Ancient Sumerian knowledge and modern findings
The Sumerian civilization is, in the Middle Eastern area, the first civilization of which there is documented knowledge. Appearing suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere between eight and six thousand years ago, it claims credit for all the great inventions of an advanced society: inventions and innovations, concepts and beliefs, which form the basis of almost all other forms of civilization of the planet. The wheel, animal traction of vehicles, boats for rivers and ships for seas, bricks and lime, multi-story buildings, writing, schools, scribes, laws, judges and juries, the monarchy and the citizens' councils, music and dance, art, medicine and chemistry, spinning and weaving, religion, priests and temples, mathematics and astronomy, in short, almost all the foundations of knowledge began there, in ancient Mesopotamia, in SHU.MER (the land of Shin'ar of the Bible, the land of the WISDOMS, as they called themselves, or the "black-headed people").
It should be emphasized that all the basic elements of modern astronomy have Sumerian origins: the concept of celestial sphere, horizon and zenith (Sumerian word ZE.NIT or imaginary observation point of the celestial vault, encountered by vertical passing through the place of observation), the division of the circle into 360 degrees, the notion of a celestial band in which the planets orbit around the Sun, the grouping of stars into constellations by assigning them names and pictorial images that we call the zodiac, the fact of applying the number twelve to the zodiac and to the divisions of time (hours of day and night, months of the year), the invention of the calendar which has been the basis of most calendars up to the present day. All this and more were started by this great people.
As mentioned, the Sumerians recorded their commercial and legal transactions, their knowledge and their events on clay tablets (the oldest dating back to 3500 BC), and drew illustrations on cylindrical seals, on which the figures were engraved "in negative", and then impressed them in positive, when the cylinder was rotated on the damp clay table. In the many remains of Sumerian cities, brought to light by archaeologists in the last century, among other things, a few thousand illustrations have been found (on cylinders, clay tables, stone slabs, etc.) that deal with astronomy, with descriptions of stars and constellations correctly positioned in the sky, as well as manuals for observing the movement of the stars. Among the tables recovered, recomposed and translated, there are texts that deal in particular with the solar system, while other texts list the planets orbiting the Sun in the correct order.
Let's first see a map of the Sumerian "twelve city":
Various hypotheses have been made regarding the place of origin of these people: for example, some archaeological finds would suggest that this people descended into Mesopotamia around 4000 BC from the Zagros mountains of the Iranian plateau, while some literary passages would instead suggest that it came from the sea. However, since we are in the field of hypotheses, it makes little sense to ask where and how he arrived in these places; it is much more likely that it was a gradual migratory phenomenon and a slow integration with the local populations, who are believed to be predominantly Semitic. This aspect is also derived from the analysis of the Sumerian lexicon, proving that this people incorporated and assimilated more cultural complexes, such as those of a pre-existing non-Sumerian native population and those of Semitic peoples, who were more widespread especially in the north of the country. Therefore the much more advanced Sumerian culture assimilated these people, giving life to a very advanced civilization.
The urbanization process of the area is believed to have begun around 4000 BC with the cities of ERIDU and UR, called the "Ubaid period"; subsequently, after 3500 BC, what was called the "Uruk period" began: from this moment the Sumerian civilization entered the phase of its maximum development.
A very important source for reconstructing the first dynasties is the "Sumerian Royal List", although it is not entirely reliable for the most ancient ones. This list is divided into two parts: the first reports the names of seven sovereigns before the Flood, the second begins with these words "...after the Flood swept away everything and kingship descended from heaven again, the kingdom dwelt in Kish...". Furthermore, the first ruler indicated in this second part, also known in other sources, by the name of E.TA.NA, would have been only the thirteenth ruler of the first dynasty of Kish.
As for the language of this people, as far as we know to date, it is not connected to any other known ancient language. It is a bisyllabic language, in which word units are put together to create a concept.
The first inscriptions are pictographic, the gradual stylization of which will later lead to cuneiform writing. The Sumerian tables have writing that goes from right to left and from top to bottom, however reading and understanding a Sumerian text is difficult even for the most expert scholars; the two tables we see below show the two writing systems:
Their numbering system was positional and sexagesimal, as can be seen in many clay tablets, dated from 3500 BC, on which there are symbols representing 1, the 6 called "celestial", the 10 " land" (the latter two numbers which together form the "basic" figure of 60), 600 and 3600. The system was very simple to use, not only for fractions, but above all for astronomical calculations; with it it was possible to do, in addition to additions and subtractions, also multiplications and divisions, calculate square roots and raise numbers to different powers.
Not only are we faced with the first known mathematical system, but, above all, it introduced the concept of "positioning" of the number (to be clear: 6, 360, 21,600 and so on). If we want to be subtle, the only disadvantage was the fact that the "zero" was "implied", as it was determined by the positioning of the number itself, as can be clearly seen in the table reproduced here:
Let's now see what can be defined as the most astonishing aspect of this people, namely their astronomical knowledge. Aside from possible misinterpretations of the texts, inscriptions and various illustrations by the scholars who have dedicated a lifetime to bringing this extraordinary civilization back to the surface from the mists of the past, the astronomical knowledge of these people remains very clear in any case: where did it come from? may have drawn them is a mystery that we will hardly be able to unravel.
by Giorgio Nobis
