A Brief History of Sumer

The earliest known civilizations arouse in an area known as the "Fertile Crescent". The Fertile Crescent extends through what is now Iraq, Turkey, Syria and down into Israel. The Sumerian civilization occupying the current Iraq, between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.

Sumer was a collection of City-States with a shared language and culture. In fact the first known written language, cuneiform, was developed by the Sumerian people.

Each city was built around a temple dedicated to the particular cities patron God. With the head priest acting as the governor of each city. The concept of the "divine right of kings" was not present in Sumerian culture. The "king" was the head priest and acted more as a superintendent for the god of the local area. These high priest kings were there to listen to the gods and relay their messages to the people.

The age of Sumer is extensive and accounts for a greater period of time than that of the current Christian era. Beginning in about 5300 BC with the Ubaid period which is known for its distinctive high quality painted pottery. Followed by the Uruk period beginning approximately 4500 BC.

The Uruk period sees the flowering of Sumerian bureaucracy and the use of slaves. Cities begin to grow and the specialization of labor takes place. Colonies are founded in distant lands. However when the climate began to shift around 3000 BC. destruction followed mass migrations and war are a major occurrence as the people struggle to find new ways to live as the climate changes. It is during this time that the Epic of Gilgamesh is supposed to have occurred.

The Dynastic period from 2900 BC to 2300 BC is noted for the list of supposed kings who ruled during this time. Many of which though appear to be fictional or mythological characters. Among them Gilgamesh himself (He gains immortality in the great Epic).

The Lagash Dynasty is the last of the ethnically Sumerian rulers of Sumer. As the Semitic peoples took over the land from the Sumerians they also eventually took over its leadership.

The Sumerian Akkadian empire begins with Sargon. The man how first unified the Semites and conquered Sumeria. From 2450-2250 the newcomers ruled over Sumer. They learned the language and writing of the Sumerian peoples and used it much like people of the middle ages used Latin, as a way of distinguishing themselves from other outside barbarians.

The Akkadian empire also finds itself destroyed by outsider though when the Gutian dynasty destabilizes the government in a guerrilla war and steps into its place in 2250 BC. The Guti however were not ready for the complexities of running an empire and Sumer soon found itself in what could be called a dark age as canals and other pieces of Sumerian infrastructure fell into disrepair. Famine followed and people died.

In 2150 a great governor emerged from Lagash and saved Sumer giving it new life and ushering in a new "Golden Age" where artistic development soared. This Sumerian Renaissance was short lived though and by 2000 BC Sumer was falling into the hands of what would become the Babylonian empire.