Sumerians, Our First Civilization

The Sumerians created the world's first great civilization in the river plains of ancient Mesopotamia. They built the earliest cities, developed writing, raised monumental temples, organized kingship, mapped the heavens, and produced myths and epics that continued to shape later civilizations for thousands of years. From Uruk and Ur to Eridu and Lagash, this book explores the rise of the first urban society through archaeology, ancient texts, religion, trade, warfare, and the daily realities of life between the Tigris and Euphrates. This volume of the Ancient Kingdoms Series brings together the gods of Sumer, the invention of cuneiform writing, the Epic of Gilgamesh, sacred kingship, flood traditions, temple economies, science, astronomy, and the survival of Sumerian culture after its political decline. Written in a vivid and accessible style, it is a journey into the civilization that laid the foundations of the ancient world.