1. THE SUMERIANS

2. THE FERTILE CRESCENT
Aswan Dam Draining of the Marshes

3. Pre-requisites for Civilization
Agriculture developed in the Fertile Crescent around bce
Mining and use of copper around 6000 bce
Growth of villages and towns
Division of labor
Smelting of tin and copper to make bronze around 3000 bce > Bronze Age

4. 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, degrees to a circle
Number positioning
Beer
Epic poetry
Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur

5. Mesopotamian Empires

6. Characteristics of Mesopotamian Civilizations
City states
Each city had its own king and patron god or goddess
City states often warred with each other
Theocracy -- king as god’s representative
Hierosgamos: ritual marriage with the goddess/priestess
Highly legalistic
Law Codes
Contracts
Judicial proceedings and appeals processes
Extensive trading networks
Architectural Marvels of Ancient Mesopotamia

7. Lively Spirits: From the Hymn to Ninkasi
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, (...)
(You the sweet wort to the vessel)
The filtering vat, which makes a pleasant sound,
You place appropriately on [top of] a large collector vat.
Ninkasi, the filtering vat, which makes a pleasant sound,
When you pour out the filtered beer of the collector vat,
It is [like] the onrush of Tigris and Euphrates.
Ninkasi, you are the one who pours out the filtered beer of the collector vat,
Beer or Bread?

8. Writing Origin and the Deveopment of Writing in Mesopotamia
The increasing complexity of transactions, provoked by the volume of exchanges, was at the origin of the invention of means of recording. At the end of the IVth millenium BC. Appeared the first document written on clay tablets. These are accounting documents on which the figures are shown by notches, and the goods by pictograms. This tablet also mentions the names of Uruk and Dilmun, the present island of Bahrain.
Tablet of pre-cuneiform script South Mesopotamia Uruk III, end of 4th millenium BC. Clay (?sun-baked clay) Louvre

9. Writing: Pictograms Cylinder Seals
Cylinder seals were in constant use in Mesopotamia from ca B.C., just before the invention of writing, until the fifth century B.C., the time of the Persian Empire. Their rolled impressions in clay sealed cuneiform tablets, doors, jars, boxes, or baskets and served to mark ownership, protect goods against theft, guarantee authenticity, and indicate participation in legal transactions. In addition to their functional purpose, cylinder seals were also worn as pendants or bracelets and were believed to possess magical powers. Thousands of cylinder seals survive from antiquity because they were made of durable materials - usually stone, but also shell, bone, ivory, glass, or metal.
Engraved seals constitute the only type of work for which there are enough examples in the ancient Near East to build up an artistic sequence for over three millennia. Seals are a valuable record of Mesopotamian artistic iconography and practices of the time; they also reveal something about the daily life, religion, costumes, tools, and furnishings of the period as well. In addition, many of the images on cylinder seals symbolize human attributes and intellectual concepts that have passed into the literature and art of later periods and up through modern times.
Cylinder Seal with Watergod, Birdman, and Deities Mesopotamia, Akkadian Period, B.C. Emory University

10. Writing: Cuneiform
Cuneiform ("wedge-shaped") writing is Mesopotamia's most important contribution to the rest of the ancient Near East. Its invention revolutionized the way business and trade were conducted and offered the first opportunity for mankind to record written history. Cuneiform and its principal writing medium, the clay tablet, remained in use for over 3,000 years. Scribes adapted cuneiform script for writing many Near Eastern languages and used it to record business transactions, legal codes, and literary, commemorative, and dedicatory texts.
This barrel-shaped cylinder of clay is inscribed with a commemorative text that records the repair of the city wall of Babylon by Nabopolassar. In the text, Nabopolassar invokes his own name as king of Babylon, describes the weakening and settling of the Great Wall of Babylon on its original base, and his repair and rebuilding of the foundation wall which "like a mountain its summit I verily raised... Oh, Wall! Remind Marduk, my lord [patron god of Babylon] of the favor." Kings and officials commonly deposited inscribed tablets of this shape into recesses built below or within new or repaired constructions in Mesopotamia. Their deposit sanctified and protected the construction as well as allowing the king or official to record his name and deeds for the gods and posterity
Cuneiform Cylinder of Nabopolassar Recording Repair of the City Wall of Babylon, Mesopotamia, Babylon Neo-Babylonian Period, Reign of Nabopolassar, B.C Emory University

11. Sumerian Schools Literacy was a highly valued skill
Sumerians set up first institutions of formal education: edubba
Education included writing and mathematics
Tuition paid for education
Educated were privileged elite: government officials, scribes, etc.

