Ancient Mesopotamia
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History
Ancient Mesopotamia
Chronology Periodization: * North
* South · Le Havre Period
· The Uruk period,
The Jemdet Nasr Period · The Nineveh V Period
· Early Dynastic period · * Akkadian period · * Period of the third Dynasty of Ur · The Old Assyrian period
· The Old Babylonian period · Middle Assyrian period
* The Middle Babylonian period · The New Assyrian period
* The New Babylonian period
Hanging Gardens of Semiramis Babylon (reconstruction)
Ancient Mesopotamia is one of the great civilizations of the Ancient world that existed in the Middle East, in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Conditional chronological framework — from the middle of the IV thousand BC (the era of Uruk) to October 12, 539 BC.
At various times, the kingdoms of Sumer, Akkad, Babylonia and Assyria were located here.
Content
1 History 1.1 Chronology of events 1.2 Creation of irrigation 1.3 The emergence of writing
2 Temple economy 3 Culture 4 See also 5 Sources 6 Literature
History[edit / edit wiki text]
From the IV thousand BC to the XIII century AD, the largest cities and urban agglomerations were located in the Mesopotamia.
In the Ancient World, Babylon was synonymous with the World City.
Mesopotamia flourished under Assyrian and Babylonian rule, then under Arab rule.
From the time of the appearance of the Sumerians until the fall of the New Babylonian Kingdom, 10% of the population of the entire Earth lived on the territory of the Mesopotamian lowland.
Mesopotamia refers to one of the oldest centers of civilization in 4 m — 3 m BC that formed the ancient cities of the state, among which the Sumerian city of Kish, Uruk (biblical Erech), Ur, Lagash, Umma, Semitic city Aksak, Amorite/the Sumerian city of Larsa, as well as the States of Akkad, Assyria and early 2nd Millennium BC.
— Babylonia.
Later, the territory of Mesopotamia was part of Assyria (IX VII centuries BC), the New Babylonian Kingdom (VII VI centuries BC).
Perhaps the most significant thing in the history of Mesopotamia is that its beginning coincides with the beginning of world history.
The first written documents belong to the Sumerians.
It follows from this that history in the proper sense began in Sumer and was probably created by the Sumerians.
However, writing did not become the only determining factor of the beginning of a new era.
The most important achievement was the development of metallurgy to the level when society had to create new technologies to continue its existence.
The deposits of copper ores were far away, so the need to obtain this vital metal led to the expansion of geographical horizons and a change in the very pace of life.
Historical Mesopotamia existed for almost twenty five centuries, from the emergence of writing to the conquest of Babylonia by the Persians.
But even after that, foreign domination could not destroy the cultural independence of the country.
The Greek word "Mesopotamia"is called the interfluve of the Tigris and Euphrates.
The existence of two rivers the Tigris and the Euphrates should be considered the main topographic feature of Mesopotamia.
The late flood of rivers forced people to build dams, dams, in order to save seedlings.
In addition, in the conditions of the standing heat, the water quickly evaporated, leading to salinization of the soil.
It should be noted that the silt of the Euphrates was far inferior in its fertility to the Nile, clogging the channels as well.
The southern part of Mesopotamia, which became the cradle of Mesopotamian civilization, was a place where the rays of the scorching sun made the soil hard like a stone, or it was hidden under the desert sands.
From the swamps, huge pools of stagnant water, there was a danger of epidemics.
Lev Mechnikov, who is the author of the book "Civilization and the Great Historical Rivers", published in Paris in 1889, considered it necessary to emphasize "that here, too, history turned away from fertile countries..., and chose a naked area as the birthplace of civilization, the inhabitants of which, under the threat of the most terrible misfortunes, were forced to complex and wise coordination of their individual efforts."
Unlike the regular Nile floods, the floods of the Euphrates and Tigris did not differ in frequency, which determined the more significant and permanent nature of human labor in creating irrigation.
In general, from the point of view of L. Mechnikov, historical rivers were great educators of humanity.
"All these rivers have one remarkable characteristic that can explain the secret of their outstanding historical role.
All of them turn the areas they irrigate into fertile granaries, then into infectious swamps....Specific geographical environment of these rivers could be turned to the benefit of the human collective, sternly disciplined effort of the masses...".
L.
Mechnikov was considered important that the cause of, the nature of the primitive institutions, their subsequent evolution must be seen not in the environment, and between the environment and the ability inhabited the midst of the people, to cooperation and solidarity.
