. The Catholic encyclopedia; an international work of reference on the constitution, doctrine, discipline, and history of the Catholic Church . h a condition of culture and progress, thatthis valley has been called the cradle of civilization,not only of the Semitic world, but most likely Egypt. The people dwelling in this valley werecertainly not allof one race; theydiffered in tj^ieand primitive in-habitants wereprobably of Mon-golian ancestry,they are styledSumerians, or in-habitants ofSumer, Sungir,Sennaar. Theyinvented the cune-iform script, builtthe oldest cities,and
. The Catholic encyclopedia; an international work of reference on the constitution, doctrine, discipline, and history of the Catholic Church . h a condition of culture and progress, thatthis valley has been called the cradle of civilization,not only of the Semitic world, but most likely Egypt. The people dwelling in this valley werecertainly not allof one race; theydiffered in tj^ieand primitive in-habitants wereprobably of Mon-golian ancestry,they are styledSumerians, or in-habitants ofSumer, Sungir,Sennaar. Theyinvented the cune-iform script, builtthe oldest cities,and brought thecountry to a greatheight of peacefulprosperity. They were gradually overcome, dis-possessed, and absorbed by a new race that enteredthe plain between the two rivers, the Semites, whopressed on them from the north from the kingdom ofAkkad. The Semitic invaders, however, eagerlyadopted, improved, and widely spread the civilizationof the race they had conquered. Although a numberof arguments con\erge into an irrefragable proof thatthe Sumerians were the aboriginal inhabitants ofBabylonia, we have no historical records of the time. when they were the sole occupants of the EuphratesValley; at the dawn of history we find both races inpossession of the land and to a certain extent mixed,though the Semite was predominant in the Northwhile the Sumerian maintained himself for centuriesin the South. Whence these Sumerians came, can-not be decided, and probably all that will ever beknown is that, after a nomadic existence in moun-tainous districts in the East, they found a plain inthe lands of Sennaar and dwelt in it (Gen., xi, 2).Their first settlement was Eridu, then a seaport onthe Persian Gulf, where their earliest myths repre-sent the first man, Adapu, or Adamu (Adam?), spend-ing his time in fishing, and where the sea-god taughtthem the elements of civilization. It is certain, how-ever, that they possessed a considerable amount ofculture even before entering the Babylonian
Size: 1599px × 1562px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, books, booksubjectcatholicchurch
