The mysterious civilization that has shaken and influenced the world to this day remains unmentioned in historical records due to its ‘terrifying’ nature.
As we know, there are many civilizations recognized today, especially the four most famous ancient civilizations: China, Ancient India, Babylon, and Ancient Egypt. Among them, the Babylonian civilization is connected to the civilization we will discuss. The story takes place in the vast region of Mesopotamia in Western Asia. Four thousand years before Christ, a group of people from the East arrived in Mesopotamia. Here, they created a civilization that has had a lasting impact on the world ever since.
However, who were they and where did they come from? There is still no clear answer, but the later Akkadians named this group the Sumerians, and the civilization they created is known as Sumerian civilization. It seems that the Sumerians were not adept at battling nature; they resembled a bright star that accidentally fell to Earth.
Their culture consisted of a group of city-states, including Eridu, Nippur, Lagash, Kish, Ur, and the first city – Uruk.
At its peak around 2800 BCE, the city had a population ranging from 40,000 to 80,000 and was considered one of the most populous cities in the world at that time. The architecture of this area was also unique, as each Sumerian city-state was surrounded by a wall built from sun-dried mud bricks. However, due to the lack of mortar, these structures were prone to degradation over time.
These people arrived in the arid yet fertile lower region of Mesopotamia, where they invented irrigation techniques and successfully utilized water from the Euphrates and Tigris rivers to irrigate their fields. They developed canals, water reservoirs, drainage systems, and advanced water flow control technology. Even more astonishing, these projects were managed by dedicated individuals. Additionally, the Sumerians domesticated a large number of wild animals to help them plow the fields and transport goods; they invented the plow, learned how to till the land, and used livestock for weeding.
The Sumerians were skilled in word creation.
Four thousand years before Christ, a group of people from the East arrived in Mesopotamia. Here, they created a civilization that has had a lasting impact on the world ever since.
The Sumerians were skilled in word creation. They developed the first pictographic writing in the world, which gradually evolved into cuneiform script. At a time when other regions still used knotted ropes to convey information or relied on rudimentary spoken language and oral traditions, the Sumerians developed a vast writing system, using words to document letters, articles, and more. Later, the Persians evolved and improved upon the Sumerian writing system, leading to the development of the Persian script.
The Sumerians had extremely advanced mathematical skills. We can only imagine their level of understanding over 6,000 years ago. They learned to use fractions, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and solve equations. They invented the decimal system, base-16 system, and sexagesimal system. For instance, they divided a circle into 360 degrees, divided time into 1 hour comprising 60 minutes, and 1 minute into 60 seconds. The Sumerians even calculated the area of irregular shapes and the volume of certain cones.
It seems the Sumerians were not adept at battling nature; they resembled a bright star that accidentally fell to Earth.
A shocking example is that the Sumerians, 6,000 years ago, were able to calculate a result with 15 digits, written in Arabic numerals: 195,955,200,000,000. It is essential to understand that it wasn’t until after 1600 CE that European awareness of numbers gradually gained acceptance due to the influence of great mathematicians like René Descartes and Leibniz. It wasn’t until the first century that Europeans even learned about the concept of 1,000,000. Thus, at that time, Europeans believed that if something exceeded a million, it was considered infinite. The term millionaire originated from this, as the concept of millionaires was unknown, let alone the concepts of tens of millions or billions. Such mathematical achievements were remarkably accomplished by the Sumerians 6,000 years ago.
The Sumerians were also skilled in astronomy. By observing the moon, the Sumerians divided a year into 12 months, with 6 months having 30 days and 6 months having 29 days, totaling 354 days in a year, and employed a leap month to compensate for time discrepancies. Moreover, the Sumerians created the term “week” and defined 7 days as a week. Not only that, but the Sumerians could also distinguish between stars and planets. They observed the Earth’s orbit around the sun. This astronomical knowledge would later embarrass figures like Nicolaus Copernicus and Giordano Bruno.
The Decline
In 1940 BCE, Sumer was invaded by the Elamites, who plundered the city-states. Later, during the reign of Hammurabi of Babylonia, the Babylonians unified the lands of Mesopotamia, leading to the demise of the Sumerians. By around 1700 BCE, the Sumerians were gradually assimilated with the Assyrians and Babylonians.
