living in ancient mesopotamia (living in the ancient world)

L I V I N G I N …

ANCIENTMESOPOTAMIA

L I V I N G I N …

ANCIENTMESOPOTAMIA

Series consultant editor: Norman Bancroft Hunt

LIVING IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA

Text and design © 2009 Thalamus Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any formor by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or byany information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from thepublisher. For information contact:

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bancroft-Hunt, Norman.Living in Ancient Mesopotamia / Norman Bancroft Hunt. — 1st ed.

p. cm. — (Living in the ancient world)Includes index.ISBN 978-0-8160-6337-6

1. Iraq—History—To 634. 2. Iraq—Social life and customs. 3. Iraq—Religious lifeand customs. I.Title. II. Series.

DS71.B36 2008935—dc22

2008005265

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For Thalamus PublishingSeries consultant editor: Norman Bancroft HuntProject editor:Warren LapworthMaps and design: Roger Kean

Printed and bound in China

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1This book is printed on acid-free paper

Picture acknowledgmentsAll illustrations by Oliver Frey except for – Jean-Claude Golvin: 10–11; John James/Temple Art: 18–19, 32–33;Roger Kean: 12–13 (all), 35 (center); Mike White/Temple Art: 60, 61 (top and bottom), 68–69, 74, 86–87 (main), 88–89.

Photographs – Paul Almasy/Corbis: 83;Archivo Iconografica/Corbis: 20, 39, 40, 68, 74 (left), 74 (right), 76; Bettman/Corbis: 35;Gianni Dagli Orti/Corbis: 25, 36 (Bottom), 37, 39, 46, 46 (Inset), 50, 53, 62, 63, 72 (both), 79; David Lees/Corbis: 36 (top), 55;Francis G. Mayer/Coris: 40 (top); Sandro Vannini/Corbis: 93;Thalamus Publishing: 45, 73; Nik Wheeler/Corbis: 14.

CONTENTS

Introduction

Place in History 6

What Mesopotamia Did for Us 7

Landscape and Climate 8

A Brief History of Mesopotamia, 6000–539 BCE 10

Table of Major Dates 12

Chapter 1:The Sumerians

Expanding onto the Plain 14

Building Southern Mesopotamia 16

Early Village Life 18

Invention of the Wheel, 3500–3250 BCE 20

Tepe Gawra—a Temple Through Time 23

The Bronze Age Begins, 3500 BCE 24

Growth of the Town 26

The Invention of Writing, 5000–2000 BCE 28

A City Dwelling 30

An Aristocrat’s House 33

Sumerian Family Life—the Family Structure 34

Sumerian Family Life—Clothing and Adornment 36

Sumerian Family Life—Daily Food 38

The Government of Sumer, c.2300 BCE 40

AVisit to the Temple 42

Worshipping the Gods 44

War Gets Organized 46

Akkad Conquers Sumer 48

Chapter 2: Creating Order

The Legacy of Hammurabi 50

Making New Laws 52

Reaching for the Heavens 54

Reading the Heavens 56

Medicine in Mesopotamia 58

Mesopotamian Literature—Creation and Gilgamesh 60

Exit from Ur—the Spread of Mesopotamian Culture 62

Chapter 3:The Age of Super States

Indo-Europeans Occupy Mesopotamia 64

The Rise and Fall of Assyria, 1420–609 BCE 66

Assyrian Society 68

The Assyrian Family 70

An Assyrian Soldier’s Life 72

Forced Migrations 75

Hunting—the Sport of Kings 76

Cities of Splendor and Learning 78

Chapter 4: New Babylonia

The Glory of Nebuchadnezzar’s City 80

A Society Run by Priests 82

Daily Life in Babylon—Home and Festival 84

The Hanging Gardens 86

The God Marduk 88

The Tower of Babel 91

Achaemenids, Seleucids,Arsacids, and Sassanids 92

Glossary 94

Index 96

Place in History

6000 BCE

4000 BCE

3500 BCE

2340 BCE

1900 BCE

1600

BCE

1100

BCE

539

BC

E

3100 BCE

2686 BCE

2200BCE

2040BCE

1782

BCE

1570

BCE10

70BC

E

747

BCE

332

BC

E 30B

CE

2600 BCE

1100

BCE

800

BC

E

500

BC

E 146B

CE

753

BC

E

509

BC

E 27B

CE

7

Mesopotamia’s place in

history is unique. It was

here that, in the Western world,

primitive humans became the first

farmers, the first town dwellers,

and the creators of urban

civilization. In Mesopotamia were

discovered the secrets of fire, of

bronze, and of the wheel.

Literature began with the

development of a universal writing

system. Science began its first

halting steps with simple and then

ever more sophisticated

mathematics. It was in

Mesopotamia that kings evolved a

code of common law on which

much of history would depend. No

wonder, then, that Mesopotamia is

called the “Cradle of Civilization.”

INTRODUCTION

What Mesopotamia Didfor Us

476C

E

800CE

1200 CE

1350 CE

1450 CE

The Fertile Crescent is a semicircle ofland stretching from the southeast coast

of the Mediterranean Sea, around the SyrianDesert north of Arabia, to the Persian Gulf.

The ancient region of Mesopotamiacovered what today is the north of Syria, thesoutheast of Turkey, most of central Iraq, anda small part of western Iran.The northernareas are dominated by steep hills throughwhich the Euphrates and Tigris flow in deepchannels.The southern region is a mix ofmarshy plain and desert.

Throughout Mesopotamia, the typicalclimate consists of hot summers andrelatively cold winters. Rainfall occurs in thewinter and spring, but it is unevenlydistributed and concentrated mostly on thenorthern rim. For this reason, only UpperMesopotamia—the northern region—cansupport crops fed by rainfall. In theremainder, farming is dependent on theflood plains of the Euphrates,Tigris, andtheir tributaries.The ancient farmers alsoused irrigation canals running between therivers. Only nomadic tribesmen lived in thenorthern central plain between the tworivers and beyond the rivers’ valleys.

A changing coastlineAlthough the climate has remained relativelyunchanged over 10,000 years, the course ofthe rivers in the southern plain has alteredmany times. Since the ancients relied onhaving a supply of water nearby, any townsalong its banks had to be abandonedwhenever the river changed its course.Thetwo rivers carry a great deal of silt from theTurkish and Armenian Mountains, and overthe years this has built up in the PersianGulf.As a result the Gulf ’s coastline haschanged greatly from ancient times andtoday this has left ports such as Ur morethan 150 miles inland.

The first farmers migrated from theZagros Mountains by 6000 BCE, where theyhad learned to cultivate the wild wheat that

grew in the rainy hills.They began to digtrenches to irrigate the plain, and beganmaking settlements.They were theSumerians, and this is when our storybegins, on page 14.


8

Landscape and ClimateMesopotamia means “between the rivers,” and is the name given to the narrowstrip of land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Mesopotamia forms the largerpart of what historians call the “Fertile Crescent.”

8

1. Khorramshahr2. Abadan3. Khosrowabad4. Al Faw5. Mah Shahr

6. River Karun7. Shatt al Arab(combined flow ofEuphrates and Tigris)8. Bubiyan (islandbelongs to Kuwait)9. Persian Gulf

Uruk

Babylon

A R A B I A

Nineveh

Damascus

PersianGulf

REDSEA

BLACK SEA

Harran

Aleppo

Mari

Area of photograph

Ugarit

Ur

Euphrates

Tigris

Tigris

Euphrates

ME S

OP

OT

A

MI A

ZAG

ROS

MO

UNTA INS

9

INTRODUCTION

2

1

6

7

9

3

4

5

The far south of Mesopotamia seen from space

The archaeologist’s task is not an easyone—piecing together the lives of long-

dead races from the remains of theircivilization. In Mesopotamia, history comesin vertical slices, cut through the numeroustells that abound throughout the region. Tellis the technical term given to the largemounds created by thousands of years ofbuilding on the same spot.

Because the bricks were made of mudallowed to dry out under the baking sun,they crumbled easily.This meant that theycould not be reused in the building of a newhouse, and so the builders just knocked theminto a pile to make a foundation for the nextbuilding on top. In this way, over time, thesettlements rose well above the level of theplain as large mounds.

Sumerian inventorsThe first civilization is known as ’Ubaid,after Tell-al-’Ubaid, where distinctive typesof pottery were first discovered.The ’Ubaidculture spread all across southern and centralMesopotamia, and the first temples werebegun.The ’Ubaid Period was followed bythe Sumerians in about 3500 BCE.

The people of Sumer spoke a languageunrelated to any other, and we do not knowexactly where they came from beforeappearing in Mesopotamia, though it wasmost likely some region of Asia. But theywere not a unified race, preferring to makeindependent settlements, each with its ownruler, and they often made war on each other.

The Sumerians prospered, and theiroriginal small villages grew into large urbancenters, such as Ur, the most famous city ofits time.They built even bigger temples tothe various Mesopotamian gods, and arefamed for the discovery of many sciences wetake for granted today, such as the wheel, analphabet and writing system, andmathematics.

Sumer’s neighbor to the east was theIranian land of Elam.To the north dwelt

many mountain peoples, collectively knownas the Guti.Adjoining Sumer in a westerlysemicircle were the Semites.They were anextension of the inhabitants of Palestine andCanaan, known in Mesopotamia as theAkkadians, after their capital city of Agade.Later on they become distinguished in thesouth as Babylonians and in the north asAssyrians.

In 2340 BCE, the Akkadians caused the fallof the Sumerian city-states, but in all theevents that followed, the Sumerians neverdisappeared.Their culture simply became apart of the conquerors’ societies, andSumerian influence continued to be feltthroughout the subsequent eras.

The first Mesopotamian empireThe Akkadians were led by King Sargon in2335–2279 BCE. He is often called the firstempire builder, because he united all thewarring Sumerian city-states under hisbanner. His empire stretched all the wayfrom the Persian Gulf to the Mediterraneanin what is today Lebanon.

In 2230 BCE, the Guti swept out of theZagros Mountains and took control ofSumeria for 120 years.The Sumerian kingsregained their independence between 2109and 2000 BCE, but then declined and fellprey to the Elamites. In time, these Elamitesmerged with the Sumerians.

Babylon becomes a powerFrom 1900 BCE, the city of Babylon grew inpower, and in 1763, the Babylonian KingHammurabi extended his influencethroughout Mesopotamia. He was first of along line of kings that ruled what is calledOld Babylonia for 300 years. Babyloniaadopted Sumerian writing and countingsystems, and developed geometry, algebra,calculus and logarithmic tables.

Babylonia’s administrative system was soefficient that it influenced every empire thatfollowed it—although the state was not left

10


A Brief History of Mesopotamia, 6000–539 BCEOver a period of almost 5500 years, many different types of people inhabited ancient Mesopotamia. What we know aboutthem comes from archaeological excavations.

Representing the earlyera, this female tombfigure of c.5000 BCE is apre-Sumerian “mothergoddess.” Representingthe later period, the cityof Babylon at its peak:the Hanging Gardens(pages 86–87 )dominate the Euphratesand the royal palacebeyond and to the right.The blue-colored archin the center is thefamous Ishtar Gate(pages 88–89 ). TheTower of Babel is off thepicture to the right.

alone. Between 1600 and 1100 BCE it wasattacked by more Elamites, Hittites from thenorth, and Kassites from the northernZagros.The Kassite kings establishedthemselves at Babylon, but were themselves

attacked by the Elamites, and then by theAssyrians.

Under its powerful kings,Assyriagrew from 1400 to its maximumextent in 680 BCE, dominating all ofMesopotamia and much of theMediterranean coast, until it too fell toa new foe—the Persian Medes. Ourstory ends with them, their Tower of

Babel, and their famous KingNebuchadnezzar II. His was a short-livedempire—between 605–562 BCE—and hisweak successors were unable to preventthe disintegration of the state. It fell tothe Achaemenid Persians (the enemiesof ancient Greece), who were followedby the Arsacid Parthian dynasty (foes ofthe Roman Empire) and theirsuccessors, the Sassanian Persians.A

brief account of their history may befound on pages 92–93.

11

INTRODUCTION

Queen of citiesThe reconstruction below shows Babylonat its height, during Nebuchadnezzar’sreign (605–562 BCE).The city is capital ofa vast empire, including the entirety ofMesopotamia, that rivals that of Egypt.

Covering an area of some 2470 acres,Babylon figures in its time as the largeston earth. Its outermost wall encloses anarea of over 4.5 square miles, in the centerof which rises the heart of the city—arectangle spanning almost 2 miles on thelongest side and by 1.25 miles on theother.

This center consists of two unequalparts, split by the Euphrates andconnected by a bridge.To the west lies theNew City, protected by double walls; tothe east a triple-walled defense protectsthe more important zone known as theOld Quarter, essentially composed of theroyal palace complex, palatial residencesand religious cult monuments.

12

PEOPLEANDCULTURE

MAJORTIMEFRAMES

MILITARYANDPOLITICS

• Ice Age ends• First permanentsettlement at Qal’atJarmo (near Kirkuk)in mountain foothills• Northern farmersleave rainbelt tosettle in the plains,c.6000• Simple pottery incommon usage

• ’Ubaid style potterystarts appearing• Beginning ofirrigation along riverbanks• Plow inventeddrawn by cattle,c.4500

• Eridu, world’s firstcity, founded• Reign of kings isrecognized by priests• City of Nippurfounded, c.4500

• Widespread tradealong rivers andcanals facilitates riseof bigger temples andcities• Wheel invented,c.3500• Simple bronze toolsin use, c.3250

• Elamites found theircapital city of Susa• City of Urukfounded, c.3800• Sumerians occupy southernMesopotamia, c.3500

• Sumerians developcuneiform writing• Construction of theRoyal Tombs of Ur,2600, excavated byLeonard Woolley inthe 20th century

• Babylon founded,c.3000• Sumerian city-states dominate southernMesopotamia• Nineveh founded,c.2800• Elamites make waron Ur, 2700• Uruk dominationended by Ur, 2600

• King Ur-Nammuwrites his lawcode, c.2050• Domesticatedhorses are used,c.2000

• Assyrian city ofAshur founded innorthernMesopotamia• City-states ofSumeria waragainst eachother, 2585–2375

Table of Major DatesAll dates BCE 7000 5000 4000 3000 2500

Gutian Period2230–2109

’Ubaid Period5200–3500

Three Dynasties of Ur2560–2004

Sumerians2900–c.2340

Small farming

settlement in the

Zagros Mountain

foothills, c.5000 BCE.

Figurine of a

praying Sumerian

man, called

an orant.

Early bronze sickle

with wooden handle.

Impression from

a cylinder seal.

13

INTRODUCTION

• Texts begin to detailscience, diplomacy,and religion as wellas administration• Domesticatedhorses begin to beused for pulling carts• Mari established askey point on tradingroute between Syriaand Mesopotamia• Code of Hammurabiof Babylon formulated• Abraham leaves Ur,travels to Israel,c.1900–1750

• Royal dynastyfounded at Babylon,1900• Assyrian rulers ofAshur, Nineveh, andArbel unite, 1800• Hittites establishcapital of Hattusas inTurkey, 1750• Hittites invadeBabylonia, 1595

• Hittites becomefirst culture to smeltiron, 1500• First real“alphabet” isemployed at Ugarit

• Egyptians underThutmose III waragainst Hittites, 1460• Assyria becomesindependent ofHittites, 1365• Battle of Kadeshbetween Egyptiansand Hittites, 1275.Both sides claimvictory• Egypt makes peacewith Hittites, 1272• Shalmaneser Ifounds Nimrud, 1250• Kassites driveElamites out ofBabylon andAssyrians beginsouthward expansion,1185• Tilgath-Pileserconfirms Assyrianrule of Babylon, 1100

• Ashurnasirpal’sgreat palace isbuilt at Nimrud

• Chaldeansinvade city of Ur,c.900• Nimrudbecomes Assyriancapital, c.870

• Dur-Sharrukin isconstructed asAssyrian capital ofSargon II, but nevercompleted, 720–705

• Tilgath-Pileser IIIdeclares himself kingof Assyria andBabylon, 729• The Ten Tribes ofIsrael expelled fromPalestine by KingSargon II, 722• Carchemish, lastHittite stronghold,falls to Assyria, 717

• King Ashurbanipalbuilds his Library atNineveh, c.650, andcollects works fromthe “known world”• Birth ofZarathustra, founderof the Zoroastrianreligion, c.628

• Assyrian kingSennacherib destroysBabylon, 689• Assyria conquersEgypt, 671• Medes make Persiaa vassal state, 640• Nabopolassar,Assyrian governor ofBabylon, makeshimself king of thenew Chaldeanempire, 626• Nabopolassardefeats Assyrians intwo battles, 616• Assyrians makeHarran their capital,612, abandoned 609• Nebuchadnezzar IIsucceeds his fatherNabopolassar, 605

• Nebuchadnezzar IIbuilds the HangingGardens andcompletes theziggurat ofEtemenanki (Tower ofBabel), c.590–560

• Nabodinus, last ofthe Neo-Babylonian/Chaldean dynasty isdefeated by PersianKing Cyrus II• First Persian Empireof the Achaemenids,539–330, finallyoverthrown byAlexander the Greatof Macedon

2000 1500 1000 800 700 600 500

Old Babylonia1900–1100

Assyrian Empire1429–609

Mittani invasions1500–1275

Hittite invasions1600–1300

Temple at Uruk

Cuneiform clay tablet

Gold necklace of leaves

In the Zagros Mountains and their foothillsthe rainfall amounts to 12 inches a year—

the minimum required to grow crops.Nearer to the Tigris there is very little or norainfall, but the farmers have learned how toharness the river system by digging irrigationcanals to water the fertile desert soil.As aresult, even though there is insufficient rain,they will be able to raise more crops thanwas ever possible when they lived in thehills.

Soon, the isolated farming settlementsgrow into small towns. One of the earliestknown is called Hassunah. Its larger housesconsist of six rooms arranged around acourtyard.There are large jars for storinggrain and domed bread ovens.Their potteryis already elegant in shape, decorated withsimple patterns in brown (see page 20).

The beginnings of civilizationFurther to the south lies Tell-es-Sawwan, rightbeside the Tigris, and to its east on the rim ofthe plain sits Choga Mami. Both of thesevillages, being later than Hassunah, are larger—perhaps a thousand people live here.Thehouses are bigger—some even have twofloors.And the villages have defensive ditchesand embankments because there is theconstant danger of raids from othersettlements.

In some cases there is evidence of cobbledstreets, which indicates a primitive form ofgovernment, since civil authority is requiredto maintain shared areas of a township.Theseearly streets generally lead into the village’scenter, where there is a large open space forpublic access and meetings. It also acts as amarket place for the local farmers to selltheir produce.

Kings and conquestInterestingly, most of the decorated potteryand burials are located within these publicspaces, rather than restricted to householdareas, as has previously been the case.Thisindicates that the inhabitants have developedcommunity rituals, and also an associatedformal leadership—the first kings.

14

CHAPTER 1

Expanding onto the PlainIt is about 6000 BCE, and a major change in where people liveis occurring as some northern farmers move out of themountainous rain belt and onto the desert plain.

The Sumerians

Once they have established controlover their own village, kings start to look

further afield and want to extend theirpower over other settlements.This is whyeven the early Mesopotamian villages musthave a defensive perimeter.

15

CHAPTER 1: THE SUMERIANS

river-fed irrigation

limit of rain-fed farming

region for growing wild cereals

river plain colonization, 5th–4th millennia

farm settlement, 9000–6000

settlement in Lower Mesopotamia,5000–4000 BCE

HassunahTepe Gawra

HalafLakeUrmia

PersianGulf

Samarra

Choga Mami

ancientcoastlineNippur

Tell-al-’Ubaid

Warka

Eridu

Tell-es-Sawwan

Jarmo

Brak

The illustration on theleft shows the sharpcontrasts ofMesopotamia—lushriver-fed land, desert,and the distant,enclosing mountains.

Above: In the earlymorning the villagers goout through thedefensive wall with theirflocks of sheep andgoats to grazing land.The settlement boasts afew two-story houses,an open meeting andmarket area, and pavedstreet.

Euphrates

Tigris

U P P E RM E S O P O T A M

I A

L O W E RM E S O P O T A M I A

ZA

GR O

SM

OU

NT

AI N

S

Early Mesopotamian agriculture

By careful selectionof the best grains forplanting, earlyfarmers improve thesize and quality ofwheat and barleygrain.

wildcereal

cultivatedcereal

Over the years tamedwild sheep (top) havebeen bred to producethe smaller, dociledomestic animal below.

The land in Lower Mesopotamia is morerecent than in the mountainous north.

The soil here has been built up overthousands of years by the silt brought downfrom the mountains of Armenia through thetireless activity of the Tigris and Euphratesrivers.Their silt is constantly adding to theland surface and cutting down the water areaat the head of the Persian Gulf.

The first Sumerians to occupy this marshybasin are pioneers, engineers who must workhard to make the ground firm and suitablefor the cultivation of crops. Fortunately, theSumerians are helped by one plant thatgrows in natural abundance in waterloggedground—marsh reeds.

Land reclamation schemeAs the labeled picture shows, some workerscut the reeds (A) and spread them out onground at the edge of the marsh to dry out(B).When the reeds are almost dry, a secondgroup weaves them into lengths of matting(C).These mats are then placed over the livereeds in the marsh and stamped down (D).Of course, the mats become soggy—but thatis the point.As several layers of interlockingmats begin to rot into the live reeds beneaththem, the marsh begins to stabilize.

Now the Sumerian farmers can begin tobring soil from the desert edges and throw itover the rotting reed mats (E).The processtakes a very long time, but eventually entireregions of the rivers’ banks are made firm.When the rivers flood, the extra silt isdeposited over the reclaimed land, furtheradding to its fertility.

16


Building Southern MesopotamiaSouth of Tell-es-Sawwan, the primitive people of Lower Mesopotamia face a different problem with river water to their neighbors in the north—flooding.

