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the middle east First Cities of Sumer ; mesopotAmiA lies between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers—an area that now covers much of modern Iraq. It was the ancient Greeks who named this region Mesopotamia, meaning “the land between the rivers.” In about 5000 bce, the farming people of Sumer founded small settlements that grew into the world’s first cities, each with its own ruler and god. Since Mesopotamia lacked raw materials, Sumerian merchants began to travel to distant lands, trading surplus food and luxury goods for stone, timber, and metals. By 3100 bce, the Sumerians had developed cuneiform, one of the world’s first known writing systems. B H T P . T T F J 5JHS FT P Q BU S . &V IS Q P P V O U UB B T J /JQQVS JO N ,JTI B 4 Z S J B O -BHBTI ST 6S 1F JB % F T F S U 6NNB 6SVL O ( VM G this Map shows the major cities of Sumer (southern Mesopotamia), including Ur, Uruk, and Nippur. euphrateS river the city of ur ▶ ▲ the rivers Every year, the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers flooded. But this flooding took place too late in the year to water the crops that were already growing in the fields. So the Sumerians worked together in organized groups, digging canals to irrigate the land and building reservoirs to store the floodwater for later use. The walled cities of Sumer contained a vast network of mud-brick houses, temples, and grand palaces. Each city was dominated by a huge temple tower called a ziggurat. The Sumerians worshiped many gods, and each city had its own patron god. The city of Ur was home to the Moon god Nanna. moSaic on a box ▲ kings at war Sumerian city-states were governed by kings who claimed to rule on behalf of the local god. There were about a dozen city-states whose kings often went to war with each other over land and resources. This mosaic from Ur shows a Sumerian king (middle top row) receiving prisoners captured in battle. 8 (c) 2011 Dorling Kindersley, Inc. All Rights Reserved. trading ships set sail from the harbor at Ur