Sumerian village river channels vegetation 2 huts. Ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia

In the south of modern Iraq, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, a mysterious people - the Sumerians - settled almost 7000 years ago. They made a significant contribution to the development of human civilization, but we still do not know where the Sumerians came from and what language they spoke. Mysterious language The valley of Mesopotamia has long been inhabited by tribes of Semitic herders. It was they who were driven to the north by the newcomers-Sumerians. The Sumerians themselves were not related to the Semites, moreover, their origin is unclear to this day. Neither the ancestral home of the Sumerians, nor the language family to which their language belonged is known. Fortunately for us, the Sumerians left many written monuments. From them we learn that the neighboring tribes called this people "Sumerians", and they called themselves "sang-ngiga" - "black-headed". They called their language a "noble language" and considered it the only one suitable for people (in contrast to the not so "noble" Semitic languages \u200b\u200bspoken by their neighbors). But sumerian language was not uniform. It had special dialects for women and men, fishermen and shepherds. How the Sumerian language sounded is unknown to this day.

A large number of homonyms suggests that this language was tonal (like, for example, modern Chinese), which means that the meaning of what was said often depended on intonation. After the decline of the Sumerian civilization, the language of the Sumerians was studied for a long time in Mesopotamia, since most of the religious and literary texts were written in it.

The ancestral home of the Sumerians

One of the main mysteries remains the ancestral home of the Sumerians. Scientists make hypotheses based on archaeological data and information obtained from written sources. This unknown Asian country was supposed to be located on the sea. The fact is that the Sumerians came to Mesopotamia along the river beds, and their first settlements appear in the south of the valley, in the deltas of the Tigris and Euphrates. At first, there were very few Sumerians in Mesopotamia - and this is not surprising, because the ships can accommodate not so many settlers. Apparently, they were good navigators, since they were able to climb up unfamiliar rivers and find a suitable place to land on the shore. In addition, scientists believe that the Sumerians originate from mountainous areas. It is not for nothing that the words “country” and “mountain” are spelled the same in their language. And the Sumerian temples "ziggurats" in their appearance resemble mountains - they are stepped structures with a wide base and a narrow pyramidal peak, where the sanctuary was located. Another important condition is that this country should have had advanced technologies. The Sumerians were one of the most advanced peoples of their time, they were the first in the entire Middle East who began to use the wheel, created an irrigation system, and invented a unique script. According to one version, this legendary ancestral home was located in the south of India.

Flood survivors

It was not in vain that the Sumerians chose the valley of Mesopotamia as their new homeland. The Tigris and Euphrates originate in the Armenian Highlands and bring fertile silt and mineral salts to the valley. Because of this, the soil in Mesopotamia is extremely fertile, fruit trees, cereals and vegetables grew in abundance there. In addition, there were fish in the rivers, wild animals flocked to the watering place, and in the flooded meadows there was plenty of food for livestock. But all this abundance had a downside. When snows began to melt in the mountains, the Tigris and Euphrates carried streams of water into the valley. Unlike the floods of the Nile, the floods of the Tigris and Euphrates could not be predicted, they were not regular. Strong floods turned into a real disaster, they destroyed everything in their path: cities and villages, ears of corn, animals and people. Probably, when they first encountered this disaster, the Sumerians created the legend of Ziusudra. At the meeting of all the gods, a terrible decision was made - to destroy all of humanity. Only one god Enki took pity on people. He appeared in a dream to King Ziusudra and ordered him to build a huge ship. Ziusudra fulfilled the will of God, he loaded his property, family and relatives, various craftsmen to preserve knowledge and technology, livestock, animals and birds on the ship. The ship's doors were tarred from the outside. The next morning, a terrible flood began, which even the gods were afraid of. The rain and wind raged for six days and seven nights. Finally, when the water began to recede, Ziusudra left the ship and made sacrifices to the gods. Then, as a reward for his loyalty, the gods bestowed immortality on Ziusudra and his wife. This legend does not just remind the legend of Noah's ark, probably biblical story is a borrowing from Sumerian culture. After all, the first poems about the flood that have come down to us go back to XVIII century BC.

Kings-priests, kings-builders

The Sumerian lands have never been a single state. In fact, it was a collection of city-states, each with its own law, its own treasury, its own rulers, its own army. Only language, religion and culture were common. City-states could be at war with each other, could exchange goods or join military alliances. Each city-state was ruled by three kings. The first and most important was called "en". It was a priest-king (however, a woman could also be an enom). The main task Tsar-ena was carrying out religious ceremonies: solemn processions, sacrifices. In addition, he was in charge of all temple property, and sometimes the property of the entire community. Construction was an important area of \u200b\u200blife in ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerians are credited with the invention of the fired brick. City walls, temples and barns were built from this more durable material. The priest-builder Ensi was in charge of the construction of these structures. In addition, the ensi monitored the irrigation system, as canals, sluices and dams allowed at least a little control of irregular spills. At the time of the war, the Sumerians elected another leader - the military leader - Lugal. The most famous military leader was Gilgamesh, whose exploits are immortalized in one of the most ancient literary works - The Epic of Gilgamesh. In this story great hero challenges the gods, conquers monsters, brings to hometown Uruk is a precious cedar tree and even descends into the afterlife.

