At the dawn of mankind, the southern part of Mesopotamia, which in the classical era was called Babylonia, was inhabited by the very first civilization on Earth. Now it is the territory of modern Iraq, stretching from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf, with an area of a total of about 26 thousand square meters. km
The place has a very dry and hot climate with scorched and weathered, infertile soils. The river plain, devoid of stones and minerals, swamps covered with reeds, the complete absence of wood - this is what this land was like more than three thousand years ago. But the people who inhabited this territory and known to the whole world as Sumerians were endowed with a decisive and enterprising disposition, an outstanding mind. He turned a lifeless plain into a blooming garden and created what would later be called nothing more than "the first civilization on Earth."
The origin of the Sumerians
There is no reliable information about the origin of the Sumerians. Until now, it is difficult for historians and archaeologists to say whether they were the indigenous inhabitants of Mesopotamia or came to these lands from outside. The second option is considered as the most probable. Presumably, representatives of ancient civilization came from the mountains of Zagros, the Iranian Highlands, or even Hindustan. The Sumerians themselves did not write anything about their origin. In 1964, for the first time, a proposal was made to consider this issue from various aspects: linguistic, racial, ethnic. After this, the search for truth finally deepened into linguistics, in clarifying the genetic connections of the Sumerian language, which is currently considered isolated.
The Sumerians, who founded the first civilization on Earth, never called themselves that. In fact, this word denotes the territory, south of Mesopotamia, in Akkadian. The Sumerians called themselves "black-headed."
Sumerian language
Linguists define the Sumerian language as agglutinative. This means that the formation of forms and derivatives goes by adding unambiguous affixes. The language of the Sumerians consisted mainly of monosyllabic words, so it is difficult to even imagine how many there were - equally sounding, but differing in meaning. In ancient sources, according to scientists, there are about three thousand. Moreover, more than 100 words are used only 1-2 times, and the most frequently used are only 23.
As already mentioned, one of the main features of the language is the abundance of homonyms. Most likely, there was a rich system of tones and laryngeal sounds, which is difficult to read in clay plaque graphics. In addition, the first civilization on Earth had two dialects. The literary language (emé-gir) was used most widely, and the priests spoke a secret dialect (emé-sal), inherited from their ancestors and, most likely, not in tone.
The Sumerian language was an intermediary and was used throughout southern Mesopotamia. Therefore, its carrier was not necessarily the ethnic representative of this ancient people.
Writing
The issue of creating Sumerians writing remains controversial. However, the fact is that they improved it and transformed it into cuneiform. They greatly appreciated the art of writing and attribute its appearance to the very beginning of the creation of their civilization. It is likely that at the dawn of the history of writing, clay was not used, but other, more easily destroyed material. Therefore, a lot of information has been lost.
The very first civilization on earth BC, to be impartial, created its own writing system. The process was lengthy and complicated. Is the gazelle portrayed by an ancient artist an art or a message? If he did it on a stone, in those places where there are many animals, then this will be a full message for his comrades. It says: “There are many gazelles,” which means that there will be a good hunt. The message could well include several drawings. For example, it is worth adding a lion, and a warning already sounds: “There are many gazelles, but there is a danger.” This historical stage is considered the first step towards writing. Gradually, the drawings were transformed, simplified and began to have a schematic character. In the picture you see how this transformation happened. People noticed that on clay it is easier to make prints with a reed stick, rather than draw. All roundings disappeared.
Ancient Sumerians - the first civilization on earth, which found its writing. Cuneiform writing consisted of several hundred characters, with 300 being the most used. Most of them had several similar meanings. Cuneiform writing has been used in Mesopotamia for nearly 3,000 years.
Religion of the people
The work of the pantheon of Sumerian gods can be compared with the assembly, headed by the supreme "king". Such a meeting was further divided into groups. The main one is known as the “Great Gods” and consisted of 50 deities. It was she, according to the ideas of the Sumerians, who decided the fate of people.
