[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:07.69,0:00:13.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,History’s first empire rose \Nout of a hot, dry landscape,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:13.01,0:00:18.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,without rainfall to nourish crops, \Nwithout trees or stones for building.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:18.79,0:00:24.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In spite of all this, its inhabitants\Nbuilt the world’s first cities,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.14,0:00:28.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with monumental architecture \Nand large populations—
Dialogue: 0,0:00:28.23,0:00:32.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they built them \Nentirely out of mud.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.54,0:00:36.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sumer occupied the southern part \Nof modern Iraq
Dialogue: 0,0:00:36.05,0:00:38.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the region called Mesopotamia.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.75,0:00:41.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Mesopotamia means “between two rivers”—
Dialogue: 0,0:00:41.93,0:00:44.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the Tigris and the Euphrates.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:44.89,0:00:52.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Around 5000 BCE, early Sumerians used\Nirrigation channels, dams, and reservoirs
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.03,0:00:58.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to redirect river water and farm \Nlarge areas of previously bone-dry land.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:58.46,0:01:02.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Agricultural communities like this \Nwere slowly springing up around the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:02.98,0:01:06.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But Sumerians were the first\Nto take the next step.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.77,0:01:09.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Using clay bricks made from river mud,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:09.34,0:01:13.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they began to build multi-storied\Nhomes and temples.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:13.34,0:01:14.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They invented the wheel—
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.60,0:01:19.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a potter’s wheel, for turning mud \Ninto household goods and tools.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:19.61,0:01:23.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Those clay bricks gave rise \Nto the world’s first cities,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.90,0:01:27.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,probably around 4500 BCE.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.69,0:01:32.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,At the top of the city’s social ladder\Nwere priests and priestesses,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.25,0:01:34.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who were considered nobility,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:34.38,0:01:40.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then merchants, craftspeople,\Nfarmers, and enslaved people.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.06,0:01:43.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Sumerian empire \Nconsisted of distinct city-states
Dialogue: 0,0:01:43.90,0:01:46.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that operated like small nations.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:46.51,0:01:49.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They were loosely linked \Nby language and spiritual belief
Dialogue: 0,0:01:49.89,0:01:52.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but lacked centralized control.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:52.53,0:01:56.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The earliest cities were Uruk, \NUr, and Eridu,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:56.88,0:01:59.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and eventually there were a dozen cities.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:59.72,0:02:04.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Each had a king who served a role \Nsomewhere between a priest and a ruler.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:04.64,0:02:09.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Sometimes they fought against \Neach other to conquer new territories.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.03,0:02:14.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Each city was dedicated to a patron deity,\Nconsidered the city’s founder.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.74,0:02:19.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The largest and most important building \Nin the city was this patron god’s home:
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.90,0:02:24.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the ziggurat, a temple designed\Nas a stepped pyramid.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:24.48,0:02:30.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Around 3200 BCE, Sumerians began \Nto expand their reach.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:30.03,0:02:34.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The potter’s wheel found a new home \Non chariots and wagons.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.30,0:02:37.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They built boats out of reeds \Nand date palm leaves,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.78,0:02:42.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with linen sails that carried \Nthem vast distances by river and sea.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.98,0:02:46.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,To supplement scarce resources, \Nthey built a trade network
Dialogue: 0,0:02:46.54,0:02:51.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the rising kingdoms in Egypt, \NAnatolia, and Ethiopia,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.18,0:02:57.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,importing gold, silver, \Nlapis lazuli, and cedar wood.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:57.78,0:03:00.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Trade was the unlikely impetus
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.24,0:03:03.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for the invention \Nof the world’s first writing system.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:03.98,0:03:07.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It started as a system of accounting\Nfor Sumerian merchants
Dialogue: 0,0:03:07.18,0:03:09.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,conducting business with traders abroad.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:09.88,0:03:13.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After a few hundred years, \Nthe early pictogram system
Dialogue: 0,0:03:13.74,0:03:17.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,called cuneiform turned into a script.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.08,0:03:20.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Sumerians drafted up the first\Nwritten laws
Dialogue: 0,0:03:20.02,0:03:24.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and created the first school system, \Ndesigned to teach the craft of writing—
Dialogue: 0,0:03:24.81,0:03:31.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and pioneered some less exciting\Ninnovations, like bureaucracy and taxes.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:31.32,0:03:34.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In the schools, scribes studying \Nfrom dawn to dusk,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.84,0:03:37.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from childhood well into adulthood.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.63,0:03:42.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They learned accounting, mathematics,\Nand copied works of literature—
Dialogue: 0,0:03:42.00,0:03:47.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,hymns, myths, proverbs, animal fables, \Nmagic spells,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:47.42,0:03:50.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the first epics on clay tablets.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:50.84,0:03:54.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some of those tablets told \Nthe story of Gilgamesh,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:54.14,0:03:59.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a king of the city of Uruk who was\Nalso the subject of mythical tales.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:59.77,0:04:05.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But by the third millennium BCE, Sumer\Nwas no longer the only empire around,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:05.89,0:04:08.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or even in Mesopotamia.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:08.12,0:04:13.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Waves of nomadic tribes poured\Ninto the region from the north and east.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:13.66,0:04:17.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some newcomers looked up to the Sumerians,\Nadopting their way of life
Dialogue: 0,0:04:17.66,0:04:21.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and using the cuneiform script \Nto express their own languages.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:21.66,0:04:29.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In 2300 BCE, the Akkadian king Sargon\Nconquered the Sumerian city-states.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:29.03,0:04:31.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But Sargon respected Sumerian culture,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:31.70,0:04:37.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Akkadians and Sumerians\Nexisted side-by-side for centuries.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:37.26,0:04:41.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Other invading groups focused \Nonly on looting and destruction.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:41.38,0:04:43.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Even as Sumerian culture spread,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:43.84,0:04:51.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a steady onslaught of invasions killed\Noff the Sumerian people by 1750 BCE.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:51.74,0:04:55.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Afterward, Sumer disappeared \Nback into the desert dirt,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:55.94,0:05:00.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not to be rediscovered\Nuntil the 19th century.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:00.04,0:05:04.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But Sumerian culture lived \Non for thousands of years—
Dialogue: 0,0:05:04.04,0:05:09.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,first through the Akkadians,\Nthen the Assyrians, then the Babylonians.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:09.16,0:05:13.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Babylonians passed Sumerian \Ninventions and traditions through
Dialogue: 0,0:05:13.04,0:05:16.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,along Hebrew, Greek, and Roman cultures.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:16.80,0:05:19.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some persist today.