Sumerian Gods

Sumer had a developed religious system. Three gods enjoyed special reverence: the sky god Anu, the earth god Enlil and the water god Ensi. In addition, each city had its own patron god. Thus, Enlil was especially revered in the ancient city of Nippur. The inhabitants of Nippur believed that Enlil gave them such important inventions as the hoe and plow, and also taught them how to build cities and erect walls around them. Important gods for the Sumerians were the sun (Utu) and the moon (Nannar), replacing each other in the sky. And, of course, one of the most important figures of the Sumerian pantheon was the goddess Inanna, whom the Assyrians, who borrowed the religious system from the Sumerians, would call Ishtar, and the Phoenicians - Astarte. Inanna was the goddess of love and fertility and, at the same time, the goddess of war. She personified, first of all, carnal love, passion. No wonder in many Sumerian cities there was a custom of "divine marriage", when kings, in order to provide fertility to their lands, cattle and people, spent the night with the high priestess Inanna, who embodied the goddess herself.

Like many ancient gods, Inanna was capricious and fickle. She often fell in love with mortal heroes, and woe was to those who rejected the goddess! The Sumerians believed that the gods created humans by mixing their blood with clay. After death, the souls fell into the afterlife, where there was also nothing but clay and dust, which the dead ate. To make the life of their deceased ancestors a little better, the Sumerians sacrificed food and drinks to them.

Cuneiform

The Sumerian civilization reached amazing heights, even after the conquest by northern neighbors, the culture, language and religion of the Sumerians were borrowed first by Akkad, then Babylonia and Assyria. The Sumerians are credited with inventing the wheel, bricks and even beer (although they most likely made a barley drink using a different technology). But the main achievement of the Sumerians was, of course, a unique writing system - cuneiform. Cuneiform writing got its name from the shape of the marks that a reed stick left on wet clay, the most common writing material. Sumerian writing originated from the system of counting various goods. For example, when a person counted his flock, he made a ball of clay to designate each sheep, then put these balls in a box, and left notes on the box - the number of these balls.

But all the sheep in the flock are different: of different sex, age. Marks appeared on the balls, corresponding to the animal they designated. And finally, the sheep began to be designated with a picture - a pictogram. Drawing with a cane stick was not very convenient, and the pictogram turned into a schematic image consisting of vertical, horizontal and diagonal wedges. And the last step - this ideogram began to denote not only a sheep (in Sumerian “oudu”), but also the syllable “oudu” in compound words. At first, cuneiform was used to draw up business documents. Extensive archives have come down to us from the ancient inhabitants of Mesopotamia. But later the Sumerians began to write down literary texts, and even whole libraries of clay tablets appeared, which were not afraid of fires - after all, after firing, the clay only became stronger. It is thanks to the fires in which the Sumerian cities perished, captured by the warlike Akkadians, that unique information about this ancient civilization has come down to us.

Plan:

1 Sumerians
- 1.1 Language
- 1.2 Writing
2 History
- 2.1 I early dynastic period (c. 2750-2615 BC)
- 2.2 II early dynastic period (c. 2615-2500 BC)
- 2.3 III early dynastic period (c. 2500-2315 BC)
3 Culture
- 3.1 Architecture
- 3.2 Literature
- 3.3 Religion
4 Rulers
5 Bibliography

Introduction

Coordinates: 33 ° 03'00 ″ s. sh. 44 ° 18'00 "in. etc. / 33.05 ° N sh. 44.3 ° E etc. (G) (O)33.05 , 44.3

Shumer - a civilization that existed in the southeast of Mesopotamia in the IV-III millennia BC. e.

1. Sumerians

Sumerians - the people who inhabited the Southern Mesopotamia (between the Tigris and Euphrates in the south of modern Iraq) at the dawn historical period... The Sumerians invented the cuneiform writing. The Sumerians also knew the wheel and fired brick technology.

1.1. Tongue

The Sumerian language has an agglutinative structure. His family ties have not yet been established; a number of hypotheses are in the works. The most plausible of them is the connection with the proto-Armenian language [ ] and Aramaic [ a source?] .

1.2. Writing

The oldest known writing system is Sumerian writing, which later developed into cuneiform. Cuneiform writing is a writing system in which signs are squeezed out with a reed stick (stylo) on a wet clay tablet. Cuneiform spread throughout Mesopotamia and became the main writing system of the ancient states of the Middle East up to the 1st century. n. e. The Sumerian writing system is verbal and syllabic. It is based on a polysemantic ideogram and an additional sign expressing a connection with a specific sound element. The wedge-shaped icon fixes some general concept (find, die, sell), and the system of additional icons is uniquely tied to the designation of any class of items. For example, there is an icon denoting a predatory animal: When using it in any text with the help of icons, the author indicates that it was a specific predatory animal: a lion ↓↓ or a bear.

