什麼是蘇美

指古巴比倫尼亞、美索不達米亞南部和底格里斯－幼發拉底河河谷地區，在今伊拉克南部。最初由非閃族的歐貝德人居民在西元前4500～4000年定居，是蘇美文明的最初來源，他們為了農業生產而開闢出大片沼澤，並發展了商業。操閃米特語的蘇美人在西元前3300年來到此地並佔領了該區，建立了世界上最早的城市，後成為城邦。當城邦之間的競爭升高後，它們各自採用了君主政治機構，最後在一個城市和其他城市統治下形成鬆散的聯盟，開始於西元前2800年左右的基什（Kish）。之後，基什、埃雷克（Erech）、烏爾（Ur）、尼普爾（Nippur）和拉格什（Lagash）為爭奪統治地位而進行數百年的爭鬥。該地區後來成為埃蘭領地（西元前2530年～西元前2450年），再轉手給阿卡德國王薩爾貢（西元前2334年～西元前2279年）領導下的阿卡德王國。在阿卡德王國崩潰後，各城邦之間又各自獨立，直到被烏爾第三王朝統一（西元前21世紀到西元前20世紀）。這是最後一個蘇美王國，而它也在外國人的入侵下土崩瓦解，富有特色的蘇美國家從此消失，在西元前18世紀成為巴比倫尼亞帝國的一部分。蘇美人的遺產包括一些技術和文化上的發明，如已知的第一輛帶輪子的交通工具和陶工轉盤、一套文字系統（參閱cuneiform writing）和法典。

Sumer

Southern division of ancient Babylonia, southern Mesopotamia, Tigris-Euphrates Valley, in what is now southern Iraq. It was first settled c. 4500-4000 BC by a non-Semitic people called the Ubaidians. They were the first civilizing force in Sumer, draining the marshes for agriculture and developing trade. The Sumerians, who spoke a Semitic language that came to dominate the region, arrived c. 3300 BC and developed the world's first known cities, which evolved into city-states. As rivalry among them increased, each adopted the institution of kingship, and eventually they were loosely united under one city or the other, beginning with Kish c. 2800 BC. Thereafter, Kish, Erech, Ur, Nippur, and Lagash vied for ascendancy for hundreds of years. The area came under the Elam (c. 2530-2450 BC) and later the Akkad, led by the Akkadian king Sargon (r. 2334-2279 BC). The city-states were largely independent after the Akkadian empire collapsed until they were reunified under the Third Dynasty of Ur (21st-20th century BC). This final Sumerian kingdom declined after foreign invasions, and the distinct Sumerian nation disappeared, becoming part of the Babylonian empire in the 18th century BC. The Sumerian legacy includes a number of technological and cultural innovations, including the first known wheeled vehicles and potter's wheels, a system of writing (see cuneiform), and codes of law.