“But Sumerian civilization remained [after it was conquered by the Elamites from the East and Amorites from the North]. Sumer and Akkad still produced handicraftsmen, poets, artists, sages and saints; the culture of the southern cities passed north along the Euphrates and the Tigrus to Babylonia and Assyria as the initial heritage of Mesopotamia civilization."
Will Durant, Story of Civilization, Vol.1: Our Oriental Heritage, Book 1, Ch.7, Part 2, Segment 2, 1935 (italics added)
"At the basis of this [Sumerian] culture was a soil made fertile by the annual overflow of rivers swollen with the winter rains. The overflow was perilous as well as useful; the Sumerians learned to channel it safely through irrigating canals that ribbed and crossed their land; and they commemorated those early dangers by legends that told of a flood, and how at last the land had been separated from the waters, and mankind had been saved."
Will Durant, Story of Civilization, Vol.1: Our Oriental Heritage, Book 1, Ch.7, Part 2, Segment 2, 1935 (italics added)
"[...] Weaving [in Sumeria] was done on a large scale under the supervision of overseers appointed by the king, after the latest fashion of governmentally-controlled industry. [...]"
Will Durant, Story of Civilization, Vol.1: Our Oriental Heritage, Book 1, Ch.7, Part 2, Segment 2, 1935
"Goods were carried chiefly by water. [...]
There was no coinage yet, and trade was normally by barter; but gold and silver were already in use as standards of value, and were often accepted in exchange for goods -- sometimes in the forms of ingots or rings of definite worth, but generally in quantities measured by weight in each transaction. [...]
Contracts had to be confirmed in writing and duly witnessed.
A system of credit existed by which goods, gold or silver might be borrowed, and at rates ranging from 15 to 33 percent per annum. Since the stability of a society may be partly measured by inverse relation with the rate of interest, we may suspect that Sumerian business, like ours [in about 1936], lived in an atmosphere of economic and political uncertainty and doubt.
[...] Rich and poor were stratified into many classes and gradations; slavery was highly developed, and property rights were already sacred.
Between the rich and poor a middle class took form, composed of small-business men, scholars, physicians, and priests. Medicine flourished, and had a specific for every disease; but it was still bound up with theology, and admitted that sickness, being due to possession of evil spirits, could never be cured without the exorcising of these demons. [...]
Will Durant, Story of Civilization, Vol.1: Our Oriental Heritage, Book 1, Ch.7, Part 2, Segment 2, 1935 (italics, bold, and formtting added)
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