What was the social structure of Sumerian society?
The Sumerian society operated under a highly stratified social structure and method of social organization, as did many other ancient societies of the time. Sumer had a ruling class, upper class, middle class, working-class, and enslaved class of peoples.
How did the Sumerian civilization develop?
The civilization quickly grew to include dozens of cities, like Ur, Kish and Uruk. As Sumerian cities exploded in size, Sumer emerged as one of the world’s first great agricultural societies. In time, Eridu would fade in influence and Uruk would take on an outsized role.
When did Sumerian architecture start?
Sumerian Art and Architecture Architecture on a grand scale is generally credited to have begun under the Sumerians, with religious structures dating back to 3400 B.C., although it appears that the basics of the structures began in the Ubaid period as far back as 5200 B.C. and were improved upon through the centuries.
What were the main features of Sumerian cities?
Nipur, Lagash, Ur and Kish were the four major cities of the Sumerians. In every city state king was the highest authority. The Chief place of political activities of a city state was Ziggurat (Sumerian temple). The Sumerian priests were known as Patteshi. They were the chief architects of the Sumerian administration.
How was the Sumerian civilization divided?
City-states in Mesopotamia. In the late 4th millennium BC, Sumer was divided into many independent city-states, which were divided by canals and boundary stones.
How were Sumerian government and society organized?
The Sumerian government was a form of Theocracy meaning that a deity, or god, was the supreme ruler and Kings and Priests were given divine guidance to rule their lands. The Sumerians had over 3,000 gods. Each city had its own government and laws.
How will you describe the Sumerian civilization?
Sumer was an ancient civilization founded in the Mesopotamia region of the Fertile Crescent situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Known for their innovations in language, governance, architecture and more, Sumerians are considered the creators of civilization as modern humans understand it.
How did the Sumerian civilization develop?
Nomads moved into the fertile land and began to form small villages which slowly grew into large towns. Eventually these cities developed into the civilization of the Sumer. This land is often called the "Cradle of Civilization". As the Sumerian villages grew into large cities, they formed city-states.
Who was the top of the social structure of Sumerian?
A social hierarchy developed in Sumerian city-states. Kings were at the top. Below them were priests and nobles. The middle ranks included skilled craftspeople and merchants.
What are 3 facts about the Sumerians?
Top 10 factsThe ancient cities of Sumer were rediscovered in the 1840s. ... The Sumerians were excellent mathematicians and used 60 as a base. ... The Sumerians developed a calendar based on the moon and the sun (lunisolar). ... The Sumerians were the first to develop writing. ... Each of the Sumerian city states had its own god.More items...
Do Sumerians still exist?
After the rise of the Amorites in Mesopotamia, and the invasion of the Elamites, Sumer ceased to exist and was only known through references in the works of ancient writers, including the scribes who wrote the biblical Book of Genesis.
What technology did the Sumerians invent?
Technology. Sumerians invented or improved a wide range of technology, including the wheel, cuneiform script, arithmetic, geometry, irrigation, saws and other tools, sandals, chariots, harpoons, and beer.
What did the Sumerians call themselves?
the black headed peopleThe Sumerians called themselves “the black headed people” and their land, in cuneiform script, was simply “the land” or “the land of the black headed people”and, in the biblical Book of Genesis, Sumer is known as Shinar.
When did Sumerian civilization start and end?
The history of Sumer spans the 5th to 3rd millennia BCE in southern Mesopotamia, and is taken to include the prehistoric Ubaid and Uruk periods. Sumer was the region's earliest known civilization and ended with the downfall of the Third Dynasty of Ur around 2004 BCE.
Was Sumerian the first civilization?
Sumer, site of the earliest known civilization, located in the southernmost part of Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, in the area that later became Babylonia and is now southern Iraq, from around Baghdad to the Persian Gulf.
How did Sumerian civilization end?
The Akkadian Empire was destroyed by raids from neighboring hill peoples by 2100 BC. The Sumerian civilization collapsed bringing on a dark age. It wasn't until 1792 BC that a new power came to control much of Mesopotamia, the Babylonians, through their king Hammurabi.
What type of laws did the Sumerians have?
cuneiform law, the body of laws revealed by documents written in cuneiform, a system of writing invented by the ancient Sumerians and used in the Middle East in the last three millennia bc.
What was the economy of the Sumerians?
