Sumarian Culture

Sumerian Culture 

(6700 B.C – 3200 B.C)

Around the 6000 B.C., after

The agricultural revolution took place and spread from its place of origin farmers started filtering into the Fertile Crescent itself. Although this broad plain received insufficient rainfall to support agriculture, the eastern section was watered by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Known in ancient days as Mesopotamia (Greek for "between the rivers"), the lower reaches of this plain, beginning near the point where the two rivers nearly converge, was called Babylonia.

By the 3100 B.C. the Sumerian culture had grown so much that people were living in small cities. Since these included the first evidence of writing, this first phase of Sumerian civilization, to about 28 B.C., is called the Protoliterate period.

These early cities, which existed by 3500 BC, were called temple towns because they were built around the temple of the local god. The temples were eventually built up on towers called ziggurats (holy mountains), which had ramps or staircases winding up around the exterior. Public buildings and marketplaces were built around these shrines. Sumerian towns and cities included Eridu, Nippur, Lagash, Kish, and Ur.