Sumer

As Sumer refers to the southern part of the cultural landscape of the Mesopotamian alluvial plain that extends between the present city of Baghdad and the Persian Gulf. In this region completed the Sumerians living there for the first time in human history, the transition to high culture and invented the cuneiform writing.

Name

The proper name of the Sumerians for this country was ki -en- gir, their language they called emegi (r). The term Sumer, however, goes to the Akkadian word back Sumeru, which designated both the land and the inhabitants of southern Mesopotamia. You've encountered, especially in King titles of the Old Babylonian period, where the rulers referred to themselves as the "King of Sumer and Akkad ". This testified in Sumerian language already in the 3rd millennium designation ( lugal kiengi kiuri (m)) presses the right to rule over the whole, later called Babylonia, southern Mesopotamia, in addition to the southern part of Sumer also a northern part, in called the basis of the empire of Akkad Akkad, had. At first the Akkadian language was reconstructed in the 19th century, the Akkadian word to describe the Sumerian language became common, which could be inferred from the Akkadian sources.

Biogeophysical conditions

The land of Sumer located today by the majority in the southern territory of Iraq, in the floodplains of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. This region is particularly influenced by the coastal marshes, the Gulf Coast in the ancient world was much further inland and has since withdrawn by sedimentary deposits of the rivers farther and farther to the southeast. These same sediments form fertile soils, which generally are suitable for the cultivation of crops. Because there low and variable rainfall, this is only possible in the vicinity of rivers or by artificial irrigation. Unlike in Egypt, however, the spring flood is a quite late and could thus jeopardize the harvest, also have high temperatures for large amounts of evaporation. The resulting salinity can be countered only by a washing out of the soil and by a fallow economy.

Contrary to its agricultural potential, the country Sumer over virtually no natural resources. Neither rocks nor metals are available on site, so this had to be imported from far away, the same is true for scaffoldings. Most important building materials were, therefore, the ubiquitous clay, reed and Erdpeche.

History

From when the designated country as Sumer was inhabited regularly by people, is not finally resolved until today. Oldest remains of settlements date back to the 6th millennium BC, with any previous settlements due to the thickness of the deposited sediments by the rivers in southern Iraq and the high ground water level of archeology are not available so far. Of these, the earliest traces of settlement proceeding, however, a more or less continuous development towards greater social services is understandable, the BC with the emergence of the first city in Uruk reached its first peak in the late 4th millennium.

From the early 3rd millennium BC and written sources are then available to inform us about a number, also known archaeological cities. These are mainly the city-states Adab, Eridu, Isin, Kish, Kullab, Lagash, Larsa, Nippur, Ur and Uruk. In these cities ruled local dynasties which were often also conflict with each other, as testified about the inscription on the Vulture Stele. The Sumerian King List suggests much younger the impression that these dynasties were alternated each other, and so an "abstract kingdom over a altsumerisches Reich" was passed and carried out by each of a dynasty. However, it is not historically accurate representation. In the second half of the 3rd millennium, came the first time to form a territorial state. These efforts were primarily operated by Sargon of Akkad, who claimed himself to have brought all of Mesopotamia under his control. Due to wide range of local unrest, the penetration of the Gutian mentioned peoples and possible climatic changes went this first territorial state in the early 22nd century BC irretrievably.

In the following years there were again primarily city-states until after about a century the ruler of Uruk larger parts of the country could bring under his control and become a leader for the 3rd dynasty of Ur, was the founder, in turn, could give rise to a large territorial state. This state existed for about 100 years and then went in the wake of attacks by the Elamites under from what is now Iran. In the aftermath increasingly came Ammuriter who migrated from northern areas, to power, to finally again could build a great empire of Hammurabi of Babylon I.. At the latest at this time was the Sumerian culture completely in the Semitic on, although the Sumerian language was a language of scholars still handed down for at least a millennium on.