Sumer & Akkad: Notable Places

Mesopotamia/Fertile Crescent (All Facts)

• Area of land that stretches from south of the Mediterranean in Egypt around Saudi Arabia as far north as Turkey and south as the Persian Gulf east of Saudi Arabia to Southern Iraq

• Literally translated as "between two rivers", it is characterized by its two prominent rivers in the region, the Tigris and the Euphrates, which provide for rich soil in the rather flat lands that make up the region and makes it ideal for growing crops such as wheat and barley

  • These two rivers were responsible for supporting farming villages in the area

    • Since the soil deposits washed down to the coastal plain from further inland and since frequent floods created a soil of great richness where it was easier to farm than in other parts

    • In which sea fishing allowed for a food surplus

Sumer (All Facts)

• Name of both the land and civilization of ancient Southern Mesopotamia in what is today Southern Iraq

• Considered the first civilization in history since they invented writing

Sumerian Cities / Towns (All Facts)

• New form of civilization developed around 4000 BCE - 3500 BCE

• Likely formed due to the

  • Cooperation and organization needed to control the flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, in which, by banking and using the water for irrigation, brought people together into bigger communities

  • Need to stick together for strength against rival groups of people seeking to tame the same marshlands by the river for their own use

• Each had a religious center - in which it contains a temple and royal palace, or shrine for the local deity of which each had and thus was a prominent place of worship

• Each had a trade center - where peasants and citizens can exchange goods

• Characterized by having high walls to protect city dwellers from foreign invaders that protected everyone within them

  • Characterized by being mud-walled, raised on platforms to keep out floodwaters and potential enemies

Eridu (All Facts)

• Sumerian city / “religious center” established around 5400 BCE

• Considered one of the first, if not the first organized town of human civilization

  • Sumerian village that emerged as early as 10,000 years ago, near where the Persian Gulf is today; one of (if not) the first Sumerian/Mesopotamian villages ever and the one known most about

• Land which was great for harvesting grain and catching fish, was near the Persian Gulf - a vast body of water compared to most of the desert landscape that covered the rest of the region

• City whose patron deity is Enki, whom the settlers worshipped and offered fish sacrifices to in the main temple there, which would eventually develop into the first ziggurat

  • Likely was at the center of the town whose other buildings included small simple homes and granaries

  • Likely participated in communal feasts at the temple that may have involved certain ritual offerings, prayers, singing, and/or music

• Characterized by its inhabitants coming from all different regions making donations to the temple in exchange for local goods

• Copper (from Anatolia) and Obsidian were the main imports of trade and made tools out of the two materials

• Settlement that produced buff-colored pottery with abstract, red-brown painted decorations on it

Uruk (All Facts)

• Considered one of the first, if not the first true city of human civilization, having emerged around 5500 years ago

• Initially an Ubaidian settlement, grown out of the villages of Eanna and Kulaba

  • Witnessed the integration of peoples from elsewhere with the existing Ubaid culture to make the new Sumerian culture and thus was the first truly Sumerian city

• City whose people devised a system of signs for putting important transactions on record, in which its priests used a sharp reed pen to make pictographs (marks on clay tablets)

  • These marks

    • represent numbers, objects, and ideas

    • are used to keep grain accounts and other business matters, including land sales

  • These graphic signs appeared

    • Around 3200 BCE

    • on stone or slate tablets

    • as pictograms representing objects in the concrete world

• City whose patron deity was Inanna / Ishtar and An

  • Monumental temples have been built there in her honor

• Was the center of Mesopotamian culture around 3100 BCE

• Some of the buildings and temples dedicated to the patron deities here were

  • In the part of the city that was once called Eanna

  • Consist of a vast enclosure surrounded by

    • two temples

    • a hall with rows of columns

    • a third larger temple towering above the others

  • Decorated with mosaics made of stone or clay cones with colored heads sunk into the clay wall

