The Ancient Near East

1
The Ancient Near East
2
The Larger Picture
3
The Sumerians Invented

• Writing
• Farming Technology
• Architecture
• Codes of Law
• Cities and Regional Governments
• Formal System of Education

4
Writing

• Cuneiform etched on clay tablets baked for
  permanence
• Originally invented to keep business and temple
  records
• Eventually grew to include writings of
  philosophy, literature, mathematics,
  architecture, law, politics, and religion
• The oldest surviving documents in the world

5
Farming Technology

• Irrigation Systems
• Complex system of canals, dikes, weirs and
  reservoirs to turn desert into farmland
• Regional authorities set up to build and regulate
  irrigation systems
• Led to development of cities and city-states
• Wheel
• Plow

6
Architecture

• Originally built with bundled reeds, and later,
  sun-baked brick
• Developed measuring and surveying instruments
• Eventually erected temples ziggurats as high as
  75 feet above the ground

7
Codes of Law

• Code of Ir-Nammu
• Overall, more humane
• Allowed a cash payment for some offenses, rather
  than an eye for an eye
• Code of Hammurabi
• Characterized by vengeance, as well as the
  visiting of the parents sins on the children

8
Cities and Regional Governments

• Three classes of people under the king
• Aristocratic nobles (administrators, priests and
  military officers)
• Middle class people (businessmen, teachers,
  farmers, herdsmen, fishermen, artisans
  especially potters and metal workers,
  carpenters, weavers, and masons)
• Slaves (captives or sold by families)

9
Formal System of Education

• Began as a way of training scribes and
  administrators to keep business and other temple
  records
• Later, moved from strictly vocational schools to
  become centers of culture
• Students were taught writing, drawing, Sumerian,
  and mathematics
• Culture remained more concerned overall with
  accounts than academic learning

10
Religion

• AnuGod of the Heavens
• Ea (also called Enki)God of earth and water
• EnlilGod of order in charge of mens destiny
  or fate
• Ishtar (also called Inanni)Goddess of love and
  war
• AruruGoddess of creation and birth
• ShamashSun God patron of Uruk

11
The Epic of Gilgamesh

• Gilgamesh found in official lists of kings
• Reigned in Uruk around 2800 BC
• After his death, worshipped as a God
• Epic composed around 1200 BC
• Traditionally, author was Sin-leqe-unninni, a
  Babylonian scribe
• Incorporates earlier materials, some dating back
  to 2100 BC, nearly a millenium before