If you are here you are probably wondering who the Sumerians are. The Sumerians were the creators of thfirst urban society. Since their discovery in the early 19th century we have learned they were the first people to develop the wheel, the farming plow for agriculture, and writing. Sumerian culture began around 5000 B.C.E and ended around 1750 B.C.E. with the capture of Ur the king at that point in history.
Sumerian culture was located around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Ancient Mesopotamia. Now known as modern day Iraq.
The Sumerians are credited with the creation of writing. They wrote in a style defined as Cuniform. With the word Cuniform literally meaning wedge-shaped which describes their style of writing perfectly. The Cuniform style of writing was used for 3000 years.
Check out this Tablet below inscribed with cuniform text.
Unlike their Egyptian brethren of a later time period who built pyramids as "tombs", the Sumerians built Ziggurats which were believed to be for worship. They are very large and their true purpose of worship is only a theory.
The below image is of the reconstructed Ziggurat of Ur.
The Sumerians were also credited with being the first brewers of beer. Beer was so important to their culture that they created a goddess named Ninkasi to pay her/beer their respect. In 1800 B.C.E there was a poet who wrote about Ninkasi and in doing so gave us the best known description of how beer was made in ancient Sumeria. I have a link to the hymn if you are so inclined to make an attempt at brewing the beer. A challenge which has been met before link.
The image below is an image of a cuniform tablet that recorded the allocation of beer.
One of the greatest stories to come out of ancient Mesopotamia is the story of Gilgamesh. The story tells of a man with incredible strength who accomplished many feats for his people. This story is believed to be a story about a Sumer king who ruled around 2700 B.C.E. He is listed on the Sumerian king list as the ruler of Uruk with his rule lasting 126 years.
Gilgamesh, from "The Epic of Gilgamesh"
The Sumerian King List
The Sumerians were an amazing society with many of there inventions lasting to this day.
I wrote this article to help people learn about this ancient society. So please feel free to do more research on the topic using google or some of the links and the bottom of the page.
If you are wondering why i did not write about all of the gods of Sumeria and the Annunaki in this article it because i plan on writing another article about the Sumerians with a focus on these subjects later.
If however, you are dying to know about them here are some links.
http://www.sitchin.com/
http://www.annunaki.org/
http://www.crystalinks.com/sumergods.html
Thank you for reading.
If you liked this article check out my other article on Coral Castle.
A castle built in the 1920's by one man.
Other links/sources.
http://www.ancient.eu/sumer/
http://www.history.com/
The oldest beer recipe in history
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