whereas Sumer revered the storm god Enlil.

As Ishtar in Mesopotamia, who later became known as Astarte among the Hittites and Aphrodite in Greek mythology, Inanna, the Queen of Heaven, may have been the fertility goddess of the Uruk civilization. For instance, the biblical account of Noah is related to the Sumerian epic Gilgamesh, written in ancient Sumer in 2150 B.C., centuries before the Hebrew version.

Sumerian Civilization

According to Philip Jones, some academics posit that cultures other than the Sumerians may be equally or even more ancient. He added that the emergence of Egypt and Sumer was essentially contemporaneous.

Archaeologists have been unable to access many Mesopotamian sites due to decades of war and unrest in Iraq, but Egyptologists have continued to dig. Studies in Egypt have writings as old as Sumeria, which was seen in the earliest part, about 4000 B.C.

Another location is the Indus Valley civilization, which developed in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northwest India around 3300 B.C., according to artifacts discovered. He added that there could be more ancient relics waiting to be discovered.

Jones thinks that early trade along the edges of the Indian Ocean helped these earliest civilizations like Egypt beside the Red Sea, Sumerians at the north end of the Persian Gulf, and the Indus Valley civilization further east had developed from the pre-civilized people who lived there before them, by bringing them resources and ideas from further afield.

Early trade along the Indian Ocean's edges aided the development of the earliest civilizations, such as Egypt besides the Red Sea, the Sumerians at the northern end of the Persian Gulf, and the Indus Valley civilization further east, according to archaeologist David Jones.

Many of the world's oldest civilizations, like Sumerian, Babylon, arose from human enlightenment, and more studies added to these civilizations.