Thus, in the Sumerian writing, a certain system of icons arises that have a relatively strict fixation.

2. History

In the second half of the 4th millennium BC. e. In southern Mesopotamia, the Sumerians appeared - a people who, in later written documents, call themselves "black-headed" (Sumerian "sang-ngiga", akkad. "tsalmat-kakkadi"). They were a people ethnically, linguistically and culturally alien to the Semitic tribes who settled in northern Mesopotamia at about the same time or somewhat later. The Sumerian language, with its quirky grammar, is not related to any of the languages \u200b\u200bthat have survived to this day. They belong to the Mediterranean race. Attempts to find their original homeland have so far failed. Apparently, the country where the Sumerians came from was somewhere in Asia, more likely in a mountainous area, but located in such a way that its inhabitants could master the art of sailing. Evidence that the Sumerians came from the mountains is their way of building temples, which were erected on artificial embankments or on terraced hills made of brick or clay blocks. It is unlikely that such a custom could arise among the inhabitants of the plains. It, along with the beliefs, should have been brought from their ancestral home by the inhabitants of the mountains, who paid homage to the gods on the mountain peaks. And one more evidence - in the Sumerian language the words "country" and "mountain" are spelled the same. Much also says that the Sumerians came to Mesopotamia by sea. First, they first of all appeared at river mouths. Secondly, the gods Anu, Enlil and Enki played the main role in their ancient beliefs. And, finally, barely settling in Mesopotamia, the Sumerians immediately started organizing irrigation facilities, navigation and navigation along rivers and canals. The first Sumerians to appear in Mesopotamia were a small group of people. There was no need to think about the possibility of mass migration by sea at that time. The Sumerian epic mentions their homeland, which they considered the ancestral home of all mankind - the island of Dilmun.

Having settled at the mouths of the rivers, the Sumerians captured the city of Eredu. This was their first city. Later they began to consider it the cradle of their statehood. After a number of years, the Sumerians moved deep into the Mesopotamian plain, building or conquering new cities. For the most distant times, the Sumerian tradition is so legendary that it has almost no historical significance. Already from the data of Berossus it was known that the Babylonian priests divided the history of their country into two periods: "before the flood" and "after the flood." Berossus in his historical work notes 10 kings who ruled "before the flood", and gives fantastic figures of their reign. The same data is given by the Sumerian text of the 21st century BC. e., the so-called "Royal list". In addition to Eredu, as "antediluvian" centers of the Sumerians, the "Royal List" calls Bad Tibiru, Larak (later insignificant settlements), as well as Sippar in the north and Shuruppak in the center. This new people subjugated the country without displacing - the Sumerians simply could not - the local population, but on the contrary, they adopted many of the achievements of the local culture. Identity material culture, religious beliefs, socio-political organization of various Sumerian city-states by no means proves their political community. On the contrary, it can rather be assumed that from the very beginning of the expansion of the Sumerians deep into Mesopotamia, rivalry arose between individual cities, both newly founded and conquered.

2.1. I early dynastic period (c. 2750-2615 BC)

At the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. e. in Mesopotamia there were about fifteen city-states. Nearby, small villages were subordinate to the center, at the head of which was a ruler, who was sometimes both a military leader and a high priest. These small states are now commonly referred to by the Greek term "nomes". The following nomes are known that existed at the beginning of the Early Dynastic period:

Ancient Mesopotamia

Eshnunna. It was located nom Eshnunna in the valley of the Diyala river.
Sippar. Located above the bifurcation of the Euphrates into the Euphrates proper and Irnina.
An unnamed nom on the Irnina Canal, who later had a center in the city of Kutu. The original centers of the nome were the cities located under the present-day settlements of Jedet Nasr and Tell Ukair. These cities ceased to exist by the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. e.
Kish. Located on the Euphrates, above its junction with Irnina.
Kesh. Located on the Euphrates, below its junction with Irnina.
Nippur. Located on the Euphrates, below the separation of the Inturungal.
Shuruppak. Located on the Euphrates, below Nippur. Shuruppak, apparently, always depended on neighboring nomes.
Uruk. Located on the Euphrates, below Shuruppak.
Lvl. Located at the mouth of the Euphrates.
Adab. Located on the upper section of Inturungal.
Ummah. It is located on Inturungal, in the place where the I-nina-gene channel separates from it.
Larak (city). It is located on the channel bed, between the Tiger itself and the I-nina-gene channel.
Lagash. Lagash region included a number of cities and settlements located on the I-nina-gena canal and adjacent canals.
Akshak. The location of this nome is not entirely clear. Usually it is identified with the later Opis and is placed on the Tigris, opposite the confluence of the Diyala River.

Of the cities of the Sumerian-East Semitic culture outside Lower Mesopotamia, it is important to note Mari in the Middle Euphrates, Ashur in the Middle Tigris, and Der, located east of the Tigris, on the road to Elam.