Mass archaeological studies of traces of the oldest settlements of Lower Mesopotamia indicate that in the process of improving local irrigation systems, residents moved from more than small settlements of large family communities to the center of the nomes, where the main temples were located.
At the beginning of the second quarter of the third millennium BC, city walls became an attribute of densely populated spaces around the main temples.
According to another point of view, the rise of civilization was caused by the interaction of the settled population of the villages and the nomads of the Mesopotamian region.
Despite the mutual suspicion, or even hostility, inherent in the relations between settled communities and nomads, the latter, due to their mobility, pastoral lifestyle, occupied an important place in the life of the inhabitants of agricultural settlements, being necessary for communication, trade, livestock breeding, having valuable information.
Constant migrations allowed the nomads to be aware of political events in different places, to have information about the availability of certain resources, to act as intermediaries in the exchange of goods and ideas between the settled inhabitants of the mountainous regions and the Mesopotamian plain.
Timeline of events[edit / edit wiki text]
The middle of the IV millennium BC is the Uruk epoch in Southern Mesopotamia, the beginning of the Bronze Age.
The formation of the foundations of the Sumerian civilization, the formation of nomes, the first archives of economic documents written with pictographic signs (e.g.
The tablet from Kish), the deepening of social inequality, the development of temple farms, proto cities, the urban revolution, Sumerian colonies in Upper Mesopotamia (Habuba Kabira, Jebel Aruda), monumental temple buildings, cylindrical seals, etc.
In Upper Mesopotamia — the beginning of the Bronze Age, the formation of proto cities (Tell Brak) on a local basis, Sumerian colonies.
The end of the IV beginning of the III millennium BC — the period of Jemdet Nasr in Southern Mesopotamia.
The completion of the formation of the nomic system, the deepening of social differentiation, the image of leaders; by the end of the period the emergence of the early states and dynasties of Sumer.
XXVIII XXIV centuries BC — The early Dynastic period (abbreviated: RD) in Mesopotamia.
The heyday of the Sumerian civilization — cities, states, writing, monumental structures, irrigation systems, crafts, trade, science, literature, etc.is divided into three stages: RD I, RD III and RD III.
XXVIII XXVII centuries BC — the first stage of the Early Dynastic period (abbreviated: RD I).
The heyday of the archaic Hurrah.
The hegemony of Kish in Sumer.
Outstanding Kings (lugali) I dynasty of Kisha Etana, En Mebaragesi.
The legendary rulers of the I dynasty of Uruk are Meskianggasher (son of the god Utu), Lugalbanda, Dumuzi.
XXVII XXVI centuries BC — the second stage of the Early Dynastic period (abbreviated: RD II).
The defeat of the troops of the Kish king Aggi under the walls of Uruk (the ruler is Gilgamesh), the fall of the hegemony of Kish.
The invasion of the Elamites in Ki Uri and their destruction of Kish and the establishment of a new (II) dynasty there.
Uruk is the strongest state of Sumer.
XXVI XXIV centuries BC — the third stage of the Early Dynastic period (abbreviated: RD III).
The aggravation of political instability in Sumer.
The rise and heyday of Ur; tombs of the I dynasty.
The Kings of Ur are the strongest rulers of Sumer.
The separation of Lagash from Kish dependence, the strengthening of this state under Ur Nansh.
The rise of Lagash at Eannatum.
A series of border wars between Lagash and Umma over the fertile Guedinnu plain.
The unification of Ur and Uruk into a single state.
The reforms of the Lagash ruler Uruinimgina and the creation of the oldest laws by him.
Lugalzagesi is the sole ruler of the Sumerian city states.
Lugalzagesi's war with Uruinimgina.
The uprising of the Eastern Semites in Ki Uri.
XXIV XXII centuries BC -Akkadian power in Mesopotamia.
The uprising of the Eastern Semites in Ki Uri was crowned with success; the leader of the uprising under the name of the" True King " (Sargon) defeated a coalition of Sumerian city states and for the first time in history completely united Sumer.
The capital of Sargon was moved from Kish to Akkad, after which the new state and the region of Ki Uri itself became known as Akkad.
Strengthening of statehood, the fight against separatism under the successors of Sargon — Rimush and Manishtushu; the flourishing of the aggressive policy under Naram Suen.
Drought, separatism, economic decline and the movements of the Kuti mountain tribes lead to the weakening of Akkad.
In the XXII century.
- civil strife, loss of independence and the destruction of the Akkadian kingdom by the Kuti.
