Sumer
Discover Sumer — the world's first civilization, where cities, writing, and complex governance emerged in southern Mesopotamia around 4500 BCE.
Sumer, located in the southernmost part of Mesopotamia, is widely regarded as the world's first civilization. Between roughly 4500 and 1900 BCE, the Sumerians built the first cities, invented writing, established formal legal systems, and created literary works that influenced cultures for millennia — including the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest surviving work of narrative literature.
Sumerian cities like Ur, Uruk, Eridu, and Lagash operated as independent city-states, each centered on a temple complex dedicated to a patron deity. These temples were not just religious centers but economic hubs, managing agricultural production, trade, and labor. The need to track these increasingly complex transactions drove the invention of cuneiform writing around 3400 BCE.
Though Sumer was eventually absorbed by the Akkadian Empire and later the Babylonians, its cultural and technological legacy persisted. Sumerian remained a literary and religious language for centuries after it ceased to be spoken — much like Latin in medieval Europe. The Sumerians' innovations in mathematics (the base-60 system), astronomy, and architecture shaped the entire trajectory of Near Eastern civilization.
Lessons covering this topic
Browse all lessons →Mesopotamia
Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, Assyria — civilization between two rivers.
Writing Systems Compared
Cuneiform, hieroglyphics, and early Chinese script — how writing changed everything.
Early Mesoamerica — The Olmec
The mother culture of Mesoamerica and its lasting influence.