Although agriculture was the chief industry of Sumer, commerce with distant lands also flourished. The Mesopotamian plain was lacking in resources such as metals, timber, stone, and grapevines, so the Sumerians had to trade abroad to get them.
What was the Mesopotamian government?
Type of Government: Mesopotamia was ruled by kings. The kings only ruled a single city though, rather than the entire civilization. For example, the city of Babylon was ruled by King Hammurabi. Each king and city designed the rules and systems that they thought would be most beneficial for their people.
What type of ruler ship did the Sumerians have?
The ancient Sumerians had a monarchy as a government, since the king was in charge of the state and selected advisors to help him govern.
What is the Sumerian civilization known for?
Sumerian civilization is known for being the first major society of the Mesopotamian region within the Fertile Crescent. The civilization is known...
What are some characteristics of Sumerian society?
Sumerian society was considered very advanced for its time. Sumer had developed systems of social hierarchy, writing, arts, architecture, religion,...
How was Sumerian society structured?
Sumerian society was broken down into various social classes. At the top was the ruling class, then the upper, middle, working, and enslaved classes.
When did Sumerian civilization start and end?
The Sumerian Civilization began around 5000 BCE with the rise of the city-states such as Ur and Uruk in the Mesopotamian region. They dominated thi...
Where is ancient Sumer located today?
Ancient Sumer was located in Mesopotamia near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. This region is today known as the Middle East.
Is ancient Sumer and Mesopotamia the same thing?
Ancient Sumer and Mesopotamia are not the same thing. Mesopotamia refers to the larger area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Sumer was a ci...
What was ancient Sumer known for?
Sumeria is most know for their great city-states, creating the world's first writing system called cuneiform, and the great ziggurats that were cen...
What Happened to Sumer?
In 2004 B.C., the Elamites stormed Ur and took control. At the same time, Amorites had begun overtaking the Sumerian population.
What was Sumer surrounded by?
Each city-state of Sumer was surrounded by a wall, with villages settled just outside and distinguished by the worship of local deities.
Why were schools common in Sumerian culture?
Schools were common in Sumerian culture, marking the world’s first mass effort to pass along knowledge in order to keep a society running and building on itself.
What was the purpose of sculpture?
Sculpture was used mainly to adorn temples and offer some of the earliest examples of human artists seeking to achieve some form of naturalism in their figures. Facing a scarcity of stone, Sumerians made leaps in metal-casting for their sculpture work, though relief carving in stone was a popular art form.
What was the first city in the world?
Their culture was comprised of a group of city-states, including Eridu, Nippur, Lagash, Kish, Ur and the very first true city, Uruk. At its peak around 2800 BC, the city had a population between 40,000 and 80,000 people living between its six miles of defensive walls, making it a contender for the largest city in the world.
Where was Sumer founded?
SOURCES. Sumer was an ancient civilization founded in the Mesopotamia region of the Fertile Crescent situated between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Known for their innovations in language, governance, architecture and more, Sumerians are considered the creators of civilization as modern humans understand it.
How tall were the pyramids?
These impressive pyramid-like, stepped temples, which were either square or rectangular, featured no inner chambers and stood about 170 feet high. Ziggurats often featured sloping sides and terraces with gardens. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of these. Palaces also reach a new level of grandiosity.
What is the Sumerian word for ruler par excellence?
The Sumerian word for ruler par excellence is lugal, which etymologically means “big person.”. The first occurrence comes from Kish about 2700 bce, since an earlier instance from Uruk is uncertain because it could simply be intended as a personal name: “Monsieur Legrand.”. In Uruk the ruler’s special title was en.
What languages did the Semites speak?
There have always been in Mesopotamia speakers of Semitic languages (which belong to the Afro-Asiatic group and also include ancient Egyptian, Berber, and various African languages). This element is easier to detect in ancient Mesopotamia, but whether people began to participate in city civilization in the 4th millennium bce or only during the 3rd is unknown. Over the last 4,000 years, Semites (Amorites, Canaanites, Aramaeans, and Arabs) have been partly nomadic, ranging the Arabian fringes of the Fertile Crescent, and partly settled; and the transition to settled life can be observed in a constant, though uneven, rhythm. There are, therefore, good grounds for assuming that the Akkadians (and other pre-Akkadian Semitic tribes not known by name) also originally led a nomadic life to a greater or lesser degree. Nevertheless, they can only have been herders of domesticated sheep and goats, which require changes of pasturage according to the time of year and can never stray more than a day’s march from the watering places. The traditional nomadic life of the Bedouin makes its appearance only with the domestication of the camel at the turn of the 2nd to 1st millennium bce.
