Explore the page! Some elements contain more information.
The long history of Sumer... in short!
Gutians and Gudea
Lorem ipsum dolor
Lorem ipsum dolor
The Empire of Ur
When Sumer was Akkad
The great power of Uruk
Cities and gods
The distant past
- 2300
- 2100
- 2800
- 6500
- 4000
Nowadays
My father still remembers the Akkadian army
Don't tell me!
Hard work with so many versions!
At the beginning of Sumer
Get the Essential Guide today!
My city is the best!
The great power of Uruk
Uruk, one of the largest cities of Sumer, has a special place in the history of the country. Some of the greatest, legendary kings of Sumer are from Uruk. The most famous of all is Gilgameš. According to the Sumerian tradition, Enmerkar, the cleverest of all kings, has opened trade routes with faraway countries (like Aratta) and has invented writing.
There is no doubt that Uruk was one of the most powerful cities of Sumer, even before writing was invented. It was in relation with distant cities in the east and in the north, but the nature of this relationship is still obscure. Some say that Uruk was the capital of an Empire… but many others believe it is a bit exaggerated. There are many more mysteries around Uruk distant past, especially around its rulers and government.
Learn more when you visit Uruk
Cities and gods
Temples are very powerful during this period because they are more than a simple cultic place. They own huge estates and are the first employer in some cities. Priests certainly have a say in the political decisions. However, cities also have ambitious kings. They are fighting against their neighbours, trading with distant kingdoms, building temples… They also are doing their best to strengthen their authority against the all-powerful temples.
The king Eannatum of Lagaš leads his troops
Ekur, the temple of Enlil in Nippur (during Ur III times)
Writing!
The first written documents, clay tablets, come from the city of Uruk and date to the end of the fourth millennium BC. Most of them are administrative texts, but there are also lexical lists and literary compositions. The first tablets were written with pictograms, simple drawings that stand for a word.
The pictograms did not last long. Difficult to write and not appropriate to represent ideas or grammatical elements, the drawings and their shapes were simplified into signs, called cuneiform signs. One sign either stands for a word or for a sound. The cuneiform writing system lasted for more than three millennia, spread all over the Middle East and was used to write seven different languages.
Writing the history of Sumer: the 'Sumerian King List'
Sumerians have their own way to tell the history of their country: the “King List”. It is a kind of chronicle enumerating the cities, their dynasties and kings, that ruled over Sumer one after another. It only provides the names of the rulers and the length of their reigns, occasionally an extra information.
For a Sumerian, their city comes first. But a Sumerian also is a… Sumerian! They are aware of living in a country they call ki.en.gi (we call it Sumer after the Akkadian name of the country). The dream, almost purpose, of all Sumerian cities, and their rulers, is to dominate the whole Land of Sumer. This is what the “King List” is about: each city takes turn to rule over the Land. Because all cities know their turn will come one day, they accept the (temporary) the domination of another one, or so goes the official version.
More about the Sumerian King List
The Sumerian way of life
Images dating from the third millennium BC showcase a "Sumerian way of life". Sumerians look like happy people, all bald with big blue eyes, dressed in kaunakes (a woollen skirt), continuously praying or feasting, or playing music. The Sumerian elite probably had a nice life back then (and still nowadays) but the “Sumerian smile” most probably hides a harsh life for the commoner.
So vintage! I love it!
When Sumer was Akkad
The coming of Sargon to power brought about many changes in Sumer. He was the first one to achieve the unity of the Land of Sumer. But he was an Akkadian king, not a Sumerian one. He was a great conqueror: the extent of his territory was never seen before and went beyond Sumerian imagination.
Sargon’s successors maintain his empire for more than a hundred years; Naram-Sîn, Sargon’s grandson, even extended it. But the empire finally fell because of internal dissensions and the rebellion of the southern Sumerian cities. The invasion of the Gutians was the final blow.
More about the Akkadian empire
Who are the Akkadians?
The distant past
The story of the Land of Sumer is very old and dates back to… “before the Flood”. Sumerians kept the souvenir of powerful cities that were ruling the whole Land of Sumer. The very first one was Kiš or maybe… Eridu. It was such a long time ago that all is a bit confused.