• Characterized by being the place of mass-production of pottery and textiles for the first time whereupon such tasks were first taken up by private homeowners for private purposes and who emphasized aesthetics over function

  • Evolved in that the artisans and craftsmen eventually produced items for public purposes and emphasized function over aesthetics

• Was likely the most stable city during the rule of the Gutians throughout Mesopotamia

Nippur (All Facts)

• Most important religious city in Sumer during the Early Dynastic Period

• City whose patron deity was Enlil, the head of the Sumerian Pantheon during the Early Dynastic Period of Sumer

• City who never had a king and thus was always neutral politically

• Kings of other city-states and empires would make pilgrimages there because of how much of a holy city it was

  • They would present gifts offerings in the temple there in exchange for divine favor

Larsa (All Facts)

• Sumerian city whose patron deity was Utu

Ur (All Facts)

• Established around 5400 BCE

• The most famous of the ancient Sumerian cities

  • Supposed birthplace of Abraham in the Bible

  • Famous for its “Royal Game” which can be played today

• Initially an Ubaidian settlement

• City whose patron deity was Nanna

• Known for its royal tombs constructed around 2500 BCE

  • Objects uncovered from the tombs in this city who managed to avoid grave robberies included golden armor, weapons, jewelry, chariots, sculptures, musical instruments, board games, and bowls; likely having belonged to the city’s ruling class or royal family

    • Fittings in these graves included jewelry of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, and carnelian; vases of precious metal; gold ceremonial weaponry, musical instruments and gaming boards

    • All of these objects were likely gifts or offerings to the gods

• Soldiers and servants of the Kings were buried alongside the King in their tombs, sometimes killed as soon as the King died and buried at the same time in order to join him in the afterlife

  • No other royal burials have been found like this one in Mesopotamia

• Produced buff-colored pottery with abstract, red-brown painted decorations on it

Kish (All Facts)

• Sumerian city established around 5400 BCE

• Settlement that produced buff-colored pottery with abstract, red-brown painted decorations on it

• City whose patron deity was Zababa

• City in which the kingship was “descended from the heaven” according to the “Sumerian King List” (which preserves the names of the sovereigns who ruled over the land) which outlined how kingship was “carried” from one place to the next

Lagash (All Facts)

• One of the largest and most important city-states of Sumer by 2500 BCE

• Sumerian city who was in constant conflict over the land and resources between it and Umma, mostly consisting of the irrigated border territory Guedin

• Was likely the most peaceful and prosperous city during the rule of the Gutians throughout Mesopotamia

• City whose patron deity was Ningirsu

Umma (All Facts)

• Sumerian city who was in constant conflict over the land and resources between it and Lagash, mostly consisting of the irrigated border territory Guedin

Shuruppak: Fara (All Facts)

• Sumerian city in which history’s first libraries are being set up around 2500 BCE

• Include texts concerned with the trials of daily life reflected in various proverbs

  • For example, “you can have a master, you can have a king, but a man to be feared is the tax collector”

Abu-Salabikh: Eresh (All Facts)

• Sumerian city in which history’s first libraries are being set up around 2500 BCE

• Include texts concerned with the trials of daily life reflected in various proverbs

  • For example, “a spendthrift housewife adds illness to worries”

1780 BCE - Palace of Mari (All Facts)

• Ruled from a 300-room palace, the finest in the world, with courtyards covering around 7 acres or 4,500 square feet and is

  • Planted with palm trees

  • Decorates with frescoes - they display the king paying homage to the gods

• Rooms included

  • Official audience rooms

  • King’s private apartments

  • Guest suites

  • Garrison quarters

  • School

  • Royal Chapels

  • Kitchens

  • Servants’ quarters

  • Workshops

• Rooms

  • Had no windows - relied on light from tall doorways and holes in the ceilings

  • Bitumen-lined clay pipes and gutters - provided drainage

• Buildings there are made of mud bricks with plastered faces

• The outer palace wall was 40 feet thick