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Quotes About Sumer

Sumer had devised the system of structural violence that would prevail in every single agrarian state until the modern period, when agriculture ceased to be the economic basis of civilization.
~ Karen Armstrong
most paleographers now believe that the "idea of writing" must have spread along with commerce, most likely from Sumer to Egypt.33
~ William J. Bernstein
Sumerian was not the only language spoken in southern Mesopotamia (the region known as Sumer). Akkadian, the Semitic language of central Mesopotamia, showed up in subtle ways as well.
~ Amanda H. Podany
The two basic human control mechanisms—religion and banking—were first formed in ancient Sumer, legacies of the Anunnaki gods, according to some. The
~ Jim Marrs
First came Sumer with its amazing ziggurats, agriculture (they had four types of beer!), and written language. The Sumerian cuneiform tablets, more than half a million still cached away in museums across the world, state that civilization was brought to them by beings who could fly through the air. These god-like beings were called the Anunnaki, translated as "those who came from the heavens to the Earth.
~ Jim Marrs
In spite of the land's natural drawbacks, they turned Sumer into a veritable Garden of Eden and developed what was probably the first high civilization in the history of man.
~ Samuel Noah Kramer
Tarih Sümer'de Ba?lar
~ Samuel Noah Kramer
Sumer, the land which came to be known in classical times as Babylonia, consists of the lower half of Mesopotamia, roughly identical with modern Iraq from north of Baghdad to the Persian Gulf. It has an area of approximately 10,000 square miles, somewhat larger than the state of Massachusetts. Its climate is extremely hot and dry, and its soil, left to itself, is arid, wind-swept, and unproductive.
~ Samuel Noah Kramer
chapter deals with the history of Sumer from the prehistoric days of the fifth millennium to the
~ Samuel Noah Kramer
roughly identical with modern Iraq from north of Baghdad to the Persian Gulf. It has an area of approximately 10,000 square miles, somewhat larger than the state of Massachusetts. Its climate is extremely hot and dry, and
~ Samuel Noah Kramer
all this was five thousand years ago and may seem of little relevance to the study of modern man and culture. But the fact is that the land of Sumer witnessed the origin of more than one significant feature of present-day civilization. Be he philosopher or teacher, historian or poet, lawyer or reformer, statesman or politician, architect or sculptor, it is likely that modern
~ Samuel Noah Kramer
I was named for flying—after those great birds we see over Sumer. Instead here we are, buried. I'd brought celebratory drinks, but come, let's toast irony instead.' 'I'm not going to celebrate this.' Mithila's voice shook. 'We can celebrate trying.
~ Gautam Bhatia
Development" and "evolution"—words of such importance to us—would have meant little in the timeless culture of Sumer, where everything that was—their city, their fields, their herds, their plows—had always been.
~ Thomas Cahill
Chapter Three The Rise of Aristocracy In Sumer, around 3600 BC, kingship becomes hereditary AFTER THE GREAT FLOOD, the Sumerian king list tells us that the city of Kish—to the north, surrounded by cornfields
~ Susan Wise Bauer
In Mesopotamia, the wheel dates back to at least the time of Sumer. It was a basic part of life throughout Eurasia. Chariot wheels, water wheels, potter's wheels, millstone wheels—one can't imagine Europe or China without them. The only thing more mysterious than failing to invent the wheel would be inventing the wheel and then failing to use it. But that is exactly what the Indians did.
~ Charles C. Mann
Civilizations never start off as civilizations. Like Sumer, Egypt sprouted from a cluster of river settlements. Sumer had the Tigris and Euphrates, and Egypt had the Nile.
~ Tom Head
The classical view that ancient Sumer was a miracle of irrigation organized by the state in an arid landscape turns out to be totally wrong.
~ James C. Scott
If debts are not written down, they will expand and become a lever for creditors to pry away land and income from the indebted economy at large. That is why debt cancellations to save rural economies from insolvency were deemed sacred from Sumer and Babylonia through the Bible.
~ Michael Hudson