Primary Source Analysis:
Ancient Civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt
Name: ___________________________
Period: _____
Directions: Read each primary source and answer the related questions below.
Part A: MESOPOTAMIA
Source 1:
(http://www.piney.com/BabUmmLag.html)
Background: Lagash and Umma were Sumerian cities located 18 miles apart. These
documents were found on clay cylinders and date from about 2500 BC.
“By the immutable word of Enlil, king of the lands, father of the gods, Ningirsu [the patron
deity of Sumerian city of Lagash] and Shara [patron deity of Sumerian city of Umma] set a
boundary to their lands. Mesilim, King of Kish, at the command of his deity Kadi, set up a
stele [a boundary marker] in the plantation of that field.
Ush, ruler of Umma, formed a plan to seize it. That stele he broke in pieces, into the plain of
Lagash he advanced. Ningirsu, the hero of Enlil, by his just command, made war upon
Umma. At the command of Enlil, his great net ensnared them. He erected their burial mound
on the plain in that place.”
1. What is the term that describes an independent territory with its own government that
governs a city and a surrounding land? (consult your notes based on Ch.2, sec.1)
Provide clues from the primary source that support your answer.
2. Based on your notes, who is Enlil? What can you infer about religion in general and the
type of relationship that existed between gods and humans in Ancient Sumer from this
source? Support your answers with logical explanations.
Source 2:
(a) The Legend of Sargon of Akkad, c. 2300 BCE
(http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/2300sargon1.html)
1. Sargon, the mighty king, king of Akkadê am I,
10. Akki, the irrigator, as his own son brought me up;
2. My mother was lowly; my father I did not know;
11. Akki, the irrigator, as his gardener appointed me.
3. The brother of my father dwelt in the mountain.
12. When I was a gardener the goddess Ishtar loved
me,
4. My city is Azupiranu, which is situated on the bank
of the Purattu [Euphrates],
13. And for four years I ruled the kingdom.
5. My lowly mother conceived me, in secret she 14. The black-headed (Sumerian) peoples I ruled, I
brought me forth.
governed;
6. She placed me in a basket of reeds, she closed my 15. Mighty mountains with axes of bronze I
entrance with bitumen,
destroyed.
7. She cast me upon the rivers which did not overflow 16. I ascended the upper mountains;
me.
17. I burst through the lower mountains.
8. The river carried me, it brought me to Akki, the
irrigator.
18. The country of the sea I besieged three times …
9. Akki, the irrigator, in the goodness of his heart
lifted me out,
Questions:
1). What region was Sargon from? (or where did he “rule[d] the kingdom”) Provide evidence from the
poem to support your answer.
2. Do you know of any other famous story (clue: Biblical story) that resembles this one?
(b) from Chronicle of Early Kings, a later Babylonian historiographical text:
“[Sargon] had neither rival nor equal. His splendor, over the lands it diffused. He
crossed the sea in the east. In the eleventh year he conquered the western land to its
farthest point. He brought it under one authority. He set up his statues there and
ferried the west's booty across on barges...”
1. What type of new territorial organization was established by King Sargon as a result of
his conquests? (see your notes) Provide clues from the source that support your
answer.
Source 3:
Code of Hammurabi, 18th century, B.C.E. (excerpts)
(http://eawc.evansville.edu/anthology/hammurabi.htm)
196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.
197. If he break another man's bone, his bone shall be broken.
198. If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina.
199. If he put out the eye of a man's slave, or break the bone of a man's slave, he shall pay one-half of
its value.
200. If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out.
201. If he knock out the teeth of a freed man, he shall pay one-third of a gold mina.
202. If any one strike the body of a man higher in rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an oxwhip in public.
203. If a free-born man strike the body of another free-born man or equal rank, he shall pay one gold
mina.
204. If a freed man strike the body of another freed man, he shall pay ten shekels in money.
205. If the slave of a freed man strike the body of a freed man, his ear shall be cut off.
Questions:
1. What were the advantages of having the Code of Laws posted all over the diverse
Babylonian Empire by its rulers? (see your notes)
2. What can you conclude about the Babylonian society at that time? Provide clues from
the document to support your answer.
Source 4: Mesopotamian view of afterlife
The Mother Sings
(Poems of Heaven and Hell from Ancient Mesopotamia)
Hark the piping!
My heart is piping in the wilderness
Where the young man once went free.
He is a prisoner now in death’s kingdom,
lies bound where once he lived….
“It is you,” she cried to him, “but you are changed.”
The agony, the agony she bears.
Woe to the house and the inner room…
She is the mother desolate in a desolate place
Where once he was alive, now he lies
like a young bull felled to the ground.
Into his face she stares, seeing what she has lost his mother who has lost him to death’s kingdom.
O, the agony she bears,
shuddering in the wilderness,
she is the mother suffering so much.
The Son’s Reply
There can be no answer to her desolate calling,
It is echoed in the wilderness, for I cannot answer.
Though the grass will shoot from the land
I am not grass, I cannot come to her calling.
The waters rise for her, I am not water
to come for her wailing,
I am not shoots of grass in a dead land.
Questions:
1). What is the tone of the poems?
2). Why do you think Mesopotamians had this particular view of the afterlife? (clue: think of the
challenges of the natural environment and the nature of their gods)
PART B: Egypt
Source 1: Hymn to the Nile, 2100 B.C.E.