What period did the Sumerians live in?
The Sumerians to the end of the Early Dynastic period. Despite the Sumerians’ leading role, the historical role of other races should not be underestimated. While with prehistory only approximate dates can be offered, historical periods require a firm chronological framework, which, unfortunately, has not yet been established for the first half ...
What does the Uruk Level IV represent?
Besides the peaceful pursuits reflected in art and writing, the art also provides the first information about violent contacts: cylinder seals of the Uruk Level IV depict fettered men lying or squatting on the ground, being beaten with sticks or otherwise maltreated by standing figures. They may represent the execution of prisoners of war. It is not known from where these captives came or what form “war” would have taken or how early organized battles were fought. Nevertheless, this does give the first, albeit indirect, evidence for the wars that are henceforth one of the most characteristic phenomena in the history of Mesopotamia.
What were the mainstays of the Sumerians' economy?
In Uruk and probably also in other cities of comparable size, the Sumerians led a city life that can be more or less reconstructed as follows: temples and residential districts; intensive agriculture, stock breeding, fishing, and date palm cultivation forming the four mainstays of the economy; and highly specialized industries carried on by sculptors, seal engravers, smiths, carpenters, shipbuilders, potters, and workers of reeds and textiles. Part of the population was supported with rations from a central point of distribution, which relieved people of the necessity of providing their basic food themselves, in return for their work all day and every day, at least for most of the year. The cities kept up active trade with foreign lands.
Where did writing spread?
At Kish, in northern Babylonia, almost 120 miles northwest of Uruk, a stone tablet has been found with the same repertoire of archaic signs as those found at Uruk itself. This fact demonstrates that intellectual contacts existed between northern and southern Babylonia. The dispersion of writing in an unaltered form presupposes the existence of schools in various cities that worked according to the same principles and adhered to one and the same canonical repertoire of signs. It would be wrong to assume that Sumerian was spoken throughout the area in which writing had been adopted. Moreover, the use of cuneiform for a non-Sumerian language can be demonstrated with certainty from the 27th century bce.
What does a man feeding sheep with flowering branches represent?
A man feeding sheep with flowering branches, a prominent personality in seal designs, might thus represent the ruler or a priest in his capacity as administrator and protector of flocks.
What did the Sumerians do?
For the next few millennia, the Sumerians developed complex societies and major civilizations that did things like invent the wheel, the cart, the sailboat, irrigation techniques, legal codes, and systems of math . So, they were pretty busy. From about the third millennium BCE, the Sumerian cities thrived as part of the Akkadian Empire ruled by another Mesopotamian society, but eventually fell to invaders around 1750 BCE. Still, Sumerian culture remained for a few more centuries before finally disappearing.
What did the Sumerians invent?
The Sumerians invented and developed many things from irrigation to sailing technology to math, but amongst the most famous is the world's first true writing system. The Sumerians wrote in a script called cuneiform and recorded lots about their lives and society.
What is the history of Mesopotamia?
Mesopotamia is a pretty nice place to start a civilization. It's got temperate climates, fertile soils, and by around 7500 BCE people were starting to live there. These people just weren't the Sumerians.
What language did the Sumerians use?
Their written language used a script called cuneiform, which was characterized by angular shapes that formed characters. Using cuneiform, the Sumerians wrote down everything, from the prices of items at the market on clay receipts, to the legends of epic warrior kings like Gilgamesh, to the first legal codes.
Where is the ancient Sumerians civilization located?
The ancient Sumerians developed one of the world's oldest civilizations based around the region of Sumer located in southern Mesopotamia, today around Iraq and Kuwait.
What were the priests in Sumerian society?
Priests were very powerful advisors who had the power to turn the gods against the king should he ignore their advice. Below the royal courts and temples were the common people, generally laborers, and below them were the slaves. That's Sumerian society in a nutshell. Sumerian Culture.
Which civilization developed one of the earliest complex civilizations in the world?
The ancient Sumerians developed one of the earliest complex civilizations in the world. In this lesson, we are going to explore Sumerian history and culture, and examine the legacies of their dominance. Create an account.
What is the most developed period of Sumerian history?
The most developed periods of Sumerian history begin three millennia before Christ, and are the following: Uruk, the early dynasty, the Akkadian empire and the third dynasty of Ur.
