Civilizations Around the World: The Sumerians

 

Among the many of the world’s first cities built in Mesopotamia were the Sumerians. They arrived in Sumer in about 5000 BCE and lasted independently until 2300 BCE when the Akkadians conquered the Sumer area and made it part of their large Mesopotamian empire. The people from Sumer and surrounding area developed the first wheeled carts and chariots, and invented the world’s first writing system called cuneiform script. For these reasons, Mesopotamia became known as “the cradle of civilization.”

One of the great architecture of the Sumerians is the ziggurats. A ziggurat consisted of a stepped platform made of dry mud bricks and eventually created a pyramid shape because when they Sumerian’s extended or refurbished their temples, they simply built a new platform on top of the older one, increasing its height and length. The Sumerian’s believed that their gods lived on these ziggurats because of their great height. On the top of the ziggurats was a shrine for religious rites and rituals where only priests were allowed in. An example of the ziggurat and temple is the White Temple of Uruk, made of whitewashed bricks, and dates back to late 3000 BCE.  

The Sumerian’s first city was Uruk. It was built by the Euphrates River because the climate was hot and farmers relied on the water of the river to irrigate their fields to grow crops including wheat, barley, and vegetables. By 3500 BCE, 10,000 inhabitants lived in Uruk. The city’s streets and buildings surrounded its biggest architecture, the temple of Anu, the greatest of Sumerian gods. The priest’s and the people made generous offerings to the temple in hopes of good weather and rich harvests.

Another important Sumerian city is Ur. The site is marked by the ruins of the Great Ziggurat of Ur, which contained the shrine of Nanna, the Sumerian moon god. An artifact that came from Ur that is well known is the Standard of Ur, a rectangular box of unknown function. The excavator, Leonard Wooley, believed the box was to be mounted on a pole with military standard. The two long sides of the box are referred to as the “war side” and the “peace side.” Each Side has three registers or bands depicting a scene.The war side shows a battle field victory. The top register shows soldiers presenting captives to a kinglike figure who is larger than everyone else. The peace side shows a victory celebration, following the same standard that the larger the figure, the higher of importance in society.

The Sumerian civilization consisted of independent city-states such as Ur, Lagash, Umma, and Uruk. They emerged from the area of Mesopotamia, which covers most of what is now present day Iraq. The people of this time gave rise to pottery and metal work that later flourished as a necessity for human sustainability.

About the Author

I'm Jose Pierre and I like learning about all aspects of culture, both ancient and modern. I enjoy learning how they communicated, expressed themselves, and their technology.