The cult center of the Sumerian-East Semitic cities was Nippur. It is possible that originally it was Mr. Nippur who was called Sumer. E-kur, the temple of the common Sumerian god Enlil, was located in Nippur. Enlil has been revered as the supreme god for thousands of years by all the Sumerians and Eastern Semites (Akkadians), although Nippur has never been a political center either in historical time or, judging by Sumerian myths and legends, in prehistoric times.

Analysis of both the "Tsar's List" and archaeological data show that the two main centers of Lower Mesopotamia from the beginning of the Early Dynastic period were: in the north - Kish, dominating the network of canals of the Euphrates-Irnina group, in the south - alternately Ur and Uruk. Outside of the influence of both the northern and southern centers were usually Eshnunna and other cities of the Diyala River valley, on the one hand, and nom Lagash on the I-nina-gena channel, on the other.

2.2. II early dynastic period (c. 2615-2500 BC)

The defeat of Aga under the walls of Uruk caused, as it seems, the invasion of the Elamites, conquered by his father. The Kish tradition places after the 1st dynasty of Kish the dynasty of the Elamite city of Avan, which apparently established its hegemony, in addition to Elam, in the northern part of Mesopotamia. The portion of the "list" where one would expect the names of the kings of the Avan dynasty is damaged, but it is possible that one of these kings was Mesalim.

In the south, parallel to the Avana dynasty, the I dynasty of Uruk continued to exercise hegemony, whose ruler Gilgamesh and his successors managed, as documents from the archives of the city of Shuruppak prove, to rally a number of city-states in a military alliance. This union united the states located in the southern part of Lower Mesopotamia, along the Euphrates below Nippur, along Iturungal and I-nina-gene: Uruk, Adab, Nippur, Lagash, Shuruppak, Umma, etc. If we take into account the territories covered by this union, you can probably, the time of its existence can be attributed to the reign of Mesalim, since it is known that under Meselim the Iturungal and I-nina-gena channels were already under his hegemony. It was precisely a military alliance of small states, and not a united state, for there is no information in the archive documents about the interference of the rulers of Uruk in the affairs of Shuruppak or about the payment of tribute to them.

The rulers of the “nom” states included in the military alliance did not wear the title “en” (the cult head of the nome), unlike the rulers of Uruk, but usually called themselves ensi or ensia [k] (akkad. Isshiakkum, isshakkum). This term apparently meant "Lord (or priest) of the building of structures"... In reality, however, the ensi had both cult and even military functions, as he led a squad of temple people. Some rulers of the nomes sought to appropriate the title of military leader - Lugal. This often reflected the ruler's claim to independence. However, not every title "lugal" testified to hegemony over the country. The military leader-hegemon called himself not just "lugal of his nome", but either "lugal of Kish" if he claimed hegemony in the northern nomes, or "lugal of the country" (lugal Kalama), to obtain such a title it was necessary to recognize the military supremacy of this ruler in Nippur, as the center of the all-Sumerian cult union. The rest lugali in their functions practically did not differ from the Ensi. In some nomes there were only Ensi (for example, in Nippur, Shuruppak, Kisur), in others only lugali (for example, in Ur), in still others both at different periods (for example, in Kish), or even, perhaps, simultaneously in a number of cases (in Uruk, in Lagash) the ruler temporarily received the title of Lugal along with special powers - military or others.

2.3. III early dynastic period (c. 2500-2315 BC)

Stage III of the Early Dynastic period is characterized by the rapid growth of wealth and property stratification, exacerbation of social contradictions and the relentless war of all the nomes of Mesopotamia and Elam against each other with an attempt by the rulers of each of them to seize hegemony over all the others.

During this period, the irrigation network expanded. New canals Arakhtu, Apkallatu and Me-Enlila were dug from the Euphrates in the southwest direction, some of which reached the strip of western swamps, and some of which completely gave their waters to irrigation. In the southeast direction from the Euphrates, parallel to Irnina, the Zubi canal was dug, which originated from the Euphrates above Irnina and thereby weakened the significance of the Kish and Kutu nomes. New nomes were formed on these channels:

Babylon (now a number of settlements near the city of Hill) on the Arakhtu canal. The communal god of Babylon was Amarutu (Marduk).
Dilbat (now Deilem settlement) on the Apkallatu canal. Community god Urash.
Marad (now Vanna va-as-S'Dun settlement) on the Me-Enlil channel. Community god Lugal-Marada and nom
Kazallu (exact location unknown). Community god Nimushda.
Push on the Zubi channel, in its lower part.

New canals were also diverted from Iturungal, as well as dug inside the Lagash region. Accordingly, new cities arose. On the Euphrates below Nippur, probably based on dug canals, cities also arose that claimed an independent existence and fought for water sources. A city such as Kisura can be noted (in Sumerian "border", most likely, the border of the zones of northern and southern hegemony, now the settlement of Abu-Khatab), some nomes and cities mentioned in inscriptions from the 3rd stage of the Early Dynastic period do not lend themselves to localization.

