The very first civilization on Earth

At the dawn of humanity, the southern part of Mesopotamia, which in the classical era was called Babylonia, was inhabited by the very first civilization on Earth. Now it is the territory of modern Iraq, stretching from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf, with a total area of about 26 thousand square meters. Km.

The place is characterized by a very dry and hot climate with burnt and weathered, low-fertile soils. The river plain, devoid of stones and minerals, bogs, covered with reeds, a complete lack of wood - this was the land more than three thousand years ago. But the people who inhabited this territory and known as the Sumerians around the world were endowed with a resolute and enterprising disposition, an extraordinary mind. He turned a lifeless plain into a flowering garden and created what would later be called "the first civilization on Earth".

The origin of the Sumerians

There is no reliable information about the origin of the Sumerians. Until now, it is difficult for scientists and historians and archaeologists to say whether they were indigenous Mesopotamians or came to these lands from outside. The second option is considered as the most probable. Presumably representatives of the ancient civilization came from the mountains of Zagros, the Iranian Plateau or even Hindustan. The Sumerians did not write anything about their origin. In 1964, for the first time, a proposal was made to consider this issue from various aspects: linguistic, racial, ethnic. After that, the search for truth finally deepened into linguistics, in elucidating the genetic connections of the Sumerian language, now considered isolated.

The Sumerians, who founded the first civilization on Earth, never called themselves so. In fact, this word denotes territory, south of Mesopotamia, in the Akkadian language. The Sumerians called themselves "blackheads."

Language of the Sumerians

Linguists define the Sumerian language as agglutinative. This means that the formation of forms and derivatives proceeds by adding single-valued affixes. The language of the Sumerians consisted mainly of monosyllabic words, so it is difficult even to imagine how many of them there were, the same sounding, but differing in meaning. In ancient sources, according to estimates of scientists, there are about three thousand of them. In this case, more than 100 words are used only 1-2 times, and the most commonly used ones are only 23.

As already mentioned, one of the main features of the language is the abundance of homonyms. Most likely, there was a rich system of tones and laryngeal sounds, which in the graph of clay tablets is difficult to read. In addition, the first civilization on Earth had two dialects. The literary language (eme-gir) was used most widely, and the priests spoke in a secret dialect (eme-sal), derived from ancestors and, most likely, not tone.

The Sumerian language was an intermediary and was used throughout southern Mesopotamia. Therefore, his carrier was not necessarily an ethnic representative of this ancient people.

Writing

The issue of writing by the Sumerians remains controversial. However, the fact is that they perfected it and transformed it into cuneiform writing. They very much appreciated the art of writing and attribute its appearance to the very beginning of the creation of their civilization. It is likely that at the dawn of the history of writing, not clay was used, but another, more easily collapsing material. Therefore, much information is lost.

The very first civilization in the world BC, if it were impartial, created its own system of writing. The process was lengthy and complicated. The gazelle depicted by an ancient artist is an art or a message? If he did it on a stone, in places where there are many animals, then this will be a full message for his comrades. It says: "There are many gazelles here," which means that there will be a good hunt. The message could well include several drawings. For example, it is worth adding a lion, and already a warning sounds: "There are many gazelles here, but there is a danger." This historical stage is considered the first step on the way to writing. Gradually, the drawings were transformed, simplified and began to be schematic. In the picture you see how this transformation took place. People noticed that it is easier to make prints with a cane on clay, and not draw. All curvatures disappeared.

Ancient Sumerians - the first civilization on earth, which acquired its writing. Cuneiformes consisted of several hundred characters, with the most commonly used were 300. Most of them had several similar meanings. Cuneiform was used in Mesopotamia for almost 3000 years.

Religion of the people

The work of the pantheon of the Sumerian gods can be compared to an assembly headed by the supreme "king". Such a meeting was further divided into groups. The main one is known as the "Great Gods" and consisted of 50 deities. It was she, according to the ideas of the Sumerians, who made the fates of people.

