Transcript File sumeria

CHRONOLOGY OF THE
MESOPOTAMIAN PEOPLES
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Early Sumerian Settlements
Writing before
Royal Cemetery, First Dynasty Ur
Sargon the Great of Akkad
Amorite Invasion (Old Babylonians)
Gilgamesh composed
Hammurabi’s reign
Hittites conquer Amorites and retreat to Asia Minor
Kassites control Mesopotamia
Hittite Empire is destroyed
Assyrian Empire
Assyrian conquest of Mesopotamia
Chaldean Empire
Nebuchadnezzar destroys Jerusalem and
brings Jews to Babylon
Persians defeat Chaldeans
3500 - 3200
3500
2700
2340
2000
2000
1792-1750
1595
1500-1000
Ca. 1200
1100 - 612
665
612 - 538
586
539
The Ancient Sumerians
Climate and Geography
Mesopotamia. The word
'Mesopotamia' is Greek in origin
and means the 'land between the
rivers'.
 The name is used for the area
watered by the Euphrates and
Tigris and its tributaries, roughly
comprising modern Iraq and part
of Syria.
 South of modern Bagdad, the
alluvial plains of the rivers were
called the land of Sumer and
Akkad.
 Sumer is the most southern part,
while the land of Akkad is the area
around modern Bagdad, where
the Euphrates and Tigris are close
to each other.
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The Rivers
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Man have been attracted to both
rivers since prehistoric times.
As water ways they make inland
navigation possible.
The rivers yearly flood its banks,
producing fertile land.
The character of Euphrates and
Tigris are different.
The Tigris is rough and fast
flowing.
The Euphrates is a lifeline.
– It can more easily be used by
ships.
– The banks are lower, suitable for
irrigation, with less violent floods.
Environmental Challenges
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Flooding:
The Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers originate in different
mountain ranges.
Usually, flooding occurs in the
spring as snow melts in the
mountains.
This compelled early
Mesopotamian cultures to
undertake collective actions
such as the building of dikes,
digging of reservoirs, and
construction of irrigation
ditches.
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Salinization:
The success of Mesopotamian
city-states in building canals
and irrigation systems added
to the existing problem of
salinization.
As the land was irrigated, salt
leached upward, making the
soil useless.
Salinization forced the different
Mesopotamian city-states into
a competition for arable land.
The People
Two cultural groups form the principle
elements in the population of
Mesopotamia
 These are the Sumerians and the
Akkadians.
 They lived peacefully together and created
mutual fertilization.
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Sumerian History
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Sumerians
The people responsible
for the first monumental
temples and palaces, for
the founding of the first
city states and most likely
for the invention of
writing (all in the period
of 3100-3000 BCE) are
the Sumerians.
Sumer (4000 to 2300 B.C.E.)
The earliest Mesopotamian civilization emerged in the
southern part in the Valley of Sumer around 3500
B.C.E.
 The origin of the Sumerians is uncertain.
 Their language is unlike any other in the region.
 The Sumerians described their origin as lying in the East
“where the sun rises.”
 The principal Sumerian city-states were Ur, Lagesh,
Eridu, and Erech.
 The Epic of Gilgamesh, a long epic poem written
around 2000 B.C.E., expressed the Sumerian conception
of the relation of man and the gods.
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SUMERIAN CITY
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The people of the rich TigrisEuphrates valley were able to
grow sufficient food to meet
their needs.
As a result, population
increased; and from the
nucleus of a few small farming
villages, several important citystates arose.
The inhabitants of those cities
irrigated the surrounding farm
land by building canals; they
defended themselves behind
strong walled cities; they
honored their gods by building
large and impressive temples.
SUMERIAN CITY
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Religion was a strong
motivating force in the life of
the Sumerians; the rulers of
man’s first urban effort came
from the priest class.
Later, the cities were governed
by a bicameral legislature of
free male citizens: a lower
house of men able to bear
arms, and an upper house of
elders.
The king was an elected
official during a time of crisis,
but after 3000 B.C.E., the
kingship became hereditary.
SUMERIAN CITY
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By 2000 B.C.E., the cities of
Sumer had grown so large that
some, like Ur (then the capital
of Sumer), had populations
greater than 200,000 persons.
Although a few cities were
beautiful with large landscaped
parks, large public buildings,
vast temple areas and private
residences, most Sumerian
cities were unattractive.
