Editing Sumer

{{Infobox archaeological culture
|name        = Sumer
|map         = [[File:Sumer Dynasty.svg|300px]]<br>[[File:Cities of Sumer (en).svg|300px]]
|mapcaption   = General location, and main cities of Sumer. The coastline was nearly reaching Ur in ancient times.
|mapalt      =
|altnames     =
|horizon      =
|region      =  [[Mesopotamia]], [[Near East]], [[Middle East]]
|period      = [[Neolithic|Late Neolithic]], [[Bronze Age|Middle Bronze Age]]
|dates       = {{circa|4500|1900 BC}}
|precededby  = [[Ubaid period]]
|followedby  = [[Akkadian Empire]]
|typesite     =
|majorsites   =
|extra        =
|definedby    =
|antiquatedby =
|module       =

}}
'''Sumer''' or '''Sumeria''' is the earliest known civilization in southern [[Mesopotamia]] (in modern-day [[Iraq]]). It was one of the first civilizations in the world, along with Ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley.

Sumer started around 3500 BC. The Sumerian civilization grew along the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, at the southeastern end of the Fertile Crescent, a region that was good for agriculture and known as the "cradle of civilization". Sumerian culture is famous for its written cuneiform script - where letters were formed by pressing a triangle shaped reed into wet-clay tiles. They are also credited with creating the wheel, building irrigation systems, publishing some of the first legal codes, and dividing a day into 24 hours, and each hour into 60 minutes.

The earliest texts come from the cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr and date back to 3300 BC. Early cuneiform script writing emerged in 3000 BC.

Sumerian communities were organized into city-states, each ruled by a priest or king, until Akkad conquered them in the third millennium BC. One of the most famous Sumerian cities was Ur.

==Name==
[[File:Head of Gudea.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Sculpture of the head of Sumerian ruler [[Gudea]], c. 2150 BC]]
The term ''Sumerian'' is the common name given to the ancient non-Semitic-speaking inhabitants of [[Mesopotamia]] by the East Semitic-speaking [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadians]]. The Sumerians referred to themselves as ''ùĝ saĝ gíg ga'' ([[cuneiform]]: {{cuneiform|𒌦}} {{cuneiform|𒊕}} {{cuneiform|𒈪}} {{cuneiform|𒂵}}), phonetically {{IPA|/uŋ saŋ ɡi ɡa/}}, or ''sang-ngiga'',<ref name="IMD">{{cite book |last1=Diakonoff |first1=I. M. |last2=D'I︠A︡konov |first2=Igor' Mik︠h︡aílovich |title=Early Antiquity |date=1991 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-14465-8 |page=72 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JSRAUIYENZoC&pg=PA72 |language=en}}</ref> literally meaning "the black-headed people", and to their land as ''ki-en-gi(-r)'' (cuneiform: <span style="font-family:'Noto Sans Cuneiform';">𒆠𒂗𒄀</span>) ('place' + 'lords' + 'noble'), meaning "place of the noble lords".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Ancient Near East|author1=W. Hallo|author2=W. Simpson|publisher=New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich|year=1971|page=28}}</ref> The Akkadians also called the Sumerians "black-headed people", or ''tsalmat-qaqqadi'', in the Semitic [[Akkadian language]].<ref name="IMD" />

The [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] word ''Shumer'' may represent the geographical name in dialect, but the [[phonology|phonological]] development leading to the Akkadian term ''šumerû'' is uncertain.<ref name="Nimrod">{{cite journal|author=K. van der Toorn, P.W. van der Horst|date=January 1990|title=Nimrod before and after the Bible|journal=The Harvard Theological Review|volume=83|issue=1|pages=1–29|doi=10.1017/S0017816000005502}}</ref> Hebrew ''[[Shinar]]'', Egyptian ''Sngr'', and Hittite ''Šanhar(a)'', all referring to southern Mesopotamia, could be western variants of ''Shumer''.<ref name="Nimrod" />

==Origins==
Most historians have suggested that Sumer was first permanently settled between c. 5500 and 4000 BC by a [[West Asia]]n people who spoke the [[Sumerian language]] (pointing to the names of cities, rivers, basic occupations, etc., as evidence), a non-[[Semitic languages|Semitic]] and non-[[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] [[agglutinative language|agglutinative]] [[language isolate]].<ref name="SNK">{{cite book |last1=Kramer |first1=Samuel Noah |title=In the World of Sumer: An Autobiography |date=1988 |publisher=Wayne State University Press |isbn=9780814321218 |page=44 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KliA7MjJEDQC&pg=PA44 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/MUS/ED/TRC/MESO/writing.html|title=Ancient Mesopotamia. Teaching materials|publisher=Oriental Institute in collaboration with Chicago Web Docent and eCUIP, The Digital Library|access-date=5 March 2015}}</ref><ref>
[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ubai/hd_ubai.htm "The Ubaid Period (5500–4000 B.C.)" In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (October 2003)]</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/articles/u/ubaid_culture.aspx|title="Ubaid Culture", The British Museum}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/saoc63.pdf|title="Beyond the Ubaid", (Carter, Rober A. and Graham, Philip, eds.), University of Durham, April 2006}}</ref> In contrast to its [[Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples|Semitic]] neighbours, it was not an [[inflected]] language.<ref name="SNK"/>

Others have suggested that the Sumerians were a [[North Africa]]n people who migrated from the [[Green Sahara]] into the [[Middle East]] and were responsible for the spread of farming in the [[Middle East]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.fr/books?id=MJWcSRSz9wEC&pg=PA22|title=Prehistoric Iberia: Genetics, Anthropology, and Linguistics : [proceedings of an International Conference on Prehistoric Iberia : Genetics, Anthropology, and Linguistics, Held November 16-17, 1998, in Madrid, Spain]|last=Arnaiz-Villena|first=Antonio|last2=Martínez-Laso|first2=Jorge|last3=Gómez-Casado|first3=Eduardo|date=2000-01-31|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9780306463648|location=|pages=22}}</ref> Although not specifically discussing Sumerians, Lazaridis et al. 2016 have suggested a [[Haplogroup E-M215 (Y-DNA)|North African]] origin for the pre-Semitic cultures of the Middle East, particularly [[Natufians]], after testing the genomes of [[Natufian culture|Natufian]] and [[Pre-Pottery Neolithic]] culture-bearers.<ref>"Craniometric analyses have suggested an affinity between the Natufians and populations of north or sub-Saharan Africa, a result that finds some support from Y chromosome analysis which shows that the Natufians and successor Levantine Neolithic populations carried haplogroup E, of likely ultimate African origin, which has not been detected in other ancient males from West Eurasia. However, no affinity of Natufians to sub-Saharan Africans is evident in our genome-wide analysis, as present-day sub-Saharan Africans do not share more alleles with Natufians than with other ancient Eurasians" in {{Cite journal|last=Reich|first=David|last2=Pinhasi|first2=Ron|last3=Patterson|first3=Nick|last4=Hovhannisyan|first4=Nelli A.|last5=Yengo|first5=Loic|last6=Wilson|first6=James F.|last7=Torroni|first7=Antonio|last8=Tönjes|first8=Anke|last9=Stumvoll|first9=Michael|date=August 2016|title=Genomic insights into the origin of farming in the ancient Near East|journal=Nature|volume=536|issue=7617|pages=419–424|doi=10.1038/nature19310|pmc=5003663|issn=1476-4687|bibcode=2016Natur.536..419L}}</ref> Alternatively, recent genetic analysis of ancient Mesopotamian skeletal DNA tends to suggest an association of the Sumerians with [[India]], possibly as a result of ancient [[Indus-Mesopotamia relations]]: Sumerians, or at least some of them, may have been related to the original [[Dravidian people|Dravidian]] population of India.<ref name="EBA">{{cite journal |last1=Płoszaj |first1=Tomasz |last2=Chaubey |first2=Gyaneshwer |last3=Jędrychowska-Dańska |first3=Krystyna |last4=Tomczyk |first4=Jacek |last5=Witas |first5=Henryk W. |title=mtDNA from the Early Bronze Age to the Roman Period Suggests a Genetic Link between the Indian Subcontinent and Mesopotamian Cradle of Civilization |journal=PLOS ONE |date=11 September 2013 |volume=8 |issue=9 |pages=1–20 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0073682 |url=https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0073682 |language=en |issn=1932-6203|pmc=3770703 }}</ref>

These prehistoric people are now called "proto-[[Euphrates|Euphrateans]]" or "[[Ubaid period|Ubaidians]]",<ref name="britannica">{{cite web| url= http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/573176/Sumer |title=Sumer (ancient region, Iraq) |publisher= Britannica.com | work=Britannica Online Encyclopedia |accessdate=2012-03-29}}</ref> and are theorized to have evolved from the [[Samarra culture]] of northern Mesopotamia.<ref>{{Cite book | url = https://books.google.com/?id=dWuQ70MtnIQC&pg=PA51&dq=samarra+culture#v=snippet&q=%22As%20the%20Samarra%20culture%20spread%20south%2C%20it%20evolved%20into%20the%20Ubaid%20culture%22&f=false | title = Cities, Change, and Conflict: A Political Economy of Urban Life | isbn = 978-0-495-81222-7 | last1 = Kleniewski | first1 = Nancy | last2 = Thomas | first2 = Alexander R | date = 2010-03-26}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url = https://books.google.com/?id=tupSM5y9yEkC&pg=PA139&dq=samarra+culture#v=onepage&q=%22cultural%20descendants%20of%20the%20originating%20Samarran%20culture%22&f=false | title = The Near East: Archaeology in the "Cradle of Civilization" | isbn = 978-0-415-04742-5 | last1 = Maisels | first1 = Charles Keith | year = 1993}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url = https://books.google.com/?id=i7_hcCxJd9AC&pg=PA147&dq=ubaid+samarra#v=snippet&q=%22Ubaid%200%20is%20thus%20clearly%20derived%20from%20the%20earliest%20culture%20to%20move%20into%20lower%20mesopotamia%2C%20the%20Samarra%22&f=false | title = Early Civilizations of the Old World: The Formative Histories of Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, India and China | isbn = 978-0-415-10976-5 | last1 = Maisels | first1 = Charles Keith | year = 2001}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url = https://books.google.com/?id=zmvNogJO2ZgC&pg=PA505&dq=samarra+culture#v=onepage&q=%22similar%20to%20those%20of%20the%20ubaid%20period%22&f=false | title = A dictionary of archaeology | isbn = 978-0-631-23583-5 | last1 = Shaw | first1 = Ian | last2 = Jameson | first2 = Robert | year = 2002}}</ref> The Ubaidians, though never mentioned by the Sumerians themselves, are assumed by modern-day scholars to have been the first civilizing force in Sumer. They drained the marshes for agriculture, developed trade, and established industries, including weaving, leatherwork, metalwork, masonry, and pottery.<ref name="britannica" />

