FIRST SUMERIANS

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FIRST SUMERIANS

• Sumerians first arrived in region around 5000 BC
• Typical Paleolithic people motivated by search
  for game
• Settled in region and took up farming
• Built dams, dikes, and short canals to use water
  from the Euphrates
• Grew barley and dates and raised sheep and goats

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SUMERIAN CITY-STATES

• City-states gradually emerged over next 1000
  years
• Ur, Uruk, Lagash, Nippur, Kish, Umma, etc.
• Larger than Neolithic settlements and displayed
  evidence of economic specialization and strong
  political organization
• Included the urban center plus surrounding
  countryside
• Each was also an independent political unit

Lagash
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SUMERIAN AGRICULTURE

• Each was crisscrossed by irrigation system of
  major canals and minor channels
• Designed to bring water from Euphrates to
  farmland
• Farmland divided into square and rectangle-shaped
  plots
• Farmers worked land with plows, seed-drills, and
  stone hoes and received yield of 401
• Other areas set aside as gardens and fruit
  orchards
• Carts pulled by donkeys and boats on the canals
  took produce to the urban center itself

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CITY CHARACTERISTICS

• Each city surrounded by walls
• Permanent garrisons of soldiers stationed in
  towers and at each gate
• Wide boulevards crossed city, lined by houses of
  the wealthy
• Rest of city made up of narrow, twisting alleys
  surrounded by small, flat-roofed huts
• Homes of farmers, and small craftsmen

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ZIGGURAT

• Most dominant structure in each city was its
  temple
• Dedicated to patron god of the city
• Largest structure in city
• Resembled a gigantic stepped pyramid
• Designed to look like mountains because Sumerians
  believed their gods liked to live on top of
  mountains

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LUGAL

• Cities originally governed by an assembly of
  adult males
• Kings appeared who claimed to be representatives
  of the gods and who took control of most
  government functions
• Called lugals
• Not originally an hereditary position and the
  kings power was limited to interpreting the will
  of the gods
• But this position would become extraordinarily
  powerful in a relatively short period of time

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GENERAL ANARCHY

• Although an occasional city-state would
  temporarily control the region from time to time,
  more common were long, anarchic periods where the
  various city-states fought each other over
  boundaries and water rights
• Constant warfare, shifting alliances, and
  double-crosses were important characteristics of
  ancient Sumer

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SARGON THE GREAT
From Akkad North of Sumer Originally settled by
nomads from Arabia Fairly untouched by Sumerian
civilization for centuries
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MORE SARGON THE GREAT
Then conquered rest of Sumer, northern
Mesopotamia, and Syria
In 2300 BC, led by a chieftain named Sargon, the
Akkadians invaded and took over Kish
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STILL MORE ON SARGON THE GREAT

• According to legend, he was a poor orphan adopted
  by a gardener
• Not a harsh ruler
• By Mesopotamian standards
• Respected and adopted Sumerian culture and
  civilization

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THE END TO THE WORLDS FIRST EMPIRE

• Sargon was succeeded by his son, Naram-Sin
• Called himself King of the Four Quarters of the
  World
• Ruled in the same tradition as his father
• After the death of Naram-Sin (around 2160 BC),
  the Akkadian Empire collapsed
• Under pressure of new groups moving into the
  region from the Arabian Desert and Iranian
  highlands
• Also because of a revolt of Sumerian city-states

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AFTERMATH

• Syrian city-state of Ebla took over Akkad after
  collapse of Akkadian Empire while Sumerian
  city-states regained their independence
• Although Ur appears to have been first among them

Great Ziggurat at Ur
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THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE

• In 2000 BC, the Amorites moved into region from
  Arabia
• Settled near Babylon and ultimately took it over
• Amorites/Babylonians prospered and became
  wealthiest and more powerful people in
  Mesopotamia
• Under King Hammurabi, they conquered the region
• Babylonian Empire
• Peak of Mesopotamia civilization
• Produced first written law code
• Empire collapsed shortly after Hammurabis death
• Victim of new invading tribes and jealously
  independent spirit of Sumerian city states

