1a+-+Sumerians

From 3500 to 3000 BC, Sumerians moved into the areas of Ur, Urak, Lagash, and Umma. These areas were northeast of the Nile River (Middle East). These settlements became the beginning of city-states. The sumer city-states ruled from 2800 to 1850 BC, along with these city-states came hereditary rulers.

Sumer was located in the Fertile Crescent of Mesopatamia. The Fertile Crescent was an arc of land that stretched from the Persian Gulf all the way up to the Medditerranen coast. Mesopatamia means "between the rivers", indicating that the Fertile Crescent is located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. This arc of land became a crossroads for all people such as nomads, invaders, and traders. The rivers allowed the people organize irrigation and create riverbanks to protect farmland. The sumerians were not isolated in between the rivers, however, like the Egyptians. From the south and west, Sumer was sorrounded by the Arabian Desert, and from the East and North, they were sorrounded by foothills, mountains of Iran and Armenia.



The Sumerian civilization was very unique. Since the people lacked building materials, they used clay to make bricks. Their cities were rectangular and surrounded by walls. An example of this wall would be the 6 mile long wall in Uruk, with 900 towers. They created avenues for religious processions and victory parades. They also created ziggurats, or pyramid temples. These were terraces with wide steps and planted trees and shrubs on them. On top of the ziggurats were usually the shrine to the chief or god/goddess.

The floods caused by the Euphrates and Tigris river cause much controversy. It would flood the farmlands, but this lead to the discovery and creation of irrigation systems to water their crops at the 'right time'. The temple priests and royal officials were in charge of making sure that this system worked smoothly and also helped organize the production. They would assign people to cooperate by building the irrigation ditches and the dikes.

The Rulers of Sumer usually occupied the palace and/or big courtyards while all the other people were packed into narrow alleys in tiny houses. Along these alleys, artisans usually lived together.



The goverment of the Sumers was independent city-states. While the rival cities fought over land and water, the people turned to the war leaders. The war leaders eventually became hereditary rulers, led armies, became responsible for city walls and irrigation, enforced laws, and employed scribes. Their religious duties were to lead the processions.

The religion of the Sumerians was polytheistic. The gods controlled every aspect and acted as humans. They favored truth and justice and also caused violence and suffering. They were to believed to have lived in temples and were orangized into families and generations. However, each city-state had their own god or goddess. There were many holy days, processions, and ceremonies.

In Sumer, the people who died were believed to have a grim afterlife.

Invented Cunieform, a form of writing to communicate with others using several thousands of characters. This language is not known to any language today.

Scribes of Sumer studied: to read/write, arithmetic, religion, medicine, mathematics,geography, astronomy and literature.

Sumer began to decline with the growing numbers of conquerers that overwhelmed the city-states. Cultural Diffusion started and spread to the Romans and Greeks. However, the Sumerian language was only taught in Babylonian schools.