Sumer & Akkad: Notable Concepts (including Political, Social, and Economic Concepts and Systems such as Government, Class Hierarchy, etc.; Technologies, Systems, Religions, Languages, etc.)

4000 BCE - 3100 BCE - Uruk Period (All Facts)

• Term used to refer to the rapid growth of cities in Mesopotamia between the namesake dates including the namesake city as well as Ur, Umma, Lagash, Susa, Kish, Nippur, Eshnunna, Der, Sippar, and many others

• Characterized by a social hierarchy in which:

  • At the top was the Priest-King who held both political and religious authority

  • Below the Priest-King were other priests who likely held religious authority

  • Below the Priests were Nobles who likely held political authority

  • Below the Nobles were specialized laborers such as artisans, craftsmen, fisherman, farmers, gardeners, and herdsmen

  • Below the specialized laborers were slaves

  • This social hierarchy model would dominate much of the ancient world

• Characterized by the shift in production of everyday items from the home and resident for private use to the town and specialized laborer for public use

  • As a result, items were not aesthetically specialized (decorated) since the only standard for them were

    • Proper function

    • Usefulness

• Characterized by religious authority maintaining order by redistributing resources and organizing city-wide tasks

  • This was accomplished by a system in which each city of this period had a patron deity which represented the deity’s dwelling on Earth by living within that city usually within a temple dedicated to that deity

  • Each city has a central temple complex where the patron deity of that city was worshipped

    • The central temple of these complexes would eventually transform into a Ziggurat, one of the characteristic buildings of Ancient Sumer

      • The Ziggurat was

        • The most important structure to an ancient Sumerian city

        • The terrestrial home of each city’s patron deity

        • The place of worship for each city’s patron deity

  • The god of each city received goods from the people which served as a form of taxes and consisted of wheat, barley, pottery, textiles, etc.

    • This was then redistributed among the political and religious elites and then back to the general population

    • This redistribution, along with rituals, were undertaken in the cities’ central temple complex

    • The survival of those living in the city depended on this redistribution of resources by the central city temple and its officials

    • This religious authority model would dominate much of the ancient world

    • As these cities grew, the redistribution of resources via this system became so complex that it demanded the need for writing to keep track of it all

• Merchants and travelers came from abroad

  • To Visit these temples (Ziggurats) in order to make their own offerings to the god that was worshipped there

  • To Bring their own items such as pottery to the town to

    • Donate to the temples there

    • Trade for local goods including barley, sheep, pottery, etc.

  • In the form of trading expeditions that were established in between Southern and Northern Mesopotamia, in which they facilitated trade of pottery from the namesake city and the acquiring of raw materials for both regions such as that of Copper, Obsidian, Lead, Gold, Silver, Wood, and Stone (for buildings); and Tin (for Bronze)

• Prior to Priests, these cities were initially politically organized with a tribal chieftain at the top who presided over a council of elders, however, as these cities grew, the political system described above became generally characteristic of the period

• Prior to Kings, power was consolidated by Priests, whose authority was validated by their societies’ belief that they directly represented the gods and knew the gods’ desires

  • Their responsibilities included

    • Religious Duties

    • Collection of Taxes

    • Redistribution of Goods, Services, and Resources

    • Organization of the General Population

• Most cities had high defensive walls to protect everything that was inside them from foreign invasion(s)

Sumerian Government (All Facts)

• Ancient Mesopotamian political system in which

  • The equivalent of taxes were gifts given for the gods by the people who went to the temples to offer them such as wheat, barley, pottery, textiles, statuettes, etc.

  • The gifts given to the gods by the people were redistributed by the religious and political organizations of the time, which were made up of priests and priestesses and whom conduced such affairs within the central temple complex of a particular city and whom led and conducted religious rituals there

  • Was led by priests whose

    • Responsibility was to organize the general population, collect taxes, and distribute goods and services

    • Power was thought to have come from the fact that they were believed to have directly represented the Gods (or at least know them)

  • Was eventually led by priest-kings

    • Due to the need for leaders to provide physical security from one's foreign enemies, a threat of which eventually grew over time and was at last necessary and thus the leader need not just be religious (priest) but a good warrior or military strategist (king)

    • Which initially was temporary in which the Priest-Kings only led during times of war, but eventually this position became permanent and then soon after that it became hereditary

Sumerian Classes (All Facts)

• Ancient Mesopotamian economic system that consisted of

  • The "Priest-Kings" who held both religious and political authority and were at the top

  • The Royal Priests (who followed in importance or wealth)

  • The nobles and their families

  • The specialized laborers (farmers, fishermen, craftsmen, scribes, etc.)

