The Sumerian civilization, which emerged around 4100 BCE in southern Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq),

The Sumerian civilization, which emerged around 4100 BCE in southern Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq),

The Sumerian civilization, which emerged around 4100 BCE in southern Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq), is widely regarded as one of the world’s first urban cultures, pioneering advancements in agriculture, trade, and governance.

Known for their city-states such as Ur, Uruk, and Eridu, the Sumerians developed cuneiform, the earliest known system of writing, to record administrative activities, literature, and laws.

They excelled in engineering, creating irrigation systems, ziggurats (stepped temples), and one of the first known legal codes, influencing neighboring civilizations for centuries.

The Sumerians were polytheistic, and their religious practices revolved around the worship of gods like Enki, Inanna, and Anu, whose myths deeply shaped Mesopotamian culture and later societies.

By around 2000 BCE, Sumer declined due to invasions by the Amorites and later the Akkadians, but their cultural and technological innovations formed the foundation of subsequent Mesopotamian empires.