XXII century BC - the rule of the Kuti in Mesopotamia.
The rise of the II dynasty of Lagash; the reign of Gudea and his descendants.
The Utukhengal uprising in Uruk; the overthrow of the Kuti power.
XXII XXI centuries BC -The Sumero Akkadian Kingdom (the Power of the III dynasty of Ur) is the largest state in Western Asia.
After the death of Utukhengal, power passes to Ur Namm, the capital becomes Ur.
"Sumerian Renaissance".
The reign of Shulga is the heyday of the Sumero Akkadian kingdom.
The flourishing of Sumerian literature, architecture, and art against the background of the displacement of the Sumerian language by Akkadian in colloquial speech.
At the end of the period — the economic crisis, the struggle with the nomads of the Amorites.
The Elamite raid in the reign of Ibbi Suen and the collapse of the state.
XX XVI centuries BC — the Old Babylonian period in Lower Mesopotamia.
On the fragments of the power of the third dynasty of Ur, several states arise, edit li who retain the title of "King of Sumer and Akkad": these are Issin and Larsa (both in Sumer), the capture of Mesopotamian city states by the Amorites, the establishment of Amorite dynasties there.
The strongest Amorite kingdoms are Larsa (in Sumer), Babylon (in Akkad), Mari (in Northern Mesopotamia).
The rise of Babylon, the subjugation of Akkad by them.
The struggle of the Babylonian kings with Larsa for influence in Sumer.
The defeat of Larsa and the unification of the Mesopotamian states under Hammurabi.
The beginning of the formation of the Babylonian nation (from the Sumerians, Akkadians and Amorites).
The rapid development of Babylon, its transformation into the largest city of Mesopotamia.
The flourishing of the economy and culture.
The laws of Hammurabi.
The weakening of the Babylonian kingdom under subsequent kings.
The emergence of the Primorsky Kingdom in the south.
The defeat of the Babylonian Kingdom by the Hittites and Kassites in the XVI century.
XX XVI centuries BC — The Old Assyrian period in Upper Mesopotamia.
After the fall of the Sumero — Akkadian kingdom, the ancient nomes Nineveh, Ashur, Arbela, etc. - gained independence.
International trade through the steppes of the upper Khabur and the future Assyria.
The attempts of the early rulers from Assur to gain a foothold on the trade routes — the formation of the Assyrian state.
The rise of Mari, the influence of the Hittite kingdom, the settlement of the Hurrians and Amorites — the crisis of the Upper Mesopotamian trade.
The creation of an extensive power by the Amorite leader Shamshi Adad I with its capital in Shubat Enlil (the so called "Old Assyrian power"); the subordination of a significant part of Upper Mesopotamia to them.
The weakening of the state under the successors of Shamshi Adad and the subjugation of these lands by Babylon.
Formation of the ancient Assyrian people on the basis of the Akkadian speaking population and other Semites of Upper Mesopotamia.
XVI XI centuries BC — The Middle Babylonian or Kassite period in the history of Lower Mesopotamia.
The capture of Babylonia by the Kassites and their revival of the kingdom of Hammurabi within Lower Mesopotamia.
The defeat of Primorye.
Flourishing under Burna Buriash II.
Diplomatic relations with Egypt and the Hittite Kingdom.
Weakening of the centralization of Babylonia.
The resettlement of a new wave of Semitic speaking nomads Arameans.
The decline of Babylonia.
XVI XI centuries BC — the Middle Assyrian period in the history of Upper Mesopotamia.
Consolidation of the Hurrian world, the rise of the Mitanni state.
The confrontation of Mitanni, the Hittite Kingdom, Babylonia and Egypt in the Middle East.
Weakening of the Mitanni.
The first rise of Assyria; its transformation into a major regional power (under Tiglath Pileser I).
The sudden decline of Assyria as a result of the Aramean invasion.
The turn of the II I millennium BC — The catastrophe of the Bronze Age in the Middle East.
The decline of all significant states, the movements of numerous tribes — the Arameans, Chaldeans, "peoples of the sea" , etc.
The end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age.
The beginning of the Arameization of Mesopotamia; Aramaic and its dialects are beginning to displace Akkadian from the spoken language.
X VII centuries BC — the New Assyrian period in Upper Mesopotamia.
The economic and military political rise of Assyria against the background of the decline of its neighbors (the second rise of Assyria).
The conquest policy of Ashurnatsirapala II and Shalmaneser III.
Temporary decline of Assyria (late IX — first half of VIII).
