Civilization of Sumerian

Roughly 1500 BCE – 2340 BCE

Sumer is the first urban civilization in the southern part of Mesopotamia and Uruk was
their first major city. Uruk was a walled city with an extensive canal system with a
population of 50k+, their structures are made of clay, and known for their trading.

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aaz7969
Uruk

Religion
There are also known for worshipping multiple gods and are mostly human-like forms.
Sumerians have built massive ziggurats so they can communicate with the gods. Though,
they describe them as moody and mean. Like, according to Gilgamesh – the gods went
mad at them after making too much noise, and so they decided to flood humanity. Sadly,
floods in Mesopotamia are rather violent and unpredictable, and considering the place
they’re in, there’s also constant drought in between.

Source: https://www.thoughtco.com/ziggurat-ancient-towering-temples-or-ziggurats-
116908
Ziggurats

The most important gods are those who represent nature like the sun, earth, water, and
hurricanes. The first God of the Sumerians and Uruk is Anu, the God of the sky. The
following is Enlil, the God of wind and hurricane, which is the first God for Nippur.

Daily lives
Their society is into parts, the first level consisted of the king and his family along with the
royal landowners and government leaders. The second group was warriors, priests,
scribes, merchants, and farmers. The third group was slaves that were taken prisoner of
war, a prisoner that was punished because of a crime, or due to debt. Slaves only have
a few rights; some can own their property and have a business. A few can also buy their
freedom.
Men and women go to work, however only men can still only go to school, while the
women stay at home and learn more about domestic arts since they still think that women
aren’t still smart enough to go to school, schools mostly teach people about writing.
Inventions

Inventions
They have invented one of the first forms of writing, known as the cuneiform. Cuneiform
has the Latin word cuneu(wedge), it’s one of the oldest forms of writing made out in a clay
tablet. It is made around roughly 3500 BCE. They use these to keep on track with their
transactions, trading, and such. Such as how many wheats are exchanged for how many
goats. Though, most cuneiforms are usually about wheat and goats. This is also where
the Code of Hammurabi comes in, which involves 282 rules, alongside its punishments
with crime, land, and such.
Source: https://www.historyextra.com/period/ancient-egypt/cuneiform-6-things-you-
probably-didnt-know-about-the-worlds-oldest-writing-system/
Cuneiform
Source: https://history.howstuffworks.com/world-history/code-of-hammurabi.htm
Code of Hammurabi

They also engraved drawings into these clay tablets like humans, stars, sheep, or grains.
These are called pictographs.
Source: https://gabrielchetcuti.wordpress.com/2013/10/05/the-invention-of-writing-
pictographs/

Pictographs

They also invented wheels, which helps a lot during transportation, which also involves
the potter’s wheel that is made in 3500 BCE, which is used to do pottery.

Potter’s Wheel

Sumer is also known for its advanced math, and this is where the mathematical notation
called sexagesimal (counting based on 60) gave the current concept of time, 60 seconds,
60 minutes, and 360 circular angles. They studied the skies and made their calendar; the
first calendar is based on the different phases of the moon. Each day was separated into
24 hours, one is is equivalent to 7 days, and one year has 12 months and 360 days. They
named each month from a constellation and named each day in a week from their 7 gods.
Sumerian Calendar
Source: http://ctdefinitions.com/Calendar.htm

How did the civilization fell apart?

As Sumer did last for many centuries, mostly because of their irrigation system, it’s also
the reason for its downfall. The soil became too salty because of the irrigation which made
crops harder to grow. The lack of food affected the civilization as it gets worse as the
population rise, they started fighting over the lacking resources. The flood and drought
were also affecting them a lot, so their soldiers get weaker because of this and was
conquered by the Akkadians, the first known empire. Sumer fell in 2340 BC.

Contribution and affects

They contributed us the wheel, the potter's wheel, the writing system, the mathematical
notation called sexagesimal, and the concept of time. As mentioned earlier, the wheel
helps make transportation easier, the potter’s wheel is used in pottery, Sumer gave us a
writing system, and we use their concept of time nowadays.

Overall thoughts
Overall, the civilization of the Sumerians – Or Mesopotamia in general interests me.
Especially their religion and how they constructed and invented things that we still use up
until now. Their irrigation system may not be the best like Indus Valley, but they are rather
impressive.

Sources used:

Mesopotamia – HISTORY
https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-middle-east/mesopotamia

History of Mesopotamia | Definition, Civilization, Summary

https://www.britannica.com/place/Mesopotamia-historical-region-Asia
Ancient Mesopotamian Civilizations (article) | Khan Academy
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/world-history-beginnings/ancient-
mesopotamia/a/mesopotamia-article
Drought May Have Killed Sumerian Language
https://www.livescience.com/25221-drought-killed-sumerian-
language.html#:~:text=After%20around%202000%20B.C.%2C%20ancient,spoken%20language
%20in%20the%20region.&text=The%20coincidence%20of%20the%20social,the%20Sumerian%
20language%2C%20Konfirst%20said.
Ancient Mesopotamia 101 | National Geographic
https://youtu.be/xVf5kZA0HtQ
Mesopotamia: Crash Couse World History #3
https://youtu.be/sohXPx_XZ6Y
Sulyap sa Kasasaysayan ng ASYA (AP Book)
Pg. 109-114