苏美(Sumer)

指古巴比伦尼亚、美索不达米亚南部和底格里斯－幼发拉底河河谷地区，在今伊拉克南部。最初由非闪族的欧贝德人居民在西元前4500～4000年定居，是苏美文明的最初来源，他们为了农业生产而开辟出大片沼泽，并发展了商业。操闪米特语的苏美人在西元前3300年来到此地并占领了该区，建立了世界上最早的城市，後成为城邦。当城邦之间的竞争升高後，它们各自采用了君主政治机构，最後在一个城市和其他城市统治下形成松散的联盟，开始於西元前2800年左右的基什（Kish）。之後，基什、埃雷克（Erech）、乌尔（Ur）、尼普尔（Nippur）和拉格什（Lagash）为争夺统治地位而进行数百年的争斗。该地区後来成为埃兰领地（西元前2530年～西元前2450年），再转手给阿卡德国王萨尔贡（西元前2334年～西元前2279年）领导下的阿卡德王国。在阿卡德王国崩溃後，各城邦之间又各自独立，直到被乌尔第三王朝统一（西元前21世纪到西元前20世纪）。这是最後一个苏美王国，而它也在外国人的入侵下土崩瓦解，富有特色的苏美国家从此消失，在西元前18世纪成为巴比伦尼亚帝国的一部分。苏美人的遗产包括一些技术和文化上的发明，如已知的第一辆带轮子的交通工具和陶工转盘、一套文字系统（参阅cuneiform writing）和法典。

English version：

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.