The reforms of Tiglath Pileser III and the beginning of the third rise of Assyria; the defeat of the North Syrian states, the unification of Mesopotamia, the annexation of part of Media.
Sargon II, Sinahherib, Asarhaddon: Assyria — the first "world empire"; the annexation of Egypt.
Ashurbanipal: suppression of uprisings, civil war and the collapse of the Assyrian state.
After the death of Ashurbanipal: the war with Babylon, Media and the Scythian tribes; the destruction of the Assyrian state.
The indigenous territory of Assyria is part of the Median power.
X VI centuries BC -the New Babylonian period in Lower Mesopotamia.
The penetration of the Arameans and Chaldeans into the country; the crisis of the Babylonian statehood.
Union with Assyria (Tiglath Pileser III — the first single king of Assyria and Babylon).
The strengthening of the Chaldeans in Lower Mesopotamia, the Chaldean rulers in Babylon.
Sinahherib and the tightening of the policy towards Babylonia.
Revolts against Assyria and the destruction of Babylon.
The restoration of Babylon by Asarhaddon.
The rebellion of Shamash shum ukin.
The resumption of Babylonia's struggle for independence.
The collapse and death of the Assyrian State.
Nabopalasar is the first king of the newly independent Babylon.
The creation of the New Babylonian State.
Nebuchadnezzar II.
The economic, political and cultural flourishing of the state.
Babylon is the largest city in the world; the first metropolis.
The internal political struggle after the death of Nebuchadnezzar II.
Nabonidus and the struggle with the priesthood.
The war with the Persian state and the transition of Nabonidus ' opposition to the side of the enemy.
The Battle of Opis.
The troops of Cyrus II enter Babylon without a fight.
October 12, 539 BC -Persian troops occupy Babylon.
The end of the history of Ancient Mesopotamia as a politically independent region.
Creating irrigation[edit / edit wiki text]
This country is separated from the rest of Asia is barely passable deserts, began to be settled as early as the sixth Millennium BC.
In VI—IV millennia, settled here tribes lived very poorly: barley sown on a narrow strip of land between the swamps and scorched desert and irrigated unregulated and uneven spills have brought a small and unstable yields.
Crops were better managed on lands that were irrigated by channels diverted from the small Diyala River, a tributary of the Tigris.
It was only in the middle of the IV millennium BC that certain groups of communities managed to create rational drainage and irrigation systems in the Euphrates basin.
The basin of the lower Euphrates is a vast flat plain bounded on the east by the Tigris River, followed by the spurs of the Iranian Mountains, and on the west by the cliffs of the Syrian — Arabian semi desert.
Without proper irrigation and land reclamation works, this plain is sometimes a desert, sometimes swampy shallow lakes bordered by thickets of huge reeds teeming with insects.
Currently, the desert part of the plain is crossed by shafts of emissions from digging channels, and if the channel is active, then date palms grow along these shafts.
In some places, clay hills — telly and ash — ishan rise above the flat surface.
These are the ruins of cities, or rather, hundreds of mud brick houses and temple towers, reed huts and mud walls that coexisted successively on the same place.
However, in ancient times there were no hills or ramparts here yet.
The swampy lagoons occupied much more space than they do now, stretching across the entire Southern Iraq of today, and only in the extreme south there were low lying deserted islands.
Gradually, the silt of the Euphrates, the Tigris and the Elam rivers running from the northeast (Kerhe, Karun and Diz; in ancient times they also flowed into the Persian Gulf, like the Tigris and the Euphrates, but at an angle of 90 degrees to the latter) created an alluvial barrier that expanded the territory of the plain by 120 kilometers to the south.
Where swampy estuaries used to communicate freely with the Persian Gulf (this place was called in ancient times the "Bitter Sea"), the Shatt el Arab River now flows, in which the Euphrates and the Tigris, which previously had their own mouths and lagoons, now merge.
The Euphrates within Lower Mesopotamia was divided into several channels.
Of these, the most important were the western, or Euphrates proper, and the more eastern, Iturungal; from the latter, the canal and the Nina Gena branched off to the lagoon in the southeast.
Further east, the Tigris River flowed, but its banks were deserted, except for the place where the Diyala tributary flowed into it.
In the IV millennium BC, several smaller channels were diverted from each of the main channels, and with the help of a system of dams and reservoirs, it was possible to retain water on each for regular irrigation of fields throughout the growing season.
Thanks to this, yields immediately increased and it became possible to accumulate products.
