The Sumerians are the first civilization on earth.

The Sumerians are an ancient people who once inhabited the territory of the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the south of the modern state of Iraq (Southern Mesopotamia or Southern Mesopotamia). In the south, the boundary of their habitat reached the shores of the Persian Gulf, in the north - to the latitude of modern Baghdad.

For a whole millennium, the Sumerians were the main actors in the ancient Near East.
Sumerian astronomy and mathematics were the most accurate in the entire Middle East. We still divide the year into four seasons, twelve months and twelve signs of the zodiac, we measure angles, minutes and seconds in sixties - the way the Sumerians first began to do it.
When we go to see a doctor, we all ... receive prescriptions for medicines or advice from a psychotherapist, completely without thinking about the fact that both herbal medicine and psychotherapy first developed and reached a high level precisely among the Sumerians. While receiving a subpoena and counting on the justice of judges, we also do not know anything about the founders of legal proceedings - the Sumerians, whose first legislative acts contributed to the development of legal relations in all parts of the Ancient World. Finally, thinking about the vicissitudes of fate, lamenting the fact that we were cheated at birth, we repeat the same words that the philosophizing Sumerian scribes first brought to clay - but hardly even guesses about it.

The Sumerians are "black-headed". This people, who appeared in the south of Mesopotamia in the middle of the 3rd millennium BC from nowhere, is now called the "progenitor of modern civilization", and in fact, until the middle of the 19th century, no one even suspected about him. Time has erased Sumer from the annals of history and, if not for linguists, perhaps we would never have known about Sumer.
But I'll probably start from 1778, when the Dane Carsten Niebuhr, who led an expedition to Mesopotamia in 1761, published copies of a cuneiform royal inscription from Persepolis. He was the first to suggest that the 3 columns in the inscription are three different types of cuneiform writing containing the same text.

In 1798, another Dane, Friedrich Christian Münter, hypothesized that the writing of the 1st class is alphabetic Old Persian writing (42 characters), the 2nd class is a syllabary, the 3rd class is ideographic characters. But the first to read the text was not a Dane, but a German, a Latin teacher in Göttingen, Grotenfend. His attention was drawn to a group of seven cuneiform characters. Grotenfend suggested that this word is King, and the rest of the signs were selected based on historical and linguistic analogies. Eventually Grotenfend made the following translation:
Xerxes, great king, king of kings
Darius, king, son, Achaemenid
However, only 30 years later, the Frenchman Eugene Burnouf and the Norwegian Christian Lassen found the correct equivalents for almost all cuneiform signs of the 1st group. In 1835, a second multilingual inscription was found on a rock in Behistun, and in 1855, Edwin Norris managed to decipher the 2nd type of writing, which consisted of hundreds of syllabic characters. The inscription turned out to be in the Elamite language (nomadic tribes called Amorites or Amorites in the Bible).

With the 3rd type, it turned out to be even more difficult. It was a completely forgotten language. One sign there could denote both a syllable and a whole word. Consonants appeared only as part of a syllable, while vowels could also appear as separate characters. For example, the sound "p" could be rendered in six different characters, depending on the context. On January 17, 1869, the linguist Jules Oppert stated that the language of the 3rd group is .... Sumerian ... This means that the Sumerian people must also exist ... But there was also a theory that it was only artificial - "sacred language "priests of Babylon. In 1871, Archibald Says published the first Sumerian text, the Shulgi royal inscription. But it was not until 1889 that the definition of Sumerian was universally accepted.
SUMMARY: What we now call the Sumerian language is actually an artificial construction built on analogies with the inscriptions of the peoples who adopted the Sumerian cuneiform - Elamite, Akkadian and Old Persian texts. And now remember how the ancient Greeks distorted foreign names and evaluate the possible reliability of the sound of "restored Sumerian". Strangely, the Sumerian language has neither ancestors nor descendants. Sometimes Sumerian is called "the Latin of ancient Babylon" - but one must be aware that Sumerian did not become the progenitor of a powerful language group, only the roots of several dozen words remained from it.
Appearance of the Sumerians.

I must say that southern Mesopotamia is not the best place in the world. The complete absence of forests and minerals. Swampiness, frequent floods, accompanied by a change in the course of the Euphrates due to low banks and, as a result, the complete absence of roads. The only thing that was in abundance there was reed, clay and water. However, in combination with fertile soil fertilized by floods, this was enough for the first city-states of ancient Sumer to flourish there at the very end of the 3rd millennium BC.

We do not know where the Sumerians came from, but when they appeared in Mesopotamia, people already lived there. The tribes that inhabited Mesopotamia in the deepest antiquity lived on islands that towered among the swamps. They built their settlements on artificial earth embankments. Draining the surrounding swamps, they created the oldest system of artificial irrigation. As the finds in Kish indicate, they used microlithic tools.
An impression of a Sumerian cylinder seal depicting a plow. The earliest settlement discovered in southern Mesopotamia was near El Obeid (near Ur), on a river island that rose above a swampy plain. The population living here was engaged in hunting and fishing, but was already moving to more progressive types of economy: to cattle breeding and agriculture.
The culture of El Obeid has existed for a very long time. It has its roots in the ancient local cultures of Upper Mesopotamia. However, the first elements of Sumerian culture are already appearing.

According to the skulls from the burials, it was determined that the Sumerians were not a monoracial ethnic group: there are also brachycephals ("round-headed") and dolichocephaly ("long-headed"). However, this could also be the result of mixing with the local population. So we can't even assign them to a particular ethnic group with complete certainty. At present, it can only be stated with some certainty that the Semites of Akkad and the Sumerians of southern Mesopotamia differed sharply from each other both in their appearance and in language.
In the most ancient communities of the southern part of Mesopotamia in the third millennium BC. e. almost all the products produced here were consumed locally and subsistence farming reigned. Clay and reed were widely used. In ancient times, vessels were molded from clay - first by hand, and later on a special potter's wheel. Finally, the most important building material was made from clay in large quantities - brick, which was prepared with an admixture of reeds and straw. This brick was sometimes dried in the sun, and sometimes fired in a special kiln. By the beginning of the third millennium BC. e., include the oldest buildings built of original large bricks, one side of which forms a flat surface, and the other - a convex one. A major revolution in technology was made by the discovery of metals. One of the first metals known to the peoples of southern Mesopotamia was copper, whose name is found in both Sumerian and Akkadian. A little later, bronze appeared, which was made from an alloy of copper with lead, and later with tin. Recent archaeological discoveries indicate that already in the middle of the third millennium BC. e. in Mesopotamia, iron was known, obviously meteoric.