There appears to have been
neither city-planning nor
municipal services; garbage
and sewage were thrown in
the streets until they rose
above the household.
SUMERIAN CITY
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A defensive wall and moat encircled each
city proper.
The city of Uruk had a wall over 6 miles long
with some 900 towers.
The streets of the cities were narrow,
unpaved, and winding; and houses large
and small stood side by side.
Most houses were flat-roofed, one-story
buildings of mud-brick construction.
They consisted of several rooms built
around an open-air courtyard.
Upper-class Sumerians resided in two-story
houses usually containing a dozen rooms
which were constructed of mud-brick and
white-washed inside and out.
Upper-class houses usually contained a
kitchen, reception room, bed rooms,
bathroom, servant’s quarters, and often a
private chapel.
A family burial crypt was often located
below the house.
SUMERIAN CITY
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The business area of
the town was a vast
bazaar — very much
like one in a presentday mid-eastern city.
In a maze of awningcovered booths,
Sumerian merchants
supplied the
townspeople with
material needs.
Sumerian Economy
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Few people in ancient Sumer or Babylon belonged
to the nobility, priest hood or military classes; the
majority of the people were farmers, herdsmen,
fishermen, merchants, scribes, potters, masons, or
jewelers.
The oldest and the largest of these occupations was
farming; in fact, the oldest surviving piece of
literature is a farmer’s almanac over 5000 years old.
Not until man found a steady supply of food was he
able to support large families, build solid houses,
and make the necessary social adjustment of
shifting loyalty from his family to the group.
The farmer worked long and hard to combat the
forces of nature.
He knew how to plow and sow his field, irrigate,
thrash the grain and winnow (separate the wheat
from the chaff).
The farmer raised various cereals such as emmer,
wheat, and millet.
Barley was the most popular grain since it grew
well in the saline soil and was versatile, serving as a
porridge, ground flour, and the basis of an ancient
beer.
Sumerian Economy and
Trade
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Jobs included pottery makers, stonecutters, bricklayers, metal smiths,
farmers, fishers, shepherds, weavers, leather-workers, and sailors.
The wheel was invented for carts, chariots, and pottery making.
Iron was smelted about 2500 BC.
Seals had been used to stamp a carved insignia on clay before cylindrical
seals became widespread for labeling commodities and legal documents.
Pictographic writing was first used by the Sumerians about 3400, and by
3000 BC this had evolved into cuneiform words and syllables.
The Sumerian economy was based on agriculture, which was influenced
by major technological advances in Mesopotamian history.
Early Sumerian homes were huts built from bundles of reeds, which went
on to be built from sun-baked mud bricks because of the shortage of
stone.
Sumerian Economy
The Sumerian economy appears to have been
free from arbitrary control; even kings were
expected to respect property rights.
 The land was under the control of three groups
of people: the nobility, the temple estates, and
the commoners. Land ownership was held as a
patriarchal family or clan possession.
 Gradually lower class holdings were absorbed by
the nobility, and the domination of temple land
came under their control as well.
 In the end, the power of the kings dominated
over that of the nobility.
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Sumerian Economy
With the lack of natural resources,
traders set out to gain the
necessary stone, wood and metal.
 As early as 3000 B.C.E.,
commerce was flourishing. Rivers
furnished traders access to the
Persian Gulf and a water route to
the Indus River civilization of
India.
 Other traders went to the North
and swept into the Mediterranean.
 These far-reaching commercial
ties and favorable geographical
position were responsible for
Sumer’s rapid expansion and
cultural growth
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Sumerian Economy
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The traders established some of
the first known business methods.
They financed many of their
expeditions through moneylenders
at interest rates between 20 and
30 per cent.
They used letters of credit
between cities and established a
medium of exchange with gold
and silver discs.
Barter, however, remained the
most common method of
exchange.
There is little doubt that the place
of the farmer and tradesmen was
a strong factor in Mesopotamian
prosperity.
War and Peace
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One of the most important functions of
the Sumerian king was waging war.
As city-states expanded, conflicts
arose over land owner ship and
irrigation rights.
After 3000 B.C.E., Sumer was engaged
in continuous warfare as kings raised
large armies of professional soldiers
for defense and conquest.
Generally the soldiers were well
disciplined, armed and trained.