This, in turn, led to the second great division of labor, that is, to the allocation of specialized crafts, and then to the possibility of class stratification, namely, to the allocation of a class of slaveholders, on the one hand, and to the widespread exploitation of servile people of the slave type and slaves, on the other.
At the same time, it should be noted that the extremely hard work on the construction and clearing of canals (as well as other earthworks) was carried out mainly not by slaves, but by community members as a matter of duty; every free adult spent an average of two months a year on this, and this was the case throughout the history of ancient Mesopotamia.
The main agricultural work — plowing and sowing — was also carried out by free community members.
Only the nobles, who were invested with power and performed positions that were considered socially important, did not personally participate in the duties, did not plow the land.
A mass survey by archaeologists of the traces of the oldest settlements of Lower Mesopotamia shows that the process of improving local land reclamation and irrigation systems was accompanied by the resettlement of residents from scattered tiny settlements of large family communities to the center of the nomes (administrative divisions), where the main temples with their rich granaries and workshops were located.
The temples were the collection centers of nomic spare funds; from here, on behalf of the temple administration, tamkars were sent to distant countries to exchange the bread and fabrics of Lower Mesopotamia for wood, metals, slaves and slaves.
At the beginning of the second quarter of the third millennium BC, densely populated areas around the main temples were surrounded by city walls.
Around 3000-2900 BC, the temple farms became so complex and extensive that it was necessary to take into account their owners economic activity.
In this regard, writing is emerging.
The emergence of writing[edit / edit wiki text]
The Sumerians created the first writing system in the foreseeable history of mankind.
It is called cuneiform.
The history of the creation of cuneiform is documented in Mesopotamia from the icons of drawings to signs denoting syllables of speech and abstract concepts.
At first, writing in Lower Mesopotamia appeared as a system of three dimensional chips or drawings.
They drew on plastic tiles made of clay with the end of a reed stick.
Each sign of the drawing denoted either the depicted object itself, or any concept associated with this object.
For example, the sky, drawn with strokes, meant "night" and thus also "black", "dark", "sick", "illness", "darkness", etc.
The leg sign meant "to walk", "to walk", "to stand", "to bring", etc.
Grammatical forms of words were not expressed, and it was not necessary, since usually only numbers and signs of calculable objects were entered in the document.
True, it was more difficult to convey the names of the recipients of the items, but even here at first it was possible to do with the name of their professions: the horn meant a coppersmith, a mountain (as a sign of a foreign country) - a slave, a terrace (?) (maybe, kind of stands), the chief priest, etc.
But soon resorted to the puzzle: if you meant "stone", "the weight", then the sign of the weights next to the sign of the legs suggests the reading gene — progress, and mark heap — BA — beside the same sign suggested reading lip — "standing", etc.
Sometimes whole words were written in a rebus way, if the corresponding concept was difficult to convey by drawing; for example, ga ("return, add") was denoted by the "reed" sign of gi.
The process of writing creation took place from about 4000 to 3200 BC .
It took at least 400 years until writing turned from a system of purely reminder signs into an ordered system of transmitting information in time and at a distance.
This happened around 2400 BC.
By this time, due to the inability to quickly draw curved shapes on the clay without burrs, etc., the signs had already turned into simply combinations of straight dashes, in which it was difficult to recognize the original drawing.
At the same time, each dash, due to the pressure on the clay with the angle of a rectangular stick, received a wedge shaped character; as a result, such a letter is called cuneiform.
Each sign in the cuneiform script can have multiple verbal meanings and some pure sound (usually said about the values of the syllabic signs, but this is incorrect: the sound values may designate and paslauga, for example, the syllable Bob you can write two "syllabic" signs: baab; the value is the same as when one of the women, the difference in ease of learning and save space when writing characters, but not in reading).
Some signs could also be "determinants", that is, unreadable signs that only indicate which category of concepts the neighboring sign belongs to (wooden or metal objects, fish, birds, professions, etc.); thus, the correct choice of reading from several possible ones was facilitated.
The study of the language of some later cuneiform inscriptions (from about 2500 BC) and proper names mentioned in the inscriptions (from about 2700 BC) showed scientists that already at that time there was a population in Lower Mesopotamia who spoke (and later wrote) in two completely different languages Sumerian and East Semitic.
The Sumerian language, with its bizarre grammar, is not related to any of the languages that have survived to this day.
The East Semitic language, which was later called Akkadian or Babylonian Assyrian, belongs to the Semitic branch of the Afrasian family of languages