[[File:Enthroned King of Ur.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|Enthroned Sumerian king of [[Ur]], with attendants. [[Standard of Ur]], c. 2600 BC.]]
Some scholars contest the idea of a Proto-Euphratean language or one substrate language; they think the Sumerian language may originally have been that of the hunting and fishing peoples who lived in the marshland and the [[Eastern Arabia|Eastern Arabia littoral region]] and were part of the Arabian [[bifacial]] culture.<ref>Margarethe Uepermann (2007), "Structuring the Late Stone Age of Southeastern Arabia" (Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy Volume 3, Issue 2, pp. 65–109)</ref> Reliable historical records begin much later; there are none in Sumer of any kind that have been dated before [[Enmebaragesi]] (c. 26th century BC). [[Juris Zarins]] believes the Sumerians lived along the coast of [[Eastern Arabia]], today's Persian Gulf region, before it was flooded at the end [[Last glacial period|of the Ice Age]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hamblin |first=Dora Jane |date=May 1987 |title=Has the Garden of Eden been located at last? |url=http://www.theeffect.org/resources/articles/pdfsetc/Eden.pdf |journal=Smithsonian Magazine |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages= |doi= |accessdate=8 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140109135715/http://www.theeffect.org/resources/articles/pdfsetc/Eden.pdf |archivedate=9 January 2014 }}</ref>

Sumerian civilization took form in the [[Uruk period]] (4th millennium BC), continuing into the [[Jemdet Nasr period|Jemdet Nasr]] and [[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|Early Dynastic]] periods. During the 3rd millennium BC, a close cultural symbiosis developed between the Sumerians, who spoke a [[language isolate]], and [[Akkadian Empire|Akkadians]], which gave rise to widespread bilingualism.<ref name="Deutscher">{{cite book|title=Syntactic Change in Akkadian: The Evolution of Sentential Complementation|author=Deutscher, Guy|authorlink=Guy Deutscher (linguist)|publisher=[[Oxford University Press|Oxford University Press US]]|year=2007|isbn=978-0-19-953222-3|pages=20–21|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XFwUxmCdG94C}}</ref>
The influence of [[Sumerian language|Sumerian]] on [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]] (and ''vice versa'') is evident in all areas, from [[lexical borrowing]] on a massive scale, to [[syntactic]], [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphological]], and [[phonological]] convergence.<ref name="Deutscher"/> This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the 3rd millennium BC as a ''[[Sprachbund]]''.<ref name="Deutscher"/> 

The Sumerians progressively lost control to Semitic states from the northwest. Sumer was conquered by the [[Semitic-speaking peoples|Semitic-speaking]] kings of the [[Akkadian Empire]] around 2270 BC ([[short chronology]]), but Sumerian continued as a sacred language. Native Sumerian rule re-emerged for about a century in the [[Third Dynasty of Ur]] at approximately 2100–2000 BC, but the Akkadian language also remained in use for some time.<ref name="Leick, Gwendolyn 2003">Leick, Gwendolyn (2003), "Mesopotamia, the Invention of the City" (Penguin)</ref>

The Sumerian city of [[Eridu]], on the coast of the [[Persian Gulf]], is considered to have been one of the [[first city|oldest cities]], where three separate cultures may have fused: that of peasant Ubaidian farmers, living in mud-brick huts and practicing irrigation; that of mobile nomadic Semitic pastoralists living in black tents and following herds of sheep and goats; and that of fisher folk, living in reed huts in the marshlands, who may have been the ancestors of the Sumerians.<ref name="Leick, Gwendolyn 2003" />

==City-states in Mesopotamia==
{{Further|Cities of the Ancient Near East|Geography of Mesopotamia}}
In the late 4th millennium BC, Sumer was divided into many independent [[city-state]]s, which were divided by canals and boundary stones. Each was centered on a temple dedicated to the particular patron god or goddess of the city and ruled over by a priestly governor ([[Ensí|ensi]]) or by a king ([[LUGAL|lugal]]) who was intimately tied to the city's religious rites.
{{Notable Sumerians}}
The five "first" cities, said to have exercised [[Sumerian king list|pre-dynastic]] kingship "before the flood":
# [[Eridu]] (''Tell Abu Shahrain'')
# [[Bad-tibira]] (probably ''Tell al-Madain)''
# [[Larsa]] (''Tell as-Senkereh'')
# [[Sippar]] (''Tell Abu Habbah'')
# [[Shuruppak]] (''Tell Fara'')
Other principal cities:
{{ordered list|start=6
| [[Uruk]] (''Warka'')
| [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]] (''Tell Uheimir and Ingharra'')
| [[Ur]] (''Tell al-Muqayyar'')
| [[Nippur]] (''Afak'')
| [[Lagash]] (''Tell al-Hiba'')
| [[Girsu]] (''Tello or Telloh'')
| [[Umma]] (''Tell Jokha'')
| [[Hamazi]] {{sup|1}}
| [[Adab (city)|Adab]] (''Tell Bismaya'')
| [[Mari, Syria|Mari]] (''Tell Hariri'') {{sup|2}}
| [[Akshak]] {{sup|1}}
| [[Akkad (city)|Akkad]] {{sup|1}}
| [[Isin]] (''Ishan al-Bahriyat'')
}}
{{plainlist|
* {{small|({{sup|1}}location uncertain)}}
* {{small|({{sup|2}}an outlying city in northern Mesopotamia)}}}}

Minor cities (from south to north):
# [[Kuara (Sumer)|Kuara]] (''Tell al-Lahm'')
# [[Zabala (Sumer)|Zabala]] (''Tell Ibzeikh'')
# [[Kisurra]] (''Tell Abu Hatab'')
# [[Marad]] (''Tell Wannat es-Sadum'')
# [[Dilbat]] (''Tell ed-Duleim'')
# [[Borsippa]] (''Birs Nimrud'')
# [[Kutha]] (''Tell Ibrahim'')
# [[Der (Sumer)|Der]] (''al-Badra'')
# [[Eshnunna]] (''Tell Asmar'')
# [[Nagar, Syria|Nagar]] (''Tell Brak'') {{sup|2}}
<small>({{sup|2}}an outlying city in northern Mesopotamia)</small>

Apart from Mari, which lies full 330 kilometres (205 miles) north-west of Agade, but which is credited in the [[Sumerian king list|king list]] as having "exercised kingship" in the Early Dynastic II period, and Nagar, an outpost, these cities are all in the Euphrates-Tigris alluvial plain, south of [[Baghdad]] in what are now the [[Babil Governorate|Bābil]], [[Diyala Governorate|Diyala]], [[Wasit Governorate|Wāsit]], [[Dhi Qar Governorate|Dhi Qar]], [[Basra Governorate|Basra]], [[Al Muthanna Governorate|Al-Muthannā]] and [[Al-Qādisiyyah Governorate|Al-Qādisiyyah]] governorates of [[Iraq]].

==History==
{{Main|History of Sumer}}
[[File:Portrait of a Sumerian prisoner on a victory stele of Sargon of Akkad.jpg|thumb|Portrait of a Sumerian prisoner on a victory stele of [[Sargon of Akkad]], circa 2300 BC.<ref name="ArchaeologyofElam">{{cite book |last1=Potts |first1=D. T. |title=The Archaeology of Elam: Formation and Transformation of an Ancient Iranian State |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521564960 |page=104 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mc4cfzkRVj4C&pg=PA104 }}</ref> The hairstyle of the prisoners (curly hair on top and short hair on the sides) is characteristic of Sumerians, as also seen on the [[Standard of Ur]].<ref name="TwoSteles">{{cite journal |last1=Nigro |first1=Lorenzo |title=The Two Steles of Sargon: Iconology and Visual Propaganda at the Beginning of Royal Akkadian Relief |journal=Iraq |volume=60 |date=1998 |publisher=British Institute for the Study of Iraq |pages=89 Note 14 |jstor=4200454 }}</ref> [[Louvre Museum]].]]
The Sumerian city-states rose to power during the prehistoric [[Ubaid period|Ubaid]] and [[Uruk period|Uruk]] periods. Sumerian written history reaches back to the 27th century BC and before, but the historical record remains obscure until the Early Dynastic III period, c. the 23rd century BC, when a now deciphered syllabary writing system was developed, which has allowed archaeologists to read contemporary records and inscriptions. Classical Sumer ends with the rise of the Akkadian Empire in the 23rd century BC. Following the [[Gutian period]], there was a brief Sumerian Renaissance in the 21st century BC, cut short in the 20th century BC by invasions by the [[Amorites]]. The Amorite "dynasty of [[Isin]]" persisted until c. 1700 BC, when Mesopotamia was united under [[Babylonia]]n rule. The Sumerians were eventually absorbed into the Akkadian (Assyro-Babylonian) population.{{Citation needed|date=October 2017}}
* [[Ubaid period]]: 6500–4100 BC (Pottery [[Neolithic]] to [[Chalcolithic]])
* [[Uruk period]]: 4100–2900 BC (Late [[Chalcolithic]] to [[Early Bronze Age]] I)
** Uruk XIV-V: 4100–3300 BC
** Uruk IV period: 3300–3100 BC
** [[Jemdet Nasr period]] (Uruk III): 3100–2900 BC
* [[Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|Early Dynastic period]] ([[Early Bronze Age]] II–IV)
** Early Dynastic I period: 2900–2800 BC
** Early Dynastic II period: 2800–2600 BC ([[Gilgamesh]])
** Early Dynastic IIIa period: 2600–2500 BC
** Early Dynastic IIIb period: c. 2500–2334 BC
* [[Akkadian Empire]] period: c. 2334–2218 BC ([[Sargon of Akkad|Sargon]])
* [[Gutian period]]: c. 2218–2047 BC ([[Early Bronze Age]] IV)
* [[Ur III period]]: c. 2047–1940 BC

===Ubaid period===
{{Main|Ubaid period}}
[[Image:Frieze-group-3-example1.jpg|thumb|right|Pottery jar from Late Ubaid Period]]
The Ubaid period is marked by a distinctive style of fine quality painted pottery which spread throughout Mesopotamia and the [[Persian Gulf]]. During this time, the first settlement in southern Mesopotamia was established at [[Eridu]] ([[Cuneiform]]: {{smallcaps|nun.ki}} [[Wikt:𒉣|{{cuneiform|𒉣}}]] [[Wikt:𒆠|{{cuneiform|𒆠}}]]), c. 6500 BC, by farmers who brought with them the [[Hadji Muhammed]] culture, which first pioneered irrigation agriculture. It appears that this culture was derived from the [[Samarra]]n culture from northern Mesopotamia. It is not known whether or not these were the actual Sumerians who are identified with the later Uruk culture. The rise of the city of [[Uruk]] may be reflected in the story of the passing of the gifts of civilization ([[me (mythology)|''me'']]) to [[Inanna]], goddess of Uruk and of love and war, by [[Enki]], god of wisdom and chief god of Eridu, may reflect the transition from Eridu to Uruk.<ref name=WolksteinKramer1983>{{cite book|last1=Wolkstein|first1=Diane|last2=Kramer|first2=Samuel Noah|title=Inanna: Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer|date=1983|publisher=Harper & Row|location=New York|isbn=978-0-06-014713-6}}</ref>{{rp|174}}

===Uruk period===
{{Main|Uruk period}}
The archaeological transition from the Ubaid period to the Uruk period is marked by a gradual shift from painted pottery domestically produced on a slow [[Potter's wheel|wheel]] to a great variety of unpainted pottery mass-produced by specialists on fast wheels. The Uruk period is a continuation and an outgrowth of Ubaid with pottery being the main visible change.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.nl/books?id=gnpyREWsfG0C&pg=PA353#v=onepage&q&f=false|title= Upon this Foundation: The N̜baid Reconsidered : Proceedings from the U̜baid Symposium, Elsinore, May 30th-June 1st 1988|author1=Elizabeth F. Henrickson |author2=Ingolf Thuesen |author3=I. Thuesen |page= 353|year= 1989|isbn= 978-87-7289-070-8}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.nl/books?id=fhMTRcUm9WsC&pg=PA31#v=onepage&q&f=false|title= The Invention of Cuneiform: Writing in Sumer|author= Jean-Jacques Glassner|page= 31|year= 2003|isbn= 978-0-8018-7389-8}}</ref>