12. ...a flood will sweep over the cult centers; To destroy the seed of mankind... Is the decision, the word of the assembly of the gods. By the word commanded by An and Enlil All the windstorms, exceedingly powerful, attacked as one, At the same time, the flood sweeps over the cult centers After, for seven days and seven nights, The flood had swept over the land, And the huge boat had been tossed about by the windstorms on the great waters, Utu came forth, who sheds light on heaven and earth, Ziusudra opened a window on the huge boat, The hero Utu brought his rays into the giant boat.
Nippur Flood Tablet
The Sumerian flood story is preserved on a six-columned tablet from Nippur (B 10637), only the lower third of which is preserved. The complete original would probably have had 260 lines. The tablet can be dated by its script to the late 17th century BC. The story inscribed on the tablet deals with the creation of humans and animals, the antediluvian cities and their rulers, and the flood.
The tablet can be dated by its script to the late 17th century BC.

13. Deciphering Cuneiform
Knowledge of cuneiform was lost until AD 1835, when Henry Rawlinson, an English army officer, found some inscriptions on a cliff (shown above) at Behistun in Persia. Carved in the reign of King Darius of Persia ( BC), they consisted of identical texts in three languages: Old Persian, Babylonian and Elamite. After translating the Persian, Rawlinson began to decipher the others. By 1851 he could read 200 Babylonian signs.
1835: Henry Rawlinson, an English army officer, found some inscriptions on a cliff at Behistun in Persia. Carved in the reign of King Darius of Persia ( BC), they consisted of identical texts in three languages: Old Persian, Babylonian and Elamite.

14. Enheduanna, Priestess and Poet the world’s first known writer
The Enheduanna Research Pages
Women in Ancient Mesopotamia
Inanna: The Opera
The relief depicts Enheduanna, standing behind a nude priest who is pouring a libation over a plant stand in front of a stepped structure. She is raising her right hand which has a ritual significance. In this restored version of the disk, she is wearing a cap over her braids, however, in the unrestored version (next photo) she is wearing a high conical hat. To the right of Enheduanna stands a priestess holding up a stick or wand and a priestess carrying a handled jug or ritual basketas mentioned in nin-me-sar-ra.
The alabaster disk was discovered in 1926 by Sir Leonard Woolley. The inscription on the back alerted the world of Enheduanna's existence. The disk was found in several pieces; this heavily restored version can be seen at the University Museum in Philadelphia. The disk was intentionally defaced in antiquity but that must have happened after 1900 B.C. as an Old Babylonian tablet copy of the inscription has also been found in its entirety
Original tablet
Reconstuction of alabaster disk,Philadephia

15. Enheduanna’s Inscription
Here are the first 4 lines of cuneiform:
1) en-he-du-an-na En-he-du-ana, 2) MUNUS.NUNUZ.ZI zirru priestess 3) dam-nanna wife of the god Nanna, 4) dumu daughter
The inscription continues:
5) sarru-GI of Sargon, 6) [ lugal] [king] of 7) KIS the world (Kish), 8) e-INANNA.ZA.ZA in the temple of the goddess 9) uri.KI-ma-ka Inanna- ZA.ZA in Ur, 10) bara-si-ga made a socle and 11) bi-e-du 12) bara bansur-an-na named it: 'dais, table of 13) mu-se bi-sa the god An'.

16. THEOCRACY: Kings: Servants of the Gods
The powerful gods communicate their desires to humanity through the medium of a powerful priestly class or autocratic king who serves as the intermediary. - Government of the gods/priest class - Ruler may be divine himself, or chosen by the god/gods - Each city had its own gods This system centralizes power in the hands of a small group of people and gives political decisions a religious authority
3. One of the most important cultural developments of this period is the concept of the powerful god communicating their desires to humanity through the medium of a powerful priest class or autocratic ruler who serves as the intermediary Theocracy govt. of the gods/priest class - ruler may be divine himself, or chosen by the god/gods - each city had it's own gods This system centralizes power in the hands of a small group of people and gives political decisions a religious authority
King Ur-Nammu rebuilt and enlarged one of the most important temples in ancient Mesopotamia - the E-kur of Enlil, the chief god of the pantheon. This figurine, which was buried in a foundation box beneath one of the temple towers, represents the king at the start of the building project - carrying on his head a basket of clay from which would be made the critically important first brick. The foundation deposit also contained an inscribed stone tablet; beads of frit, stone and gold; chips of various stones; and four ancient date pits found perched atop the basket carried by the king.
Sumerian King List

