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Sumer
Sumer, «SOO muhr», was an ancient region in southern Mesopotamia (now southeastern Iraq). It
was the birthplace of the world's first civilization. By about 3300 B.C., a number of urban centers in
this area had developed a writing system to express the Sumerian language. However, no written
word for a place called Sumer was in use until about 2500 B.C. Nor is there clear evidence that
Sumerians were a distinct ethnic group.
Map
Mesopotamia
Way of life. Sumerian civilization developed in a region with little rainfall. However, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
provided water for irrigation and had a fertile flood plain. Most Sumerians made a living by growing cereal crops,
especially barley and wheat, and fruits and vegetables, such as dates and onions. Networks of canals allowed the
Sumerians to grow crops across much of the flood plain. People outside this fertile region raised sheep and goats, mainly
for wool. Woolen textiles were one of the region’s few exports.
Picture
Babylonian clay
tablet
The Sumerians’ agricultural economy provided them with a kind of stability unknown in the world
until then. On this foundation, the Sumerians built cities with magnificent temples and civic
architecture. They became accomplished craftworkers and traders. Many were skilled in metalwork or
stonework, even though most metal and stone had to be imported. Textile workers wove fine cloth.
Other craftworkers made armor, jewelry, pottery, and weapons. Sumerian trading ships sailed to
lands bordering the Persian Gulf to obtain ivory and other luxury items. Boats from places as distant
as western India docked at Ur and other Sumerian cities. The Sumerians founded some of the earliest
schools, mainly to train scribes. Scribes kept records for government offices, temples, and other
institutions. Few people outside these institutions used writing.
The earliest Sumerian writing soon developed into a system of cuneiform (wedge-shaped) symbols.
Writers made the symbols by pressing a pointed instrument called a stylus into wet clay tablets. The
tablets were then dried in the sun. Hundreds of thousands of these tablets have survived. They
provide information about Sumerian economy, law, literature, politics, and religion. The Sumerians
also left writings about mathematics, anatomy, medicine, and magic. Eventually, cuneiform was used
to write more than a dozen ancient languages throughout southwestern Asia. The Sumerian language
stopped being spoken about 2000 B.C.
Picture
Votive figures
History. People have lived in the Sumer region since the 5000's B.C. Scholars do not know where
the first inhabitants came from. Larger towns began growing slowly about 4000 B.C. Around
3300 B.C., several of these expanded rapidly into big, independent city-states. A city-state consists
Picture
of a city and the surrounding villages and farmland. The largest city-state was Uruk. Some evidence
suggests cooperation between the city-states. However, defensive walls were built around the cityUr
states. Evidence of intercity warfare also increases as Sumerian history progresses. The more
powerful city-states conquered their smaller neighbors and became small kingdoms, including Kish,
Lagash, Umma, Ur, and Uruk.
None of the Sumerian kingdoms asserted lasting control over the others until the king of Kish did so about 2500 B.C. Uruk
controlled most of Sumer for a brief time about 2375 B.C. A non-Sumerian dynasty (family of rulers) established by
Sargon of Akkad then ruled Sumer for about 150 years. The dynasty put down many revolts.
From 2112 to 2004 B.C., a dynasty based at Ur revived Sumerian culture to its greatest height, even though the Sumerian
language had begun to fall out of use. The rulers of southern Mesopotamia from about 2000 to 500 B.C. adopted elements
of Sumerian culture but not the Sumerian language.
Contributor:
• Seth F. C. Richardson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Ancient Near Eastern History, Oriental Institute, University of
Chicago.
How to cite this article:
To cite this article, World Book recommends the following format:
http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/printarticle?id=ar539160&st=mesopotamia
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10/18/2014
Sumer | Print Article | World Book Student
MLA:
Richardson, Seth F. C. "Sumer." World Book Student. World Book, 2014. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.
APA:
Richardson, S. C. (2014). Sumer. In World Book Student. Retrieved from
http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/printarticle?id=ar539160
Harvard:
Richardson, SC 2014, 'Sumer' , World Book Student, World Book, Chicago, viewed 18 October 2014,
<http://www.worldbookonline.com/student/printarticle?id=ar539160>.
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