Ancient Sumerian Civilization: History and Facts – Ancient Civilizations World Skip to content Ancient Civilizations World History of the Ancient Civilizations of the World Home List of Ancient Civilizations Africa Ancient Egypt Ancient African Civilizations Americas Aztecs Caral Incas Mayas Nazca Quechuas Ancient Civilizations of Mexico Ancient Civilizations of Peru Ancient Civilizations of North America Ancient Tribes of the USA Asia Akkadians Arabs Assyrians Babylonians Chinese Hebrews Indians Japanese Koreans Persians Phoenicians Sumerians Vietnam Europe Romans Greeks Vikings Oceania Facts Timeline of Ancient Civilizations Ancient Sumerian Civilization: History and Facts Posted on February 6, 2017 by ACW Between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers extends a wide and fertile valley that deserves to be called “The Cradle of Civilization” more than any other place in the world. To the south of this long basin, the ancient Sumerian entrepreneurs were determined to build the first cities of the world more than 5,000 years ago. They also devised a writing system, discovered bronze and were the ones who first used the wheel in their vehicles. Conscious of the strength of their great organization and the value of the waters they defended, the first settlers of the valley sustained the oldest wars in history, completely different from simple tribal skirmishes. Let’s learn about the ancient Sumerian civilization, its legacy, and its culture. Ancient Sumerian Civilization Ancient Sumerian CivilizationContents [hide]Ancient Sumerian CivilizationIntroductionThe First WarsThe Ancient Sumerian Society and LanguageSumerian WritingAncient Sumerian CitiesUruk and the First Expansion of UrbanismThe Gemdet Nasr CultureSumerian Cities in the Third MilleniumCity and CountryThe Protodynastic PeriodThe Duality of Temple and PalaceEconomic and Social Structure of Ancient SumerRivalries Between City-StatesThe Universal Empire of Sargon and his SuccessorsStructure of the Sumerian EmpireSumerian TradeSargon I of AkkadThe Akkadian Empire (2,334-2,193)The City of UrSumerian History Introduction The territory colonized by the Sumerians was known by the Greeks as Mesopotamia, “country between two rivers”. Later the name was applied to the whole length of the valley that centuries later would also welcome the Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians. These peoples came as conquerors, but gradually absorbed much of the civilization of their predecessors and added it to their own knowledge of architecture, sculpture, astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. These peoples survived for more than 3,000 years until the conquest of Babylon by the Persians in 539 BC made Mesopotamia a part of a vast empire. Currently, the Marsh Arabs in the Euphrates delta live in straw huts very similar to those built long ago. Ancient Mesopotamia Map The Tigris and Euphrates follow a tortuous course from the northwest to the southwest, traversing modern Iraq on their way to the Persian Gulf. To the sides of the valley lie vast deserts, but about 10,000 years ago, before the glaciers withdrew at the end of the last Ice Age, the valley was bordered by grasslands that supported livestock and nomadic hunters. As the ice caps melted, the climate became drier and the grasslands became deserts. However, the two rivers overflowed annually and deposited their muds along the two banks, forming a green and fertile strip in the middle of the aridity. The men moved with their animals to these meadows which were the only water reserves, along with some oases. The nomads learned to plant grains (wheat and barley derived from wild grasses) in areas near the river. The population joined efforts to build dams and irrigation canals that stored and distributed water. By 5,800 BC, the nomads began to form colonies along the lower reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates, where they built mud huts to protect themselves in winter from storms. They tamed some wild animals from the surrounding area, and from them, they obtained milk and meat to feed themselves and skins to dress. Although the man continued to hunt, his sustenance no longer depended exclusively on wild animals, and he could settle in an area for long periods of time. Consequently, around 4,000 BC, a people, probably from Central Asia, had become the sole colonizer of all Mesopotamia. These primitive Sumerians, in addition to being expert farmers, used stone and flint tools, built large temples, and crafted pieces of pottery with black accents. Around 3,500 BC The foundations of civilization had already been laid along the valleys between the rivers of Mesopotamia. The First Wars The isolated settlements, at least initially, were the basis of the Sumerian civilization during its thousand-year history. Sumer was never a solidly unified state like Egypt, led by a king. On the contrary, it contained numerous independent and sovereign cities. Sometimes they would join