How were the Sumerians categorized?
The Sumerians have been categorized historically by different stages that govern by the governing dynasty, and the advances and social developments that they underwent. However, the periods prior to the consolidation of the Sumerians as a civilization are also studied, which can be traced back a few millennia later.
Why did the Sumerian civilization end?
The Sumerian civilization would see its end a few centuries later. Among its causes are the increase in the salinity of the lands , making difficult the abundant agriculture that gave them sustenance.
How is Sumerian history broken down?
Sumerian history is broken down from the main dynasties of power and dynamics existing in the great cities of the region. The vestiges left behind by the Sumerians have also allowed to create an entire imaginary around expressive forms, thus reconstructing the mythology of that time.
Why did the Sumerians build their temples with clay?
Due to the natural absence of trees in the vicinity of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, the buildings erected by the Sumerians consisted only of clay bricks. Although it was an effective method, the temples, houses and buildings constructed with this material deteriorated quickly.
What was the Semitic influence in the Sumer?
The Semitic influence within the cities began to occupy positions of power and different courses, that did not help that the sumer condition was perpetuated. The use of Sumerian language was increasingly limited, becoming classified as a priestly language.
What is the Sumerian history?
The study of Sumerian history over the years has allowed us to discover qualities that have marked the life of man in society, as well as the elements that make up an organized and functional civilization. Sumerian history is broken down from the main dynasties of power and dynamics existing in the great cities of the region.
What type of tablets were used in Sumerian writing?
Many Sumerian clay tablets have been found with writing. Initially, pictograms were used, followed by cuneiform and then ideograms.
What were the Sumerians' inventions?
Sumerians invented or improved a wide range of technology, including the wheel, cuneiform script, arithmetic, geometry, irrigation, saws and other tools, sandals, chariots, harpoons, and beer.
When did the Sumerian Renaissance end?
The Sumerian Renaissance ended with invasion by the Amorites, whose dynasty of Isin continued until 1700 BCE , at which point Mespotamia came under Babylonian rule.
What was the Uruk period?
The Uruk period (4100-2900 BCE) saw several transitions. First, pottery began to be mass-produced. Second, trade goods began to flow down waterways in southern Mespotamia, and large, temple-centered cities (most likely theocratic and run by priests-kings) rose up to facilitate this trade. Slave labor was also utilized.
What dynasty was Sumerian?
The Sumerian Renaissance/Third Dynasty of Ur (2047-1940 BCE) saw the rulers Ur-Nammu and Shulgi, whose power extended into southern Assyria. However, the region was becoming more Semitic, and the Sumerian language became a religious language.
What does "written characters" mean?
Written characters symbolizing an idea or entity without indicating the sounds used to say it.
Where were the Sumerian necklaces found?
Sumerian Necklaces and Headgear Sumerian necklaces and headgear discovered in the royal (and individual) graves, showing the way they may have been worn.
What is the contribution of Sumerians to the civilization of mankind?
After the reading of the ‘Rock of Behistan’ many facts regarding the Sumerian civilisation came to lime light. Thus the development of Cuneiform script was the outstanding contribution of Sumerians to the civilisation of mankind.
What was the religion of the Sumerians?
The religious belief of the Sumerians was superb. They built temples at the centre of the city state for the worship of gods and goddesses. The Sumerian temple was known as Ziggurat. The meaning of ‘Ziggurat’ is “Hill of the Heaven”. These temples were a sort of multi-storeyed tower temples.
Why were the Sumerian tablets of small size?
They hardened these tablets by drying them up in the sun. Most of those tablets were of small size because large ones often cracked in the process of baking. These Cuneiform writings of the “Sumerians were read from right to left. Thousands of such tablets containing Cuneiform writing are found from Sumerian library.
How did the Sumerians get the time?
The Sumerians used water clock to measure the time. They divided one hour into 60 minutes and each minute into 60 seconds. The water fell down drop by drop from the hole of a pot. The Sumerians got idea about the time by looking at the marks given in the pot. This was a unique invention of the Sumerians.
What was the Sumerian civilization?
Sumerian Civilization and It’s Contributions! The Sumerian civilization grew up in the river valley of Tigris and Euphrates. The Sumerian civilisation formed a part of it. The lower valley of Tigris and Euphrates was famous as Sumer. This civilisation grew up 5000 years before the birth of Christ. The people of Sumer established cities like Nipur, ...