The Sumerian soldier was the rival of
any Roman legion.
He was taught to operate in a unit, the
phalanx, a formation of men in square
ranks as deep as they were wide.
War and Peace
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With warfare a way of life, it
was only a matter of time
before it exhausted the land
and its people. By the 18th
century B.C.E., Sumer was
conquered by the Semitic
Amorites (who became the
Babylonians).
The Sumerian city-states were
never permanently united; the
city-states were bound only by
culture, language and trade.
City State Empire
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The Sumerians developed their elaborate city-state
empires, engaged in far-flung trade enterprises,
and attained a level of prosperity seldom equaled in
antiquity.
Another side of their civilization, however, was
gained by the discovery of the royal graveyards of
the city of Ur.
Sometime around 2000 B.C.E., the city suffered
total destruction at the hands of the neighboring
Elamites.
The death pits thus serve historians as one record
of Sumerian daily life.
Between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago, when a king
died he was buried with his most valuable
possessions and what appears to have been a
voluntary human sacrifice composed of his guards,
musicians, servants, harem, and various court
officials. (Even his chariot and donkey accompanied
their master to the other world.)
Since the early kings were deified in their lifetimes,
the sacrifice of a human life for a god was easier,
perhaps, with assurance of another life.
This custom appears to have ended before 2000
B.C.E. little mention seems to have been made of it
in the literary documents, a majority of which were
composed in this era.
Sumerian Afterlife
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From various poems and laments, we have gained considerable
information (although sometimes contradictory) on the Sumerian
interpretation of the afterlife.
In general, the afterlife, or nether world was conceived as existing below
the world, while the residence of the gods was believed to be above the
earth.
The souls of the dead descended to the nether world from the grave or
from special openings for heroes located in important religious cities.
Also mentioned in some literature is a river ferry, said to have carried the
soul across some mysterious underworld river.
Once in the nether world, the soul came under the rule of two gods,
Nergal and Ereshkigal, aided by numerous lesser deities.
One group of helpers called gallas seem to have been like under world
constables.
Gilgamesh, an early king and hero of Sumer, likewise saw to it that the
residents of the net4ier world kept the established rules.
Sumerian Afterlife
The dead soul was expected to
observe the rules very carefully.
For the descent into the nether
world, he could not anoint himself
with oil, wear sandals, carry a
weapon, make noise, or wear
clean clothes.
 The violation of any one of these
rules resulted in the soul’s capture
by the “sewards” of the
underworld of whom little is
known.
 Once a soul had been seized, it
was impossible for a mortal or
even a god to return to earth
without aid from a god of the
nether world, and another soul to
take his place.
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ZIGGURAT
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By the end of the fourth millennium
B.C.E., the Sumerians had begun the
construction of temples and shrines as
a community or clan project.
With the passage of years, new
temples came to be constructed on
the sites of older temples, so that
gradually the temples rose higher and
higher from the plains.
By the second millennium B.C.E., most
of the important Sumerian cities such
as Eridu, Larsa, Nippur, Ur, and Uruk,
possessed an elevated temple known
as a ziggurat.
At present, some 30 ziggurats have
been discovered each possessing from
3 to 7 terraces, and having a height of
as much as 290 feet.
ZIGGURAT
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The construction of these temples
must be paralleled with the effort
to build the pyramids.
An example is the ziggurat at Ur
which contained some 3,000,000
bricks, none of which was over 15
inches long.
The structure was similar in
appearance to the pyramids of
Egypt, especially the earliest step
pyramid.
There has been recent speculation
over which of the two civilizations,
if either, influenced the other.
Ziggurats, however, vary in
architecture, being rectangular,
oval, circular and square.
ZIGGURAT
The purposes of the ziggurat and
pyramid are entirely different: the
pyramid served as a burial tomb
for the god-king of the country,
while the ziggurat is believed to
have served as a pedestal for the
gods to descend to earth.
 On the top terrace, a temple stood
as a reception place for the divine
visitor.
 On a lower level, a second temple
stood for the god to rest before
his ascent.
 Many stories were told by later
civilizations to account for these
buildings; the Hebrews may have
felt this as the cause of the great
dispersal known as the “Tower of
Babel” in Genesis.
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As religion grew in complexity, the
temples became staffed with a
select priesthood.
 The public was not invited to
participate in the temple rites;
nevertheless, the people believed
without constant prayers and the
necessary ritual, the gods would
not bless their land.