The next period of the Sumerian archaic is called the Uruk period, after the site of the most important excavations. This era is characterized by a new type of ceramics. Earthenware vessels with tall handles and long spouts may reproduce an ancient metal prototype. The vessels are made on a potter's wheel; however, in their ornamentation, they are much more modest than the painted pottery of the El Obeid period. However, economic life and culture receive their further development in this era. There is a need for documentation. In connection with this, primitive pictorial (pictographic) writing appears, traces of which are preserved on the cylinder seals of that time. The inscriptions have a total of up to 1500 picture signs, from which the ancient Sumerian writing gradually grew.
After the Sumerians, a huge number of clay cuneiform tablets remained. Perhaps it was the first bureaucracy in the world. The earliest inscriptions date back to 2900 BC. and contain business records. Researchers complain that the Sumerians left behind a huge number of "economic" records and "lists of gods" but did not bother to write down the "philosophical basis" of their belief system. Therefore, our knowledge is only an interpretation of "cuneiform" sources, most of which were translated and rewritten by the priests of later cultures, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh or the poem "Enuma Elish" dating from the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. So, perhaps we are reading a kind of digest, similar to the adaptive version of the Bible for modern children. Especially considering that most of the texts are compiled from several separate sources (due to poor preservation).
The property stratification that took place within rural communities led to the gradual disintegration of the communal system. The growth of productive forces, the development of trade and slavery, and finally, predatory wars contributed to the emergence of a small group of slave-owning aristocracy from the entire mass of community members. Aristocrats who owned slaves and partly land were called "big people" (lugal), who were opposed by "little people", that is, free poor members of rural communities.
The oldest indications of the existence of slave-owning states in Mesopotamia date back to the beginning of the third millennium BC. e. Judging by the documents of this era, these were very small states, or rather, primary state formations, headed by kings. In the principalities that had lost their independence, the highest representatives of the slave-owning aristocracy ruled, bearing the ancient semi-priestly title "tsatesi" (epsi). The economic basis of these ancient slave-owning states was the land fund of the country centralized in the hands of the state. Communal lands cultivated by free peasants were considered the property of the state, and their population was obliged to bear all kinds of duties in favor of the latter.
The disunity of the city-states created a problem with the exact dating of events in Ancient Sumer. The fact is that each city-state had its own chronicles. And the lists of kings that have come down to us are mainly written no earlier than the Akkadian period and are a mixture of fragments of various "temple lists", which led to confusion and errors. But in general it looks like this:
2900 - 2316 BC - heyday of the Sumerian city-states
2316 - 2200 BC - the unification of the Sumerians under the rule of the Akkadian dynasty (Semitic tribes of the northern part of the Southern Mesopotamia who adopted the Sumerian culture)
2200 - 2112 BC - Interregnum. The period of fragmentation and invasions of nomads - Kuti
2112 - 2003 BC - Sumerian Renaissance, the heyday of culture
2003 BC - the fall of Sumer and Akkad under the onslaught of the Amorites (Elamites). Anarchy
1792 - the rise of Babylon under Hammurabi (Old Babylonian kingdom)

After their fall, the Sumerians left something that was picked up by many other peoples who came to this earth - Religion.
Religion of Ancient Sumer.
Let's touch on the Religion of the Sumerians. It seems that in Sumer the origins of religion had purely materialistic, and not "ethical" roots. The cult of the Gods was not aimed at "purification and holiness", but was intended to ensure a good harvest, military success, etc. .e.), personified the forces of nature - the sky, the sea, the sun, the moon, the wind, etc., then the gods appeared - the patrons of cities, farmers, shepherds, etc. The Sumerians claimed that everything in the world belongs to the gods - the temples were not the place of residence of the gods, who were obliged to take care of people, but the granaries of the gods - barns.
The main deities of the Sumerian Pantheon were AN (heaven - masculine) and KI (earth - feminine). Both of these beginnings arose from the primordial ocean, which gave birth to the mountain, from the firmly connected heaven and earth.
On the mountain of heaven and earth, An conceived the [gods] Anunnaki. From this union was born the god of air - Enlil, who divided heaven and earth.

There is a hypothesis that in the beginning, maintaining order in the world was the function of Enki, the god of wisdom and the sea. But then, with the rise of the city-state of Nippur, whose god Enlil was considered, it was he who took the leading place among the gods.
Unfortunately, not a single Sumerian myth about the creation of the world has come down to us. The course of events presented in the Akkadian myth "Enuma Elish", according to researchers, does not correspond to the concept of the Sumerians, despite the fact that most of the gods and plots in it are borrowed from Sumerian beliefs. At first it was hard for the gods, they had to do everything themselves, there was no one to serve them. Then they created people to serve themselves. It would seem that An, like other creator gods, should have had a leading role in Sumerian mythology. And, indeed, he was revered, though most likely symbolically. His temple at Ur was called E.ANNA - "House of AN". The first kingdom was called the "Kingdom of Anu". However, according to the ideas of the Sumerians, An practically does not interfere in the affairs of people, and therefore the main role in "everyday life" passed to other gods, led by Enlil. However, Enlil was not omnipotent either, because the supreme power belonged to a council of fifty main gods, among which the seven main gods "who decide fate" stood out in particular.

It is believed that the structure of the council of the gods repeated the "earthly hierarchy" - where the rulers, ensi, ruled together with the "council of elders", in which a group of the most worthy stood out ..
One of the foundations of Sumerian mythology, the exact meaning of which has not been established, is "ME", which played a huge role in the religious and ethical system of the Sumerians. In one of the myths, more than a hundred "ME" are named, of which less than half were able to read and decipher. Here such concepts as justice, kindness, peace, victory, lies, fear, crafts, etc. , everything in one way or another connected with public life. Some researchers believe that "me" are the prototypes of all living things, radiated by gods and temples, "Divine Rules".
In general, in Sumer, the Gods were like Humans. In their relationship there are matchmaking and wars, rape and love, deceit and anger. There is even a myth about a man who possessed the goddess Inanna in a dream. It is noteworthy, but the whole myth is imbued with sympathy for man.
Interestingly, the Sumerian paradise is not intended for people - it is the abode of the gods, where sorrows, old age, illness and death are unknown, and the only problem that worries the gods is the problem of fresh water. By the way, in ancient Egypt there was no concept of paradise at all. Sumerian hell - Kur - a gloomy dark underworld, where on the way where there were three servants - "door man", "underground river man", "carrier". Reminds the ancient Greek Hades and Sheol of the ancient Jews. This empty space that separates the earth from the primordial ocean is filled with the shadows of the dead, wandering without hope of return, and demons.
In general, the views of the Sumerians were reflected in many later religions, but now we are much more interested in their contribution to the technical side of the development of modern civilization.

The story begins in Sumer.

One of the greatest experts on Sumer, Professor Samuel Noah Kramer, in his book "History Begins in Sumer" listed 39 subjects in which the Sumerians were pioneers. In addition to the first writing system, which we have already spoken about, he included in this list the wheel, the first schools, the first bicameral parliament, the first historians, the first "farmer's almanac"; in Sumer, cosmogony and cosmology first arose, the first collection of proverbs and aphorisms appeared, and literary debates were held for the first time; for the first time the image of "Noah" was created; here the first book catalog appeared, the first money (silver shekels in the form of "bullions by weight") were in circulation, taxes were introduced for the first time, the first laws were adopted and social reforms were carried out, medicine appeared, and for the first time attempts were made to achieve peace and harmony in society.
In the field of medicine, the Sumerians had very high standards from the very beginning. In the library of Ashurbanipal found by Layard in Nineveh, there was a clear order, it had a large medical department, in which there were thousands of clay tablets. All medical terms were based on words borrowed from the Sumerian language. Medical procedures were described in special reference books, which contained information about hygiene rules, operations, such as cataract removal, and the use of alcohol for disinfection during surgical operations. Sumerian medicine was characterized by a scientific approach to diagnosis and prescription of treatment, both medical and surgical.
The Sumerians were excellent travelers and explorers - they are also credited with the invention of the world's first ships. One Akkadian dictionary of Sumerian words contained at least 105 designations for various types of ships - according to their size, purpose and type of cargo. One inscription excavated in Lagash speaks of the possibilities of repairing ships and lists the types of materials that the local ruler Gudea brought to build the temple of his god Ninurta in about 2200 BC. The breadth of the assortment of these goods is amazing - ranging from gold, silver, copper - to diorite, carnelian and cedar. In some cases, these materials have been transported over thousands of miles.
The first brick kiln was also built in Sumer. The use of such a large furnace made it possible to fire clay products, which gave them special strength due to internal stress, without poisoning the air with dust and ash. The same technology was used to smelt metals from ore, such as copper, by heating the ore to over 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit in a closed furnace with a low oxygen supply. This process, called smelting, became necessary in the early stages, as soon as the supply of natural native copper was exhausted. Researchers of ancient metallurgy were extremely surprised at how quickly the Sumerians learned the methods of ore dressing, metal smelting and casting. These advanced technologies were mastered by them only a few centuries after the emergence of the Sumerian civilization.