together in loose federations; Others fought each other for the domination of some fertile areas near the two rivers or great canals. After one of these wars, a king or governor temporarily became lord of the leaders he had subdued.The captives taken in the battles were the first slaves. Ancient Sumer Agriculture For a long period, the ancient Sumerians prospered and multiplied. Agriculture and cattle ranching continued to be the main sources of wealth, but over time, the Sumerian farmers produced a surplus of goods far exceeding their immediate needs. Thus appeared a social sector that neither took care of the land nor took care of the cattle; They were the new builders, artisans, priests, and scribes who gradually converted the Sumerian cities into the first centers of civilized society. Mesopotamia lacked suitable quarries, but the Sumerian builders, using sun-dried mud bricks, built large cities on the plains near the rivers. New buildings were erected on the leveled debris of the old ones. This is why the floor of the cities ascended gradually and formed artificial mounds called tells. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, important vestiges of many of these primitive cities have been discovered. Among them is Ur, to the west of the Euphrates (320 kilometers from the Persian Gulf), Uruk, 64 kilometers further north (marked in the Bible as Erech), and at the site of modern Warka, and Nippur, 160 kilometers from Baghdad. The Sumerians believed that the gods ruled the earth and that men were created to serve them. It was believed that each city belonged to a certain god or goddess: Aun, god of the sky, Enlil, god of the atmosphere, Enki, god of water. In this primitive civilization, when crops were destroyed by droughts or any other natural calamity, such as floods or locusts, men feared the wrath of the gods. To placate their anger, a hierarchy of priests celebrated elaborate ceremonies within the temple of each city, home-ground of the local deities. Sometimes a tall tower called a ziggurat was built next to the temple. The Ancient Sumerian Society and Language Within the temple grounds were workshops for artisans, whose products contributed to Sumer’s prosperity. They were consummate metalworkers who learned to make bronze by combining copper and tin, made spears, axes, tools and ornamental figures of copper, bronze, gold and silver. Although the pottery wheel had been invented in prehistoric times, the Sumerians devised the first vehicles of wheels, and thus they had agricultural and military wagons. The earliest known vehicle wheels are depicted on Sumerian tablets, and date to approximately 3,250 BC. They were built with three solid wood plates, joined by slats of the same material and lined with leather rims. In Sumerian society, writing was the basis of progress, and these inventions are owed to the Sumerians from about 3,000 BC. It arose with the development of commerce when the Sumerians needed a system to record their commercial transactions. At the beginning, they were engraved on clay tablets with a stamp. They depicted simple representations of objects, called pictographs. Important data was kept on baked tablets. Over 500 years, these primitive pictographs evolved into abstract signs that represented words or syllables. The impression made on the tablets with square pointed stamps resulted in wedge-shaped signs and the combination of these signs lead to what is called cuneiform writing (from the Latin cuneus, which means “wedge”). This type of writing spread throughout the Middle East and was used to write in large numbers of languages, including the Babylonian and Persian. The Sumerians were also mathematical experts, counting by the tens as in the modern world, but also taking sixty as a base. So they divided the circle into 360 degrees, the hours into sixty minutes, and the minutes into sixty seconds. Sumerian Writing Ancient Sumerians The Sumerian writings preserved in tablets of cooked mud are comprised of things ranging from commercial and legal inscriptions to so-called sapiential literature, consisting of philosophical reflections similar to the psalms. This sapiential literature is one of the most important legacies of ancient Mesopotamia, not only for the details of life in Sumerian cities such as Ur, Nippur and Uruk, but for its excellent quality. Many of their simple and sharp observations are now fully valid: “At home, the capricious woman adds sorrow to the pain.” “We spend if we are doomed to die and save if we anticipate a long life.” Sumerian literature also contains epic tales starring their first leaders. The Poem of Gilgamesh is among the most important of universal literature. Gilgamesh appears as king of Uruk, although it is not known with certainty if his existence was mythical or real. The epic describes him as an adventurer and a man of action, determined to find and defeat Humbaba, keeper of the woods. To this end, he penetrated her domain, towns of Cedros, with his