According to the mythology of the ancient people, man was created from clay, mixed with the blood of the gods. The universe consisted of two worlds (upper and lower), separated by earth. It is interesting that already in those days the Sumerians had a myth about a worldwide flood. In addition, we have reached a poem telling about the creation of the world, some episodes of which very closely intersect with the main Christian shrine - the Bible. For example, the sequence of events, in particular, the creation of a person on the sixth day. There is heated debate about such a connection between pagan religion and Christianity.

Culture

Sumerian culture is one of the most interesting and bright among the other peoples inhabiting Mesopotamia. By the third millennium BC it reached its peak. People lived during the Copper Age, actively engaged in cattle breeding and agriculture, fishing. Gradually, exclusively agriculture replaced handicraft: pottery, foundry, weaving and stone-carving production developed.

Typical features of the architecture are: erection of buildings on artificial embankments, distribution around the inner courtyard of premises, separation of walls by vertical niches and introduction of color. The two most striking monuments of monumental construction are the 4th millennium BC. E. - Temples in Uruk.

Archeologists found quite a lot of art objects: sculptures, remains of images on stone walls, vessels, metal products. All of them are executed with great skill. What's worth a gorgeous helmet of pure gold (pictured)! One of the most interesting inventions of the Sumerians is the press. They depicted people, animals, scenes from everyday life.

Early Dynastic Period: Stage 1

This is the time when the original cuneiform was already created, - 2750-2600 BC. E. This period is characterized by the existence of a large number of city-states, the center of which was a large temple economy. Outside of them, there were large families. The main productive work lay on the so-called temple customers, who were deprived of their property rights. Already there was a spiritual and political elite of society - a military leader and priest and, accordingly, their closest associates.

The ancient people possessed an uncommon mind and a certain inventive talent. In those distant times people have already come to the idea of irrigation, having studied the possibility of collecting and directing to the right channel the muddy waters of the Euphrates and Tigris. Enriching the soil in the fields and in the gardens with organic, they increased its yield. But large-scale work, as is known, requires a large workforce. The first civilization on earth was familiar with slavery, moreover, it was legalized.

It is well known about the existence of 14 Sumerian cities in this period. And the most developed, prosperous and cult was Nippur, where the temple of the main god, Enlil, was located.

Early Dynastic Period: Stage 2

This period (2600-2500 BC) is characterized by military conflicts. The century began with the defeat of the ruler of the city of Kish, which allegedly caused the invasion of the Elamites - the inhabitants of the ancient state in the territory of modern Iran. In the south, a number of city-nomas united in the military alliance. There was a tendency to centralize power.

Early Dynastic Period: Stage 3

At the third stage of the early dynastic period, 500 years after the first civilization appeared on the Earth (according to the assumptions of archaeologists), there is a growth and development of city-states, and in society there is a stratification, an increase in social contradictions. On this basis, the struggle of the rulers of the nomas for power is aggravated. One military conflict was replaced by another in pursuit of the hegemony of one city over all. In one of the ancient Sumerian epics, dated 2600 BC. E., refers to the unification of Sumer under the rule of Gilgamesh - the king of Uruk. After another two hundred years, most of the state was conquered by the king of Akkad.

The gathering power of the Babylonian Empire absorbed Sumer by the middle of the second millennium BC. E., And the Sumerian language lost the status of spoken language even earlier. However, for several millennia, it was preserved as a literary one. This is an approximate time, when the civilization of the Sumerians ceased to exist as a political holistic formation.

Very often you can find information that the mythical Atlantis is the first civilization on earth. The Atlanteans who inhabited it are the ancestors of modern people. However, most of the scientific world calls this fact nothing more than a fiction, a beautiful history. Indeed, every year information about the mysterious continent is acquired with new details, but it does not have any historical reinforcement with facts or archaeological excavations.

In this connection, the opinion that the first civilization on earth arose in the fourth millennium BC, and it was the Sumerians, is increasingly heard.