A baked clay sickle(right) and a bone-handled one with insetflint teeth for sawing areexamples of tools earlyMesopotamians use.

A B

C

Giving thanks for the landThe cut reeds are also used for building theearly dwellings and granaries of Sumer. Ofone or two rooms, the thatched walls rise upinto a curving roof.This is left open alongthe center to allow light into the hut.Because there is almost no rainfall, theSumerians do not have to worry aboutgetting the insides of their homes wet.

Close to the reclaimed land, the mostimportant building is the cult hut (F). It isdistinguished from domestic structures bythe mud plastered on its outer walls.Whenthis has dried out, patterns of religioussignificance are cut into the plastered surface.

A bundle of reeds tied near the top makesthe two graceful curves that the Sumeriansassociate with the mother goddess, for this isher dwelling place. She is implored toprotect the local Sumerians, their livestock,and crops from harm and disease.To honorher, the farmers make offerings of speciallydecorated pottery vessels, the most treasureditems the early Sumerians possess.

17


D

E

F

Most people who live in this village arefarmers, fishermen, or herders, but

there are a few men who make pottery ormanufacture weapons and utensils.A farmermust be capable of making and repairing hisown tools, though he might pay for somehelp from a specialist in metalworking. Noone has any money—coinage has not beeninvented yet—so farmers pay potters andmetalsmiths for their services in kind, whichmeans they agree on how much food thefarmer will give the worker for his efforts.

Better housingThis small village, like almost all those inSumer, clusters on the river bank.This is thesource of water for drinking, bathing, andwashing laundry.The early reed-thatchedhuts have been replaced by sturdier homesbuilt from sun-dried mud bricks, which arethen given a coating of mud plaster andpainted with a mud-lime mixture.This driesto a white color, which reflects the harshsunlight and helps to keep the interiors cool.The roofs are made from reed matting, as arethe beehive-shaped granaries, barns, andanimal stables.

New farming inventionsThe farmers in this village can cultivate a lotof land because they have plows.The plow ispulled by two oxen with a driver walkingbehind to guide the plowshare and ensure itswooden blade digs into the soil. News hasreached the villagers that a neighboringsettlement has made a tremendousimprovement by replacing the wooden bladewith one made from the new metal calledbronze (see pages 24–25).

For sowing, the farmer uses a newinvention, an ox-drawn seed drill.This plantsthe seeds in rows instead of “broadcasting,”or scattering the seed by hand.The plow-likedevice makes a furrow in the soil, and seedsin a wooden box trickle through a funneland tube, then drop into the furrow.

Harnessing the riverAlthough the Tigris and Euphrates floodtheir banks each spring, for the rest of theyear the sun bakes hard the reclaimed land.These farmers have learned how to buildirrigation canals in order to store the riverwater and bring it to the fields. In this way,over the years, they have been able to plowand plant fields much further from the riverthan before.

With more land under cultivation, thevillage grows more food than it needs. It cansell this surplus to neighboring settlements.Having more food releases more peoplefrom farming to specialize in making usefulgoods—some men are given the permanenttask of looking after the cult house and themother goddess.They are the first priests.

18


Early Village LifeThe early villages have developed from the original farmingsettlements. But as they grow larger, their inhabitants stilldepend on farming the land immediately around them.

Boats are made ofbound-together reeds.The hollow coracle(right) is waterproofedwith animal hide coated with tar.

Crops grownThe main crops raised at this period arewheat and barley.A variety of vegetables(see page 38) is grown in smaller fields andlocal gardens, while the palms lining therivers and canals provide dates.Domesticated sheep, goats, and cattle arereared, and the rivers give the people fishand wild waterfowl.

An old saying claims that “necessity is themother of invention,” and it is certainly

true of the wheel.While the Sumerianfarming settlements remain isolated, there isneither the need for trade nor the goods tosell. But our village has grown much larger,it is producing surplus food, and its potterscan make more items than the village needs.

The potters and the farmers want to tradethis surplus with other villages wheredifferent kinds of items are made. But theirsmall reed boats are unstable when loadedand pack animals are both expensive and donot carry a sufficient weight for their cost.

From clay pots to wheeled cartsMeanwhile, the potters have been clever.They have discovered that they can maketheir pots more quickly by raising the clayvessels on a hand- or foot-operatedturntable—a wheel. Not only is the processof “throwing” the clay faster, the resultingpots are much more accurately formed andelegant.We do not know who firstrecognized the benefit of adapting thepotter’s wheel for use in transport, but awheeled vehicle pulled by two oxen cancarry a greater weight of goods than thesame number of pack animals.

Making a wheelThe solid wooden wheels are made fromtwo or three lengths of plank cut to form adisk and fastened together with wooden orcopper staples.Two wheels are thenconnected through their centers to an axle.Linchpins hammered through the end of theaxle on either side of the wheel hold it inplace, while allowing it to turn freely.

Four-wheeled carts are the most popular,though some villagers prefer the lighter two-wheeled version.The carts are drawn by oneor more oxen, harnessed to the vehicle in amanner similar to that of the plow.

20


Invention of the Wheel, 3500–3250 BCEAfter the discovery of fire in prehistoric times, no other development has made such an impact on humankind as the invention of the wheel. This magnificent device first appears here in Mesopotamia.

The ’Ubaid Period, c.5200–3500 BCE

The earliest permanent settlement ofLower Mesopotamia occurs some timebefore 5000, probably the consequence ofnon-Semitic tribes moving into theregion.This marks the beginning of the’Ubaid Period, which is named after thecity of Tell-al-’Ubaid, where pottery witha distinctive type of geometric decorationis first made. But it is not restricted to thecity: ’Ubaid pots may be found far to thesouth along the Persian Gulf coast, and it’smade as far north as Tepe Gawra (see thefollowing pages).

An early ’Ubaid potteryvase of c.4500 BCE,typically decorated withbrown-coloredgeometric patterning.

An ’Ubaid potter raisesup a new vase on hiswheel, turned by theapprentice’s hands.Behind them, anotherpotter loads the simplewood-fired kiln withdried pots, whilegreeting a passingtrader on hiswheeled cart.

The wheel develops tradeThe invention of the wheeled cart hasspeeded up trade and increased the distance

it is possible to travel.Amongthe many types of goodscarried in carts, few are asprized as ’Ubaid pots—fortheir fine decoration innaturalistic designs of plants,birds, fish, animals, and

sometimes landscapes.However, the commodity

needed most by the village iscopper ore for making metalobjects, such as plow blades andknives. Fortunately, thosesettlements close to supplies of

the raw ore are willing to trade somefor the beautiful pottery vessels made in thisvillage. How the copper ore is used isexplained on pages 24–25.

21


Right: A pack-droverwatches enviously asheavily laden two- andfour-wheeled wagonspass his mule, carryingas much as it can. Thefirst wheels are simplecreations (below) butthey revolutionize trade.Lighter, spoked wheelswill not be used untilabout 2000 BCE.

22

The temple forecourt isa place of muchcommunity activity: abarber shaves a man’shead to the tune of aboy’s shin-bone pipe.

Above right: Villagerscongregate for areligious ceremony, asthe statue of a deity ispulled to the shrine’sentrance on a sled.

23

The sacred precinct of Tepe Gawra, whichlies 15 miles northeast of modern

Mosul, Iraq, is typical of early Mesopotamiantemples of the ’Ubaid Period.There are 26layers of settlement sitting one on top of theother at Tepe Gawra, each one a little smallerin area than the preceding one.The mostsplendid period is found at Level 13, datingto approximately 3500 BCE.

Elegant shrinesThe temple consists of three monumentalshrines arranged in a U around a forecourt.As seen in the reconstruction, the nearestshrine is decorated with a vermilion coating,the central shrine is decorated with whiteplaster, while the one to the left retains thenatural coloring of its sun-dried bricks.

Although the bricks used in each shrineare of different sizes, all three buildings usepiers and pilasters (a half-column attached tothe main wall), which create niches on theoutside to enhance their visual appeal.

There are tombs surrounding the sacredprecinct, some brick-built and some of cutstone, depending on the wealth of thefamilies who own them.Three, in particular,indicate the great wealth of their owners,with grave goods of gold, electrum (an alloyof gold and silver), lapis lazuli gemstones, andivory.These are all imported materials from

the north and south of Mesopotamia, andindicate the advanced level of trading.

Manufacturing wealthPottery of the ’Ubaid style is made atTepe Gawra, and it is traded far andwide because it is more reliable thanthe work from other places.This isbecause the potters here have

discovered how to build closed kilns forfiring the clay, which results in highertemperatures and therefore stronger vessels.

Other manufacturing at Tepe Gawraincludes fine stone-cutting of objects rangingfrom sickle and weapon blades to engravedstamp seals (see page 29), and the craft ofobsidian carving.Translucent obsidian is avolcanic stone that resembles glass when theraw block is gently ground down into abowl or other container. Since it takes a lotof skill and patience to make one obsidianvessel, only the very rich can afford them.


Tepe Gawra—a Temple Through TimeWhile the Sumerian farmers in Lower Mesopotamia tame theriver marshes and invent the plow, further north ’Ubaidcivilization has reached a higher level of sophistication.

Tepe Gawra

EriduUrTell-al-’Ubaid

Finds of ’Ubaid potteryfrom Ur along thePersian Gulf coastindicate that tradebetween Mesopotamiaand Arabia hasalready begun duringthis period. modern

coastline

ancientcoastline

Euphra te s

sou thern rain l imi t

Ti g r i s

P e r s i a nG

u l f

This is the statuette ofKurlil, an official of Urukwho is responsible forwork on the temple ofthe Sumerian fertilitygoddess Ninhursag atTell-al-’Ubaid. It datesfrom c.2500 BCE. Theearly Sumerians setfigurines of themselvesin temples to pray ontheir behalf.

Z AGRO

S

MO

UN

TA

INS

For more than a thousand years, the earlySumerians have been making objects by

hammering lumps of raw copper ore, butthis is a slow and laborious process. Manymetalworkers now prefer the process ofheating the ore to a high temperature in acontainer called a crucible—a process knownas smelting.This makes the “slag” wastematerial separate from the pure copper,which is poured off and much easier to workwith.While still hot the copper can be castin pottery molds to form elegant shapes.Thesame is also done with gold and silver.

But far more exciting is the discovery ofbronze. By using bellows to make the woodfire under the crucible burn even hotter, theimported copper is smelted together withimported tin.The resulting metal alloy ismuch stronger than copper alone.

24


The Bronze Age Begins, 3500 BCEThe rise of farming and town-dwelling has led to the possession of goodsand a demand for more intricate and beautiful objects. The discovery ofbronze revolutionizes Mesopotamia.

A rough shape is made in clay. Bronzepins are inserted (A)and a wax model isbuilt around the core (B). The pinskeep the clay core in place after the wax melts as the clayis fired. The waxmodel is covered byan outer clay mold (C).Molten bronze ispoured into the gapleft by the wax (D).

Lost-wax casting

A

The traditional craft ofhammering copper tocreate artifacts givesway to casting themolten metal in claymolds. The increasedheat achieved by usingbellows leads to thediscovery of a toughnew metal alloy, bronze.

Tools, such asthis sickle,benefit frombronze’sgreaterstrength.

The superiority of a bronze ax or sword is amplydemonstrated when used against counterparts madefrom the traditional hammered copper or cut flint.

The need to control supplyThe power as well as the beauty of bronze isnot lost on Sumer’s neighbors whenSumerian merchants begin trading utensils,weapons, and armor. Obtaining materials forthis new technique becomes literally amatter of life and death. Since the knownsources of copper and tin are limited andwidely scattered, control of the supply routesis essential. Everyone wants to monopolizethe mines and supply routes—war willprobably come soon.

25

The growth of industryThe earlier farming village has now growninto a larger town inhabited by manyspecialist craftsmen, whoseimproving technology istransforming life. Each shares hisdiscoveries with fellow craftsmen,and new inventions result.Thanks tothe bronze metalworkers, Sumeriancarpenters now have sharp, toughsaws and drills to cut and shapetheir timber. Goldsmiths havelearned the art of beating theirmetal into wafer-thin sheets andspinning it out into strands ofsuper-fine filigree wire forjewelry.

Meanwhile, the smithshave discovered how tomake bronze castings bythe lost-wax method (seethe explanatory box below).This involves making a modelout of easily worked wax andthen covering it with clay.Whenthe clay is fired in a kiln, the waxmelts and runs out, leaving anegative impression of theoriginal model in the clayhollow.The clay mold is thenfilled with molten bronze andallowed to cool. Breaking apartthe clay mold reveals the model inall its shining glory.


This superb bronze head shows the Sumerianmetalworker’s craft at its best. The fine detail ismade possible by use of the lost-wax method ofcasting. Dating from about 2250 BCE, the head isthought to represent either of the Akkadian kingsSargon the Great or Naram-Sin (see page 48).

The outer claymold is removedto reveal thefinished figure.The “nib” on thehead where themetal entered isthen cut away.

BC D

Acouncil of elders runs a Sumerian town,but there is often war between the

many expanding and competing urbancenters. Sometimes it is over adjoining farmland, more often about who controls thecopper and tin routes.When there is a war,the council appoints a wartime leader calleda lugal (great man) to direct the militarycampaigns.

War drives more and more of thesurrounding population into the town,which as a result has grown into a city ofconsiderable size. Uruk—for a while thelargest urban settlement in the world—covers an area of approximately 1200 acres,with a city wall of over 6 miles in length.

The frequent wars have also made itdesirable to strengthen and raise the heightof the defensive embankment.The wall hasnarrow entrance gates, while beyond thetown’s precincts are irrigated fields bisectedby numerous canals to control thefloodwaters of the Euphrates and Tigris.

Farmers either own or rent fields inwhich to plant their crops.They areresponsible for ensuring that the canals arekept free of rushes and weeds, and officialsare appointed to make sure they do so.

More officials weigh produce and issuereceipts for cereals placed in the communalgranaries.They also control affairs of state, aswell as settling legal disputes and having theauthority to determine appropriatepunishment for wrongdoers.

The religious centerAt the heart of Uruk is a complex of greattemples.The most important are those ofEanna and Anu, each of which is in the formof a pyramid-shaped ziggurat.This is a newtype of Sumerian temple that has grownhigh above other buildings by generations ofrebuilding on the same site. It consists of alarge brick-faced platform reached by aflight of steps. On top of the platform is asmall building, or sanctuary, containing ashrine that is sacred to the god or goddess.

The kings of UrNot far from Uruk is another great city, Ur,in the process of becoming the dominantpower in Lower Mesopotamia. Ur is almostconstantly at war with its neighbors —Eridu,Lagash, Uruk, Larsa, Shuruppak, Nippur, andeven as far north as mighty Kish.

For this reason the council of elders longago appointed a permanent lugal to run thecity and the army. His position has beenconfirmed as hereditary, so he may pass onthe city’s rule to his son—he is a king inevery sense.

26


Growth of the TownBetween 3500 and 2100 BCE, the Mesopotamian villagesexpand greatly into towns, and then cities. The populationsswell from 5000 to as many as 30,000 at Uruk.

Reconstructions of theWhite Temple in theSanctuary of Anu (right)and the Ziggurat ofUruk (below).

BabylonThe main cities

Nippur

Shuruppak

Uruk

KishBorsippa

LagashLarsa

EriduUr

Tigrisancientcoastline

The benefits of warWar brings misery in its wake, since outlyingfarmers are killed in skirmishes and theirinability to tend the land brings famine tocity dwellers. But war also acceleratestechnological development—and theSumerians are clever inventors. Ur’s streetshave become packed with the workshops ofvarious artisans, each skilled in a particular

type of armor and weapons manufacture.Many individual workers have alreadyformed into co-operative groups, which canpool their skills and resources, making themmore efficient.

In times of peace, these companies use thenew techniques learned in the heat of war tomake all the new luxury goods that theincreasingly wealthy citizens demand.


The hustle and bustle ofa typical town of LowerMesopotamia in about2500 BCE.

According to the Sumerian epic poem ofInnana and Enki, one hundred basic

elements of civilization were passed fromEridu, City of the First Kings, to Uruk.Among these basic elements was writing.It’s believed to be a divine decree from Enki,the God of Wisdom.Writing, therefore, isconsidered to be a gift of the gods, and itcarries both power and knowledge—and ofcourse knowledge is power.

However, the story of Innana and Enki is amyth—the art of writing has developedamong the Sumerian people over a verylong period.The use of earlier picture-symbols are shown on these two pages.

28


The Invention of Writing, 5000–2000 BCEClay stamps with an “ownership mark” are imposed by the court on an individual’sproperty. They identify a person’s wealth, and thus his responsibility in providinggoods for temple upkeep. Ownership marks are the first form of writing.

The stamp seal,5000–4300 BCE

A sign representing anobject—a pictogram—is carved on onesurface. Pressing thestamp into wet clayleaves behind a raisedimpression. The driedclay tablet is attachedto private property inorder to identify itsrightful owner.

Writing is used for keeping accounts,which help to organize the city’s economyand administration. But some scholars aredeveloping writing to describe more abstractideas, such as religion and scientific matters.Perhaps most importantly, they are beginningto use writing to record events as they takeplace.This is the start of written history.

To do this they have begun to use the signsphonetically—that is, to indicate sounds ratherthan objects. In this way it is easy to build upmany words.The scribes must memorize theSumerian system’s 600 signs; when combinedin a different manner, signs are also used forarithmetic (see pages 54–55).

In a temple courtyard aseal cutter completeshis newest piece, whilea young apprentice rollsout a cylinder seal onclay to create a largepictogram. In theforeground anotherscribe writes with astylus on a damp claytablet.

29

The earliest forms of cuneiform writing werepictographic—representations of familiarobjects, such as a fish, an ox-head, and abird, shown below in the first column. Intime these were abstracted torepresentations of the objects (secondcolumn), written in vertical columns. In timepeople began writing horizontally to avoidsmudging the marks as they wrote, and theyrotated the symbols (third column).Eventually, further abstraction took place(right column).

For the last development a new type ofstylus, or pen, came into use, which waspushed into the clay, producing wedge-shaped signs, known as cuneiform writing.

The Sumerian method of writing wasadapted by Babylonia (a sample shown on thetop right),Assyria, the Elamites, Kassites,Hittites, Mitanni, Hurrians, and Persians,developing into a complex system


’a b g h˘

d h

The Ugarit cuneiform alphabet

w z h. t. y k

s ‘ p s. r r

t g t i ’u s2

.

s̆ l m d n z.

TCH

SH

Clay tablet counters, c.4500 BCE

This cone-shaped clay token bears an incised markand serves as a counter in barter exchange.Sometimes the tokens are shaped to representgoods, as in the form of a cow’s head, and furtheridentified by scratched marks of ownership.

Cylinder seal, 4300 BCE

The cylinder seal allows for much more complex arrangements of pictograms.A stone cylinder is engraved with a series of pictographs, and when this is rolledover a rectangular tablet of wet clay it leaves behind a much longer impression.Cylinder seals are used mostly by the king, his ministers, and the temple priests.

of phonetics before yielding to the alphabetc.13th century BCE.At this time in theSyrian trading kingdom of Ugarit a 30–32character cuneiform alphabet (shown below)was developed. It was later adapted by thePhoenicians and then the Greeks andRomans into the one we know today.

The development of cuneiform script, 3100–2000 BCE

In some respects, the slaves of nobles have abetter quality of life than the poor free

citizens.The single-story mud-brick housesof poor citizens are arranged along narrowunpaved roads or alleyways.These averageabout six feet in width, and they are toonumerous to allow the cobblestone paving ofthe earlier, smaller villages.

Even in the poorer homes a separate areais kept aside to serve as a kitchen, with mud-brick ovens placed outside the rear of thebuilding in a tiny courtyard. Because thesehouses have no plumbing, their occupantsbathe in the river and most household wasteis simply deposited into the alleyways.

Municipal workers are employed to keepthe communal areas tidy, which usuallymeans spreading a layer of ash and sand overthe human waste. Over a period of time theaccumulated waste, ash, and sand hasincreased the height of the roads, to the pointthat steps down to the houses are needed.

A puzzle of homesDepending on their relative status andeconomic position, a family might possessonly a single room or several for differentfunctions, such as living, sleeping, or eating.Generally, the better off—especiallyartisans—use the room nearest to the streetas a shop or workplace.

If a man’s economic position improves, hecan take over a room from the next-doorhouse belonging to a poorer neighbor. Inthis way, the packed houses resemble a jigsawpuzzle of interlocking rooms, with newdoors knocked through the adjoining wallsand older doors blocked up, as each family’sfortunes improve or worsen.

Lower-class SumeriansThose who live in the poorer quarters of thecity include craft workers, merchants,laborers, and peasants from among whom thearmy is also conscripted. In some merchants’quarters the houses are more substantial thanthose of the poor, and some men gainsufficient wealth to be included among thenobility and move to a better part of the city.Farmers also live inside the embankment, butduring the planting and harvesting seasons,they go out to live in small houses on theirfarms—and hope there will not be any raidsby the city’s enemies.

Sleeping and eatingThere is little furniture beyond chests, lowtables, and stools, and at night peoplegenerally sleep on mats. Even in homes withmore than one room, the family usuallyclimbs onto the flat roof through the skylightfor sleeping, because it’s much cooler thaninside—and it hardly ever rains.

Domestic utensils are mostly made ofwood, bone, or sharpened flint because metalimplements and vessels are too expensive forthe poor.They do, however, have plenty ofcrockery because clay is plentiful and potsare cheap to barter for.

30


A City DwellingRinged by canal and embankment, Ur is built on a mound to prevent flooding. Its24,000 inhabitants pack into houses on narrow, winding streets. Wealthy peoplelive in large homes near the temple, but poorer citizens’ houses are quite different.

This plan shows the “jigsaw puzzle” layout ofSumerian homes. Each color represents a differenthouse, small and large all entangled. The red coloredbuildings are small, local chapels, the orange colorrepresents the narrow lanes.

