Sumer

Civilization is said to have started in Sumer -- the land between the two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates.

Timeline showing the development of Mesopotamia until about 1000 B.C.

Answer to the question, "Which was the first empire?"

In early dynastic times, the Sumerian kings controlled more than 45 hectares of Shahr-e-Sookhteh. The city of Shahr-e-Sookhteh (Shahr-i-Sokhte) covers 151 hectares in east Iran near the Afghanistan border.

Uruk was an important early city of southern Mesopotamia, which is known today as Warka and in Biblical literature as Erech.

List of the cities of Sumer by the third millennium B.C.

Chronology of the kings in early Mesopotamia.

. Geographically, modern Iraq corresponds to the Mesopotamia of the Old Testament and of other, older, Near Eastern texts. In Western mythology and religious tradition, the land of Mesopotamia in the ancient period was a land of lush vegetation, abundant wildlife, and copious if unpredictable water resources.

Frank Smitha's chapter on the Sumerians includes information on education, religion, slavery, role of women, and more.

Map of ancient Mesopotamia.

Black and white map shows the Near East from 6000-4000 B.C.

Sanderson Beck on Sumer, Sargon, Gilgamesh, Isin, Larsa, Eshnunna, Mari, Assur, Babylon, Hammurabi, Kassites, Hurrians, Assyria, Literature, and Hittites.