According to the mythology of the ancient people, man was created from clay mixed in the blood of the gods. The universe consisted of two worlds (upper and lower), separated by earth. It is interesting that already in those days the Sumerians had a myth about the global flood. In addition, a poem has come down to us about the creation of the world, individual episodes of which very closely intersect with the main Christian shrine - the Bible. For example, a sequence of events, in particular, the creation on the sixth day of a person. There is heated debate about a similar connection between the pagan religion and Christianity.
Culture
Sumerian culture is one of the most interesting and vibrant among the rest of the peoples inhabiting Mesopotamia. By the third millennium BC, it had reached its peak. People lived during the Copper Age, were actively engaged in cattle breeding and agriculture, fishing. Gradually, agriculture was replaced exclusively by handicraft: pottery, foundry, weaving and stone-cutting production developed.
Characteristic features of architecture are: the construction of buildings on artificial embankments, the distribution around the courtyard of the premises, the separation of the walls with vertical niches and the introduction of color. Two of the most striking monuments of monumental construction 4 thousand BC. e. - temples in Uruk.
Archaeologists have found quite a few pieces of art: sculptures, the remains of images on stone walls, vessels, metal products. All of them are made with great skill. What is a magnificent helmet made of pure gold (pictured)! One of the most interesting inventions of the Sumerians is printing. They depicted people, animals, scenes from everyday life.
Early Dynastic Period: Stage 1
This is the time when genuine cuneiform writing was already created, - 2750-2600 years BC. e. This period is characterized by the existence of a large number of city-states, the center of which was a large temple economy. Outside of these, there were large family communities. The main productive work lay on the so-called temple clients, who were deprived of property rights. Already there was a spiritual and political elite of society - a military leader and priest and, accordingly, their immediate environment.
The ancient people had an extraordinary mind and a certain inventive talent. In those days, people had already come to the idea of irrigation, having studied the possibility of collecting and directing in the right direction the silty waters of the Euphrates and Tigris. Enriching the soil in the fields and in gardens with organic matter, they increased its productivity. But large-scale work, as you know, requires a lot of labor. The first civilization on earth was familiar with slavery, moreover, it was legalized.
It is reliably known about the existence of 14 Sumerian cities in the specified period. Moreover, the most developed, prosperous and cult was Nippur, where the temple of the main god Enlil was located.
Early Dynastic Period: Stage 2
This period (2600-2500 BC) is characterized by military conflicts. The century began with the defeat of the ruler of the city of Kish, which allegedly caused an invasion of the Elamites - residents of an ancient state in the territory of modern Iran. In the south, a number of nominee cities united in a military alliance. A tendency toward centralization of power was outlined.
Early Dynastic Period: Stage 3
At the third stage of the early Dynastic period, 500 years after the moment when the first civilization appeared on Earth (according to the assumptions of archaeologists), there is a growth and development of city-states, and in society there is a stratification, an increase in social contradictions. On this basis, the struggle of the rulers of the Nomes for power escalates. One military conflict was replaced by another in pursuit of the hegemony of one city over all. In one of the ancient Sumerian epics dating back to 2600 BC. e., it is said about the union of Sumer under the rule of Gilgamesh - King of Uruk. Two hundred years later, most of the state was conquered by the king of Akkad.
The Babylonian Empire, which was gaining strength, swallowed up Sumer by the middle of the second millennium BC. e., and the Sumerian language has lost the status of spoken even earlier. However, for several millennia, it remained as a literary one. This is an approximate time when the Sumerian civilization ceased to exist as a political integral formation.
Very often you can find information that the mythical Atlantis is the first civilization on earth. The Atlanteans that inhabited it are the ancestors of modern people. However, most of the scientific world calls this fact nothing more than fiction, a beautiful story. Indeed, every year the information about the mysterious continent is overgrown with new details, but at the same time it does not have any historical support with facts or archaeological excavations.
In this regard, it is increasingly believed that the first civilization on earth arose in the fourth millennium BC, and these were the Sumerians.