Sumer

I

Introduction

Sumer (Sumerian Ki-engir; Akkadian Shumerum), ancient country of western Asia, corresponding approximately to Babylonia of biblical times. The history of Sumer has been reconstructed from fragmentary cuneiform inscriptions on clay tablets and from other archaeological evidence found at the site. The name “Sumer” probably dates from the early 3rd millennium bc.

II

History

During the 5th millennium bc, a people known as the Ubaidians settled in the region known later as Sumer; these settlements gradually developed into the important Sumerian cities of Adab, Eridu, Isin, Kish, Kullab, Lagash, Larsa, Nippur, and Ur. Several centuries later, as the Ubaidian settlers prospered, Semites from the Syrian and Arabian deserts infiltrated the area, both as peaceful immigrants and as raiders in quest of booty. After about 3250 bc, another people migrated from a region probably north-east of Mesopotamia, and began to intermarry with the native population. The newcomers, who became known as Sumerians, spoke an agglutinative language apparently unrelated to any other known language.

In the centuries that followed the immigration of the Sumerians, the country grew rich and powerful. Art and architecture, crafts, and religious and ethical thought flourished. Sumerian became the main language of the land, and the people invented the cuneiform system of writing, which was originally pictographic (consisting of drawings of objects) but gradually became stylized. This script evolved into the basic means of written communication used throughout the Middle East for about 2,000 years. It is also among the Sumerians that an early representation of the wheel is found (in a pictograph of a sledge dating from c. 3500 bc); this has led to the suggestion that the Sumerians may have invented the wheel.

The first recorded ruler of Sumer was Etana, King of Kish (fl. c. 2800 bc), who is described in a document written centuries later as the “man who stabilized all the lands”. Shortly after his reign ended, a king named Meskiaggasher founded a rival dynasty at Erech (Uruk), far to the south of Kish. Meskiaggasher, who won control of the region extending from the Mediterranean Sea to the Zagros Mountains, was succeeded by his son Enmerkar (fl. c. 2750 bc). The latter’s reign was notable for an expedition against Aratta, a city-state to the north-east of Mesopotamia. Enmerkar was succeeded by Lugalbanda, one of his military leaders. The exploits and conquests of Enmerkar and Lugalbanda form the subject of a cycle of epic tales constituting the most important documentation for early Sumer.

At the end of Lugalbanda’s reign, Enmebaragesi (fl. c. 2700 bc), a king of the Etana dynasty at Kish, became the leading ruler of Sumer. His outstanding achievements included a victory over the kingdom of Elam and the construction at Nippur of the Temple of Enlil, the leading deity of the Sumerian pantheon (see Sumerian Religion). Nippur gradually became the spiritual and cultural centre of Sumer.

Enmebaragesi’s son Agga (?-before 2650 bc) was the last ruler of the Etana dynasty, and was defeated by Mesanepada, King of Ur (fl. c. 2670 bc), who founded the so-called 1st Dynasty of Ur, with Ur as the capital. Soon after the death of Mesanepada, the city of Erech achieved a position of political prominence under the leadership of Gilgamesh (fl. c. 2700-2650 bc), whose deeds are celebrated in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Sometime before the 25th century bc, the Sumerian Empire, under the leadership of Lugalanemundu of Adab (fl. c. 2525-2500 bc), was extended from the Zagros to the Taurus mountains and from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. Subsequently, the empire was ruled by Mesilim (fl. c. 2500 bc), King of Kish. By the end of his reign, Sumer was in decline. The Sumerian city-states constantly fought against each other, exhausting their military resources. Eannatum (fl. c. 2425 bc), one of the rulers of Lagash, succeeded in extending his rule throughout Sumer and some of the neighbouring lands. His success, however, was short-lived. The last of his successors, Uruinimgina (fl. c. 2365 bc), introduced numerous social reforms, but was defeated by Lugalzagesi (reigned c. 2370-2347 bc), the governor of the neighbouring city-state of Umma. For about 20 years thereafter, Lugalzagesi was the most powerful ruler in the Middle East.

