Editing Sumer (section)

====Cosmology====
Sumerians envisioned Earth to be a rectangular field with four corners.<ref name=":0" /> The Sumerian [[afterlife]] involved a descent into a gloomy [[Sumerian nether-world|netherworld]] to spend eternity in a wretched [[existence]] as a [[Gidim]] (ghost).<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last1=Black |first1=Jeremy |author-link1=Jeremy Black (assyriologist) |last2=Green | first2=Anthony |title= Gods, Demons, and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary |date=1992 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-70794-8}}</ref>

The universe was divided into four quarters:
* To the north were the hill-dwelling [[Subartu]], who were periodically raided for slaves, timber, and other raw materials.<ref>Whatever the assertions of cosmography here, when modern-day archaeologists carve out areas of exploration based on physical-remains and other data, there is an emphasis on three, ''vide'' Marcella Frangipane, "Different Trajectories in State Formation in Greater Mesopotamia: A View from Arslantepe (Turkey)", ''Journal of Archaeological Research'' 26 (2018): 3–63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-017-9106-2. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123080651/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10814-017-9106-2|date=2022-11-23}}: "southern Mesopotamia, northern Mesopotamia, and [to the west] Upper Euphrates valley" (3), with no reference to any of these proper-names.</ref>
* To the west were the tent-dwelling [[Amorite|Martu]], ancient Semitic-speaking peoples living as pastoral nomads tending herds of sheep and goats.
* To the south was the land of [[Dilmun]], a trading state associated with the land of the dead and the place of creation.<ref name="Carl Phillips 2013">Geoffrey Bibby and Carl Phillips, ''Looking for Dilmun'' (London, England: Stacey International, 1996; reprinted London, England: Knopf, 2013). {{ISBN|978-0-905743-90-5}}.</ref>
* To the east were the [[Elamites]], a rival people with whom the Sumerians were frequently at war.

Their known world extended from ''The Upper Sea'' or Mediterranean coastline, to ''The Lower Sea'', the [[Persian Gulf]] and the land of [[Meluhha]] (probably the [[Indus Valley]]) and [[Majan (civilization)|Magan]] ([[Oman]]), famed for its copper ores.