Sumerian culture (5000 to 2230 BC)[]
| “ | The Sumerians were one of the earliest civilizations. Their growth and expansion was dependent on rich river valley farmlands. They were not as fortunate as others in terms of mineral resources or strategic position, however, and did not enjoy the long existence of the Egyptians. They are considered one of the most important early cultures, nevertheless, because of the many advances attributed to them. Because their location was weak in terms of defense and poor in terms of resources, they were forced to innovate. In many ways they were more important to history because of their innovations than the much richer Egyptians. | ” |
Location[]
| “ | Sumer was located in southern Mesopotamia (meaning "between the rivers") where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers come together before flowing into the Persian Gulf. By 5000 BC primitive farmers had come down to the valley from the Zagros Mountains to the east. The land was rich but baked hard in the summer sun after the late spring river floods. The early settlers learned how to control some of the flooding with dikes and how to irrigate their summer fields. Early settlements at Ur, Uruk, and Eridu grew into independent cities first and then city-states. | ” |
Capital[]
| “ | As a conglomeration of city-states, there was no clear capital for the Sumerians because the center of power shifted from time to time. The cities of Ur, Lagash, Erech, Eridu, and Uruk were the most important. | ” |
Rise to power[]
| “ | From 5000 to 3000 BC, agricultural communities of Sumer gradually coalesced into city-states along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The peak of this city-state culture lasted from 2900 to 2400 BC. The city-states of the river valley were relatively rich from food production, manufacturing, and their position along important trade routes. This made them tempting targets when more powerful and warlike neighbors came into existence to the north and east. |
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Economy[]
| “ | The Sumerians grew wheat, barley, peas, onions, turnips, and dates. They raised cattle and sheep, fished, and hunted wildfowl along the river. Food was generally abundant and populations grew accordingly. There was no copper in the river valleys, but copper was found in the mountains to the east and north. The Sumerians learned how to obtain copper from ore by 4000 BC and to make bronze by 3500 BC. They traded food, cloth, and manufactured items for raw materials, such as timber, copper, and stone. Their merchants traveled up the Tigris and Euphrates to trade with the people of Anatolia and the Mediterranean coast. They also traded in the Persian Gulf for items from India and further east. |
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Religion and culture[]
| “ | The Sumerians worshipped hundreds of gods, with each city having its own patron deity. The principal gods were too busy to bother with the plight of individuals. For that reason, each Sumerian worshipped a particular minor god or goddess who was expected to interact with the major gods. The Sumerians did not believe in an afterlife and were realistic about the limits of human goodness. They accepted that although the gods were above question, they were not always kind. The soul and center of each city-state was its temple to the patron god. The Sumerians believed that the god owned the city-state. Part of the land was farmed directly for the god, often by slaves. The remaining land was farmed by the temple staff or by farmers who paid rent to the temple. Rents and offerings paid for temple operation and supported the poor. Slaves were an important part of the community and were one objective of any military campaign. Even locals could become slaves to satisfy debts. Slaves were allowed to work extra hours for themselves and use any savings to buy their freedom. |
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Government[]
| “ | Each city in Sumer was ruled at first by a council of elders, although a war leader, called a lugal, was selected to lead the army during conflict. Eventually the lugals assumed power as kings and established dynasties. Evidence suggests that the Sumerians may have taken the first steps toward democracy by electing a representative assembly. This consisted of two houses—a senate of important citizens and a lower house made up of those available for military duty. Preserved clay tablets reveal that the Sumerians maintained courts of justice where people could expect a fair trial. One table recorded the oldest murder trial in history. Most of the food production and distribution was controlled through the temple. A noble class arose based on land ownership, control of trade, and manufacturing. Most trade and manufacturing was outside the temple's control. |
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Architecture[]
| “ | The Sumerians were handicapped by having no easy access to stone or wood for building. Sun-dried mud bricks were their main building material and this required some ingenuity. They were the first to employ the arch, vault, and dome. Their cities were completely enclosed by brick walls. Their most important buildings were temples, built as large mounds called ziggurats. Through cycles of attack, destruction, and restoration, the temples were rebuilt again and again at the same site, gradually getting larger with each reincarnation. Mud bricks eroded and crumbled much more quickly than stone, however, and little Sumerian architecture survives. | ” |
Military[]
| “ | The key influence on the Sumerian military was their poor strategic position. Natural obstacles for defense existed only on their borders to the west (desert) and south (Persian Gulf). When more populous and powerful enemies appeared to their north and east, the Sumerians were susceptible to attack. Surviving artwork and archaeological remains indicate that the Sumerian soldiers used spears and short swords of bronze. They wore bronze helmets and carried large shields. Their armies were not particularly noted but records are sparse. They engaged in siege warfare during their many inter-city wars. Mud brick walls did not stand against determined attackers who had the time to pry out the bricks or pound them to dust. The Sumerians invented chariots and were the first to use them in battle. These early chariots were four-wheeled and pulled by onagers (wild ass), and were not as effective in battle as the later two-wheeled design pulled by horses. Sumerian chariots may have served primarily as fast transports, but surviving artwork suggests that spears or javelins were thrown from them. |
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Decline and fall[]
| “ | A group of Semitic people called the Akkadians settled north of Sumer along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The Akkadians adopted very quickly the culture, religion, and writing of the more advanced Sumerians who had preceded them. In 2371 BC Sargon I seized the throne of Kish and gradually conquered all of the city-states of Akkadia. He turned south and conquered the citystates of Sumer, which were unable to unite in defense. Sargon established the first empire of history during his reign from 2371 to 2316 BC, extending his control along the Fertile Crescent from Elam, to the east of Sumer, to the Mediterranean coast. Sargon's empire collapsed after his death but was restored briefly by his grandson. Around 2230 BC the Akkadian empire was destroyed by an invasion of Gutians, barbarian hill people from the Zagros Mountains. New cities and towns soon grew up along the river valleys but the Sumerians were gone as a distinct and independent culture. |
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Legacy[]
| “ | The Sumerians are most noted for the invention of the wheel and writing (both circa 4000 BC). The wheel was important for transport and for pottery making (the potter's wheel). Sumerian writing, called cuneiform, consisted of groups of stylus wedge impressions pushed into clay to form stylized pictograms representing words. This writing grew out of record keeping and seals from business transactions. They were among the first to use boats, including round boats made of hide stretched over a wooden framework. These coracles were especially popular among the reeds and waterways of the river delta. |
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References[]
Age of Empires manual, p. 99-102.
| Civilization History sections in Age of Empires | |
|---|---|
| East Asian architecture |  Choson ·  Shang ·  Yamato |
| Egyptian architecture |  Assyrians ·  Egyptians ·  Hittites |
| Greek architecture |  Greeks ·  Minoans ·  Phoenicians |
| Mesopotamian architecture |  Babylonians ·  Persians ·  Sumerians |
| Roman architecture |  Carthaginians ·  Macedonians ·  Palmyrans ·  Romans |
 Lac Viet do not have a history section | |