[[File:Cylinder seal king Louvre AO6620.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|left|Cylinder-seal of the Uruk period and its impression, c.3100 BC. [[Louvre Museum]].]]
By the time of the Uruk period (c. 4100–2900 BC calibrated), the volume of trade goods transported along the canals and rivers of southern Mesopotamia facilitated the rise of many large, [[social stratification|stratified]], temple-centered cities (with populations of over 10,000 people) where centralized administrations employed specialized workers. It is fairly certain that it was during the Uruk period that Sumerian cities began to make use of [[slave]] labor captured from the hill country, and there is ample evidence for captured slaves as workers in the earliest texts. Artifacts, and even colonies of this Uruk civilization have been found over a wide area—from the [[Taurus Mountains]] in [[Turkey]], to the [[Mediterranean Sea]] in the west, and as far east as central [[Iran]].<ref name="Algaze, Guillermo 2005">Algaze, Guillermo (2005) "The Uruk World System: The Dynamics of Expansion of Early Mesopotamian Civilization", (Second Edition, University of Chicago Press)</ref>{{page needed|date=September 2019}}

The Uruk period civilization, exported by Sumerian traders and colonists (like that found at [[Tell Brak]]), had an effect on all surrounding peoples, who gradually evolved their own comparable, competing economies and cultures. The cities of Sumer could not maintain remote, long-distance colonies by military force.<ref name="Algaze, Guillermo 2005"/>

Sumerian cities during the Uruk period were probably [[theocratic]] and were most likely headed by a priest-king (''ensi''), assisted by a council of elders, including both men and women.<ref name=Jacobsen>Jacobsen, Thorkild (Ed) (1939),"The Sumerian King List" (Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago; Assyriological Studies, No. 11., 1939)</ref> It is quite possible that the later Sumerian [[Pantheon (gods)|pantheon]] was modeled upon this political structure. There was little evidence of organized warfare or professional soldiers during the Uruk period, and towns were generally unwalled. During this period Uruk became the most urbanized city in the world, surpassing for the first time 50,000 inhabitants.

The ancient Sumerian king list includes the early dynasties of several prominent cities from this period. The first set of names on the list is of kings said to have reigned before a major flood occurred. These early names may be fictional, and include some legendary and mythological figures, such as [[Alulim]] and [[Dumuzid, the Shepherd|Dumizid]].<ref name=Jacobsen/>

The end of the Uruk period coincided with the [[Piora oscillation]], a dry period from c. 3200–2900 BC that marked the end of a long wetter, warmer climate period from about 9,000 to 5,000 years ago, called the [[Holocene climatic optimum]].<ref>Lamb, Hubert H. (1995). Climate, History, and the Modern World. London: Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-12735-1}}</ref>

===Early Dynastic Period===
{{Main|Early Dynastic Period (Mesopotamia)|First Dynasty of Ur}}
[[File:Meskalamdug helmet British Museum electrotype copy original is in the Iraq Museum, Bagdad.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Golden helmet of [[Meskalamdug]], possible founder of the [[First Dynasty of Ur]], 26th century BC.]]
The dynastic period begins c. 2900 BC and was associated with a shift from the temple establishment headed by council of elders led by a priestly "En" (a male figure when it was a temple for a goddess, or a female figure when headed by a male god)<ref>Jacobsen, Thorkild (1976), "The Harps that Once...; Sumerian Poetry in Translation" and "Treasures of Darkness: a history of Mesopotamian Religion"</ref> towards a more secular Lugal (Lu = man, Gal = great) and includes such legendary patriarchal figures as [[Enmerkar]], [[Lugalbanda]] and [[Gilgamesh]]—who reigned shortly before the historic record opens c. 2700 BC, when the now deciphered syllabic writing started to develop from the early pictograms. The center of Sumerian culture remained in southern Mesopotamia, even though rulers soon began expanding into neighboring areas, and neighboring Semitic groups adopted much of Sumerian culture for their own.

The earliest dynastic king on the Sumerian king list whose name is known from any other legendary source is [[Etana]], 13th king of the first dynasty of Kish. The earliest king authenticated through archaeological evidence is [[Enmebaragesi]] of Kish (c. 26th century BC), whose name is also mentioned in the [[Gilgamesh epic]]—leading to the suggestion that Gilgamesh himself might have been a historical king of Uruk. As the Epic of Gilgamesh shows, this period was associated with increased war. Cities became walled, and increased in size as undefended villages in southern Mesopotamia disappeared. (Both Enmerkar and Gilgamesh are credited with having built the walls of Uruk<ref>George, Andrew (Translator)(2003), "The Epic of Gilgamesh" (Penguin Classics)</ref>).

====1st Dynasty of Lagash====
[[File:Stele of Vultures detail 02.jpg|thumb|left|Fragment of [[Eannatum]]'s [[Stele of the Vultures]]]]
{{Main|Lagash}}
c. 2500–2270 BC

The dynasty of Lagash, though omitted from the king list, is well attested through several important monuments and many archaeological finds.

Although short-lived, one of the first empires known to history was that of [[Eannatum]] of Lagash, who annexed practically all of Sumer, including [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]], [[Uruk]], [[Ur]], and [[Larsa]], and reduced to tribute the city-state of [[Umma]], arch-rival of Lagash. In addition, his realm extended to parts of [[Elam]] and along the [[Persian Gulf]]. He seems to have used terror as a matter of policy.<ref name=roux1993>{{cite book |last=Roux |first=Georges |authorlink=Georges Roux (assyriologist) |year=1993 |title=Ancient Iraq |location=Harmondsworth |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-012523-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/ancientiraq00roux }}</ref> Eannatum's [[Stele of the Vultures]] depicts vultures pecking at the severed heads and other body parts of his enemies. His empire collapsed shortly after his death.

Later, [[Lugal-Zage-Si]], the priest-king of Umma, overthrew the primacy of the Lagash dynasty in the area, then conquered Uruk, making it his capital, and claimed an empire extending from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. He was the last ethnically Sumerian king before [[Sargon of Akkad]].<ref name="Leick, Gwendolyn 2003"/>

===Akkadian Empire===
{{Main|Akkadian Empire}}
[[File:Prisoners on the victory stele of an Akkadian king circa 2300 BCE Louvre Museum Sb 3.jpg|left|thumb|Sumerian prisoners on a victory stele of the Akkadian king [[Sargon of Akkad|Sargon]],circa 2300 BC.<ref name="ArchaeologyofElam" /><ref name="TwoSteles" /> Louvre Museum.]]
The Akkadian Empire dates to c. 2270–2083 BC ([[chronology of the ancient Near East|short chronology]]). The Eastern Semitic Akkadian language is first attested in proper names of the kings of Kish c. 2800 BC,<ref name=roux1993/> preserved in later king lists. There are texts written entirely in Old Akkadian dating from c. 2500 BC. Use of Old Akkadian was at its peak during the rule of [[Sargon the Great]] (c. 2270–2215 BC), but even then most administrative tablets continued to be written in Sumerian, the language used by the scribes. Gelb and Westenholz differentiate three stages of Old Akkadian: that of the pre-Sargonic era, that of the Akkadian empire, and that of the "[[Neo-Sumerian]] Renaissance" that followed it. Akkadian and Sumerian coexisted as vernacular languages for about one thousand years, but by around 1800 BC, Sumerian was becoming more of a literary language familiar mainly only to scholars and scribes. [[Thorkild Jacobsen]] has argued that there is little break in historical continuity between the pre- and post-Sargon periods, and that too much emphasis has been placed on the perception of a "Semitic vs. Sumerian" conflict.<ref>''Toward the Image of Tammuz and Other Essays on Mesopotamian History and Culture'' by T. Jacobsen</ref> However, it is certain that Akkadian was also briefly imposed on neighboring parts of [[Elam]] that were previously conquered, by Sargon.

===Gutian period===
{{Main|Gutian dynasty of Sumer}}
c. 2083–2050 BC ([[chronology of the ancient Near East|short chronology]])

====2nd Dynasty of Lagash====
[[File:Gudea of Lagash Girsu.jpg|thumb|right|[[Gudea]] of [[Lagash]]]]
[[Image:Ur-Ningirsu ruler of Lagash portrait circa 2110 BCE.jpg|thumb|Portrait of [[Ur-Ningirsu]], son of Gudea, c.2100 BC. [[Louvre Museum]].]]
{{Main|Lagash}}
c. 2093–2046 BC ([[chronology of the ancient Near East|short chronology]])

Following the downfall of the Akkadian Empire at the hands of [[Gutian dynasty of Sumer|Gutians]], another native Sumerian ruler, [[Gudea]] of [[Lagash]], rose to local prominence and continued the practices of the Sargonid kings' claims to divinity.
The previous Lagash dynasty, Gudea and his descendants also promoted artistic development and left a large number of archaeological artifacts.

===Ur III period===
[[File:Ziggurat of ur.jpg|thumb|left|[[Great Ziggurat of Ur]], near [[Nasiriyah]], [[Iraq]]]]
{{Main|Third Dynasty of Ur}}
c. 2047–1940 BC ([[chronology of the ancient Near East|short chronology]])

Later, the [[Third Dynasty of Ur|3rd dynasty of Ur]] under [[Ur-Nammu]] and [[Shulgi]], whose power extended as far as southern [[Assyria]], was the last great "Sumerian renaissance", but already the region was becoming more Semitic than Sumerian, with the resurgence of the Akkadian speaking Semites in [[Assyria]] and elsewhere, and the influx of waves of Semitic Martu ([[Amorites]]) who were to found several competing local powers in the south, including [[Isin]], [[Larsa]], [[Eshnunna]] and some time later [[Babylonia]]. The last of these eventually came to briefly dominate the south of Mesopotamia as the [[Babylonian Empire]], just as the [[Old Assyrian Empire]] had already done so in the north from the late 21st century BC. The Sumerian language continued as a sacerdotal language taught in schools in Babylonia and Assyria, much as Latin was used in the Medieval period, for as long as cuneiform was utilized.

===Fall and transmission===
This period is generally taken to coincide with a major shift in population from southern Mesopotamia toward the north. Ecologically, the agricultural productivity of the Sumerian lands was being compromised as a result of rising salinity. [[Soil salinity]] in this region had been long recognized as a major problem.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}} Poorly drained irrigated soils, in an arid climate with high levels of evaporation, led to the buildup of dissolved salts in the soil, eventually reducing agricultural yields severely. During the Akkadian and [[Ur III]] phases, there was a shift from the cultivation of [[wheat]] to the more salt-tolerant [[barley]], but this was insufficient, and during the period from 2100 BC to 1700 BC, it is estimated that the population in this area declined by nearly three fifths.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Thompson |first=William R. |year=2004 |title=Complexity, Diminishing Marginal Returns and Serial Mesopotamian Fragmentation |journal=Journal of World Systems Research |url=http://jwsr.ucr.edu/archive/vol10/number3/pdf/jwsr-v10n3-thompson.pdf |doi=10.5195/jwsr.2004.288 |volume=10 |pages=612–652 |issue=3 |url-status=unfit |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219134627/http://jwsr.ucr.edu/archive/vol10/number3/pdf/jwsr-v10n3-thompson.pdf |archivedate=February 19, 2012 }}</ref> This greatly upset the balance of power within the region, weakening the areas where Sumerian was spoken, and comparatively strengthening those where Akkadian was the major language. Henceforth, Sumerian would remain only a [[literary language|literary]] and [[Sacred language|liturgical]] language, similar to the position occupied by [[Latin]] in [[Middle Ages|medieval]] Europe.