Hammurabi
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INVENTION OF WRITING

• As early as 3500 BC, the Sumerians used
  pictograms to represent certain physical objects
• Drawn on clay
• By 3500 BC, they began to use ideograms (symbols
  standing for abstract, non-physical concepts) and
  phonograms (symbols representing phonetic sounds)
• Meanwhile pictograms became more stylized

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CUNEIFORM WRITING

• Emerging writing system known as cuneiform
• Means wedge-shaped
• Impressed on clay tablets with wood stylus
• Very complicated
• Originally 2000 symbols
• Reduced to 500 over time
• Only small group of professional scribes could
  master it
• After 15 years of training
• A secret held by only a few specially-trained
  individuals

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MATH

• Developed in response to needs associated with
  raising and storing food and designing irrigation
  systems
• Based on units of 60
• Only used today to measure time and circles
• Also had supplemental system based on units of 10
• Invented system to measure metal and grain based
  on units of 60
• Developed fundamental principles of geometry
• Used to measure fields and design buildings
• Invented first calendar
• Based on phases of moon
• Had 12 months

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SUMERIAN GODS

• At top of Sumerian pantheon of gods was An
• Divine force, the creator, thought to be the sky
• Below An came Enhil
• Controlled the weather
• Capricious
• Then came Enki
• Controlled fertility of the earth and abundance
  of harvests
• Also capricious and cruel
• Then 50 other major gods and a host of minor
  gods, demons, spirits, and the like

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FIRST CREATION MYTH

• World was originally nothing but water
• From this water, two forcesone male and one
  femalearose and created An through procreation
• An then created the other gods, who then worked
  with him to make the sky, earth, and human beings
• Sumerians believed the world was the conscious
  product of a divine force and that it was created
  for a divine purpose
• Although this might be difficult for human beings
  to ascertain

Sumerian god
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NATURE OF RELIGION

• Sumerian gods did not pay much attention to
  mortals
• More interested in drinking, partying, and
  fighting among themselves
• Sumerians did not therefore worship their gods
  out of any sense of devotion or love
• They worshipped them out of fear of the gods
  power and capriciousness
• Sumerian religion was pessimistic
• Reflected mentality of a people who had just
  recently raised themselves to the level of
  civilization in a land marked by a severe climate
  and where the dangers of flood and disease were
  always present (and also unexplainable and
  incurable)

Sumerian priest
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RELIGIOUS DILEMMA I

• Sumerians were proud of their achievements
• But they worried about to what extent did their
  achievements, or at least their pride in their
  achievements, go against what the gods wanted
• To what extent did mans achievements upset the
  natural order created by the gods?

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RELGIOUS DILEMMA II

• This dilemma was reflected in their mythology
• Myth of Great Flood
• Gods, angry at the pride of men, destroyed
  mankind (except one person) in order to teach
  humans a lesson
• Myth of the Garden of Eden
• Humans kicked out of this paradise by refusing to
  be passive and obey the rules of the gods
• Mythology reflected Mesopotamian insecurity over
  the alleged contradiction between their growing
  belief in the importance of man and his earthly
  accomplishments and the ingrained belief that
  they were the insignificant creation of divine
  beings much more important than they were

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GILGAMESH I

• Epic poem first written down around 2000 BC
• Part of oral tradition for at least 1000 years
  before it was written down
• Hero is legendary king of the city-state of Uruk
• Began career as good ruler
• But turned into a tyrant
• Gods decide to punish him for his pride

Gilgamesh
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GILGAMESH II

• Gods send wild man named Enkidu to kill Gilgamesh
• Gilgamesh recruits a prostitute to tame Enkidu
• She does and Enkidu became like a man (ie.,
  civilized)
• Also becomes loyal companion of Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh and Enkidu
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GILGAMESH III

• Gilgamesh becomes obsessed with his mortality and
  tries to find a way to cheat death
• At first he tries to become so famous that his
  reputation will live forever
• Fights and defeats numerous monsters
• In the course of these adventures, Enkidu offends
  a god and is made to die

