2. History: Mesopotamia 3000-1600

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2. History Mesopotamia 3000-1600

• BOT612 Old Testament Backgrounds

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'Ubaid Period 5000- 4000 BCE

• 'Ubaid Period 5000- 4000 BCE
• Site located near Ur, however the distinctive
  elements found in north Iraq, Syria, Iran and in
  many sites in Saudi Arabia.
• Agriculture Wheat, barley, millet, and other
  cereals (irrigation systems)
• Graves cemeteries
• Temple in Eridu (level VII) a high temple built
  on a terrace.

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Uruk Period 4000-2900 BCE

• Uruk Period 4000-2900 BCE
• Pottery Changes
• Temple Warka 1) Celestial god Anu 2) Inanna
  (Ishtar) These were proto-types for the
  ziggurats.
• Writing
• Cylinder Seals (Vol. 2 PDF OT/Lectures/)
• The Problem of the Origins of the Sumerians.
• View ANE Art Sumer . . . Pdf
• Innin-Dumuzi stories begin to develop.

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Early Dynastic Period 2900-2300

• Early Dynastic Period
• The Golden Age ED (Early Dynastic) I ca.
  2900-2700 BCE
• The Heroic Age ED II ca. 2700-2500 BCE
• The Dynastic Age ED III 2500-2300 BCE
• Political Social Organizations
• ". . . There is the pattern of urban settlements,
  which increase in density and size from the late
  Uruk into the ED III period, so that by 2500 it
  looks as though 80 per cent of the population
  resided in substantial cities of more than 100
  acres." (Kuhrt, 31)

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Early Dynastic Period 2900-2300

• Kings city officials exist
• Popular wisdom
• Shuruppak gave instructions to his son
• 'My son, let me give you instructions,
• May you pay attention to them! (next line frag.)
• Do not buy a prostitute, it is horrible,
• Do not make a well in a field, the water will do
  damage to you
• Do not give evidence against a man, the city will
  . . . .
• Do not guarantee (for someone), that man will
  have a hold on you'

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Early Dynastic Period 2900-2300

• Kings Cities
• City-state in the South, but not in the North
• Land owned by King, temple private ownership.
• Ruler were protectors of the city
• Most inhabitants of the city played a role in the
  cult.
• Royal Courts
• War King played a prominent role

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Early Dynastic Period 2900-2300

• King Lists
• "Several king lists are known from Mesopotamia,
  some of which try to bridge the obscure,
  prehistoric times with legendary dynasties. One
  of these is the Sumerian King list composed in
  the Isin-Larsa period, c. 1900 B.C. It begins
  with eight kings who ruled 241,000 years before
  the Flood. This is followed by a succession of
  dynasties First that of Kish credited with over
  24,510 years second, Uruk - twelve kings ruling
  ruling 2,310 years Third Ur four rulers for
  177 years, and so down to the Isin-Larsa period.
  Beginning with First dynasty of Ur it becomes a
  reliable historical record." Schwantes, A Short
  History of the Ancient Near East, 24

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Early Dynastic Period 2900-2300

• Society
• "It has been demonstrated that slavery never
  played a major role in Mesopotamia, probably
  because it was economically unfeasible,
  especially for industrial purposes, before
  Greco-Roman times slaves were confined largely
  to domestic duties and represented a luxury in
  any household." Hallo Simpson, The Ancient
  Near East A History, 49-50
• The "Uruinimgina reform" "Uruinimgina solemnly
  promised Ningirsu that he would never subject the
  waif and the widow to the powerful." (Kuhrt, The
  Ancient Near East, 39

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Early Dynastic Period 2900-2300

• First Dynasty of Ur (c. 2500 BCE)
• "The Sumerian king list mentions as first ruler
  of this dynasty Meshannipadda, supposed to have
  ruled eighty years. Excavations in Ur have
  brought to light his name, as well as that of his
  wife Nintur, and his son Aannipadda, who built
  the temple in Al-)Ubaid . . . ." Schwantes, A
  Short History of the Ancient Near East, 24
• Royal Tomb . . . N.B. Queen Shubad's gold jewery.

