Sumerian

Introduction

The Sumerian people and their language (a language isolate) of southern Mesopotamia were present from about 5000/4500 BEC to 2000BCE, after that date it was extinct as a first language and only used as a liturgical language by the proceeding w:Akkadian and w:Aramaic language speakers. The script used was w:cuniform which was first develpoed by the Sumerians. It is debatable as to whether either their script or that of the w:Egyptian hieroglyphs were the first to be developed for writing purposes pre 3000 BCE.

History

The history of Sumeria is associated with that of the Akkadian, and to a lesser degree the w:Elemite peoples. There is evidence of a coexistandce between the Sumerian and Akkadian people before the demise of the Sumerians and their supplanting by the Akkadians. But before what is termed the Sumerian, southern Mesopotamia was occupied by the Ubaid culture which evolved into the Uruk culture and then into the Sumerian culture. The Ubaid people developed agriculture, irrigation, large village settlements and transmigration to areas occupied by other cultures. They had a relationship with the Samarra culture to the north between 5300–4700 BCE and supplanted the Halaf culture to the north sometime between 4500 and 4000 BCE.

Prerequisites

None defined as of yet.

Learning resources

• b:Sumerian Wikibooks has five lessons on Sumerian.
• Major site by John A. Halloran on the language
• Sumerian mythology

Subtopics

• Sumerian Language
• Sumerian Mythology
• Sumerian History
• Sumerian Architecture
• Sumerian Art
• Sumerian Medicine
• Sumerian Mathematics

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