The raid on the southern regions of Mesopotamia, undertaken from the city of Mari, dates back to the 3rd stage of the Early Dynastic period. The raid from Mari roughly coincided with the end of the hegemony of the Elamite Avan in the north of Lower Mesopotamia and the I dynasty of Uruk in the south of the country. Whether there was a causal connection is difficult to say. After that, in the north of the country, two local dynasties began to rival, as seen on the Euphrates, the other on the Tigris and Irnin. These were the 2nd dynasty of Kish and the dynasty of Akshak. Half of the names of the Lugals who ruled there, preserved by the "Tsar's List", are East Semitic (Akkadian). Probably, both dynasties were Akkadian in language, and the fact that some of the kings bore Sumerian names is due to the strength of the cultural tradition. Steppe nomads - Akkadians, who apparently came from Arabia, settled in Mesopotamia almost simultaneously with the Sumerians. They penetrated into the central part of the Tigris and Euphrates, where they soon settled and switched to agriculture. From about the middle of the 3rd thousand, Akkadians established themselves in two major centers northern Sumer - the cities of Kishe and Akshe. But both of these dynasties were of little importance compared to the new hegemon of the south, the Lugals of Ur.

According to the ancient Sumerian epic, about 2600 BC. e. Sumer unites under the rule of Gilgamesh, the Uruk king, who later transferred power to the Ur dynasty. Then the throne is seized by Lugalannemunda, the ruler of Adab, who subjugated space from Mediterranean Sea to southwestern Iran. At the end of the XXIV century. BC e. the new conqueror - the king of the Ummah Lugalzagesi expands these possessions to the Persian Gulf.

In the XXIV century BC. e. most of Sumer was conquered by the Akkadian king Sharrumken (Sargon the Great). By the middle of the II millennium BC. e. Sumer was absorbed by the Babylonian empire that was gaining strength. Even earlier, by the end of the III millennium BC. e., the Sumerian language lost its status as a spoken language, although it remained for two millennia as a language of literature and culture.

3. Culture

Cuneiform tablet

Sumer is one of the oldest civilizations known to us. Many inventions are attributed to the Sumerians, such as the wheel, writing, irrigation system, agricultural tools, potter's wheel, and even brewing, although it is not known for certain whether these drinks were similar in structure to later intoxicated liqueurs.

3.1. Architecture

There are few trees and stone in Mesopotamia, so the first building materials were raw bricks made from a mixture of clay, sand and straw. The architecture of Mesopotamia is based on secular (palaces) and religious (ziggurats) monumental buildings and buildings. The first of the temples of Mesopotamia that have come down to us belong to the IV-III millennia BC. e. These powerful cult towers, called ziggurat (holy mountain), were square and resembled a stepped pyramid. The steps were connected by stairs, along the edge of the wall there was a ramp leading to the temple. The walls were painted black (asphalt), white (lime) and red (brick). The design feature of the monumental architecture was going from the 4th millennium BC. e. the use of artificially erected platforms, which may be explained by the need to isolate the building from the dampness of the soil moistened by spills, and at the same time, probably, by the desire to make the building visible from all sides. Another characteristic feature, based on an equally ancient tradition, was the broken line of the wall formed by the ledges. The windows, when they were made, were placed in the upper part of the wall and looked like narrow cracks. The buildings were also illuminated through a doorway and a hole in the roof. The roofs were mostly flat, but the vault was also known. Residential buildings discovered by excavations in the south of Sumer had an open inner courtyard around which covered premises were grouped. This layout, corresponding climatic conditions country, formed the basis for the palace buildings of the southern Mesopotamia. In the northern part of Sumer, houses were discovered that, instead of an open courtyard, had a central room with a ceiling.

3.2. Literature

One of the most famous works Sumerian literature is considered the "Epic of Gilgamesh" - a collection of Sumerian legends, later translated into Akkadian. The epic tablets were found in the library of King Ashurbanapal. The epic tells about the legendary king of Uruk Gilgamesh, his friend the savage Enkidu and the search for the secret of immortality. One of the chapters of the epic, the story of Utnapishtim, who saved humanity from a worldwide flood, is very reminiscent of the biblical story of Noah's Ark.

The Sumerian-Akkadian cosmogonic epic "Enuma elish" is also known.

3.3. Religion

Sumerian goddess

The Sumerian pantheon of gods functioned as an assembly led by a god-king. The Assembly consisted of groups, the main group known as the "Great Gods" consisted of 50 deities and, according to the beliefs of the Sumerians, decided the fate of mankind. Also, deities were divided into creative and non-creative. The creative gods were responsible for heaven (An), earth (mother goddess Ninhursag), sea (Enki), air (Enlil). Cosmic phenomena and cultural phenomena were kept in harmony by the so-called "Me" (or "Me"). Me is a set of rules given to each cosmic function and cultural phenomenon, with the aim of eternally maintaining their function according to the clans of the deity that created them. Me rules:

envoy
true
royal power
law
art

Man, according to Sumerian mythology, is created from clay mixed with divine blood. Also, the Sumerians had a myth about the worldwide flood.