 Soon a temple community grew
around these religious centers,
with storehouses, land holdings,
courtrooms, and housing for the
priests.
 The temple thus became a
political and economic part of
community life.
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Sumerian Literature
Sumerian literature consisted
mainly of an elaborate mythology
which reflected the spiritual and
intellectual life of the people.
 The significance of these literary
compositions cannot be
overestimated, as the Akkadians,
Assyrians, and Babylonians
absorbed these works almost in
total.
 Hundreds of years later, other
Near East civilizations such as the
Hittites, Hurrians, and Canaanites
likewise assimilated Sumerian
literature.
 Many scholars believe that the
Hebrews and Greeks have this
tradition in their literary works.
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Sumerian Literature
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Sumerian literature consists
mainly of epics, myths, hymns,
lamentations, proverbs, and
historic documents.
At present, our earliest literary
documents date about 2400
B.C.
Most of the literary works are
written in poetic form without
the use of rhyme or meter.
They suffer from the excessive
repetitious chorus and refrains.
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By the third millennium B.C.,
the Sumerian school came to
represent the seat of all
learning.
In the course of the next
thousand years, the schools
studied and copied earlier
literary works; most of our
texts today have been these
copies.
Scribes and graduates of these
schools may also have been
responsible for the religious
hymns in the temples, and the
songs and epics of the court
entertainers.
Sumerian Literature
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At present we have little
information on how these
works were presented.
Since only scribes could
read, and private libraries
were rare, the literary
collections of the schools
must have been read in
public places such as the
temple courtyard or
marketplace.
Sumerian Literature
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One of the most popular epics deals with the half- mortal king of Erech, Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh is portrayed in the transparency doing battle with a lion, a symbol of his
power.
According to the epic, he is a handsome and strong king who becomes the oppressor
of his city.
When the people petition the gods for aid, the gods create Enkidu; a powerful man
who lives like the animals.
The gods teach Enkidu the worldly ways and send him into battle with Gilgamesh.
After a lengthy fight Gilgamesh prevails, but his enemy soon becomes his best friend.
Thereafter they set out on a series of adventures.
When Gilgamesh repulses the romantic attentions of the goddess Ishtar, her father
dispatches the “Bull of Heaven” to kill Gilgamesh.
During the battle Enkidu killed the bull and is fated by the gods to die. Gilgamesh
loudly laments for his friend’s death and expresses fear for his own situation.
He journeys to distant lands seeking a precious plant promised to give him
immortality.
After an arduous journey Gilgamesh finds the plant, only to lose it to a snake in an
unguarded moment.
The epic ends on this dismal note.
Sumerian Literature
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Another interesting epic may
be the prototype of Noah in
the Old Testament.
In this epic, Enlil, a powerful
god, becomes displeased with
civilization and vows to destroy
all living creatures in a flood.
Ea, a fellow god, forwards a
favorite mortal Utnapishtim, in
a dream to build a boat and fill
it with his family and all living
creatures.
The boat survives the storm’s
fury of six days and six nights.
The survivors offer thanks to
the gods who in turn reproach
Enlil for his decision.
Sumerian Education
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From the viewpoint of history one of the greatest achievements of the Sumerians was
their system of writing and formal education.
Writing enabled man to maintain a more complex economic and political society.
Sumerian script, dating from a period as early as 3100 B.C.E., has come down to us.
These first written documents were pictographic with each impression representing
an idea.
They, like all later Sumerian scripts, were composed on small mud tablets with a
sharpened reed called a stylus.
The stylus possessed a sharp point on one end for pictographic work, and later added
a wedge-shaped impression on the other end for writing with speed and legibility.
To avoid smearing his work, the scribe wrote from left to right, and from top to
bottom.
The Sumerian system of writing (cuneiform) and even the language was adopted by
their conquerors and used in the Near East for some 2000 years.
The Babylonians held such awe for the written word that they believed their fate was
determined by a divine scribe and a book of judgment.
Sumerian Education
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By 2500 B.C.E., the Sumerians introduced formal
schooling. Much of our knowledge of their society is
based on the tens of thousands of tablets we have
discovered in what is thought to have been scribal
schools.
The Sumerian school, referred to as the “tablet
house,” had as its goal the education of scribes for
various religious, governmental, and commercial
services.
