Relative to the long and old earth, the emergence of human beings is too slow, until 40,000 years ago, human beings as ''Sapiens'' on the earth's stage, and then tens of thousands of years, learning to make tools, until humanity stumbled to the fourth millennium BC, the world only appeared the dawn of the first civilization, the current internationally recognized four major civilizations, namely ancient Babylonian civilization, ancient Indian civilization, ancient Egyptian civilization and Chinese civilization, but these four may not be the earliest civilizations in human history, The earlier one was the Sumerian civilization that was born more than 6,000 years ago, the predecessor of ancient Babylon.
Sumer, as the origin of the civilization of the Two Rivers Valley, what kind of magical story does sumer have? Two thousand years ago, ancient civilizations such as the Roman Empire in the West and the Han Dynasty in the East developed, in the modern Middle East, the Parthian Empire ruled ancient Persia and its surrounding areas, with Ctesiphon as its capital, these civilizations are very old to us, but are they just as ancient to them? Many historians have called the Sumerian civilization the most terrifying civilization in human history, transcending the limitations of the times, with advanced productivity, developed urban systems and a highly uniform order, but it has quietly disappeared.
Sumerian civilization from Uruk to Akkadian period
Six thousand years ago, four thousand years before Augustus founded the Roman Empire, one of the first true urban settlements appeared in ancient Sumer, and he sowed the first seeds of the spread of civilization among the people, first to the ancient Near East, and then to the whole world, most notably from the Uruk to Akkad period. From the last ice age, more than ten thousand years ago, the population of Mesopotamia and several other regions gradually began to adopt a more stable way of life, which was very different from the early human way of living, the most common way of human survival before was hunting and gathering, they began to cultivate, modify, grow and harvest crops in early agriculture, and also domesticated herds, many gradually survived in this way, forming small villages like communities, while others retained the original hunter-gatherer lifestyle, however, In the thousands of years after the retreat of the glacier, agricultural lifestyles became more and more dominant, and in ancient Mesopotamia, the amount of food preserved from agricultural production increased, laying the foundation for the blooming of the first seeds of civilization, and at this point, the emphasis was on the unique geographical and environmental conditions of Mesopotamia, and it was necessary to understand how this affected the development of civilization there.
The very name Sumer, meaning ''land between rivers'', refers specifically to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which were named Buraunu by the local Sumerians, i.e. 'the Great Flood', a phenomenon that shows the relationship of the locals to the gods and the land, so many Mesopotamian gods, such as Enriel, the lord god of the Pantheon, associated with wind, air and storms, and the faithful followers of Sumer, have been seeking ways to appease these gods in order to avoid the common, inexplicable, Devastating flash floods erupted because the two rivers were so flat and prone to flooding, for example, in Sumerian mythology, there was a flood in Enriel that destroyed all human beings simply because they were too noisy, which reflected the capriciousness of the Mesopotamian gods. "Land between the rivers" on the early village settlements, most or all of the population, engaged in food production (not out of production), that is, the Obeid period - 6500 BC to 3800 BC, of which Eli was the most prominent settlement, but the increasing surplus of grain, allowing some people to lose production, focus on specific industries, people who did not engage in agricultural production, such as merchants, weavers, metallurgists and craftsmen appeared, it is worth noting that the taxation and redistribution of food led to the formation of government.
Who the first real city of Mesopotamia was still debated, but most historians consider uruk, the famous urban center, whose urban lifestyle was superior to the surrounding settlements, is indisputable, with the appearance of huge buildings, as well as social hierarchies, officials and temple-sponsored handicrafts, and the social stratification of the cities of this period, and in the beginning, not by the king, but by the high priests of the temple.
From 3500 BC onwards, uruk's dominant influence on the surrounding area became increasingly apparent, and its architectural patterns and their emblems and innovative, mass-produced pottery and tools spread to settlements throughout the Near East, from Syria to Iran, such as Susa, which may have spread in inhabited settlements, through colonies on uninhabited lands, or even from the dominant city of Uruk, invasion of other settlements by force, and the last of which occurred in Tell Hamouker, The original buildings there were destroyed, followed by the construction of Uruk-style buildings, the earliest organized war ever written, an act of colonization that may have been aimed at obtaining resources, i.e., the missing resources of the Two Rivers Valley, such as wood, obsidian, stone or metal, rather than consciously trying to build an empire.
