Sumer was located in the southernmost region of ancient Mesopotamia. The location is present day Iraq and Kuwait. The place derives its name from the Akkadian language of North Mesopotamia. The inscription means the land of civilized kings. The Sumerians called themselves the black-headed people and therefore the land was land of the black-headed people in its simplest existence (Roaf, 2009).
The Sumerian region was claimed to have been inhabited at first during the period 4500BCE. This has brought a point of contention as human activity had been purported to have taken place much earlier. Archaeological evidence provides these early inhabitants as the Ubaid people. Their existence was authenticated by the presence of their artefacts. The evidence negates the idea that the Sumerians were the first inhabitants.
The region was permanently settled between 5500, and 4,000 BC. This was done by the pre-Semitic people. These people spoke the isolated Sumerian language. The language evidence lies in their naming of basic occupations, rivers, and cities. The language has been largely claimed to belong to the hunter and fisher people who resided in the marshland.
During their arrival in Mesopotamia in 4,000BCE, the Sumerians got better of the Ubaidians and the Semites. They did this by continuous improvement of their canals for irrigations and through the creation of efficient transport systems. With this coupled efficiency, the Sumerians were able to stamp their authority and gained permanent establishment (Roaf, 2009).
The Sumerian region which falls in the period of Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age [5000-400] BC was an establishment for early development in various fields. Her cities were an embodiment of intensive all year agricultural activities. This was instrumental in the provision of surplus food. Sumer served as the site for early development writing in the period of 3000BCE on the onset of proper writing. It survived to the time of Babylonia around 2000 BCE (Roaf, 2009).
Religion
The Sumerian religion survived and emerged firm in the face of other existing religions and mythologies.it proved strong from influence by other forms that were present. The religions that were available include those of Hurrians, Akkadians, Assyrians, the Babylonians and other culture groups that were equally influential. In this way, the Sumerian religion informed the Mesopotamia mythology and religious beliefs (Feldt, 2015).
The religious myths were passed done from one generation to another through oral tradition. The situation, however, changed with the invention of writing. Religious writings then came into being as temple praise hymns during the late early dynastic period. They also came in the form of famous incantations (Feldt, 2015).
The temple complexes were initially small and composed of one –room structures that were elevated in the Sumerian city-states. The structural architecture changed in the early dynastic period .the modifications included raised terraces and the creation of multiple rooms. Ziggurats then became the preferred temple structure towards the end of civilization. The temples served as religious, cultural and political headquarters until it changed with distinct separation of the administrative units.
The priesthood was titled En or Ensi with the female counterpart taking the name Nin.their sole purpose was to ensure that the cultural and the religious beliefs of the city states are continued and upheld. They were also viewed as intermediates between the human generations and the forces that were beyond the imagination or scope of the population. They controlled the city-states. The power was stripped off with the advent of the legal (Feldt, 2015).
The priesthood resided in the temple complexes on a full-time basis. From this point, administrative functions such as monitoring irrigation could be undertaken. During a ceremonial procession, it is noted that there existed 62 lamentation priests that were accompanied by 180 vocalists and instrumentalists. This occurred during the Third Dynasty of Ur.
Destruction and collapse of civilization
There are various factors that came into play to cause the collapse of the Sumer civilization.at about 2200 BC. There was a massive drought that lasted for between two and three hundred years. This dealt a big blow to the early civilization regarding change in population patterns. A great percentage of the settlements were abandoned whereas population declined by a similar wider margin according to archaeological estimates (Oppenheim, 2013).
The fall was largely blamed on the lack of role models to look up to regarding finding ways to solve problems that were affecting them. This was because they were the first of the kind .the management of a large number of communities fighting proved futile due to the lack of hand on experience in the matters. They relied upon the temple to offer order which was not enough.
The Akkadian army which had an established militarized army dealt a big blow to Sumer. These neighboring empire were organized and in dire need for conquest. On the other hand, the priests were concerned with collecting tributes for the gods rather than in the formation of an army that was needed for maintenance of order (Kriwaczek, 2014).
The Akkadians destroyed the Mesopotamia capital of Ur around 2000 BC. This was the evidence of a military advantage over Sumer. After this demolition, the Sumerian language was avidly replaced by the Akkadian language. The cuneiform still existed until a time a time they were declared extinct. The writing system was then phased the way the Sumer faded away. The Sumerians that were remnants were then absorbed into the new system of the population. With this assimilation, the end of an era for the Sumer was marked and became a historical reference of civilization (Oppenheim, 2013).
References
Feldt, L. (2015). Religion, Nature, and Ambiguous Space in Ancient Mesopotamia: The Mountain Wilderness in Old Babylonian Religious Narratives.
Kriwaczek, P. (2014). Babylon: Mesopotamia and the birth of civilization. Atlantic Books Ltd.
Oppenheim, A. L. (2013). Ancient Mesopotamia: portrait of a dead civilization. University of Chicago Press.
Roaf, M. (2009). Mesopotamia and the ancient Near East. Stonehenge Press.