At first the schools appear to have been religious in
orientation, but soon thereafter, they shifted to
training for secular occupations.
The teachers were supported by tuition fees
collected from students. School was neither
compulsory nor universal, and classes were for
males only.
The head of the school was called the “schoolfather” or “expert”; he determined the curriculum
of the school.
An assistant teacher was called the “big brother”;
his task was to examine homework, listen to
student recitation, and prepare new tablets for
writing.
Other faculty members were in charge of either
penmanship, grammar, attendance, or discipline
(“Man with the whip”).
Sumerian Education
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Being a student was not easy,
since classes lasted from
morning until sunset.
To be a scribe required many
years of concentrated study.
A student had to master such
varied curricula as grammar,
penmanship, some natural
science, various math
problems, myths, poems,
hymns, theology, proverbs,
and legal documents.
Sumerian Education
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Discipline appears to have been a major problem in the
Sumerian school, but one that could be solved with the
use of the whip or cane.
In one text a schoolboy revealed his problems: he was
late to school, made a mistake in grammar, wore dirty
clothes, spoke without permission, rose from his chair
without permission, took without permission, made poor
script and used poor spoken grammar.
In each case he was caned. In desperation the student
persuaded his father to invite the teacher to dinner.
The teacher was given a new garment, a ring, and a
raise in salary, after which, he praised the student as a
boy of great learning.
Sumerian Past-Times
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The Sumerians found some relief from the
harshness of everyday life in fun and games.
Some of these pastimes: a harpist, an itinerant
show-man with his monkeys, and men engaged in
a bare fisted boxing match.
Any of these scenes might have been common to
Sumerian city life amusements.
The most interesting pastime that has come down
to us is a Sumerian game of which we have neither
the name nor the rules.
The game boards have been discovered in small
numbers in the royal graveyards of Ur.
The games appear to have been the diversion of
the rich upper classes, since the boards have
always been found in royal graves.
These games might have also been intended as a
pastime activity for the nether world.
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The Sumerian games found in Ur are very similar.
Each game has seven men of shells and six
pyramid-shaped dice with two plain corners and
two marked corners.
While no direct evidence exists of how the game
was played, or of the use of the dice, one
suggestion has been furnished by the Department
of Western Asiatic Antiquities at the British
Museum.
It is believed that each player rolled the dice and
moved his pieces the designated number of spaces,
first along an inside track (1-2) and then down a
common center track (3-10), where pieces could be
removed if an opponent landed on an occupied
square.
The removed pieces were returned to the starting
position. Finally, the pieces proceeded “home” by
the last private square (11-14).
The intricate patterns on each square, however, still
leave much unexplained. Because the Sumerians
were such sophisticated people in regard to the use
of numbers, other explanations might be necessary
to interpret the artistic designs.
Sumerian Renaissance
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About 2500 B.C.E., Sumer was
in a stage of temporary
unification under Lugalzaggisi,
a king of Uruk.
By fire and sword, he held
sway over the Mesopotamian
basin from the Mediterranean
Sea to the Persian Gulf.
His despotic rule brought
about wholesale opposition
among his subjects.
An Akkadian soldier, Sargon,
led a revolution which resulted
in his replacing King
Lugalzaggisi with himself.
Sumerian Renaissance
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Little is known about the early life of
Sargon; however, according to legend,
he was raised by a farmer after having
been found in a basket in the bull
rushes of the Euphrates River.
He later became a cupbearer to his
king and rose to a military command.
With his conquest he assumed to title
of ruler of the “Four Quarters of the
World.”
He founded a dynasty which ruled a
united Mesopotamia for some two
centuries.
This Akkadian domination seems most
responsible for the artistic flowering in
sculpture that left its mark on the
Mesopotamian civilization for centuries
to come.
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Like all the people of other civilizations
which settled in the basin, the
Akkadians became lax with their newly
found pleasures.
From the East, an invasion of nomads
(Guti) put an end to the Akkadian
Empire and allowed the Sumerians to
re-establish their independence.
The Sumerians initiated a golden age
of art in civilization, literally a rebirth
or renaissance of their previous
greatness.
Known as the “Third Dynasty of Ur,” it
be came an age noted for its powerful
architecture, as seen in palaces,
temples, and ziggurats.