By the 23rd century bc, the power of the Sumerians had declined to such an extent that they could no longer defend themselves against foreign invasion. The Semitic ruler Sargon I the Great (reigned c. 2335-2279 bc) conquered the entire area and founded a new capital at Agade, in northernmost Sumer, which became the wealthiest and most powerful city in the world. The indigenous people of northern Sumer and their conquerors gradually fused to become an ethnic and linguistic group known as the Akkadians. The land of Sumer acquired the composite name “Sumer and Akkad”.

The Akkadian dynasty lasted about a century. During the reign of Sargon’s grandson, Naram-Sin (reigned c. 2255-2218 bc), the Gutians, a belligerent people from the Zagros Mountains, sacked and destroyed the city of Agade. They then subjugated and laid waste the whole of Sumer. After several generations the Sumerians threw off the Gutian yoke. The city of Lagash again achieved prominence, particularly during the reign of Gudea (c. 2144-2124 bc), an extraordinarily pious and capable governor. Because numerous statues of Gudea have been found, he is the Sumerian best known to the modern world. The Sumerians achieved complete independence from the Gutians when Utuhegal, king of Erech (reigned c. 2120-2112 bc), won a decisive victory later celebrated in Sumerian literature.

One of Utuhegal’s generals, Ur-Nammu (reigned 2113-2095 bc), founded the 3rd Dynasty of Ur. In addition to being a successful military leader, he was also a social reformer and the originator of a law code that pre-dates the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi by about three centuries. Ur-Nammu’s son Shulgi (reigned 2095-2047 bc) was a successful soldier, a skilled diplomat, and a patron of literature. During his reign the schools and academies of the kingdom flourished.

Before the early 2nd millennium bc the Amorites, Semitic nomads from the desert to the west of Sumer and Akkad, invaded the kingdom. They gradually gained control of such important cities as Isin and Larsa. The ensuing political disorder and confusion encouraged the Elamites to attack (c. 2004 bc) Ur and take its last ruler, Ibbi-Sin (reigned 2029-2004 bc) into captivity.

During the centuries following the fall of Ur, a bitter struggle for the control of Sumer and Akkad occurred, first between Isin and Larsa and later between Larsa and Babylon. Hammurabi of Babylon defeated Rim-Sin of Larsa (reigned c. 1823-1763 bc) and became the sole ruler of Sumer and Akkad, thus marking the end of the Sumerian state. Sumerian culture, however, was adopted almost in its entirety by Babylonia.

III

Archaeology

Before the mid-19th century ad, the existence of the Sumerian people and language was not known. The first major excavations leading to the discovery of Sumer were conducted (1842 to 1854) at Assyrian sites such as Nineveh, Dur Sharrukin, and Calah by the French archaeologists Paul Émile Botta and Victor Place; the British archaeologists Sir Austen Henry Layard and Sir Henry Creswicke Rawlinson; and the Iraqi archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam. Thousands of tablets and inscriptions dating from the 1st millennium bc, the vast majority written in Akkadian, were uncovered. Thus, scholars assumed at first that all Mesopotamian cuneiform inscriptions were in the Akkadian language. Rawlinson and the Irish clergyman Edward Hincks made a study of the inscriptions, however, and discovered that some were in a non-Semitic language. In 1869 the French archaeologist Jules Oppert suggested that the name “Sumerian”, from the royal title “King of Sumer and Akkad” that appeared in numerous inscriptions, be applied to the language.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, excavations were undertaken at Lagash by French archaeologists working under the auspices of the Louvre and at Nippur by Americans under the auspices of the University of Pennsylvania. Other excavations have been conducted at Adab, Erech, Eridu, Eshnunna, Jemdet Nasr, Kish, Shuruppak, Tell al-Ubaid, Tutub, and Ur. The irrigated city of Kish, which was situated 13 km (8 mi) east of Babylon on the Euphrates, was one of the most important cities of Sumer. Extensive excavations since 1922 have uncovered an invaluable sequence of pottery. Archaeologists have also unearthed temples of the neo-Babylonian kings Nebuchadnezzar II and Nabonidus (reigned 556-539 bc) and the palace of Sargon at Akkad, ruins of which date from the 3rd millennium bc to about 550 bc.