The Sumerian city-states under the rule of their lugals or kings commonly waged war against one another and against a stream of foreign invaders Advances in technology such as the invention of bronze-making techniques, a writing system called cuneiform, and a sophisticated religion with a pantheon of deities spread and facilitated the development of a complex…

The period of independent city-states came to an end with the rise of the world’s first empire, the Akkadian Empire of Sargon of Akkad . For tens of thousands of years, humans lived largely as mobile, subsistence hunter-gatherers.

cuneiform — a phonetic writing system based on the sounds of words and invented by the Sumerians in about 3000 BCE. city-state — an independent political entity consisting of a city and surrounding territory that it controls. lugal — the Sumerians’ term for their ruler. Bronze Age — the period from 3500 to 1110 BCE when bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, was the preferred material for manufacturing tools and weapons.