The Sumerians were pioneers, both in writing and in mathematics. They also built magnificent buildings, including those huge stepped pyramids called ziggurats . They also produced remarkable craftsmanship, carving small statues and inlays with different precious stones.
No one knows how the Sumerians rose to such prominence in such a barren region. Although the region's two great rivers - the Tigris and Euphrates - flooded its banks, providing rich silt for cultivation, it was not an area blessed with many natural resources. Wood was scarce and there was no stone to build on, nor metal to make tools or weapons.
However, the Sumerian city had a good food supply, especially wild birds and fish. Furthermore, over time the Sumerians learned to make better use of their rivers. They dug canals, pools, and dams so that they were able to bring water to their fields and produce several annual crops. To carry out projects like this they needed a good organization and government, qualities that could have helped create the first cities .
Heydayandcrisisofthesumerians
From about 3500 B.C. henceforth, the Sumerian cities grew in size and importance. Among them were Ur, Eridu, Lagash, Uruk and Nippur. The inhabitants of these cities considered themselves to be Sumerians, but there was no central government to bring them all together. Instead, each city was the center of its own small state, much like the city-states of ancient Greece . Sometimes a particular city became more powerful than the others and dominated them. Then the power passed to another.
We do not know what form of government these cities had at the beginning. Long ago, it was believed that the remains of the great temples indicated that it was the priests who governed their respective cities. Although this is no longer thought to be the case today, many historians continue to believe that the great temples played a major role in the lives of their fellow citizens.
At one point, perhaps around 2800 BC, kings appeared as rulers of cities. The Sumerian word for "king" is lugal, which literally means "great man" . It is possible that originally a lugal was appointed during a time of crisis, such as a war, and that by the time we are dealing with the position became permanent. The Sumerian cities continued to exist as independent entities until 2370 BC, when disaster struck:the region was invaded and conquered.
The Age of Sargon
The leader of that invasion was Sargon, king of Akkad, a state about 150 miles north of Sumer . Sargon was a descendant of the Semitic groups that had migrated to Mesopotamia centuries earlier. According to legend, Sargon's mother abandoned her son in a basket in the Euphrates River. He was rescued by a shepherd, who raised him.
Sargon grew up to be a powerful leader. He not only conquered Mesopotamia, but also parts of Syria. He built himself a capital in Akkad and made Akkadian the lingua franca of the region.
The reign of the Sargon family over the region lasted until about 2200 BC, when it was invaded by a mountain people, the Gutees. After a century of chaos, the Sumerians regained power led by a king of Ur named Ur-Nammu . For the next hundred years the region prospered. Temples were built, standardized weights and measures were introduced, and a new calendar came into use. In 2000 B.C. At about this time, the Elamites invaded the region from the east and destroyed Ur, ending the era of Sumer.
The Sumerian achievements
Architecture of the Sumerians
The Sumerians were very skilled builders and architects. Their cities were solidly built, with strong defensive walls . Inside there were great temples and palaces, distributed among the streets full of houses. Buildings were made primarily of adobe, although stronger, fire-baked bricks were also used. The houses of the common people were single-story, while the wealthy had larger, two-story dwellings, with more spacious rooms and an area for the slaves. The second floor also had a balcony.
To help them in the construction and transfer of materials and goods, the Sumerians used the wheel, being the first people in the world to do so . They had two- and four-wheeled chariots, of which small bronze models have been discovered. Apart from chariots used in agriculture and construction, they also had war chariots.
Sumeriansociety
Sumerian society was divided into different classes, with the king, priests and nobles at the top and slaves at the bottom. Between both extremes were the merchants, the artisans and the farmers . The kings directed the war, dispensed justice, and made sure that the canals, dams, and pools—vital for keeping the land well-watered—were well maintained. It seems that in their early days, the Sumerians chose their kings, but in the end the kingship passed from one generation to another in a hereditary way.
For the wealthy Sumerians, not everything in life was work. They could afford lavish banquets and hire musicians to play lyres, harps, or tambourines to entertain their guests. Religious festivals were also celebrated throughout the year, especially the one commemorating the New Year, which lasted several days. On the other hand, the discovery in Ur of a game board and its pieces shows that the Sumerians also enjoyed board games.
Crafts of the Sumerians
Sumerian artists and craftsmen organized themselves into guilds to support each other.
The works they produced were of extraordinary quality . Goldsmiths were able to hammer gold into thin sheets, which they then cut into the shapes of leaves or stars. Sculptors created small statues using a system known as lost wax. To do this, a figure was molded with wax, which was placed inside a container and then covered with clay. Finally, everything was heated so that the wax melted and came out through some small holes left expressly for it. This left a hollow mold of fired clay. Molten metal was introduced inside it, which, when solidified, took the shape of the wax figure.
Thefirstwritten
As the Sumerian cities grew in size, their organization became more complex. The need for careful record keeping arose, which in turn created the need for writing . The earliest written evidence in the world has been found on clay tablets in Uruk. They are dated to 3300 BC. and consist of listings and accounts.
In the beginning, writing was done through small drawings; for example, the simplified image of an ox's head meant "ox" . Over time these drawings evolved and became more abstract. They were made by pressing a wedge-shaped, or 'cuneiform', style onto wet clay tablets, which were then allowed to harden. Small inscribed cylinder-seals were also used. They were rolled on wet clay to produce images and text, often used to seal official documents.
The word-sign system was slowly transformed to be able to express more complex ideas as well. The image of a star, for example, originally meant only "star"; but later it came to mean "king" and, later still, also "high" . Sumerian was the first language to be written with cuneiform signs. However, after Sargon's conquest, cuneiform was used to write the Akkadian language.
As Sumerian skills increased, it became important to teach young people those same skills. At first, those responsible for the education of young people were the priests of the temple. However, over the years the schools eventually escaped their direct influence. Evidence found in a college in Ur, dated around 1800 BC, shows that students learned to read, write and arithmetic . Among the clay tablets discovered there, there were some containing multiplication tables. However, the education was strictly practical and intended to produce the scribes, merchants, or businessmen of the future.
The temples
The Sumerian cities were dominated by huge stepped pyramids known as ziggurats . The temple was, in fact, a large complex, almost like a small city unto itself, with cooks, brewers, gardeners, blacksmiths, scribes, and administrative staff keeping it going. There is a document that says that the temple of Lagash had to provide bread and beer to 1,200 people a day. Evidently, the temple was also the religious center of the city, dedicated to its tutelary god. The priests performed the necessary rites and celebrated the sacred festivals . They also recited prayers, sang hymns and sacrificed animals. The priests were considered servants of the god, who was believed to reside in the temple itself.
Sumerian agriculture
Most Sumerians worked as farmers. Since the land was dry and it rained little, they transported the water from the rivers to the fields through artificial canals . In fact, the first known canal in the world was dug by the Sumerians. It was built by order of the governor of Lagash around 2500 BC, and can still be seen today as part of the Al-Gharrif canal. The Sumerians also dug small irrigation canals and dams.
Barley was the most important cereal, but the Sumerians also grew onions, dates, cucumbers, pomegranates and melons . To plow the land of their fields they used a simple wooden plow, to which they tied a tube to spread the seeds. They raised sheep for their wool and oxen for their ability to pull plows and carts, as well as for their fur. The Sumerians also raised pigs and goats, as well as onagers to pull their war chariots.