17. The City Center
Temples served civic and religious purposes
Daily sacrifices and rituals
Storage of surplus grain and other foods
Dwelling of priests and priestesses
Locale where craftsmen and artisans could practice their trades
Ziggurats: Temples to the Gods
In Mesopotamia some gods were thought to be physically present in the materials and experiences of daily life, while others were ethereal and diffuse. Enlil, considered the most powerful Mesopotamian god during most of the third millennium B.C., was a "raging storm" or "wild bull," while the goddess Inanna reappeared in different guises as the morning and evening star. Deities literally inhabited their cult statues after they had been animated by the proper rituals, and fragments of worn statues were preserved within the walls of the temple. This standing figure, with clasped hands and a wide-eyed gaze, is a worshiper. It was placed in the "Square Temple" at Tell Asmar, perhaps dedicated to the god Abu, in order to pray perpetually on behalf of the person it represented, was physically present in the statue. Similar statues were often inscribed with the names of rulers and their families.
Civilization of the Sumerian type dominated the whole of Semite Mesopotamia, particularly Mari, modern day Tell Hariri in Syria, explored from 1933 onwards by André Parrot, and in our own time by Jean Margueron. Here, statuary developed rapidly from the middle of the third millennium, and with a marked originality in comparison with the South. A cheerful optimism distinguishes it sharply from the severe expressions connected to the angular stylization of the preceding epoch, illustrated by the statuette of Ginak. The "superintendent" was in fact more the equivalent of a Minister of Finance. He had himself portrayed in the fur skirt which is rendered with remarkable realism revealing the "kaunakès" in the style shown for example on the Urnanshe relief.

18. Standard of Ur c. 2700 B.C.E. 8" x 19" A box inlaid with shell, lapis and red limestone
Scenes of War
The two-dimensional space is organized into registers. The two panels are narratives describing a military victory and celebratory feast - King rides chariot over the dead.
The Standard of Ur illustrates a conceptual rather than a naturalistic approach to description. Very stylized combination of profile and frontal poses - similar to the Egyptian approach to describing the human figure. The artist's primary goal is to create order and clarity - rather than precise description.
Scenes of Peace

19. Gilgamesh, the Hero-King
Ruled in Sumer c bc
Epic of Gilgamesh chronicles his reign
Evolves from selfish, uncontrolled autocrat to benevolent ruler via:
friendship
rebellion
loss
quest
recognition of mortality
acceptance of responsibilty and service to the goddess Ishtar (Inanna)

20. The young King Gilgamesh challenged and defeated all the young men and claimed any young woman for himself.

21. The people prayed to the gods for help, The gods decided to create a challenger-companion for Gilgamesh.
Standing male worshiper, 2750–2600 B.C.; Early Dynastic period II; Sumerian style Alabaster (gypsum), shel, black limestone; Height 11.9 in. MMA

22. ~The goddess of Creation, Aruru, conceived an image in her mind, and it was of the stuff of Anu, of the firmament. She dipped her hands in water and pinched off clay, and let it fall in the wilderness, and Noble Enkidu was Created. There was Virtue in him, of the god of War, of Ninurta Himself.~ He was called ENKIDU. Enkidu lived happily with the animals of the forest ….
ENKIDU

23. Civilizing Enkidu
A priestess from the Temple of Inanna was brought to Enkidu. She
made love with him
taught him to wear clothes
taught him to eat bread
taught him to drink beer
brought him to Gilgamesh

24. Humbaba, Guardian of the Cedar Forests
Gilgamesh and Enkidu achieved many great adventures together
They decided to challenge the guardian of the great Cedar Forests, Humbaba

25. Ishtar and Gilgamesh Gilgamesh scorns Ishtar
To punish this insult, she sends the Bull of Heaven against Gilgamesh and Enkidu
The two heroes slay the Bull of Heaven and fling its haunches in Ishtar’s face
The gods are enraged

