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The Early Dynasty

The ancient Sumerian king list recounts the early dynasties. Like many other archaic lists of rulers, it may include legendary names. The first king on the list whose name is known from any other source is Etana, 13th king of the first Dynasty of Kish. The first king authenticated through archaeological evidence is that of Enmebaragesi of Kish, the 22nd and penultimate king of that Dynasty, whose name is also mentioned in the Gilgamesh epic, and who may have been king at the time hegemony passed from Kish to Uruk once again. This has led to the suggestion that Gilgamesh himself really was a historical king of Uruk.

Lugal-Zage-Si, the priest-king of Umma, overthrew the primacy of the Lagash dynasty, took Uruk, making it his capital, and claimed an empire extending from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. He is the last ethnically Sumerian king before the arrival of the Semitic named king, Sargon of Akkad.

The Lagash Dynasty

The dynasty of Lagash is well known through important monuments, and one of the first empires in recorded history was that of Eannatum of Lagash, who annexed practically all of Sumer, including Kish, Uruk, Ur, and Larsa, and reduced to tribute the city-state of Umma, arch-rival of Lagash. In addition, his realm extended to parts of Elam and along the Persian Gulf. He seems to have used terror as a matter of policy - his stele of the vultures has been found, showing violent treatment of enemies.

The Akkadian Dynasty

The Semitic Akkadian language is first attested in proper names around 2800 BC. From about 2500 BC one finds texts written entirely in Old Akkadian. The Old Akkadian language period was at its height during the rule of Sargon the Great (2350 - 2330), but most administrative tablets even during that period are still written in Sumerian, as that was the language used by the scribes. Gelb and Westenholz differentiate between three dialects of Old Akkadian - from the pre-Sargonic period, the period of rule by king Sargon and the city of Agade, and the Ur III period. Speakers of Akkadian and Sumerian coexisted for about one thousand years, from 2800 to 1800, at the end of which Sumerian ceased to be spoken. Thorkild Jacobsen has argued that there is little break in historical continuity between the pre- and post-Sargon periods, and that too much emphasis has been placed on the perception of a "Semitic vs. Sumerian" conflict. However, it is certain that Akkadian was also briefly imposed on neighboring parts of Elam that were conquered by Sargon.

Religion

Like other cities of Asia Minor and the Mediterranean, Sumer was a polytheistic, or henotheistic, society. There was no organized set of gods, with each city-state having its own patrons, temples, and priest-kings; but the Sumerians were probably the first to write down their beliefs. Sumerian beliefs were also the inspiration for much of later Mesopotamian mythology, religion, and astrology.

The Sumerians worshipped Anu as the primary god, equivalent to "heaven"-- indeed, the word "an" in Sumerian means "sky", and his consort Ki, meaning "earth". Collectively the Gods were known as Anunnaki ((d)a-nun-na-ke-ne = "offspring of the lord"). An's closest cohorts were Enki in the south at the Abzu temple in Eridu, Enlil in the north at the Ekur temple of Nippur and Inana, the deification of Venus, the morning (eastern) and evening (western) star, at the Eanna temple (shared with An) at Uruk. The sun was Utu, was worshipped at Sippar, the moon was Nanna, worshipped at Ur and Nammu or Namma was one of the names of the Mother Goddess, probably considered to be the original matrix; there were hundreds of minor deities. The Sumerian gods (Sumerian dingir, plural dingir-dingir or dingir-a-ne-ne) thus had associations with different cities, and their religious importance often waxed and waned with the political power of the associated cities. The gods were said to have created human beings from clay for the purpose of serving them. If the temples/gods ruled each city it was for their mutual survival and benefit - the temples organized the mass labor projects needed for irrigation agriculture. Citizens had a labor duty to the temple which only towards the end of the third millenium were they able to avoid by a payment of silver instead. The temple-centered farming communities of Sumer had a social stability that enabled them to survive for four millenia.

Sumerians believed that the universe consisted of a flat disk enclosed by a tin dome. The Sumerian afterlife involved a descent into a gloomy netherworld to spend eternity in a wretched existence as a Gidim (ghost).

Ziggurats (Sumerian temples) consisted of a forecourt, with a central pond for purification (the Abzu). The temple itself had a central nave with aisles along either side. Flanking the aisles would be rooms for the priests. At one end would stand the podium and a mudbrick table for animal and vegetable sacrifices. Granaries and storehouses were usually located near the temples. After a time the Sumerians began to place the temples on top of multi-layered square constructions built as a series of rising terraces, giving rise to the later ziggurat style.