The existence of the Uruk civilization spread widely, and it is generally believed that they also had the possibility of existence in Egypt, and the tombs of the Old Dynasties of Egypt have Uruk-style niches and buttress styles. However, around 2900 BC, the colonies of Uruk, Habiba, Kebira, etc. outside the south of the two rivers disappeared, at the same time, the city of Uruk seems to have been 'razed' in a devastating event, and gradually lost its hegemonic status, the end of the events of Uruk is still unknown, but it may be that those who were 'colonized' rebelled against Uruk, or there was a civil war between different factions of the city.
In the centuries following the decline of Uruk, a number of Sumerian city-states emerged and expanded in size, forming a network of political maps and city-states similar to those of ancient Greece, consisting of urban centers and hinterlands connecting villages, including Lagash, Uma, Ur, Nipur, Elidu, Larsa, and Uruk, which had no hegemony, but still existed. During the centuries from 2900 BC to 2359 BC, the early dynastic period, sumeria's population grew dramatically, probably due to immigration from other regions or increased agricultural productivity, which strained the resources of the various city-states, required territorial expansion, and led to constant conflicts in the border areas, and the military leaders during these small-scale wars, usually elected by the primitive democratic form of parliament, although soon became the home of the world, these military leaders are said to be the first kings'' Lugals'' i.e. the great man, also during this period, another building with the same dominant role as the temple appeared, namely the palace, the king's house.
The iconic Gilgamesh, believed to be real, was in the early dynastic period and ruled for a certain period between 2800 and 2500 BC, although the story may also be based on mythological figures. Let's take, for example, one of the many border conflicts that took place between 2500 and 2350 B.C., when the king of Lagash, rich from prosperous agriculture and trade routes to Susa, wrote about border clashes with his western neighbor, Uma. Due to the predominance of agriculture in the ancient Mesopotamian economy, the two city-states clashed in the region of Guyna, where the fields and pastures were very fertile, and one of the victorious kings, Ennatum of Lagash, portrayed himself as the champion of the local gods, and in the conflict, Ningursu of Lagash and Sharu of Uma were also depicted as monarchs, representing the kings of the cities, and it is worth noting that the border between Uma and Lagash at the beginning was drawn by Nlier of Nipur, the supreme god, This shows once again his dominance in the religion of Mesopotamia, and since the king of Lagash had the most victories in this conflict, it can be judged that they had the upper hand, although at this time, for the Sumerian city-state, the temple had basically lost its political dominance and the king was dominant, but the temple was still very powerful in economic and ideological position, and was a "complete institution", including the space dedicated to the gods that only the high priest could enter, the courtyard used as a public assembly, Warehouses for storing and distributing surplus grain, as well as archives and workshops. Another example of temple domination in religious ideology is that when the king leads his soldiers on a campaign, victory will be decided by the city god, also due to the will of the city god.
The concept of a city god also deserves further discussion. In the lower reaches of the Two Rivers Valley, during the period of relative equilibrium between many city-states, each political entity had a Sumerian deity, for example, your was the home of Nanna, the goddess of the moon and wisdom, while Uruk was the home of Inana, the goddess of war and fertility, most notably the surviving Nippur, on the border between Sumer and Akkad, whose patron saint was Enriel, the supreme god of the Pantheon of Mesopotamia, and the kings of many cities, if there were secondary gods, had to seek Nippur's recognition because he was the main god.
