Ancient Egyptian civilization VS The Sumerian Civilization...?

Civilization developed in Mesopotamia simultaneously with Egypt and the two are often called the 'Fertile Crescent'. Sumeria, on the other hand, is much older...in May of 2000 archaeologists in Syria unearthed evidence of an urban settlement from 6,000 years ago.

The trouble with naming the oldest civilization is what information we have about them. Archaeologists have been unearthing ancient Egypt for more than 100 years...but discoveries in Mesopotamia and ancient Sumeria are a lot more modern. Where ancient Egypt has revealed most of her secrets now, Sumeria and Mesopotamia are still waiting.

Also, Egypt is still very much a thriving civilization. though its political and religious structure have changed through the centuries, we can still see it. Sumer, Mesopotamia, and others of an age with them are gone....they were destroyed, buried, forgotten. We cannot travel there and look at, say, the Hanging Gardens, and place it in our minds.

I think the availability of information on Ancient Egypt is the main contributor to this mistaken impression. While the Sumerian civilization is far older, there isn't as much information available. Just do a google search and you'll see that this is true. I wasn't able to find half as much information on the Sumerian civilization as I was on Egyptian civilization.

Since the tomb of Tutankamun was found in 1922, Egypt fever has gripped millions, myself included. It is a shame that it is so hard to find information on potentially the oldest civilization in history, but that seems to be the way it is.

I take it when you say the SUMERIAN civilization you mean the MESOPOTAMIAN civilization. For the Sumerians themselves came down on the old Mesopotamian civilization from the north in c3,000 B.C. The Mesopotamian civilization started in c 5,500 B.C. with the cities of UR-ENIL, URIK and KISH. Gilgamish was a king of URIK. The Sumerians built and/or developed such places as LAGASH, LARSA, BABYLONG and UR. The Egyptain civilization stated at the very earlies around 4,000 B.C. with the predanystic kingdoms of HELIOPOLIS, MEMPHIS of Lower Egypt and LUXOR, THEBES of Upper Egypt. The first Egyptian dysnasty was started by MENES(NARMER) around 3,200 B.C.

So we take the Mesopotamian civilization. Most if not all historians do know that the Mesopotamian is the older. The false impressions are in the minds of many common people. The most important factor is HOLLYWOOD. Many people see pictures of civilizations in Mesopotamia in the time of the New Babylonian or Chaldean Empire (603-545 B.C.) when the world was more advance. Most people see pictures of Egypt when from times that were earlier and less advanced. For instance:

LAND OF THE PHAROAHS(reign of Cheops-c2,600 b.c.),THE TEN COMMANDMENTS(XIX th dynasty- c late 14th centuries and early 13th centuries b.c.) and PHAROAH( mid 11th century b.c). And there is the main image of Egypt: THE PYRAMIDS. They were built in the 27th century B.C. under the IVth dynasty and look old. Hence because people see pictures of Mesopotamia generally in the period between and including the fall of the Assyrian Empire(603 b.c.) and PERSIA when things looked newer and were advance and pictures of Egypt in the very old days close to when it started they get the wrong impression.

Most people being relatively uneducated in such things do not know of the vast antiquety of the Mesopotamian civilzation. The general population do not have knowlege and see pictures of such. And anyting they see about Mesopotamia looks new and shinning. However the image of Egypt looks old, being from an early time, and the image of the pyramids is paramount. And they do look old-especially as the outer covering has been stripped down throughout the ages. If people for instance saw pictures of THEBES and the Luxor temple or of Amura (Atonakhen's capital) in their prime then they would have a differnet impression and realise that Egypt is the newer of the two civilizations.

Therefore although historians know the truth, most people get their history lessons from Hollywood. This is the main reason why the false impression exists. And Hollywood does get the it wrong. An instance that amuses me is the famous movie BEN HUR where he is condemmed to slavery in the galleys. In fact the Greeks and Romans never used slaves on their warships. The reason why for the Romans was that they did not want to have the mobility of their navy depend upon slaves and that sometimes the rowers would be called upon to help defend the ship-and it is very hard to get absolute battle cooperation from men who are chained. Also when Augustus need 20,000 rowers for his new navy, he bought 20,000 slaves and freed them on condition they joined as rowers for a time. Paid rowers. But these instances amuse me and make it evident of how many people get these false impressions. Hope this helps.

Egyptian civilization was not the most ancient. Maybe Sumer was. I shall not cite web sites but rather a cheap paperback book from the University of Pennsylvania, which I have owned for several decades, "History Begins at Sumer." The author explains that everything that we think important came from Sumer first. You can pick it up cheap on amazon.com or alibris.com. Why? It's harder to know things about Sumer, buried in the dsand, than about Egypt, whose inscriptions proclaim, "Haw Foo!"

lots of people are under the wrong impression that the Sumerian civilization is the most ancient one.