Even more amazing was that the Sumerians mastered the methods of obtaining alloys - a process by which various metals are chemically combined when heated in a furnace. The Sumerians learned how to produce bronze, a hard but workable metal that changed the entire course of human history. The ability to alloy copper with tin was the greatest achievement for three reasons. Firstly, it was necessary to choose a very accurate ratio of copper and tin (analysis of Sumerian bronze showed the optimal ratio - 85% copper to 15% tin). Secondly, in Mesopotamia there was no tin at all. (Unlike, for example, from Tiwanaku) Thirdly, tin does not occur in nature at all in its natural form. To extract it from the ore - tin stone - a rather complicated process is necessary. This is not a case that can be opened by accident. The Sumerians had about thirty words for various types of copper of various qualities, while for tin they used the word AN.NA, which literally means "Sky Stone" - which many consider to be evidence that Sumerian technology was a gift from the gods.

Thousands of clay tablets have been found containing hundreds of astronomical terms. Some of these tablets contained mathematical formulas and astronomical tables with which the Sumerians could predict solar eclipses, the various phases of the moon, and the trajectories of the planets. A study of ancient astronomy has revealed the remarkable accuracy of these tables (known as ephemeris). No one knows how they were calculated, but we may wonder - why was this necessary?
"The Sumerians measured the rising and setting of visible planets and stars relative to the earth's horizon, using the same heliocentric system that is used now. We also adopted from them the division of the celestial sphere into three segments - northern, central and southern (respectively, among the ancient Sumerians -" the path of Enlil "," the path of Anu "and" the path of Ea "). In essence, all modern concepts of spherical astronomy, including a full spherical circle of 360 degrees, zenith, horizon, axes of the celestial sphere, poles, ecliptic, equinox, etc. - all this suddenly originated in Sumer.

All the knowledge of the Sumerians regarding the movement of the Sun and the Earth was combined in the world's first calendar created by them, created in the city of Nippur - the solar-lunar calendar, which began in 3760 BC. The Sumerians counted 12 lunar months, which were approximately 354 days, and then add 11 extra days to get a full solar year. This procedure, called intercalation, was done annually until, after 19 years, the solar and lunar calendars were aligned. The Sumerian calendar was drawn up very precisely so that the key days (for example, the New Year always fell on the day of the vernal equinox). It is surprising that such a developed astronomical science was not at all necessary for this newly born society.
In general, the mathematics of the Sumerians had "geometric" roots and is very unusual. Personally, I don’t understand at all how such a number system could originate among primitive peoples. But you better judge for yourself...
Mathematics of the Sumerians.

The Sumerians used the sexagesimal number system. Only two signs were used to depict numbers: "wedge" denoted 1; 60; 3600 and further degrees from 60; "hook" - 10; 60 x 10; 3600 x 10, etc. The digital notation was based on the positional principle, but if you, based on the basis of numbering, think that numbers in Sumer were displayed as powers of 60, then you are mistaken.
The base in the Sumerian system is not 10, but 60, but then this base is strangely replaced by the number 10, then 6, and then back to 10, and so on. And thus, positional numbers line up in the following row:
1, 10, 60, 600, 3600, 36 000, 216 000, 2 160 000, 12 960 000.
This cumbersome sexagesimal system allowed the Sumerians to calculate fractions and multiply numbers up to millions, extract roots and raise to a power. In many respects this system even surpasses the decimal system we currently use. Firstly, the number 60 has ten prime divisors, while 100 has only 7. Secondly, this is the only system that is ideal for geometric calculations, and this is why it continues to be used in our time from here, for example, dividing a circle into 360 degrees.

We seldom realize that not only our geometry, but also our modern way of calculating time, we owe to the Sumerian sexagesimal number system. The division of the hour into 60 seconds was not at all arbitrary - it is based on the sexagesimal system. Echoes of the Sumerian number system were preserved in the division of a day into 24 hours, a year into 12 months, a foot into 12 inches, and in the existence of a dozen as a measure of quantity. They are also found in the modern counting system, in which numbers from 1 to 12 are singled out, and then numbers like 10 + 3, 10 + 4, etc. follow.
It should no longer surprise us that the zodiac was also another invention of the Sumerians, an invention that was later adopted by other civilizations. But the Sumerians did not use the signs of the zodiac, tying them to each month, as we do now in horoscopes. They used them in a purely astronomical sense - in the sense of the deviation of the earth's axis, the movement of which divides the full cycle of precession of 25,920 years into 12 periods of 2160 years. With the twelve-month movement of the Earth in orbit around the Sun, the picture of the starry sky, which forms a large sphere of 360 degrees, changes. The concept of the zodiac arose by dividing this circle into 12 equal segments (zodiacal spheres) of 30 degrees each. Then the stars in each group were combined into constellations, and each of them received its own name, corresponding to their modern names. Thus, there is no doubt that the concept of the zodiac was first used in Sumer. The inscriptions of the signs of the zodiac (representing imaginary pictures of the starry sky), as well as their arbitrary division into 12 spheres, prove that the corresponding zodiac signs used in other, later cultures, could not have appeared as a result of independent development.

Studies of Sumerian mathematics, much to the surprise of scientists, showed that their number system is closely related to the precessional cycle. The unusual moving principle of the Sumerian sexagesimal number system focuses on the number 12,960,000, which is exactly equal to 500 great precessional cycles occurring in 25,920 years. The absence of any other than astronomical possible applications for the products of the numbers 25920 and 2160 can only mean one thing - this system is designed specifically for astronomical purposes.
It seems that scientists are avoiding answering the uncomfortable question, which is this: how could the Sumerians, whose civilization lasted only 2,000 years, notice and fix the cycle of celestial movements that lasts 25,920 years? And why does the beginning of their civilization refer to the middle of the period between the changes of the zodiac? Does this not indicate that they inherited astronomy from the gods?

In the south of modern Iraq, in the interfluve of the Tigris and Euphrates, almost 7000 years ago, a mysterious people settled - the Sumerians. They made a significant contribution to the development of human civilization, but we still do not know where the Sumerians came from and what language they spoke.

Mysterious language

The valley of Mesopotamia has long been inhabited by tribes of Semitic pastoralists. It was they who were driven north by the Sumerian aliens. The Sumerians themselves were not related to the Semites, moreover, their origin is still unclear. Neither the ancestral home of the Sumerians nor the language family to which their language belonged is known.