26. Gilgamesh is devastated
the death of Enkidu from Hard Crossing: the Story of Gilgamesh, The Total Theatre, NYC, May 1986

27. He seeks Utnapishtim to gain eternal life and loses his prize to a snake

28. Gilgamesh famed for building walls and protecting his city
The gates of Ishtar

29. LAWS: The Code of Hammurabi, ca. 1760 bce
2350 bce law reform by King Urukagina of Lagash to protect exploited citizens
21st c. bce: earliest extant law code from Ur-Nammu (1000 years before the 10 Commandments
Like a series of other remarkable works from the Mesopotamian civilization, this tall stele originally stood in a town of Babylon and was taken as spoil to Susa by the Elamites in the 12th century. It was discovered by the de Morgan expedition and its text was translated in six months by Father Vincent Scheil. Hammurabi was the 6th king of the first Babylonian dynasty, and he was first to establish the supremacy of his city which had been of modest standing only. What he had engraved on this stele is not so much a "code" as a collection of exemplary royal pronouncement in keeping with a tradition established by the Sumerians. The bas-relief at the top is a sober representation of the meeting of king and god. The king wears the royal headpiece like Gudea; he holds his hand before his face in the act of prayer. The sun-god Shamash, patron of justice, is recognizable from the flames flaring on his shoulders.
Law-Codex of Hammurabi,first half of the 18th century BCE, Basalt, Louvre
Full Text of the Code of Hammurabi

30. Victory Stele of Naram Sim c. 2300- 2200 B.C.E. 61/2' tall, sandstone
Continual warfare among Sumerian city states and against invading tribes eventually led to the downfall of Sumerian civilization. But the influence of Sumerian civilization was felt in throughout the Near East, Egypt, India, the Mediterranean civilizations: Crete, Mycenae, Greece, Rome, and in Judeo-Christian traditions.
Naram Sin was Sargon's grandson. This stele commerates his victory over a tribe of mountain people. A stele is a monolithic monument that commemorates an historical event. The Stele of Naram Sin has a formality and rigidity similar to Egyptian art. Compare its strong diagonal composition with the horizontal registers of the Standard of Ur. Naram Sin is depicted as a god with a headdress of power and authority he stands above all others heading to the mountain top - the subdued enemies lie before him and he steps on one His triumph is clearly described as his army follows
A stele is a monolithic monument that commemorates an historical event. The Stele of Naram Sin has a formality and rigidity similar to Egyptian art. Compare its strong diagonal composition with the horizontal registers of the Standard of Ur.
Victory Stele of Naram Sim c B.C.E /2' tall, sandstone

31. Flood Myths Flood myths are present on every continent
Leeming: “The pattern behind the many forms that the flood myth takes is the archetype of the productive sacrifice…. The flood myth…reminds us that life depends on death, that without death there can be no cycle, no birth.
Floods connected with cleansing, washing away of blunders or evil
Spared survivors are heroes of a new life

32. Ante- Diluvian Post- Diluvian
Blundered creation
Error or evil by mankind
Period of degradation
Sacrifice and thanksgiving
Salvation of survivors
Retreat of gods from intimate relationship with mankind
But: new and renewed relationship between humanity and divine consecrated
Humans must work to live: learned arts and skills for survival

33. Mesopotamian and Hebrew Flood Myths
Gilgamesh text: ca bce
Utnapishtim or Ziusudra
Enlil annoyed by human noise
Ea/Enki warns Utnapishtim in dream of oncoming flood
Boat built in 7 days
Contents: family, kin, animals, craftsmen, gold
6 days and 6 nights of rain and rising water
Ishtar (Inanna) regrets divine council’s decision
Boat lands on Mt. Nisir
Dove, swallow and raven released
Sacrifice and libation
Ishtar’s necklace set in sky as token
Genesis text: ca bce
Noah
God dismayed by evil of mankind
Noah chosen as righteous man
Noah follows God’s directions to build ark
Contents: family, 7 of clean beasts, 2 of unclean
40 days and 40 nights of rain
All mankind perishes except Noah’s family
Ark lands on Mt. Ararat
Raven, dove, dove released\
Burnt offerings
Rainbow sent in sky as token of new covenant between God and mankind.