In crowded Ur,centuries of humanwaste and garbagethrown out on thealleyways has raisedtheir height well abovethe original buildinglevel. The inhabitantshave to cut steps intothe side of the street togain access to theirhomes.

2

3

4

5

9

67

10

14

13

12

33


For the aristocracy, life is luxurious. Slavesperform most of the menial tasks for a

wealthy family, but their management is theresponsibility of the women of thehousehold.Women of the upper classes enjoyconsiderable freedom (see page 34).

They live in two-story brick-built houseswith several rooms.To keep the rooms cool,

the internal walls are whitewashed, and thereare no windows.The rooms open onto aspacious courtyard, often planted with exoticflowers and fruits, which lets in plenty oflight.There are separate bathrooms withtheir own plumbing, where slaves pourwarm water over the bather and anoint, orrub their body, with precious oils.

An Aristocrat’s HouseThe Sumerian aristocracy lives in exclusive precincts close to the religious complexand the royal palace. They include the priestly class, the king’s ministers, seniorbureaucrats, and very wealthy merchants.

house. These containdifferent types of oil forcooking, lighting, andanointing the body.

8. General storage area.

9. Relaxation and diningroom.

10. A wooden staircasegives access to theupper floor and abalcony overlooking thecourtyard.

11. The mistress of thehouse gets dressed,ready to go downstairsand help her husbandentertain their guests.

12. A slave tidies up abedroom.

13. A second staircaseleads up to the flat roof.Here the family oftensleeps out on matsduring the hottestweather.

14. A slave girl carriestowels to the bathroomat the rear of the housebeyond the stairs. Thebathroom (below)houses a stone seatabove drainage holes.A servant pours waterfrom jugs over thebather. The water drainsout into the yard.

1. The master of thehouse greets a caller inthe reception room.

2. The household chapel,with a shrine standingnext to the wall.

3. Steps lead downfrom the chapel to alarge storage cellar.

4. One of the home’sfour bedrooms (thefourth is directly above);unlike poorer people,the rich sleep on beds.

5. In the long, narrowkitchen two slave girlsare cooking a meal,using locally producedpottery bowls.

6. The tiled courtyard isopen to the sky above.In its center there is asmall drain, whichserves two functions:drainage of the rarerainfall and for the ritualwashing of a guest’sfeet.

7. One of several oil jarsspread around the

1

8

11

34


Sumerian Family Life—the Family StructureThe daily life of Sumerians is well documented, thanks to the invention ofwriting. The many relief carvings and statuettes put some color to the textsand help bring this vibrant culture to life.

In the homes of the poor and rich alike,the husband and father is the master of the

household. He has the right to divorce abarren wife and to take concubines. He iseven allowed, under certain circumstances, tosell his wife and children into slavery. Such asituation could arise from getting into debtto a man wealthier than himself, who wouldthen take the debtor’s family as slaves into hisown household. In some cases, this fate mayactually improve their lives.

Despite the husband’s position, a womanof the upper class has considerable freedom.She has the right to own property and havean income separate from that of herhusband. She is also allowed to offerevidence in a lawcourt case. But men makethe major family decisions, such as arrangingmarriages for sons and daughters.

For the aristocrat, daily life is a round oforganizing and planning his businessventures, tending to religious rites, andentertaining guests and visitors from othercities.At times of crisis, he is expected toserve as a military official and provide thecity-state with produce and manpower fromhis farming estates.

Buying a slaveSlaves are prisoners of war or peoplehopelessly in debt in their community.In Mesopotamia, those most sought afterfor servitude are the men and women fromthe mountains to the north and northeast,the regions of Urartu and Lullu.

It is usually the task of wives to go to themarket to purchase household slaves.Thecost of a slave differs from city to city andfrom time to time, but averages between 30and 40 shekels of silver, which is as much asthe cost of three or four oxen.The bestslave market in Sumer is at Eshnunna,between the important cities in the southand the hill country of Lullu.

Having received the brideprice and consented tohis daughter’s marriage,the father adds his sealto the contract, while thebride’s mother watchesthe happy couple.

A school for future officialsBoys of wealthy families attend school, whilegirls are educated at home.The school islocated next to the royal palace, and is a partof the complex because the main object ofeducation is to provide the king with moregovernment officials. During the morninglessons, the boys practice their writingexercises.This involves copying words on adamp clay tablet from a list the teacher hasprepared.As they do so, they must learn themeanings of the signs they are making.

Slovenly work earns a light blow with awooden rod from the teacher across thepupil’s shoulders.This is a commonoccurrence because pressing the reed stylusinto the damp clay to make the wedge-shaped marks is tiring work—and mistakesare frequent.

The schoolboys are allowed a short breakfor lunch, probably of bread and figs thatthey have brought with them from home.Then it is time for the afternoon session oforal tests in language and arithmetic.

In the Sumerian world there is no safetynet for failures, so—despite being verytypical boys when it comes to schoollessons—they take their work seriously.To be admitted into the palace bureaucracywhen they are older will be the best possiblestart to their adult lives.

Death and burialAnd when life comes to an end, Sumerianstake the burial of the dead as seriously as anyculture, though there are no cemeteriesexcept for the king and his most importantnobles. In Sumer the body is most oftenburied within the house in the family tomb(see the illustration on page 32). It may be laidto rest curled up and placed in a large jar, orextended in a casket, stone sarcophagus, orordinary cloth wrapping.

The lavishness of the burial dependsgreatly on the economic status of thedeceased, but Sumerians are usually buriedsurrounded by those possessions they mosttreasured in life. Some of the wealthiest meneven have such grave goods specially madefor their funeral, ensuring that everythingthey will need in the afterlife goes into theircoffin with them.

35


Some pupils ina class of many at

work on their lessons.

The Royal Tombs of UrThese 16 tombs are the most celebrated yetuncovered. Located close to the palace, theydate to about 2600 BCE. Grave robbers hadstolen many of the grave goods, but theuntouched tomb of Queen Pu-Abirevealed some beautiful objects.Theseincluded gold ribbon headdresses, goldvessels, bead pendants, lapis lazuli necklaces,a wooden lyre (left), a richly decorated royalsled, and precious jewels.There were alsomany bodies of sacrificed servants and slavesto accompany the queen on her journeyand to serve her in the afterlife.

Queen Pu-Abi’s body was covered withbeads of precious metal, her fingers withrings, and the head adorned by a floralcrown of metal and golden leaves (above).

This is the soundingboard of themagnificent lyrefound in the queen’stomb. It is over 4500years old.The shell-decoratedpanels show fourmythical scenes thatwere popular withthe Sumerians ofthe period.

The Sumerians use the natural resourcesavailable to them to make their

clothing.The two main sources are sheep’swool and flax. Flax is a plant with blueflowers that grows well in a variety ofconditions. Its tough stalk yields strongfibers, which can be processed and woveninto cloth. Careful selection results in bothcoarse and fine fibers—better quality cloth ismade from only the finest flax.

Men and women’s clothingIn the early days, Sumerian men wentbarechested and barefooted through town,wearing only the traditional ringed kilt madefrom sheep’s wool. Now they wear a longone-piece garment from shoulder to calfmade from finely spun wool in the coolerseason or at night, or from fine flax in thehotter periods.

Sometimes it has a decorative fringedshawl and a long fringed hem. On formaloccasions priests still wear the traditionalwoolen kilt, and their long, trimmedbeards usually distinguish them fromlay nobles, those who serve thetemple but aren’t priests.

Women wear a full-lengthdraped garment, which is typicallyworn with the right shoulder andarm free, or a fitted shoulder-to-ankle dress. Hair is wornin a wide variety of styles,in braids or coiled aroundthe head, free-flowing witha decorative headband, ortopped by a short, helmet-like hat.The hair is almostalways perfumed.

Jewelry and adornmentThe Sumerian smiths can make fabulouslyelegant jewelry for adornment, and bothmen and women wear some, especiallyduring religious festivals. Gold, silver andsemi-precious stones are used to createnecklaces, earrings, tiaras, finger rings, andbracelets. Beads of bright azure-blue lapislazuli contrasting with the red carnelian arefavorites.

Sumerian jewelers have discovered glass,made from heating soda with sand andlimestone, and use it as a spectacular additionto gemstone jewelry. By adding differentminerals to the glass, a rainbow of brightcolors is achieved.

36


Sumerian Family Life—Clothing and Adornment

Figurines of men inprayerful attitudes,known as orants, arecommon in Sumer.The man on the rightwears a long beard,indicating hisposition as apriest; both havetypically heavilymade-upeyes. Thelayering oftheir traditionalwoolen kilts is aneffect derived fromthe pieced animalskins of theearliest days.

This man’s elegantclothing, with its longdecorative fringe,indicates his status as a member of thewealthy administrativeor land-owning class.

Black eyes and cosmeticsMen and women alike share a passion forcosmetics, and the height of beauty isconsidered to be heavily made-up eyes, faces,and hands—with an emphasis on the eyes.A bluish-black antimony—a brittle,crystalline metal compound—is used to lineand highlight the eyes, and to blacken the eyebrows and eyelashes.

Sumerian women smooth their skin witha pumice stone and then contrast the eyemake-up by painting their faces with whitelead.This gives the face a mask-likeappearance, and makes a base for the bright-red henna added to cheeks and lips. Henna isalso painted on finger- and toenails, andsometimes on the palms of their hands.

Sumerians like to take regular baths inperfumed water, every day if possible, thoughthe poor must make do with the nearbyriver or canal.After bathing, it’s customaryfor a slave to rub his master’s body with aperfumed oil (anointing), which serves a dualpurpose—to make him smell pleasant in thecompany of others, but more importantly torepel the numerous insects flying andcrawling around.

Men and women have many toiletarticles, such as gold cosmetic cases, metaltoothpicks, manicure kits, and eyebrowtweezers.The cosmetic cases, sometimes ofshell as well as gold, contain the cakes of facepaint in such colors as charcoal, brown, andblue for eye makeup.

37


Women wear a full-length draped garment,which is typically wornwith the right shoulderand arm free.

A polished-bronze handmirror is an essentialaid when applyingmake-up. Jewelry, suchas the headdress andearrings seen at lowerleft, add to a woman’snatural beauty.

Early Mesopotamians ate anything theycould catch in order to survive, and ate

whenever they were hungry. But by thisperiod food in Sumer is eaten as much forenjoyment as for nourishment. Eveningmeals—normally taken by most peoplebefore sunset, to make the most of thedwindling daylight—have become a form ofentertainment for all except the poorestpeasants.

Breakfast and lunchWith the huge grain harvests, the Sumerians’staple diet is of unleavened bread—a loafsimilar to modern pita bread, baked withoutany rising agent such as yeast.Wheat andbarley are partly ground to make a kind ofporridge, which might be sweetened withdates or honey.

These ingredients make up the lessermeals of the day, breakfast and lunch, thoughlunch may be accompanied by dried or freshfish and a variety of vegetables (see the list).

Varied fareCommon food for the ordinary Sumerian’sevening meal consists of fish mixed withcucumber, onions, apples, spices, cheese, andeggs.The diet of wealthier people is muchmore varied.The livestock provide beef andmutton, while fish and wild fowl from the

38

The Sumerian diet

This list includes most of the foodstuffseaten in Lower Mesopotamia.The betteroff you are, the more varied the daily diet.

beef eggs turnipsmutton chickpeas lettucepork mustard watercressgoat onions dates, fresh/driedwild boar garlic honeywild gazelle leeks cattle/goat’s milkwild fowl beans cattle/goat’s cheesedeer/venison lentils barley cakesfish cucumber wheat breads

Above: Cooled by anevening breeze, aprosperous familyenjoys its rooftop meal.A lyre player and singerprovide theentertainment.

Sumerian Family Life—Daily Food

river are popular, especially ducks. Huntersprovide wild boar and venison. Fish is soplentiful that the city has many fish sellersand even restaurants where people can buyready-cooked meals.

From the cattle, goats, and sheep comesmilk, butter, and cheese, while the numerouspalms provide dates.These are eaten freshfrom the tree, dried, or pressed into a syrup.

The importance of honeyHoney is one of the most importantingredients for Sumerians—apart from thefig syrup, it is the only sweetener to add tofood. In fact, honey is held in such esteemthat it is used in religious ceremonies.

It is poured over shrine thresholds andstones as a commemorative offering,and door bolts of sacred buildingsare anointed with a mixture ofhoney and wine.

Honey has another importantuse—in making beer.This is thegreat Sumerian drink.There are19 different kinds of beer,depending on the type of grainused in fermenting, the aromaticplants used for flavoring, and the

variety of honey and malt added.Wine made from dates is alsoavailable, but not much is made,so it is expensive and restricted tothe wealthy.Poorer people only have water

taken from the rivers to drink.This is keptin a long-spouted kettle that helps to filterout the muddy sediment.

After-meal entertainmentThe Sumerians are a hospitable people whoenjoy dining with friends or entertaining intheir own homes. It is customary after ameal to relax while musicians, singers, anddancers perform for the guests.The cityhas many groups of entertainers for hire,but some of the richest families employtheir own musicians and singers. Poetsdeclaim the heroic deeds of mythicalheroes and past kings, while music isplayed on the harp, lyre, and drum.And if the guests have any energyleft after the meal, they can enjoy aboard game.

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Singers and musiciansare revered in lowerMesopotamia throughreliefs andstatuettes. Manyhave enjoyed thesinging voice of Ur-Nina (right)accompanied by theharpist from Isin-Larsa (below).Both date fromabout 2000 BCE.

The “Game of Ur,” fortwo players, is apopular after-dinnerentertainment for aquiet family evening.

The first kings had religious as well asadministrative roles—they were priest-

kings. But in the later Sumerian Period thereis more separation between the king’s roleand that of the temple authorities.

The king is a representative of the gods,and may even claim to be a god himself.Although his position is a very powerful one,he is nevertheless dependent on the supportof the priests who conduct the sacredceremonies and act as judges in any legaldisputes.This is derived from the storycontained in the Creation Epic, in which eventhe gods must give their joint consent to theaction of any other deity (see pages 60–61).

Tension between palace and templeThis priestly acceptance of his right to ruleoften creates tension between the palace andthe temple. It sets the luxurious residence ofthe king, with its many annexes,administrative staff, and landed property,against the ritual and economic functions ofthe temple priests and stewards.

The king often appoints members of theroyal household to important templepositions, and palace lands are sometimesassigned to priests, further blurring thedivision between palace and temple.

The temple administrators own as much asone-third of the city’s land. They rent this out tolocal farmers in return for a share of the harvest.Temple lands and property really belong to thecity’s guardian god, and—in theory—the templeofficials administer it on the deity’s behalf.

The king’s administrationThe priest-king rules the city-state throughmany bureaucrats, a lot of them priests.Theycarefully survey the land, assign fields, anddistribute crops after the harvest.Thesefunctions are important because the majorityof people are city dwellers who no longerraise livestock or grow their own food.

This means that the relatively few farmerswho grow the food to feed those who do

40


The Government of Sumer, c.2300 BCEAs wars become more common between the city-states, lugals keep power for longer periods and eventually for life. From about 2900 lugals have becomekings. They stand now at the head of a large administration.

The Sumerian King ListThe Sumerians completed several lists ofall their kings.These detail length of thekings’ reigns and the cities they ruled.The most complete list was found atNippur and dates from c.2125 BCE.TheKing List is not archaeologically accuratebecause some kings have unbelievablylong reigns. For instance, the first dynastyof Kish claims that 23 kings ruled for24,510 years, 3 months and 3.5 days—wellover a thousand years each!

The list is divided into the periodbefore and after the Great Flood, and theperiods of rule given in the latter half aremuch more believable.The value of theKing List is the insight it gives us intowhich Sumerian city was dominant ineach period, and how power shifted fromone city-state to another, often to and fro.

The Sumerian King Listis far from complete.It does not, for instance, mention thecity of Lagash, whereUr-Ningirsu (left) ruled2122–2118 BCE in therecovery period afterthe Gutian kings (seepage 49 ). One of thekings mentioned is Iku-Shamagan (below),who ruled in the city ofMari, c.3000 BCE.

not must be subject to efficient managementand a distribution system.

There are many other importantbureaucratic functions.These includeassessing how much tax each citizen mustpay and collecting the tax goods, organizingthe city’s municipal workers, maintaining thedefensive embankment and gates, andrunning the army.The elite of Sumeriansociety usually undertake these tasks—menwho through increasing their land holdingshave gained great wealth and becomenobles.

The importance of recordThe next layer of the government is evenlarger—the department of scribes.All thiscomplicated administration can only work ifevery order given and every transactionmade is recorded so that it can be checked ata later date.

When an official has to deal with 30 or40 farmers, it is too much to expect him toremember six months later how much graina farmer agreed he could harvest.And so,with their cuneiform writing system, hundredsof scribes act as secretaries to the bureaucrats.

In the same capacity scribes work for thetemple, and of course for the king as well.In his service, senior scribes can becomealmost as distinguished as the nobility.

Honoring the city’s godsAbove all, the king and his administratorsmust make sure that the people properlyhonor the gods through making regularsacrificial offerings (a form of temple tax),and by arranging the important religiousfestivals of the year.Without continual divineblessing, the city’s fortunes will surely turnsour and more devout neighbors might gaina dangerous advantage.

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Sumer runs oninformation. Every yeareach farmer is visitedby a tax inspector whorecords his crop yield.

Temple administratorshave an army of scribesto keep track of all theirlands and produce, aswell as the taxes owed.

Although the Sumerians believe in acollection of many gods—called a

pantheon—each city has its own guardiandeity, or patron god.This figurehead is one

of the major gods, and his or hercolleagues each control thepowerful natural forces that dictatethe fates of other Sumerian cities inthe southern Mesopotamian plain.

These gods prefer justice andmercy, but unfortunately long agothey also created misfortune andevil.The ordinary Sumerian cando little to avoid whatever fatemay be in store, but honoring thecity’s patron deity is believed tohelp. Unlike the domestic gods—

who are satisfied with a simple formof worship—the city god demands a

continuous flow of taxes to pay for theadornment of his temple.

One temple on top of anotherThe Sumerians pay the tax by giving food,livestock animals, pottery utensils, and manyother offerings to the temple priests.As themost senior of the priests, the king’s mostimportant task is to dedicate new temples asa sign of his devotion.This does not meanthat he builds many new ones all around thecity. Instead he lavishes his wealth byerecting a new one over the structure of anexisting, older temple.And so, with eachgeneration, the temple mound grows tallerand larger in area.

It now resembles the sacred mountain ofArarat, where legend states that the firstSumerian king landed his boat after theGreat Flood. Often—as illustrated here—oneplatform sits on top of a lower, wider one,and more will be added on top of that.Thisform of step-pyramid is called a ziggurat(from the Assyrian word ziqquratu, or“mountain top”). Later ziggurats will be fartaller than this early example (see pages90–91).

Many priestsThe temple’s inner precinct is called the cellaand around its walls are many rooms tohouse the priests, priestesses, officials,musicians, and hierodules—slaves dedicated tothe temple god. Under the king’s divineguidance, these religious servants of the citygod perform the daily public rituals andmake food sacrifices from the offerings givenby the people.

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A Visit to the TempleThe temple is the heart of the early Sumerian city-state. By the Early DynasticPeriod, the era between 5000 and 4300 years ago, the temple has grown tobecome almost a city within the city.

1

2

3

A priest inthe templecourtyard

acceptsofferings from

the people.

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4

5

6

6

7

8

9

This reconstruction isbased on the OvalTemple of a city calledKhafaji, which issituated in the northernpart of Babylonia.

1. The city dwellingscluster around thetemple walls.

2. The main gate to the temple precincts.

3. The outer precinctincludes storeroomsand workshops. Thereare workshops forbakers, potters,weavers, and jewelers.It also acts as agathering place for thecity’s inhabitants.

4. Sheep, goats, oxen,and donkeys are kept inspecial pens.

5. An arch leads to astairway rising to thecella—the main templeprecinct—on its higherplatform. Here, thetemple priests can beseen performing someof the daily rituals.

6. Residences of thepriests and templeofficials line the walls.

7. A second stairwayclimbs to a higherplatform, on whichstands the sanctuary.

8. The sanctuaryhouses an altar and anoffering table. Whilesenior priests andpriestesses praise thegod at the altar, astatue of the god standsbehind the offering

table, on which the foodsacrifices are placed.The Sumerians believethat their gods reside inthe temples from timeto time, between theirbusiness in other partsof the country.

9. Since it rarely rainsin Mesopotamia,families often sleep on the flat roofs.

The Sumerians have major deities whobrought the world into being and

control natural events.There are gods of thecity-states and their rulers, deities ofcraftworkers, farmers, traders, and travelers,and minor gods of the home.The gods’ liveswere recorded and are kept up to date by theroyal scribes, who have created a huge list ofprayers, poems, and stories.

The Sumerian gods live in the same naturalworld as the humans. In the distant past theworld was in a state of chaos until the greatcreation goddess Nammu gave it form and“gave birth to the numberless gods.”

Creation of the worldNammu created the sky and gave it to An,father of the gods, and she made the earth,which she gave to An’s wife Ki.When theyhad a son, named Enlil, Nammu made himLord Wind—he is the messenger betweenthe sky and the earth. Enlil also owns theTablet of Destiny, which controls the fate ofthe people. Enki (Lord Earth) controls freshwater and the flow of the Euphrates andTigris on which survival depends. Ninhursagis the mother goddess and patron of fertility.

These major gods are assisted by a host ofpowerful deities. Nanna (the Moon) controlsthe months and seasons; he is the son ofEnlil and Ninlil. Utu (the Sun) governs thedays and dispenses justice. Ninurta protectsfarming but also controls storms. Inanna(Lady of Heaven) is the goddess of fertility,of life and death, and patron of granaries.