Fortunately for us, the Sumerians left many written monuments. From them we learn that the neighboring tribes called this people "Sumers", and they themselves called themselves "Sang-ngiga" - "black-headed". They called their own language the “noble language” and considered it the only one suitable for people (in contrast to the not so “noble” Semitic languages ​​spoken by their neighbors).
But the Sumerian language was not homogeneous. It had special dialects for women and men, fishermen and shepherds. How the Sumerian language sounded is unknown to this day. A large number of homonyms suggests that this language was tonal (as, for example, modern Chinese), which means that the meaning of what was said often depended on intonation.
After the decline of the Sumerian civilization, the Sumerian language was studied for a long time in Mesopotamia, since most religious and literary texts were written in it.

Ancestral home of the Sumerians

One of the main mysteries remains the ancestral home of the Sumerians. Scientists build hypotheses based on archaeological data and information obtained from written sources.

This Asian country, unknown to us, was supposed to be located on the sea. The fact is that the Sumerians came to Mesopotamia along the riverbeds, and their first settlements appear in the south of the valley, in the deltas of the Tigris and Euphrates. At first, there were very few Sumerians in Mesopotamia - and not surprisingly, because the ships can not accommodate so many settlers. Apparently, they were good sailors, since they were able to climb up unfamiliar rivers and find a suitable place to land on the shore.

In addition, scientists believe that the Sumerians come from a mountainous area. No wonder the words “country” and “mountain” are spelled the same in their language. Yes, and the Sumerian temples "ziggurats" in their appearance resemble mountains - these are stepped structures with a wide base and a narrow pyramidal top, where the sanctuary was located.

Another important condition is that this country had to have developed technologies. The Sumerians were one of the most advanced peoples of their time, they were the first in the entire Middle East to use the wheel, create an irrigation system, and invent a unique writing system.
According to one version, this legendary ancestral home was located in southern India.

flood survivors

It was not in vain that the Sumerians chose the valley of Mesopotamia as their new homeland. The Tigris and Euphrates originate in the Armenian Highlands, and carry fertile silt and mineral salts to the valley. Because of this, the soil in Mesopotamia is extremely fertile, with fruit trees, cereals, and vegetables growing in abundance. In addition, there were fish in the rivers, wild animals flocked to the watering place, and there was plenty of food for livestock in the water meadows.

But all this abundance had a downside. When the snow began to melt in the mountains, the Tigris and Euphrates carried streams of water into the valley. Unlike the floods of the Nile, the floods of the Tigris and Euphrates could not be predicted, they were not regular.

Strong floods turned into a real disaster, they destroyed everything in their path: cities and villages, eared fields, animals and people. Probably, having first encountered this disaster, the Sumerians created the legend of Ziusudra.
At the meeting of all the gods, a terrible decision was made - to destroy all of humanity. Only one god Enki took pity on the people. He appeared in a dream to King Ziusudra and ordered him to build a huge ship. Ziusudra fulfilled the will of God, he loaded his property, family and relatives, various masters to preserve knowledge and technology, livestock, animals and birds onto the ship. The ship's doors were tarred on the outside.

The next morning a terrible flood began, which even the gods were afraid of. Rain and wind raged for six days and seven nights. Finally, when the water began to recede, Ziusudra left the ship and offered sacrifices to the gods. Then, as a reward for his loyalty, the gods granted Ziusudra and his wife immortality.

This legend is not just reminiscent of the legend of Noah's Ark, most likely the biblical story is borrowed from the Sumerian culture. After all, the first flood poems that have come down to us date back to the 18th century BC.

Priest kings, builder kings

Sumerian lands have never been a single state. In fact, it was a collection of city-states, each with its own law, its own treasury, its own rulers, its own army. Only language, religion and culture were common. City-states could be at enmity with each other, could exchange goods or enter into military alliances.

Each city-state had three kings. The first and most important was called "en". It was a priest-king (however, a woman could also be enom). The main task of the king-en was to conduct religious ceremonies: solemn processions, sacrifices. In addition, he was in charge of all temple property, and sometimes the property of the entire community.

An important area of ​​life in ancient Mesopotamia was construction. The Sumerians are credited with the invention of fired bricks. City walls, temples, barns were built from this more durable material. The priest-builder ensi was in charge of the construction of these structures. In addition, the ensi kept an eye on the irrigation system, because canals, locks and dams allowed at least a little control over irregular spills.

For the duration of the war, the Sumerians elected another leader - the military leader - lugal. The most famous military leader was Gilgamesh, whose exploits are immortalized in one of the most ancient literary works - the Epic of Gilgamesh. In this story, the great hero defies the gods, defeats monsters, brings a precious cedar tree to his hometown of Uruk, and even descends into the afterlife.

Sumerian gods

Sumer had a developed religious system. Three gods enjoyed special reverence: Anu, the sky god, Enlil, the earth god, and Ensi, the god of water. In addition, each city had its own patron god. Thus, Enlil was especially revered in the ancient city of Nippur. The inhabitants of Nippur believed that Enlil gave them such important inventions as a hoe and a plow, and also taught them how to build cities and build walls around them.

Important gods for the Sumerians were the sun (Utu) and the moon (Nannar), replacing each other in the sky. And, of course, one of the most important figures of the Sumerian pantheon was the goddess Inanna, whom the Assyrians, who borrowed the religious system from the Sumerians, would call Ishtar, and the Phoenicians - Astarte.

Inanna was the goddess of love and fertility and, at the same time, the goddess of war. She personified, first of all, carnal love, passion. It is not for nothing that in many Sumerian cities there was a custom of "divine marriage", when the kings, in order to ensure the fertility of their lands, livestock and people, spent the night with the high priestess Inanna, who embodied the goddess herself.

Like many ancient gods, Inanna was capricious and fickle. She often fell in love with mortal heroes, and woe was to those who rejected the goddess!
The Sumerians believed that the gods created humans by mixing their blood with clay. After death, the souls fell into the afterlife, where there was also nothing but clay and dust, which the dead fed on. To make the lives of their dead ancestors a little better, the Sumerians sacrificed food and drink to them.

Cuneiform

The Sumerian civilization reached amazing heights, even after the conquest by the northern neighbors, the culture, language and religion of the Sumerians were borrowed first by Akkad, then by Babylonia and Assyria.
The Sumerians are credited with inventing the wheel, bricks, and even beer (although they most likely made the barley drink using a different technology). But the main achievement of the Sumerians was, of course, a unique writing system - cuneiform.
Cuneiform got its name from the shape of the marks left by a reed stick on wet clay, the most common writing material.

Sumerian writing originated from a system for counting various goods. For example, when a person counted his flock, he made a ball of clay to designate each sheep, then he put these balls in a box, and left notes on the box - the number of these balls. But after all, all the sheep in the herd are different: different sex, age. Marks appeared on the balls, according to the animal they denoted. And, finally, the sheep began to be denoted by a picture - a pictogram. It was not very convenient to draw with a reed stick, and the pictogram turned into a schematic image consisting of vertical, horizontal and diagonal wedges. And the last step - this ideogram began to denote not only a sheep (in Sumerian “udu”), but also the syllable “udu” as part of complex words.

