Sumerian Civilization

Sumerian civilization began in the flood plains between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. Deep beneath the land that now covers most of modern day Iraq lies the ancient country of Sumer where Sumerian civilization thrived. It covered approximately half of Mesopotamia. From3500–2000 BC, this civilization flourished in the Mesopotamian land where the first cities began.

The Sumerians were the first civilized people to maintain a writing system called cuneiform (meaning curved lines). With this invention, the Sumerians were able to record literature, common laws, and business transactions and eventually created educational systems to teach cuneiform writing. The Sumerians gave the modern world a legacy of inventions, including agricultural and irrigation methods, weights and measures, the wheel, and the plow. They created the first city-state known for its architecture and its complex political, social, and economic structure that organized a legal system, labor practices, trade, and burial rites.

For thousands of years, cuneiform writing was the only writing system available to humans. At first, writing was developed to help govern trade and other business transactions. Later, people needed a way to identify themselves for business matters. Craftspeople developed pottery seals that, when rolled in moist clay, left behind a unique design or signature.

Writing quickly grew into a way of recording mythology, poetry, literature, mathematics, and historical events. For example, the legendary and much exaggerated tales of Gilgamesh were written in cuneiform. Gilgamesh was a mythical Sumerian ruler who possessed superhuman characteristics and engaged in fierce battles with ferocious animals. In fact, an epic tale of Gilgamesh tells of a great flood and is strikingly similar to the story of the flood in the Old Testament.

Cuneiform writing also enabled law codes, royal decrees, and court rulings to be recorded, preserved, and passed down through generations. The Sumerian King List, a chronology of legendary kings, is an historic example of this Sumerian legacy.

[Page 2143]Writing was a skill that demanded great dedication and painstaking practice. Education became organized as children learned to read and write in cuneiform. The first schools resulted and children of only the wealthiest families attended them. At first, the purpose of school was to learn how to be scribes who could read and write cuneiform. However, in time, students began to study the sciences as well.

Despite the lack of adequate or consistent rainfall, Sumerian civilization was agriculturally based because the Sumerians developed an irrigation method. They dug canals that brought water to their farming fields. The Sumerians became skilled farmers, credited for inventing the plow to till the soil. Their chief crops were barley, wheat, and grains. They also grew peas, onions, lettuce, grapes, and figs. They raised sheep, cattle, and goats for milk, wool, and meat. They fished the abundant rivers and hunted an occasional antelope, gazelle, deer, or wild bull as a much-appreciated special treat.

As agricultural processes became more efficient, crops and livestock became plentiful. An array of specialized occupations emerged as some Sumerians were able to leave the farm and take up specialized crafts. Merchants, teachers, priests, physicians, musicians, poets, scribes, and tradesmen existed in addition to farmers and fishermen. Other Sumerians created weapons, cloth, and pottery. In fact, the first wheel ever invented was used as a pottery wheel. Further advances in the use and design of the wheel included turning it on its side and creating open spokes. This eventually created not only wheeled wagons but later in Mesopotamian history, chariots that would be used in battle.

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