Early "Freedom"

Around 2800-2500 BC, Lagash and Umma were two Sumerian city-states located 25 kilometers apart in today's territory of Iraq. Clay cylinders and albast, copper and gold tablets found at the site recount the story of the first revolution in human history: the people rose and deposed officials who kept raising taxes but pocketed the proceeds. The earliest-known written appearance of the word "freedom" (amagi), or "liberty" is in a clay cuneiform document written about 2300 B.C. in Lagash.