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Standard of Ur Sumerian, 3000-2340 B.C.E.
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Ur-Nina Family 3000-2180
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Harp of Shabad 3500-3000
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Goat in Thicket 3000 BCE
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Sumerian Literature

• "Sumerian literature is comparable in sheer size
  to biblical literature. A recent survey estimates
  the number of lines so far recovered at
  approximately 40,000 bearing in mind that most
  Sumerian literature is poetic in form and that
  the typical Sumerian verse may be somewhat
  shorter than the typical biblical verse, this
  already compares favorably with the total of
  biblical verses in the Masoretic count, recently
  calculated at 23,097 (Hallo 1988). Much of
  Sumerian literature still remains to be
  recovered." W. W. Hallo, "Sumerian Literature,"
  ABD CD-Rom

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Sumerian Literature

• Genre in the Early Period (2500-2300)
• Incantations already from Shuruppak Ebla, later
  used to ward off evil spirits. There is no
  parallel literature in the Bible
• "Hymns to deities and their temples are also
  attested from a very early date. Some of the
  finest are attributed to Enheduanna, daughter of
  Sargon of Akkad and the first non-anonymous
  author in history." W. W. Hallo, "Sumerian
  Literature," ABD CD-Rom

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Sumerian Literature

• "Sumerian myths and epics are generically also
  hymns, but confine praise of their divine or
  royal protagonist to their concluding doxology,
  while the body of the poem is narrative in
  character." W. W. Hallo, "Sumerian Literature,"
  ABD CD-Rom
• "The common man is notably the focus of wisdom
  literature, so called in imitation of the
  biblical category though wisdom itself is not
  prominently mentioned, as it often is in
  Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes. The earliest
  attested wisdom genres are instructions and
  proverbs." W. W. Hallo, "Sumerian Literature,"
  ABD CD-Rom

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Sumerian Literature

• Neo-Sumerian Period 2200-1900
• "The deification of the Sumerian king during this
  phase led to a certain commingling of sacred and
  royal literature and to the emergence of several
  new genres responding to the new ideology. The
  king was regarded at once as of divine and human
  parentage, the product of a physical union in
  which the royal partners represented deities,
  most often Dumuzi and Inanna or their Akkadian
  equivalents Tammuz (cf. Ezek 814) and Ishtar. An
  extensive body of poetry celebrated these sacred
  marriage rites and, together with more strictly
  secular love poetry addressed to the king or
  recited antiphonally by him and his bride,
  anticipated the Song of Songs in its explicit
  eroticism."

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Sumerian Religion

• "Each city housed a temple that was the seat of a
  major god in the Sumerian pantheon, as the gods
  controlled the powerful forces which often
  dictated a human's fate. The city leaders had a
  duty to please the town's patron deity, not only
  for the good will of that god or goddess, but
  also for the good will of the other deities in
  the council of gods. The priesthood initially
  held this role, and even after secular kings
  ascended to power, the clergy still held great
  authority through the interpretation of omens and
  dreams. Many of the secular kings claimed divine
  right Sargon of Agade, for example claimed to
  have been chosen by Ishtar/Inanna."
  http//pubpages.unh.edu/cbsiren/sumer-faq.html
  98/09/20

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Sumerian Religion

• "The rectangular central shrine of the temple,
  known as a 'cella,' had a brick altar or offering
  table in front of a statue of the temple's deity.
  The cella was lined on its long ends by many
  rooms for priests and priestesses. These
  mud-brick buildings were decorated with cone
  geometrical mosaics, and the occasional fresco
  with human and animal figures. These temple
  complexes eventually evolved into towering
  ziggurats." http//pubpages.unh.edu/cbsiren/sume
  r-faq.html 98/09/20

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Sumerian Religion

• "The temple was staffed by priests, priestesses,
  musicians, singers, castrates and hierodules.
  Various public rituals, food sacrifices, and
  libations took place there on a daily basis.
  There were monthly feasts and annual, New Year
  celebrations. During the later, the king would be
  married to Inanna as the resurrected fertility
  god Dumuzi, whose exploits are dealt with below."
  http//pubpages.unh.edu/cbsiren/sumer-faq.html
  98/09/20

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Sumerian Religion

• "When it came to more private matters, a Sumerian
  remained devout. Although the gods preferred
  justice and mercy, they had also created evil and
  misfortune. A Sumerian had little that he could
  do about it. Judging from Lamentation records,
  the best one could do in times of duress would be
  to "plead, lament and wail, tearfully confessing
  his sins and failings." Their family god or city
  god might intervene on their behalf, but that
  would not necessarily happen. After all, man was
  created as a broken, labor saving, tool for the
  use of the gods and at the end of everyone's
  life, lay the underworld, a generally dreary
  place." http//pubpages.unh.edu/cbsiren/sumer-fa
  q.html 98/09/20

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Sumerian Cosmology

• "From verses scattered throughout hymns and
  myths, one can compile a picture of the
  universe's (anki) creation according to the
  Sumerians. The primeval sea (abzu) existed before
  anything else and within that, the heaven (an)
  and the earth (ki) were formed. The boundary
  between heaven and earth was a solid (perhaps
  tin) vault, and the earth was a flat disk. Within
  the vault lay the gas-like 'lil', or atmosphere,
  the brighter portions therein formed the stars,
  planets, sun, and moon. (Kramer, The Sumerians
  1963 pp. 112-113) Each of the four major Sumerian

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Sumerian Cosmology

• deities is associated with one of these regions.
  An, god of heaven, may have been the main god of
  the pantheon prior to 2500 BC., although his
  importance gradually waned. Ki is likely to be
  the original name of the earth goddess, whose
  name more often appears as Ninhursag (queen of
  the mountains), Ninmah (the exalted lady), or
  Nintu (the lady who gave birth). It seems likely
  that these two were the progenitors of most of
  the gods." http//pubpages.unh.edu/cbsiren/sumer
  -faq.html 98/09/20

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The Akkad Empire

• Lugalzagesi of Uruk
• "Stemming, apparently, from Umma, Lugal-zagesi
  succeeded, either by force or through a dynastic
  arrangement, in establishing himself at Uruk and
  Ur (Cooper 1983b 3336). He then added Lagash to
  his possessions and, by securing for himself the
  recognition of the Nippur priesthood, became the
  first S ruler to achieve an effective hegemony
  over the whole S."

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The Akkad Empire

• Period Names Agade Empire Old Akkadian
  Empire/period Akkadian Period Sargonic Period.
• Sargon the Great
• "Sargon's origins and rise to power are totally
  obscured by the various romances associated with
  him later . . . . a 'rag to riches' story. . . ."
  Kuhrt, 48

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The Akkad Empire

• Sargon, mighty king, king of Agade, am I
• My mother was an e4ntum, my father I knew not
• My father's brother(s) dwell in the mountain
• My city is Azupiranu, situated on the banks of
  the Euphrates
• My mother, the e4ntum, conceived me, in secret
  she bore me
• She placed me in a basket of rushes, she sealed
  'my door' with bitumen
• She cast me into the river which did not rise
  over me

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The Akkad Empire

• The river bore me up and carried me to Aqqi, the
  water-drawer.
• Aqqi, the water-drawer, lifted me out as he
  dipped his ewer
• Aqqi, the water-drawer, adopted me, brought me
  up
• Aqqi, the water-drawer, set me up as his
  gardener.
• As a gardener, Ishtar loved me
• For 55 years I exercised kingship.

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The Akkad Empire

• "Sargon seems to have been of humble birth."
  Hallo Simpson, 55
• Becomes the cup-bearer to Ur-Zababa of Kish.
• Makes Agade his capital boasts of feeding 5400
  daily.
• Troops used bow and spears and move with more
  freedom than Uruk Ur . . . .
• Rule extents into Anatolia, down to the Persian
  Gulf.
• Makes Akkadian the universal language.

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The Akkad Empire

• Makes his daughter Enheduanna a priestess. (See
  CD-Rom Vol. 1 D\Enheduanna\index.html)
• Rimush
• Subdued several revolts
• Assassinated after 9 years
• Manishtushu
• Ruled for 15 years
• Naram-Sin
• Rules for 56 years

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The Akkad Empire

• ". . . The royal titulary, which hitherto had
  been content to specify the political or cultic
  relationship between the ruler and his
  geographical domain that is, "lord/high priest
  of Sumer, king of the nation" or "lord/high
  priest of the territory of Uruk, king of the
  territory of Ur." On what appears to be his
  earliest inscription, Naram-Sin claims, or was
  accorded, the modest title of king of the Akkad.
  But about halfway through his reign he introduced
  the title "king of the four quarters of the
  world" which was assumed after him by all those
  kings who

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The Akkad Empire

• proudly aspired to universal dominion from a
  Mesopotamian base. Not content with earthly
  honors, Naram-Sin presently also allowed himself
  to be entitled "god of Akkad," which at first may
  have implied only that he was the guiding
  "genius" or good fortune of his country. The
  concept of a "divine Naram-Sin" quickly evolved,
  however, and with it a cult of the living ruler
  and his deceased predecessors that was, for
  practical purposes, indistinguishable from the
  cult of the 'real' gods and, like theirs,
  centered around the king's statue." Hallo
  Simpson, 60-1

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The Akkad Empire

• A Period of great battles won by Naram-Sin (N.B.
  Victory Stela)
• Period of great Art
• Shar-kali-sharri
• The End of Akkad Empire
• Gutians from Zagros
• Amorites from Syria
• Hurrians from Anatolia
• Lullubi
• Elamites

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The Akkad Empire

• Major Significance
• "Sumerian language, culture and military art were
  superseded by that of the Akkadian."
• "The state socialism of the Sumerian cities gave
  place to a centralized government, operated by a
  bureaucracy under the surveillance of the crown."
• "Trade caravans follow everywhere in the wake of
  the army."

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The Akkad Empire

• "The tension between the classes is forgotten in
  the splendor of world dominion."
• "The political ascendancy of Akkad is accompanied
  by the rising prestige of the Akkadian god
  Shamash, the sun-god of Sippar, son of the
  moon-god Sin. Together Shamash, Sin, and the
  Venus-goddess Ishtar Anunitu build the core of an
  Akkadian religion of astral character which
  contrasts with the agrarian religion of the
  Sumerians."
• Schwantes, A Short History of the Ancient Near
  East, 29

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Enheduanna Sargon the Great's Daughter
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Ur III Period (2100-2000)

• From the End of Akkad to the rise of Ur
• "The picture of south Mesopotamia under the last
  Agade rulers and for a generation beyond is
  reminiscent of the political pattern of the ED
  III period, when power was divided among several
  different local rulers the main centres now were
  Uruk, Lagash, Kish, Agade and Gutians in the
  Diyala." Kuhrt, 56

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Ur III Period (2100-2000)

• Utuhegal of Uruk
• "The expulsion of the Gutians was achieved by
  Utuhegal of Uruk. But Utuhegal did not enjoy his
  victory long. His vassal, Urnammu of Ur, revolts
  against him and makes himself "king of Sumer and
  Akkad." He thus inaugurates the Third Dynasty of
  Ur which is able to hold the rule for about a
  century." Schwantes, 29

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Ur III Period (2100-2000)

• Urnammu of Ur
• Non-expansionist policy
• Collected a law code that was found in Nippur
• Nabonidus (7th century BCE) identifies Urnammu
  and his son Shulgi as those who built the
  ziggurat at Ur.
• The population of Ur at this time was about
  25,000 according to Frankfort

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Ur III Period (2100-2000)

• Shulgi
• Rules for 50 years after his father.
• "The orphan I certainly did not consign to the
  rich man, the widow I certainly did not consign
  to the powerful man, the 'man of 1 sheqel' I
  certainly did not consign to the 'man of 1 mina',
  the 'man of 1 sheep' I certainly did not consign
  to the 'man of 1 ox' . . . Hostility, violence,
  (and) lamentation to Utu (sungod, and god of
  justice) I caused to disappear definitively I
  set justice in the land of Sumer."
• Succeeded by Amarsin, Shusin, Ibbisin.

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Ur III Period (2100-2000)

• Gudea, ensi in Lagash
• "He left so may sculpture of himself, and so many
  inscriptions, that no other Sumerian character is
  so well known as he." Schwantes, 31

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Mesopotamia 2000-1600 BCE

• Background
• Ibbisin of Ur defeated by the Elamites.
• Kudur-Mabug takes the mountain area of West Iran,
  Yamutbal
• Waradsin . . . . Younger brother, Rimsin. Takes
  Uruk, Isin and Larsa.
• The Amorites move into Western Mesopotamia
• Mari dominated by Amorites
• Ishbi-irra takes over Isin . . . . The last in
  this line is the famous Lipit-ishtar
• Naplanum is over Larsa

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Elamite Rule 2100-2000 BCE
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Mesopotamia 2000-1600 BCE

• Babylon
• Amorite Sumu-abum
• Sumulailu (36 years) collects a law code.
• Assyria
• Take Ilishuma and Irishum
• The only kings without foreign blood

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Mesopotamia 2000-1600 BCE

• Hammurapi
• "The sixth and best attested of 11 kings in the
  so-called First Dynasty of Babylon (also known as
  Hammurabi), whose extensive collection of laws
  provides numerous correspondences with biblical
  law. During his 43-year reign the city of Babylon
  for the first time rose to prominence as the hub
  of a short-lived but extensive empire, which
  declined after his death. Although each of the 42
  years following his accession year is identified
  sequentially with an event considered significant
  (building projects, pious royal donations to
  temples, wars), like other events in the early 2d
  millennium b.c. the absolute dates of Hammurapi

