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- DictionarySu·mer/ˈso͞omər/
- 1. an ancient region of southwestern Asia in present-day Iraq, comprising the southern part of Mesopotamia. From the 4th millennium bc it was the site of city states which became part of ancient Babylonia.
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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.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Sumer (/ ˈ s uː m ər /) is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC.
- The Ubaid Period
- The Sumerian King List
- The Rise of Cities
- The Akkadian Empire in Sumer
- The Sumerian Renaissance
- Sumer's Decline & Legacy
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The region of Sumer was long thought to have been first inhabited around 5000 BCE. This date has been contested in recent years, however, and it now thought that human activity in the area began much earlier. The first settlers were not Sumerians but a people of unknown origin whom archaeologists have termed the Ubaid people - from the excavated mo...
According to the scholar Samuel Noah Kramer, “The first ruler of Sumer, whose deeds are recorded, if only in the briefest kind of statement, is a king by the name of Etana of Kish, who may have come to the throne quite early in the third millennium B.C. In the King List he is described as he who stabilized all the lands” (The Sumerians, 43). The Su...
Whenever the Sumerian civilization was first established in the region, by 3600 BCE they had invented the wheel, writing, the sail boat, agricultural processes such as irrigation, and the concept of the city (though China and India also lay claim to `the first cities' in the world). It is generally accepted that the first cities in the world rose i...
The Early Dynastic Period (2900-2334 BCE) saw the subtle shift from a priest-king (known as an ensi) to a more modern-day concept of `king' known as a Lugal (`big man'). The city-states of Sumer during this time fought for control of arable land and water rights until the rise of the First Dynasty of Lagash in 2500 BCE. Under their king Eannutum, L...
The last period in Sumerian history is known as The Ur III Period (2047-1750 BCE) so named for the Third Dynasty of the city of Ur. This period is also known as The Sumerian Renaissance due to the remarkable advances in culture – touching upon virtually every single aspect of civilized human life – which were made. The kings of Ur, Ur-Nammu(r. 2047...
Under Shulgi's reign, a wallwas constructed 155 miles long (250 kilometres) to keep out the Semitic-speaking tribes known as the Martu or Tidnum but better known by their biblical name of Amorites. Shulgi's son, grandson, and great-grandson all renovated and strengthened the wall to keep those they called `the barbarians' out of Sumer proper but th...
Sumer was the southernmost region of ancient Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization. Learn about its history, culture, cities, writing, and gods from this comprehensive article.
- Joshua J. Mark
Oct 9, 2019 · Definition. The Sumerians were the people of southern Mesopotamia whose civilization flourished between c. 4100-1750 BCE. Their name comes from the region which is frequently – and incorrectly – referred to as a “country”.
- Joshua J. Mark
Dec 7, 2017 · Sumer was a city-state culture that flourished in the Fertile Crescent from 4500 to 2000 B.C. It was known for its innovations in language, writing, architecture, agriculture and more.
The region of southern Mesopotamia is known as Sumer, and it is in Sumer that we find some of the oldest known cities, including Ur and Uruk.
Sumer (or Šumer) was one of the early civilizations of the Ancient Near East, located in the southern part of Mesopotamia (southeastern Iraq) from the time of the earliest records in the mid-fourth millennium B.C.E. until the rise of Babylonia in the late third millennium B.C.E. The term "Sumerian" applies to all speakers of the Sumerian language.
