Sumerians

The Sumerians were an ancient people who lived in south-eastern Mesopotamia. The Sumerians undertook important early advances in agriculture, the division of labor, and writing. Sumerian civilization is thus widely considered to have been the first great civilization.

Influence

Sumerian civilization had a great influence (both direct and indirect) on other important Mesopotamian peoples (the Akkadians, the Babylonians, and the Assyrians). These civilizations in turn influenced the Persian Empire, which influenced the Greco-Macedonian Empire, which influenced the Roman Empire. Thus, the Sumerian civilization had impacts which reverberate to this day.