The Sumerians lived in Mesopotamia from about 4500 to 1750 B.C.E., and developed a number of technologies that changed the ...

In five cities, eight kings ... the god of water and wisdom, a key deity of the Sumerian pantheon. For centuries, this shrine attracted pilgrims from all over Mesopotamia to Eridu.

Around 2300 B.C.E., the Mesopotamian king Sargon—a native of the elusive Akkad—conquered Girsu and other Sumerian cities, and he whipped them into administrative shape. “Sargon developed ...