The land of Sumer held an ancient civilization founded in the Mesopotamia region of the Fertile Crescent. The Fertile Crescent is situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. They are renowned for their innovations in language, governance, architecture, and more.
The Sumerians are considered the creators of civilization as modern humans understand it. Their control of the region lasted for just under 2,000 years before the Babylonians took over in 2004 BC.
Sumer is the earliest known civilization in southern Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages. It is one of the cradles of civilization, along with ancient Egypt, Elam, the Indus Valley, and ancient China. Sumerian farmers grew abundant crops in the fertile valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, enabling them to form urban settlements.
The Sumerians referred to their land as Kengir, meaning 'Country of the noble lords.' The earliest texts from Uruk and Jemdet Nasr date back to c. 3500–3000 BC. The Ubaid people, who settled Sumer from 4500 to 4000 BC, played a key role in developing early civilization, including farming, weaving, and cattle raising.
The Sumerian language is the oldest recorded language, appearing around 3100 BC. It was later replaced by Akkadian as the dominant spoken language but remained as a written language for another 2,000 years. The Sumerians pioneered cuneiform writing, which first appeared around 4000 BC. The most notable early legal text, the Code of Ur-Nammu, dates back to 2400 BC.
The Sumerians revolutionized art and architecture, developing the potter’s wheel for mass production and building monumental structures like the ziggurat. These stepped, pyramid-like temples were constructed as early as 2200 BC. Notable architectural achievements include the White Temple of Uruk and the use of mud bricks for large-scale buildings. Palaces, temples, and the Great Ziggurat of Ur stand as legacies of their ingenuity.
Sumerians practiced anthropomorphic polytheism, where deities were represented in human form. The gods were linked to natural forces and city-states. Major deities included:
Sumerians believed the gods created humans to serve them, and temples organized mass labor for irrigation and agricultural work.
Sumerians made advances in hydraulic engineering, building canals and irrigation systems to control river flooding. Their mathematical system, based on units of 60, laid the groundwork for modern timekeeping (60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour). They also practiced medicine based on herbalism and magick, and archaeological evidence shows they had surgical instruments.
Power struggles between city-states like Kish, Ur, and Uruk often led to changes in leadership. The most notable early king was Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk, immortalized in The Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the earliest known literary works.
Around 2334 BC, Sargon of Akkad established the Akkadian Empire, uniting the region. After Sargon’s death, internal rebellion weakened the empire, leading to the Gutian period of decentralized rule. In 2100 BC, Ur-Nammu established the Third Dynasty of Ur, which briefly restored order before the Elamites and Amorites overtook the region in 2004 BC, marking the end of the Sumerians as a distinct civilization.
Sumer's contributions to law, literature, mathematics, and architecture have had a lasting impact on world history. Their epic poems, like The Epic of Gilgamesh, inspired later works in Greece, Rome, and the Bible. Their advancements in agriculture, irrigation, and governance laid the foundation for future civilizations in Mesopotamia and beyond.
← Back to Paranormal & Unexplained ← Extraterrestrials & Lost Knowledge ← Back to Knowledge Base Home