The complex military and diplomatic relations between the Sumerian city-states, in the late 3rd millennium BC, gradually began to transform into centralized unification, and the reasons for this are unclear, but it is possible that the rulers of this period had heard of the then unified Ancient Kingdom of Egypt, which ruled the entire Nile Valley and built the famous pyramids, the rulers of the Two Rivers Valley, trying to emulate them and gain more power and wealth. For a century and a half, your was dwarfed by the more powerful neighbor Lagash, but the situation soon changed, a dynamic new ruler Lugar Zaksi ascended the throne and began to expand his territory, wanting revenge on Laksh, before defeating his opponents, he first conquered famous cities such as Ur and Uruk, plundered the cities, plundered the rich commodities in the temples, after the establishment of the kingdom in 2350 BC, Lugar Zaksi moved the capital to the famous Uruk, establishing the Third Dynasty of the changed city, however, This new dynasty will not last long, and soon northern Sumer will establish the first true empire in human history.
The disappearance of sumerian civilization
The above is the development of sumerian civilization from the Uruk to Akkadian period, and the later Sumerian civilization continued to develop along this route, reaching what historians call horror, so how did such a powerful civilization decline?
The reasons for the demise of the Sumerian civilization, with its 3,000-year-old glorious history, are complex. On the one hand, the conquest of external new civilizations is an important external factor, and this external factor has also played its terrible role all the time in history; on the other hand, the deterioration of the ecological environment caused by excessive agricultural development may also be a major internal cause. Among them, the internal cause plays a fundamental role, while the external cause is only a catalytic effect.
In 2004 BC, the Third Dynasty of your was replaced by the isin and Larsa dynasties. From this period onwards, a large number of Sumerian cities, represented by Laksh, began to decline, and many cities were deserted and eventually reduced to ruins. The ancient Babylonian dynasty established by the newly moved nomadic tribal dynasties in the city of Babylon near Baghdad defeated the Isin and Larsa dynasties in the Sumerian region of the south and unified the world.
As large numbers of cities in the south were gradually abandoned, the Sumerians completely disappeared among the Babylonians. Since the extinction of the Sumerian civilization is rarely documented, and a lot of translation work is needed to be handed down, so historical geographers have conducted ecological and environmental research on the Sumerian civilization, and I believe that the destruction of the ecological environment is closely related to the demise of the Sumerian civilization. According to the study, due to the flooding of the two river basins, the land in Sumeria is fertile alluvial clay, suitable for agricultural planting, while the climate is dry and rainy, irrigation agriculture is the main mode of production, but the river water and land will produce a large amount of salinity after mixing, and the range of knowledge and ability of the ancient Sumerians does not include the filtration of salinity, resulting in the salinity of the land in most Sumerian city-states.
The archaeological team focused on the city of Gilsu, where a large number of remains have been preserved, and the study showed that the yield of barley was 2537 liters per hectare in 2400 BC, and by 2100 BC it was only 1460 liters per hectare, and the yield plummeted, and by 1700 BC the yield was only 897 liters, a decrease of about 2/3. The yield of barley in the city of Sipar in northern Babylonia also fell from 2362 liters per hectare in 1700 BC to 975 liters per hectare in 1600 BC. Thus, the salinization of the land in sumeria could no longer accommodate the survival of so many people, so the center of civilization shifted from Sumer to the Babylonian region in the north, which led to the premature demise of the Sumerians and their countries, the creators of the Two Rivers Civilization.[3] In a region where agriculture was the basic mode of subsistence, the demise of the Sumerian civilization was greatly affected by the ecological environment, especially the land environment, which destroyed its advanced civilization.
Such events tell us that when studying historical development, we must learn from experience and lessons, Sumerian civilization beyond the limitations of the times, the development of a super advanced civilization, more eye-catching than the ancient civilization that appeared later, naturally there is something different about it, we should learn from the advanced ideas of the Sumerians, combined with our times, but also pay attention to the protection of the ecological environment, so that our civilization can continue forever.
bibliography:
WU Yuhong. The Destruction of the Ecological Environment and the Demise of sumerian Civilization[J].World History, 2011
[2] M. Koleski: The Economic Papers of the Ancient Chaldean Chronicles, Vol. 1, Petersburg 1908 Edition, No. 31
[3] Torjid Jacobson, Ancient Salinized Lands and Agricultural Irrigation, pp. 26-30