companion Enkidu that represented the civilized nomad. This story may symbolize the invasion of distant cedar forests by men of the plain, who needed wood for their constructions. The poem recounts the journey of Gilgamesh in search of immortality until it encounters the immortal Utnapishtim, the survivor of a great flood. Lower Mesopotamia was struck by devastating floods in the flood waters of rivers, and this episode may allude to a flood of great magnitude. With the help of Utnapishtim, Gilgamesh discovers the “plant of youth”, but loses it in the return to his home. Ancient Sumerian Cities Uruk and the First Expansion of Urbanism Ancient Sumerian Ziggurat Uruk was the center of the phenomenon of urbanism known in Mesopotamia and in the lower region of Akkad (Central Mesopotamia). Its culture spread to other areas near the middle and upper reaches of the Euphrates and even to Southeastern Anatolia, Southwestern Iran, and Syria. The Urban Revolution brought with it the emergence of the state and social and economic stratification, as well as the use of writing. With it, there was a separation between primary food production and specialized techniques. The villages, in charge of food production, soon became subordinated to large urban centers. Food surpluses allowed the specialists of cities to live without concern. Food producers, in turn, received specialized products of artisans, whose control of the techniques allowed them to enjoy some social and cultural prestige above the rest of the population. However, the upper stratum of the population occupied the city, the priests and those who developed administrative functions, like the scribes. Now, large organizations temples and palaces appeared, which differed substantially from the city of villages.The temples were dedicated to the cult and were homes of the gods, while the palaces were inhabited by kings, accompanied by his court and it acted as an administrative center. The surpluses accumulated in the warehouses of the palaces, and through this, tasks arose for writing and file-keeping. The temples and palaces possessed buildings where dedicated employees lived. The specialized personnel working for the state lived off the land or received land to cultivate. They were genuine servants forming a social, political, and economic elite. Palace workers were varied, as is clear from lists of known professions.The objects were produced in sequence, forming a hierarchy between master craftsmen, workers, and apprentices. Payment for work depended on one’s ability to work and carry out the desired tasks, which led to a true labor stratification. The center of the Urban Revolution was the city of Uruk in which one can distinguish two distinct periods: ancient Uruk (3500-3200) and recent Uruk (3200-3000). Uruk is a well-known city thanks to many excavations.It was the most important urban center of the Sumerians, as indicated by its surface, its temples, and administrative buildings. It had a huge sanctuary in one of the sacred places where, later, the Ziggurat was built. Ancient Sumerian civilization Another sacred area, the Eanna, housed palaces, temples and columns, and as above, underwent numerous expansions and reconstructions. They controlled the surrounding territory, which shows that it was a real capital at the expense of villages close to it, which disappeared.Other minor urban centers were also defeated by Uruk. These were characterized by identical temple structures, like the Eridu or Tell Oiugair, both similar to those of Uruk.It is, on the one hand, small commercial enclaves in the Indian territory of Uruk, or indigenous centers with an urban organization from the Uruk. Godin Tepe in the Zagros mountains and Hassek Huyuk in the upper Euphrates belonged to the first group. This period was characterized by great wealth, as shown by the excavations in Nippur, the city which was also part of the culture of Uruk, like Susa centers and Habuba Kebira. Susa has temples, walls, and urbanism from Uruk.Other important centers around 2900 BC include Ninive and Tell Brak, in the region of Habur. The existence of these colonies of Uruk was due to commercial needs, specifically the need for metal, hard stones, and wood.In the region of Anatolia, a more advanced copper metallurgy developed than that of Mesopotamia. This land also had abundant pastures, forests, and agriculture. They had well-maintained commercial relations with the south. In these lands lived people from Uruk and it’s possible that they formed an organized political structure. Its inhabitants did not know any developed scripts, although they used countermarks. The period of great splendor of these cities was dated to Eanna IV. The Crisis of the Uruk culture does not seem to be due to a crisis of the metropolis, but a rejection of it by indigenous cultures. Habuba Kebira disappeared and a new population lacking political and administrative organization settled in Malatya.This first phase of urbanism left its impact