The Sumerians

The Sumerians are the oldest known nation living in Mesopotamia. 

Sumer occupied the southern part of the country of Babylon, the southern part of Iraq. 

The Akkad Kingdom that followed was located to the northwest. 

The name “sumer” is not mentioned in the bible, but "Shen’ar". 

Shen’ar, included the regions of Sumer and Akkad. 

Yet in that country, one of the great ancient civilizations has emerged. 

It is still difficult to determine who was an ethnic or linguistic Sumerian (the Sumerian language is composed of many elements of languages), but we know a lot about their history, religion and ways of life.

(I) Summary of their history:

We don't know where the Sumerians came from, but they probably came from the mountainous regions beyond Iran. 

It appears that they arrived at the Persian Gulf Head, and began to dominate the ancient inhabitants in the middle of the fourth millennium B.C.

(1) The period of dawn of history (between 3300 and 2800 BC): Almost all the dates here, and this period has made great progress, as all the elements of the civilization of Mesopotamia have emerged.

The greatest achievement was the appearance of writing (about 3,300 BC) in symbolic form, the first forms of Sumerian writing, to which the Sami Akadi added many words.

(2) First Dynasty (2800-2360 B.C.): The classical Sumerian era is divided into the first, second, and third dynasties (the third family is the first family). 

References to this period include lists of Sumerian kings, which are very similar to the Bible's earlier generations, and each king records that he ruled for several thousand years.

In 1965, many Sumerian tablets were discovered in Tell Abu Salabhe, about 12 miles (19.31 km) from Naboor, about 2,600 BC, and it's hard to read them, but some are 800 years ahead of the age of classical Sumerian literature. 

The Shourobak Commandments and the Kish Temple Hymns have proved to be very ancient texts.

Other kinds of this era include Uranic of Lagash, Anatum, Entminna, and Enatom II. Finally, Urukagina was usurped by the Ruler of Umma Logalza Gezi, who invaded Lagash and other Sumerian cities and made Ark his capital. 

But he was soon defeated by Sargon the Great, the king of Akkad, who not only established a new family, but began a new era of Saami rule.

(3) First Akkadian family: (2360-2180 BC): It was founded by Sargon the Great or Sargon the First. His name was Sharokin, the Chaldean, and he named himself after himself because he was not a legal resident but a usurper of the throne ! 

His judgment is the Babylonian history of the Golden Age.””. 

The sources of this family's history are the many inscriptions written in ancient Akkadian, recorded by Sargon and his successors. 

Many myths abound. (See more about this subject here in the Anba website, complete with dictionary pages and other Bible explanations.) 

He was succeeded by his son, Remush, who was also succeeded by another son of Sargon named Manchtosu, and then Naram-sen, who was probably the grandson of Sargon. 

They portray him as a hero (on the pillar of victory he set up, as well as in the late writings). He was succeeded by Charka Shari, who was succeeded by four short-term kings. 

And eventually this family was removed, external forces, including the Gotyans who came from the Zagros mountains. In fact, the last four kings ruled alongside the Juitans.

(4) Age of the Juitayn (2180-2060 BC): The fall of the Akkadian family and the takeover of power by the Juitans were considered a great disaster, as the uncivilized barbaric masses replaced the Akkadian family, the owner of ancient civilization. 

There are few inscriptions of this era, and it is difficult to link them to lists of kings. It seems clear that Lagash had their rulers, meaning that the Juitans had no control over the whole country. 

And finally, he defeated them and kicked them out, “Otto Hegel,” King of Ark. During his reign there was a governor of Ur named Urnamu who had initially recognized the authority of Utohigal, but finally defeated him, made Ur his capital, and founded the Third House of Ur.

(5) Third Ur family (2060-1950 BC): Five of them were kings: Urnamo, Shulhi, Mar-sen, Cho-sen, Abi-sen. 

It is clear that in the middle of their term they started to give Akkadian names to their children, because the last three are Akkadian names. 

Ur-Namo is now famous for the laws he enacted, and he may have been a contemporary of Abraham. Beginning with “Ur-Namo”, which seized most of the country, 

The kings of Ur began calling themselves “the king of the land of Sumer and Azad”, during which economic affairs were concentrated in the hands of the king. 

One of the greatest achievements of that era was the great buildings, some of which were still standing, such as “zajwra” (a tower on the terrace, a temple on top of the top), which began to be built “ur-namo”.

Among the greatest Sumerian rulers, Goda is the ruler of Lagash, who can govern him (deputy king ?

It was at the beginning of the reign of the third Ur family, and it left numerous inscriptions and statues, all of which are of the black-clung Dioret.

The last few years of Abe-Sen's reign saw the emergence of a new era, until his reign was limited to Ur, he finally lost his throne, was taken captive to Sousse in Elam, 

And the Orr were completely destroyed by the Ilamites (and it seems that the Gelamites were the foreign forces that had destroyed the Akadian family before the Gothian takeover). 

He joined the Ilamites in the elimination of Ur, an unknown people, called Sawa.

At that time, western names appear. 

The people who carried these names were, in fact, Amorite (called Marto in Sumeria and in Amuro) and spoke one of the Canaanite languages near Phoenician, Ugaritic and Hebrew.

(6) The Essen-Larsa era (1950-1700 BC): 

At the end of the above-mentioned conflict, Esen's Governor Speira appeared, expelling the Ilamite garrison who was encamped in Ur and founded the Essin family. 

