Mesopotamia– Geography (circa 4000 BC )

• Mesopotamia means “the land between the rivers.”

• It is located in an agriculturally rich region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (also known as the “Fertile Crescent” or “cradle of civilizations”.

• It was located in the region known today as Iraq as well as parts of Iran.

Mesopotamia was a wide plain open for invasion

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

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

Mesopotamian Empires

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 40:1

• 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

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

Gilgamesh famed for

building walls and protecting

his city

The gates of Ishtar

Sumerian Inventions

Cuneiform writing The wheel Potter’s wheel Sailing ship Pick-axe Brick mold Glass 60-based counting system: 60 minutes to an

hour, 360 degrees to a circle Number positioning: ones, tens, hundreds,

etc. Beer Epic poetry

Cuneiform WritingCuneiform Writing

Uses of Cuneiform

• Cuneiform, earliest written language, developed by accountants which was created by using a reed on a clay tablet

• Scribes were the only people that knew how to read and write cuneiform

• Used for inventory, payroll of soldiers, property ownership and correspondence between monarchs

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

White Temple and Ziggurat at Uruk, c. 3200-3000 BCE

15

Uruk (modern Warka), Iraq, ca. 3200–3000 BCE.

Ziggurat at Ur (modern day Iraq), c.2100-

2050 BCE

Inanna – Sumerian goddess of grain and war

Statuettes from the Temple of Abu at Eshnunna (Tell Asmar), c. 2700-2600

BCE, gypsum

stylization of physical types/ hypnotic gaze

From the Hymn to NinkasiGoddess of BEER!!!!

You are the one who holds with both hands the great sweet wort,

Brewing [it] with honey and wine

(You the sweet wort to the vessel) Ninkasi, (...)

…

The filtering vat, which makes a pleasant sound,

You place appropriately on [top of] a large collector vat.

…

Ninkasi, you are the one who pours out the filtered beer of the collector vat,

It is [like] the onrush of Tigris and Euphrates.

The Sumerians

• City Life in Sumeria– Mud brick houses– 40% of grain used to

make ale– Vegetables, fish, figs,

dates and cheese part of diet

– Parents arranged marriages

– Adultery a punishable crime

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 king’s power was limited to interpreting the will of the gods

– But this position would become extraordinarily powerful in a relatively short period of time

Sumerian kingship

• War leader• Steward of the gods• Responsible for determining the will of the gods• Responsible for keeping order which requires

justice – law codes• Wealth from agricultural land, taxes• A bad king would be replaced by the gods

through loss in war• Some ruling queens

Warring City-States

• 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

Ebih-Il, the Superintendent of MariMari, (Middle Euphrates):Temple of InannaAround 2400 BC Statuette, alabaster,Louvre

The City Center

Temples served civic and religious purposes

Daily sacrifices and rituals

Storage of surplus grain and other foods (GRANARY)

Dwelling of priests and priestesses

Locale where craftsmen and artisans could practice their trades

Sargon and The Rise of the Akkadian Empire

Conqueror of Sumeria’s city-states. Creation of the World’s

first empire.

Empire

• When a people from one part of the world travel to another part of the world, and through military conquest, gain control of the land/territory of another people.

Introduction

• City of Kish was powerful by 3,500 B.C.

• Over the next 1000 years Ur and Ukur fought for power.

• Akkadian society develops north of Sumer.

• Peace among three societies until 2300 B.C.

Who was Sargon?

• Served under king of the Kish.

• With his army, he took over the city of Kish.

• Gained loyalty of soldiers by eating with them everyday.

• Ruled Mesopotamia from 2334 B.C.-2279 B.C.

• First ruler to have a permanent army…a STANDING ARMY

SARGON THE GREAT

From Akkad

North of Sumer

Originally settled by nomads from

Arabia

Fairly untouched by Sumerian

civilization for centuries

MORE SARGON THE GREAT

In 2300 BC, led by a chieftain named

Sargon, the Akkadians invaded and took over Kish

Then conquered rest of Sumer, northern Mesopotamia, and

Syria

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

THE END TO THE WORLD’S 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

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 themGreat Ziggurat at Ur

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 Hammurabi’s death– Victim of new invading tribes and jealously

independent spirit of Sumerian city states

Hammurabi

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

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

Cuneiform writing

• Earliest texts from Uruk ca. 3500 BCE• Complex system • Used as a system of writing by:

• Sumerian• Akkadian• Babylonian• Hittite• Persian• Assyrian• Canaanite

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

Religion

•Polytheistic

•Powerful gods resembled humans.

•Gods controlled natural forces and were associated with astronomical bodies, such as the sun.

•The gods were creator gods; as a group, they had created the world and the people in it.

•Believed gods regretted creation of humans and made a flood.

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

FIRST CREATION MYTH• World was originally nothing but water

• From this water, two forces—one male and one female—arose 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

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

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 man’s achievements upset the natural order created by the gods?

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

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 prideGilgamesh

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

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

GILGAMESH IV

• Gilgamesh is devastated by Enkidu’s 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

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

MEANING• Don’t 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

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

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

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

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

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

HAMMURABI’S 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

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

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 Hammurabi’s Code

The Later Mesopotamian Empires: The Assyrians

The Assyrians were Semitic people living in the northern reaches of Mesopotamia.

The army was the largest standing army ever seen in the Middle East or Mediterranean.

Technological innovation in weaponry: iron swords, lances, metal armor, and battering rams