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Sumer

Sumer was a civilization and a historical region in the south of Iraq , the Mesopotamia. It lasted from the first settlement of Eridu in the Ubaid period (late ^sixth millennium BC. ) through the Uruk period ( IV ^millenniumBC. ) and dynastic periods ( ^third millennium BC. ) until the rise of Babylon in the early ^second millennium BC. AD. The term Sumerian applies to all speakers of the Sumerian language. It is the first civilization truly urban and marks the end of the Prehistory to the Middle East.

Summary

1 The origin of the Sumerian civilization
2 Political Structure
Art and Civilization 3
4 Religion
5 Notes
6 See also

Origin of the Sumerian civilization

The Sumerian civilization appeared as Jean Margueron the fact that spelled - cereal growing naturally for thousands of years near the banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates - has nine thousand years ago man to then settle in replacing the need to eat every day with the ability to store grain, so food a year. This decisive change induced early urban structures, necessitating irrigation works of exceptional magnitude, in thousands of hectares. Sumerian civilization flourished in inventing the writing and architecture.

The emergence of this urban civilization can suddenly appear (to the ^IVth millennium BC. with the Uruk period ). We do not know, moreover, where are the Sumerians, the Sumerian language not belonging to the group of Semitic languages , nor to that of Indo-European languages , the famous myth of Abgad (Seven Sages) attributes the first civilization of the country by these strange new immigrants "came from the sea." It is possible that they came from the Indian subcontinent or Asia along the coast of Iran. Other hypotheses would come from the north ( Asia Minor or Zagros ).

Yet some authors, like Jean Louis Huot (see Bibliography) believe that this civilization is the result of the slow evolution of sedentary human communities that occupied the south of Mesopotamia for ten millennia. At some point, they have developed the tool that allowed them to write their language, Sumerian.

This civilization declined and disappeared probably due to the sterilization of saline farmland (infiltration into the soil of irrigation water would have pushed them to the surface and concentrate mineral salts in the groundwater ^{Political Structure}

Contract archaic Sumerian cuneiform pre-registration, the Louvre

The use of writing is concomitant with a complex organization of society. It is administered in a careful and finicky, a priestly and monarchical state ruled by a king ( lugal "big man") or a prince ( ensi once read patesi).

The sumrologue Th Jacobsen proposes the idea of a democracy primitive origins of Sumer. Based primarily on myths that depict assemblies occur where heroes, men or deities (Epic of Gilgamesh ), he thinks that the oldest political institution was an assembly of freemen that would Alumni managed and current affairs when the need arose, would delegate powers to one in for major work or a lugal in case of war. In this system, the religious and royal authorities could develop at the expense of freemen.

Karl August Wittvogel defends the thesis of a State "hydraulic." The Sumerian civilization is an example, among other things, the existence of a despotic power required by the need to organize and administer a network of water distribution: it was fairly distribute it, but also be obtained by fetching the necessary work to create and then maintain that network. This theory could easily blend with that of a primitive democracy and despotism of the royal power. It was fought, particularly after the research of R. McAdams, who showed that irrigation of Sumer at the beginning ^of the third millennium does not require coercive power, each city needing only a small area to meet his needs. In addition, historians have found no evidence in the texts that oriental despotism was based on the problems of water management, even if one of the royal duties was to ensure the construction and management channels. Research in this area are not completed and one wonders if the development of regional Mari , whose implementation is certainly required very large resources in manpower and time, could be done without coercive power, s Relying on the idea of the state and its needs.

Civilization and Art

Gudea , Prince of Lagash , statue dedicated to the god Ningishzida , c. 2120 BC. BC , Louvre

The Sumerians and their successors Akkadian culture possessed exceptionally advanced, they should include:

the foundation of the first city-states ( Ur , Lagash , Uruk , Umma , etc.).
the first political system in two assemblies;
the work of copper ;
the invention of the wheel : see pot Bronocice ;
the use of brick in residential construction;
the first architecture known religious ( temples and ziggurats );
Development of statuary;
the etrog (art of engraving on precious stones);
writing, the basis of figures after pictographic and cuneiform ;
mathematics and writing numbers in sexagesimal system : Sumerian numeration ;
the first school system;
early forms of slavery ;
the trade and the concept of money;
the invention of beer ( sikaru ) and at the same time of alcohol. .

Religion

Sumerian religion has influenced the whole of Mesopotamia for nearly three thousand years, and the first eleven chapters of the Bible . It is a very important component of life, both private and public, the Sumerians and gives birth to artistic performances as literary works. In designing Sumerian, the king is the custodian of the deity: his priestly function is as well as political.

The Sumerian religion is characterized by polytheism and syncretism. Its pantheon has a wide variety of gods, structured in a strict hierarchy, modeled on human society.

At the top is the cosmic triad consists of:

Year ("sky-god"), master of the sky, king of the gods, and his consort Antum ;
Enlil ("lord-air"), master of the earth, demiurge, patron god of Nippur , and his consort Ninlil;
Enki ("lord earth"?), Ea for the Semites , master of freshwater, which is the holy city Eridu.

In this triad are the astral deities as the moon-god Nanna ( Sin in Akkadian ) and the sun god Utu ( Shamash in Akkadian), then the gods and the gods infernal warriors and the gods of nature and the gods healers and then the gods of tools (hoe, brick mold, etc..) and finally the spirits and demons.

Notes

(en) Lester R. Brown , " Starving the People To Feed the Cars , "in The Washington Post , September 10, 2006, p. B03.
This is not rocket science "Beer rolling stone gathers no moss" 2003
(en) Study on the Sumerian or the origins of civilization

Mesopotamia
History:	Period of Uruk Sumer Dynasties archaic Akkadian Empire Third Dynasty of Ur Kingdom of Babylon Assyria Achaemenids Seleucids Parthians Sassanids
Major cities:	Uruk Ur Eridu Lagash Nippur Kish Babylon Tell Brak Mari Assur Nineveh Kalkhu Hard Sharrukin
Politics, society and economy:	Agriculture Cities and urban Diplomacy Animals
Culture:	Religion Ziggurat Cuneiform Debut writing Literature Medicine