The first villages lied in the marshes or were established on “turtle backs” (rocks) to survive the annual floods. Things took a different turn with the introduction of irrigation. Slowly, agricultural lands took more and more space, and villages grew larger and larger.
That never happened.
Gutians and Gudea
Mmmm...
The Empire of Sargon fell both because of another rebellion of the southern Sumerian cities and the invasion of the Gutians from the mountains. Gutian themselves became kings. For about 80 years, Gutian kings ruled some cities, especially in the Tigris region, around the city of Adab.
The Elamites, from the kingdom of Anšan in the mountains east of Sumer, also settled in some cities. So, many cities were ruled by ‘foreigners’, Gutians or Elamites. But other cities remained were led by ‘proper’ Sumerian guys.
The most famous Sumerian ruler of this period is the king of Lagaš, Gudea.
At the end of his reign, he took part in the coalition against the Elamites and the Gutians. Utu-Hegal of Uruk and Ur-Nammu of Ur were the leaders. They defeated the Gutians and the Elamites and liberated the Sumerian cities. After the death of Utu-Hegal, Ur-Nammu of Ur became the sole leader of the Sumerians.
Sumerians and their cities
It is probably during this period (the time of the ancient kings in the third millennium BC) that the main Sumerian cities built their identity (political, cultural and religious) and acquired a strong sense of independence.
Sumerian feel like they belong to a city, and they would do anything for it.
The empire of Ur under Ur-Nammu
Ur-Nammu ruled over the Land of Sumer for 17 years. During the first years of his reign, he was engaged in ongoing fights with the Gutians and the Elamites. When, finally, they were no longer a threat, he succeeded in unifying the Land of Sumer under the rule of Ur.
The king increased Sumer’s prosperity by restoring agriculture and improving communications between cities. He dug many canals, in this aim, both for irrigation and transport of people and goods. He also reopened trade routes with Magan and the East.
Ur-Nammu was a great builder: he restored many temples and city-walls, and built many more new temples, as well as massive administrative wards. Thanks to him, the old Sumerian cities recovered their past splendours.
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Created on May 31, 2024
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Transcript
Explore the page! Some elements contain more information.
The long history of Sumer... in short!
Gutians and Gudea
Lorem ipsum dolor
Lorem ipsum dolor
The Empire of Ur
When Sumer was Akkad
The great power of Uruk
Cities and gods
The distant past
- 2300
- 2100
- 2800
- 6500
- 4000
Nowadays
My father still remembers the Akkadian army
Don't tell me!
Hard work with so many versions!
At the beginning of Sumer
Get the Essential Guide today!
My city is the best!
The great power of Uruk
Uruk, one of the largest cities of Sumer, has a special place in the history of the country. Some of the greatest, legendary kings of Sumer are from Uruk. The most famous of all is Gilgameš. According to the Sumerian tradition, Enmerkar, the cleverest of all kings, has opened trade routes with faraway countries (like Aratta) and has invented writing.
There is no doubt that Uruk was one of the most powerful cities of Sumer, even before writing was invented. It was in relation with distant cities in the east and in the north, but the nature of this relationship is still obscure. Some say that Uruk was the capital of an Empire… but many others believe it is a bit exaggerated. There are many more mysteries around Uruk distant past, especially around its rulers and government.
Learn more when you visit Uruk
Cities and gods
Temples are very powerful during this period because they are more than a simple cultic place. They own huge estates and are the first employer in some cities. Priests certainly have a say in the political decisions. However, cities also have ambitious kings. They are fighting against their neighbours, trading with distant kingdoms, building temples… They also are doing their best to strengthen their authority against the all-powerful temples.
The king Eannatum of Lagaš leads his troops
Ekur, the temple of Enlil in Nippur (during Ur III times)
Writing!
The first written documents, clay tablets, come from the city of Uruk and date to the end of the fourth millennium BC. Most of them are administrative texts, but there are also lexical lists and literary compositions. The first tablets were written with pictograms, simple drawings that stand for a word.
The pictograms did not last long. Difficult to write and not appropriate to represent ideas or grammatical elements, the drawings and their shapes were simplified into signs, called cuneiform signs. One sign either stands for a word or for a sound. The cuneiform writing system lasted for more than three millennia, spread all over the Middle East and was used to write seven different languages.