Likewise, it was an era of statuary,
bas-reliefs, cylinder seals, and clay
statues of excellent workmanship.
Sumerian Renaissance
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The statue of the man known as Gudea is an example of the neoSumerian period. Gudea was also most responsible for the city of
Lagash’s becoming a great cultural center during the period of the
Guti invasion.
The libation goblet, bearing Gudea’s name, has its greatest interest
in the symbolic decorations. Two snakes are twined around a pole,
while two winged creatures hold a staff as a protector. (It is
believed that the snake, a symbol of fertility, would bring prosperity
to Gudea’s fields.) The dragon-like creature, with the bodies of
several deadly animals, is most likely a god by reason of his crown.
The foundation figurine, an interesting art form of bronze
metalwork, was the forerunner of the modem foundation stone. The
purpose of the figurine was to hold the evil spirits below the house
and thus prevent injury to its inhabitants. This practice was certainly
more humane than the demanded human blood sacrifice related in
the Old Testament.
Akkad
(2300 to 2200 B.C.E.)
The Akkadians were a Semitic people who
occupied the Sumerian city-states after 2400
B.C.E. In 2340 B.C.E. the Akkadian king Sargon
proclaimed himself a “world conqueror.”
 The Akkadian language replaced Sumerian. The
Akkadians adopted the Sumerian culture.
 Between 2200 and 2000 B.C.E. there was a
Sumerian revival in which the Akkadians and
Sumerians became indistinguishable.

Amor
(Old Babylonians 2000 to 1550 B.C.E.)
The Amorites overwhelmed their
rivals by 1900 B.C.E.
 They established a new capital
city at Babylon. The capital’s
Hanging Gardens were recognized
in antiquity as one of the Seven
Wonders of the World.
 The Amorites are known as the
Old Babylonians.
 They preserved much of the
Sumerian tradition. The sixth
Amorite King Hammurabi (17921750 B.C.E.), promulgated a legal
code which unified the entire
lower Tigris-Euphrates Valley.
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HAMMURABI AND HIS CODE
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About 1850 B.C.E., an
Amorite dynasty replaced
the declining Sumerian
influence of
Mesopotamia. These
conquerors established
their capital in a small
Sumerian town called
Babylon. In the course of
a hundred years, the land
of Sumer was renamed
Babylon.
HAMMURABI AND HIS CODE
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In 1750 B.C.E., King Hammurabi came to
the throne of Babylon amidst the
fragmented rivalry of various city states.
Hammurabi confronted his enemies with
policies of guise, courage, and patience.
After twenty-five years of military and
political preparation, Hammurabi embarked
on a military campaign which gave him the
rule of a united kingdom from northern Iraq
to the Persian Gulf.
By the end of his prosperous reign of 43
years, the Babylonian culture was firmly
entrenched on the Sumerian foundation.
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The fame of Hammurabi certainly did not
depend on his military exploits, for his
successors quickly lost his territorial gains to
other civilizations.
Like all the other Mesopotamian rulers of
whom we have records, however,
Hammurabi prided himself on his ability to
maintain law and justice.
Hammurabi’s Code is not that of the first
lawmaker, for at least three earlier Sumerian
law codes have come down to us, with the
earliest dating some four centuries before
Hammurabi.
In fact, many of the laws included in
Hammurabi’s Code were exact copies of
earlier works.
The importance of Hammurabi’s Code,
however, is that it was the best-preserved
legal document of the time which reflected
the social structure of the time.
HAMMURABI AND HIS CODE
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On the “Diorite Shaft”
Hammurabi is seen
receiving the law code
from Shamash, the
sun-god. The gods
gave the ruler the
right to despense
justice, and placed a
curse on persons who
violated the laws.
HAMMURABI AND HIS CODE
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The 285 laws were arranged under the headings of trade and
business, family, labor, injuries, real estate, and personal property.
The Code’s contents are a blending of enlightened laws and barbaric
punishments.
Justice was very demanding, with “an eye for an eye, and a tooth
for a tooth” being a well-known extract.
Examples of Hammurabi’s “justice” can be seen in the punishment
of amputating the hand of a son who struck his father.
While an eye was put out for a person who had borne false witness,
death was the penalty for shirking state service, creating
insurrection, or stealing.
Most crimes demanded monetary compensation for the injured
party.
Accidents were not normally judged as offenses; the owner of an ox
could not be blamed if the beast gored a passer-by, unless it was
known as a vicious animal.
