Sumer
Sumer is the earliest known civilization in southern Mesopotamia, in what is now southern Iraq. Sumer may have been one of the first civilizations in the world, along with Ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley.[1]
Sumer civilization began in approximately 3500 BC, and grew mostly along the Tigris River and the Euphrates River. The land of Sumer was appropriate for growing food. Sumerian culture is famous for its written cuneiform script, whose letters were formed by pressing a triangle shaped reed into wet-clay tiles. Sumeria is also cited as having created the wheel, and with dividing a day into 24 hours and an hour into 60 minutes.
The earliest Sumerian written texts originated in the cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr, and date back to 3300 BC. Early cuneiform script writing would not emerge until around 300 years later, in approximately 3000 BC.[2]
Sumerian communities were organized into city-states, each ruled by a priest or king, until Akkad conquered Sumeria in the third millennium BC. One of the most famous Sumerian cities was Ur (not the same city as Uruk but near it).
Relations with the Akkadians
[change | change source]During the 3rd millennium BC, a close cultural symbiosis developed between the Sumerians (who spoke a language isolate) and Akkadian-speakers, leading to a widespread bilingualism among the two cultures.[3]
The Sumerian city of Eridu, on the coast of the Persian Gulf, may have been the world's first city.[4]
The Sumerians lost their identity along with their language in around 2000 BC, when a large group of different people, the Amorites, moved into their region. The Sumerian language continued as a religious language taught in schools in Babylonia and Assyria for as long as cuneiform was used.
Clothing
[change | change source]The Sumerians made their clothing by using the natural resources that were available to them. Clothing was made from wool or flax (which Sumerians could raise and harvest). Heavier clothing was worn in the winter, and lighter clothing was worn in the summer.
Sumerian men were usually bare-chested, and wore skirt-like clothes that tied at the waist. Sumerian women usually wore dresses, which covered them from their shoulders to their ankles; their right arm and right shoulder were left uncovered.
Sumerian men were either clean shaven or had long hair and beards. Sumerian women grew their hair long, but usually wore it braided and wrapped around their heads. When entertaining guests, women placed headdresses in their hair.
Although both rich and poor Sumerians wore the same style of clothing, rich Sumerians wore clothing that was made out of expensive and luxurious materials. Rich women and princesses also wore clothing that was colorful and bright.
Sumerians of either gender wore earrings and necklaces, and during celebrations, jewelry was worn copiously. Necklaces with bright, precious stones, including lapis lazuli and carnelian were also popular among people of ancient Sumeria. Wealthier Sumerians often wore beautiful gold and silver bracelets and earrings.
Related pages
[change | change source]References
[change | change source]- ↑ King, Leonid W. 2015. A history of Sumer and Akkad,also Iraq. ISBN 1522847308
- ↑ Mark, Joshua J. Cuneiform. 2018. in Ancient History Encyclopedia
- ↑ Deutscher, Guy 2007. Syntactic change in Akkadian: the evolution of sentential complementation. Oxford University Press. pp. 20–21. ISBN 978-0-19-953222-3
- ↑ Leick, Gwendolyn 2003. Mesopotamia, the invention of the city. London: Penguin.
