Centuries before Julius Caesar, Galileo, Aristotle, Socrates and Albert Einstein; There was an ancient civilization born out of nothing. They settled on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, known as the fertile ridge of Mesopotamia. These settlers are known as the Sumerians. The Sumerians were an agricultural society, living off crops and the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to trade goods. So when the terrible question is presented “Why did they exist?” The Sumerians believed they existed to serve their gods through worship and dedicated work. Through Sumerian literature, architecture, and artwork, the Sumerians made their purpose known. Subsequently, the belief that humans existed to serve the gods influenced much of Sumerian literature. Stories such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, the poem Atrahasis, and the Enuma Elish all described this belief. For example, the poem Atrahasis, a creation story of a young god, Enki, who is awakened from his night's sleep by his mother who tells him that she is creating servants of the gods who will then reproduce other servants. He then shapes the clay into the shape of a human and with the help of Niamh and the goddesses shapes the faces of the gods. Additionally, among the creation stories was the Tale of the Enuma Elish. The Enuma Elish is a story that explains how the Earth and the Cosmos were created. In the story the two gods (Anu and Tiamat) created minor gods to create the universe. Things are going well until a war breaks out between the gods. Then the god Marduk will arise. Marduk kills the goddess Tiamat; with his severed body Marduk is able to create the Earth and the cosmos. Marduk subsequently creates humanity to serve as servants of the gods. With the god's creation of Hum... middle of the card... the king controls food and trade routes. On the war side the three registers depict the king leading his troops into war and the army trampling the enemy and bringing back prisoners for the king. Through the art of Sumerian culture it is obvious that the Sumerians were heavily involved in their religious practices. To conclude, the Sumerian answer to the terrible question is the belief that the human race was created to serve the gods. They held this belief in every aspect of their culture. The Sumerians displayed this belief in the creation stories of their literature, as seen in the poem “Atrahasis” and the poem “Enuma Elish,” in the enormous ziggurats of their architecture, and in their remaining works of art. The Sumerians truly believed in their gods and would do anything for their gods. In their culture their religion was held to the highest standards.