Following an [[Elam]]ite invasion and sack of [[Ur]] during the rule of [[Ibbi-Sin]] (c. 1940 BC){{citation needed|reason=Doesn't cite any evidence of sack of Ur?|date=October 2015}}, Sumer came under [[Amorite]] rule (taken to introduce the [[Middle Bronze Age]]). The independent Amorite states of the 20th to 18th centuries are summarized as the "[[Dynasty of Isin]]" in the Sumerian king list, ending with the rise of [[Babylonia]] under [[Hammurabi]] c. 1700 BC.

Later rulers who dominated [[Assyria]] and Babylonia occasionally assumed the old Sargonic title "King of Sumer and Akkad", such as [[Tukulti-Ninurta I]] of Assyria after c. 1225 BC.

==Population==
[[File:Ancient cities of Sumer, Akad and Elam.jpg|right|upright=1.6|thumb|The first farmers from [[Samarra]] migrated to Sumer, and built shrines and settlements at [[Eridu]].]]
[[Uruk]], one of Sumer's largest cities, has been estimated to have had a population of 50,000–80,000 at its height;<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://proteus.brown.edu/mesopotamianarchaeology/Home|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20150411005800/http://proteus.brown.edu/mesopotamianarchaeology/Home|url-status=dead|title=The Archaeology of Mesopotamia: Home - *** THIS FORUM IS ARCHIVED ***|access-date=2019-07-21|archive-date=2015-04-11}}</ref> given the other cities in Sumer, and the large agricultural population, a rough estimate for Sumer's population might be 0.8 million to 1.5 million. The [[world population]] at this time has been estimated at about 27 million.<ref>Colin McEvedy and Richard Jones, 1978, ''Atlas of World Population History'', Facts on File, New York, {{ISBN|0-7139-1031-3}}.</ref>

The Sumerians spoke a [[language isolate]], but a number of linguists have claimed to be able to detect a [[substrate language]] of unknown classification beneath Sumerian because names of some of Sumer's major cities are not Sumerian, revealing influences of earlier inhabitants.<ref name="Nemet-Nejat1998">{{cite book|author=Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat|title=Daily life in ancient Mesopotamia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lbmXsaTGNKUC&pg=PA13|accessdate=29 November 2011|year=1998|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group| isbn= 978-0-313-29497-6| page=13}}</ref> However, the [[archaeological record]] shows clear uninterrupted cultural continuity from the time of the early [[Ubaid period]] (5300–4700 BC [[Radiocarbon dating|C-14]]) settlements in southern Mesopotamia. The Sumerian people who settled here farmed the lands in this region that were made fertile by silt deposited by the [[Tigris]] and the [[Euphrates]].

Some archaeologists have speculated that the original speakers of ancient Sumerian may have been farmers, who moved down from the north of Mesopotamia after perfecting irrigation agriculture there. The [[Ubaid period]] pottery of southern Mesopotamia has been connected via [[Choga Mami]] transitional ware to the pottery of the [[Samarra]] period culture (c. 5700–4900 BC [[Radiocarbon dating|C-14]]) in the north, who were the first to practice a primitive form of irrigation agriculture along the middle Tigris River and its tributaries. The connection is most clearly seen at Tell Awayli (''Oueilli'', ''Oueili'') near [[Larsa]], excavated by the French in the 1980s, where eight levels yielded pre-Ubaid pottery resembling Samarran ware. According to this theory, farming peoples spread down into southern Mesopotamia because they had developed a temple-centered social organization for mobilizing labor and technology for water control, enabling them to survive and prosper in a difficult environment.{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}}

Others have suggested a continuity of Sumerians, from the indigenous hunter-fisherfolk traditions, associated with the [[bifacial]] assemblages found on the Arabian littoral. [[Juris Zarins]] believes the Sumerians may have been the people living in the Persian Gulf region before it flooded at the end of the last Ice Age.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.ldolphin.org/eden/ | title=Has the Garden of Eden been located at last?}}</ref>

==Culture==

===Social and family life===
[[File:Reconstructed sumerian headgear necklaces british museum.JPG|thumb|left|A reconstruction in the British Museum of headgear and necklaces worn by the women at the [[Royal Cemetery at Ur]].]]
In the early Sumerian period, the primitive pictograms suggest<ref name="Sayce"/> that
* "[[Pottery]] was very plentiful, and the forms of the vases, bowls and dishes were manifold; there were special jars for honey, butter, oil and wine, which was probably made from dates. Some of the vases had pointed feet, and stood on stands with crossed legs; others were flat-bottomed, and were set on square or rectangular frames of wood. The oil-jars, and probably others also, were sealed with clay, precisely as in early Egypt. Vases and dishes of stone were made in imitation of those of clay."
* "A feathered head-dress was worn. Beds, stools and chairs were used, with carved legs resembling those of an ox. There were fire-places and fire-altars."
* "Knives, drills, wedges and an instrument that looks like a saw were all known. While spears, bows, arrows, and daggers (but not swords) were employed in war."
* "Tablets were used for writing purposes. Daggers with metal blades and wooden handles were worn, and copper was hammered into plates, while necklaces or collars were made of gold."
* "Time was reckoned in lunar months."

There is considerable evidence concerning [[Sumerian music]]. [[Lyres]] and flutes were played, among the best-known examples being the [[Lyres of Ur]].<ref name="Goss_2017_mesopotamian_flutes">{{cite web |last=Goss |first=Clint |title=Flutes of Gilgamesh and Ancient Mesopotamia |url=http://www.Flutopedia.com/mesopotamian_flutes.htm |date=15 April 2017 |website=Flutopedia |access-date=14 June 2017 }}</ref>

Inscriptions describing the reforms of king [[Urukagina]] of [[Lagash]] (c. 2300 BC) say that he abolished the former custom of [[polyandry]] in his country, prescribing that a woman who took multiple husbands be stoned with rocks upon which her crime had been written.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=mpjk74blFDgC&pg=PA62&dq=urukagina+%22two+men%22&client=firefox-a&sig=29we4cFBrgMpJ9qsy4zjpCywAQY ''Gender and the Journal: Diaries and Academic Discourse'' p. 62] by Cinthia Gannett, 1992</ref>

{{multiple image
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| image1   = Sumerian princess of the time of Gudea circa 2150 BCE.jpg
| caption1 = <center>Sumerian princess of the time of Gudea circa 2150 BC.</center>
| image2   = Sumerian princess of the time of Gudea 2150 BCE. Louvre Museum AO 295.jpg
| caption2 = <center>Frontal detail.<br>Louvre Museum AO 295.</center>
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}}
Sumerian culture was male-dominated and stratified. The [[Code of Ur-Nammu]], the oldest such codification yet discovered, dating to the Ur III, reveals a glimpse at societal structure in late Sumerian law. Beneath the ''lu-gal'' ("great man" or king), all members of society belonged to one of two basic strata: The "''lu''" or free person, and the slave (male, ''arad''; female ''geme''). The son of a ''lu'' was called a ''dumu-nita'' until he married. A woman (''munus'') went from being a daughter (''dumu-mi''), to a wife (''dam''), then if she outlived her husband, a widow (''numasu'') and she could then remarry another man who was from the same tribe.{{Citation needed|date=September 2019}}

Marriages were usually arranged by the parents of the bride and groom;<ref name=Kramer1963/>{{rp|78}} engagements were usually completed through the approval of contracts recorded on clay tablets.<ref name=Kramer1963/>{{rp|78}} These marriages became legal as soon as the groom delivered a bridal gift to his bride's father.<ref name=Kramer1963/>{{rp|78}} One Sumerian proverb describes the ideal, happy marriage through the mouth of a husband who boasts that his wife has borne him eight sons and is still eager to have sex.<ref name="NemetNejat">{{citation|last=Nemet-Nejat|first=Karen Rhea|authorlink=Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat|date=1998|title=Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia|publisher=Greenwood|series=Daily Life|isbn=978-0-313-29497-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinancie00neme/page/132 132]|ref=harv|url=https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinancie00neme/page/132}}</ref>

The Sumerians generally seem to have discouraged [[premarital sex]],<ref>''Celibacy in the Ancient World: Its Ideal and Practice in Pre-Hellenistic Israel, Mesopotamia, and Greece'' by Dale Launderville, p. 28</ref> but it was probably very commonly done in secret.<ref name=Kramer1963>{{cite book|last1=Kramer|first1=Samuel Noah|title=The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character|date=1963|publisher=The Univ. of Chicago Press|location=|isbn=978-0-226-45238-8|url=https://archive.org/details/sumerianstheirhi00samu|url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|78}} The Sumerians, as well as the later Akkadians, had no concept of [[virginity]].<ref name="Cooper">{{cite book|last1=Cooper|first1=Jerrold S.|article=Virginity in Ancient Mesopotamia|title=Sex and Gender in the Ancient Near East: Proceedings of the 47th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Helsinki|year=2001|location=Baltimore, Maryland|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|url=http://krieger2.jhu.edu/neareast/pdf/jcooper/jc%20Virginity.pdf|isbn=978-951-45-9054-2|ref=harv}}</ref>{{rp|91–93}} When describing a woman's sexual inexperience, instead of calling her a "virgin", Sumerian texts describe which sex acts she had not yet performed.<ref name="Cooper"/>{{rp|92}} The Sumerians had no knowledge of the existence of the [[hymen]]<ref name="Cooper"/>{{rp|92}} and whether or not a prospective bride had engaged in [[sexual intercourse]] was entirely determined by her own word.<ref name="Cooper"/>{{rp|91–92}}

From the earliest records, the Sumerians had very relaxed attitudes toward sex<ref name="Dening1996">{{cite book|last=Dening|first=Sarah|date=1996|chapter=Chapter 3: Sex in Ancient Civilizations|title=The Mythology of Sex|chapter-url=http://www.ishtartemple.org/myth.htm|location=London, England|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-0-02-861207-2|ref=harv|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/mythologyofsexan0000deni}}</ref> and their [[Sexual ethics|sexual mores]] were determined not by whether a sexual act was deemed immoral, but rather by whether or not it made a person ritually unclean.<ref name="Dening1996"/> The Sumerians widely believed that [[masturbation]] enhanced sexual potency, both for men and for women,<ref name="Dening1996"/> and they frequently engaged in it, both alone and [[Mutual masturbation|with their partners]].<ref name="Dening1996"/> The Sumerians did not regard [[anal sex]] as taboo either.<ref name="Dening1996"/> ''Entu'' priestesses were forbidden from producing offspring<ref name="Leick2013">{{citation|last=Leick|first=Gwendolyn|title=Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=978-1-134-92074-7|location=New York |page=219|quote=|via=|origyear=1994|url=https://books.google.com/?id=WKoWblE4pd0C&pg=PA64#v=onepage&q&f=false|ref=harv}}</ref><ref name="NemetNejat"/> and frequently engaged in anal sex as a method of [[birth control]].<ref name="Leick2013"/><ref name="Dening1996"/><ref name="NemetNejat"/>