Making worshippersWhen the gods had made harmony out ofchaos, they came to realize that this happy statecould only be maintained if there were beingsto worship them. So they created people whoselabors and offerings would be dedicated tomaintaining the gods’ positions. But thepeople were not always devout and so the godssent a series of disasters, including the GreatFlood, as punishment for human wrongdoing.

Over time, some humans became morepowerful than others and were known aslugals, or great men. Some of these privilegedmen came to occupy high positions equal totheir priest-rulers and eventually theybecame kings. Some of the nobles areconsidered to be gods.They are immortaland cannot die, so when their time on earthis finished they go to live with the othergods. For ordinary people death carriesneither reward nor punishment—they simplyturn to dust.

Divining the meaning of orderMuch of Sumerian religion concentrateson divination—an attempt to predict whatthe gods’ intentions might be.Theregularity of the natural world—theseasons, and movements of the heavenlybodies—hold the key to the secret of orderand so provide clues to what the gods arethinking.

The scribes, by recording the naturalorder, are therefore engaged in a sacredactivity. Observation of the movements ofthe sun, moon, and stars leads to astrologyand the acquisition of astronomicalknowledge.This in turn requirescomplex mathematical calculations.More detail on these subjects may befound on pages 54–57.

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Worshipping the GodsThe Sumerians worship hundreds of gods who share the joys and failings of humanemotions. They can be compassionate, but they can also vent their anger in themost terrible ways—in general the behavior of a god is never predictable.

Above the earth, agreat domed roofcontains the sky, thestars, the moon, andthe sun. Beneath theearth is the darknetherworld, abodeof demons and thekingdom of the dead.Enlil and Enkicreated the cattle,sheep, the yoke, andthe plow to providefood for the gods.But they were unableto make use of thisbounty, so man wasfashioned from claythat he might tendthe sheep andcultivate the fieldsfor the gods’ benefit.

Enlil, son of An and Ki,is the god of air andstorms. He is supremeruler of the Sumeriangods and guardian ofthe city of Nippur.


Inanna, daughter ofNanna, is the goddessof love and war (laterrenamed Ishtar). Inannais present whenever lifeis conceived throughlove or ended in battle.

Ninhursag, companionto Enlil and Enki, isMother Earth, thesource of all life andensures the fertility offields. She gave birth toall the plants.

Enki is the god of“sweet waters.” Hegives kings theirwisdom to rule and ispatron of crafts,learning, and magic.

Nanna (seen on the leftfrom a carved relief)son of Enlil, is the moongod, later renamed Sin.He decides the fate ofthe dead.

Ninurta, son of Enliland his wife Gula, is thegod of thunderstormsand the plow. As the“great hunter,” he’s alsoassociated with Nimrud(of Nineveh) and theBabylonian god Marduk.To the later Assyrians,he is the god of war.

Utu (later Shamash),son of Nanna, is the sungod who lights theworld with rays issuingfrom his shoulders. Heis also the patron ofjustice, carved out withhis saw.

Ereshkigal, sister ofInanna, is the goddessof darkness and death.

The ziggurat of Ur(below) measures about150 by 200 ft and is 80ft high. Its terraces areplanted with trees sothat it symbolizes thesacred mountain ofArarat. At the New Yearceremony, priests andhierodules bear thestatue of Nanna themoon god, the city’spatron deity, to his homeon top of the ziggurat, asthe cheering peoplehonor his passage.

Before 2335 BCE Sumer was divided into 12 city-states:Adab,Akshak, Bad-tibira,

Uruk, Kish, Lagash, Larak, Larsa, Nippur,Sippar, Umma, and Ur. Resources are few in

these desert regions and that leads tointense competition for land and water.There are disputes over borders andrights of way that lead to constantwarfare and power shifts in favor ofthe victorious king.

But because the Sumerians speakthe same language regardless ofwhich city they live in, and theyworship the same gods, the powershifts have little impact on theordinary people.A skilled army is

nevertheless essential.

The Sumerian soldierThe Sumerian armies are betterequipped and trained than thoseof surrounding tribes.The

infantryman fights in a closeorder phalanx that takes a lotof training and organization.He is also better equippedthan any foreign enemies.A conical copper helmet with

fixed cheek-pieces protects hishead, and he wears a heavy

woolen kilt sewn to a girdlefastened around the waist. He alsohas a long cloak of either animalskins or a heavy flaxen material,

with copper, stone, or wood discssewn on for added protection.The weapons of bronze are stronger

than those of any external foes.The soldiercarries a spear, an ax, and a curved shortsword.There are two types of spear. One is along thin pike with a bronze head as muchas two feet in length.The other is a broad,bronze leaf-shaped head of 12 to 20 incheslong, sharpened along both edges so it canbe used both for thrusting and slashing.

The power of the chariotSumerians also use chariots, based on thefour-wheeled farm cart, but with additionalleather armor to protect the two-man crewof driver and warrior.The chariot body issquare in shape with a step in the rear.At thefront there are two round-topped shields andthe reins pass between them.The chariots,which are pulled by four onagers, or wildasses, can manage a top speed of about 15mph on level ground, but they are slow andclumsy in the turn. Chariots are best used forcrashing through the enemy infantry line.The warrior uses several short spears, somemodified for use with a throwing thong togain distance, others for use in close combat.

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War Gets OrganizedThe Sumerian King List indicates how power constantly shiftsbetween the many city-states as the warring dynastiesstruggle to become the dominant rulers of all Sumer.

Continual war weakens SumerWhile the Sumerians make war on externalenemies, they are invariably the victors, butwhen they fight each other, it is hard tomaintain the advantage for very long, andso first one and then another kingdomtakes control of Sumer.

As early as 2600 BCE Gilgamesh of Urukdefeated the kings of Kish during anintense period of rivalry between Uruk,Kish, and Ur, and established sovereigntyover these important city-states.Mesannepadda of Ur (c.2560–2525 BCE)defeated Agga of Kish and claimed all of

Two Sumerian heavyinfantrymen survey theenemy. Both wearsheepskin kilts, and thewarrior above is furtherprotected by a thickmetal-studded cloak.Helmets and weaponsare of bronze.

47

Sumer as his own. But by 2500 BCE thebalance of power had shifted back to Kish.

Eannatum (2454–25), grandson of Ur-Nina of Lagash, defeated Umma andthen conquered Ur, Uruk, and Kish, only tobe overthrown soon after by Umma’s forces.Fortunes were reversed again whenEannatum’s nephew Entemena (2404–2375)defeated Umma.

Lagash lost its dominant position in 2350when it was in turn conquered byLugalzagesi of Uruk (2360–35), who wasoriginally from Umma.

This continual fighting between the

Sumerian city-states eventually weakenedthem to the point where they becamevulnerable to enemies from beyond theirborders. In 2340–2316 BCE Sumer, whichhad been united under Lugalzagesi, fell tothe armies of King Sargon.

Sargon was not a member of one of theSumerian dynastic families but came from anorthern Semitic tribe. He was of humbleorigins, but had achieved a position ofauthority in the royal court at Kish, and by2335 BCE he had made his own capital atAgade, or Akkad, after which his empire isknown as Akkadian.

The two photographs onthese pages show aSumerian phalanx ofinfantrymen (left), adetail from the “Stela ofthe Vultures,” whichcommemorates KingEannatum’s victory overUmma, and a mosaic ofa war chariot (above)carrying two warriors,trampling an enemysoldier to death, asrecreated in the battlescene above.

Just five Akkadian kings ruled for a total of150 years, yet their ideas have profoundly

changed the language, art, religion, andculture of Mesopotamia.Their reformationof military tactics and law will persist for afurther 2000 years, through the Babylonianand Assyrian periods, until the incursions ofthe Achaemenids from Persia in 539 BCE.

The Akkadian rulersThough shrouded in mystery and legend,Sargon’s prowess as a military leader andpolitician is denied by no one. His defeat ofLugalzagesi ends the independence ofSumer’s city-states and brings in a new ageof empire. Sargon was succeeded by twosons, Rimush and Manishtushu. Manishtushuwas succeeded by his son Naram-Sin, whowas followed in turn by his own son, Shar-kali-sharra, the last of the Akkadian kings.

Sargon justifies Akkadian rule by claimingthat he has divine sanction and is descendedfrom the goddess Ishtar, who is also theSumerians’ goddess Inanna (see page 45). Hesets out to impress his new subjects throughthe arts, with the introduction of life-sizeheroic sculptures of himself and carvedmonumental victory columns, called stelae(stela in the singular).

Rebellious SumerAs part of the process of unification, theAkkadians standardize weights and measuresand insist on the use of the Semitic (OldAkkadian) language in all official documents.The establishment of a political capital atAgade and a religious capital at the holy cityof Nippur further undermines theindependence of the former city-states. Butthe Sumerians do not readily acceptAkkadian rule. During Sargon’s reign thereare a number of local protests.These arequickly subdued, but on Sargon’s deathseveral of the cities, led by Ur and Lagash,stage an open rebellion that his son, Rimush,has great difficulty in subduing.

Attacks by NomadsKing Naram-Sin (2254–17) engages in aseries of extensive military campaigns in anattempt to consolidate Akkadian rule. Henames himself King of the Four Regions—that is, king of the known civilized world—and calls himself God of Akkad. But despitebeing a god he is unable to rely on theloyalty of Lower Mesopotamia or, despitevictories, eventually keep out such semi-nomadic tribes as the Elamites and Guti.

On his death in 2217, Naram-Sin’s sonShar-kali-sharra proves to be a weaker leader.Under increasing pressure from the Elamitesand Guti, he is forced to give up territory inthe south and withdraw northward to theregion around Agade.

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Ugarit

Byblos

Megiddo

Lachish

HarranCarchemish

Ebla

Qatna

Mari

Tell Brak

Damascus

Akkadian empire of Sargon, c.2280

region under Sargon’s control

Sargon’s naval campaign

kingdom of Lugalzagesi, c.2350

city named in the Sumerian King List, c.2100

Tadmor(Palmyra)

SYRIAN DESERT

SUBARTU

Aleppo ME

SO

PO

LE

VA

NT

A Babylonian cylinderseal of Ur-Nammu,depicts a goddessleading a worshipperbefore the deified king.Ur-Nammu was the firstto set out a system oflaws and penalties (seepage 52 ).

Akkad Conquers SumerHaving made Agade his capital, Sargon does not intervene to prevent Lugalzagesi’sscheme to dominate Sumer. However, once Lugalzagesi has accomplished this,Sargon sends his Akkadian forces south to conquer unified Sumer.

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The Sumerians make a come-backAlthough the Guti effectively take overSumer, and appoint Gutian overlordsabove the Sumerian administrators, theyare unable to hold onto their gains. In2133 BCE Utuhegal, who rules at Uruk,defeats the Guti, and then in 2113 hisbrother, Ur-Nammu, defeats Uruk andrestores the city of Ur to even greaterglory. He put Sumer in the hands of Ur’sThird Dynasty, but unfortunately thisproves to be a short-lived resurgence ofSumerian power.After the death of Ur-Nammu’s son Shulgi, Sumer falls tothe Babylonians, a new force that hastaken over the Akkadian empire.

Ashur

Hit

Susa

Nineveh

AKKAD

SUMER

E L A M

EMBUTAL

A S S Y R I A

Nippur

Eshnunna

AkshakDer

Awan

Lagash

Kish

Shuruppak

Sippar

BabylonBorsippa

Uruk

Bad-tibira

EriduUr

Adab

Agade (possible site)

K a s s i t e s

G u t i

Hu r r i a ns

A m o r i t e s

L u l l u b i

Tigris

Euphrates

Diy

alá

ZA

GR

OS

M

OU

NT

AI

NS

T

AM

IA

This stela illustrates a victory over theGuti by King Naram-Sin. He is seenclimbing a mountain at the head ofhis troops, trampling on the bodies ofhis enemies, while paying homage tothe sun for his victory. The king’shelmet bears the horns symbolic ofdivine power.

As the Third Dynasty of Ur falls apart, thepower of Babylon rises. Before 2254

BCE Babylon has not even been mentionedin the Sumerian texts, so unimportant hasthis Amorite village been. But by 1900 BCE

it has grown, thanks to a shift in the courseof the Euphrates, which places it at the northend of the river’s main stream and gives it agreater hold over trade. Under Hammurabi(c.1792–50 BCE), the dynasty’s sixth king,Babylon grows to become one of thegreatest empires of ancient times.

A new form of governmentHammurabi claims divine descent fromBabylon’s principal god, Marduk, a son of theSumerian god Enlil.Through a combinationof force and diplomacy, he welds together allof Mesopotamia, from the Persian Gulf toNineveh. In so doing, the Babyloniansabsorb much of Sumerian culture, scientificknowledge, and religious beliefs.And soBabylonian culture is a combination of theearlier Akkadian and Sumerian beliefs andsystems, but Hammurabi creates a completelycentralized government in the capital, andhis is now the only authority in the land.

After securing the immediate region ofLower Mesopotamia, he expands his empire.Over eight years, armies from Babylon defeatthe cities of Larsa in the south, then Ninevehand Mari to the north, Eshnunna to the east,and the lands of the Guti as well.

Sumerian skills incorporatedWith these victories, Babylonian control oftrade throughout Mesopotamia is secured(see “Hammurabi centralizes trade”). Increases intrade result in the rapid development of earlySumerian mathematics, which soon becomesan area of scientific as well as economicactivity. Other members of the literate

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CHAPTER 2

The Legacy of HammurabiThe last of the old Sumerian dynasties collapses in about 2000 BCE, after whichMesopotamia suffers a century of anarchy. But the great age of Sumerian culture is yet to come, and the first empire of Babylon ensures its triumph.

Creating Order

Statuette of King Hammurabikneeling in prayer.

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elite—scribes, doctors, and teachers oflanguage and literature—follow suit tobecome distinct professional groups withhigh social standing, separate from thepriesthood. Perhaps Hammurabi’s greatestaccomplishment is to take the laws of Ur-Nammu as a basis for a completeoverhaul of the law (see the following pages).

CHAPTER 2: CREATING ORDER

Hammurabi centralizes tradeMesopotamian trade has expanded greatlyunder the Babylonians.This is principally infoodstuffs, mostly dates and grain, but alsoincludes silver, gold, lapis lazuli andcarnelian gems, exotic woods and aromaticoils, perfume, tin, copper, wool, textiles, fish,and slaves. Horses—which first start toarrive from the Asian steppes in about 2000BCE—are also an important commodity.

Merchants travel between cities incaravans—often with armed guards toprotect them from bandits—and localagents act as brokers. Goods are traded intheir silver value and trade is so profitablethat merchants can receive as much as 100percent return on their investment.

Horses are a wonder to

the Sumerians,astonished at theirspeed and elegance.

In his throne room,right, Hammurabi holdsan audience withvisiting officials fromLower Mesopotamia.

Third Dynasty of Ur,2112–04 BCE

Ammorite kingdom,c.1813–1780 BCE

Empire of Hammurabi,c.1750 BCE

The Amorites are an ancient Semitic tribe of Canaan. Byc.1900 BCE they have migrated towestern Mesopotamia and based theircapital in the town of Babylon, where thedynasty known as Old Babylonia(c.1900–1600 BCE) is founded. The most powerfulking of this dynasty is Hammurabi.

The empire of Hammurabi

Harran

Tuttul

Mari

BrakNineveh

Ashur

Shusharra

Sippar

Eshnunna

originalAmoritecapital

KishBorsippa

AdabLagash

UrukLarsa

Ur

Babylon

Nuzi

Hit

Der

Susa

Shubat-Enlil

ZAG

ROSM

OUNTAINS

Euphrates

Tigris

Euphrates

Tigris

The laws of the Sumerian King Ur-Nammu are the oldest known in the

world.They outline a policy of tolerance andequality and make no distinctions for aperson’s wealth or status.They specify finesfor breaking the law, rather than corporalpunishment, even for crimes of assault.

The laws deal with everyday matters, suchas the return of a slave to his master, and lesscommon accusations of witchcraft.Ur-Nammu’s concern for the welfare ofordinary citizens is plain when he states thatthe laws are intended to ensure that “theorphan does not fall a prey to the wealthy”and “the widow does not fall a prey to thepowerful.”

Hearing a court caseA court consists of three or four judges,drawn from the ranks of templeadministrators, sea merchants, scribes, andcity elders. Judges are assisted by themashkim, a court clerk, who records everydetail of the case.

When a victim lodges a complaint hemust swear an oath that his complaint is just,and provide evidence and witnesses who cansupport the accusation.Witnesses give theirstatements under oath, which the mashkimrecords on a clay tablet.The verdict and thepayment date of the penalty decided are alsoinscribed, and the tablet countersigned bythe judges, the mashkim, witnesses, andprosecutors.A completed case record iscalled a ditilla and deposited in the courtarchive.

An eye for an eye…The Code of Hammurabi is much harsherthan Ur-Nammu’s. Based on the principle of“an eye for an eye,” it begins and ends withaddresses to the gods, asking them to ensurethat any punishment is fairly carried out.It contains 282 judgments on a variety oftopics, in which punishment is madeaccording to the nature of the original crime.

Where Ur-Nammu’s laws are the same foreveryone, Hammurabi’s divide thepopulation into three groups.The amelu areland-owners with full citizenship, who havecertain rights and privileges but are subjectto higher fines and heavier punishments fortheir crimes.The muskinu are people defined

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Making New LawsFirst Ur-Nammu and then, 300 years later, Hammurabichange the lives of ordinary people forever through theircodes defining the laws of the land.

The mashkim, or court clerk, records theproceedings of a trial asthe defendant attemptsto clear his name beforethree judges.

as not owning any land. Finally, the ardu, orslaves, are captives or free citizens who havebeen sold into slavery for being in debt.If an ardu wins compensation in a case, it ispaid to his master.

Punishments to fit the crimeThe code also deals with the sale, lease, loan,and barter of property. Marriage contractsgive women considerable rights overdowries, ownership of property, and custodyof children. If a wife is unable to bearchildren, the husband may take a secondwife with his first wife’s agreement, but sheremains her husband’s responsibility. Childrenmust care for their elderly parents, althoughthey can buy a slave to do the job for them.

Apart from fines, the most commonpunishments are exile, public whipping, andremoval from office. Serious crimes aresometimes punishable by death, includingadultery, burglary, illegal entry to the templeor palace treasuries, handling stolen goods,kidnapping, hiding fugitive slaves, or forcausing death from the collapse of acarelessly built house.

Justice for the helplessDespite the code’s harshness compared toUr-Nammu’s, Hammurabi’s laws are fairlyadministered, and suspicion of a crime is notsufficient to result in conviction.The judges,witnesses, and other interested parties signthe decision, and an oath is taken to pledgethat the verdict will be adhered to. Like Ur-Nammu, Hammurabi sets out his reasonsfor formulating them, so “that the strongmay not oppress the weak [and] to see thatjustice is done for the orphan and widow.”

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This detail from the top ofthe Stela of Hammurabishows the kingreceiving the Law fromthe sun god Shamash(the Sumerian godUtu, who is also thepatron of Justice).

“If a sonstrikes his

father, they shall cut offhis hand.”

“If a house collapsesthrough faulty buildingand causes the death ofthe owner of the house,the builder shall be putto death.”

“If a man is unable topay his debts, he mustsell his wife, son, ordaughter, or bind themover to service ofanother for three years.”

“If a judge makes anerror in his judgmentthrough his own fault,he must pay 12 timesthe finehe set.”

“If bad charactersgather in the house of awine seller and shedoes not arrest thosecharacters and bringthem to the palace, shewill be put to death.”

Set rates of pay for laborersAn ox-driver is paid 6 gur of corn per year. A field-hand may be hired for no less than from April toAugust at a daily rate of 6 gerahs, and from Augustuntil the end of the year at 5 gerahs per day (to takeinto account the shorter working day). The hire feesfor an ox for threshing grain is 20 ka of corn per day,for an ass also 20 ka, and for a “young animal” 10ka of corn. An ox, cart, and driver will be paid 180 kaof corn per day and the cart alone 40 ka.

“If a nun who is notliving in a conventopens a wine shop orenters a wine shop for adrink, she will beburned.”

The Sumerians at first used a single claytoken to represent a single object, such

as one sheep, or one measure of grain.Astrade increased, the larger numbers that wererecorded on clay tablets meant using tokensthat had multiple values.

In this way the number 11 is shown byone token representing ten units and anotherrepresenting a single unit following it.The“place values” of the counters is similar tothe way a decimal point is used today.

How Babylonians countTo make calculation easier, the Babyloniansuse the abacus, invented by the Akkadians.With several layers, the abacus—seen on theleft here—makes it possible to do muchmore extensive additions, subtractions, andeven multiply or divide numbers.

The more sophisticated Babylonian systemhas a base number of 60—which survivestoday in the hour of 60 minutes, the minute

of 60 seconds, and a circle of 360 degrees(six times 60).The panel below shows howthe place values work.The Babylonians havealso refined Sumerian ideas of measures oflength, area, capacity, and weight and giventhem standard values.

Theory in practiceNow Babylonian mathematicians can solvecomplicated problems, such as finding amarket rate for goods of differing type,measuring lengths of canals, calculatingweights of stones, areas of fields, or thenumber of bricks needed for a construction.

They can also calculate the number ofworkers and days necessary for building acanal, and the total wages needed for itsworkers. Some scholars have developed skillsfar beyond those needed for daily life, andthese students are selected for specialattention, some of them tutored to enter theprivileged priesthood.

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Reaching for the HeavensThe Sumerians invented simple mathematics to help them accurately recordquantities in transactions, but it is the Babylonians who raise arithmetic to thesophisticated level that make it the basis for future scientific discovery.

1 11 21 31 41 51

2 12 22 32 42 52

3 13 23 33 43 53

4 14 24 34 44 54

5 15 25 35 45 55

6 16 26 36 46 56

7 17 27 37 47 57

8 18 28 38 48 58

9 19 29 39 49 59

10 20 30 40 50

The Sumerian and Babylonian counting system

The Babylonian clay tableton the opposite page is astudent’s calculation of acomplex algebraicequation, dating fromabout 2000–1600 BCE. Itindicates just how hardyoung scholars have towork.