  • Slaves (who were at the bottom)

Sumerian-Akkadian Trade during 2350 BCE (All Facts)

• Phenomenon affected by the conquests of the Akkadian kings, in which copper was shipped from conquered Magan (Oman) along with splendid dark royal stones used for carving royal statues

• Phenomenon in which other stones and materials, especially timber, were brought from Syria and Iran

• Phenomenon in which merchant ships from Magan and Meluhha (Pakistan) docked at the quay of Agade and offered merchandise from the Persian Gulf and Indus River Valley

Writing (Fact 1)

• Technology invented in Sumer around 3200 BCE that came about as a result of a need to track and systematize all of the economic activity occurring in Sumer at the time, specifically

  • The redistribution of goods given to the Gods by the people via the cities' priests and priestesses within the temple complexes

  • The paying of tribute to the priests to intercede for them with the gods (who kept their soil fertile)

  • Preventing doubts about the priests not doing their job during bad harvests

Proto-Cuneiform (All Facts)

• Term used to refer to the pictographic script that consisted of roughly 700 characters characteristic of the Uruk Period around 3300 BCE

• Written on clay tablets, the first writings recorded the transfer of beer, grain, livestock, and other commodities

• Due to the large number of signs, it was likely based on an undiscovered system of writing formed earlier rather than developed all at once

Cuneiform (All Facts)

• Term used to refer to the first form of writing ever devised in history, that of the Sumerian civilization around 3200 BCE

• It consisted of ideograms - a type of pictograph which expressed ideas, and pictographs which represented numbers as well as objects

  • Because the language this first system of writing represented consisted of words with one syllable, there was one symbol for each and every spoken word

    • However, its script evolved to the point in which its signs or characters represented distinct spoken sounds rather than spoken words

    • Reflected an increasing level of sophistication as such images became increasingly schematic as the namesake script with its characteristic wedge marks developed

  • For example:

    • Childbirth is suggested by an egg next to a bird

    • Darkness is suggested by fine parallel lines beneath the arc of a circle, perhaps an image of a sunset

• It came about because there had to be an accounting of the business exchanges (such as land sales and grain accounts) and redistribution of resources by temples and their priests in the various cities of Sumer which the majority of those living in the city depended on

  • This happened because the nature of transactions became too complex to simply memorize and thus helped to prevent corruption and mistrust of city officials

    • The effect that this had was that from that point onwards, no business transaction was taken seriously unless it was written down

• Script written with a reed stylus which made wedged impressions into a soft and wet tablet of clay which would then lay out in the sun where it would dry and harden making the wedged impressions permanent

• Based off its namesake predecessor except it is more codified in that the signs are faster to write and also easier to read

• Its discovery was widely copied by others, in which a similar system of record-keeping soon spread elsewhere such as in Susa in Elam

Cylinder Seals (All Facts)

• Items used for communication supplementary to written documents

• Made out of stone, clay, metal, bone, or ivory - a design is carved into it so then when it is rolled across a slab of wet clay, a continuous impression is created

• Were used for

  • Sealing storeroom locks

  • Sealing goods in containers such as jars, vases, boxes, and baskets

  • Confirming the identity of the sender, owner, and/or receiver of an item

  • Authorizing important documents coming from someone in a position of power such as a priest

Metalworking (Fact 1)

Process in which techniques of considerable sophistication had been invented in Sumer by 2200 BCE in which the craftsmen of the palace and temple workshops in Sumerian cities have been perfecting them

Metallurgical Skills (All Facts)

Series of abilities honed by Sumerian metalworkers including granulation (small globules), cloisonné (inlaid cavities), engraving and welding by 2200 BCE

Repousse (All Facts)

Term used to refer to the process by which metal is hammered into relief, a skill Sumerian metalworkers mastered by 2200 BCE

Filigree (All Facts)

Term used to refer to the material by which gold and silver is made into thread, a skill Sumerian metalworkers mastered by 2200 BCE

Houses of Tablets (All Facts)

• Literary workshops instituted throughout Mesopotamia around 1900 BCE - 1800 BCE to help preserve and immortalize the Sumerian language and its intellectual achievements

• Organized like family units, with scribes working under a “father” and an internal hierarchy distinguishing between the most talented and experienced pupils known as “elder brothers” and the beginners known as the “younger brothers”

• Pupils begin their instruction by learning write, handle words, and understand grammar and a select few will go on to create literature

• Wherever a temple is built, there is work for copyists

• Gradually, the namesake network is created to

  • Propagate myths and stories explaining man’s

    • Beliefs

    • Relationship with nature

    • Understanding of the origins of the universe

  • Set down

    • Hymns extolling gods or kings

    • Lamentations describing in detail the pestilences and afflictions of the day

    • Fables, in which animals, plants, and men engage in debating contests

    • Proverbs and maxims

    • Prayers

    • Stories, like the Epic of Gilgamesh

Eduba (All Facts)

Term used to refer to Sumerian scribal schools