The Sumerian Paradigm
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The Sumerians established the pattern for civilization in
Mesopotamia.
They were the first to respond to the twin problems of flooding and
salinization.
They constructed dikes and built reservoirs and formed a loose
confederation between their city-states.
Typically, city-states covered an area of approximately 100 square
miles.
The city-states were independent and joined together under a
common leader (patesi) when confronted with an external threat.
The Sumerian confederation of city- states was unable to withstand
the influx of Semitic peoples. Sargon (ca. 2350) made himself
king of a “universal dominion.”
Sumerian Religion
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The Gilgamesh (epic poem composed Ca.
2000 B.C.E.) presets the religious outlook of
the Sumerian and subsequent
Mesopotamian peoples.
The gods were divided into warring factions
that struggled for control of the Earth.
The poem centers on the protagonist’s (a
quasi-legendary King who lived Ca. 2800
B.C.E.) unsuccessful effort to escape death.
Archaeologists have discovered numerous
clay tablets that describe the rituals,
prayers, magical incantations, and
procedures used to learn the will of the
gods (divination) that the Babylonians
employed.
The focal point of religious practices was in
the temple that stood on top of the city’s
ziggurat (stepped mound).
SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY IN
SUMERIA
The Invention of Writing
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There is some evidence that writing may have been
invented as early as 9000 B.C.E.
Most historians credit the Sumerians with beginning the
tradition of writing that runs to the present.
The earliest Sumerian writing (3500 B.C.E.) consisted of
inscriptions on clay tablets and cylinders.
This writing is called cuneiform because of its wedgelike character (the Latin word “cuneus” means “wedge”).
A reed stylus was used to make impressions on clay
tablets about the size of an adult’s hand.
Stages in the Development of
Writing
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1) Pictographs: The earliest form of
writing, the thing being depicted is
represented by a picture. (ill. 53)
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2) Ideograms: A sign or symbol is used to
represent a class of things.
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3) Phonogram: A sign or symbol
represents a specific sound. The
Phoenicians (people who lived in what is
now Lebanon) are credited with spreading
the use of the modem alphabet (after 1900
B.C.E.), the origin of which is unknown. The
Greeks adopted the alphabet from
Phoenician traders in the eighth century.
The Greeks in turn passed this alphabet to
the Romans, who made minor changes in it.
Mathematics
The Sumerians contributed much
to the development of
mathematics.
 By 2500 B.C.E. their
mathematicians devised
multiplication tables for their
sexagesimal (60) numerical
system.
 Surviving mathematical records
demonstrate that the Sumerians
utilized a system of place notation
and had discovered a general
solution for quadratic equations.
 Later the Assyrians applied the
Sumerian sexagesimal system to
geometry and divided the circle
into 360 degrees.
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Astronomy
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Records of astronomical observations in
Mesopotamia can be traced to before 2000
B.C.E. After 700 B.C.E., observations were
accurate and systematically tabulated.
These records allowed the Mesopotamians
to identify the Saronic cycle (lunar eclipses
occurring every eighteen years).
Sometime after 2000 B.C.E. the
Mesopotamians divided the year into twelve
months with 30 days each.
They divided the week into seven days (one
day for each of the celestial bodies) and the
day into twenty- four hours based on
sexagesimal minutes and seconds.
Finally, the Babylonians created a stellar
map that described the twelve constellations
(one for each month) in the equatorial belt
through which the sun passes (the zodiac).
The Contributions of
Mesopotamia to Civilization
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The civilization of the Mesopotamian
peoples exercised an influence far beyond
the boundaries of the Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers.
Traders carried the Sumerian lunar calendar,
use of the wheel, and a system of weights
and measures to the Mediterranean.
The Etruscans in Italy (ca. 1000 B.C.E.)
were influenced by the Sumerian system of
divination.
Babylonian architects pioneered the use of
the arch and column later adopted by the
Romans.
Sumerians: These Sumerians (of whom we
knew nothing until a hundred years ago)
had a profound effect on western
civilization.
The Sumerians were responsible for the first
brick layers, wagon wheels, sailboats,
plows, potter’s wheels, domes, arches,
casting of bronze and copper, soldering,
brazing, engraving, sculpture, writing, law
making, government, weights and
measures, literature, and astronomy.