This diagram showshow the Babyloniansuse what is called a“positional base-60system.” In some waysit is similar to thedecimal, or base-10system in use today.This is because the 59numbers are built froma single symbolconfigured in ninedifferent ways, and a“ten” symbolconfigured in fivedifferent ways.

An ancient abacus.

The invention of equationsBabylonian mathematicians have alsodeveloped “tables,” which speed up the processof complex calculations.They have tables formultiplication, square and cube roots, andreciprocals (used in division). By consulting aconversion table, the difference in value ofgoods traded from one place to another canbe quickly determined, as well as the valueof goods in the same weight of silver.

Although most of these tables indicatethat Babylonian mathematicians think morein terms of abstract arithmetic—logarithmsand algebraic equations—they know theconcept of pi to work out the area of circles(1200 years before Pythagoras of Greece).And despite an emphasis on theoreticalcalculation, Babylonian engineers are verypractical in applying geometry (earthmeasurements) to determine length, area, andvolume when it comes to the constructionof buildings and irrigation canals.

The ziggurat as practical mathematicsThe ziggurat is the greatest surviving evidence of Babylonianmathematics. It would have been impossible to lay out andconstruct one without the tools of algebra and trigonometry.Therehave been many attempts to prove that the various dimensions in aBabylonian ziggurat are derived from what are sometimes called“sacred calculations.”

This theory suggests that Babylonian astronomers are able tomeasure the distances between Earth and celestial bodies like thesun, moon, and the visible planets.Tables are then employed tocalculate the proportions of a ziggurat so that its width, height, andnumber of platforms are in perfect harmony with the heavens.

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The Sumerian and Babylonianastronomers do not have telescopes, and

so their observations are all made by theunaided eye.Their efforts, therefore,concentrate on those most visible of theheavenly bodies—the sun, the moon, thenearer planets (Mercury,Venus, Mars, Jupiter,Saturn), and the brightest stars.

Creating the calendarThe astronomers study the heavens todiscover the seasonal patterns that are allimportant to farmers in order to establish anaccurate calendar.This is done by recordingand calculating the behavior of the sun andmoon.The moon’s 28-day cycles give a yearof 12 lunar months of 29 or 30 days—with afew odd days left over.

To keep the lunar year in step with thesolar year, the priests decree the addition ofan intercalary, or extra, month to thecalendar every three years or so, making ayear of 13 months.The Sumerian year beginsafter the harvest, in September/October, butthe Babylonians start the calendar year inspring.

Months and seasonsThere are only two seasons. Emesh, the dry,growing season begins in February/March,in time to benefit from the annual floodingin April/May of the Tigris and Euphratesfrom snow melting in the ArmenianMountains. Eten, or winter, begins inSeptember/October with the arrival of therains, although these are usually limited to afew showers in Lower Mesopotamia.

Each month starts at the first sighting ofthe new moon. Because there is no universalnaming system for the months between all theMesopotamian cities, scribes give the monthsa number from the start of the NewYear.

The Mesopotamian weekThe moon goes through four phases in eachmonth, and these “quarters” produce theconcept of the seven-day week, although forthe ordinary Mesopotamian the work cycleschange only between holy days.

These are usually celebrated on the first,seventh and fifteenth of each month. Eachcity has its own additional feast days, whichvary from place to place.

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Reading the HeavensWith their advanced mathematics, the Babylonians are capable of more accurateastronomical predictions than the Sumerians had been. To the Mesopotamians,astronomy, astrology, and the calendar are intimately linked.

Right: Hammurabi’sastronomer, identifiedby pendantsrepresenting Venus andthe constellation Leo,informs the king that anintercalary month isdue, and Hammurabiconsequently instructshis senior minister toalter the date forcollecting taxes.

Center: Astronomersand astrologersstanding on top of aziggurat note themoment of the newmoon’s rising.

Astrology and men’s fateThe Babylonians divide the sky into zonesfor observation.The most important is thezone that lies along the celestial equator(ecliptic), the apparent path followed by thesun, moon, and planets across the sky. Bycontinual recording of these movements,astronomers can now make predictions basedon studying past records rather than byobservation.

Examining the sky is the preserve of theastrologers who observe the movements ofthe planets and brightest stars to casthoroscopes that predict the future.

Isolated events, such as a planet’s first andlast appearances in the sky and the times atwhich that happens, can foretell human fate.We learn that “When a halo surrounds themoon and Jupiter stands within it, the King ofAkkad will be besieged,” or “When Mercury isvisible with Mars at sunset there will be rains andfloods.When Jupiter appears at the beginning ofthe year, in that year its crops will prosper.”

Almost all of these kinds of astrologicalprediction concern either the fates of theruling elite or the well-being of the foodsupply, and consequently the state of theproduce market.

Mesopotamian astronomers use the skiesto help regulate the world’s natural cycles,while astrologers interpret the heavenlymovements as the designs of the gods whocontrol all things.

Hours of the dayThe day starts at sunset and is divided intosix “watches.” Each watch lasts about fourhours.Daytime Watches:1st Watch Morning 8:00 am–midday2nd Watch Midday midday–4:00 pm3rd Watch Afternoon 4:00 pm–8:00 pmNighttime Watches:1st Watch Evening 8:00 pm–midnight2nd Watch Starlight midnight–4:00 am3rd Watch Dawn 4:00 am–8:00 am

The length of a Sumerian hour variesaccording to the season because an hour ismeasured as being one-sixth of the availabledaylight; a summer hour is longer than awinter hour because the summer day islonger.

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Disease in Mesopotamia is usually blamedon an evil spirit or the punishment of

the victim by an angered god. It follows thatthe remedy for such an affliction is either todrive out the evil spirit or to make amendsto the god in question. For this purpose thepatient must call on an ashipu, or sorcerer.

Driving out evil spiritsThe ashipu’s first task is to diagnose theailment. In the case of internal diseases, thismeans finding out which god or demon iscausing the illness. Having discovered theculprit, the ashipu next attempts to discoverif the disease is the result of some error or

sin on the patient’s part. Demons are hard toappease, but the patient can help his curefrom a divine illness by praying to the godfor forgiveness of his sin.

In the case of a demon, the ashipu mightattempt to cure his patient by means of spellsand magic potions designed to entice awayor drive out the offending spirit.

Herbal remediesAs well as magical rites, practical remediesare also available. For this purpose the ashipucan refer the patient to an asu, or physician,a specialist in herbal remedies. However, theasu is less used to dealing with internal

58


Medicine in MesopotamiaThe work of the Mesopotamian doctor involves prayer, magic,and a surprisingly successful mixture of herbal remedies. But for failure, the surgeon risks a severe penalty.

diseases, since he usually treats maladies thatcan easily be seen, such as wounds.

In his medical armory the asu hasdressings, plasters, and poultices to bindwounds and reduce infection. Many of theseinclude the use of salt as an antiseptic andsaltpeter (potassium nitrate) as an astringent,to harden the skin and reduce bleeding.

Washing the infected area is alsoimportant, and Mesopotamian doctors oftenwear a costume that makes them resemble afish, one symbol of Enki, god of the “sweetwaters.”The techniques of the asu appear inthe world’s oldest known medical document(see “Curing a wound”).

The penalty for failureSometimes an asu is called on to performsurgery, for instance cutting into the patient’schest in order to drain pus from around thelungs. However, this carries a risk for bothpatient and doctor.According to the Codeof Hammurabi, an asu is held responsible forany surgical errors caused by “the use of aknife.”

If a surgeon saves the life of a person ofhigh status, he receives a fee of 10 shekels (heonly receives 2 shekels for a slave). If heshould cause the death of a slave, the asuonly has to pay the slave’s master the price toreplace him. But if a noble should die underthe knife, the surgeon risks having his righthand cut off.

The asu often works together with anashipu, especially if the patient is wealthyenough to afford both their fees.They mightalso work with an omen priest.This mandivines the causes of disease by examining aclay model of a sheep’s liver.The model isinscribed with diagnoses based on the liversof real sheep slaughtered in the past for thepurpose of reading omens.

Belief is allWhile many of the herbal remedies used inMesopotamian medicine—plant extracts,resins, and spices—have antibiotic propertiesand some antiseptic value, others have nobeneficial effect beyond masking the badsmell of an infected wound. But because thepatients truly believe the doctors are capableof healing them, it gives them the will toovercome many illnesses.

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Curing a woundOne of the world’s earliest prescriptions,for an infected limb, dates from 2100 BCE:“Pass through a sieve and then kneadtogether turtle shells, salt, and mustard.Then wash the diseased part with goodbeer and hot water, and rub with themixture.Then rub again with oil, and puton a poultice of pounded pine.”

An anxious fatherwatches over his sickson, who holds out hishands in prayer, whilean ashipu, with his righthand held wide in asimilar gesture,attempts to expel thedemons suspected ofcausing the illness.An asu in the cornerprepares a herbalremedy, while an omenpriest consults a modelof a sheep’s liver.

No one knows who wrote the two greatworks of Mesopotamian literature, the

Eridu Genesis (or Creation Epic) and the Epicof Gilgamesh because they moved from purelyspoken legend to words on clay tablets overhundreds of years, and are known in variousversions.

The promotion of MardukThe Creation Epic is the mythic account ofthe world’s origin and of the first king, whodescended from Heaven to take up residencein the city of Eridu.The story mainlyconcerns the battle between the good godsagainst the powers of chaos, led by thedestructive goddess Tiamat.

None of the gods had the courage tooppose her, but Enki designated youngMarduk as the leader most likely to succeed.Marduk agreed, but only in return for beingmade the most senior of the gods. No act ofsuch importance could be applied unlessapproved by the full assembly of the gods.

Shrewd Enki knew there would beobjections from the older gods, so he calledthem all to a great banquet. By the time hegot around to discussing his plan, his guestshad all drunk so much wine that they agreedwithout argument.

Armed with his new authority, Mardukeventually defeated Tiamat and sliced herbody in half. Her waters formed the cloudsand her tears turned into the Tigris and theEuphrates rivers. In this story, the Sumerianslearn that even the gods must consult oneanother before taking a decision, and all thekings who follow must also agree to rule,like the gods, by discussion and consent.

The search for eternal lifeThe world’s oldest recorded story, the Epic ofGilgamesh, tells of the hero’s quest to learnthe secret of eternal life.The warlikeGilgamesh leads his companion Enkidu,Lord of the Wilderness, from the city ofUruk on a fantastic journey to the distantLand of the Forest of Cedars.Afterovercoming many dangers placed in theirway, they reach the forest and defeat itsguardian, a giant named Humbaba.

Returning to Uruk, they discover the citythreatened by a divine bull, sent by Inanna,the goddess of fertility, who also holds thepower of life and death.The heroes defeatthe bull and prevent Uruk’s destruction, buttheir success reminds the gods that thepeople they created should not become toopowerful.

The gods decide that Enkidu must die,and his sudden death fills Gilgamesh with afear of his own end. He is driven todespair—his only hope is to find the plantthat can give him eternal life.This he learnedfrom his ancestor Uta-napishtim, whoclaimed to be the sole survivor of the Great Flood.

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Mesopotamian Literature—Creation and GilgameshSumerian writing was first used for practical purposes, such as administrative records, but it soon flowers into the more exciting sphere of telling stories—the birth of literature.

In the Creation Myth,Marduk battled withTiamat, destructivegoddess of chaos.


Success and failureGilgamesh’s search for the plant is successful,but he leaves it unguarded and a serpentcarries it off. In desperation Gilgamesh turnsto Enkidu’s ghost for consolation.The ghost,however, tells him that the dead should notexpect to be revered by the living andreminds him that humans “become dust”when they die. His great quest has been afailure, but the end of the story findsGilgamesh at peace with himself and hissurroundings.

The epic poem includes many aspects ofdaily life, but its most important message isthat even the semi-divine king must die oneday, and that royalty mustbe renewed fromgeneration togeneration.

Above: Gilgamesh andEnkidu face Inana’sdivine bull. They defeatit to save Uruk fromdestruction.Left: In a Sumerianrelief, Gilgameshwrestles with lions.Gilgamesh is both ahistorical and alegendary figure. In hishistorical role he rulesUruk in about 2600 BCE.He is credited withestablishing Uruk as amodel city and forbringing civilization tothe previously untamedworld.

The Great FloodIn the Land Between the Rivers, floodsare frequent events. Some are so powerfulthey can wipe out a city and its people.The flood of the Gilgamesh legend is thesame as the one mentioned in the Bible,and Uta-napishtim is the equivalent ofNoah and his Ark.

Thanks to the Bible,Abraham is the mostfamous inhabitant of Ur.The Old

Testament tells the story of how Terah tookhis son Abraham and his grandson Lot,together with Abraham’s wife Sarai, and left“Ur of the Chaldees” (see “The lost Ur”) totravel to Haran, almost 800 miles away.

At Haran Terah died, and Abrahambecame the leader of his clan.And here, God

directed him to Canaan to found thenation of Jews. Famine later drove

Abraham’s family to Egypt, but ontheir return their flocks hadprospered and they split up.Abraham made his home first inHebron and then Bethel, whileLot eventually settled in thetwin cities of Sodom andGomorrah.

Abraham also visitedSodom and Gomorrah whenGod was poised to destroy thesettlements because of the

inhabitants’ evil behavior.Abraham pleadedthat the devout be spared. His nephew Lotand family were saved by angels while “fireand brimstone” rained down. Famously, Lot’swife could not contain her curiosity andturned to look back, against divine orders.She was turned into a pillar of salt.

Mesopotamians on the moveThere are many theories about the story ofAbraham, whether it represents theadventures of one person, or a combinationof several people, and there is debate on howmuch is legend and how much is based ontruth. It certainly represents how merchantsspread Mesopotamian culture beyond theboundaries of Sumer and Babylon.

At the time in question—according tomost scholars, some time between 1900 and1750 BCE—Lower Mesopotamia wassuffering the upheaval that followed thecollapse of the Third Dynasty of Ur, and it isbelievable that many merchants decided to

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Exit From Ur—the Spread of Mesopotamian CultureNow the Lord said to Abraham, “Go from your country and from your kindred and your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.” — Genesis 12:1

Below: Merchants carryweighing scales withthem to ensure thefairness of transactionsin foreign countries.

Facing below: Twomerchants bargaining.

The travels of Abraham

Haran

Ur

Shubat-Enlil

ArbilLike any otherMesopotamianmerchant, Abrahamsets out from Uralong one of the twomain trade routes toUpper Mesopotamia.

Haran is a tradingoutpost of Ur.

Ashur

Uruk

Nippur

Der

Babylon

Sippar

Mari

Aleppo

Palmyra

Damascus

Heliopolis

Memphis

Ebla

Ugarit

Byblos

Avaris

Tyre

Hebron

Bethel

Carchemish

Nineveh

The Middle East, c.1750 BCE

Babylonia under Hammurabi

Egypt

under Egyptian influence

main caravan routes

Abraham’s route from Haran

move to quieter Upper Mesopotamia.Andwhile it was a long way, Mesopotamian tradecaravans regularly made journeys of thislength.

Handing over the alphabetAbraham must have been only one of manySumerians and Babylonians traveling toUpper Mesopotamia in search of trade.These merchants carried with them the artsof writing and mathematics, which spreadbetween the cultures of the region andeventually to the Mediterranean coast.

By the 13th century BCE, the Syriantrading kingdom of Ugarit had developedthe Sumerian cuneiform into a 30-characteralphabet. In turn, this was later adapted byfirst the Phoenicians, then the Greeks andRomans into the one we know today.

Giving up the Sumerian godsOf course,Abraham’s biblical significance isin his being the founding father of Judaism,although his conversion to the worship of“the one and only god” Jehovah remains amystery.We have only the Old Testament’sversion, and this assumes that the god hespoke to was God of the Bible.

Yet, as a Sumerian,Abraham may haveworshipped the many Sumerian gods of hischildhood, and Haran where he first settledwas the center for worship of Sin (Nanna),the moon god.

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Development of the alphabet from cuneiform to Latin

The lost UrThe Bible refers to Abraham’s birthplace as Ur of the Chaldees.When the books of the Old Testament were compiled, Ur hadbeen abandoned. In order to give their readers an idea of where itlay they used the word Chaldees to indicate that it was in southernBabylonia, which at the time was also known as Chaldea.

Ugarit Phoenician Greek Latin

’a ALEPH ALPHA A

b BETH BETA B

g GIMEL GAMMA C

d DALETH DELTA D

h HE EPSILON E

w VAV F

ch

HETH ETA H

th TETH THETA

y YOD IOTA I

k KAPH KAPPA K

ss

l LAMED LAMBDA L

m MEM MU M

td

n NUN NU N

s SAMEK XI

gh AYIN OMICRON O

p PE PI P

ts SADE

q KOPH Q

r RESH RHO R

sh SHIN SIGMA S

gh

t TAW TAU T

UPSILON V

PHI

CHI X

PSI

z ZAYIN ZETA Z

OMEGA

i,e

o,u

s2

The HittitesAnother Indo-European race, the Hittitessettled in Anatolia (a part of modern Turkey)in about 2000 BCE. By about 1740 BCE theHittites were united under one ruler, andoccupied almost all of Asia Minor.At itsheight between 1600 and 1200 BCE,the Hittite empire extended fromMesopotamia to Syria andPalestine.

They conquered Babylon inabout 1595 BCE, overthrowingKing Hammurabi, and—likethe Mitanni before them—clashed with the Egyptians,largely over the border townof Kadesh. In 1275 BCE agreat battle was fought,which neither side reallywon. In 1272 BCE theHittites signed a peacetreaty with the Egyptians—the oldest known documentof its kind.The Hittiteswere overthrown by themysterious “Sea Peoples” inabout 1196 BCE.

The KassitesThe Kassites were neitherIndo-Europeans nor Semitic,and are thought to have comefrom the Zagros Mountains.TheHittites employed these nomadicwarriors as mercenaries when theyattacked Babylon. However, theHittites never established themselvesin Babylon, preferring to retire to thenorth, and the Kassites became the newrulers.They were eventually thrown outc.1150 BCE by the new great power inMesopotamia—the Assyrians.

The Indo-Europeans originally camefrom the great plains, or steppes, that

stretch from Mongolia, through southernRussia and into central Europe. One race,the Mycenaeans (named after the site wheretheir culture was first discovered), settled inGreece in about 1900 BCE. Further east,Indo-Europeans known as Aryans settled inPersia and northwest India in about 1500BCE.All these people spoke a related languageand they had something else important incommon—they were horsemen.

The HurriansToward the end of the third millennium BCE,the Hurrians seem to have migrated fromthe region between the Black and CaspianSeas called Urartu (modern Armenia).Theyestablished kingdoms in Upper Mesopotamiaand later united with the Mitanni.TheHurrians also moved to the southwest of theFertile Crescent, eventually forming a rulingelite in many cities in Canaan.They mayeven have formed a part of the nationknown as the Hyksos, who invaded Egypt inabout 1640 BCE.

The MitanniThe Mitanni were Indo-Europeans related tothe Hurrians.They settled in UpperMesopotamia in about 1500 BCE and unitedthe Hurrian kingdoms into a single stateunder their rule. In 1450–1390 BCE theybuilt up an empire that stretched from theMediterranean to the Zagros Mountains.This brought them into conflict with theEgyptians, but the two nations made peacein about 1400 BCE.The Mitanni were finehorsemen and even wrote books on horsemanagement. In about 1370 BCE the Hittitesattacked the western part of the Mitannikingdom, after which their state broke up.

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CHAPTER 3

Indo-Europeans Occupy MesopotamiaUpper Mesopotamia undergoes sweeping changes after 2000 BCE as a series ofnew peoples enter the region. Modern scholars know them as Indo-Europeans.Some settle, others move on, seeking new territories to conquer.

The Age of Super States

A F R I CA

GREECE

Hurrians also settlein Canaan

Egyptians

Mycenaeans

Celtic Tribes

Nil

e

The coming of the horseHorses were native to the plains of eastEurope and the southern steppes ofRussia, where they were first domesticatedin about 4000 BCE, for use as workanimals.When they first appeared inMesopotamia in about 2000 BCE, theywere mostly kept as expensive pets.It was the Indo-Europeanswho first used horses topull war chariots,which gave theirarmies a speed advantageover the Babylonians andSumerians.At thistime horses wererarely ridden.

I N D I A

RU S S I A NS T E P P E S

C E N T R A L A S I A NS T E P P E S

A R A B I A

A R A B I A NS E A

I N D I A N O C E A N

M O N G O L I A

P E R S I A

MESOPOTAMIA

ZA

GR

OS

MO

UN

TA

INS

Kassites

HurriansMitanni

Hittites

HIM

ALAYA MOUNTAINS

I ND

O- E U R O P E A N M I G R A T I O N S

Eph ra t e s

Tigr i s

I ndus

Ganges

CH

INA

Yang

tze

Yel l o

w

Mekom

g

Oxus

The homeland of the Assyrians is a smallregion on the upper part of the Tigris,

bounded by its tributaries the Great Zab andLittle Zab. However, at some time before2000 BCE, Semitic Amorites invade Assyriaand establish a line of kings. By about1800 BCE, the earliest knownAssyrian rulers, Ishmi-Daganand his son Shamshi-Adad Ihave united the cities ofAshur, Nineveh, and Arbil.Together with Nimrud,these cities form the coreof Assyrian civilization.

Gaining independenceAs late as the 15th century Assyria is stillessentially a subject state. In 1472 BCE theAssyrian dominions are listed as beingannexed to the Mitanni, and officials at theAssyrian court have Mitanni names.However, by 1420 royal inscriptions refer toAssyria as an independent state.

Under their kings the Assyrians build ahuge empire, which reaches its greatestextent between 1000 and 612 BCE, theperiod known as the New Assyrian Empire.