The universe in Sumerian mythology consists of the lower and upper worlds and the earth between them. In general, the lower world was considered a huge space under the earth, a counterweight to the heavens. The lower world was ruled by the gods: Nergal and Ereshkigal.

The Sumerians believed that they were created to serve the gods, there is a very close connection between them and the gods. With their labor, they seem to "feed" the gods, and without them the gods could not exist as well as the Sumerians without the gods.

4. Rulers

List of kings of Sumer

5. Bibliography

Emelyanov V.V. Ancient Sumer: Essays on culture. SPb., 2001 (ISBN 5-85803-161-7).
Sumerians as the founders of world history

Notes

Kravchenko A.I. Culturology: Uch. manual for universities. - M.: Academic project, 2001.

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Mysterious language

The valley of Mesopotamia has long been inhabited by tribes of Semitic herders. It was they who were driven to the north by the newcomers-Sumerians. The Sumerians themselves were not related to the Semites, moreover, their origin is unclear to this day. Neither the ancestral home of the Sumerians, nor the language family to which their language belonged is known.

Fortunately for us, the Sumerians left many written monuments. From them we learn that the neighboring tribes called this people "Sumerians", and they called themselves "sang-ngiga" - "black-headed". They called their language "noble language" and considered it the only one suitable for people (in contrast to the less "noble" Semitic languages \u200b\u200bspoken by their neighbors).
But the Sumerian language was not homogeneous. It had special dialects for women and men, fishermen and shepherds. How the Sumerian language sounded is unknown to this day. A large number of homonyms suggests that this language was tonal (like, for example, modern Chinese), which means that the meaning of what was said often depended on intonation.
After the decline of the Sumerian civilization, the language of the Sumerians was studied for a long time in Mesopotamia, since most of the religious and literary texts were written in it.

The ancestral home of the Sumerians

One of the main mysteries remains the ancestral home of the Sumerians. Scientists make hypotheses based on archaeological data and information obtained from written sources.

This unknown Asian country was supposed to be located on the sea. The fact is that the Sumerians came to Mesopotamia along the river beds, and their first settlements appear in the south of the valley, in the deltas of the Tigris and Euphrates. At first, there were very few Sumerians in Mesopotamia - and this is not surprising, because the ships can accommodate not so many settlers. Apparently, they were good navigators, since they were able to climb up unfamiliar rivers and find a suitable place to land on the shore.

In addition, scientists believe that the Sumerians originate from mountainous areas. It is not for nothing that the words “country” and “mountain” are spelled the same in their language. And the Sumerian temples "ziggurats" in their appearance resemble mountains - they are stepped structures with a wide base and a narrow pyramidal peak, where the sanctuary was located.

Another important condition is that this country should have had advanced technologies. The Sumerians were one of the most advanced peoples of their time, they were the first in the entire Middle East who began to use the wheel, created an irrigation system, and invented a unique writing system.
According to one version, this legendary ancestral home was located in the south of India.

Flood survivors

But all this abundance had a downside. When snows began to melt in the mountains, the Tigris and Euphrates carried streams of water into the valley. Unlike the floods of the Nile, the floods of the Tigris and Euphrates could not be predicted, they were not regular.

Strong floods turned into a real disaster, they destroyed everything in their path: cities and villages, ears of corn, animals and people. Probably, when they first faced this disaster, the Sumerians created the legend of Ziusudra.
At the meeting of all the gods, a terrible decision was made - to destroy all of humanity. Only one god Enki took pity on people. He appeared in a dream to King Ziusudra and ordered him to build a huge ship. Ziusudra fulfilled the will of God, he loaded his property, family and relatives, various craftsmen to preserve knowledge and technology, livestock, animals and birds on the ship. The ship's doors were tarred from the outside.

The next morning, a terrible flood began, which even the gods were afraid of. The rain and wind raged for six days and seven nights. Finally, when the water began to recede, Ziusudra left the ship and made sacrifices to the gods. Then, as a reward for his loyalty, the gods granted immortality to Ziusudra and his wife.

This legend not only reminds of the legend of Noah's ark, most likely the biblical story is borrowed from the Sumerian culture. After all, the first poems about the flood that have come down to us date back to the 18th century BC.

Kings-priests, kings-builders

Each city-state was ruled by three kings. The first and most important was called "en". It was a priest-king (however, a woman could also be an enom). The main task of the tsar-en was to conduct religious ceremonies: solemn processions, sacrifices. In addition, he was in charge of all the temple property, and sometimes the property of the entire community.

Construction was an important area of \u200b\u200blife in ancient Mesopotamia. The Sumerians are credited with the invention of the fired brick. This more durable material was used to build city walls, temples, barns. The priest-builder Ensi was in charge of the construction of these structures. In addition, the ensi monitored the irrigation system, as canals, sluices and dams allowed at least a little control of irregular spills.

