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TRANSCRIPT
Mesopotamia“Land Between the Rivers”
Part Two
Akkadc. 2300-2200 BC
• Sargon
– A Semite
– Established himself as King over the North
– Founded Akkad
– Reigned 55 years
– Peaceful
– First time Mesopotamia reunited in over
2,000 years
Sargon
Bust
of an Akkadian ruler,
probably Sargon,
Nineveh,
ca. 23rd - 22nd century BC.
Akkadc. 2300-2200 BC
• Sargon
– Ruled from „upper to the lower sea”• Future Kings were inspired to see this as their
territorial limits
– Maintained control by• Having other cities destroy their walls
• Placed garrisons and former governors
• Took members of ruling families as hostages
– Took control of Lebanon‟s wealth• Silver
• Timber
Lebanon Cedar in the Forest of the Cedars of God
Akkadc. 2300-2200 BC
• Akkad
– Capital was Agade
– Somewhere near Babylon
– Not found archeologically
Akkadc. 2300-2200 BC
• Society Changes
– Language Akkadian begins to be written in
cuneiform
• Sumerian continued along side
• Principal deities were Sumerian
– See:
http://www.sarissa.org/sumer/sumer_g.php
Akkadc. 2300-2200 BC
• Short in supply, the Empire gain
abundance of
– Bronze
– Silver
– Wood
– Precious stone
Akkadc. 2300-2200 BC
• Empire begins to shift
– From city-state to centralized government
– From temple or government owned property
to private property
– From few individual rights to increased rights
The Gutic. 2200 BC
• Mountain peoples living on eastern border
• Blamed for bringing down Akkad
– Disrupting communication and trade with
Mesopotamia
– Upsetting country‟s elaborate irrigation
system
• Dominate power for about 100 years
– Many cities remain total free of their rule
The Gutic. 2200 BC
• Mesopotamians called them „barbarians‟
• Period is characterized as political unrest
• “Who is King?” “Who is not King?”
• Overthrown by a King Utuhegal or Uruk
followed by Ur-Nammu who founded a
new dynasty
UR III
c. 2100-1800 BC
• Third Sumerian dynasty of Ur
• Called the Sumerian Renaissance
– Sumerian becomes the major language
• Founded by Ur-Nammu
– True dynasty, father to son
– Kings considered themselves gods
• Last time this is seen in Mesopotamia
Ur-Nammu (seated) bestows governorship on
Ḫašḫamer, patesi (high priest) of Iškun-Sin
(cylinder seal impression, ca. 2100 BC)
UR III
c. 2100-1800 BC
• Domestic affairs major thrust for Ur-
Nammu
• Law code formed
– Oldest known
– Preamble states that it was written so justice
might be established in the land
– King wanted to do away with those, “who
seize the oxen, sheep or donkeys.”
UR III
c. 2100-1800 BC
• King also wanted social justice for the poor
and helpless
– Wanted to make sure, “the orphan was not
given over to the rich, the widow was not
given over to the powerful, the man of one
shekel was not given over to the man of one
mina.”
Law Code of Ur-Nammu
Sample Lawshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_of_Ur-Nammu
• If a man commits a murder, that man must be killed.
• If a man commits a robbery, he will be killed.
• If a man violates the right of another and deflowers the virgin wife of a young man, they shall kill that male
• If a man has cut off another man‟s foot, he is to pay ten shekels
UR III
c. 2100-1800 BC
• End of Dynasty
– Amorites who had crossed the rivers to graze
their flocks since the Early Dynastic Period
began to threaten the political stability of Ur
– One Amorite became King of Larsa while King
Ibbi-Sin was King of Ur (city-state)
Amorite Notes
• The Amorites may have come of European
origin, though no one is sure what was their
ethnic origin. They were represented on the
Egyptian monuments with fair skins, light hair,
blue eyes, curved or hooked noses, and
pointed beards.
• They were supposed to have been of great
stature.Their king, Og, is described by Moses as
the last "of the remnant of the giants" (Deut.
3:11)
Amorite Notes
• They seem to have originally occupied the land stretching from the heights west of the Dead Sea to Hebron, embracing "all Gilead and all Bashan", with the Jordan valley on the east of the river, the land of the "two kings of the Amorites," Sihon and Og
• See: Gen 14:7,13:8; Deut 3:8-10, 4:46-49, 31:4; Josh. 2:10; 9:10
Amorite Notes
• The five kings of the Amorites were defeated in a great slaughter by Joshua (10:10).
• They were again defeated at the waters of Merom by Joshua, who smote them till there were none remaining (Josh. 11:8).
• It is mentioned as a surprising circumstance that in the days of Samuel there was peace between them and the Israelites (1 Sam. 7:14).
UR III
c. 2100-1800 BC
Famine Struck
One of King Ibbi-Sin‟s Generals staged a coup
Elamites swept in from the east
Burned Ur to the ground
Elamite Notes
• Descendants of Elam, whose name was
given to the district of Elam
– Genesis 10:22
• Also Known as Men of Susa
– Ezra 4:9
• Present at Pentecost
– Acts 2:9
Abraham
http://www.theology.edu/abraham.htm
• Abraham was probably born under the new Sumero-Akkadian Empire of Ur-Nammu, the founder of the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2135-2025 BC).
• Ur-Nammu took the title "King of Sumer and Akkad";
• His mightiest work was the erection of the great ziggurat at Ur, which remains the best preserved of all monuments of this type.
Ziggurat of Ur
• The Ziggurat of Ur-Nammu
– erected on top of a smaller structure which may have
been as old as the reign of Mes-Anne-padda of the
First Dynasty of Ur (c. 2800-2600 BC).