66


The Rise and Fall of Assyria, 1420–609 BCEThe Assyrians are a Semitic speaking people who come to central Mesopotamia inabout 3000 BCE. They are influenced culturally by their richer neighbors to the southin Sumer and Akkad, and at first are often under their political control as well.

The expansion of Assyria, 1400–627 BCE

c.1400

934–912, King Ashur-Dan II

884–859, King Ashurnasirpal II

680–627, maximum extent

Tarsus

Aleppo

Aramaeans

Neo-Hittites

ByblosRiblah

Damascus

Palmyra

Jerusalem

Thebes(Luxor)

Lachish

Sidon

Tyre

Harran

ASSYRIA

URARTU

SYRIA

ARAM

ISRAEL

JUDAH

EDOMEGYPT

Ashur isAssyria’s firstcapital

Dur-Kurigalzu

Babylon

Dur-Sharrukin(Khorsabad)

Kar-Tukulti-Ninurta

Tushpa

ArbilKalhu(Nimrud)

NuziAshur

Nineveh

Ugarit

Arvad

Gaza

Memphis

Nisibis(Shubat-Enlil)

Lake Van

Carchemish

Mari

Hit

Sippar

The intricate decoration in the throne room ofAshurnasirpal II at Nimrud is typical of themagnificent Assyrian palaces.

Euphrates

Tigris

Euphrates

Tigris

Nile

Oro

ntes

Phoe

nici

ans

M

OA

B

Great engineersThe Assyrians are an aggressive militarypeople, who make enemies among theirneighbors as well as among their ownsubjects.With their formidable permanentarmy, the Assyrian kings usually win everybattle, and their glory and successes arereflected in the magnificent palaces and citiesthey build.Among the most splendid areKhorsabad and Nimrud, decorated with

painted stone carvings and monumentalstatues of winged bulls with the king’shead (see pages 78–79).

The Assyrians’ chief god is Ashur,after whom their main city isnamed. Like the Sumerians, theAssyrians build ziggurats for theirgods, with large sacred precincts

around them.They are also greatbuilders of roads for the army and ofaqueducts to bring water into the cities fromthe surrounding hillsides. Constructed ofmud bricks, the aqueducts allow water toflow downhill through clay pipes

waterproofed with a lining ofbitumen (tar).

Main dates (all BCE)c.2000–1450 Old Assyrian Empire—dominatedby Sumer and Akkad (Agade), Assyrians tradewith Anatolia until Hittite expansion brings therelationship to an end, c.1500.

1813–1781 Reign of Shamshi-Adad I, whoconquers an empire from Mari to Babylon. His sonbecomes a subject of Hammurabi in 1763.

c.1475 The Mitanni take control of Assyria.

1365–1329 Reign of Ashur-Uballit I, who regainsAssyrian independence.

1273–1244 Reign of Shalmaneser I, whoconquers the eastern part of the Mitanni kingdom.

1115–1077 Reign of Tiglath-Pileser I, whodefeats the Mitanni and Kassites, and conquersBabylon, extending Assyrian influence into Syriaand Armenia.

c.1000–612 New Assyrian Empire

884–859 Reign of Ashurnasirpal II, who movesthe capital from Ashur to Nimrud, dedicated to thewar god Ninurta, and populated with deportedpeople from cities he captured.

858–824 Reign of Shalmaneser III, who conquersIsrael. In the following years all of Palestine, Syria,Armenia, and Lower Mesopotamia are conquered.

727–722 Reign of Shalmaneser V, who subduesrebellious Israel and deports many Israelites toMesopotamia.

721–705 Reign of Sargon III, who conquersUrartu and moves the capital to Khorsabad.

704–681 Reign of Sennacherib, who invadesEgypt but withdraws and defeats Babylon.

668–627 Reign of Ashurbanipal II, who conquersEgypt and defeats Thebes in 663; in 648 hedefeats Babylon, and Susa in 639.

614–612 Ashur and Nineveh are taken byMedes and Babylonians. By 608 Assyria ceases to exist.

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CHAPTER 3: THE AGE OF SUPER STATES

Chaldeans

Medes

Nippur

BABYLONIAELAM

Uruk

Der

ancientcoastline

Susa

Ur

Assyrian engineers arethe first to build pavedroads and span valleyswith aqueducts to bringwater to the cities.

Statue of KingAshurnasirpal II

Diyalá

Babylonia remains the religious andcultural center of the empire, despiteAssyria’s military dominance.

Surrounded by enemies from Sumer andAkkad in the south, mountain nomads

from the east, and the Hittites to the northand west, the villagers of Assyria havebecome warriors. Now Assyria is the mostfeared power in Mesopotamia and the FertileCrescent.

Many wall carvings depict warfare, butthese are records of Assyrian achievementsand victories rather than of everyday life.War is the task of the king and the land-owning nobles, but for ordinary folk,farming is their main occupation.

A farming economyThe Assyrians’ economy is centered aroundtheir fields, crops, and livestock.A large partof the population consists of peasant farmerswho are dependent on the land they own orland they are employed to cultivate. UnlikeSumer,Assyria is a nation of farming villagesand country towns, with only a few largecities.

In the past, the land was owned by largefamilies, who grouped together to formvillages.These communities combined toundertake state projects, such as road

building and digging irrigation canals.Now, in times of war, the villages providemanpower for military service.The peopleare bound to the land where they are bornand where they labor. If the land is sold, theygo with it.

Villages, towns, and citiesThe village is administered by its local town,which has a court-appointed governor. Hisduties include acting as a judge in localdisputes, collecting taxes for the king, andarranging festivals.The town in turn isresponsible to one of the great cities thatanswer directly to the king.

In Assyria, every aspect of life is linked tothe king, whose power is absolute. Unlikethe Sumerian monarchs, the king is not agod, but his body emits a radiance thatcauses fear in his enemies on the battlefield.Anyone who wants to see the king—eventhe crown prince—must go throughelaborate rites to make sure the omens aregood before being granted an audience.

The king’s palace is both the official royalresidence and the seat of government, with alarge administrative staff.As regent of the

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Assyrian SocietyThe Assyrians are not a single race, but a nation of many different ethnic people,speaking a number of Semitic dialects. What unifies them is religion, centered onbelief in a chief god named Ashur.

For the majority ofAssyrians, life is spentworking on farms andrivers. This bas-reliefcarving shows ordinaryfolk going about theirdaily tasks, in this caseharvesting grain andfishing in the Tigris.

gods, the king must ensure that his actionsaccord with tradition and do not offend thegods.To help him, he is surrounded by athrong of priests, diviners, exorcists, andastrologers.

The king is always enlarging his capitalcity and adorning its buildings with hugestatues and wall decorations made fromcolored, glazed tiles.The vast number ofslaves captured in battle—or whole nationsdeported from their homelands—make thiscontinual building work possible.

1. The River Tigris

2. The statue has beenferried from a quarry ona large raft.

3. The human-headedbull is moved off theraft and up the bank ona sled running onwooden rollers.

4. Slaves use a woodenlever wedged under the

sled by large, constantlyadjusted, woodenrollers.

5. Buckets of riverwater are passed up theslope by a chain gangof slaves to keep thetrack wet and lubricatethe sled rollers.

6. Standing on the frontof the sled, an officerclapping his hands in

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rhythm urges on theworkers, while anothershouts commandsthrough a speakinghorn.

7. Four chains of slaveshaul on ropes to pull the40-ton load up theslope. Each chain has asupervisor and a manarmed with a whip togoad on the slackers.

Slaves haul a huge guardian statue up the bank to the city of Nineveh.

1

23

4

5

6

7

Assyrians have two indistinct socialgroups, free and non-free.Among the

free citizens there are many subtle levels ofstatus that reflect the wealth and influence ofan individual. Non-free status, althoughgenerally meaning “slave,” often indicatesthat the person is in a position of

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The Assyrian FamilyAssyrian society is decidedly patriarchal—the husband andfather’s word is law, and the rights and liberty of women isrestricted in comparison to those of other Mesopotamians.

subservience to someone of higher authority.The sons of poor families must report for

military duty when required, while the sonsof wealthy and noble families take up theduties of army officers.They might remainin a military career, or later become local orcentral government administrators.

In the home, wealthy Assyrians like to spend time intheir courtyard gardens. In this scene, the wife andmother is covering her head ready to set off with herslave girl for the market, having ensured her familyhas food on the table. Assyrian meals are verysimilar to those of Sumer, Akkad, and Babylonia, withfish from the river being most popular. But amongthe wealthy a prized dish is baklava. This is a bakedconfection of chopped nuts and honey, sandwichedbetween layers of thin bread dough. Greekmercenary soldiers and merchants also like Assyrianbaklava, and they take the recipe home with them.

Funeral ritesFuneral rites in Assyriadiffer little from those ofSumer. In particular it isbelieved that thedeceased belong insidethe house theyoccupied while alive.In a poorer home, thebody is buried in asmall chamber underthe stone floor, butlarger homes have aspecial vaultedchamber, sealed off bya sturdy door that’sreached through asteep shaft.

When his father dies,the eldest son performsthe rites, reading amemorial service infront of the household’ssacred niche. Thiscontains an offeringtable and an opening inthe wall occupied bythe house god.

The master is removedfrom his deathbed andlaid out ceremoniouslyon a stretcher to betaken to his grave. He’sdressed in his finestrobe, and his right handlaid on a vesselcontaining the food hewill need in the afterlife.Along with him will goall his personalbelongings—ornaments, weaponsand armor, favoritevessels. In his death,the Assyrian noblemanremains the greatwarrior he was in life.

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A man’s propertyIn the privacy of their homes, both men andtheir wives go scantily clad, sometimes evennaked. Outdoors, men generally wear a shorttunic.An Assyrian nobleman usually has onlyone wife, but he is also allowed concubines—and, as a result, hopefully even more sons.

Women are under the authority of themale head of the family.A girl’s father andfuture father-in-law arrange her marriagebetween them, and she has no say in thematter.After the wedding the bride comesunder the authority of her husband as shemoves to his household.As a wife, the girlhas few property rights. Even jewelry givento her as a marriage gift becomes theproperty of her husband.

Girls are expected to marry early.Theycan legally be married as soon as they areten, although the average age is 16.They arealso encouraged to have many children—preferably boys to supply the king with


soldiers for his armies.Women who bearsons are honored, while the husband mayput aside a barren wife or even have herimpaled on a stake.

A woman who is the “property” of anAssyrian nobleman—wife or daughter—isconsidered to be “respectable.” (A widowcomes under the authority of her eldest son.)Respectable women must cover their headswhenever they go out on the street.This isto distinguish them from “disreputable”women—prostitutes and slaves.

A concubine, or secondary wife, is alsodefined as respectable when she appears inpublic with the first wife, her mistress. Butthere are severe penalties for disreputablewomen caught wearing a head covering—50 lashes for free women, and a slave has herears cut off.

While a girl is getting married at about16, her brother at the same age is starting hismilitary service.

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An Assyrian Soldier’s LifeAssyrian boys start their military life at the age of 16. TheAssyrians are the first people to employ a professionalstanding army. It’s carefully organized and trained.

The Assyrian military campProfessional soldiers live on a military base,or ekal masharti (palace for marshallingforces) in the capital cities.The ekal masharticonsists of a large courtyard for militarymaneuvers, surrounded by a number ofbuildings used as barracks and storerooms forprovisions and equipment. Smaller garrisonsare maintained at border crossings and otherkey points.

Conscripts supplement the regular armyin times of foreign war.These forces areraised from within Assyria, but also fromsouthern Mesopotamia by provincialgovernors, who are also responsible forproviding provisions while the army is intheir territory. By these means it is possibleto field an army of as many as 200,000 men.

Kitted out with theirbasic equipment, rawrecruits are herdedtoward their new life oforder and rigor in thelocal military base,where they will bemade into the efficientsoldiers seen above.

Right: A typicalAssyrian mountedarcher.

By 800 BCE,Assyria fields a vast army,with expert commanders and plentiful

supplies of equipment for all types ofcombat.The regular army includes 20,000infantry, 12,000 light cavalry armed withbows and spears, and 1,200 two-horsechariots. In the early days, the cavalry rodeinto action in chariots and dismounted toshoot arrows from behind wicker shields.Now the men ride their steeds and havemastered the art of firing from horseback atfull gallop.

Battles of body and mindThere are distinct war seasons, sanctioned bythe war god Ninurta, that follow harvestingin July.This is a time when peasant labor isavailable for military service.

When the Assyrians surround an enemytown, the soldiers shout at the defenders tosurrender.They proclaim that their gods havepredicted victory and that resistance will beuseless. If this form of psychological warfarefails to impress the enemy, a siege is made.A fortified camp is set up outside the town,and its food and water supplies are cut.When the town’s people are sufficientlyweakened, the battering rams are broughtinto play or the walls are scaled.

Psychological warfare is also employedafter a victory, when the flayed skins of theenemy’s leaders are publicly displayed todiscourage others from rebelling. Otherpunishments may include the severing ofhands, putting out of eyes, and the cuttingoff of noses and ears. However, the usualpunishment for prisoners is deportation to adistant part of the empire, where they will beless likely to cause further trouble.

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The aristocratic recruitIn whichever division the new recruit findshimself, he is under the unit’s commander,the intelligence officers, interpreters, and adiviner who foretells events.

Depending on his skills in generaltraining, he might be placed in the pioneercorps, responsible for road building indifficult terrain and for constructing rafts andbridges when they are needed. Or, if he’snobly-born, he might get promoted to theelite royal bodyguard that provides personalsecurity for the king.

The ordinary soldierPoorer recruits form the bulk of the army—bowmen, slingsmen, swordsmen, pike-bearers, and light and heavy infantry, as wellas permanent units of charioteers andcavalry.There’s also a section that deals onlywith the transport of military equipment andbasic provisions (mainly corn and oil).Theseare carried on pack-donkeys or on cartsdrawn by teams of oxen.

Among the equipment to be transportedare armored battering rams, large wheeledmachines that provide sufficient cover forseveral men to operate the ram, which issuspended from heavy chains so that it canbe swung back and forth.

This detail from a relief(below right) shows ascene of cruelty afterSennacherib’s assaulton the Judaean city ofLachish, c.681 BCE.Captured prisoners areimpaled on stakes.Carved scenes like thisadorn the walls of theking’s audiencechamber—a warning toforeign ambassadorsnot to mess withAssyria.

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75

Numerous surrounding small tribes andalliances frequently challenge the rule

of the king.Although the Assyrian army iscapable of suppressing such uprisings, itcannot guarantee that they will not happenagain.Therefore, stability of the Assyrian wayof life depends on relocating populations inless troubled regions and by destroying therule of their feudal lords.

It is not a punishmentThere are also good economic reasons forthe relocations.As the empire gains moreterritory, it needs more crops to feed theextra people, and this means making betteruse of agricultural lands.Who better topopulate unproductive areas than thosecaptured in war?

Other prisoners are settled in cities wheretheir craft skills can be employed, and someare given high-status positions within theAssyrian court as scribes and interpreters. It issometimes suggested that these relocations areintended to be a punishment, but in fact theyare carefully planned movements intended toplace new populations in areas where theirskills can be most usefully employed.

Supply and demandThis is a time when relocation of entirepopulations by migration is common, and sobeing forcibly moved is not as upsetting as itwould be today.

The deported people are sent to settle inplaces similar to those they came from, andthey are looked after.These are not forcedmarches in shackles and chains, but wellsupervised movements during which thecomfort and health of the people isimportant. In fact they are often betterclothed and better fed than many ruralAssyrian families.

In the countryside, the resettledpopulations work alongside existing ruralvillagers and they have the same rights andobligations as anyone else. New immigrants

are provided for by the state until they cansettle themselves in their new homes, andstate officials are appointed to oversee anyproblems of integration with the localpopulace.

The Assyrians do not break up ethnicgroups or separate family members, and alldeportees remain technically free persons,able to follow their own religious beliefs andspeak their own language.All they areexpected to do is express their loyalty toAshur.

Enriching Assyrian societyIn contrast to making war, the Assyriansenjoy the cultural mix they have createdthrough the deportations. Ethnic differencesare not important to them, and they do notsee racial purity as relevant. Indeed, the kinglikes to boast of the number of languagesspoken at court and that all people, ofwhatever ethnic group, background, orculture, are equal.

Many of the leading craftsmen in citiessuch as Nineveh are foreign, as are some ofthe most important architects. People fromoutside Assyria constantly add to the mix ofnations that are represented in thesecosmopolitan cities. Even the Assyrianlanguage has changed dramatically as wordsfrom other cultures are accepted.

The Jews in exileThis issue of Assyrian deportations isemotive, mostly because it is linked in theBible with the deportation of the “TenTribes of Israel” from Samaria in 722–720BCE during the reigns of Shalmaneser V(727–722) and Sargon II (721–705). It wascarried out on a vast scale during thereign of Sennacherib (704–681), who issaid to have deported 20,000 inhabitantsof the city of Judah, and continued underEsarhaddon (681–669).


Forced MigrationsTo Assyria’s neighbors its most upsetting military policy is the mass deportation of subject peoples. Scholars often describe this policy as inhumane, yet it isimportant to consider it from the Assyrian point of view.

Far left: In the siege ofthe Syrian city ofHamath, the defendersare seen on theramparts, some fallingafter being struck byarrows. Assyriansoldiers shelter undershields, some attackwith a ladder, othersmake a sneak attack byswimming in the RiverOrontes.

Left: A city’s populationbegins its deportation toa foreign land forresettlement, underAssyrian guard.

An Assyrian armybatters its way into arebel city.

Ritual hunting has long been a sport ofthe Assyrian kings, as the records

show.We are told that Tiglath-Pileser I(1115–1077 BCE) enjoyed hunting manydifferent types of beast—bear, hyena, lion,tiger, leopard, deer, wild goat, bison, waterbuffalo, wild pig, gazelle, wild sheep, lynx,cheetah, wild ass (onager), wild ox, elephant,and even ostrich.

When Tiglath-Pileser visited theMediterranean city of Arvad, hecommandeered a boat and harpooned a nahiru(sea-horse, but it was probably a dolphin orsome species of whale) while at sea. Knowingthe king’s fascination with wild animals, andparticularly foreign species, many ambassadorsto the court make gifts of these.Althoughsome are later hunted, most of these strangespecimens are kept in several largezoos—animals such as apes, crocodiles,and other oddities captured in theSyrian Desert.

A mass slayingThe royal hunts are no mere day-out affairs.Large numbers of animals are killed forsport.Tiglath-Pileser claims to have killed upto 800 lions at a time, and Ashurnasirpal II(884–859) claims that “Ninurta and Nergal[gods of war and the hunt], who love mypriesthood, gave me the wild animals ofthe plains, commanding me to hunt.Thirty elephants I trapped and killed; 257great wild oxen I brought down with myweapons, attacking from my chariot; 370great lions I killed with my hunting spears.”

The king believes the “great beasts” aredivine and his alone to hunt as a display ofhis power. Lions are trapped and brought incages to a hunting arena, where they arereleased and set on by his soldiers andtrained mastiffs.

The king’s own role is mostly a ritualone—he only steps in at the last moment to

finish off the lion with a spear or dagger.Even then, trained archers are alwaysstanding by, ready to ensure that the kingcomes to no harm.

Sometimes there are practical reasonsbeyond sport for a hunt. It is the king’s duty

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Hunting—the Sport of KingsAlthough hunting in Mesopotamia is a means of providingextra food, in Assyria it has a greater significance as a ritualact performed by the king. Through hunting, he demonstrateshis power over the wild beasts of the land.

Right: KingAshurbanipal confrontshis “divine”opponent,the lion. Armedattendants ensure theking comes to no harm.Due to continualhunting by Assyriankings, the Assyrian lionis now extinct.

to protect his subjects from attack by wildanimals.An unusually rainy period cantrigger an increase in the lion population,and then they attack the livestock andfarmers with terrible consequences.

On the other hand, in drier years the

king’s hunting can deplete the wild livestockso much that his hunt masters are forced toimport lions, leopards, and gazelles fromAfrica. Lions are also bred at zoos specificallyto be released into the enclosures for ritualhunts.

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NinevehNineveh is an ancient place, once occupiedby the kings of Agade (2300 BCE), thenShamshi-Adad of Ashur (1800 BCE), and laterby the Mitanni. Since 1000 BCE it has beenthe main Assyrian royal city.

The walls of Sennacherib are about 50feet high and enclose an area 7.5 milesaround.The city has 15 gates for access, eachnamed after an Assyrian god and flanked bywinged bulls with human heads.At thecenter, Sennacherib’s palace stands on top ofTell Kuyunjik. It covers nearly 10 acres andcontains at least 80 rooms decorated withstone reliefs and wall paintings.

Nineveh has many public squares andparks, wide boulevards, a botanical garden,and a zoo.The oldest known aqueductbrings water from hills 30 miles away toirrigate exotic plants and trees in the parksand gardens. So great is the city that itssuburbs extend almost 30 miles along theriver’s bank.

Ashurbanipal’s fabulous libraryA second palace on Kuyunjik belongs toAshurbanipal II, who is also responsible forconstruction of the state library.Thisastonishing building contains between20,000 and 30,000 clay tablets, gathered frommany countries.The tablets are organized inseveral rooms arranged according to subjectmatter—history/government,religion/magic, geography, science, andpoetry.

The library’s contents include “books”that foretell the future, translations ofSumerian and Akkadian stories, religiousincantations, instruction manuals for priestsin training, and legal documents.There arealso books of poetry, proverbs, myths, andepics, including the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Proud of his library,Ashurbanipalfearsomely warns any who misbehave:“Mayall the gods curse anyone who breaks,defaces, or removes this tablet…and maythey put his flesh in a dog’s mouth.”

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Cities of Splendor and LearningBetween the 9th and 7th centuries BCE, Assyria’s main urban centers are among themost splendid cities anywhere, each in its time the capital of a great king. Ninevehcontains the finest library in the world.

