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Mesopotamia
Proto-literate Period ca. 3500-3100 B.C. most characteristics of Mesopotamia have developed towns and cities rudimentary system of writing and metal technology temple architecture
The Early Dynastic Period ca. 3100 B.C. the Sumerians not the first inhabitants arrived by sea ??
Sumerian language unique unrelated to any known language but we cannot read it
Pre-Sumerian element Semites? continues to survive but dominated by Sumerians until 2350 B.C., more or less
(lugals)
less
Political organization, cont territorial acquisition by conquest gradual incorporation and civilizing of Semites ca. 2350 B.C., Semites become dominant
Sargon of Akkad
name means: True King first empire in history first personality in history legendary figures:
Miracle birth, evil king, baby-in-a basket, found eventually becomes the leader of his people The original story from which all others are copied
Third Dynasty of Ur Sumerian renaissance claim to be kings of Sumer and Akkad influence on northern TigrisEuphrates
Ur III , cont provinces, with royal governors moved regularly kings claim to be divine, unlike earlier kings Ur-Nammu: most significant built a great city and issued a code of laws
Collapse of Ur III civilization over 1,000 years old but much of what developed survives into modern times math, time-keeping, beer (!!!), astronomy, astrology, medicine, etc.
Sources of Information archaeological remains texts: stone, metal, clay, tablets cloths, art, etc. remember our archaeological lesson ?
Problems evidence not equal for all times and all places hard to interpret but some things can be known
Architecture lack stone and wood use sun-dried brick resulting in a somewhat ruined state of things focal point of the city: the Temple complex successive temples built on the same holy spot
Architecture, cont the temple form: ziggurat a sort of step-temple usually seven layers,
The ziggarut at Ur
Sculpture crude and primitive clay, not stone metal sculpture and jewelry more sophisticated
Frontpiece
Gold lapislazuli
Harp
wood
Cylinder Seal
Goat in a tree...
Sacrificed and buried with the Queen at the time of her death
Clay tablets writing medium religious texts to contracts with written texts we enter History documents as insights into peoples thoughts as well as records
Cuneiform Writing different from modern scripts written on damp clay with a wedgeshaped stick cuneiform (wedge-shaped writing)
Cuneiform, cont evolved from use of simple symbols rebus theory eventually became conventionalized abstract shapes used first for business, trade, records literature came later....
Tokensfor games?
Agriculture grain, mostly barley, planted in the fall land prepared by hand tools and intensive labor irrigated by complex system harvest in the spring the whole community helps with planting, harvesting, etc.
Agriculture, cont average crop: 25 to 30 bushels per acre land controlled by large, temple corporations
Bureaucracy fundamental to efficiency necessary for urban living and for the temple corporation and the civil government
Religion polytheistic hundreds of deities each usually had a special function but you could have your own, special god to get lucky translates as to get a god
Ex. Yahweh as the god of Abraham
Religion, cont ancient religion (and modern) is contractual: quid pro quo Nippur was the religious center of Mesopotamia major deities associate with major heavenly bodies and with specific cities
Religion, cont gods and humans were similar but gods were more powerful and immortal gods were the masters humans were the slaves gods were ill-tempered, erratic, and very dangerous
centerpiece in a fountain
Religion: the afterlife cold and dark believed in ghosts of dead relatives demons
Literature: began in Sumer priests began to try to explain the how and why of things creation stories: Enuma Elish and other stories flood stories: Utnapishtim (etc.) practical works: farmers almanacs medicine, divination, astronomy, math, astrology, etc.
Literature, cont Epic of Gilgamesh the first piece of literature dealing with comic questions
more later
Literacy taught in temple schools to scribes and priests we do not know the percentage of literacy probably fairly small
Ur III, collapse assaults of peripherial peoples internal localism desires for independence
Hammurabi most successful leader king of the Amorites a Semitic people ruler of Babylon
Hammurabi, cont sixth king of Babylon, of his line 1800s B.C. ruled for 43 years
military leader
The Law Code his most famous achievement fusion of Sumerian and Semitic customs and usages designed to render justice that is, what a person deserved what is appropriate to the circumstance
An example of columns (stelae), which were set up in public places, on which were inscribed the laws of Hammurabi.
Hammurabi receiving the law from the God Shamash, who lives on a mountain. Predates the Moses story by over one thousand years, and is probably the model for it.
His rule
The Enuma Elish describes the creation of the universe in a system based on sevens the first three generations: gods of water, earth, sky next three: gods of moving things finally: Marduk make man so the gods can rest
Changes during the era of Hammurabi development of agriculture trade and commerce private enterprise private property
Changes, cont. writing more widely adopted (cunieform) algebra and astronomy were developed The Epic of Gilgamesh the first tragic hero earlier edition of many Genesis stories
The Cambridge Ancient History J.N. Postgate. Early Mesopotamia: Society and Economy at the Dawn of History Samuel Noah Kramer. The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character. A. Leo Oppenheim. Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilizastion. A. Bernard Knapp. The History and Culture of Ancient Western Asia and Egypt Jean Bottero. Mesopotamia: Writing, Reasoning, and the Gods J.B. Pritchard. Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament J.B. Pritchard. The Ancient Near East, 2 vols., An anthology of Texts and Pictures
Robert M. Seltzer. Religions of Antiquity Guy E. Swanson. The Birth of the Gods] Alexander Heidel. The Babylonian Genesis Maureen Gallery Kovacs. The Epic of Gilgamesh Hans J. Nissen. The Early History of the Ancient Near East Georges Roux. Ancient Iraq Robert M. Seltzer. Religions of Antiquity Ancient Religions bibliography online:
www.etsu.edu/cas/history/religionbib.htm