The SumeriansThe Sumerians The Sumerians were the inhabitants of Sumer, an ancient region in southern Mesopotamia, located in the extreme southeastern part of Iraq. This region was virtually dev oid of human occupants until about 5000 BC, when settlers moved into the swamps at the head of the Persian Gulf and gradually spread northward up the lower Tigris-Euphrates Valley. Although the beginning of the historic period of Sumer begins at 3100 BCE, the Sumerians developed several successive cultural phases occurred before this date. The Sumerians originally came from the northeast. They dominated Sumer for a thousand years from 3100 to about 2100 and created many basic and lasting features of Mesopotamian civilization. The history of Sumer is divided into several periods: Early Dynastic (3100-2500 BCE), Proto-Imperial (2500-2350 BCE), Sargonid (2350-2200 BCE), and Ur III (to c.2000 BCE). In the first period a dozen city-states developed in the lower valley. In the second period these states fought one another over land and water rights, with a growing tendency for one unit to conquer others and create short-lived empires. In the Sargonid Period, beginning with Sargon of Akkad, a Semitic-speaking dynasty located in the northern part of the lower valley (Akkad ) extended its control over the Sumerians to the south. After the fall of the Sargonids (2200 BCE) following an invasion from the north and a subsequent period of some confusion, the Sumerians, led by the kings of the 3d dynasty of Ur (c.2150-2000 BCE), regained control of Sumer, conquered Akkad, and united all of the region, later transcending into the Babylonian Empire. About 2000 BC, a series of simultaneous invasions broke the regime of Ur III and brought Sumer to its end. The Sumerians subsequently lost their identity and were submerged in waves of invaders. Although the Sumerians ended as a race, their language , literature, and art continued to influence the religion of their successors. Moreover, their basic economic organization, system of cuneiform writing, architectural designs, astronomy, and legal practices remained in use. Cradled by the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers in what is today Iraq, the Sumerians of Mesopatamia established the earliest known society in which people could read and write. Although the Sumerian's gift of writing made possible the recording of history, Sumer itself was lost until a century ago, when the translation of cunieform tablets revealed a civilization and a language quite unlike the Semitic tongues of the Babylonians and Assyrians. The Sumerians came from the east or from the mountains of Elam perhaps as early as 5,000 B.C, to the swamps at the head of the Persian Gulf. They drained the swamps, developed flood control, invented the wheel, and established a permanent agriculture. As successful trade developed with the surrounding areas, Sumerian villages and settlements grew into prosperous citystates, such as Ur, Eridu, Lagash, Nippur and Uruk. It is theorized that writing evolved to keep track of property. Clay envelopes marked with the owner's rolled seal were used to hold tokens for goods, the tokens within recording a specific transaction. Later on, the envelope and tokens were discarded and symbols scratched into clay recorded transactions such as 2 bunches of wheat or 7 cows. As writing evolved, pictures gave way to lines pressed into clay with a wedge tip. This allowed a scribe to make many different types of strokes without changing his grip. By 3,000 B.C., the script evolved into a full syllabic alphabet. Sumerian states were believed to be under the rule of a local god or goddess, and a beaurocratic system of the priesthood arose to oversee the ritualistic and complex religion. High Priests represented the gods on earth, one of their jobs being to discern the divine will. A favorite method of divination was reading sheep or goat entrails. The priests ruled from their ziggurats, high rising temples of sunbaked brick with outside staircases leading to the shrine on top. The Sumerian gods personified local elements and natural forces. Anu, the supreme god of heaven, Enlil, god of water, and Ea, god of magic and creator of man, were worshiped by the Sumerians. The Sumerians held the belief that a sacred ritual marriage between the ruler and Inanna, goddess of love and fertility brought rich harvests. Of interest to food historians, the earliest written evidence of beer comes from Mesopotamia, where the ancient Sumerians called it kash. The Sumerian recipe was unleavened barley wafers, malted barley and date juice, called geshtin. Kash was a thick and porridgy beer. Sumerians are usually depicted drinking beer with reed or metal straws, and the cuneiform texts tell of priests drinking beer at cult rites, and of drunken Sumerians. Around 1800 b.c., a poet composed a Hymn to Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of brewing. A minor goddess in the Sumerian pantheon, Ninkasi's name means "you who fill my mouth so full." The recording of literature, science, society and history is a lasting legacy of the Sumerians. Tens of thousands of cunieform texts have given us Sumerian lullabies, poetry, ledgers, codes of law, administration, property records, and lists of astronomical occurences, animals and medicinal plants. In the wet lowlands of the lower Tigris River, local traditions place the Garden of Eden in the marshes. Some archaeologists suggest that prehistoric people would have indeed found a paradise in the waters teeming with fish and waterfowl. As farmers learned to plow the land and tame the waters, a fabled granary flourished in the plain of Mesopotamia. It was then that the Sumerians stood as literary and urban pioneers, ready to change the face of history. Sumerians First farmers around 8500 B.C. Developed levees, canals, bronze plows Construction and maintenance of irrigation system requires social organization Invention of wheel and writing Produced excess grain and wool - had no metals All for nought without trade Sumerians are generally considered to be the first advanced civilization on Earth. They possessed amazing knowledge of the stars and planets; some of it so developed that only after centuries of observation has modern astronomers caught up. Or have they? According to Sumerian cosmology there is a tenth planet, "the Dark Planet" which cannot usually be seen from Earth because of it's unique orbit. This planet "Nibura", as called by the Sumerians is recorded as having an oval orbit of 3600 years. At perigee (closest point of orbit to the sun) it was observed and recorded inside the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter. Because of the length and oval orbit of Nibura it would then travel six times farther away from Earth than the planet Pluto before reaching apogee. At that distance Nibura would not be visible from Earth, since it would barely if at all reflect the Sun's light. There is speculation among astronomers that a "Planet X" exists, because of discrepancies in the orbits of Comets in our solar system, particularly Haley's comet. Throughout the Middle East, especially in the biblical land of Ur, Figurines have been found. Humanoid in shape but not human. Slender with tall domed heads, huge slanting eyes and vaguely human faces. Dating back to approximately 3500 BC could these Sumerian "Sky Gods" possible be the inhabitants of Nibura? The "Annunuki" : they who from heaven to earth came. The Babylonian "Annedoti" The African Dogon Tribes "Nommo", the "Monitors" and the "Instructors". The "Anasazi" the "Ancient Ones", from which the Hopi Tribe descended from. The Biblical "Nephilim" and the "Watchers". "Anu" is the central god in Sumerian mythology "Progenitor of all the other gods" head of the Trinity "Anu", "Enlil" and "Ea". Plural for "Anu" is "Annunnuki", just as the biblical term "Elohim" is plural of "El". Is it possible that "Anu" and "El" are both references to the same God, and that "Annunnuki" and "Elohim" are the "Sons of God" ???
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