(http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/hymn-nile.html)
Hail to thee, O Nile! Who manifests thyself over this land, and comes to give life to Egypt! Mysterious
is thy issuing forth from the darkness, on this day whereon it is celebrated! Watering the orchards
created by Re, to cause all the cattle to live, you give the earth to drink, inexhaustible one! Path that
descends from the sky, loving the bread of Seb and the first-fruits of Nepera, You cause the workshops
of Ptah to prosper!
Lord of the fish, during the inundation, no bird alights on the crops. You create the grain, you bring
forth the barley, assuring perpetuity to the temples. If you cease your toil and your work, then all that
exists is in anguish. If the gods suffer in heaven, then the faces of men waste away.
…He is the creator of all good things, as master of energy, full of sweetness in his choice….
1). Why did ancient Egyptians honor the Nile with so many compliments?
2). Explain how the location of Egypt’s civilization and the “behavior” of the Nile were different from
the patterns of natural environment in Mesopotamia. (base the answer on your notes). What effect
might this have on the Egyptian religion? ( critical thinking question)
Source 2:
(2) The Dead Pharaoh Ascends to Heaven
(http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/166.html)
The so-called Pyramid Texts are religious texts inscribed on the interior walls of the pyramids of
certain pharaohs of the fifth and sixth dynasties (Ca. 2425-2300 B.C.).-The Pyramid Texts contain the
oldest references to Egyptian cosmology and theology, but they are primarily concerned with the
victorious passage of the dead pharaoh to his new, celestial dwelling.
Thy two wings are spread out like a falcon with thick plumage, like the hawk seen in the evening
traversing the sky (Pyr. 1048).
He flies who flies; this king Pepi flies away from you, ye mortals. He is not of the earth, he is of the
sky. . . . This king Pepi flies as a cloud to the sky, like a masthead bird; this king Pepi kisses the sky
like a falcon, this king Pepi reaches the sky like Horizon-god (Harakhte) (Pyr. 890-1)…
King Unis ascends upon the ladder which his father Re (the Sun-god) made for him (Pyr. 390)…
The king ascends to the sky among the gods dwelling in the sky. He stands on the great [dais], he hears
(in judicial session) the (legal) affairs of men. Re finds thee upon the shores of the sky in this lake that
is in Nut (the Sky-goddess). ‘The arriver comes !’ say the gods. He (Re) gives thee his arm on the
stairway to the sky. ‘He who knows his place comes,’ say the gods. 0 Pure One, assume thy throne in
the barque of Re and sail thou the sky. . . . Sail thou with the Imperishable Stars, sad thou with the
Unwearied Stars. Receive thou the tribute’ of the Evening Barque, become thou a spirit dwelling in
Dewat. Live thou this pleasant life which the lord of the horizon lives (Pyr. 1169-72).
Questions:
1). What is the status of the Egyptian kings (pharaohs) in relation to the Egyptian gods? Provide
evidence to support your conclusion.
2). According to this source, what kind of afterlife awaits the dead pharaoh? Provide evidence.
(b) THE PROTOTYPE OF EVERY SOUL WHO HOPES TO CONQUER DEATH
(http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/168.html)
('Coffin Texts,' I, 197)
The so-called Coffin Texts, inscribed on the interior of coffins, belong to the Middle Kingdom (22501580 B.C.). They attest a marked 'democratization' of the ancient funerary ritual of the pharaoh. Just
as the pharaoh of earlier times had claimed to participate in the fate of Osiris (the ruler of afterlife), so
each soul now hoped to achieve a ritual assimilation to the god.
Now are you a king's son, a prince,
as long as your soul exists, so long will your heart be with you.
Anubis (god of the dead) is mindful of you in Busiris (central location of the cult of Osiris),
your soul rejoices in Abydos (ancient Egyptian city) where your body is happy on the High Hill
Your embalmer rejoices in every place.
Ah, truly, you are the chosen one!
you are made whole in this your dignity which is before me,
Anubis' heart is happy over the work of his hands
and the heart of the Lord of the Divine Hall is thrilled
when he beholds this good god,
Master of those that have been and Ruler over those that are to come.
Questions:
1). Where was this inscription found? In your opinion, what was the intended purpose of this message?
Source 3: Palette of Narmer (c. 31st cen. B.C.E)
ferrebeekeeper.wordpress.com
ferrebeekeeper.wordpress.com
Questions:
1. Provide your own interpretation of this primary source. More specifically, you can address
the following points:
a). Identification of the central figure on the left side. Any symbolism in his action? Two men
on the bottom of the left plate.
b). Details: Headgear, Clothing or absence of it, Symbolism behind animals portrayed on the
right side, etc.
A FEW RELEVANT MAPS:
1
2
4
3
1
http://www.markville.ss.yrdsb.edu.on.ca/projects/classof2008/chong2/leibold/mesopotamia_map.gif
http://www.ancient.eu.com/uploads/images/169.png
3
http://faculty.txwes.edu/csmeller/Human-Experience/ExpData09/01AncMed/AncMedMAPs/MAP_Mes_Sargon.gif
4
http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01951/images/content/babylonia_map.jpg
2
FYI: ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CHRONOLOGY: