Transcript THE SUMERIANS

THE SUMERIANS
THE FERTILE CRESCENT
Aswan Dam
Draining of the Marshes
Pre-requisites for Civilization
 Agriculture developed in the Fertile Crescent
around 9000 bce
 Mining and use of copper around 6000 bce
 Growth of villages and towns
 Division of labor
 Smelting of tin and copper to make bronze
around 3000 bce > Bronze Age
Sumerian Inventions
 Cuneiform writing
 The wheel
Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur
 Potter’s wheel
 Sailing ship
 Pick-axe
 Brick mold
 Glass
 60-based counting system: 60 minutes to
an hour, 360 degrees to a circle
 Number positioning
 Beer
 Epic poetry
Mesopotamian Empires
Characteristics of Mesopotamian
Civilizations
 City states
 Each city had its own king and patron god or goddess
 City states often warred with each other
 Theocracy -- king as god’s representative
Hierosgamos: ritual marriage with the goddess/priestess
Highly legalistic
 Law Codes
Contracts
Judicial proceedings and appeals processes
 Extensive trading networks
Architectural Marvels of Ancient Mesopotamia
Lively Spirits: From the Hymn to Ninkasi
You are the one who holds with both hands the great
sweet wort,
Brewing [it] with honey and wine
(You the sweet wort to the vessel) Ninkasi, (...)
(You the sweet wort to the vessel)
The filtering vat, which makes a pleasant sound,
You place appropriately on [top of] a large collector vat.
Ninkasi, the filtering vat, which makes a pleasant sound,
You place appropriately on [top of] a large collector vat.
When you pour out the filtered beer of the collector vat,
It is [like] the onrush of Tigris and Euphrates.
Ninkasi, you are the one who pours out the filtered beer
of the collector vat,
It is [like] the onrush of Tigris and Euphrates.
Beer or Bread?
Writing
Origin and the Deveopment of Writing in Mesopotamia
Tablet of pre-cuneiform script
South Mesopotamia
Uruk III, end of 4th millenium BC.
Clay (?sun-baked clay)
Louvre
Writing: Pictograms
Cylinder Seals
Cylinder Seal with Watergod, Birdman, and Deities
Mesopotamia, Akkadian Period, 2300 - 2200 B.C.
Emory University
Writing: Cuneiform
Cuneiform Cylinder of Nabopolassar Recording Repair of the City Wall of
Babylon, Mesopotamia, Babylon
Neo-Babylonian Period, Reign of Nabopolassar, 625 - 605 B.C
Emory University
Sumerian Schools
 Literacy was a highly valued skill
 Sumerians set up first
institutions of formal education:
edubba
 Education included writing and
mathematics
 Tuition paid for education
 Educated were privileged elite:
government officials, scribes, etc.
Nippur
Flood
Tablet
The tablet can be dated by its script
to the late 17th century BC.
...a flood will sweep over the cult centers;
To destroy the seed of mankind...
Is the decision, the word of the assembly of
the gods.
By the word commanded by An and Enlil...
All the windstorms, exceedingly powerful,
attacked as one,
At the same time, the flood sweeps over the
cult centers.
After, for seven days and seven nights,
The flood had swept over the land,
And the huge boat had been tossed about by
the windstorms on the great waters,
Utu came forth, who sheds light on heaven
and earth,
Ziusudra opened a window on the huge boat,
The hero Utu brought his rays into the giant
boat.
Deciphering Cuneiform
1835: Henry Rawlinson, an English army officer, found some inscriptions on a cliff at
Behistun in Persia. Carved in the reign of King Darius of Persia (522-486 BC), they
consisted of identical texts in three languages: Old Persian, Babylonian and Elamite.
Enheduanna, Priestess and Poet
the world’s first known writer
The Enheduanna Research Pages
Women in Ancient Mesopotamia
Inanna: The Opera
Original tablet
Reconstuction of alabaster disk,Philadephia
Enheduanna’s Inscription
Here are the first 4 lines of cuneiform:
1) en-he-du-an-na.....................En-he-du-ana,
2) MUNUS.NUNUZ.ZI.............zirru priestess
3) dam-nanna........................... wife of the god Nanna,
4) dumu-...................................daughter
The inscription continues:
5) sarru-GI............................ of Sargon,
6) [ lugal]............................... [king] of
7) KIS................................... the world (Kish),
8) e-INANNA.ZA.ZA............. in the temple of the
goddess
9) uri.KI-ma-ka...................... Inanna- ZA.ZA in Ur,
10) bara-si-ga........................ made a socle and
11) bi-e-du
12) bara bansur-an-na...........named it: 'dais, table of
13) mu-se bi-sa......................the god An'.
THEOCRACY:
Kings: Servants of the Gods
The powerful gods communicate their desires to
humanity through the medium of a powerful
priestly class or autocratic king who serves as the
intermediary.
- Government of the gods/priest class
- Ruler may be divine himself, or chosen by the
god/gods
- Each city had its own gods
This system centralizes power in the hands of a
small group of people and gives political
decisions a religious authority
Sumerian King List
The City Center
 Temples served civic
and religious purposes
 Daily sacrifices and
rituals
 Storage of surplus
grain and other foods
 Dwelling of priests
and priestesses
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Locale where
craftsmen and artisans
could practice their
trades
Ziggurats: Temples to the Gods
Standard of Ur
c. 2700 B.C.E. 8" x 19"
A box inlaid with shell, lapis and red limestone
Scenes of War
Scenes of Peace
Gilgamesh, the
Hero-King
 Ruled in Sumer c. 2700 bc
 Epic of Gilgamesh
chronicles his reign
 Evolves from selfish,
uncontrolled autocrat to
benevolent ruler via:
 friendship
 rebellion
 loss
 quest
 recognition of mortality
 acceptance of responsibilty
and service to the goddess
Ishtar (Inanna)
The young King Gilgamesh
challenged and defeated all the young
men and claimed any young woman
for himself.
The people prayed to
the gods for help,
The gods decided to
create a challengercompanion for
Gilgamesh.
Standing male worshiper, 2750–2600 B.C.;
Early Dynastic period II; Sumerian style
Alabaster (gypsum), shel, black limestone; Height 11.9 in.
MMA
~The goddess of Creation,
Aruru, conceived an image
in her mind, and it was of the
stuff of Anu, of the
firmament. She dipped her
hands in water and pinched
off clay, and let it fall in the
wilderness, and Noble
Enkidu was Created. There
was Virtue in him, of the god
of War, of Ninurta Himself.~
He was called ENKIDU.
Enkidu lived happily with
the animals of the forest ….
ENKIDU
Civilizing Enkidu
A priestess from the Temple
of Inanna was brought to
Enkidu. She
made love with him
taught him to wear clothes
taught him to eat bread
taught him to drink beer
brought him to Gilgamesh
Humbaba, Guardian of the Cedar Forests
Gilgamesh and
Enkidu achieved
many great
adventures
together
They decided to
challenge the
guardian of the
great Cedar
Forests,
Humbaba
Ishtar and Gilgamesh
 Gilgamesh scorns Ishtar
 To punish this insult, she sends the Bull of
Heaven against Gilgamesh and Enkidu
 The two heroes slay the Bull of Heaven and
fling its haunches in Ishtar’s face
 The gods are enraged
Gilgamesh is devastated
the death of Enkidu from Hard
Crossing: the Story of Gilgamesh, The
Total Theatre, NYC, May 1986
He seeks Utnapishtim to gain eternal life
and loses his prize to a snake
Gilgamesh
famed for
building walls
and protecting
his city
The gates of Ishtar
LAWS: The Code of
Hammurabi, ca. 1760 bce
 2350 bce law reform by King
Urukagina of Lagash to protect
exploited citizens
 21st c. bce: earliest extant law code
from Ur-Nammu (1000 years before
the 10 Commandments
Law-Codex of Hammurabi,first half of the 18th
century BCE, Basalt, Louvre
Full Text of the Code of Hammurabi
Continual warfare among Sumerian
city states and against invading
tribes eventually led to the downfall
of Sumerian civilization. But the
influence of Sumerian civilization
was felt in throughout the Near East,
Egypt, India, the Mediterranean
civilizations: Crete, Mycenae,
Greece, Rome, and in JudeoChristian traditions.
A stele is a monolithic monument that commemorates
an historical event.
The Stele of Naram Sin has a formality and rigidity
similar to Egyptian art.
Compare its strong diagonal composition with the
Victory Stele of Naram Sim
c. 2300- 2200 B.C.E.
61/2' tall, sandstone
horizontal registers of the Standard of Ur.
Flood Myths
Flood myths are present on every continent
 Leeming: “The pattern behind the many forms that the
flood myth takes is the archetype of the productive
sacrifice…. The flood myth…reminds us that life depends
on death, that without death there can be no cycle, no birth.
 Floods connected with cleansing, washing away of
blunders or evil
 Spared survivors are heroes of a new life
Ante- Diluvian
 Blundered
creation
 Error or evil by
mankind
 Period of
degradation
Post- Diluvian
 Sacrifice and thanksgiving
 Salvation of survivors
 Retreat of gods from intimate
relationship with mankind
But: new and renewed relationship
between humanity and divine
consecrated
 Humans must work to live:
learned arts and skills for survival
Mesopotamian and Hebrew Flood Myths
 Gilgamesh text: ca. 2000 bce
 Utnapishtim or Ziusudra
 Enlil annoyed by human noise
 Ea/Enki warns Utnapishtim in
dream of oncoming flood
 Boat built in 7 days
 Contents: family, kin, animals,
craftsmen, gold
 6 days and 6 nights of rain and
rising water
 Ishtar (Inanna) regrets divine
council’s decision
 Boat lands on Mt. Nisir
 Dove, swallow and raven released
 Sacrifice and libation
 Ishtar’s necklace set in sky as token
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Genesis text: ca. 1000 bce
Noah
God dismayed by evil of mankind
Noah chosen as righteous man
Noah follows God’s directions to
build ark
Contents: family, 7 of clean
beasts, 2 of unclean
40 days and 40 nights of rain
All mankind perishes except
Noah’s family
Ark lands on Mt. Ararat
Raven, dove, dove released\
Burnt offerings
Rainbow sent in sky as token of
new covenant between God and
mankind.