[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,History’s first empire rose out of a hot,\Ndry landscape,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,without rainfall to nourish crops, \Nwithout trees or stones for building.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In spite of all this, its inhabitants\Nbuilt the world’s first cities,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with monumental architecture and \Nlarge populations—
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they built them \Nentirely out of mud.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sumer occupied the Southern part of\Nmodern Iraq
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the region called Mesopotamia.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Mesopotamia means “between two rivers”—
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Tigris and the Euphrates.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Around 5000 BCE, early Sumerians used\Nirrigation channels, dams, and reservoirs
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to redirect river water and farm large\Nareas of previously bone-dry land.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Agricultural communities like this were\Nslowly springing up around the world.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But Sumerians were the first\Nto take the next step.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Using clay bricks made from river mud,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they began to build multi-storied\Nhomes and temples.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They invented the wheel—
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a potter’s wheel, for turning mud into\Nhousehold goods and tools.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Those clay bricks gave rise to the world’s\Nfirst cities, probably around 4500 BCE.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At the top of the city’s social ladder\Nwere priests and priestesses,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who were considered nobility, then\Nmerchants, craftspeople, farmers, and enslaved people.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Sumerian empire consisted \Nof distinct city-states that operated like small nations.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They were loosely linked by language\Nand spiritual belief
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but lacked centralized control.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The earliest cities were Uruk, Ur,\Nand Eridu,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and eventually there were a dozen cities.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Each had a king who served a role \Nsomewhere between a priest and a ruler.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sometimes they fought against each \Nother to conquer new territories.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Each city was dedicated to a patron deity,\Nconsidered the city’s founder.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The largest and most important building \Nn the city was this patron god’s home:
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the ziggurat, a temple designed\Nas a stepped pyramid.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Around 3200 BCE, Sumerians began to\Nexpand their reach.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The potter’s wheel found a new home \Non chariots and wagons.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They built boats out of reeds and date\Npalm leaves,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with linen sails that carried them \Nvast distances by river and sea.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To supplement scarce resources, \Nthey built a trade network
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the rising kingdoms in Egypt, \NAnatolia, and Ethiopia,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,importing gold, silver, \Nlapis lazuli, and cedar wood.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Trade was the unlikely impetus for the\Ninvention of the world’s first writing system.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It started as a system of accounting\Nfor Sumerian merchants
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,conducting business with traders abroad.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After a few hundred years, the early \Npictogram system
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,called cuneiform turned into a script.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Sumerians drafted up the first\Nwritten laws
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and created the first school system, \Ndesigned to teach the craft of writing—
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and pioneered some less exciting\Ninnovations, like bureaucracy and taxes.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the schools, scribes studying from \Ndawn to dusk, from childhood
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,well into adulthood.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They learned accounting, mathematics,\Nand copied works of literature––
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,hymns, myths, proverbs, animal fables, \Nmagic spells,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the first epics on clay tablets.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some of those tablets told the story of\NGilgamesh,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a king of the city of Uruk who was\Nalso the subject of mythical tales.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But by the third millennium BCE, Sumer\Nwas no longer the only empire around,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or even in Mesopotamia.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Waves of nomadic tribes poured\Ninto the region from the north and east.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some newcomers looked up to the Sumerians,\Nadopting their way of life
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and using the cuneiform script to express\Ntheir own languages.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 2300 BCE, the Akkadian king Sargon\Nconquered the Sumerian city-states.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But Sargon respected Sumerian culture,\Nand Akkadians and Sumerians
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,existed side-by-side for centuries.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Other invading groups focused only \Non looting and destruction.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even as Sumerian culture spread,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a steady onslaught of invasions killed\Noff the Sumerian people by 1750 BCE.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Afterward, Sumer disappeared back into \Nthe desert dirt,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not to be rediscovered\Nuntil the 19th century.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But Sumerian culture lived on\Nfor thousands of years—
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,first through the Akkadians,\Nthen the Assyrians, then the Babylonians.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Babylonians passed Sumerian inventions
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and traditions through along Hebrew,\NGreek, and Roman cultures.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some persist today.