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
Lagash
• Included the urban center plus
surrounding countryside
– Each was also an
independent political unit
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, flatroofed huts
• Homes of farmers, and
small craftsmen
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
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
GENERAL ANARCHY
• Although an occasional citystate 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
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
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
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 citystates regained their
independence
Great Ziggurat at Ur
– Although Ur appears
to have been first
among them
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, nonphysical 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
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
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 priest
• 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)
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
Gilgamesh
• 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 II
• Gods send wild man
named Enkidu to kill
Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh and Enkidu
• Gilgamesh recruits a
prostitute to tame
Enkidu
– She does and Enkidu
“became like a man”
(ie., civilized)
– Also becomes loyal
companion of
Gilgamesh
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 UtNapishtim
• 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 citystates 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