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Mesopotamia 2000-1600 BCE

• remain uncertain. Astronomical data narrow the
  likely date for Hammurapis first year to the
  years 1848 or 1792 or 1736 (the so-called high,
  middle, and low chronology respectively)."
  Samuel A. Meier, "Hammurapi," ABD CD-Rom
• Amorite descent
• "There is no king mighty by himself."
• ". . . five primary coalitions 10 to 15 kings
  follow Hammurapi of Babylon, a like number of
  kings each following Rim-Sin of Larsa, Ibal-pi-el
  of Eshnunna, and Amut-pi-el of Qatana, while
  Yarim-Lim of Yamhad stands out with 20 kings
  following him."

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Mesopotamia 2000-1600 BCE

• "This balance began to shift when, according to
  Hammurapis 30th-year date formula, he fought and
  protected his borders against Elam, Assyria,
  Gutium, Eshnunna, and Malgium the following year
  he defeated Rim-Sin of Larsa. In order to defeat
  Rim-Sin, Hammurapi exploited the combined power
  of the above-noted royal coalitions by soliciting
  military support from the kings of Mari and
  Eshnunna (ARM 2. 33). Kings with foresight
  advised, Dont provide the man of Babylon with
  auxiliary troops! (ARM 6. 27) for Hammurapi
  eventually turned against even those to whom he
  once turned for help, a notable case being the
  king of Mari, who had commemorated

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Mesopotamia 2000-1600 BCE

• his assistance in his own year date formula
  The year Zimri-Lim went to the aid of Babylon.
• "The year following Rim-Sins defeat began an
  eight-year period of persistent attacks by
  Hammurapi to the N, beginning with his defeat of
  the armies of Eshnunna, Assyria, and Gutium. This
  N campaign was repeated in the following year
  when he this time defeated Mari and Malgu,
  returning two years later to demolish their
  walls. The 37th-, 38th-, and 39th-year date
  formulas record Hammurapis victories against his
  foes to the N."

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Mesopotamia 2000-1600 BCE

• Prologue to Law Code
• "The Shepherd . . . who gathers the scattered
  people of Isin . . . who causes justice to appear
  . . . who causes the light to shine for the land
  of Sumer and Akkad, . . . I uprooted the enemies
  above and below, I extinguished strife, I
  promoted the welfare of the land, . . . I
  tolerated no trouble-makers . . . that the strong
  might not oppress the weak, to guide properly the
  orphan and the widow."

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Mesopotamia 2000-1600 BCE

• ". . . when Amorite messengers from the N once
  received an audience with Hammurapi, an
  inequality in gifts of garments on this occasion
  was perceived as an insult. Hammurapi was
  reported to have replied curtly to the messengers
  as he insisted on his absolute sovereignty You
  always cause trouble for me. Now you are
  harassing my palace about garments. I clothe
  those whom I wish and if I dont wish, I dont
  provide garments! (ARM 2. 76)."
• "Hammurapi is heard elsewhere imperiously
  insulting visiting dignitaries Ill return the
  Elamite messengers to their lord without escort!
  (ARM 2. 73)."

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Mesopotamia 2000-1600 BCE

• "On the other hand, Hammurapis vassal rulers of
  what is now Tell-Rimah received a report from
  their son, who notes I reached Babylon safely
  and have seen the king Hammurapi in a good mood
  (Dalley et al. 1976 135)."
• "The reign of Hammurapi, with its expanding
  horizons for Babylon, facilitated the enhancement
  of enriched cultural and cosmopolitan dimensions
  in Babylonian society. The flourishing of scribal
  activity is evident not only in the numerous
  administrative documents from this period, but
  also in the quantity of OB literary texts
  (themselves already heirs to a long tradition),
  which were to set the standard for future
  literary activity into the 1st millennium b.c."

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Mesopotamia 2000-1600 BCE

• Successors
• "Under the successors of Hammurabi, Babylon
  gradually loses its power. Shamshuiluna his son
  must fight internal revolts and repel an invasion
  of the Kassites which poured in from the
  mountains of Luristan. In the south, Ilumailu a
  descendant of the last ruler of the dynasty of
  Isin succeeds in breaking away from Babylon,
  founding by the Persian Gulf the Sea-land
  dynasty, which remains independent for several
  centuries . . . . Things go from bad to worse
  until under Shamshuditana, the last king of the
  dynasty, the Hittite Mursilis I conquers Babylon
  in 1531 BC and carries a heavy booty away."
  Schwantes, 40

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