By: Adam Albuerne Connor Cunningham Reid Birch Jeff Dahlka

Ancient Sumeria was an ancient civilization that fought up the ranks to the title of empire. This civilization began around c.3500 b.c and thrived until c.2000 b.c. when the Amorites invaded and then conquered the Sumerians. The Sumerians were incredibly prosperous and they gained control of about half of Mesopotamia.

The ancient Sumerians created a new language of writing, it was called Cuneiform. Cuneiform is a way of writing using symbols and pictures, much like Egyptian hieroglyphics. They wrote this evolutionary language on clay tablets, unlike the Egyptians, who used papyrus.

The ancient Sumerians were a polytheistic civilization, which means they believed in many gods. They worshiped these gods in temples called ziggurats. The only people ever allowed in the ziggurats were the priests and holy men, but people prayed outside the walls of the ziggurats. The gods that they worshiped were: An- The god of heaven Ninhursag- mother goddess Enlil- the god of air, the father of the gods, and the creator of heaven and earth. Enki- Lord of the abyss, wisdom, the sea, and fertility. Nanna- Moon goddess

Sargon I was one of ancient Sumer’s main rulers. He was originally the ruler of the civilization Akkad, a competing Mesopotamian civilization. Sargon saw that Sumer was constantly under attack and fighting, so he saw that as an opportunity to strike. Sargon took his army and defeated the Sumerian army, thus taking control of (what then became) Akkad-Sumer. Sargon made Akkad-Sumer the world’s first empire. The empire spoke Akkadian but they still used Sumerian Cuneiform for writing.

The Sumerian civilization was based almost solely on the two rivers that broke the Syrian desert. These rivers are the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. These two rivers are the rivers that make survival in the Syrian desert possible. They are what make the Fertile Crescent fertile.

Because Sumeria was constantly being attacked by other civilizations, they needed protection. To resolve this problem, they built 35 foot walls outside of all of their cities.These walls provided enough time for the Sumerians to react to threats.

Sumerians settle in Mesopotamia c b.c. Sumerians begin writing on clay tablets c b.c. Sumerian writing turns into cuneiform c b.c. Sargon I becomes the ruler of Sumer- Akkad c b.c. Gutians conquer Sumer-Akkad c b.c. Uthohegal expels Gutians c b.c. Sumer is invaded by the Amorites c b.c.