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SUMER A long time ago, there was a marvelous civilization of very clever people. They were called Sumerians. They lived in ancient Mesopotamia, in the land between two rivers. The question is: Was Sumer a civilization?? Ancient Sumer was a busy place of three or four hundred people. (Just kidding.) The ancient Sumerians built many cities along the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. Archaeologists believe that their largest city, the city of Ur, had a population of around 24,000 people! This was one of the largest cities in the world! Each Sumerian city was the center of an independent city-state. A city-state is a self-governing city and the lands surrounding it. Everyone who lived there spoke the same language, shared customs and religious beliefs, and worked together to meet their basic needs. Each city-state also had its own ruler and laws. The priests, who were members of the upper class, were responsible for collecting taxes from the people; usually, the taxes were in the form of crops. In the cities of Sumer, long docks were built along the sides of the rivers so that ships could easily dock and unload the goods they had to trade. Ships brought food, drinks, clothes, jewelry, and other goods up and down the rivers. The Sumerians were wonderful craftsmen. They made jewelry out of precious gold, fancy chairs, and vases that kept water cool. One of the things they did very well was to create colorful mosaics in beautiful patterns using little pieces of painted clay. Archaeologists have found remains of their mosaics, helmets, harps, jewelry, pottery, and decorated tablets. The Sumerians built temples to honor the gods and goddesses they worshipped. These temples, called ziggurats, were the most important and tallest buildings in the city-states. The ziggurat was built in the center of town. It was also the center of daily life. You might see an artist painting, a boy racing by on his way to school, someone milking a cow or making a basket. The ancient Sumerians believed in education. Record keeping was very important to them so they wrote everything down. They wanted their sons to learn how to read and write. Their written language was called cuneiform. The job of a scribe would be to record the information of a particular event or money transaction. There were three main classes of people in ancient Sumer - the upper class, the common class and the slaves. The upper class included priests and landowners. These people had the largest and most luxurious homes. Members of the common class were hard working people, especially farmers, merchants, and craftsmen. The bottom of the social pyramid was the slaves. Slaves worked for the king, the temple and the wealthy and owned no land of their own. Gilgamesh (the first superhero): The Sumerians were great story tellers. Thousands of years ago, they created the story of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh is one of the oldest recorded stories in the world. It's about an ancient King of Uruk who may have actually existed and whose name, Gilgamesh, is on the Sumerian King List. The Sumerians invented many things that later influenced many people. They were the first people who were known to have the wheel and they invented the sail for boats. The Sumerians also developed an accurate calendar and used geometry. Because of the Sumerians, people today use the 60second minute, 60-minute hour, and 360 degrees circle.