At first, cuneiform was used to draw up business documents. Extensive archives have come down to us from the ancient inhabitants of Mesopotamia. But later, the Sumerians began to write down literary texts, and even whole libraries of clay tablets appeared, which were not afraid of fires - after all, after firing, the clay only became stronger. It is thanks to the fires in which the Sumerian cities, captured by the warlike Akkadians, that the unique information about this ancient civilization has come down to us.

“According to most modern scientists, it is the Sumerian civilization that is the most ancient culture of mankind. This discovery was made only in the middle of the 19th century. The main share in the study of ancient civilization belongs not to archaeologists, anthropologists and ethnographers, but to linguists, who discovered the oldest culture of Mesopotamia to the scientific world, whose heritage was adopted by the Babylonian and Assyrian empires. For many centuries, the "black-headed" Sumerians have practically sunk into oblivion. They are not described even in the records of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. The Bible speaks of the city of Ur. However, nothing is mentioned about this mysterious and unique people.”

Many mysteries of the oldest civilization of Mesopotamia have not yet been solved and are subject to study, but the deciphered samples of cuneiform and the archaeological excavations that followed them prove that the people who lived in the territory between the rivers Tiger and Euphrates, for their era had a fairly developed culture. Their knowledge and scientific discoveries have become a cultural heritage for the next owners of this territory.

Some scholars claim that Sumerians settled in the territory Mesopotamia(more precisely, in the south) at the end of the 4th millennium BC. The remaining archaeologists and ethnographers date the first appearance of this people in the south of Mesopotamia at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. It is known that by the time they arrived Mesopotamia, few tribes already lived here Ubaid culture. It is even believed that the Sumerians settled Mesopotamia after Flood, which is approximately dated to 2900 BC. (beginning of III millennium BC). However, there is a version that the "black-headed" (the self-name of the Sumerians) could have settled in South Mesopotamia and before the flood. Having settled at the mouth of the rivers, the Sumerians founded their first city, called Eris (now the archaeological town of Abu Shahrein in southern Iraq) and where, according to legend, the birth of a great civilization began. It is known that the local population living in the south was of Semitic origin. " Blackheads” had no anthropological or linguistic similarities with the autochthonous inhabitants. They were completely alien to each other peoples. By the beginning of the III millennium BC. Sumerians, conquering the entire valley Mesopotamia, founded their first cities: Uruk, Ur, Lagash, Larsa, Umma, Kish, Mari, Shuruppak, Nippur. In its development, this civilization has gone through several historical periods. The first stage in the development of civilization was called the Uruk period. The first city of the Sumerians Uruk, built presumably before the flood, in the XXVIII-XXVII centuries. BC, during the reign of Enmerkara, Lugalbanda and Gilgamesh subjugated almost the entire south of Mesopotamia under their rule. In the middle of the 3rd millennium BC, tribes of Akkadians, representatives of the eastern branch of the Semites, settled on the territory of the Southern Mesopotamia. Not far from Kish, they build the city of Akkad. The aliens begin to adopt their culture from the developed city-states, while not forgetting to fight with their neighbors. As the struggle between the Sumerian rulers for hegemony expanded, the role of Akkad increased as a new center for the unification of the entire Mesopotamia. In 2316 BC , Sargon the Ancient (2316-2261 BC), taking advantage of the capture of the ruler of Uruk, Lugalzaagesi Kish, founded in Upper Mesopotamia his kingdom. During his reign, all Mesopotamia was united under the rule of one king. By 2200 B.C. The Akkadian kingdom is weakening and is powerless before the invasion of nomads from the north - Guti (Kuti). The conquerors preserve the internal independence of the Sumerian city-states. The era of the interregnum begins. Supremacy passes to the III dynasty of Ur. From 2112 to 2003 to. AD the heyday of the Sumerian civilization lasts. In 2003 BC Elam, located in the southwest of modern Iran and a longtime rival of the Mesopotamian cities, invaded the territory of Mesopotamia and captured the last ruler of Ur. After that, an era of anarchy begins. The Amorites gained complete control over Mesopotamia. In the 19th century BC Elamites founded new cities on the territory of Mesopotamia. The foundations were laid on the site of ancient Kadingirr Babylon, the center of the future kingdom of the same name, the founder of which was the Amorite leader Sumuabum. of its greatest power Babylonian kingdom reached under the king Hammurabi(1792 - 1750 BC). Under this ruler, the borders of the state were significantly expanded. The main opponents in the struggle for hegemony were Larsa and Elam. In 1787 BC Issin and Uruk were captured. In 1764 BC the army of the Babylonian kingdom defeated the allied forces Eshnunna, Malgium and Elam. In 1763 BC Larsa was conquered by the troops of Hammurabi, and in 1761 BC. the Babylonian king was recognized by the rulers of Malgium and Mari. The conquests of Babylon ended with the annexation in 1757 - 1756. BC. Assyrian cities Ashshura and Nineveh, as well as the kingdom of Eshnunna. All of Southern Mesopotamia and part of Northern Mesopotamia came under the rule of the Babylonian kingdom. Subsequently, several dynasties changed in Babylon, the state survived several crises and was captured by Assyria. Even during the invasion of the Elamites, Semites by origin, the ethnic balance was disturbed. The Sumerian language in written documents is being replaced by the Akkadian language, being used only in religious rites and as the language of science. Sumerians become a cult people, leaving behind only a rich store of knowledge for the following civilizations.

Religion was the first to be borrowed by the further peoples of this region. AT Sumer there was a large pantheon of deities, their customs and rituals. Initially, An, the heavenly god, was considered the supreme deity. Then his son Enlil, the god of the wind, took his place. The wife of the main god was Ninlil, who gave birth to the patron god of the moon - Nanna. The pantheon of deities was supplemented by Ninurta - the god of war, Nergal - the lord of the underworld, Namtar - the deity of fate, Enki - the owner of the oceans and a symbol of wisdom, Inanna - the patroness of agriculture, Utu the sun god and other deities. The main spiritual center of the Sumerians was the city of Nippur. Extremely high was the belief in spirits, both evil and good, incarnations of illness and adversity. The kings were considered earthly personifications of the gods. No less significant role in the Sumerian cities-states was played by priests. They were not only executors of the will of deities and kings, but also participated in the rites of sacrifice. Doctors, astronomers and oracles came out of their midst. The caste of priests had a hereditary status. The high priest of the city was elected by a kind of competition. In the early Babylonian kingdom, the main god was considered Marduk. Another supreme god was Shamash- Sun God. There is a cult of worship of dead kings.