The Assyrian kings builtmagnificent palace-cities such as Nineveh(above), located on theRiver Khasr, on the eastbank of the Tigris.

Center right: A carvedrelief from Sargon’spalace at Dur-Sharrukin(Khorsabad).

Right: A look insideAshurbanipal’s vastlibrary complex.

Far right:Reconstruction ofSargon’s palace atDur-Sharrukin. Thecomplex was nevercompleted.

NimrudFounded by Shalmaneser I (1273–1244),Nimrud also sits on the east bank of theTigris, not far from Nineveh.AshurnasirpalII (884–859) made it his capital.The innercity covers about 500 acres, surrounding themajor buildings at its southwest corner.These include a temple dedicated to thecity’s patron god Ninurta, with a largeziggurat. Nimrud also has extensive orchardsand parks, all drained by a clever sewagesystem.

Ashurnasirpal’s palace is decorated withnumerous plaster reliefs and wall paintings,and colossal winged lions and bulls flank thedoorways.When the king held a feast for thebuilders and architects who had worked onit, he fed 63,000 people, including 47,000workers who had been brought there fromconquered lands.

Dur-Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad)This capital was purpose-built by Sargon II(721–705) but lasted for only his reign.With each wall about a mile long, the city isalmost a square. Seven gates lead throughhigh fortified walls into the inner city, whichcontains a second wall surrounding thePalace of Sargon to the northwest.Thisstands on a great terrace, about 46 feet high,and straddles the exterior wall.The palaceprecinct has a large temple and ziggurat, aharem for the king’s four wives, a kitchen,bakery, and wine cellar.

There are many carved stone reliefs liningthe palace walls, and massive statues ofSargon and winged bulls.Among thecarvings are scenes of military campaigns,everyday life, rituals, ceremonies, and lavishbanquets like the one below, showing Sargonreclining, celebrating a victory.

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With Assyria crushed and Nineveh razedto the ground, Babylon has at last the

opportunity to regain the prominence itenjoyed more than a thousand years before,during the golden age of Hammurabi. Itshopes are realized under the long and ablerule of Nabopolassar’s son, Nebuchadnezzar.

Nebuchadnezzar II (605–562 BCE) claimsroyal descent from his ancestor, the Akkadianking Naram-Sin. In addition to his royalduties, he is also a high priest of Marduk (seepages 88–89) and the god’s son, Nebu—infact Nebuchadnezzar means “Nebu willprotect me.”

The largest city in the worldYears of internal strife and many wars haveleft much of the country’s farm landneglected and its temples in ruins.Nebuchadnezzar has now restored morethan 40 temples in major cities such asBorsippa, Sippar, Ur, Uruk, Larsa, Dilbat,and Baz. He has also completely overhauledthe canal system and built a major newcanal that connects the Euphrates to theTigris.

Under his rule, Babylonia is again themost important economic and militarypower of Mesopotamia, and Babylon hasbecome its most glorious city.

The Greek writer Herodotus claims thatBabylon is the largest and most splendid cityin the known world. He says that the outerwalls are 56 miles long, 80 feet thick andalmost 330 feet high. Herodotus says that theroad on the top of the wall is wide enoughfor a four-horse chariot to turn, and that amoat 164 feet across surrounds the city.

Herodotus exaggeratesPerhaps the Greeks have not yet masteredSumerian arithmetic—the moat is actually

39 feet wide, and there are three fortifiedwalls around the city. However, the realstatistics are still impressive.The outer wall,beyond the moat, is 23 feet thick and thespace between the two inner walls is wideenough to act as a military road.The innerwall (18 feet thick) is further reinforced withtowers at 59-foot intervals, with eight gatesand drawbridges leading into the city itself.This wall stretches for 11 miles.

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CHAPTER 4

The Glory of Nebuchadnezzar’s CityAssyria collapsed after the death of Ashurbanipal and Babylon declared itsindependence. Under its first two Chaldean rulers, Nabopolassar and his sonNebuchadnezzar II, Babylon has become the greatest city in Mesopotamia.

NEW BABYLONIA

temple of Ninmakh

Incorrectly identified asHanging Gardens in 1899

temple ofIshtar

temple of Belet-Ninua

temple of Ishtarof Agade

temple of Enlil

temple of Ea

temple of Adadtemple of

Ishhara

temple of Nabu

temple ofMarduk

PRECINCT

OFESAGILA

ziggurat ofEtemenanki

temple ofNinurta

Ishtar Gate

SinGate

easternoutwork

western outwork

northern citadel

suburb

southern citadel(Palace of Nebuchadnezzar)

Beyt Nisan

Ziggurat ofEtemenanki

Enlil Gate

Royal Gate

Adad Gate

Shamas Gate

UrashGate

modern preferred site of Hanging Gardens

western citadel

A DA D S T R E E T

SH

AM

AS

ST

RE

ET

ME RK ES

E R I D U

BAB-L UGA L IRR A

K U M AR

N E W C I T Y

T UBA

S H UA N N A

K A -D IN G I R R A

outer wallinner wall

to Laras

0 500 yds

0 500 m

c a n a l

m o a t

m o a t

m o a t

anc i e n t

c o u r s eo f

t h eE

u p h r a t e s

PR

OC

ES

SIO

NA

LW

AY

The Euphrates runs through the citycenter. Major temples are concentrated closeto the river.The most important is Marduk’stemple of Esagila and its ziggurat ofEtemenanki (see pages 90–91).

The glory of New BabylonNebuchadnezzar’s palace is magnificent. Ithas more than 600 rooms, whose brickwalls are inscribed with Nebuchadnezzar’sname as the protector of Babylonia. Inthese rooms there are gold and lapis lazuli-encrusted sculptures and carvings made bythe best craftsmen of the city. Hisarchitects are also responsible for one ofthe world’s greatest architecturalmasterpieces: the Hanging Gardens ofBabylon.

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CHAPTER 4: NEW BABYLONIA

Key dates (all BCE)1126–1105 Nebuchadnezzar I restores Babylonianpride after the city’s sack by the Kassites.

c.900 The Chaldeans invade Ur.

731–626 Assyrians and Chaldeans fight forcontrol of Babylon. Assyrians claim the city in 703and sack it as punishment for rebelling.

627 Death of Ashurbanipal leaves Assyriansuccession in doubt.

630–605 Nabopolassar, governor of Babylon,declares independence from Assyria. 614, hemarries his son Nebuchadnezzar to Amytis,daughter of Umakishtar, uniting the Chaldeansand Persian Medes.

626–539 Neo Babylonian Empire underNabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar II, Merodach(561–60), Neriglissar (559–56), and Nabonidus(556–39).

539 The Achaemenid Persian Cyrus II conquersthe empire of Babylonia.

Marduk Gate

to Kutha

Ishtar Gate

The Hanging Gardens

Zababa Gate

MarketGate

The wallstretches furtherto the east beforedoubling back tomeet theEuphrates to thenorth of the city

Z AT S A B AS T R E E T

M A R D U KS T R E E T

K ULLA B

HOMERA

OL

D

outer wall

inner wall

to Nippur

c a n a l

mo a t

outerwall of Nebuchadnezza

r

Nebuchadnezzar’s empireNebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptians, secured control of Syria and Palestine, captured Jerusalem,and invaded northwestern Arabia. After crushing a Jewish revolt in 597, he deported manyJews to Babylonia. A second revolt ten years laterended in the sack of Jerusalem and the removal ofthe entire population to Babylonia, where theyremained until the Achaemenid Persians let themreturn to their homes in 539.

GazaJerusalem

TyreSidon

Byblos

NinevehKalhu

Ashur

Mari

A N A T O L I A

Damascus

HarranDur-Sharrukin

This is where mostof the Jews wereresettled byNebuchadnezzar.

Babylon

Arbil

Der

Uruk

Ur

Susa

ancientcoastline

PERSIANGULF

REDSEA

CASPIANSEA

LakeUrmia

Lake Van

MEDITERRANEANSEA

EGYPT

SYRIA

Syr ian Dese r t

Nisibis

Aleppo

Carchemish

UgaritCYPRUS Euphrates

Tigris

PAL

EST

INE

ME S

OP

OT

AM

IA

QU

AR

TE

R

Nebuchadnezzar’s new Babylon sitsastride the Euphrates, with the old

quarter on the east bank and an entire newcity on the west bank.There are ten districts(see the map, page 80) separate from the templeprecinct of Esagila and the royal palace.The space within the walls is packed withhouses; as many as 200,000 people live here.

The population is very mixed, reflectingthe history of conquerors and conquered.Native Babylonians mingle with Aramaeans,Assyrians, Chaldeans, Egyptians, Elamites,Hittites, Hurrians, Kassites, and nowthousands of Jews deported from Jerusalemby Nebuchadnezzar.

The wealthy temple priestsThe temples form a virtual state within astate.The only formal education takes placeat them and is reserved for those preparing toenter temple service or be part of the royalcourt.The priests of Marduk at the Esagilaprecinct are the biggest owners of land andreal estate, with half of Babylon undertheir direct control.Theauthority of their

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senior representatives rivals that of the king.They also have vast business interests andown a sizable part of Babylon’s shipping fleet.

This means that the priests control thelives of all kinds of traders and craftsmen.Thousands of farmers work the temple landsfor a share of its produce.Agriculturalworkers might be slaves or paid laborers, butsome can also be captured soldiers who haveno citizens’ rights but remain free men.

The high priestly statusThe priests also own thousands of slaves whomake up the work gangs that maintain thecity’s many canals.The canals are essential forirrigation of the fields and are useful forshipping goods to and fro.

Temple and court officials live within thetemple and palace precincts, where specialquarters are reserved for them according to

1. The Ziggurat ofEtemenanki (the Biblical“Tower of Babel”)

2. Processional avenuefrom the Ishtar Gate tothe religious precincts

3. Northern Precinct ofEsagila

4. Western arm ofprocessional avenueleading to the bridge

5. Southern Precinct ofEsagila with priests’quarters and stores

6. Temple of Marduk,chief god of Babylon

7. Bridge crossing theEuphrates to the NewCity on the west bank

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A Society Run by PriestsAs in most other cities of Mesopotamia, distinct class divisions exist, especiallybetween slaves and the free citizens. In Babylon there is also a great dividebetween the temple priests and the ordinary people.

their status and the duties they perform.These precincts also house most of themilitary and provide accommodation forvisiting diplomats and officials.

Many aristocrats prefer temple life, withits rich financial rewards and social prestige,but others make a career in the highest levelsof the military.

Babylonia’s wealthy classMost wealthy Babylonians are either ownersof large farm estates, or they control tradingor manufacturing companies with large, paidworkforces.There are many trade guilds formaster craftsmen and apprentices.Theseinclude boatmen, brewers, brick-makers,canal-diggers, confectioners, coppersmiths,fowlers, leatherworkers, and many others.

The choice of profession is limitedbecause a man follows the trade of his father,unless there are special circumstances, such asthe son being especially gifted in a differentskill from that of his father.

Life of a slaveTemple slaves work hard, every day, but forothers being a slave does not necessarilymean suffering.The living standard of a slavein a wealthy household is much higher thana poor but free citizen enjoys. Male slavesusually do much of the manual labor, and

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Camel trains have beenin use since 2000 BCE.They pack the roadsfrom every directionleading into Babylon.

Dignitaries of subjectstates make their waytoward the royal palaceto attend a celebratoryfeast with the king. Thiscarved relief is from thestepped wall of awalkway.

their duties depend on their owner’sprofession.

Young female slaves are employed as maidsto the lady of the house, and sometimes asconcubines of the owner or one of histeenage sons.When older, they take overduties such as grinding corn, collectingwater, house-keeping, and cooking.

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Babylonians treasure their privacy, andmost homes are built around an

enclosed courtyard with only a single dooropening onto the street.Apart from thetemple and court officials, homes aredistinguished by size, more prosperousfamilies having more and larger rooms thanthe less well off.

Most homes are single story, with blankouter walls up to 6.5 feet thick to protectagainst the heat of the sun.The entrancedoorway opens onto the inner courtyard,around which are arranged the living rooms,bedrooms, and slave quarters. On the northside of the house a large room serves as akitchen, with a bathroom at the south fittedwith a drain.

The family’s dayBabylonians bathe every day. Standing overthe drain, each family member in turn isdoused with water from a bowl held overthem by a slave.A brisk rub down follows,and the application of olive oil and perfume.

The family rises early to make the most ofthe daylight hours, and dawn finds the menand boys already bathed and dressed and onthe rooftop, bowing on their knees to therising sun.With prayers over, everyone goesdown to a big breakfast.

Depending on the family’s profession, theday might be spent attending to business invarious parts of the city, but it will certainlyinclude making routine sacrifices at one ofthe numerous small temples.The familyreassembles for a light luncheon, followed bya siesta during the hot early afternoon.Workcontinues until almost dusk, when everyonereturns home for the second main meal.

The Sacred MarriageAs in the past eras of Mesopotamia, manyfestivals happen throughout the year, but themost important is that of the NewYear heldin the spring. It lasts for the first 11 days ofNisannu, meaning “first [month]”.At the

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Daily Life in Babylon—Home and FestivalNew Babylon is a devoutly religious city. Apart from its many temple complexes,there are small altars on the approaches to temples, at each of the city gates, atcrossroads, and in the home, where prayers can be offered.

Plan showing aBabylonian house andits courtyards.

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start, statues of all the empire’s principal godsare assembled in the precinct of Esagila.Theyare then moved with solemn ceremony andin strict order of divine precedence from thetemple, along the procession street, throughthe Gate of Ishtar to the northern suburbs.Here they are transferred to boats and takento the garden temple up the river.

Then follows the central part of thefestival, the sacred marriage of the principalgod and goddess, Marduk and Inanna, onwhich depends the fertility and prosperity ofthe whole land. On the eleventh day ofNissanu the procession joyously returns tothe city through the Ishtar Gate, the godsnow placed in “carriage boats.”

A substitute king stays on to ruleThe concluding custom of the New Yearfestival, Mock King-for-a-Day, hassurvived since the earliest times. In themists of time it was believed that theking’s highest duty to his people was tosacrifice himself to the gods at the NewYear, and thus make way for a new kingfor a year. In time this inconvenient andwasteful practice was replaced by selectingan expendable substitute king for the dayto stand in for the real king.

The person selected for this unwantedprivilege of appeasing the gods by payingwith his life for brief occupancy of thethrone, is usually a prisoner. However, onat least one occasion in the days of OldBabylonia, things went wrong—or right,depending on how you look at it.

King Erra-Imitti of Isin (early secondmillennium BCE) set up a gardener namedEnlil-Bani as substitute ruler.After thecrown had been placed on his head it wasdiscovered that Erra-Imitti had died in hispalace. Enlil-Bani ended up keeping notonly his life but the crown as well.Thisrare prank of fate left Enlil-Bani on thethrone for no less than 24 years and—mock king or not—he proved to be avery capable ruler.

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1. Alleyway

2. Family room

3. Adjoining shop rentedout by the family

4. Open courtyard andpool with shrine

room (5) off it

6. Stairs up to the flatroof, where the familyoften takes the eveningmeal in the cooling air

7. Smoke outlet fromthe kitchen

8. Kitchen

9. Bathroom, withcentral drain

10. Entrance anddoorway to the house

11. Various bedrooms

12. Slave quarters

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Amytis, daughter of the Medean kingUmakishtar and Nebuchadnezzar II’s

favorite wife, found the sun-baked terrain ofMesopotamia depressing—she pined for thetrees and hills of her northern homeland.And so Nebuchadnezzar had these gardensbuilt for her enjoyment.They consist of aseries of irrigated terraces said to be severalhundred feet high (see “Fable or reality?”),planted with trees of all description.

The use of rare stoneThe gardens are an amazing feat ofengineering.Water is raised from the nearbyEuphrates, collected in a pool on the topterrace, and then released through a series ofsmall dams into the terraces below. Eachterrace is many feet in depth toaccommodate the roots of fully grown trees.

The main construction, as usual inMesopotamia, is of mud brick, whichdeteriorates rapidly in wet conditions.Toprevent them from dissolving from thecontinual irrigation, each terrace platformconsists of huge slabs of costly, importedstone.These are covered with layers of reed,asphalt, and baked clay tiles. Over this thearchitects placed a covering of lead sheets toprevent the foundation from rotting.

Watering the gardensThe ascent to the highest story is by stairs,and at their side are water engines that liftwater from the Euphrates into the garden.The engines are chain pumps—two largewheels, one above the other, connected by achain, on which hang buckets. Slaves operatethe pumps, all day long.As the wheels areturned, the buckets at the bottom dip into apool fed by the river and pick up water.Thechain then lifts them to the upper wheel,where the buckets are tipped and theircontents dumped into an upper cistern.Thewater then flows into channels through gatesto water the gardens.

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The Hanging GardensJust inside the Ishtar Gate visitors are dazzled by one of the Seven Wonders of theWorld—the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. In the blazing desert heat of the city,throngs gaze up in wonder at the man-made mountain of greenery.

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The location, height, and size of theHanging Gardens remain a mystery. Indeed,some archaeologists even doubt they everexisted. The famous Greek geographerStrabo (1st century BCE) says the gardensare “vaulted terraces raised one aboveanother, and resting on cube-shaped pillars.These are hollow and filled with earth toallow trees of the largest size to be planted.”

His contemporary Diodorus Siculusclaims the gardens are about 400 feet wideby 400 feet long and more than 80 feethigh. Unfortunately, Herodotus, chronicler

and exaggerator of Babylon’s palaces,canals, and fortifications, makes nomention of the gardens.

Modern archaeologists have been unableto locate them with certainty. In 1899 CE,German archaeologist Robert Koldeweydiscovered a basement close to the IshtarGate with 14 vaulted brick-builtchambers. He declared this to be the siteof the gardens, but modern archaeologiststhink this wrong and that the HangingGardens were sited on the river bank, justabove the western citadel.

Fable or reality?

Left: How water fromthe River Euphrates ishoisted up to cisterns,from which the gardensare irrigated.

Marduk’s name means “bull calf of thesun,” and he is sometimes portrayed as

a double-headed sun.The sacred texts tell usthat Marduk is the son of Enki (called Ea bythe Chaldeans) and the Babylonian successorto the Sumerian god Enlil, son of An and Ki(see page 44). He assumed the leadership ofthe Sumerian gods during the struggle withTiamat (see page 60).

Having won his victory over Chaos,Marduk informed the divine assembly thathenceforward Babylon would be the centerof the cosmic universe, and there he builthimself a luxurious house. He came to beknown to the people as Bel, which simplymeans “Lord.”To approach his house andworship Marduk, the people had to passthrough his gate, which in theBabylonian/Assyrian tongue is Bab-ili, or“Gate of God.”

And so the place became known as Babel,the original name of Babylon.

The spread of Marduk’s worshipMarduk’s cult first rose to prominenceduring the reign of Hammurabi, whoseconquests spread the god’s name throughoutMesopotamia.The Assyrians acceptedMarduk but regarded Ashur as more worthyof worship. Nevertheless,Assyria’s conquestsof Mediterranean coastal territories broughtMarduk to Phoenicia, Canaan, and Israel.

His worship in these areas has beencemented by Nebuchadnezzar’s rule overthem. In Phoenicia, Canaan, and IsraelMarduk is worshipped as Bel, which theypronounce Baal (see “Fact box”).

Marduk’s son is Nebu, whose sign is theplanet Mercury. He is the patron of writingand his job is to inscribe the laws andcommands of his father and thencommunicate them to men. His shrine is atBorsippa but, like all the other principalgods, Nebu is ceremoniously carried at theNew Year to join Marduk in Babylon.

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The God MardukIn later Mesopotamian culture Marduk exists inmany forms, with as many as 50 different names.His presence as the chief Babylonian deity iscentral to the Chaldean civilization.

Every New Yearthe god Mardukreturns toBabylon and,accompanied bya procession ofsacred boats,passes throughthe Ishtar Gate,on his way to thegreat ziggurat ofEtemenanki, atopwhich sits histemple. Fromthere hedispenses hisblessings on theland and people.

Great EtemenankiIn Babylon, Marduk resides on top of thegreat ziggurat Etemenanki.The name E-temen-an-ki means “House of thefoundation of Heaven on Earth,” and is theplace where Marduk first descended to Earthafter his victory over Tiamat.

This is the most sacred place in Babylonia,where Marduk returns every New Year torenew the people’s faith and ensure thefertility and prosperity of the country by hismarriage to Innana.There has been aziggurat here for a thousand or more years,but never as grand or tall as that built byNebuchadnezzar.

God confounds the peopleIn the Bible, according to the Book ofGenesis, after the Great Flood Noah’sdescendants founded a city and attempted tobuild a tower whose top would reachHeaven. For their presumption to equal his

divine power, God sent winds to topple the“Tower of Babel” and scatter the people.Asat the time they all spoke the same tongue,he also confused their languages so that theycould no longer understand one another.

This story in Genesis refers to the zigguratEtemenanki—the Tower of Babel, orBabylon.There are links between the biblicalstory and Mesopotamian records.Accordingto Nebuchadnezzar’s inscriptions,Etemenanki was made so that “its top mightrival Heaven.”And Babylon is indeed abuzzwith many different languages.

Nebuchadnezzar tells us that he has calledon “various peoples…from the mountainsand the coasts” to help with its construction.Many of them are people from conquerednations, such as Israel, who have beenrelocated in Babylon to serve as a labor forceduring the king’s rebuilding programs.

Mesopotamian fact and legend is nowwoven into Jewish history.

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Fact boxSometimes Baal hasother words attachedto it, such as Baal-zebub, “lord of theflies,” still a termused today as one ofthe names of Satan.

Nebu’s task ofcommunicatingMarduk’s laws to thepeople is the same asthe ancient Romangod Mercury’s job as“the messenger.” InMesopotamianreligion, Nebu isassociated with theplanet Mercury.