Prostitution existed but it is not clear if [[sacred prostitution]] did.<ref name=Black/>{{rp|151}}

===Language and writing===
{{Main|History of writing|Sumerian language|Cuneiform}}
[[File:P1150884_Louvre_Uruk_III_tablette_écriture_précunéiforme_AO19936_rwk.jpg|thumb|Tablet with pictographic pre-cuneiform writing; late 4th millennium BC; limestone; height: 4.5 cm, width: 4.3 cm, depth: 2.4 cm; [[Louvre]]]]
[[File:Development of writing.jpg|thumb|Standard reconstruction of the [[History of writing|development of writing]], showing Sumerian cuneiform at the origin of many writing systems.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Barraclough |first1=Geoffrey |last2=Stone |first2=Norman |title=The Times Atlas of World History |date=1989 |publisher=Hammond Incorporated |isbn=9780723003045 |page=53 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MpEkAQAAMAAJ }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Senner |first1=Wayne M. |title=The Origins of Writing |date=1991 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |isbn=9780803291676 |page=77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kc4xAlunCSEC&pg=PA77 }}</ref>]]
The most important archaeological discoveries in Sumer are a large number of [[clay tablet]]s written in [[cuneiform script]]. Sumerian writing is considered to be a great milestone in the development of humanity's ability to not only create historical records but also in creating pieces of literature, both in the form of poetic epics and stories as well as prayers and laws. Although pictures—that is, [[hieroglyphs]]—were used first, cuneiform and then ideograms (where symbols were made to represent ideas) soon followed. Triangular or wedge-shaped reeds were used to write on moist clay. A large body of hundreds of thousands of texts in the [[Sumerian language]] have survived, such as personal and business letters, receipts, [[lexical lists]], laws, hymns, prayers, stories, and daily records. Full libraries of [[clay tablet]]s have been found. Monumental inscriptions and texts on different objects, like statues or bricks, are also very common. Many texts survive in multiple copies because they were repeatedly transcribed by scribes in training. Sumerian continued to be the language of religion and law in Mesopotamia long after [[Ancient Semitic-speaking peoples|Semitic speakers]] had become dominant.

A prime example of cuneiform writing would be a lengthy poem that was discovered in the ruins of [[Uruk]]. ''[[The Epic of Gilgamesh]]'' was written in the standard Sumerian cuneiform. It tells of a king from the early Dynastic II period named [[Gilgamesh]] or "Bilgamesh" in Sumerian. The story is based around the fictional adventures of Gilgamesh and his companion, [[Enkidu]]. It was laid out on several clay tablets and is claimed to be the earliest example of a fictional, written piece of literature discovered so far.

The Sumerian language is generally regarded as a [[language isolate]] in [[linguistics]] because it belongs to no known language family; [[Akkadian language|Akkadian]], by contrast, belongs to the [[Semitic languages|Semitic branch]] of the [[Afroasiatic languages]]. There have been many failed attempts to connect Sumerian to other [[language family|language families]]. It is an [[agglutinative language]]; in other words, [[morpheme]]s ("units of meaning") are added together to create words, unlike [[analytic languages]] where morphemes are purely added together to create sentences. Some authors have proposed that there may be evidence of a [[substratum]] or adstratum language for geographic features and various crafts and agricultural activities, called variously [[Proto-Euphratean]] or Proto Tigrean, but this is disputed by others.

Understanding Sumerian texts today can be problematic. Most difficult are the earliest texts, which in many cases do not give the full grammatical structure of the language and seem to have been used as an "[[aide-mémoire]]" for knowledgeable scribes.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Oxford Handbook of the History of Linguistics|last=Allan|first=Keith|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0-19-164343-9|location=Oxford|pages=56–57}}</ref>

During the 3rd millennium BC a cultural symbiosis developed between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread [[bilingualism]].<ref name="Deutscher"/> The influences between Sumerian on Akkadian are evident in all areas including lexical borrowing on a massive scale—and syntactic, morphological, and phonological convergence.<ref name="Deutscher"/> This mutual influence has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian of the 3rd millennium BC as a ''[[Sprachbund]]''.<ref name="Deutscher"/>

Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as a spoken language somewhere around the turn of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC,<ref name="woods">Woods C. 2006 [http://oi.uchicago.edu/pdf/OIS2.pdf “Bilingualism, Scribal Learning, and the Death of Sumerian”]. In S.L. Sanders (ed) ''Margins of Writing, Origins of Culture'': 91–120 Chicago</ref> but Sumerian continued to be used as a sacred, ceremonial, literary, and scientific language in [[Babylonia]] and [[Assyria]] until the 1st century AD.<ref>{{cite book|last=Campbell|first=Lyle|title=A glossary of historical linguistics|year=2007|publisher=Edinburgh University Press| isbn=978-0-7486-2379-2|author2=Mauricio J. Mixco |page=196}}</ref>

<gallery widths="170px" heights="170px">
File:Early writing tablet recording the allocation of beer.jpg|Early writing tablet for recording the allocation of beer; 3100–3000 BC; height: 9.4&nbsp;cm; width: 6.87&nbsp;cm; from Iraq; [[British Museum]] (London)
Cuneiform tablet- administrative account with entries concerning malt and barley groats MET DP293245.jpg|Cuneiform tablet about administrative account with entries concerning malt and barley groats; 3100-2900 BC; clay; 6.8 x 4.5 x 1.6&nbsp;cm; [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] (New York City)
Bill of sale Louvre AO3766.jpg|Bill of sale of a field and house, from [[Shuruppak]]; circa 2600 BC; height: 8.5&nbsp;cm, width: 8.5&nbsp;cm, depth: 2&nbsp;cm; Louvre
Stele of Vultures detail 02.jpg|''[[Stele of the Vultures]]''; circa 2450 BC; limestone; found in 1881 by Édouard de Sarzec in [[Girsu]] (now Tell Telloh, Iraq); Louvre
</gallery>

===Religion===
[[File:Bas-relief of Ninsun-AO 2761-IMG 7786-gradient.jpg|thumb|left|Fragment of a bas-relief with a seated woman; 2255-2040 BC; steatite; height: 14 cm; Louvre]]
{{Main|Sumerian religion}}
The Sumerians credited their divinities for all matters pertaining to them and exhibited humility in the face of cosmic forces, such as [[death]] and [[divine wrath]].<ref name=Kramer1963/>{{rp|3–4}}

Sumerian religion seems to have been founded upon two separate [[Cosmogeny|cosmogenic]] myths. The first saw creation as the result of a series of ''[[hieros gamos|hieroi gamoi]]'' or sacred marriages, involving the reconciliation of opposites, postulated as a coming together of male and female divine beings; the gods. This continued to influence the whole Mesopotamian mythos. Thus, in the later Akkadian [[Enuma Elish]], the creation was seen as the union of fresh and salt water; as male [[Abzu]], and female [[Tiamat]]. The products of that union, [[Lahm]] and Lahmu, "the muddy ones", were titles given to the gate keepers of the E-Abzu temple of [[Enki]], in Eridu, the first Sumerian city. Describing the way that muddy islands emerge from the confluence of fresh and salty water at the mouth of the Euphrates, where the river deposited its load of silt, a second hieros gamos supposedly created Anshar and Kishar, the "sky-pivot" or axle, and the "earth pivot", parents in turn of [[Anu]] (the sky) and [[Ki (goddess)|Ki]] (the earth). Another important Sumerian hieros gamos was that between Ki, here known as [[Ninhursag]] or "Lady of the Mountains", and [[Enki]] of Eridu, the god of fresh water which brought forth greenery and pasture.

At an early stage, following the dawn of recorded history, [[Nippur]], in central Mesopotamia, replaced [[Eridu]] in the south as the primary temple city, whose priests exercised political [[hegemony]] on the other city-states. Nippur retained this status throughout the Sumerian period.

====Deities====
[[File:Ea (Babilonian) - EnKi (Sumerian).jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Akkadian [[cylinder seal]] from sometime around 2300 BC or thereabouts depicting the deities [[Inanna]], [[Utu]], [[Enki]], and [[Isimud]].]]
Sumerians believed in an anthropomorphic polytheism, or the belief in many gods in human form. There was no common set of gods; each city-state had its own patrons, temples, and priest-kings. Nonetheless, these were not exclusive; the gods of one city were often acknowledged elsewhere. Sumerian speakers were among the earliest people to record their beliefs in writing, and were a major inspiration in later [[Mesopotamian mythology]], [[religion]], and [[astrology]].

The Sumerians worshiped:
* [[Anu|An]] as the full-time god equivalent to heaven; indeed, the word ''an'' in Sumerian means sky and his consort [[Ki (goddess)|Ki]], means earth.
* [[Enki]] in the south at the temple in Eridu. Enki was the god of beneficence and of wisdom, ruler of the freshwater depths beneath the earth, a healer and friend to humanity who in Sumerian myth was thought to have given humans the arts and sciences, the industries and manners of civilization; the first law book was considered his creation,
* [[Enlil]] was the god of storm, wind, and rain.<ref name=ColemanDavidson2015>{{citation|last1=Coleman|first1=J.A.|last2=Davidson|first2=George|title=The Dictionary of Mythology: An A–Z of Themes, Legends, and Heroes|date=2015|publisher=Arcturus Publishing Limited|location=London, England|isbn=978-1-78404-478-7}}</ref>{{rp|108}} He was the chief god of the Sumerian pantheon<ref name=ColemanDavidson2015 />{{rp|108}}<ref>{{citation|first=Samuel Noah|last=Kramer|title=The Sumerian Deluge Myth: Reviewed and Revised|journal=Anatolian Studies|volume=33|date=1983|pages= 115–121|jstor=3642699|doi=10.2307/3642699}}</ref>{{rp|115–121}} and the patron god of [[Nippur]].<ref>{{citation|last=Hallo|first=William W.|article=Review: Enki and the Theology of Eridu|title=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=116|issue=2|date=1996}}</ref>{{rp|231–234}} His consort was [[Ninlil]], the goddess of the south wind.<ref>{{citation|last1=Black|first1=Jeremy A.|last2=Cunningham|first2=Graham|last3=Robson|first3=Eleanor|title=The Literature of Ancient Sumer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a1W2mTtGVV4C&pg=PA106|date=2006|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-929633-0}}</ref>{{rp|106}}
* [[Inanna]] was the goddess of love, beauty, sexuality, prostitution, and war;<ref name=WolksteinKramer1983/>{{page needed|date=July 2017}}<ref name=Black>Black, Jeremy; Green, Anthony (1992), ''Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary'', University of Texas Press, {{ISBN|0-292-70794-0}}</ref>{{rp|109}} the deification of Venus, the morning (eastern) and evening (western) star, at the temple (shared with An) at Uruk.   Deified kings may have re-enacted the marriage of [[Inanna]] and [[Dumuzid the Shepherd|Dumuzid]] with priestesses.<ref name=Black/>{{rp|151, 157–158}}
* The sun-god [[Utu]] at [[Larsa]] in the south and [[Sippar]] in the north,
* The moon god [[Sin (mythology)|Sin]] at [[Ur]].

