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<!-- factbase:6d7974 -->
# Sumer
# Sumer
## Overview
Sumer was the earliest known civilization in southern Mesopotamia (modern-day southern Iraq), emerging ~4500 BCE and flourishing during the 3rd millennium BCE. It is credited with foundational innovations including writing (cuneiform), urbanization, and codified law.
## Key Facts
- Region: Southern Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
- Period: ~4500–1900 BCE
- Major cities: Ur, Uruk, Eridu, Lagash, Nippur, Kish
- Language: Sumerian (language isolate)
- Writing system: Cuneiform, developed ~3400 BCE
- Government: City-states ruled by *lugal* (kings) and *ensi* (governors)
## Major Periods
- Ubaid period (~5500–4000 BCE): Proto-urban settlements
- Uruk period (~4000–3100 BCE): First true cities, invention of writing
- Early Dynastic period (~2900–2350 BCE): Competing city-states
- Third Dynasty of Ur (~2112–2004 BCE): Final Sumerian renaissance under Ur-Nammu
## Achievements
- Invented cuneiform writing ~3400 BCE [^1]
- Built ziggurats as temple complexes
- Developed the sexagesimal (base-60) number system
- Created the earliest known legal code (Code of Ur-Nammu, ~2100 BCE)
- Established irrigation agriculture at scale
- Produced the *Epic of Gilgamesh*, among the earliest literary works [^2]
## Decline
Sumer was absorbed by the Akkadian Empire under Sargon of Akkad ~2334 BCE, briefly revived under the Third Dynasty of Ur, and finally eclipsed by the rise of Babylon ~1900 BCE.
---
[^1]: Schmandt-Besserat, D. *Before Writing* (1992)
[^2]: George, A. *The Epic of Gilgamesh* (Penguin Classics, 2003)
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## Review Queue
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