Writing system
Babylon
The babylonians adopted the writing system from Sumerians and they started using the writing system around 2700 B.C. They reformed the Cuneiform into their own style, Akkadian. Cuneifrom has approximately 600 different symbols to make sentences. This is an example of the Babylonian Cuneifrom.
The Babylonians didn't separate the words by letters as we do in the present, they separated the words by syllables. At first, they started out with a simple, basic symbol for each words. Then, after that, they improved the writing system by separating some words into syllables. Their writing system is one of the most complicated ones to read and write, not just because there are numbers of characters, but because some of the words are broken into syllables. Not just that, there's a different reason that is on top of that, they are Polyvalent. Which basically means that it can be read in more than one way. They used a stylus to write, the stylus was made of wood, with a pointy and flat end.
Sumer
Sumerian was spoken in Sumer in southern Mesopotamia(part of modern Iraq). When Sumerian was replaced by Akkadian as a spoken language, Sumerian was stiill used for religious writing, art purposes. Sumerian language wasn't related or similar to any other languages.
Sumerian cumeiform
Sumerian cuneiform is known for the earliest writing system. It developed from the pictographs, and different symbols to represent items for trading, and livestocks. They wrote on clay tablets. There were small clay objects in abstract shapes. The small clay objects are called clay tokens, that were used for counting agricultural and hervested goods. As time passed by, Sumerians realized that they needed a solution to keep all the clay tokens together, so they started putting numbers of clay tokens into a large clay container and seal them up. However, once the clay tokens are sealed, the problem of remembering how many tokens were inside the container they have put the clay tokens in. To solve this problem, the Sumerians started making the same image of the clay tokens on the top of the clay container with a stylus.
Sumerian cumeiform
Sumerian cuneiform is known for the earliest writing system. It developed from the pictographs, and different symbols to represent items for trading, and livestocks. They wrote on clay tablets. There were small clay objects in abstract shapes. The small clay objects are called clay tokens, that were used for counting agricultural and hervested goods. As time passed by, Sumerians realized that they needed a solution to keep all the clay tokens together, so they started putting numbers of clay tokens into a large clay container and seal them up. However, once the clay tokens are sealed, the problem of remembering how many tokens were inside the container they have put the clay tokens in. To solve this problem, the Sumerians started making the same image of the clay tokens on the top of the clay container with a stylus.
In the Mesopotamia civilization, the cuneiform(or reformed versions of cuneifrom) were only used in the higher social classes. The priests in Mesopotamia were educated. The priests got to go the school, and they learned writing, reading and math. The people who are in lower social classes did not get to learn the writing system, so they did not know how to read or write.
Social classes
In Mesopotamia, there were basically 6 classes of people. The upper class were wealthy, the lower class got payment for their work. The slaves were at the very bottom of the class system. The king and the priests, amelu class in other words, were very powerful. The priests mostly controlled the society because they owned most of the land, and had a lot of business, and they also took care of the shipping, trade. Some of them were doctors, and ran the schools, and the libraries in their temples(ziggurats).
The upper class, also known as the mushkina class, they were mostly people who run business or companies. They wore lots of jewelry. The men had long hair, beards and mustaches. The women had their hair braided or up in a fancy way.
The lower class worked for living. They were farmers, skilled workers, who made things such as potteries, clothes, and merchants. Although they were in the lower class, they were definitely needed for the society.
Priests owned slaves to work in the temple for them and wealthy families also owned slaves to make them work for the family. Slaves worked to pay off the debts they had. People became slaves because their husband or parents sold them, or they were just born in a slavery family.
Priests owned slaves to work in the temple for them and wealthy families also owned slaves to make them work for the family. Slaves worked to pay off the debts they had. People became slaves because their husband or parents sold them, or they were just born in a slavery family.