[[File:Genealogy of Sumero-Akkadian Gods.jpg|thumb|upright=2.05|left|Sumero-early Akkadian [[Pantheon (gods)|pantheon]]]]

These [[deity|deities]] formed a core pantheon; there were additionally hundreds of minor ones. Sumerian gods could thus have associations with different cities, and their religious importance often waxed and waned with those cities' political power. The gods were said to have created human beings from clay for the purpose of serving them. The temples organized the mass labour projects needed for irrigation agriculture. Citizens had a labor duty to the temple, though they could avoid it by a payment of silver.

====Cosmology====
Sumerians believed that the [[universe]] consisted of a flat disk enclosed by a [[dome]]. The Sumerian [[afterlife]] involved a descent into a gloomy [[Sumerian nether-world|netherworld]] to spend eternity in a wretched [[existence]] as a [[Gidim]] (ghost).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Black |first1=Jeremy |authorlink1=Jeremy Black (assyriologist) |last2=Green | first2=Anthony |title= Gods, Demons, and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary |date=1992 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-70794-8}}</ref>

The universe was divided into four quarters:
* To the north were the hill-dwelling [[Subartu]], who were periodically raided for slaves, timber, and other raw materials.{{Citation needed|date=September 2019}}
* To the west were the tent-dwelling [[Amorite|Martu]], [[ancient Semitic-speaking peoples]] living as pastoral nomads tending herds of sheep and goats.
* To the south was the land of [[Dilmun]], a trading state associated with the land of the dead and the place of creation.
* To the east were the [[Elamites]], a rival people with whom the Sumerians were frequently at war.

Their known world extended from ''The Upper Sea'' or Mediterranean coastline, to ''The Lower Sea'', the [[Persian Gulf]] and the land of [[Meluhha]] (probably the [[Indus Valley]]) and [[Majan (civilization)|Magan]] ([[Oman]]), famed for its copper ores.

====Temple and temple organisation====
[[Ziggurat]]s (Sumerian temples) each had an individual name and consisted of a forecourt, with a central pond for purification.<ref>Leick, Gwendolyn (2003), Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City' (Penguin)</ref> The temple itself had a central [[nave]] with aisles along either side. Flanking the aisles would be rooms for the priests. At one end would stand the [[podium]] and a [[mudbrick]] table for animal and vegetable [[sacrifice]]s. [[Granary|Granaries]] and [[Warehouse|storehouses]] were usually located near the temples. After a time the Sumerians began to place the temples on top of multi-layered square constructions built as a series of rising terraces, giving rise to the Ziggurat style.<ref>Crawford, Harriet (1993), "Sumer and the Sumerians" (Cambridge University Press, (New York 1993)), {{ISBN|0-521-38850-3}}.</ref>

====Funerary practices====
It was believed that when people died, they would be confined to a gloomy world of [[Ereshkigal]], whose realm was guarded by gateways with various monsters designed to prevent people entering or leaving. The dead were buried outside the city walls in graveyards where a small mound covered the corpse, along with offerings to monsters and a small amount of food. Those who could afford it sought burial at [[Dilmun]].<ref>Bibby Geoffrey and Carl Phillips (2013), "Looking for Dilmun" (Alfred A. Knopf)</ref> [[Human sacrifice]] was found in the death pits at the [[Ur]] royal cemetery where Queen [[Puabi]] was accompanied in death by her servants.

===Agriculture and hunting===
The Sumerians adopted an agricultural lifestyle perhaps as early as c. 5000 BC – 4500 BC. The region demonstrated a number of core agricultural techniques, including organized [[irrigation]], large-scale intensive cultivation of land, [[mono-cropping]] involving the use of [[plough agriculture]], and the use of an agricultural [[Division of labour|specialized labour force]] under bureaucratic control. The necessity to manage temple accounts with this organization led to the development of [[history of writing|writing]] (c. 3500 BC).

[[File:Ur mosaic.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|From the royal tombs of [[Ur]], made of [[lapis lazuli]] and shell, shows peacetime]]
In the early Sumerian Uruk period, the primitive pictograms suggest that [[sheep]], [[goat]]s, cattle, and [[pig]]s were domesticated. They used [[ox]]en as their primary beasts of burden and [[donkey]]s or [[equids]] as their primary transport animal and "woollen clothing as well as rugs were made from the wool or hair of the animals. ... By the side of the house was an enclosed garden planted with trees and other plants; wheat and probably other cereals were sown in the fields, and the ''[[shaduf]]'' was already employed for the purpose of irrigation. Plants were also grown in pots or vases."<ref name="Sayce"/>
[[File:Issue of barley rations.JPG|thumb|An account of barley rations issued monthly to adults and children written in [[cuneiform script]] on a clay tablet, written in year 4 of King [[Urukagina]], c. 2350 BC]]
The Sumerians were one of the first known [[beer]] drinking societies. Cereals were plentiful and were the key ingredient in their early brew. They brewed multiple kinds of beer consisting of wheat, barley, and mixed grain beers. Beer brewing was very important to the Sumerians. It was referenced in the [[Epic of Gilgamesh]] when [[Enkidu]] was introduced to the food and beer of Gilgamesh's people: "Drink the beer, as is the custom of the land... He drank the beer-seven jugs! and became expansive and sang with joy!"<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gately|first1=Iain|title=Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol|publisher=Gotham Books|isbn=978-1-59240-303-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/drinkculturalhis00gate_0/page/5 5]|year=2008|url=https://archive.org/details/drinkculturalhis00gate_0/page/5}}</ref>

The Sumerians practiced similar irrigation techniques as those used in Egypt.<ref>{{cite book| last = Mackenzie| first = Donald Alexander| year = 1927 | title = Footprints of Early Man| publisher = Blackie & Son Limited}}</ref> American anthropologist [[Robert McCormick Adams]] says that irrigation development was associated with urbanization,<ref>{{cite book| last = Adams| first = R. McC.| year = 1981 | title = Heartland of Cities| publisher = University of Chicago Press}}</ref> and that 89% of the population lived in the cities.

They grew [[barley]], [[chickpea]]s, [[lentil]]s, [[wheat]], [[Date (fruit)|dates]], [[onion]]s, [[garlic]], [[lettuce]], [[leek]]s and [[Mustard plant|mustard]]. Sumerians caught many fish and hunted [[fowl]] and [[gazelle]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The fine art of food | first=Reay |last=Tannahill | publisher=Folio Society| year=1968}}{{Page needed|date=March 2012}}</ref>

Sumerian agriculture depended heavily on [[irrigation]]. The irrigation was accomplished by the use of ''[[shaduf]]'', [[canal]]s, [[Channel (geography)|channels]], [[dyke (construction)|dykes]], [[weir]]s, and [[reservoirs]]. The frequent violent floods of the [[Tigris]], and less so, of the [[Euphrates]], meant that canals required frequent repair and continual removal of [[silt]], and survey markers and boundary stones needed to be continually replaced. The government required individuals to work on the canals in a [[corvee]], although the rich were able to exempt themselves.

As is known from the "''[[Sumerian Farmer's Almanac]]''", after the flood season and after the [[Spring Equinox]] and the ''[[Akitu]]'' or New Year Festival, using the canals, farmers would flood their fields and then drain the water. Next they made oxen stomp the ground and kill weeds. They then dragged the fields with [[pickaxe]]s. After drying, they [[plowing|plowed]], [[harrow (tool)|harrowed]], and [[rake (tool)|raked]] the ground three times, and pulverized it with a [[mattock]], before planting seed. Unfortunately, the high evaporation rate resulted in a gradual increase in the salinity of the fields. By the Ur III period, farmers had switched from wheat to the more salt-tolerant [[barley]] as their principal crop.

Sumerians harvested during the [[spring (season)|spring]] in three-person teams consisting of a [[reaper]], a [[Reaper-binder|binder]], and a sheaf handler.<ref>By the sweat of thy brow: Work in the Western world, Melvin Kranzberg, Joseph Gies, Putnam, 1975</ref> The farmers would use [[threshing wagon]]s, driven by oxen, to separate the [[cereal]] heads from the [[stalk (botany)|stalks]] and then use threshing sleds to disengage the grain. They then [[winnowing|winnowed]] the grain/chaff mixture.

===Art===
{{see also|Stele of the Vultures|Royal Cemetery at Ur}}
[[File:Royal Tombs of Ur Objects from tomb PG 580.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Gold dagger from Sumerian tomb PG 580, [[Royal Cemetery at Ur]].]]
The Sumerians were great creators, nothing proving this more than their art. Sumerian artifacts show great detail and ornamentation, with fine semi-precious stones imported from other lands, such as [[lapis lazuli]], [[marble]], and [[diorite]], and precious metals like hammered gold, incorporated into the design. Since stone was rare it was reserved for sculpture. The most widespread material in Sumer was clay, as a result many Sumerina objects are made of clay. Metals such as gold, silver, copper, and bronze, along with shells and gemstones, were used for the finest sculpture and inlays. Small stones of all kinds, including more precious stones such as lapis lazuli, alabaster, and serpentine, were used for cylinder seals.
 
Some of the most famous master pieces are the ''[[Lyres of Ur]]'', which are considered to be the world's oldest surviving [[stringed instrument]]s. They have been discovered by [[Leonard Woolley]] when the [[Royal Cemetery of Ur]] has been excavated between from 1922 and 1934.
{{clear}}
<gallery widths="170px" heights="170px">
Cylinder seal and modern impression- ritual scene before a temple facade MET DP270679.jpg|Cylinder seal and impression in which appearsritual scene before a temple façade; 3500-3100 BC; bituminous limestone; height: 4.5&nbsp;cm; [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] (New York City)
Raminathicket2.jpg|''[[Ram in a Thicket]]''; 2600-2400 BC; gold, copper, shell, lapis lazuli and limestone; height: 45.7&nbsp;cm; from the [[Royal Cemetery at Ur]] ([[Dhi Qar Governorate]], Iraq); [[British Museum]] (London)
Denis Bourez - British Museum, London (8747049029) (2).jpg|''[[Standard of Ur]]''; 2600-2400 BC; shell, red limestone and lapis lazuli on wood; length: 49.5&nbsp;cm; from the Royal Cemetery at Ur; British Museum
Bull's head ornament for a lyre MET DP260070.jpg|Bull's head ornament from a lyre; 2600-2350 BC; bronze inlaid with shell and [[lapis lazuli]]; height: 13.3&nbsp;cm, width: 10.5&nbsp;cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
</gallery>

===Architecture===
{{Main|Sumerian architecture|Ziggurat|Mudhif}}
{{See also|Clay nail}}
[[File:Ancient ziggurat at Ali Air Base Iraq 2005.jpg|300px|thumb|The ''[[Great Ziggurat of Ur]]'' ([[Dhi Qar Governorate]], Iraq), built during the Third Dynasty of Ur (Sumerian Renaissance), dedicated to the moon god [[Sin (mythology)|Nanna]]]]
The Tigris-Euphrates plain lacked minerals and trees. Sumerian structures were made of plano-convex [[mudbrick]], not fixed with [[Mortar (masonry)|mortar]] or [[cement]]. Mud-brick buildings eventually deteriorate, so they were periodically destroyed, leveled, and rebuilt on the same spot. This constant rebuilding gradually raised the level of cities, which thus came to be elevated above the surrounding plain. The resultant hills, known as [[Tell (archaeology)|tells]], are found throughout the ancient Near East.