The main role in the origin and development civilization writing played, without which it was impossible to make calculations and mark memorable moments in the history of the people. The Sumerians, as an ethnic group, differed significantly from the autochthonous population of Mesopotamia. Northern part Mesopotamia was inhabited by Semites. The language of the local population was named after the settler Mesopotamia eastern branch of the Akkadian Semites. The Sumerians, due to the difficulty of determining their anthropological type and the complete lack of relationship of their language with other language groups, raise many questions. However, the creation of cuneiform writing is attributed specifically to the Sumerians. Their writing consisted of hundreds of pictograms, which were carefully applied to clay, which was the only material for writing. The writing tool was a reed stick, the tip of which had a trihedral sharpening (wedge shape). Then they were fired, which gave them strength. Moreover, each sign could mean several words at the same time. Ancient written samples were a peculiar form of puzzles. As you improve pictograms both duplicated and recorded at some distance from each other. Akkadians, who ousted the Sumerians from the historical arena, due to differences in languages, they could not fully adopt the script of their territorial neighbors. However, most of the elements served as the basis for Akkadian writing. Most of the historical material about the Sumerians, Akkadians and their historical successors in the person of the Babylonians and Assyrians was obtained after the sensational discovery in 1849 by the British archaeologist O. Layard of the remains of the famous library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal. There were over 30 thousand clay books with cuneiform writing. On them, both folklore works of different historical eras, and the scientific calculations of the priests. The most famous discovery was the Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh, which tells about the period of the reign of the king. Uruk, explains the essence of human life and the meaning of immortality. Another work found in the famous library is the ancient Babylonian " Poem about Atrachis”, reporting the famous flood and the creation of the human race. Many tablets with astrological records have been preserved. Most of the clay books were transcribed copies of the ancient Sumerian, Akkadian and ancient Babylonian legends. The fire did not destroy the ancient works. However, some of the clay tablets were broken. The key to deciphering the cuneiform script was the Behistun inscription, discovered in 1835 by the English officer Henry Rawlinson on the territory of Iran, near Hamadan. The inscription was carved on a rock in honor of the military victories of the Persian king Darius I and dates back to around 516 BC. This historical monument consists of a relief image of a scene with a king, and under it a long inscription and its copies in other ancient languages. Over 14 years of deciphering, it was determined that this is the same record in 3 languages. The first group of signs is in the Old Persian language, the second in the Elamite language, and the third in the Babylonian language, which contained elements Old Babylonian borrowed from the Akkadians. Thus, it becomes clear that the Sumerians created their own unique writing system for future civilizations, while they themselves disappeared from the historical scene.

The main occupation of the population of the city-states of Sumer was agriculture. There was a fairly developed irrigation system. The agrarian document of Sumerian literature, the "Agricultural Almanac", contained advice on improving soil fertility and planting crops. In the Sumerian cities, the breeding of cattle and small cattle was no less developed. Sumerians also produced various metal products from bronze. They were familiar with the potter's wheel and wheel. The first brick kiln also belongs to the inventions of this people. They invented the first state seal. Sumerians were excellent doctors, astrologers and mathematicians. In library Ashurbanipal Clay tablets were found containing basic medical knowledge about body hygiene, disinfection of wounds, and simple operations. Astronomical calculations were mainly carried out in Nippur. The movements of the Sun, Moon and planets were studied. They founded their own calendar, where there were 354 days in a year. The cycle consisted of 12 lunar months, and to approach the solar year, an additional 11 days were added. The Sumerians were also familiar with the planets of the Milky Way. Even then, they have the center of the system is the Sun, around which the planets are located. The mathematical knowledge of the Sumerians was based on the sexagesimal system of calculation and is closer to modern geometry than to classical geometry.

The architecture of the Sumerian city-states was no less developed. Sumerians had no idea about stone buildings. Therefore, raw brick served as the main material for construction. Due to the fact that most of the territories inhabited by the Sumerians were swamps, architectural structures were built on artificial platforms. During the construction, arches and vaults were used. Archaeological excavations in the territory of modern Iraq have revealed many monuments of the Sumerian civilization. Of greatest interest are 2 temples (White and Red), found on the territory of the ancient city Uruk and built in honor of the goddesses Anu and Inanna. Another monument of the Sumerian era is the temple of the goddess Ninhursag in the city of Ur. The entrance to the temple is guarded by two lion sculptures made of wood. The most famous form of architectural structures was the ziggurats, small rectangular stepped towers with a small platform superstructure on top, which was considered the dwelling of the deities. Sculpture was also a developed business in the cities of Sumer. In 1877 in the area Tello miniature statuette of a priest discovered Lagash. Similar figurines of rulers and priests have been found throughout the archaeological complex in Iraq.

Sumerian civilization was the ancestor of all the cultures of Mesopotamia. She shared her cultural heritage with her heirs in the person of Babylon and Assyria, while remaining mysterious and legendary for future generations. Despite the decoding of some records, the anthropological type, language and historical ancestral home of the Sumerians still remain unknown.

The first civilization on planet Earth is considered by historians to be a state in the Middle East, which was called Sumer.

Sumer was located between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates - this is the so-called Mesopotamia or the Fertile Crescent. This territory was perfectly adapted for agriculture, which made it possible for the Sumerians to create a power.

The foundation of the most ancient civilization took place around the 4th-3rd millennium BC. e. Sumer was the first civilization to have a written language and left written evidence for itself.

Story

Historians still do not know the origin of the Sumerians, since their language does not have any similarities with other languages. However, there is an assumption that they came from Asia, and most likely their homeland was somewhere in the highlands. Many historians agree that the Sumerians arrived in Mesopotamia by sea. Since the first thing the Sumerians, having arrived in Mesopotamia, engaged in shipping and seafaring. The Sumerians consider Fr. Dilmun. They consider this place the cradle of all living things, but the Sumerians have no more information about it.

The first city founded by the ancient civilization of the Sumerians was Eris, the Sumerians considered this city the first in the history of mankind.

Already at the beginning of the third millennium, there were approximately 10-20 small city-states on the territory of the Fertile Crescent.

During this period, the following key cities of Sumer appear: Kish - in the north; Ur and Uruk are in the south. The rulers of the city-states had absolute power.

In the middle of the third millennium, the rapid growth of the wealth of Sumer begins. The stratification of society is getting stronger and stronger. The irrigation network is expanding significantly, new canals have been dug. After the construction of canals, new cities arose, like Babylon, many cities greatly increased and became richer.

Soon most of Sumer is captured by the Akkadians. And by the beginning of the second millennium, Sumer was completely absorbed by the Babylonians.

Scientific achievements of the Sumerians

The ancient Sumerians invented cuneiform. Cuneiform is the earliest writing system of mankind. Clay tablets served as the material for the squeaking surface, on which letters were scratched out with sticks. The oldest find of Sumerian writing was a tablet from Kish, which dates back to 3500 BC. e. Pictograms are the basis of Sumerian writing. The number of different signs at the initial stage of the development of writing was about one thousand. However, their number has been steadily decreasing.

Among the scientific achievements of the Sumerians is also the invention of the wheel, as well as the fired brick. They were also the first to use the irrigation system. The Sumerians also became the first civilization to create and improve specialized agricultural tools. Most historians agree that the ancient civilization of Sumer invented the potter's wheel. Also unproven is the claim that the ancient Sumerians invented brewing.

Architecture of ancient civilization

Since there was practically no stone on the territory of Sumer, they used baked clay - bricks. Architecture was the main means by which the Sumerians expressed their culture.
The most magnificent were palaces and religious buildings - ziggurats. The ziggurats resembled a stepped pyramid.

The ziggurat played a special role in the religious life of the Sumerians, it can be compared with the importance of the Egyptian pyramids for the Egyptians. All buildings were illuminated thanks to holes in the roof and doorways.

At first they built round dwellings, but soon they began to use a rectangular shape. The huts were also coated with clay, which allowed them to keep warm longer.

Literature of the ancient Sumerians

The most famous monument of Sumerian literature is considered to be the Epic of Gilgamesh, where Sumerian legends were collected. The main role is given to King Gilgamesh's search for eternal life. Clay tablets on which the text of the epic was written were found by archaeologists in the great library of King Ashurbanipal.

Religion

The Sumerians believed in the existence of a whole pantheon of gods, the number of which reached fifty different deities.