Writing the history of Sumer: the 'Sumerian King List'
Sumerians have their own way to tell the history of their country: the “King List”. It is a kind of chronicle enumerating the cities, their dynasties and kings, that ruled over Sumer one after another. It only provides the names of the rulers and the length of their reigns, occasionally an extra information.
For a Sumerian, their city comes first. But a Sumerian also is a… Sumerian! They are aware of living in a country they call ki.en.gi (we call it Sumer after the Akkadian name of the country). The dream, almost purpose, of all Sumerian cities, and their rulers, is to dominate the whole Land of Sumer. This is what the “King List” is about: each city takes turn to rule over the Land. Because all cities know their turn will come one day, they accept the (temporary) the domination of another one, or so goes the official version.
More about the Sumerian King List
The Sumerian way of life
Images dating from the third millennium BC showcase a "Sumerian way of life". Sumerians look like happy people, all bald with big blue eyes, dressed in kaunakes (a woollen skirt), continuously praying or feasting, or playing music. The Sumerian elite probably had a nice life back then (and still nowadays) but the “Sumerian smile” most probably hides a harsh life for the commoner.
So vintage! I love it!
When Sumer was Akkad
The coming of Sargon to power brought about many changes in Sumer. He was the first one to achieve the unity of the Land of Sumer. But he was an Akkadian king, not a Sumerian one. He was a great conqueror: the extent of his territory was never seen before and went beyond Sumerian imagination.
Sargon’s successors maintain his empire for more than a hundred years; Naram-Sîn, Sargon’s grandson, even extended it. But the empire finally fell because of internal dissensions and the rebellion of the southern Sumerian cities. The invasion of the Gutians was the final blow.
More about the Akkadian empire
Who are the Akkadians?
The distant past
The story of the Land of Sumer is very old and dates back to… “before the Flood”. Sumerians kept the souvenir of powerful cities that were ruling the whole Land of Sumer. The very first one was Kiš or maybe… Eridu. It was such a long time ago that all is a bit confused.
The first villages lied in the marshes or were established on “turtle backs” (rocks) to survive the annual floods. Things took a different turn with the introduction of irrigation. Slowly, agricultural lands took more and more space, and villages grew larger and larger.
That never happened.
Gutians and Gudea
Mmmm...
The Empire of Sargon fell both because of another rebellion of the southern Sumerian cities and the invasion of the Gutians from the mountains. Gutian themselves became kings. For about 80 years, Gutian kings ruled some cities, especially in the Tigris region, around the city of Adab.
The Elamites, from the kingdom of Anšan in the mountains east of Sumer, also settled in some cities. So, many cities were ruled by ‘foreigners’, Gutians or Elamites. But other cities remained were led by ‘proper’ Sumerian guys.
The most famous Sumerian ruler of this period is the king of Lagaš, Gudea. At the end of his reign, he took part in the coalition against the Elamites and the Gutians. Utu-Hegal of Uruk and Ur-Nammu of Ur were the leaders. They defeated the Gutians and the Elamites and liberated the Sumerian cities. After the death of Utu-Hegal, Ur-Nammu of Ur became the sole leader of the Sumerians.
Sumerians and their cities
It is probably during this period (the time of the ancient kings in the third millennium BC) that the main Sumerian cities built their identity (political, cultural and religious) and acquired a strong sense of independence.
Sumerian feel like they belong to a city, and they would do anything for it.
The empire of Ur under Ur-Nammu
Ur-Nammu ruled over the Land of Sumer for 17 years. During the first years of his reign, he was engaged in ongoing fights with the Gutians and the Elamites. When, finally, they were no longer a threat, he succeeded in unifying the Land of Sumer under the rule of Ur.
The king increased Sumer’s prosperity by restoring agriculture and improving communications between cities. He dug many canals, in this aim, both for irrigation and transport of people and goods. He also reopened trade routes with Magan and the East.
Ur-Nammu was a great builder: he restored many temples and city-walls, and built many more new temples, as well as massive administrative wards. Thanks to him, the old Sumerian cities recovered their past splendours.