Sumerians
Sumer (from
Akkadian Šumeru;
Sumerian ki-
en-ĝir15, approximately "land of the civilized kings" or "native land"
[note 1]) was an ancient
civilization and historical region in southern
Mesopotamia, modern-day southern
Iraq, during the
Chalcolithic and
Early Bronze Age. Although the earliest forms of writing in the region do not go back much further than c. 3500 BCE, modern historians have suggested that Sumer was first permanently settled between c. 5500 and 4000 BCE by a non-
Semitic people who may or may not have spoken the
Sumerian language (pointing to the names of cities, rivers, basic occupations, etc. as evidence).
[1][2][3][4] These conjectured, prehistoric people are now called "proto-Euphrateans" or "
Ubaidians",
[5] and are theorized to have evolved from the
Samarra culture of northern Mesopotamia (
Assyria).
[6][7][8][9] The Ubaidians were the first civilizing force in Sumer, draining the marshes for agriculture, developing trade, and establishing industries, including weaving, leatherwork, metalwork, masonry, and pottery.
[5] However, some scholars such as Piotr Michalowski and Gerd Steiner, contest the idea of a Proto-Euphratean language or one substrate language. It has been suggested by them and others, that the Sumerian language was originally that of the hunter and fisher peoples, who lived in the marshland and the
Eastern Arabia littoral region, and were part of the
Arabian bifacial culture.
[10] Reliable historical records begin much later; there are none in Sumer of any kind that have been dated before
Enmebaragesi (c. 26th century BC). Professor
Juris Zarins believes the Sumerians were settled along the coast of
Eastern Arabia, today's Persian Gulf region, before it flooded at the end of the Ice Age.
[11] Sumerian literature speaks of their homeland being
Dilmun.
Sumer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Babilonians
The known history of Babylon, then, begins with its most famous king: Hammurabi (1792-1750 BCE). This obscure
Amorite prince ascended to the throne upon the abdication of his father, King Sin-Muballit, and fairly quickly transformed the city into one of the most powerful and influential in all of Mesopotamia. Hammurabi’s law codes are well known but are only one example of the policies he implemented to maintain peace and encourage prosperity. He enlarged and heightened the walls of the city, engaged in great public works which included opulent temples and canals, and made diplomacy an integral part of his administration. So successful was he in both diplomacy and
war that, by 1755 BCE, he had united all of Mesopotamia under the rule of Babylon which, at this time, was the largest city in the world, and named his realm
Babylonia.
The Assyrians, Chaldeans, and
Nebuchadnezzar II
Following Hammurabi’s death, his
empire fell apart and Babylonia dwindled in size and scope until Babylon was easily sacked by the
Hittites in 1595 BCE. The Kassites followed the Hittites and re-named the city Karanduniash. The meaning of this name is not clear. The Assyrians then followed the Kassites in dominating the region and, under the reign of the Assyrian ruler
Sennacherib, Babylon revolted. Sennacherib had the city sacked, razed, and the ruins scattered as a lesson to others. His extreme measures were considered impious by the people generally and Sennacherib’s court specifically and he was soon after assassinated by his sons. His successor,
Esarhaddon, re-built Babylon and returned it to its former glory. The city later rose in revolt against
Ashurbanipal of
Nineveh who besieged and defeated the city but did not damage it to any great extent and, in fact, personally purified Babylon of the evil spirits which were thought to have led to the trouble. The reputation of the city as a center of learning and culture was already well established by this time.
After the fall of the Assyrian Empire, a Chaldean named Nabopolassar took the throne of Babylon and, through careful alliances, created the Neo-Babylonian Empire. His son, Nebuchadnezzar II (604-561 BCE), renovated the city so that it covered 900 hectares (2,200 acres) of land and boasted some the most beautiful and impressive structures in all of Mesopotamia. Every ancient writer to make mention of the city of Babylon, outside of those responsible for the stories in the Bible, does so with a tone of awe and reverence. Herodotus, for example, writes:
“The city stands on a broad plain, and is an exact square, a hundred and twenty stadia in length each way, so that the entire circuit is four hundred and eighty stadia. While such is its size, in magnificence there is no other city that approaches to it. It is surrounded, in the first place, by a broad and deep moat, full of water, behind which rises a
wall fifty royal cubits in width and two hundred in height.”
, what kind of config do you have?
??I got this question a couple of days ago in a mock test...
.Actually i was a bit confused between Samudragupta and Vikramaditya but thanks for clearing my doubt