The Sumerians believed that the gods created people from clay, which was kneaded in the blood of the gods. The Sumerians believed that there was once a Great Flood that killed almost all people. They also believed that the main mission on Earth is to serve the gods. They say that the gods cannot exist without the work of the Sumerians, and the Sumerians without the grace of the gods.

Summing up the above, we can conclude that Sumer was the first civilization on Earth. This civilization had its own written language, had a developed culture, achieved grandiose scientific achievements (the invention of the wheel, pottery, irrigation systems). And religion played the most important role in the life of the Sumerians.

A Sumerian woman had almost equal rights with a man. It turns out that far from our contemporaries managed to prove their right to vote and equal social status. At a time when people believed that the gods lived side by side, hated and loved like people, women were in the same position as they are today. It was in the Middle Ages that the female representatives, apparently, became lazy and themselves preferred embroidery and balls to participation in public life.

Historians explain the equality of Sumerian women with men by the equality of gods and goddesses. People lived in their likeness, and what was good for the gods was good for people. True, legends about the gods are also created by people, therefore, most likely, equal rights on earth nevertheless appeared earlier than equality in the pantheon.

A woman had the right to express her opinion, she could get divorced if her husband did not suit her, however, they still preferred to give out their daughters under marriage contracts, and the parents themselves chose the husband, sometimes in early childhood, while the kids were small. In rare cases, a woman chose her husband herself, relying on the advice of her ancestors. Each woman could defend her rights herself in court, and she always carried her own small seal-signature with her.

She could have her own business. The woman led the upbringing of children, and had a dominant opinion in resolving controversial issues relating to the child. She owned her property. She was not covered by the debts of her husband, made by him before marriage. She could have her own slaves who did not obey her husband. In the absence of a husband and in the presence of minor children, the wife disposed of all property. If there was an adult son, the responsibility was shifted to him. The wife, if such a clause was not specified in the marriage contract, the husband in the case of large loans, could be sold into slavery for three years - to work off the debt. Or sell forever. After the death of her husband, the wife, as now, received her share of his property. True, if the widow was going to marry again, then her part of the inheritance was given to the children of the deceased ...

In the early nineties of the last century, archaeologists found objects that caused a sensational assumption that humanity is capable of time travel.

The lands of Ancient Mesopotamia are located mostly on the territory of Iraq, where numerous excavations of ancient cities were and continue to be conducted. In one of these archaeological expeditions, scientists discovered unique crystal lenses. The time of their appearance dates back to five thousand years ago.

John Olrim, an archaeologist who worked on that expedition, found four crystal lenses. However, only three were officially announced. Why did the scientist do this? He was well aware that the findings would be immediately classified and sent to secret laboratories. Accordingly, all scientific discoveries will be kept secret. It is assumed that the place where the lenses are located is the NASA chemistry laboratory. John Olrim continues to carefully study the found lenses for several years. And, finally, after long, painstaking years spent on research, the scientist delivered a sensational report. Scientists in many countries have not been able to find a rational explanation for the arguments presented, namely:

1. Having carried out an atomic carbon analysis, it was found that the crystal lens was polished by the most modern method - the carbon compound of radium. This method was developed by scientists only ten years ago. The technology itself is very complex and requires tremendous attention, as well as the most modern technical equipment.
2. While doing joint research with the Japanese chemist Yoku, small notches were found on the thin sidewall of the lens. The notches cannot be deciphered, but the chemist claims that this is nothing more than a barcode.
3. During the entire period of research, scientists noticed a unique property of lenses - self-cleaning. In the modern scientific world, this is only possible with nanotechnological materials.

In his report, John Olrim suggested that the ancient Sumerians may well have had knowledge of contact lenses used today in ophthalmology.
The scientist was asked a question that has been of interest to mankind for many centuries: "Could the Sumerians move in time in this way?" According to the materials found, there was no unequivocal exact answer. But John Olrim believes that this is quite likely, based on the knowledge and capabilities of the Sumerians. The disappearance of the civilization of the wise people led to the irretrievable loss of many scientific data...

There is a hypothesis about the relationship between the Egyptian and Sumerian civilizations. Both of them appeared with a difference of several centuries, or at the same time - modern science does not give an exact date for the appearance of either these peoples or any others. In addition to the simultaneous appearance, civilizations are connected by some common points in culture and customs. The similarity can be explained by several theories. The first is that the Anunnaki bothered to populate not only Mesopotamia with their biorobots. The second is that the Sumerians in their heyday assimilated with many races, developed new territories, sought to expand their borders, and established trade contacts. Perhaps some of them simply migrated to the territory of modern Egypt, and this must be a very enlightened part, possessing a wide variety of knowledge in various fields of human activity. And the third option - the similarity of environmental conditions gave rise to many identical crafts, although it is not clear how this explains the similarity of religions, worldviews and other things.

In favor of the first theory is the appearance of the Maya civilization in another part of the world, around the same period of time. Note that all three peoples had developed construction, there were common features in religions, astronomy was developed, and all three civilizations were constantly engaged in the construction of trapezoidal structures going up. True, pyramids were characteristic of Egypt, and ziggurats were characteristic of the same Sumerians. Alternatively, some nationality, leaving their places (whether the inhabitants of Atlantis, or another, generally unknown state until our time), for example, due to a global natural disaster like a flood, dispersed throughout the world. This would explain the emergence of civilization in such obviously remote places as the Amazon jungle...

Time has erased the memory of Sumerians from the annals of history. Nothing is said about them in the papyri of Egypt during the Old Kingdom, which are over four thousand years old. And even more so, there is nothing in the annals of ancient Greece and Rome, whose culture is much younger. The Bible mentions the ancient city of Ur, but does not say a word about the mysterious Sumerian people. Speaking about the center of civilization that arose in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, scientists meant, first of all, the Babylonian-Assyrian cultural community of people. And only in the middle of the 19th century, sensational excavations by scientists proved that more ancient states existed on the territory of Mesopotamia, whose age is about six thousand years. So for the first time it became known about the great civilization of the Sumerians. It was from them that Babylon and Assyria inherited their wisdom. Judge for yourself…

Nineveh, as part of Mesopotamia, has always attracted historians and travelers. But for centuries, Islam ruled here, and it was impossible to get into this area for the sake of excavations. Therefore, curiosity had to be pushed aside, and be content with the crumbs of knowledge that the Greeks and Romans provided to the researchers. By the way, if it was possible to get to Mesopotamia 500 years ago, the Sumerians would have become known much earlier. The coordinates of the most ancient cities were described in the works of Arab researchers, which were kept in local libraries, and which were used at one time by the most ancient European scientists and writers.

Nineveh in 612 BC was destroyed by the troops of King Media, who hated the Assyrian civilization and everything connected with it. In an effort to destroy even the memory of Assyria, the Median troops destroyed all the little that was left by that time from the Sumerian civilization. Scientists of the Middle Ages, seeking to know the past, even in their dreams saw the fabulous Nineveh, buried under layers of sand and clay. True, the search was most often led in the wrong direction, and only a few guessed that they needed to dig near Mosul. And the Italian merchant from Naples, Pietro della Valle, almost accidentally helped them all. In 1616, to drown out the agony of the loss of his bride, who was given in marriage to another, he went to the East. For three years he traveled around Persia, and all this time he described all his discoveries and findings in a three-volume book. It was he who gave information about the ruins, which subsequently identify Babylon and Persepolis. And it was he who first sketched the incomprehensible signs he found on the bricks. With insight surprising for a simple merchant, he suggested that these were not drawings, as many discoverers before him believed, and not traces of the claws of a demon, as the Arabs claimed, but letters. And which should be read from left to right. It was his sketches from the journey for two hundred years that European scientists then investigated, trying to decipher the cuneiform writing. And only after more than two hundred years, the cuneiform was deciphered, and at the same time, excavations began in northern Mesopotamia.