At the time of the war, the Sumerians elected another leader - the military leader - Lugal. The most famous military leader was Gilgamesh, whose exploits are immortalized in one of the most ancient literary works - The Epic of Gilgamesh. In this story, the great hero challenges the gods, defeats monsters, brings a precious cedar tree to his hometown of Uruk and even descends into the afterlife.

Sumerian gods

Important gods for the Sumerians were the sun (Utu) and the moon (Nannar), replacing each other in the sky. And, of course, one of the most important figures of the Sumerian pantheon was the goddess Inanna, whom the Assyrians, who borrowed the religious system from the Sumerians, would call Ishtar, and the Phoenicians - Astarte.

Inanna was the goddess of love and fertility and, at the same time, the goddess of war. She personified, first of all, carnal love, passion. It is not for nothing that in many Sumerian cities there was a custom of "divine marriage", when the kings, in order to provide fertility to their lands, livestock and people, spent the night with the high priestess Inanna, who embodied the goddess herself.

Like many ancient gods, Inanna was capricious and fickle. She often fell in love with mortal heroes, and woe was to those who rejected the goddess!
The Sumerians believed that the gods created humans by mixing their blood with clay. After death, the souls fell into the afterlife, where there was also nothing but clay and dust, which the dead ate. To make the life of their deceased ancestors a little better, the Sumerians sacrificed food and drinks to them.

Cuneiform

The Sumerian civilization reached amazing heights, even after the conquest by northern neighbors, the culture, language and religion of the Sumerians were borrowed first by Akkad, then Babylonia and Assyria.
The Sumerians are credited with inventing the wheel, bricks and even beer (although they most likely made a barley drink using a different technology). But the main achievement of the Sumerians was, of course, a unique writing system - cuneiform.
Cuneiform painting got its name from the shape of the marks that a reed stick left on wet clay, the most common writing material.

Sumerian writing originated from the system of counting various goods. For example, when a person counted his flock, he made a ball of clay to designate each sheep, then put these balls in a box, and left notes on the box - the number of these balls. But all the sheep in the flock are different: of different sex, age. Marks appeared on the balls, corresponding to the animal they designated. And, finally, the sheep began to be designated with a picture - a pictogram. It was not very convenient to draw with a reed stick, and the pictogram turned into a schematic image consisting of vertical, horizontal and diagonal wedges. And the last step - this ideogram began to denote not only a sheep (in Sumerian “oudu”), but also the syllable “oudu” in compound words.

At first, cuneiform was used to draw up business documents. From the ancient inhabitants of Mesopotamia, extensive archives have come down to us. But later the Sumerians began to write down literary texts, and even whole libraries of clay tablets appeared, which were not afraid of fires - after all, after firing, the clay only became stronger. It is thanks to the fires in which the Sumerian cities perished, captured by the warlike Akkadians, that unique information about this ancient civilization has come down to us.

Ancient Mesopotamia

Lesson plan

1. Country of two rivers .

2. Clay brick towns .

3. Towers from earth to sky .

4. Writing on clay tablets .

Dunaeva L.N.

Starogolsk secondary school

Novoderevenkovsky district

Oryol region

It lies between two large rivers - Euphrates and Tiger.

Hence its name - Mesopotamia or Mesopotamia.

1. The country of two rivers.

A detachment of foreign warriors approached a large deep river. It was the Euphrates. The foreigners looked at the running water, waved their hands in surprise and shouted: “It can't be! Why, this is a river flowing in reverse! "

Assume what nation the foreigners belonged to.

Why did they call the Euphrates "the great inverted river"?

What was the name of the king who led the army to the banks of the Euphrates?

Answer on the first flyleaf of the tutorial

1. The country of two rivers.

Fill in the table based on working with the text of the textbook (clauses 1, 2, § 13)

Comparison lines

Mesopotamia

Natural conditions

Mesopotamia

Natural conditions

Infrequent rains, irregular and violent floods of the Tigris and Euphrates; the hot sun that turned the earth into a desert; swampy spaces; lack of forests

Egypt

Irrigation system organization

Egypt

Irrigation system organization

Construction of canals, reservoirs, embankments, dams and dams; use of water lifting machines and pumps

Lack of rain; the hot sun that turned the earth into a desert; regular floods of the Nile, bringing fertile sludge; fertile land suitable for farming along the river

Construction of canals, use of shadufs to raise water

Describe a drawing of our time (p. 66)

according to plan

"The village of the Sumerians"

1) river, canals, vegetation; 2) huts and livestock pens; 3) main activities; 4) a wheeled vehicle.

3. Towers from earth to sky.

A stepped tower towered above the squat city buildings, the ledges of which rose to the sky. It looked like the temple of the god - the patron saint of the city .

Mighty mountains are full of your radiance, your light fills all countries. You are mighty over the mountains, you contemplate the earth, you wind at the ends of the earth, in the middle of the sky. You rule over the inhabitants of the entire universe ... You break the horn of the one who is plotting evil; you imprison an unjust judge, you execute the one who takes bribes; to the one who does not take bribes and cares about the oppressed, Shamash is merciful, and his days are continued ... O Shamash, a traveler full of fear, a wandering merchant, a young merchant, holder of a purse with gold. O Shamash, a fisherman with a net, a hunter, a butcher, a cattle driver is praying to you

Shamash - Sun God

Syn - god of the moon .