– Its upper part was the work of Nabonidus.
– The bulk of the great artificial mountain, however, had
been constructed by Ur-Nammu, and his name and
title were discovered stamped on the bricks.
Ziggurat of Ur
– The tower was a solid mass of brickwork
– 200 feet long, 150 feet wide and about 70 feet
high.
– The facing, covering the inner core of
unbaked brick, consisted of baked brick set in,
eight feet in thickness.
– The ziggurat was thus a mountain of
brickwork, a "high place" or artificial hill
Ziggurat of Ur
• Originally the shrine of Nana (Nannar or Sin), the moon god, stood on the uppermost stage
• Ur was dedicated to this deity
• Other deities might have their temples, but at Ur a whole quarter of the city was set apart for him
• He was called "the Exalted Lord", the "crown of Heaven and Earth", "the Beautiful Lord who Shines in Heaven"
Nana or Sin
Moon god• Nana (Sin)
– Was the moon god
– Second in rank of all the gods
– Controlled the night, month and calendar
– Able to read into the dark future and see the
destinies of people
– Figurines of the god(s) were placed under the
threshold of the house and worn as amulets
to protect them from evil
Nana or Sin
Moon god• On cylinder seals, he is represented as an
old man with a flowing beard and the
crescent as his symbol.
• Represented by the number 30 and the
moon, symbolic of the moon's crescent
– This number probably refers to the average
number of days (correctly around 29.53) in a
lunar month, as measured between
successive new moons
Abraham
• The Old Testament states that Abraham's home was originally in lower Mesopotamia, specifically the city of Ur– he subsequently emigrated to Haran in upper
Mesopotamia on his way to Canaan (Gen. 11:28-31; 12:1-4; 15:7; Neh. 9:7)
• Abraham's native city is referred to as Ur of the Chaldees. – (The qualifying phrase "of the Chaldees" may not be
an anachronism as many critics hold, but simply a later gloss to explain to a subsequent age, when Ur and its location had vanished, that the city was located in southern Babylonia)
Abraham
• Abraham‟s father Terah was polytheistic -Joshua 24:2– By 2000 BC the Mesopotamians had created
over 4000 deities!
• There is the story told in the Talmud, of when little Abraham was six or seven, his father left him in charge of his idol shop while he went out to conduct some business.
Abraham
When his father got home, he discovered to his horror
that all the idols had been smashed, but one -- the big
one in the center, who was holding a stick in its hands.
"Abraham, what have you done?" demanded his father.
"I? Nothing. The Big idol got angry and smashed all the little idols."
"Don't take me for a fool, son. Idols don't get up and walk around, they don't breathe, they don't eat and they don't move -- and they certainly can't smash anything."
"Then why do you bother worshipping them?"
Abraham
• Abraham witnessed numerous smaller Elamite
and Amorite states in Mesopotamia
– who between 2100 and 1800 BC took over the
heritage of the Third Dynasty of Ur after its collapse
and the subsequent destruction of the capital city, Ur.
• Egypt, during Abraham, was powerful;
– it was the time of the strong Middle Kingdom, under
the Twelfth Dynasty (2000-1780 BC).
Abraham
• His brother Haran lived there long enough
to father Lot
• Haran died in Ur III
• City of Ur
– Protected by a defensive wall 2 ½ miles in
circumference
– Chief deity was the moon god Nana (Sin)
– Streets meandered and some came to a
sudden dead-end (!?)
Abraham
• Typical House found in Ur
– Two story of mud bricks, usually whitewashed
– First floor entrance, single door, led to small
lobby
– Lobby opened up to a courtyard around which
rooms were arranged
• Rooms surrounding courtyard were used as work
or guest rooms
Abraham
• Courtyard had drain to channel rainwater
into a cistern for storage
• Some wealthy homes had running water
– Raised cistern, pressure
• Staircase led to balconied second floor
where sleeping and leisure rooms were
located
Abraham
• Clothing in Ur
– Outer garment like a classical Roman toga
– For work, men wore a wrap-around kilt
– Men usually bearded (ringlets) and full heads
of hair
– Women‟s clothing was more draped with
addition of jewelry
Abraham
• Foods
– beer, milk, wine
– beef, duck, goat, lamb, shellfish, snails
– apples, cherries, figs, dates, mulberries, peaches,
pomegranates, raisins
– cabbage, cucumbers, lettuce, onions, peas
– millet, rye, wheat and don‟t forget barley!
– Common people saw little meat except on festival
days…meat sacrificed to the gods/goddesses
Abraham
• Emigrated from Ur when it was just entering its heyday of power and prestige, with a dynasty that lasted over a century.
• He would, moreover, be leaving Haran for Canaan when his native city had reached the height of its influence in southern Mesopotamia.
Abraham’s
Move
• Terah decided to move
• Abraham and Lot followed
• Probably traveled from Ur to Larsa where
the main road to the North began
• At Simppar had to choose whether to
continue along the Euphrates River or
cross over the Tigris
Abraham’s
Move
• Gen 11:31 states the destination was
Canaan, but they only went as far as
Haran, it seems they crossed the Tigris
• This “Road to Emar” led north through
Assyrian territory and west toward the
Mediterranean
• No reason given why Terah stopped at
Haran
Abraham’s
Move
• Possible reasons for stopping in Haran
– An important caravan city
– Politically peaceful
– Gone farther, enter a foreign culture
– Perhaps it was because Ur and Haran both had the same principle deity…Nana
• Notes:– Among Haran's trading partners was Tyre (Ezekiel 27:23).
– One of Haran's specialties was the odoriferous gum
derived from the stobrum tree.
Traditional mud brick "beehive" houses
in the village of Harran, Turkey.