Sumerian arises after a great flood occurred where the ancient list of Sumerian

kings that includes the first dynasties of several prominent cities of this period is
lost.

Sumerian cities during the Uruk period were probably theocratic and were headed
by a priest-king (ensi), assisted by a council of elders, including both men and
women.

There was little evidence of organized warfare or professional soldiers during the
Uruk period, the most urbanized city in the world, surpassing for the first time
50,000 inhabitants.

These deities formed a core pantheon; there were additionally hundreds of minor
ones. Sumerian gods could thus have associations with different cities, and their
religious importance often waxed and waned with those cities' political power. The
gods were said to have created human beings from clay for the purpose of serving
them. The temples organized the mass labour projects needed for irrigation
agriculture. Citizens had a labor duty to the temple, though they could avoid it by a
payment of silver.