In 1843, Paul Emile Botta took up the study of a place called Dur Sharrukin, which in the modern world was called Khorsarbad, and the finds began to be extracted one after another, striking the cultural world with new information about the ancient settlements.

Following the French, English explorers rushed to Mesopotamia, also wanting to get into their museums and treasuries at least part of the ancient riches and evidence of an incomprehensible culture. Sir Austen Henry Layard in 1847 chose to excavate a site just ten kilometers downstream of the Tigris from the French camp. It was he who was lucky enough to dig up the legendary Nineveh.

For several centuries, starting from about 800 BC, it was the Assyrian capital, which was ruled by such famous kings as Ashurbanipal and Sennacherib. Many people remember that it was Ashurbanipal who organized the famous Kuyunjik library, where more than three hundred thousand cuneiforms were kept...

To prove the existence of a language that was foreign to other language groups was not only difficult, but practically impossible. However, fortunately for posterity, linguists coped with this task and revealed to the world the existence of the Sumerian civilization.

For more than two hundred years, scientists have struggled to decipher the inscription on the tablet, made in three languages. At the end of the eighteenth century, the mysterious cuneiform was, for convenience, divided into three classes. The first included signs denoting the alphabet, the second - syllables, and the third - ideographic signs. This division was invented by the Danish cuneiform researcher Friedrich Christian Münter. However, such a classification still did not help him read the mysterious writings. The Persepolis signs were deciphered by the teacher of Latin and Greek, Grotefend. The prehistory associated with this amazing discovery for the entire scientific world is funny. What was not subject to scrupulous researchers, easily succumbed to the desire to win the argument. It was the excitement that supposedly made Grotefend bet that he would solve the most difficult problem for the entire scientific world in the shortest possible time. A modest teacher, a lover of puzzles and charades, making a discovery, reasoned as follows: the 1st grade column is an alphabet of 40 letters. It is unlikely that even the teacher himself could reproduce the whole course of his logical reasoning. But here's what happened in the end. It turned out that the predecessors were mistaken, translating one of the phrases as "the king of kings." The phrase was much simpler and simply meant "king", and this word was preceded by the name of the ruler.

Happened: Xerxes, the great king, king of kings, Darius, king, son, Achaemenides....

First stage. Approximately 4000-3500 BC - the arrival of the Sumerians in Mesopotamia. It is still not clear whether there was already a highly developed civilization there at that time, or whether the Sumerians brought all the knowledge with them, but it is from this moment that the starting point for the research of all modern scientists begins. The construction of pyramids, temples, ziggurats begins, science develops, the first mathematical, physical, chemical and other discoveries are made.

Second phase. 3500 - 3000 BC. At this time, cities are growing, the country is expanding its borders, trade is developing, cuneiform writing is being invented, the Sumerians are striving for some kind of peace, for which a mutually beneficial trade and political alliance is concluded between the cities. Sumerian settlements appear in Iran, northern Mesopotamia, Syria, possibly in Egypt. By the way, surprisingly, the Sumerians traded with such countries, which, as previously thought, were not reachable at that time by anything and not possible, due to the lack of a compass and alternative means for determining the cardinal points. Meanwhile, the Sumerians traded with some countries of Africa, Asia and Europe, from where, for example, they brought cedar.

Third stage. 3000-2300 BC. Completion of the expansion, due to which Sumer returns to its former borders. Contacts are being established between Northern and Southern Sumer. As in any civilization, the strengthening of the power of religious institutions begins. It was at this time that the first religious dogmas and literary texts were written. At the same time, attempts were made to establish religious authority as a separate structure. The Akkadian language begins to displace the original Sumerian dialect. Around this period, the Tower of Babel was being built, perhaps it so happened that the disappearance of not only the language, but also the builders themselves coincided by chance. Because of the arrival of Akkads...

The Stone Age, the fourth millennium BC, people wield stone tools, have the most primitive skills, almost zero skills and the most barbaric knowledge about the world around them. They live either directly under the open sky, or in dwellings like dugouts. There were no bows, no swords, no ships, no jewelry, no pyramids, no kings, no furniture - none of this chaotic set existed at that time, and could not have arisen, given the stage of human evolution.

So it seemed to scientists for a long time, until the civilization of the Sumerians was discovered, which, by its existence, made a splash among scientific minds. The large-scale shock was so great that few people wanted to believe in the reality of the Sumerians, until the facts became too much. What so struck and continues to strike the most enlightened minds of mankind?

Judging by the finds found in the cities of the Sumerians, they were the inventors of almost everything that we use to this day. In principle, it is high time for historians and literary publishers to rewrite history, because much that was attributed to other peoples was invented precisely by the mysterious Sumerians. The Sumerians came, and out of nowhere, entire cities appeared with huge pyramids, ziggurats, real smooth roads covered with a substance similar in composition to modern asphalt.

So, six thousand years ago, an incomprehensible civilization either invented something that could not exist at that time, or used more ancient inventions, which means that all our ideas about this stage in the development of our planet are fundamentally wrong. Here is the little that the Sumerians knew how and used: ...

But where is this mystical island? It is only known that they appeared already as a well-established community, with their own language, culture, and writing. The Sumerian language is unique. It has no analogues, common roots with any of the ancient and modern languages. Attempts by scientists to find their “relatives” have so far been unsuccessful. "Blackheads" - the Sumerians called themselves, emphasizing the difference from the indigenous inhabitants of the lands of Mesopotamia.

The most ancient tribes that inhabited these lands were mainly engaged in cattle breeding. The cultivation of the land was hampered by the hot and dry climate, stormy and completely unpredictable river floods. Therefore, agriculture was in its infancy. And only the arrival of the Sumerians gives him a powerful impetus. They begin to irrigate the land and build irrigation facilities. The lands of Mesopotamia are completely devoid of forests, stone, minerals, and the Sumerians effectively use what is in abundance - clay and brick. They build houses of clay bricks, covering them with reeds, erect temples and public buildings. From clay they make dishes and other utensils; numerous clay tablets used for writing and drawing images. The Sumerians created a form of writing - cuneiform. With the advent of the Sumerians, a brisk trade begins. Land and sea trade routes appear. It is the Sumerians who are credited with building the first ships.

The word dinigir consists of three parts. The first part is DI, which means "speak" in Tatar. The second part - NIG, is translated as "essence", "foundation". The third part - IR - is "husband". All together sounds "Speaking masculine principle" or "Speaking essence of the husband." Whatever religion we turn to, moments are described everywhere when a deity turns to a chosen person. At the same time, a person is not allowed to see God, he can only hear what God is saying to him.

The divine pantheon of the Sumerians was not limited to one deity. Clay tablet narratives describe the god Dimuzi. God who is mortal. Every year he dies and then is born again. The ancient Sumerians associated the natural cycles of the awakening of nature with this deity...