那么我们今天就来谈谈苏美尔的文明吧。

古代西亚地区最早的城邦出现在美索不达米亚平原的最南边，这个位于底格里斯河和幼发拉底河之间如今被称为伊拉克的地区。5000年前，正是在这里出现了苏美尔文明的早期形态。

Today, the once-flourishing cities of Mesopotamia are represented by mounds of brick rising from the arid soil. In some places, the waters of the Euphrates River have shifted slowly to the west. Ancient Ur was surrounded by branches of the Euphrates; today, the river is 10 miles from the city’s ruins. Pictured above is how the Great Ziggurat (temple) of Ur may have looked thousands of years ago.

Mesopotamia had few natural resources; stone, wood, and metal were scarce. There was, however, abundant clay. Buildings were constructed of mud bricks, writing was done on clay tablets, and the earliest sculptures were made from clay.

乍看之下，这个平原并不像是一个（古老）文明的发源地。这里自然资源稀缺，木材、石料以及金属都极其匮乏。降雨量有限，当地水资源的主要来源是每年冰雪融化导致的冲过平原的洪水。因为该平原在方圆500公里内的海拔落差只有20米，所以河床（的位置）不断地发生变化。这就使得灌溉系统的规划至关重要，特别是（如何）建造水渠以疏导和保存水资源。

▲ KING FOR A DAY

The Mesopotamian New Year was a highly dramatic festival. Mesopotamians believed that each New Year the gods decided the people’s fate for the coming year. To please the gods, the people would sacrifice their king—but not their real king. He would take the day off! So, they chose one person to be king for a day, in this case Enlil-Bani, a gardener.

Enlil-Bani sits on his throne, looking nervously at the noose being hung from the wall for his execution. Around him, the crowd expresses its joy that the gods will soon be appeased. But suddenly, a servant dashes from the palace to announce that the real king has unexpectedly died. Enlil-Bani is indeed king—and rules successfully for 24 years! 

苏美尔人的文明是目前已知最早的文明之一，尽管没有埃及文明那样辉煌惊人的神庙建筑和墓葬文化遗存，但苏美尔人创造的文明深刻影响着后世的文化、技术、宗教、观念和生活的方方面面。

有证据表明在公元前第四千年中期, 在美索不达米亚最早（同时还有北高加索和中欧地区）出现了轮式车辆。苏美尔人的楔形文字手稿是最古老的 (或仅次于埃及象形文字)已被破译的文字(一些更古老的铭文的地位, 如贾湖刻符和 Tartaria泥板还存有争议)。

 苏美尔人是最早的天文学家之一, 他们将恒星映射和想象成一系列的星座, 其中许多在十二星座中流传下来。 他们也知道肉眼可见的五颗行星。

苏美尔人建立了最早的城邦。在楔形文字的发明之后的几个世纪里, 文字的使用超出了债务/支付凭证和清单的范围, 第一次（2600 bc）用于信息和邮件传递、历史、传说、数学、天文记录和其他用途。随着写作的普及, 正规的学校开始建立, 通常由城邦的主庙负责。最后, 苏美尔人迎来了集约化农业和灌溉系统。

苏美尔文明的起源不仅仅是文字还有各种技术的进步，托福阅读中tpo 26-3以及27-1各位宝宝们都可以动手做一做啦！