THE SUMERIANS

The Sumerians are of great importance for an understanding
of the development of modern human civilization.

The Sumerians "were responsible for the first system of writing...
the earliest known codes of law; the development of the city-state;
the invention of the potter's wheel, the sailboat, and the seed plow;
and the creation of literary, musical, and architectural forms
that influenced all of Western civilization." Encyclopaedia Britannica
"Babylon", Micropaedia, Vol. 1, p. 771, 15th Edition.

In view of these fantastic achievements,
we should take some considerable effort to make sure
we find out correctly just who these people were.

Sumerians

&
Cimmerians

Peoples of One Origin?

THE CIMMERIANS

In ancient legends about the people of the Black Sea,
the "People of the Flood" were known as CIMMERIANS,
who in ancient times lived on the Black Sea.

We shall suggest that these are the same
as the Mesopotamian SUMERIANS
as well as the Pharaonic Egyptian KEMET
- the hieroglyphic name for the land of Old Kingdom Egypt -
and that the name CIMMERI is Indo-European,
on the basis of Latvian ZIEMELI "northerners".

Herodotus, the Greek father of history, reports the legend
that the Cimmerians were driven out of the Black Sea region
over the Caucasus into Mesopotamia by the Scythians.

Hence, we also have written "historical" reason
to seek the Cimmerians of the Black Sea
in the Sumerians of Mesopotamia.
This people will not have changed their name that quickly.

The CHRONOLOGICAL Dating
of the CIMMERIANS is in ERROR

Much of this ancient legend as reported by Herodotus
has elements of truth when examined in large time frames.
But the current chronological dating is wrong.

"The origin of the Cimmerians is obscure. Linguistically they are
usually regarded as Thracian or as Iranian,
or at least to have had an Iranian ruling class.
They probably did live in the area north of the Black Sea,
but attempts to define their original homeland
more precisely by archaeological means, or even to fix
the date of their expulsion from their country by the Scythians,
have not so far been completely successful."
Encyclopaedia Britannica "Cimmerian",
Micropaedia, Vol. 3, p. 321, 15th Edition.

A few more modern archaeologists divide the Cimmerians up
(correctly - in my opinion) into a Western (Thracian-Sumerian)
and an Eastern (Kizil-Koba Colchis) group. Using this division,
these archaeologists already begin to get "more accurate"
dates going back to ca. 2000 B.C. rather than
the 700 B.C. which the backward mainstream historians
- simply guessing - have employed to date the Cimmerians.

THE MODERN CHRONOLOGY
OF ANCIENT SUMER IS "GUESSWORK"

"The chronology of the first half of the 3rd millennium
is largely a matter of guesswork.....
From 1594 BC several chronologically overlapping dynasties
reach back to the beginning of the 3rd dynasty of Ur, ca. 2112 BC."
"It is still uncertain how much time separated the middle
of the 15th century BC from the end of the 1st dynasty of Babylon,
which is therefore variously dated to 1594 BC ("middle"),
1530 BC ("short") or 1730 BC ("long") chronology."
Encyclopaedia Britannica "Iraq", Macropaedia,
Vol. 21, p. 912, 15th Edition.
Dating is largely based on Lists of Kings.
See the Sumerian List of Kings for a new discovery.

SUMERIAN: an UNKNOWN Language?
or
A proto-Indo-European Language
mixed with Mediterranean Elements?

One of the problems which exists in identifying the Sumerians
with absolute certainty is that scholars allege
that Sumerian is unrelated to any known language.

The critical line of connection for ancient languages is
Baltic Sea - Black Sea - Mesopotamia - Egypt.

Before we compare Sumerian to Indo-European
on the basis of the very archaic Latvian,
we want to look at ancient hydronymy,
the names of rivers and bodies of water,
which hold on to their names with great tenacity.

A. Breidaks studied parallels between the Baltic languages
and the ancient Balkan languages, and there are many
hydronymic names around the Black Sea
which appear to have a Baltic connection. Breidaks writes:

"A number of Baltic terms for bodies of water (especially rivers)
stem from the most ancient stratum of Indo-European hydronymy.
These terms occupy an important position for resolution
of questions regarding the pre-history of Indo-European peoples,
including their mutual relations, their place of origin,
their ancient migrations, etc."
"In the last several decades, it has been frequently noted
in linguistic writings that Baltic toponymy in many respects
embraces the ambit of Central Europe...particularly...
to the relation between Baltic and Illyrian
(as well as to the Eastern neighbors of the latter,
the Thracians and Dacians)...the archaeologist T. Sulimirski
and the linguists I. Duridanov and W. Porzig
are of the opinion that the Baltic, Thracian and Dacian peoples
were long neighbors to each other in the pre-Christian era."

 A. Breidaks,
"Concerning the Parallels Between Baltic and Ancient Languages",
originally published as "Par Baltu un Seno Balkanu Valodu Paralelem"
in PSR Zinatnu Akademijas Vestis, 1977, No. 3 (356), 88-98,
and republished in the approved translation by Andis Kaulins
in
A. Kaulins,
The Relation of the Baltic Languages to Illyrian
1980, Volume III of the monograph series,
Origins: Studies in the History of Mankind and its Languages.

See also T. Sulimirski, "Ancient Southern Neighbours of the Baltic Tribes",
Acta Baltico-Slavica, V. Bialystok, 1967, pp. 6-17, LB XII (2) 100, 108.