According to [[Archibald Sayce]], the primitive [[pictogram]]s of the early Sumerian (i.e. Uruk) era suggest that "Stone was scarce, but was already cut into blocks and seals. Brick was the ordinary building material, and with it cities, forts, temples and houses were constructed. The city was provided with towers and stood on an artificial platform; the house also had a tower-like appearance. It was provided with a door which turned on a hinge, and could be opened with a sort of key; the city gate was on a larger scale, and seems to have been double. The foundation stones—or rather bricks—of a house were consecrated by certain objects that were deposited under them."<ref name="Sayce">{{cite book| authorlink=Archibald Sayce| last=Sayce | first=Rev. A. H.| url=https://archive.org/stream/archaeologyofcun00sayc/archaeologyofcun00sayc_djvu.txt |title= The Archaeology of the Cuneiform Inscriptions|edition=2nd revised | year=1908 | publisher=Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge | location=London, Brighton, New York |pages=98–100}}</ref>

The most impressive and famous of Sumerian buildings are the [[ziggurat]]s, large layered platforms that supported temples. Sumerian [[Cylinder seal|cylinder]] [[Seal (device)|seals]] also depict houses built from reeds not unlike those built by the [[Marsh Arabs]] of Southern Iraq until as recently as 400 CE. The Sumerians also developed the [[arch]], which enabled them to develop a strong type of [[dome]]. They built this by constructing and linking several arches. Sumerian temples and palaces made use of more advanced materials and techniques, such as [[buttress]]es, [[Alcove (architecture)|recesses]], [[Column|half columns]], and [[clay nail]]s.

===Mathematics===
{{Main|Babylonian mathematics}}
The Sumerians developed a complex system of [[metrology]] c. 4000 BC. This advanced metrology resulted in the creation of arithmetic, geometry, and algebra. From c. 2600 BC onwards, the Sumerians wrote [[multiplication table]]s on clay tablets and dealt with [[geometry|geometrical]] exercises and [[Division (mathematics)|division]] problems. The earliest traces of the [[Babylonian numerals]] also date back to this period.<ref>Duncan J. Melville (2003). [http://it.stlawu.edu/~dmelvill/mesomath/3Mill/chronology.html Third Millennium Chronology], ''Third Millennium Mathematics''. [[St. Lawrence University]].</ref> The period c. 2700–2300 BC saw the first appearance of the [[abacus]], and a table of successive columns which delimited the successive orders of magnitude of their [[sexagesimal]] number system.<ref>{{Harvcolnb|Ifrah|2001|p=11}}</ref> The Sumerians were the first to use a place value numeral system. There is also anecdotal evidence the Sumerians may have used a type of slide rule in astronomical calculations. They were the first to find the area of a triangle and the volume of a cube.<ref>{{cite book| url= https://books.google.com/?id=BKRE5AjRM3AC&printsec=frontcover&dq=sherlock+holmes+in+babylon#PPA7,M1 |title=Sherlock Holmes in Babylon: and other tales of mathematical history | first1=Marlow |last1=Anderson | first2=Robin J. |last2=Wilson |year= 2004 |accessdate=2012-03-29| isbn= 978-0-88385-546-1}}</ref>

===Economy and trade===
[[File:Bill of sale Louvre AO3765.jpg|thumb|Bill of sale of a male slave and a building in [[Shuruppak]], Sumerian tablet, c. 2600 BC]]
Discoveries of [[obsidian]] from far-away locations in [[Anatolia]] and [[lapis lazuli]] from [[Badakhshan]] in northeastern [[Afghanistan]], beads from [[Dilmun]] (modern [[Bahrain]]), and several seals inscribed with the [[Indus Valley civilization|Indus Valley]] [[Indus script|script]] suggest a remarkably wide-ranging network of ancient trade centered on the [[Persian Gulf]]. For example, [[Imports to Ur]] came from many parts of the world. In particular, the metals of all types had to be imported.

The ''[[Epic of Gilgamesh]]'' refers to trade with far lands for goods, such as wood, that were scarce in Mesopotamia. In particular, [[Cedrus libani|cedar]] from [[Lebanon]] was prized. The finding of resin in the tomb of Queen [[Puabi]] at [[Ur]], indicates it was traded from as far away as [[Mozambique]].

The Sumerians used [[Slavery in antiquity|slaves]], although they were not a major part of the economy. Slave [[women]] worked as [[weaving|weavers]], pressers, [[miller]]s, and [[porter (carrying)|porters]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2019}}

Sumerian [[pottery|potters]] decorated pots with [[cedar oil]] [[paint]]s. The potters used a [[bow drill]] to produce the [[fire]] needed for baking the pottery. Sumerian [[masonry|masons]] and [[jewelry|jewelers]] knew and made use of [[alabaster]] ([[calcite]]), [[ivory]], [[iron]], [[gold]], [[silver]], [[carnelian]], and [[lapis lazuli]].<ref>Marian H. Feldman, ''Diplomacy by design: Luxury arts and an "international style" in the ancient Near East, 1400–1200 BC'', (Chicago: University  Press, 2006), pp.&nbsp;120–121</ref>

====Trade with the Indus valley====
{{main|Indus-Mesopotamia relations}}
[[File:Ur Grave gold and carnelian beads necklace.jpg|thumb|Some of the beads in this necklace from the [[Royal Cemetery of Ur|Royal Cemetery]] dating to the [[First Dynasty of Ur]] are thought to have come from the Indus Valley. [[British Museum]].<ref name="BM Carnelian">British Museum notice: "Gold and carnelians beads. The two beads etched with patterns in white were probably imported from the Indus Valley. They were made by a technique developed by the Harappan civilization" [[:File:Ur Grave gold and carnelian beads necklace.jpg|Photograph of the necklace in question]]</ref>]]
[[File:Mesopotamia-Indus.jpg|thumb|left|The trade routes between Mesopotamia and the Indus would have been significantly shorter due to lower sea levels in the 3rd millennium BCE.<ref name="JR12">{{cite book |last1=Reade |first1=Julian E. |title=The Indus-Mesopotamia relationship reconsidered (Gs Elisabeth During Caspers) |date=2008 |publisher=Archaeopress |isbn=978-1-4073-0312-3 |pages=12–14 |url=https://www.academia.edu/28245304 }}</ref>]]
Evidence for imports from the Indus to [[Ur]] can be found from around 2350 BCE.<ref name="JR14">{{cite book |last1=Reade |first1=Julian E. |title=The Indus-Mesopotamia relationship reconsidered (Gs Elisabeth During Caspers) |date=2008 |publisher=Archaeopress |isbn=978-1-4073-0312-3 |pages=14–17 |url=https://www.academia.edu/28245304 }}</ref> Various objects made with shell species that are characteristic of the Indus coast, particularly ''[[Trubinella Pyrum]]'' and ''[[Fasciolaria Trapezium]]'', have been found in the archaeological sites of Mesopotamia dating from around 2500-2000 BCE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gensheimer |first1=T. R. |title=The Role of shell in Mesopotamia : evidence for trade exchange with Oman and the Indus Valley |date=1984 |pages=71–72 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/paleo_0153-9345_1984_num_10_1_4350}}</ref> [[Carnelian]] beads from the Indus were found in the Sumerian tombs of [[Ur]], the [[Royal Cemetery at Ur]], dating to 2600-2450.<ref name="JMI">{{cite book |last1=McIntosh |first1=Jane |title=The Ancient Indus Valley: New Perspectives |date=2008 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781576079072 |pages=182–190 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1AJO2A-CbccC&pg=PA189 }}</ref> In particular, carnelian beads with an etched design in white were probably imported from the Indus Valley, and made according to a technique of acid-etching developed by the [[Harappa]]ns.<ref>For the etching technique, see {{cite journal |last1=MacKay |first1=Ernest |title=Sumerian Connexions with Ancient India |journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |issue=4 |date=1925 |pages=699 |jstor=25220818 }}</ref><ref name="BM Carnelian" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Guimet |first1=Musée |title=Les Cités oubliées de l'Indus: Archéologie du Pakistan |date=2016 |publisher=FeniXX réédition numérique |isbn=9782402052467 |page=355 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-HpYDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA355 |language=fr}}</ref> [[Lapis Lazuli]] was imported in great quantity by [[Egypt]], and already used in many tombs of the [[Naqada II]] period (circa 3200 BCE). Lapis Lazuli probably originated in northern [[Afghanistan]], as no other sources are known, and had to be transported across the [[Iranian plateau]] to Mesopotamia, and then Egypt.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Demand |first1=Nancy H. |title=The Mediterranean Context of Early Greek History |date=2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9781444342345 |pages=71–72 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YVSg-DOHzJMC&pg=PA71 }}</ref><ref name="CP">{{cite book |last1=Rowlands |first1=Michael J. |title=Centre and Periphery in the Ancient World |date=1987 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521251037 |page=37 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YDs9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA37 }}</ref>

Several Indus seals with Harappan script have also been found in Mesopotamia, particularly in [[Ur]], [[Babylon]] and [[Kish (Sumer)|Kish]].<ref>For a full list of discoveries of Indus seals in Mesopotamia, see {{cite book |last1=Reade |first1=Julian |title=Indian Ocean In Antiquity |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136155314 |pages=148–152 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PtzWAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA148 }}</ref><ref>For another list of Mesopotamian finds of Indus seals: {{cite book |last1=Possehl |first1=Gregory L. |title=The Indus Civilization: A Contemporary Perspective |date=2002 |publisher=Rowman Altamira |isbn=9780759101722 |page=221 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pmAuAsi4ePIC&pg=PA221 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Indus stamp-seal found in Ur BM 122187 |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=805148&partId=1&images=true |website=British Museum}}<br>{{cite web |title=Indus stamp-seal discovered in Ur BM 123208 |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=804667&partId=1&museumno=1932.1008.178&page=2 |website=British Museum}}<br>{{cite web |title=Indus stamp-seal discovered in Ur BM 120228 |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=805338&partId=1&images=true |website=British Museum}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Gadd |first1=G. J. |title=Seals of Ancient Indian style found at Ur |date=1958 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.33779/page/n11}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Brotherhood of Kings: How International Relations Shaped the Ancient Near East|page=49|url=https://books.google.com/?id=JTvRCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA49|first=Amanda H.|last=Podany|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012|isbn=978-0-19-971829-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8l9X_3rHFdEC&pg=PA246|quote=Square-shaped Indus seals of fired steatite have been found at a few sites in Mesopotamia.|author1=Joan Aruz|author2=Ronald Wallenfels|page=246|isbn=978-1-58839-043-1|year=2003}}</ref>

[[Gudea]], the ruler of the Neo-Summerian Empire at [[Lagash]], is recorded as having imported "translucent carnelian" from [[Meluhha]], generally thought to be the Indus Valley area.<ref name="JMI"/> Various inscriptions also mention the presence of Meluhha traders and interpreters in Mesopotamia.<ref name="JMI"/> About twenty seals have been found from the Akkadian and [[Ur III]] sites, that have connections with Harappa and often use Harappan symbols or writing.<ref name="JMI"/>

The Indus Valley Civilization only flourished in its most developed form between 2400 and 1800 BC, but at the time of these exchanges, it was a much larger entity than the Mesopotamian civilization, covering an area of 1.2 million square meters with thousands of settlements, compared to an area of only about 65.000 square meters for the occupied area of Mesopotamia, while the largest cities were comparable in size at about 30-40.000 inhabitants.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cotterell |first1=Arthur |title=Asia: A Concise History |date=2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9780470829592 |page=42 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9_vVTWXK5kQC&pg=PT42 }}</ref>