The fifth king of this family, Libet-Ishtar, issued a set of laws. But he was in this family, another family in the south, 

The Larsa family, and finally the last king of Larsa, Reem-Sen, and the last king of the Essen family, united the country, 

But this unity did not last long, defeating the Amorite Hammurabi of Babylon, Reem-Sen, the last king of the Larsa family. 

The ruling family of Babylon appeared about a hundred years before Hammurabi, but it was Hammurabi who succeeded in uniting all the lands of Babylon.

In achievement, at the beginning of the nineteenth century B.C., these three great families (Essen, Larsa, and Babylon) belonged to the ancient Babylonian era (where Assyria and Mary in the northwest had independent rulers). 

But with the conquests of Hammurabi (1792-1750 or 1728-1686 BC), the first Babylonian family (which began in 1850 BC) had full sovereignty. 

“Hammurabi” ends the history of Sumer and begins the history of Babylon, the Semitic nation that was founded on Sumerian foundations (as Kramer says).

Sumerian religion:

The Sumerians had a group of “big gods,” the three largest male gods, Anne, the god of the air (the Akkadians finally called him No), 

His place of worship was in Ark, Enlil, the god of the air, his place of worship was in Nibor, and Inki, the god of hell and wisdom (called Eea in Akadian), and he was the principal place of worship of Edo. 

Anne is the head of the Collector of Early Ages of Gods. And then Enlil became the chief god. In the Hamorabi era, in the ancient Babylonian state, Murdoch became the chief god.

The leading deities include “Nannoud” (Noun in the sense of lady, “Todd” in the sense of birth, i.e., the woman of birth or “mother goddess”) and were her principal place of worship in Dalmon (some say she is “Bahrain” in the Persian Gulf), but she had other temples in Lagash and Kish. 

The goddess of love and war was also a great goddess, and her principal place of worship was Anne, Ark, and a temple (called Iana, House of Heaven) was discovered in Ark, dating back to the dawn of history.

There were three other gods: 

(1) “Otto”: God of the Sun (the High God, Shammas), and his place of worship was in Sibar and Larsa. 

(2) “Nana”, the God of the Moon (the Son of the Akkadian, who was worshiped in Oroharan) and was his principal place of worship in Ur. 

(3) “Ashkar”, the god of the weather (which is “Definite” or “Hadad” in the Akkadian, and who is himself “Baal” in the Canaanites).

Each of these great gods was depicted in human form, with one depicted as animal (as in Egypt, where the god was depicted as a head of an animal or a bird).

In addition to these great gods, there were a number of small gods, such as the God of Agriculture, Demoszi (the “Tammuz” mentioned in Ezekiel 8's prophecy: 14. 

Adonis meets the Greeks.) Demoszi dies and returns to life every year, symbolizing the seasons. And he was of the little gods, the devils and the jinn.

Third : Life in Somar:

(a) the King :

(1) Title : It was called the Sumerian, Insi-e-Sayed, as it was called “Logal,” or “Great Man.

” It seems that the word “insy” was given to a king who ruled a country from one city, and “logal,” it was called a king who ruled a state from more than one city.

(2) Deification : The king of Pharaonic Egypt was “Deah”, meaning “God,” but there was no sign of it in the early dynastic period of Mesopotamia, 

But it appeared in later times (e.g., the era of the first Akkadian family, Or III). But this phenomenon has disappeared completely since the Hamorabi era.

(3) Duties : The king served as the priest of the god of the city, ran the city in the name of God, supervised all state affairs, built buildings and temples, dug canals and built bridges, commanded the armed forces, was the chief justice, and was responsible for the administration of justice.

(4) Reduced : It was called the king's palace or palace, Egal (the Great House, from which the word "temple" was derived). The king may have lived in the temple in early times.

(b) Temple :

Before the third era in the furthest places, there was in Sumer many countries made up of one city, where the temple was the spiritual, economic and political center. 

It meant that the temple owned large areas of land, which had to be served by many people, depending on their living on the temple. 

There were 1,000 to 200 workers (except their families), It seems that almost all of Lagash's inhabitants depended on the temple for their livelihood. 

This included farmers, plotters, herders, pastors, gardeners, and fishermen. 

There were also jobs, bakers, cooks, beers, craftsmen, skilled craftsmen, goldsmiths, stone-cutters, who made seals. 

Women also worked in grinding, spinning, and weaving. There were also couriers (riding carts) and ships. All of these were inspectors and supervisors.

The priest was above all these ranks. 

The king and the queen were in charge of this function. 

The king was the chief priest of the male gods, and the queen was the chief female priest of the gods. But the king often delegated another to do his priestly work. 

We should not look at the temple servants as slaves, because they were considered free. As for slaves, they were imported from abroad, and they were few in Sumerian society.

The main source of income was land, not only from crops, but also from rents that were sometimes paid in silver. 

Fishing was another source of entry (the Lagash Temple used 100 fishermen). 

There was also the coarse on foreign trade of stones, timber and minerals, none of which was found in the southern part of Mesopotamia. 

Trade with Elam and the surrounding areas of the Persian Gulf, Syria and the northern regions from Mesopotamia to the Indian States.

(j) Law:

Two incomplete sets of Sumerian laws have arrived: The set of laws of Oro-Namo, founder of the third family in Ur, dating back to about 2050 BC. 

And then the Libit-Ishtar Fifth King in Essen, which goes back to 1,850 BC. 

These laws are related to marriage, sexual sins, divorce, defamation, assault, slaves, negligence in tax payments, inheritance, and the lease of bulls... 

These laws preceded the more general and more famous laws such as the Hammurabi Laws.

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