on ancient technology and various aspects of politic and social character. Its fall ushered back a culture based on the village. The Gemdet Nasr Culture At the end of the fourth millennium and the beginning of the next, a phase began in Mesopotamia call Gemdet Nasr, near the city of Kish, along with the Protodynastic I phase (2900-2750). Uruk’s III-Gemdet Nasr phase was characterized by economic and demographic development and an expansionary trend towards the valley of Dujala in Kish. However, The Protodynastic I period was actually a crisis, as shown by the clear decline in trade. Ancient Sumerian culture Lower Mesopotamia became a regional culture, albeit with better organization and higher demographic rates.From now on, the palace became more important than it did in Gemdet Nasr, indicating the existence of a political system that wasn’t linked to the temple. Writing reached its maximum development in the culture of Uruk III in Gemdet Nasr. Glyptics decoration became geometric in this last phase and in the Protodynastic I phase. Painted pottery became more regional. Gemdet Nasr pottery spread to the Persian Gulf and Oman. The population of the city also lived off of fishing, livestock, and oasis agriculture. In Susiana, a process known as Portoelamitic culture had its place; they had an original writing system and ceramic and glyptic styles different from that of Mesopotamia.This culture spread to Tell Malyani Sialk IV and Tepe Yahya; they traded with hard stones, and stone glasses that were exported to Mesopotamia. Sumerian Cities in the Third Millenium The urban revolution had two major centers in Mesopotamia: Sumer and Elam. The Sumerian culture had a great development of urbanism during Gemdet Nasr (3000-2800 BC) to the north, and Protodynastic towards 2650 BC. Urban culture dominated Akkad, Elam, Sumer and Diyala. In the Early Dynastic period, during the reign of Mesilim in Kish, the urban culture of Sumer and Akkad had, together with the existence of the temples, with a political structure at the apex included the monarch, vicar of God, according to the official ideology. The Sumerian urbanism served as a model for other important commercial and strategic centers such as Asur in the upper Tigris or Mari on the middle Euphrates. The first, located on the road leading to Anatolia and Assyria inside the Protodynastic period had a temple dedicated to the goddess Ishtar, whose iconography is fully Sumerian.Mari, an important node of communication with Syria and Anatolia, had temples built before the reign of Sargon, such as Ishtar, Ninnizaza, and Ishtarat, all still Mesopotamian models, and a remarkable palace, which absorbed many of the functions of the temple. City and Country The typology of Middle Eastern cities was not uniform. Between the years 3400-3000 a large concentration of settlements, coinciding with the emergence of a strongly centralized power was detected in the region of Uruk. It is estimated that the city of Uruk, at the time of its peak had a population of between 30,000 and 40,000 inhabitants and an area of 60 by 40 kilometers.A 12-15 km belt around the city was exploited by urban farmers. Some major city-states with famous temples had become important like Nippur, famous for the cult given to Enlil, or the city of Shipar held by the temple dedicated to Shamash. Nippur, had a sanctuary built by Urnammu, founder of the Third Dynasty of Ur, in honor of the god Enlil.They built a ziggurat and temple in his name. Within this sacred area, other temples dedicated to the goddess Inanna and the scribes were neighborhoods. The holy city had a rectangular urban layout. Ur is the best example of a capital. The monarch, Urnammu, also left his mark and then so did Shulgi and Amarsin. It had a wall of adobe, temples and residential neighborhoods. A second trapezoidal wall surrounded the sacred precincts of the moon god, Narna, with its corresponding Ziggurat.Next to the citadel (which was a monumental complex) rose residences and palaces. Many urban centers were settled in desert regions, which responds to its commercial nature. The Protodynastic Period This phase is usually divided into Protodynastic I, Protodynastic II (2750-2600 BC.), Protodynastic III (2600-2450 BC.) and IIIb (2450-2350 BC), They are subdivisions well known for administrative documentation and recent court and political writings. Sumerians and Akkadians A good number of cities, which have become settled states appear on the Euphrates: Kish, Nippur, Akshat, Uruk, Ur and Shuruppak on the west bank; Lagash, Adah, Umma, Bal-Tibira and Zabalan on the east. To this world, the Sumerians belonged as well as Mari and Ashur, and related to that, Susa and Jamazi in the Zagros. These city-states were independent but shared the same civilization, Sumeria. Is not entirely clear whether the Sumerians migrated to this land block or slow infiltration took place; documents were written in the Sumerian language,… truncated (24,396 more characters in archive)