The Ancient Near East

The Larger Picture

The Sumerians Invented:

Writing Farming Technology Architecture Codes of Law Cities and Regional

Governments Formal System of Education

Writing

Cuneiform etched on clay tablets baked for permanence

Originally invented to keep business and temple records

Eventually grew to include writings of philosophy, literature, mathematics, architecture, law, politics, and religion

The oldest surviving documents in the world

Farming Technology

Irrigation Systems Complex system of canals, dikes, weirs

and reservoirs to turn desert into farmland

Regional authorities set up to build and regulate irrigation systems

Led to development of cities and city-states

Wheel Plow

Architecture Originally built with bundled reeds, and

later, sun-baked brick Developed measuring and surveying

instruments Eventually erected temples [ziggurats] as

high as 75 feet above the ground

Codes of Law

Code of Ir-Nammu Overall, more humane Allowed a cash payment for

some offenses, rather than “an eye for an eye”

Code of Hammurabi Characterized by vengeance,

as well as the visiting of the parents’ sins on the children

Cities and Regional Governments

Three classes of people under the king: Aristocratic nobles (administrators,

priests and military officers) Middle class people (businessmen,

teachers, farmers, herdsmen, fishermen, artisans [especially potters and metal workers], carpenters, weavers, and masons)

Slaves (captives or sold by families)

Formal System of Education

Began as a way of training scribes and administrators to keep business and other temple records

Later, moved from strictly vocational schools to become centers of culture

Students were taught writing, drawing, Sumerian, and mathematics

Culture remained more concerned overall with accounts than academic learning

Religion

Anu—God of the Heavens Ea (also called Enki)—God of

earth and water Enlil—God of order; in charge

of men’s destiny or fate Ishtar (also called Inanni)—

Goddess of love and war Aruru—Goddess of creation

and birth Shamash—Sun God; patron of Uruk

The Epic of Gilgamesh Gilgamesh found in official lists of kings Reigned in Uruk around 2800 BC After his death, worshipped as a God Epic composed around 1200 BC

Traditionally, author was Sin-leqe-unninni, a Babylonian scribe

Incorporates earlier materials, some dating back to 2100 BC, nearly a millenium before