How did the Sumerians leave their footprints on the sands of time?
The Sumerians left indelible foot prints on the sands of time by erecting many cities, palaces Ziggurats. They used burnt bricks for the construction of different structures. The Ziggurats were seven or eight storeyed buildings and were narrower around the top. They gave proper attention to give a finishing touch to, every architecture. They knew to column, vault, arch and dome with proportion.
What cities did the Sumerians build?
The people of Sumer established cities like Nipur, Ur, Umma, Eridu, Kish and Lagash and enriched this civilisation. Idea regarding the administration, art of writing, art, architecture, literature, trade and commerce of the Sumerians are known from the analysis of archaeological remains of that land.
What was the first civilization in Sumer?
However, Eridu was just the beginning of Sumer. The civilization quickly grew to include dozens of cities, like Ur, Kish and Uruk. As Sumerian cities exploded in size, Sumer emerged as one of the world’s first great agricultural societies. In time, Eridu would fade in influence and Uruk would take on an outsized role.
How did the Sumerians benefit from the floodplain?
By settling between two large rivers, the Sumerians benefited from rich floodplain soil and ample water to irrigate crops. Their success was accelerated by Sumerian technological innovations like canals and plows.
What did Sumerians learn?
The Sumerians learned to farm on a grand scale in the so-called Fertile Crescent, a thin, crescent-shaped sliver of Mesopotamia often tied to the dawn of farming, writing, mathematics and astronomy.
Which empires used Sumerian language?
But the fascination with Sumerian society goes back much further in human history. Both the Babylonian and Assyrian empires, which rose to control parts of the Middle East as Sumer faded away, continued using the Sumerian language in their religious rituals for millennia.
When was Eridu founded?
The city seems to have been founded around 5400 B.C. and it was occupied for thousands of years until it was finally abandoned for good around 600 B.C. Eridu’s status was legendary even in ancient times. Babylonians actually believed that Eridu was the oldest city on Earth, having been created by the gods themselves.
Did the Sumerians pass the flood story down?
The idea that the flood story would’ve been passed down from the Sumerians makes sense for other reasons, too. In modern times, Sumer has captivated everyone from archaeologists to ancient alien conspiracy theorists. But the fascination with Sumerian society goes back much further in human history. Both the Babylonian and Assyrian empires, which rose to control parts of the Middle East as Sumer faded away, continued using the Sumerian language in their religious rituals for millennia. Excavations of Babylonian homes have uncovered tablets inscribed with the Sumerian language from long after the civilization itself was gone.
What did the people of the early civilizations do?
The people who lived in the region raised animals and grew grains, even as they continued to hunt and gather. Over time, those villages expanded and their people became increasingly dependent on farming. Archaeologists still aren’t sure exactly what life was like for these early cultures.
What were the Sumerians' inventions?
The Sumerians were inventive and skilled technologically. Sumer had highly advanced and well-developed arts, sciences, government, religion, social structure, infrastructure, and written language. The Sumerians were the first known civilization to use writing to record their thoughts and literature. Some of the other inventions of Sumeria included the wheel, a cornerstone of human civilization; widespread use of technology and infrastructure, including canals and irrigation; agriculture and mills; shipbuilding for travel into the Persian Gulf and the trade of textiles, leather goods, and jewelry for semi-precious stones and other things; astrology and cosmology; religion; ethics and philosophy; library catalogues; law codes; writing and literature; schools; medicine; beer; the measurement of time: 60 minutes in an hour and 60 seconds in a minute; brick technology; and major developments in art, architecture, city planning, and music.
What was the first civilization in Mesopotamia?
The society of Sumeria was one of the first known advanced civilizations in the world and the first to thrive in southern Mesopotamia, lasting from about 3500 BCE to 2334 BCE when the Sumerians were conquered by the Akkadians from central Mesopotamia. The Sumerians were inventive and skilled technologically.
How high is a bull lyre?
The bull lyre is one of three that was excavated from the royal cemetery of Ur and is about 13 inches high. Each lyre had a different animal head protruding from the front of the sound box to denote its pitch. The use of lapis lazuli and other rare semi-precious stones indicates that this was a luxury item.
What is the name of the city that Abraham was born in?
Sumerian Art and Architecture. The ziggurat at Ur, supoosedly the city of the prophet Abraham's birth. Ur was a principal city of ancient Mesopotamia. The Ziggurat was dedicated to the moon and was built approximately in the 21st century BC by king Ur-Namma. In Sumerian times it was called Etemennigur.