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GILGAMESH IV

• Gilgamesh is devastated by Enkidus death
• Mopes around for a while
• Then searches for Ut-Napishtim
• Sumerian Noah who survived the Great Flood
• Person to whom the gods had given the secret of
  eternal life

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GILGAMESH V

• Ut-Napishtim tells Gilgamesh how to find magic
  plant that will bring Enkidu back to life
• Also tells entire story of the Great Flood
• Gilgamesh finds plant after difficult quest
• But a snake steals it from him before he arrives
  home
• Story then suddenly ends

Gilgamesh tablet
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MEANING

• Dont mess with the gods
• Gilgamesh defied the gods several times, only to
  be slapped down by them
• Men can achieve but they must remember that they
  were only men
• They must not try to alter the fate that the gods
  planned for them
• Reflects the tension between the increasingly
  impressive achievements of man (and his pride in
  these achievements) and his fear that these
  achievements might upset the original plans of
  the gods

Gilgamesh on quest for magic plant
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SOCIAL CLASSES

• Establishment of a social hierarchy where some
  people had more power, wealth, and privileges
  than others
• Equality originally prevailed in Sumerian
  city-states
• But divisions soon appeared
• First group to claim special privileges and
  status were priests
• Gave up working and began to live off work of
  others
• Temples given huge tracts of land which priests
  rented in small parcels to farmers
• Lived off rent

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FURTHER ELABORATION

• Very early on, men began to stake out a special
  place for themselves in Sumerian society and drew
  tremendous wealth from their superior position
• Soon joined by other groups
• Kings and nobles because they defended city-state
  and maintained law and order
• Merchants because they provided the commodities
  the city-state needed
• Scribes because they had mastered the secrets of
  reading and writing
• All exploited ordinary people who did not claim
  special status

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SLAVERY

• Originated with practice of men selling
  themselves and/or their families to pay off debts
• Supplemented by using pows as slaves
• Demand for slaves increased as civilization
  progressed
• Advance of civilization did not bring same
  benefits to everyone
• Some benefited a great deal
• Others saw a deterioration in their situation
• Civilization brought important benefits but it
  also introduced inequality, exploitation, taxes,
  and slavery

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THE PURPOSE OF LAW

• If inequality and exploitation become too naked,
  society will not survive
• Ancient Mesopotamia rulers realized this
• They established law to define the limits of
  exploitation
• In order to prevent such terrible acts of
  oppression that it would have sparked the
  oppressed to rise up and the destroy the entire
  system
• Law was invented by those on top to protect their
  superior status by limiting the abuses they
  theoretically had the power to commit

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HAMMURABI

• Several Sumerian city-states seem to have some
  sort of rudimentary law code by 2300 BC
• But the man credited with implementing the first
  uniform law code was the Babylonian king
  Hammurabi
• Applied to almost all of Mesopotamia

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HAMMURABIS LAW CODE

• Greatest of his accomplishments
• Carved on a huge stone slab
• Discovered in Syria in 1901
• Probably carried off from Babylon after Ebla
  destroyed the Babylonian Empire
• Contained 282 sections and incorporated many
  unique features

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FEATURES

• Basic feature was eye for an eye, tooth for a
  tooth
• Revolutionary new legal principal
• Earlier Sumerian laws calculated all punishments,
  no matter what the crime, in monetary fines
• Punishments varied according to the social status
  of offender
• Very harsh punishments
• No concept of cruel and unusual punishment
• Detailed regulation of economic life
• Subsidiary status of women

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SUMMARY

• Despite difficulties of climate and terrain, the
  ancient Mesopotamians made remarkable physical
  progress and established cities where large
  concentrations of people could live in relative
  peace and prosperity
• Political, religious, and intellectual
  achievements were equally formidable
• But new problems arose with the advance of
  civilization
• Social stratification, inequality, injustice,
  etc.
• Mesopotamians tried to at least limit these
  problems
• Example was Hammurabis Code