The Sumerian civilization is specially amazing because it's recognized as the oldest known to man. It suddenly appeared about 8000 years ago between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates, in present day Iraq and it seems that they were the first humans that built cities and created a "real" civilization.
The most incredible aspect about Sumerians is their high level of technical skill. They were the first developed civilization and evolved from caves to a well-designed cities with water supplies, sewers and impressive buildings like the "ziggurats", massive structures allegedly designed to be used as astronomical observatories.
They developed the first written language system, the cuneiform script. The remains that survived the passage of time have been found in the form of clay tablets that they used as "paper" using little wooden sticks to press the soft clay and leave their marks.
But they also developed mathematics and surprisingly, they used a combination of decimal and sexagesimal numerical systems. This still influences us today as you can easily check. When you buy eggs, how many are in each pack? Either a dozen or half a dozen. Our circumferences are still divided in 360 degrees (multiple of 6), and one degree is divided into 60 minutes with 60 seconds each.
The same thing happens with how we measure time. An hour has sixty minutes and each minute has sixty seconds and curiously our days are divided into 24 hours, two periods of 12 hours each. But... wait! there is still more... our year is divided in 12 months and astrology divides the sky in... 12 zodiac constellations. Could it be just a coincidence that Jesus Christ had twelve disciples?
Their mythology is simply fascinating and has been used and adapted by later cultures. Legends such as the Anunnaki, translated as the spring of Anu, the God of Heavens that came from his home in the sky called Niburu, has been used to suggest the fascinating theory that Humankind was created by external influences of beings from outer space.
Zurvan was the main God of a branch of the Zoroastrianism, and was considered the creator and ruler of space and time. His two sons were Ahura Mazda, (Golden Wisdom) and Angra Mainyu, (Angry Madness), the duality between good and evil that has been commonly used in all the religions of the world.
The first epic story recorded, The Adventures of Gilgamesh, also comes from Sumeria. Gilgamesh was the 5th king of the city of Uruk, and was considered the descendant of the Gods and is related to the antediluvian giants, known later as the Nephilim, which has been translated as "The Fallen Angels" but also as "the offspring of Orion".
And finally, the first reference of a big flood that almost destroys the Humankind also appears in the story of Gilgamesh, and many people believe that this is the same story that was later applied to Noah in the Bible. But other mythical stories as the legend of Hercules have also suspicious similarities with this original tale.
