The Rrise and Collapse of Sumeria

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Ancient Mesopotamian societies had great shifts as cities and rulers rose and fell, rose and fell again, gaining land and enemies as they advanced The area Mesopotamia occupied is an immense, dry plain through which two rivers, the Euphrates and Tigris, course. These rivers rise from tributaries in the mountain ranges to the north before flowing through Mesopotamia to the sea. As they reach the land close to the sea, the land becomes swampy, with lagoons, mud flats, and reed banks, but in ancient times the sea advanced much further inland; and they poured into it as two separate streams, whereas today they join as one before reaching the sea. A close cultural cooperation was established between the Sumerians (who spoke a language that was more isolated) and the Semitic Akkadian speakers, which included extensive bilingualism in its culture. This took place around the third millennia BC and as the fourth millennia dawned Mesopotamia saw an increase in its population. By aspiring and adjusting to the changing world around them the people of Mesopotamia created government and states. Order began to develop in the territories, and due to the efficiency of its military and political structure their authority began to spread and empires grow. One of these city states Sumer was first permanently settled between c. 5500 and 4000 BC. Sumer a city-state coming to power in prehistoric time, prior to the cultures ability to leave much historical record, however in the twenty- third century BC writing came into being which has given historians their first glimpse into some of the earliest Mesopotamian cultures.

Increased agricultural production brought on by early irrigation techniques used on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers helped to suppor...

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...e Chaldees (1929). A revised and updated edition by P. R. S. Moorey has been released, Ur 'of the Chaldees' (1982), which tempers Woolley's "strong biblical bias" and curtails his "vivid historical imagination."

Wooley, Sir Leonard. Excavations at Ur: a Record of Twelve Years' Work. London: Kegan Paul Unlimited, 2006. http://books.google.com/books?id=7jDzCOgnWxEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Excavations at Ur Woolley&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ZJYgU-PGB473qQH62YGgDQ&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA

"The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature." Last modified 12 18, 2002. Accessed March 10, 2014. http://etcsl.orinst.ox.ac.uk/index1.htm.

Sayce, . "Records of the Past, series 2 vol1." Accessed March 11, 2014. http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/rp/rp201/rp20121.htm.

"The rise of Sumner and Akkadian empire." Accessed March 12, 2014. http://www.cemml.colostate.edu/cultural/09476/iraq02-03enl.html.

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