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Mesopotamian Civilization Akkadian Civilization
Sumerian Civilization - Ancient Civilizations
188    Dibyendu Banerjee    19/12/2024

Located in the southernmost part of Mesopotamia, nestled between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and known as the Fertile Crescent, Sumer is the site of the earliest known civilization that flourished between 4100 and 1750 BC, and ended with the downfall of the Third Dynasty of Ur around 2004 BC, before the rise of Babylonia in the 18th century BC. However, nobody is sure from where the Sumerians came to settle in the region, and although several historians have suggested that Sumer was first permanently settled by some West Asian people, who spoke a non-Semitic language, others opined that they were from North Africa, who migrated from Green Sahara to the Middle East. Basing on the Sumerian legends and literature, some scholars also expressed the possibility that the Sumerians originated from Dilmun, an ancient kingdom, centred on Bahrain Island in the Persian Gulf, which was mentioned as the home of deities like Enki, the Sumerian god of water, as mentioned in Sumerian mythology. Although the status of Dilmun as the ancestral homeland of the Sumerians has not been established, archaeologists have found evidence of early civilization in Bahrain, which include the discovery of Mesopotamian-style round disks in the area.

sumerian civilization

The modern scholars have divided the history of the region into six eras, which include the prehistoric Ubaid and Uruk periods, during which Sumerian city-states rose to power, the Early Dynastic Period, the Akkadian Period in the 23rd century BC, when larger parts of Mesopotamia were successfully united, the Gutian Period, and the Third Ur Dynastic Period. Nevertheless, the people of Sumer referred to themselves as the Black-Headed People, and Shulgi, the second Sumerian king of the Third Dynasty of Ur, who reigned for 48 years, from 2094 to 2046 BC, described himself as the king of the four quarters, the pastor of the black-headed people.

sumerian civilization
Sumerian Calendar

Apart from being energetic farmers, traders and sailors, the Sumerians were basically innovative, and were probably responsible for the development of the first writing, recording their language by using simple pictures, wrote on clay tablets, and later evolved the script, which is known as cuneiform or wedge-shaped. But perhaps their most important contribution to the civilization is the creation of lunar calendar, divided into 12 months, and the concept of measuring time by dividing the day and night into 12 hours, hours into 60 minutes, and minutes into 60 seconds. The Sumerians also founded the first communities during the prehistoric Ubaid and Uruk Periods, which subsequently grew into the cities with the advent of mass production of mud bricks, and developed into city-states, divided by canals and boundary stones, and include Eridu, Nippur, Ur, Lagash, Isin, Kish, Adab, Kullah, and the very first true city, Uruk. Later, bricks were also used to construct massive defensive walls around the cities to protect the residents from any possible invasion.

sumerian civilization
Ninhursag, the fertility goddess and mother of the gods
sumerian civilization
Ninlil, Sumeria goddess of air and wind

The Sumerians believed that the universe was created through a series of cosmic births of the gods, who had great influence on their daily life. Before the inception of Kingship, the city states were ruled by the priests of the temples, which were simple, one-room structures, sometimes built on elevated platforms. Later, the temple complexes marked by the great Ziggurats, the tall, pyramidal structures with sanctuaries at the tops, and dedicated to the protective deity of the particular city, became the heart of every Sumerian city.

sumerian civilization
The Ziggurat in Ur

However, the city of Eridu, and its protecting god Enki, had a special place of importance for the Sumerians. The most important Gods and Goddesses in the Sumerian pantheon included An, the God of Heaven and the supreme ruler of the pantheon, Enki, the God of Water, Enlil, the God of Storm and Wind, Ninhursag, the Goddess of Fertility and the Earth, Utu, the God of justice and of the Sun, his father Nanna, God of the Moon, and Ningišzida, depicted as the Lord of pastures and fields, was the deity of vegetation, the underworld and sometimes War, commonly associated with snakes.

sumerian civilization
Ningizzida, associated with agriculture and the underworld

Apart from draining the marshes for agriculture, developing the irrigation system and trade, the Sumerians were the pioneers in establishing industries like weaving, leatherwork, metalwork, masonry and pottery. They were the first to develop the speedy rotating wheel which enabled them mass production of unpainted pottery, marking a shift from the earlier hand-made painted pottery. Their several other innovative introductions to the society include the first schools, governmental bureaucracy, monumental architectures, and the earliest version of the legendary tale of the Great Flood and other biblical narratives.

sumerian civilization

It is evident from the earliest records that the Sumerians had very relaxed attitudes towards sex, but virgins were preferred for marriage. They widely believed in masturbation for enhancing sexual potency, both for men and for women, and frequently engaged in it, both alone and with their respective partners. Anal sex was not a taboo, and the Entu priestesses were frequently engaged in it as they were forbidden from producing offspring. Prostitution prevailed, but it is not clear whether sacred prostitution or cult prostitution, consisting of paid intercourse in the context of religious worship was in vogue. Although the Sumerian culture was male-dominated and stratified, women played an important public role as priestesses in early Sumer. Sons and daughters inherited property on equal terms, and women had the right to own property and transact business. However, the status of women deteriorated after 2300 BC, when polyandry was abolished by the King of the city-states of Lagash, and according to his inscription, women taking multiple husbands became punishable by stoning to death. Consequently, women’s right to dispose of their property became limited, and the female deities also lost their former importance.

sumerian civilization

Unfortunately, Sumer lost its glory when it came under Amorite rule, following an Elamite invasion and sack of Ur during the rule of Ibbi-Sin, the last king of the Ur III dynasty, and giving rise to the independent Amorite states, which later ended with the rise of Babylonia under Hammurabi in 1800 BC. However, although Sumerians lost their separate identity, they left their culture, along with a number of technological and cultural contributions, which include the first wheeled vehicles and potters wheels, the first way of writing, and the foundation of the first city-states. Nevertheless, despite their numerous contributions to world culture, the history of the Sumerians was buried under the sands for centuries, and the scholars had no idea about the land of Sumer, the biblical Shinar till the mid-19th century, when several Western institutions and societies became inquisitive and began sending expeditions to the Near East and the Middle East, in search of evidence, intending to corroborate the biblical narratives. However, when the French archaeologist Ernest de Sarzec, in his attempt to find evidence to the support the mythical claim, excavated in the region for the first time in 1877, he found the opposite, the ruins of Sumer.

sumerian civilization
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Author Details
Dibyendu Banerjee
Ex student of Scottish Church College. Served a Nationalised Bank for nearly 35 years. Authored novels in Bengali. Translated into Bengali novels/short stories of Leo Tolstoy, Eric Maria Remarque, D.H.Lawrence, Harold Robbins, Guy de Maupassant, Somerset Maugham and others. Also compiled collections of short stories from Africa and Third World. Interested in literature, history, music, sports and international films.
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