Ea - god of water Ishtar - goddess of fertility and love

2. Cities made of mud bricks.

1. I was born on an unfortunate day!

2. Throw you into water - the water will go bad. Let you into the garden - all the fruits will rot.

3. Friendship lasts a day, kinship lasts forever.

4. If the country is poorly armed, the enemy will always stand at the gate.

5. You go to conquer the land of the enemy, the enemy comes, conquers your land.

6. The poor man borrows - he makes worries for himself!

7. Well-dressed people are always welcome.

8. He has not yet caught the fox, and is already making a block for her.

9. Dodged a wild bull - bumped into a wild cow.

Let's get acquainted with the documents on p. 69-70.

Find sentences in the text of the document that would serve as captions for illustrations.

Why did the flood myth arise in Mesopotamia?

4. Writings on clay tablets

Cuneiform - this is a special letter from Mesopotamia.

INSCRIPTION

ON CLAY

PLATE,

MADE

A student

IN THE SHUMERIAN

SCHOOL

At the sign house, the supervisor remarked to me: "Why are you late?" I was frightened, my heart was pounding.

Approaching the teacher, I bowed to the ground. The father of the house of plates asked for my plate, He was unhappy with it and hit me.

Then I was zealous with the lesson, I was tormented with the lesson.

When the teacher checked the order in the house of the tablets,

The man with the cane stick remarked to me:

"You have to be careful on the street: you can't tear your clothes!"

And hit me. Father of the house decals

put a written sign in front of me; The class supervisor ordered us: "Rewrite!" I took my plate in hand, wrote on it, But there was something on the plate that I did not understand, What I could not read. Then the warden reprimanded me: "Why did you talk without permission?"

And hit me; The caretaker said:

"Why did you bow without permission?" - and hit me;

The person keeping order said, "Why did you get up without permission?" - and hit me; The gatekeeper said, "Why did you leave without permission?"

And hit me; The man with the stick said:

"Why did you hold out your hand without permission?" - and hit me ... The fate of the scribe is disgusting to me, I hated the fate of the scribe.

Consider if the relationship between teacher and students in a scribal school was similar to that between father and sons?

4. Letters on

clay tablets

Describe a drawing of our time according to plan

"School in Mesopotamia"

students;

2) teacher;

3) a worker kneading clay

Consolidation of knowledge and methods of action

Perform testing (option 1, 2).
Work on cards 1, 2.

Why in the Southern Mesopotamia did rich people indicate in their wills, among other property, a wooden stool and a door?

Information

about home

assignment

Study § 23. Answer questions 1-4 orally.
Write a letter to your friend from this country, share your impressions.
You can send a photo (drawing) about Mesopotamia.
Complete tasks 46, 48, 56 in the workbook.

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"Geography of the river" - Determine from the map which seas the Ob and Yenisei rivers flow into? What is a river? Identify on the map. Where do the rivers flow: Volga, Lena? River system. Let's check ourselves. DETERMINE WHICH RIVER STARTS AT A POINT WITH COORDINATES 57? N 33? E. Guess a riddle. Sign the names of the rivers on outline map... The letter "e" to "y" will be replaced - I will become a satellite of the Earth.

"Channel Success" - How to solve the unsolvable. Estimates are given for several parameters. 35-minute interview of a recruiter with a real candidate for a real vacancy. In the final, the recruiter and experts give their verdict whether the candidate is suitable for the position. The cadres decide. Channel spread. New programs of the TV channel in 2011.

"Rivers grade 6" - Where rivers look like leopards And jump from white peaks. Rivers - the main part of land waters are flat mountainous. Sushi waters Lesson generalization and repetition 6th grade. L.N. Tolstoy. The fog lies on the steeps, Motionless and deep. M.Yu. Lermontov. R. Gamzatov Don is waddling, in a peaceful quiet flood. M.A. Sholokhov The river is spread, flows, lazy sad And washes the banks.

"Geography grade 6 rivers" - Rivers. Rivers in the works of poets. Amazon with Maranyon (Southern part of the river. Ob with Irtysh (Asia) 5451 km 6. Yellow River (Asia) 4845 km 7. Missouri (North. Yangtze (Asia) 5800 km. The largest rivers in the world. Volga (Europe) 3531 km. Nile) with Kagera (Africa) 6671 km. “Oh, Volga! .. Mississippi with Missouri (North America) 6420 km. America) 4740 km. 8. Mekong (Asia) 4500 km. 9. Amur with Argun (Asia) 4440 km . ten.

"River in Kazakhstan" - The ancient name of Ya? Ik (from the Kazakh. Aral Sea. The ecological situation in the Urals basin continues to remain tense. There are several reasons for such concern. 2003. Before the beginning of shallowing, the Aral Sea was the fourth largest lake in the world. Kazakhstan's lakes are unevenly located.