Sumerian Social Organization

The term "Sumerian" is the common name given to the ancient non-semitic inhabitants of Mesopotamia. These people lived in modern day Iraq, and their social organization is one similar to other civilizations throughout history. They had a social class system and a sturdy daily life that changed very little day to day.  The Sumerians social organization gave them a distinct culture even from city to city.

The Sumerian class structure had three distinct classes, the upper class, the middle class, and the lower class. The upper class was made up of nobles, priests, government officials and warriors. This class was the smallest and gave themselves special privileges as the class with all the power. The middle class was mostly merchant, traders and artisans, this class is also known as the “freeman” class. Lastly the lower class was slaves and labourers. Because each city-state in the Sumer civilization had a different “Patron God”, wars were inevitable. In these wars any prisoner taken from another city was turned into a slave.

Music as an important part of daily life for the Sumerian people, they used many instruments including harps, pipes, drums, and tambourines. The music was often used in conjunction with poems and songs dedicated to the gods. The average house for a family was a one-story structure made of mud brick. The husband held the power in the family. A husband could initiate a divorce with very little reason, and able to take on a second wife, monogamy was the norm, though concubines were tolerated. Children were generally loved and cared for, but children could be sold into slavery to repay a debt. The Sumer civilization was one of the first to have a written law, known as “the code of Ur-Nammu”. These laws were designed to protect the weak, poor, widows and orphans against the rich. Even with the laws meant to protect the lower classes from the top class, in a dispute, the higher class almost always won mainly because they were a higher class, not necessarily because they were right.

The Sumerian civilization had a well-developed social system. There was a defined class system, a set of written laws, even if they were not as effective as they were meant to be, and a social norms such as monogamy. All of these systems of social organization gave the Sumerian civilization a strong culture.