Mesopotamia

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Mesopotamia

• Honors 2101
• Fall 2006
• Prof. Benham

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Mesopotamiabetween the rivers

• Tigris and Euphrates Region
• Modern day Iraq
• Region, not a people
• But, roughly continuous cultural elements
• Polytheism, Fate, Virtue
• Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, etc.

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Map of Ancient Near and Middle East (Fiero, G.
(2006). The Humanistic Tradition, Vol 1. 5th ed.
McGraw Hill, p.38.)
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Mesopotamia

• Origin
• Irrigation, Agriculture, Civilization
• Complex urban life (urban der. Ur)
• Writing (wedged-shaped cuneiform)
• Cultural
• Mathematics and Astronomy

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Impact of Mesopotamia

• Political/Social Organization
• Polytheism (more than 1000 gods)
• Motifs and images
• (e.g., flood, tower of Babel, righteous sufferer,
  sacrifice, humans serve gods, etc.)
• Cultural Concepts
• Underworld
• Order/Chaos and Heroism
• Ur-banism
• Harlots and Women

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Why Mesopotamia?

• A recent discovery
• Biblical significance
• Earliest literature
• Art, images and motifs
• Discovery and Meaning

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Mid-19th Century

• Archaeologists Austen Henry Layard Hormuzd
  Rassam discovered ancient library at Nineveh,
  buried since 7th century BCE.
• 25,000 clay tablets written in cuneiform
• Most were business records, but included two
  literary works that predate Homer
• Enuma Elish (Epic of Creation)
• Epic of Gilgamesh

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1872

• George Smith, a translator of the cuneiform
  tablets announced an account of a flood story
  that closely resembles the Biblical account.
• Since the cuneiform account predates Biblical
  sources, either
• Biblical writers were familiar/borrowed from it
  or
• both were drawn from common source.

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Iraq War, 2003

• Iraq Museum, Baghdad, and Archaeological Sites
• Ransacked for artifacts, gold, and precious items
• Investigations and Retrieval
• (Thieves of Baghdad)

Read and listen Chasing Down History and the
Thieves of Baghdad, at NPR.org http//www.npr.or
g/templates/story/story.php?storyId5024219
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Recovered

• The Gold of Nimrud
• Sacred Vase of Warka
• The Mask of Warka
• Golden Harp (Lyre) of Ur
• Bassetki Statue
• Clay Pot from Tell Hassuna

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• The Gold of Nimrud a collection of more than
  1,000 pieces of gold jewelry and precious stones
  from 8th and 9th century BCE. Discovered in 1988
  and comparableto the discovery of Tutankhamens
  treasure.
• Sacred Vase of Warka worlds oldest known carved
  stone ritual vessel dating from c. 3200 BCE.
• The Mask of Warka believed to be the worlds
  oldest known naturalistic sculture of a human
  face, c. 3100 BCE.
• Golden Harp of Ur a sold gold bulls head that
  adorns the harp dated from c. 2600-2500 BCE. It
  predates the construction of the Pyramids by 750
  years.
• The Bassetki Statue one of the earliest known
  examples of the lost-wax technique, cast in pure
  bronze, c. 2250 BCE.
• Clay Pot from Tell Hassuna a sixth millennium
  pot that predates the wheel by at least 1,500
  years.

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Still Missing (12/05)

• Lioness Attacking a Nubian
• An extraordinary 8th century BCE ivory plaque
  inlaid with lapis and carnelian and overlaid with
  gold. Only two such ivory plaques are known to
  exit. (The other one is in the British Museum.)

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Still Missing (12/05)

• Ninhursag Bull
• One of the two twin copper bulls from the face
  of the temple built by the King of Ur, c. 2475.

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Why Mesopotamia?

• Important cultural items.
• Mesopotamia is in a unique position as one of the
  origins for human civilization.
• Still has significance to us today still asking
  and addressing same basic questions about human
  existence.

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Timeline Mesopotamiahttp//www.wsu.edu/dee/MESO/
TIMELINE.HTM
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Map of Ancient Near and Middle East (Fiero, G.
(2006). The Humanistic Tradition, Vol 1. 5th ed.
McGraw Hill, p.38.)
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Timeline Mesopotamia

• Sumerian ( Akkadian) Period (3000-1800)
• 2750 1st dynasty of Ur
• 2340-2125 Sargon I (The Great) begins Akkadian
  Empire
• Babylonian Period (1800 - 1170)
• 1728-1685 Hammurabi conquers Sumer
• Assyrian Period (1200-612)
• 714-681 Reign of Sennacherib (Conquers Judah, 1st
  exile)
• 668-626 Reign of Ashurbanipal (Nineveh)
• 612 Fall of Nineveh

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Timeline Mesopotamia

• Neo-Babylonian Period (612-539)
• 650-500 Zarathustra, founder of Persian
  Zoroastrianism
• 605-565 Reign of Nebuchadnezzar (Conquers Judah,
  Hebrew Exile)
• 539 Fall of Babylon to Persians
• Persian Period (539-334)
• 521-486 Reign of Darius I
• 490-489 Beginning of Persian Wars with Greeks
• 480-479 Invasion of Greece by Xerxes
• 479 Defeat of Persians (Xerxes) by Greeks
• Alexander the Great conquers Persia (334-331)