====Money and credit====
Large institutions kept their accounts in [[barley]] and [[silver]], often with a fixed rate between them. The obligations, loans and prices in general were usually denominated in one of them. Many transactions involved debt, for example goods consigned to merchants by temple and beer advanced by "ale women".<ref name = debt>{{cite book |title= Debt and Economic Renewal in the Ancient Near East|editor=Michael Hudson and Marc Van De Mieroop|last= Hudson|first= Michael|year= 1998|publisher= CDL|location= Bethesda, Maryland|isbn= 978-1-883053-71-0|pages= 23–35}}</ref>

Commercial credit and agricultural consumer loans were the main types of loans. The trade credit was usually extended by temples in order to finance trade expeditions and was nominated in silver. The interest rate was set at 1/60 a month (one [[shekel]] per [[mina (unit)|mina]]) some time before 2000 BC and it remained at that level for about two thousand years.<ref name = debt/>
Rural loans commonly arose as a result of unpaid obligations due to an institution (such as a temple), in this case the arrears were considered to be lent to the debtor.<ref name = debt2>{{cite book |title= Debt and Economic Renewal in the Ancient Near East|editor=Michael Hudson and Marc Van De Mieroop|last= Van De Mieroop|first= Marc|year= 1998|publisher= CDL|location= Bethesda, Maryland|isbn= 978-1-883053-71-0|page= 63}}</ref> They were denominated in barley or other crops and the interest rate was typically much higher than for commercial loans and could amount to 1/3 to 1/2 of the loan principal.<ref name = debt/>

Periodically, rulers signed "clean slate" decrees that cancelled all the rural (but not commercial) debt and allowed bondservants to return to their homes. Customarily, rulers did it at the beginning of the first full year of their reign, but they could also be proclaimed at times of military conflict or crop failure. The first known ones were made by [[Enmetena]] and [[Urukagina]] of [[Lagash]] in 2400–2350 BC. According to Hudson, the purpose of these decrees was to prevent debts mounting to a degree that they threatened the fighting force, which could happen if peasants lost the subsistence land or became bondservants due to the inability to repay the debt.<ref name = debt/>

===Military===
[[File:Standard of Ur chariots.jpg|thumb|upright=1.8|Early chariots on the [[Standard of Ur]], c. 2600 BC]]
[[File:Stele of Vultures detail 01-transparent.png|thumb|[[Phalanx]] battle formations led by Sumerian king [[Eannatum]], on a fragment of the [[Stele of the Vultures]]]]
The almost constant wars among the Sumerian city-states for 2000 years helped to develop the military technology and techniques of Sumer to a high level.<ref>Roux, Georges (1992), "Ancient Iraq" (Penguin)</ref> The first war recorded in any detail was between Lagash and Umma in c. 2525 BC on a stele called the [[Stele of the Vultures]]. It shows the king of Lagash leading a Sumerian army consisting mostly of [[infantry]]. The infantry carried [[spear]]s, wore [[copper]] [[helmet]]s, and carried rectangular [[shield]]s. The spearmen are shown arranged in what resembles the [[phalanx formation]], which requires training and discipline; this implies that the Sumerians may have made use of [[professional]] soldiers.<ref>Winter, Irene J. (1985). "After the Battle is Over: The 'Stele of the Vultures' and the Beginning of Historical Narrative in the Art of the Ancient Near East". In Kessler, Herbert L.; Simpson, Marianna Shreve. Pictorial Narrative in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, Symposium Series IV 16. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art. pp. 11–32. {{ISSN|0091-7338}}</ref>

The Sumerian military used carts harnessed to [[onager]]s. These early [[chariot]]s functioned less effectively in combat than did later designs, and some have suggested that these chariots served primarily as transports, though the crew carried battle-axes and [[lance]]s. The Sumerian chariot comprised a four or two-[[wheel]]ed device manned by a crew of two and harnessed to four onagers. The cart was composed of a [[basket|woven basket]] and the wheels had a solid three-piece design.

Sumerian cities were surrounded by defensive [[City wall|walls]]. The Sumerians engaged in [[siege|siege warfare]] between their cities, but the [[mudbrick]] walls were able to deter some foes.

===Technology===
Examples of Sumerian technology include: the [[wheel]], [[cuneiform script]], [[arithmetic]] and [[geometry]], [[irrigation]] systems, Sumerian boats, [[lunisolar calendar]], [[bronze]], [[leather]], [[saw]]s, [[chisel]]s, [[hammer]]s, [[brace (tool)|braces]], [[Bit (horse)|bits]], [[nail (engineering)|nails]], [[pin]]s, [[jewelry ring|rings]], [[hoe (tool)|hoes]], [[axe]]s, [[knife|knives]], [[lance]]points, [[arrow (weapon)|arrowheads]], [[sword]]s, [[adhesive|glue]], [[dagger]]s, [[waterskin]]s, bags, [[horse harness|harnesses]], [[armor]], [[quiver]]s, [[war chariot]]s, [[scabbard]]s, [[boot]]s, [[sandal (footwear)|sandals]], [[harpoon]]s and [[beer]].
The Sumerians had three main types of boats:
* clinker-built sailboats stitched together with hair, featuring [[bitumen]] waterproofing
* skin boats constructed from animal skins and reeds
* wooden-oared ships, sometimes pulled upstream by people and animals walking along the nearby banks

==Legacy==
Evidence of [[wheel]]ed vehicles appeared in the mid 4th millennium BC, near-simultaneously in Mesopotamia, the Northern Caucasus ([[Maykop culture]]) and Central Europe. The wheel initially took the form of the [[potter's wheel]]. The new concept quickly led to wheeled [[vehicles]] and mill wheels. The Sumerians' [[cuneiform script]] is the oldest (or second oldest after the [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]]) which has been deciphered (the status of even older inscriptions such as the [[Jiahu symbols]] and [[Tărtăria tablets|Tartaria tablets]] is controversial). The Sumerians were among the first astronomers, mapping the stars into sets of constellations, many of which survived in the [[zodiac]] and were also recognized by the ancient Greeks.<ref name="Thompson">{{cite web |author=Gary Thompson |url=http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gtosiris/page11-4.html |title=History of Constellation and Star Names |publisher=Members.optusnet.com.au |accessdate=2012-03-29 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120821025411/http://members.optusnet.com.au/~gtosiris/page11-4.html |archivedate=2012-08-21 }}{{Unreliable source?|failed=y|date=March 2012}}</ref> They were also aware of the five planets that are easily visible to the naked eye.<ref name="SumerFAQ2">{{cite web|url=http://www.sumerian.org/sumerfaq.htm#s39 |title=Sumerian Questions and Answers |publisher=Sumerian.org |accessdate=2012-03-29}}</ref>

They invented and developed arithmetic by using several different number systems including a [[mixed radix]] system with an alternating base 10 and base 6. This [[sexagesimal]] system became the standard number system in Sumer and Babylonia. They may have invented military formations and introduced the basic divisions between [[infantry]], [[cavalry]], and [[archery|archers]]. They developed the first known codified legal and administrative systems, complete with courts, jails, and government records. The first true city-states arose in Sumer, roughly contemporaneously with similar entities in what are now [[Syria]] and [[Lebanon]]. Several centuries after the invention of cuneiform, the use of writing expanded beyond debt/payment certificates and inventory lists to be applied for the first time, about 2600 BC, to messages and mail delivery, history, legend, mathematics, astronomical records, and other pursuits. Conjointly with the spread of writing, the first formal schools were established, usually under the auspices of a city-state's primary temple.

Finally, the Sumerians ushered in [[domestication]] with intensive [[agriculture]] and [[irrigation]]. [[Emmer wheat]], [[barley]], sheep (starting as [[mouflon]]), and cattle (starting as [[aurochs]]) were foremost among the species cultivated and raised for the first time on a grand scale.

==See also==
* [[History of Iraq]]
* [[History of writing numbers]]
* [[Ancient Mesopotamian units of measurement]]
* [[Ancient Mesopotamian religion]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group="note"}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin|35em}}
* Ascalone, Enrico. 2007. ''Mesopotamia: Assyrians, Sumerians, Babylonians (Dictionaries of Civilizations; 1)''. Berkeley: University of California Press. {{ISBN|0-520-25266-7}} (paperback).
* Bottéro, Jean, André Finet, Bertrand Lafont, and George Roux. 2001. ''Everyday Life in Ancient Mesopotamia''. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
* Crawford, Harriet E. W. 2004. ''Sumer and the Sumerians''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Leick, Gwendolyn. 2002. ''Mesopotamia: Invention of the City''. London and New York: Penguin.
* Lloyd, Seton. 1978. ''The Archaeology of Mesopotamia: From the Old Stone Age to the Persian Conquest''. London: Thames and Hudson.
* Nemet-Nejat, Karen Rhea. 1998. ''Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia''. London and Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.
* {{cite book|last1=Kramer|first1=Samuel Noah|title=Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C.|date=1972|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|location=Philadelphia|isbn=978-0-8122-1047-7|edition=Rev.}}
* Roux, Georges. 1992. ''Ancient Iraq'', 560 pages. London: Penguin (earlier printings may have different pagination: 1966, 480 pages, Pelican; 1964, 431 pages, London: Allen and Urwin).
* Schomp, Virginia. ''Ancient Mesopotamia: The Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians''.
* ''Sumer: Cities of Eden (Timelife Lost Civilizations)''. Alexandria, VA: [[Time-Life Books]], 1993 (hardcover, {{ISBN|0-8094-9887-1}}).
* [[Leonard Woolley|Woolley, C. Leonard]]. 1929. ''The Sumerians''. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [http://ancientneareast.tripod.com/Sumer.html Ancient Sumer History – The History of the Ancient Near East Electronic Compendium]
* [http://www.penn.museum/sites/iraq/ Iraq’s Ancient Past] – [[University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology|Penn Museum]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140222171110/http://journal.qu.edu.az/article_pdf/1035_402.pdf The Sumerians]
* [http://sumerianshakespeare.com/21101.html A brief introduction to Sumerian history.]

;Geography
* The History Files: [http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/MainFeaturesMesopotamia.htm Ancient Mesopotamia]

;Language
* [http://www.sumerian.org/ Sumerian Language Page], perhaps the oldest Sumerian website on the web (it dates back to 1996), features compiled lexicon, detailed FAQ, extensive links, and so on.
* [http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/ ETCSL: The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature] has complete translations of more than 400 Sumerian literary texts.
* [http://psd.museum.upenn.edu/ PSD: ''The Pennsylvania Sumerian Dictionary''], while still in its initial stages, can be searched on-line, from August 2004.
* [http://www.cdli.ucla.edu/ CDLI: Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative], a large corpus of Sumerian texts in transliteration, largely from the Early Dynastic and Ur III periods, accessible with images.

[[Category:States and territories established in the 4th millennium BC]]
[[Category:States and territories established in the 3rd millennium BC]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 20th century BC]]
[[Category:Sumer| ]]
[[Category:Civilizations]]
[[Category:Lists of coordinates]]
[[Category:Archaeology of Iraq]]
[[Category:Levant]]
[[Category:Populated places established in the 6th millennium BC]]
[[Category:6th-millennium BC establishments]]