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The ziggurat of Etemenanki—built onthe site of many previous shrines to

Marduk—was begun by Nabopolassar andcompleted during the reign ofNebuchadnezzar II.The New City on thewest bank of the Euphrates is connected tothe temple precinct of Esagila by a bridgesupported on piers of baked brick coatedwith asphalt, faced with stone. Itsconstruction across the deep and fast-flowingEuphrates is an engineering feat in itself, butthe ziggurat dwarfs it.

Millions of bricksAs with other Mesopotamian ziggurats,Etemenanki is not built from stone, which israre in the region. It is constructed fromtrodden clay with a 50-foot-thick outercovering of millions of sun-dried mud andstraw bricks, with bitumen as mortar to holdthem together.

In the arid conditions of theMesopotamian plain, such a structure isrelatively stable; however, it can be damagedby water, which softens the bricks and causesthem to crumble.Therefore, the architectshave incorporated elaborate drainagesystems, and slave gangs provide regularmaintenance and periodic rebuilding.

Seven banded levelsThe Etemenanki ziggurat has seven stages,connected by stairways that alternate alongeach side at the different levels, so climbingto the top requires the visitor to make acomplete circuit of the building.The heightof the seven stages is 298.5 feet, the samemeasurement as for each side of the squarebase.

Each stage is a different color. From baseto top these are white, white, red, bronze,silver, gold, and blue.At its summit, thesanctuary’s exterior is covered with blueglazed tiles.The interior has a cedar roof andwalls plated with gold and embellished withalabaster and lapis lazuli. Inside is an altarwith a solid gold statue of Marduk seated ona golden throne, together with a gold couchand footstool.

Stairway to HeavenNebuchadnezzar has given the people theclearest sign of the gods’ favor and broughtMesopotamian civilization to its peak.Viewed by the visitor from the triple gate,the doorways on the higher terraces seem tobe standing on top of each other andEtemenanki resembles a true “stairway toHeaven.”

The Tower of BabelThe great ziggurat of Etemenanki in the precinct of Esagila, dedicated to Marduk,soars above the bustling wharves of Nebuchadnezzar’s capital on the Euphrates.

The Shrine of MardukThe sanctuary on the top levelhas several rooms. Mardukshares his room with hisconsort Sarpanitum, mother ofthe scribe-god Nebu, whoshares his room with his wifeTashmetu. There are roomsfor the water god Ea (Enki),the god of fire and lightNusku, the god of HeavenAnu, and finally Enlil, Marduk’spredecessor as chief of theMesopotamian gods.

Fact boxIn the Hebrewlanguage “babel”means to “confuse.”

The English word“babble,” meaning tochatter, prattle, orspeak confusingly, isderived from Babel,where God confusedthe languages of allthe people.

Nebuchadnezzar’s son and successor,Amel-Marduk (Evil-Merodach, 562–

560 BCE), was unable to prevent rivalrybetween priests and the state from breakinginto open disagreement. His brother-in-lawNeriglissar (also called Nergal-Ashur-Usur)had him assassinated and seized the throne.

Neriglissar reigned for only four years,apparently dying from natural causes, to befollowed by his son Labashi-Marduk. Hissupport of the priests against the armyangered his military commanders and he wasoverthrown and killed in a military coupafter only nine months in power.

The military faction placed the elderlyNabonidus (Nabu-Naid, 556–539 BCE) onthe throne. However, he raised the status ofthe Assyrian moon god, Sin, above that ofMarduk.The annual New Year ceremoniesduring which images of Marduk and Nebuwere carried in procession through the city

did not take place in this period.The priestscaused the king to be exiled, leaving Babylonin the charge of his son, the prince-regentBelshazzar (Bel-Shar-Utsur).

Achaemenid PersiansIn 539 Cyrus II of the Achaemenid dynastyof Persia defeated the Babylonian army in abattle on the Tigris near present-dayBaghdad. Belshazzar was killed andNabonidus hurried back to Babylon to findCyrus’s army marching unopposed into thecity. Cyrus promised to have exiled deitiesreturned and let the Jews return to theirhomeland, and was welcomed by the city.From this point onward the center ofpolitical power shifted from Babylon toCyrus’s capital, first at Pasargadae and thenPersepolis. Mesopotamia became merely alarge province of the first Persian Empire.

By 486 BCE, under the successors of

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Achaemenids, Seleucids, Arsacids, and SassanidsAncient Mesopotamia’s most glorious time under the Chaldean Babylonians isshort-lived. Nebuchadnezzar’s firm rule has not been matched by his successors,who pass in a few years. Their weakness leaves Babylonia open to invasion.

The reconstruction ofPersepolis shows thescale of the massivecity-palace of theAchaemenid kings afterthe capital was movedfrom nearbyPasargadae. It wasburned to the ground byAlexander the Great.A unfinished gateB outbuildings and

storeroomsC Hall of 100 ColumnsD east gateE tomb of ArtaxerxesF treasuryG entrance staircaseH Gate of XerxesJ apadana (throne

room)K council hallL palace of Darius IM palace of XerxesN palace of ArtaxerxesP harem of Xerxes

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Stela of Nabodinus, lastof the Neo-Babyloniankings, who made theAssyrian moon god Sinmore powerful thanMarduk.

Cyrus, Cambyses II and Darius I the Great,the Achaemenids conquered a territoryextending from western India to the edges ofGreece, and from southern Russia to all ofthe eastern North African coast. Darius Ifamously made war on the Greeks, but failedto win an advantage.

Alexander and the SeleucidsHis son Xerxes (486–465 BCE) also launcheda campaign against Greece, but similarlyfailed to defeat the Greeks. From about 965BCE the Achaemenids’ empire was in decline.Its size made it difficult to govern, and thePersians became such unpopular rulers thatin 336 BCE Alexander the Great of Macedon,who had united the Greek states, was able toconquer Egypt without resistance. By 330BCE the whole of the Persian Empire hadcome under his control.

Following Alexander’s death in 323, ruleof his empire passed to several of hisgenerals, who fought among each other fortotal control.The most successful werePtolemy, who took over Egypt, and Seleucus,who founded the Seleucid dynasty thatcontrolled Mesopotamia.

The Arsacid ParthiansThe Seleucid kings soon found themselvesunder pressure from a group of nomadicpeople known as the Parthavia, who hadmoved in 312–261 BCE from central Asiainto the region east of the Caspian Sea.

The first chieftain to unite these Parthianswas Arsaces I (247–211 BCE). He founded

the Parthian Arsacid dynasty, whichwent on to sweep away the Seleucids,and build the second PersianEmpire. Under the Arsacids theParthians clashed with thegrowing Roman Empire onmany occasions.

The neo-Persian SassanidsThe continual wars with Romeeventually weakened the Parthians, andthe Arsacid dynasty fell to a new Persianpower—the Sassanians—in 224 CE.This neo-Persian empire was longer lasting,making war against theRoman and then theByzantine empires.The Sassanidsfinally fell beforethe onslaught ofMuslim Arabs in634 CE, andMesopotamiabecame theheartland of a newIslamic dynasty.

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Left: Bust of Alexanderthe Great, whoconquered the knownworld between336–332 BCE, andfounded the HellenicSeleucid dynasty.

Parthian lightcavalrymen wereexperts at firing overtheir shoulders in mid-gallop—the “ParthianShot,” from which wederive the phrase“parting shot.”

Coins of the greatestArsacid dynastyParthian king,

Mithridates I(171–138 BCE), and

Ardashir I, firstof theSassaniankings, whoruled in

224–239 BCE.

Achaemenid A dynasty ofancient Persia, also known as theFirst Persian Empire. Founded in539 BCE by Cyrus the Great, son ofa minor ruler in Iran namedAchaemenes, it is noted for itsdevelopments in art andarchitecture, literature, and for thespread of the Zoroastrian religion.The dynasty ended when its lastking, Darius III, was defeated byAlexander the Great in 330 BCE.

Akkadian Dynasty founded bySargon of Agade, who combinedSumer and Akkad to form an earlyempire. It was overthrown by theGutians.The name also refers to anancient branch of the Semiticlanguages.

Amorites Old Testament name forthe Elamites, an ancient people livingin Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestinein the 3rd millennium BCE.

Anu In the Assyrian-Babylonianpantheon, the equivalent of theSumerian god An, though he nowbecomes the god of kingship as wellas that of Heaven.

Anunnaki The four creator godsin Sumerian mythology.

Aqueduct A channel fortransporting water which, dependingon the terrain, may run along theground, under it in a pipe, or aboveit carried on a bridge.

Arab A group of Semitic peopleliving in Arabia.

Aramaic A Semitic languageclosely related to Hebrew, also knownas Aramaean. It was used as thecommon language in the Near Eastfrom 700 BCE and is still spoken insome communities.

Arsacids Dynasty of Parthiansfounded by Arsaces I in 247 BCE,that lasted through various branchesof the family until its defeat by theSassanids in 224 CE. Sometimesreferred to as the Parthian Empire.

Aryan Term used to refer to thelanguage or people of the Iranianand Indian branches of the Indo-European group.

Babel Old name for Babylon.Babylon is a Greek rendition ofBabel or Bab-ili, meaning the Gateof the God.

Babylonia Region in southernMesopotamia, referred to in theearly period as Sumer. Babylonia wasa political entity 1900–1100 BCE,when Sumer and Akkad were unitedby the Amorites.The name issometimes used to refer to the Neo-Babylonian, or Chaldean, empire of612–539 BCE.

Chaldean Also referred to as Neoor New Babylonian, 630–539 BCE.In the southern part of Babylonia, itwas formed by Semitic peoplesoriginating from Arabia who settledin the region c.800.

city-state An independent, self-governing state centered on a singlecity and its surrounding land.

Code of Hammurabi Set of lawscompiled by Hammurabi consistingof 282 provisions and setting outjudgments and punishments.Thecode is the origin of “an eye for aneye, a tooth for a tooth.”

cult The worship of a particulargod or goddess, or the practice of aparticular set of religious rites.

cuneiform Wedge-shaped form of

writing and mathematics, widespreadin Mesopotamia and Persia, madewith a stylus in wet clay andcharacterized by its straight-edged,block-like form.

dowry The money or propertygiven to a husband by the bride’sfamily when she marries.

dynasty Term used to describe asuccession of rulers within a family,usually from father to son. Dynastiesare usually referred to by the familyname.

Elamites A people from Elam, theland east of the River Tigris. Sargonof Akkad conquered Elam in 2340BCE.

Gutians A warrior tribe from theZagros Mountains on the Iran-Iraqborder.They invaded the Akkadianempire, leading to a period of strifeand civil war.

harem Term used to describe thepart of a house or palace reservedstrictly for women, usually the wivesand concubines of a ruler or wealthynoble.

Hebrew Ancient Semitic languageand people, also the language of theIsraelites and Jews.

Hittites A major power in AsiaMinor (Turkey), 1700–1200 BCE.They conquered northern andcentral Syria and most of Lebanon,but were eventually absorbed intothe Assyrian and Babylonianempires.

Indo-European The name givento those groups of people speakingIndo-European languages whomigrated into the Middle East inabout 2000 BCE.The languages

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Glossary

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include Iranian,Armenian and theancient language of India, Sanskrit.

Israelites The Hebrew inhabitantsof the Kingdom of Israel.

Jews The Semitic people whopractice the monotheistic religion ofJudaism, also known as Hebrews andIsraelites.

Kassites One of the Hurriantribes from the Zagros Mountains.They overran Babylon in 1595 BCE

and formed a loose kingdomc.1570–1160, for a brief period ofwhich Assyria was a vassal state.

Lugal Sumerian “great man.”Originally the name given to a titledlandowner, but as their powerincreased the title became associatedwith that of the ensi (provincialgovernor) and eventually with thatof the king himself.

Medes Indo-European groupswho inhabited the ancient region ofMedia in modern Azerbaijan,northwest Iran, and northeast Iraq.Between the 7th and 6th centuriesBCE they controlled an empire thatincluded most of Iran.

mercenary A soldier who fightsfor pay in a foreign army.

Mitanni One of the Hurrian statesthat had control over a loose empirec.1550–1370 BCE, and whichprobably acted as an intermediarybetween Mesopotamia and Egypt.

Monotheism The worship of onlya single god, such as the Jews, incontrast to polytheism.

pantheon Term used to describeall the gods a people worships.

Parthians See Arsacids.

Pathavia Achaemenid spelling for

Parthia, originally part of the PersianEmpire.

Persia Old name for Iran, but alsorefers to the empire established bythe Achaemenid dynasty that includedparts of Greece and extended intoIndia.The empire was destroyed byAlexander the Great in 330 BCE.

Persis Old name for Persia.

Polytheism The worship of manygods (deities) within a pantheon ofdeities.

relief A sculpture carved on a flatbackground, as opposed to a free-standing sculpture. Raised reliefs (orbas-reliefs) were made by cuttingaway the background and modelingdetails onto the figures.

sacrifice An offering made to agod by a priest or an ordinaryperson. Offerings were usually giftsof food or flowers, but oftenincluded the ritual killing of animals,sometimes even of humans.

Sassanids Dynasty of SassanianPersians founded by Sassan, whoclaimed (almost certainly wrongly)descent from the earlier Persianrulers, the Achaemenids.The Sassanidking Ardashir I overthrew the lastArsacid King Artabanus IV in 224 CE

to create the Second Persian Empire.Despite much royal infightingbetween the various branches of thedynasty, the Sassanids lasted until 634 CE, falling to Islamic Arabs.

scribe A person specificallyemployed to write and copy textsand keep records. In a time whenfew could read or write, scribes heldhigh status, were well paid, andfrequently became powerful men inthe state’s government.

Scythians Distant relatives of theParthians.They were responsible for

many of the robberies carried outalong the Silk Road trade routeduring the 1st century BCE.

Sealand Tribal groups lead byfeudal warlords who occupiedsouthern Mesopotamia in the 16thcentury BCE.

Seleucid Dynasty and kingdomfounded by Alexander the Great’sMacedonian general SeleucusNicator. In 304 BCE the Seleucidsseized a large part of Alexander’sempire. In 64 BCE Seleucid landswere conquered by the Romans.

Semites Groups of people whospoke closely related dialects whichform part of the language groupknown as Semitic.They occupiedan area stretching from northernMesopotamia to the eastern bordersof Egypt.Ancient Semites includethe Hebrews, Akkadians andBabylonians.Arabs and Jews aremodern Semites.

Sumerians Native non-Semiticpeoples of ancient Sumer.The wordis also used in reference to theirlanguage, the oldest known inwritten form.

tribute Financial payment as a taxor as a punishment made by a vassalto its sovereign power.

vassal A person or state that isunder the control of a morepowerful person or state.Vassals areobliged to pay their sovereign tributein goods, soldiers, or money.

ziggurat A stepped pyramid,usually constructed as the principalbuilding in a Mesopotamian city anddedicated to its patron god.

Zoroastrianism A faith developedby Zoroaster (or Zathrustra) inPersia c.500 BCE, which became thereligion of the Persian Empire.

GLOSSARY

Abraham 62–63Achaemenid dynasty 11, 81, 92–93Africa 77Agade 10, 47–48, 78agriculture 8, 14–17, 18–19, 26, 30,

40–41, 68, 82Akkadians 10, 47–48, 50, 67–68alphabet 63Amorites 66Anatolia 64, 67Anu 91aqueducts 67, 78Arabs 93Ararat Mountain 42Arbil 66Armenia 64, 67Arsacid dynasty 11, 93Arvad 76Aryans 64Ashur (city) 66–67Ashur (god) 67, 88Asia Minor 64Assyria/Assyrians 11, 29, 65–79, 81, 88astrology 57astronomy 44, 55–57

Baal 88–89Babel 88Babylon 10–11, 50, 64, 67, 80–83,

86–87, 92Babylonia/Babylonians 10–11, 29,

49–57, 62–63, 67, 84–85Babylonia, New 80–83bathing 37, 84Bel 88Belshazzar 92Bethel 62Bible 61–63, 89Borsippa 88buildings: see homes, palaces, templesburial 35

Canaan 62, 64, 88Chaldea/Chaldees 63, 81Choga Mami 14clothes 36cosmetics 37Creation Epic 40, 60crime and punishment 52–53cuneiform 29, 63

death 35, 44defenses 11, 14–15, 26, 78, 80divination 44domesticated animals see agricultureDur-Sharrukin 79

education 35Egypt 62, 64, 67, 93Elam/Elamites 10–11, 29, 48Enki 28, 44–45, 59–60, 88, 91Enkidu 60–61Enlil 44, 50, 88, 91entertainment 39Epic of Gilgamesh 60–61

Eridu 28Eridu Genesis 40, 60Esagila temple 82, 91Etemenanki ziggurat 89–91Euphrates river 8, 11, 16, 26, 50, 80,

82, 86, 91

families 32–35, 70–71, 84farming see agricultureFertile Crescent 8, 64, 68festivals 84–85, 88food 19, 38–39, 84

games 39gardens 86–87Gilgamesh 60–61gods 41–42, 44–45, 50, 58–59, 67, 73,

76, 79–80, 88–89, 91–92Gomorrah 62government 40–41, 50, 68, 70Great Flood 40, 42, 44, 60–61, 89Greece/Greeks 29, 93Guti people 10, 48–49

Hanging Gardens 86–87Haran 62–63Hassunah 14Hebron 62Herodotus 80Hittites 11, 64, 67–68homes 17, 18, 30–33, 84honey 39horses 51, 65, 72hunting 76–77Hurrians 29, 64Hyksos 64

Inanna 28, 44–45, 48, 85, 89India 64Indo-Europeans 64–65Iran 8, 10Iraq 8irrigation 8, 14, 18, 26, 68, 86Ishtar 48Israel 67, 75, 88–89

Jehovah 63jewelry 23, 36Jews 62–63, 75, 92Judah 75

Kadesh 64Kassites 11, 29, 65, 67, 81Khorsabad 67, 79kings:Agga 46,Alexander the Great

93,Amel-Marduk 92,AshurbanipalII 67, 78,Ashurnasirpal II 67,76–77, 79,Ashur-Uballit 67,Cambyses II 93, Cyrus II 81, 92,Darius 93, Eannatum 47, Entemena47, Erra-Imitti 85, Esarhaddon 75,Gilgamesh of Uruk 46, Hammurabi10, 50–53, 64, 88, Ishmi-Dagan 66,Labashi-Marduk 92, Lugalzagesi47–48, Manishtushu 48, Merodach

81, Mesannepadda 46, Nabonidus81, 92, Nabopolassar 80–81,Naram-Sin 48, 80,Nebuchadnezzar 81,Nebuchadnezzar II 11, 80–81, 86,91, Neriglissar 81, 92, Ptolemy 93,Rimush 48, Sargon 10, 47–48,Sargon II 75, 79, Sargon III 67,Seleucus 93, Sennacherib 67, 75,78,Shalmaneser 67, 79, Shalmaneser III 67, Shalmaneser V 67, 75, Shamshi-Adad 66–67, 78, Shar-kali-sharra 48,Shulgi 49,Tiglath-Pileser 67, 76,Ur-Nammu 49, 52, Utuhegal 49,Xerxes 93

King List 40kingship 26, 40, 42, 68–69, 76–77Kish 46–47

Lagash 47–48language 48law 52–53Lebanon 10library 78Lot 62lugals 26, 40

Macedonia 93Marduk 50, 60, 82, 85, 88–89, 91–92marriage 71, 85mathematics 54–55Medes 11, 67, 81medicine 58–59metalworking 18, 24–25, 46migrations, forced 75Mitanni people 29, 64, 66–67, 78Mongolia 64Mosul 23Muslims 93Mycenaeans 64

Nammu 44Nebu 80, 88–89, 91Nergal 76New Babylonia 80–83Nimrud 66–67Nineveh 50, 66–67, 75, 78Ninurta 44–45, 67, 73, 76, 79Nippur 40, 48Noah 61, 89Nusku 91

Old Babylonia 10Old Testament 61–63

palaces 11, 67, 78–79, 83Palestine 64, 67Parthians 93Pasargadae 92Persian Gulf 8, 10, 16, 50Persia/Persians 11, 29, 64, 81, 92–93Phoenicians 29, 63poetry 28, 60–61pottery 14, 18, 20, 23, 30priests 40, 42, 82–83, 92

Queen Pu-Abi 35

rebellion 48religion 26, 44, 60–63, 84–85, 88–89;

see also gods, priests, temples “respectable” women 71

roads 30Romans 29, 63, 93Russia 64–65

sacrificial offerings 41–42Samaria 75Sarpanitum 91Sassanian dynasty 11, 93school 35scribes 41Sea Peoples 64Seleucid dynasty 93Semites 10, 48, 66Siculus, Diodorus 87Sin (Nanna) 63, 92slaves 33–34, 69, 83Sodom 62Strabo 87Sumerians 10, 14–50, 62–63Susa 67Syria/Syrians 8, 29, 63, 67

taxes 41–42Tell-al-’Ubaid 10, 20Tell-es-Sawwan 14temples 18, 22–23, 26, 40, 42–43,

79–83, 91Tepe Gawra 22–23Terah 62Thebes 67Tiamat 60Tigris river 8, 14, 16, 26, 66, 80time measurement 56–57tombs 35Tower of Babel 89–91trade 20–21, 25, 27, 51, 82–83transport/travel 20–21, 46, 51, 80Turkey 8, 64

’Ubaid culture 10, 20, 23Ugarit 29, 63Umma 47Ur 10, 26, 30–31, 35, 46–49, 62–63,

81Urartu 64, 67Uruk 26, 28, 46–47, 49, 60Utu 44–45Utu-napishtim 60–61

war 26–27, 46–47, 72–75weather 8, 14wheel 20–21wild animals 76–77wine 39writing 28–29, 63

Zab rivers 66Zagros Mountains 8, 14, 64–65ziggurats 42, 55, 79, 89, 90–91

96

Index

living in ancient mesopotamia (living in the ancient world)

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