Why was Sumeria not ideal?
Because the land of the fertile crescent was agriculturally productive, people did not have to devote themselves full-time to farming in order to survive, so they were able to have a variety of different vocations, including among them artists and craftsmen. Sumeria was by no means ideal, though.
What was the Sumerian culture?
They were governed as theocracies, each with its own priest and king, and patron god or goddess. The existence of this ancient Sumerian culture was not known until archaeologists started to discover and unearth some of the treasures from this civilization in the 1800s.
What was the main medium of art in the Neo-Sumerian period?
Most of the art made was for religious purposes, with sculpture, pottery, and painting being the primary mediums of expression. Many portrait sculptures were produced during this time, such as the twenty-seven statues of the Sumerian king, Gudea, created during the Neo-Sumerian period after the two-century rule by the Akkadians.
Sumerian Civilization
Sumerian Language and Literature
- The Sumerian language is the oldest linguistic record. It first appeared in archaeological records around 3100 B.C. and dominated Mesopotamiafor the next thousand years. It was mostly replaced by Akkadian around 2000 B.C. but held on as a written language in cuneiform for another 2,000 years. Cuneiform, which is used in pictographic tablets, appeared as far back as …
Sumerian Art and Architecture
- Architecture on a grand scale is generally credited to have begun under the Sumerians, with religious structures dating back to 3400 B.C., although it appears that the basics of the structures began in the Ubaid period as far back as 5200 B.C. and were improved upon through the centuries. Homes were made from mud bricks or bundled marsh reeds. The ...
Sumerian Science
- Sumerians had a system of medicine that was based in magic and herbalism, but they were also familiar with processes of removing chemical parts from natural substances. They are considered to have had an advanced knowledge of anatomy, and surgical instruments have been found in archeological sites. One of the Sumerians greatest advances was in the area of hydraulic engin…
Sumerian Culture
- Schools were common in Sumerian culture, marking the world’s first mass effort to pass along knowledge in order to keep a society running and building on itself. Sumerians left behind scores of written records, but they are more renowned for their epic poetry, which influenced later works in Greece and Rome and sections of the Bible, most notably the story of the Great Flood, the Ga…
Gilgamesh
- The very first ruling body of Sumer that has historical verification is the First Dynasty of Kish. The earliest ruler mentioned is Etana of Kish, who, in a document from the time, is credited as having “stabilized all the lands.” One thousand years later, Etana would be memorialized in a poem that told of his adventures in heaven. The most famous of the early Sumerian rulers is Gilgamesh, ki…
Sumerian Power Struggles
- Somewhere around 2600 B.C., a power struggle erupted between the leaders of Kish, Erech and Ur, which set off a “musical-chairs” scenario of rulers for the region for the next 400 years. The first conflict resulted in the kingdom of Awan seizing control and shifting the ruling body outside of Sumer until the kingship was returned to the Kish. The Kish kept control briefly until the rise of U…
Sargon
- Sargon was an Akkadian whose past is shrouded in legends that some claim were ignited by Sargon himself. The claim is that he was the secret child of a high priestess who placed him in a basket and cast him off into a river, a story that was later utilized for Moses in the Old Testament. Sumerian tradition says that Sargon was the son of a gardener who rose to the position of cupb…
Ur-Nammu
- The final gasp of Sumer leadership came in 2100 B.C. when Utuhegal, king of Ur, overthrew the Gutians. Utuhegal’s reign was brief, with Ur-Nammu, the former governor of Ur, taking the throne, starting a dynasty that would rule for about a century. Ur-Nammu was known as a builder. Figurines from the time depict him carrying building materials. During his reign, he started massi…
What Happened to Sumer?
- In 2004 B.C., the Elamites stormed Ur and took control. At the same time, Amorites had begun overtaking the Sumerian population. The ruling Elamites were eventually absorbed into Amorite culture, becoming the Babylonians and marking the end of the Sumerians as a distinct body from the rest of Mesopotamia.
History
Social Organization
Economy
Religion and Beliefs
Technology
Architecture and Other Practices
- Due to the natural absence of trees in the vicinity of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, the buildings erected by the Sumerians consisted only of clay bricks. Although it was an effective method, the temples, houses and buildings constructed with this material deteriorated quickly. It is said that the Sumerians used to tear down some of their buildi...