Editing Sumer (section)

===Ur III period===
{{Main|Third Dynasty of Ur}}
Later, the Third Dynasty of Ur under [[Ur-Nammu]] and [[Shulgi]] (c. 2112–2004 BC, middle chronology), whose power extended as far as southern [[Assyria]], has been erroneously called a "Sumerian renaissance" in the past.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cooper |first=Jerrold S. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/944087535 |title=Problems of canonicity and identity formation in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia |date=2016 |others=Kim Ryholt, Gojko Barjamovic, Københavns universitet, Denmark. Problems of Canonicity and Identity Formation in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia (2010: Copenhagen, Denmark) Literature and Identity Formation (2010: Copenhagen, Denmark |isbn=978-87-635-4372-9 |location=Copenhagen, Denmark |publisher=Museum Tusculanum Press |pages=1–18 |chapter=Sumerian literature and Sumerian identity |oclc=944087535}}</ref> Already, the region was becoming more Semitic than Sumerian, with the resurgence of the Akkadian-speaking Semites in Assyria and elsewhere, and the influx of waves of Semitic Martu ([[Amorites]]), who founded several competing local powers in the south, including [[Isin]], [[Larsa]], [[Eshnunna]] and later, Babylonia.

The last of these eventually came to briefly dominate the south of Mesopotamia as the [[Babylonian Empire]], just as the [[Old Assyrian Empire]] had already done in the north from the late 21st century BC. The Sumerian language continued as a sacerdotal language taught in schools in Babylonia and Assyria, much as Latin was used in the Medieval period, for as long as cuneiform was used.