My father and my grandfather pitched their tents here before me. True believers for twelve centuries, they settled in this land and none of them had ever heard of an underground palace, nor did those who came before them.
And behold! A Frankish man from a faraway land arrived, many days’ journey away, and he took charge and drew a line here and a line there. Here, he said, is “the palace,” and there, he said, “are the doors,” and he showed us what had been lying beneath our feet all our lives, unbeknownst to us. Strange! Strange! Did you learn this from books, from magic, or from your prophets? Tell me, sir! Tell me the secret of this wisdom.
Many of these names and places were long considered non-existent, mythical, until the discovery of the library of Ashurbanipal in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh. Deciphering and translating cuneiform script opened a window into the world of ancient Mesopotamian cultures. Like a movie playing in reverse, the history of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Akkadians, and previously unknown and forgotten Sumerians was revealed. Early morning.
Who were the Sumerians?
Although we know that there were cultures in the wider area of Mesopotamia nine thousand years before Christ, the origin of the Sumerians is still not sufficiently illuminated.
Today, the assumption prevails that the homeland of the Sumerians is the area around the Caucasus or the Caspian Sea, and that they belong to the Indo-European group of peoples. However, it is interesting that their language does not resemble any extinct or living language. The Sumerians themselves, or the Black-Headed People, as they called themselves, claim that they have been there since the creation of the world, and their myths and legends are equally related to the marshy climate, the river-crossed valley, and the high mountains. According to the writings of Berossus from the 3rd century, who retells an ancient Sumerian myth, all the knowledge of the Sumerians comes from Oannes, the leader of the “fish-men”. In ancient times, he would come out of the sea every morning with other fish-men to teach the Sumerians all knowledge, and in the evening, he would return to the sea. The legend also mentions Dulmi. n, the sacred island or paradise on Earth where creation began.
All these stories only further intrigue the origins of those who their civilization successors will call the “Learned” (Akkadian: Shumeru) and whose land will be called Holy for a long time after their disappearance from the historical stage (Babylonian: Chaldea – Holy land, and Chaldean – priest), and whose language, like Latin in the Middle Ages, will be the language of the learned. The Sumerians called their land Kalam, which simply meant “Land” (in terms of state structure) and Ki-en-gi – “Land of the masters of knowledge/reading”.
A bit of history
The first known community of Sumerians about which we have more complete historical data1 consisted of a group of fourteen city-states with a unique culture, religion, and writing system, historically located in the so-called Early Dynastic period (approximately between 2800 and 2500 BC). Significant centers of that time were the cities of Eridu, which the Sumerians claim to be the oldest of the holy cities and where the first settlement The civilization from Heaven 400,000 years ago; then Ur (City) with its famous royal tombs, according to legend, the holy city on the island; Uruk (biblical Ereh) where Gilgamesh (biblical Nimrod) ruled; Nippur, the main religious center where the coronation of kings took place in later times, and where the oldest great library was found; the pre-flood city of Sipar ruled by Ziusudra, the Sumerian Noah, the one who survived the great flood, and Kish, Shuruppak, Lagash, and others.
In the name of divinity, the city was governed by an ensi (governor), who could be independent or subordinate to a lugal (great man, king), the governor of multiple cities. The governor was also the supreme judge and high priest, but there were also assemblies and “councils of elders” composed of respected citizens. The inhabitants formed communities based on their professions, with the most esteemed being scribes, priests, soldiers, artists, and sailors. Above all were the chief supervisor, nu-banda, the chief economist, agrir, and the high priest, hra. Well, it’s something.
For the Sumerians, the cities did not belong to the people but to the gods, and the main structure of each city was a temple dedicated to one of the gods of the Sumerian pantheon. Around the temple, there was a sacred part of the city with complexes of buildings intended for those who cared for the needs of the divine family and entourage. Around this complex was the fortified residential part of the city, with suburban settlements outside the walls. Further spread the arable land with gardens, orchards, pastures, and fields intersected by often navigable irrigation canals (some were over twenty meters wide).
After Sumer, around 2500 BC. BC, the oldest historically recorded great conqueror appeared on the stage of Mesopotamia, the founder of the Akkadian Empire, which would expand from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf. His name Sargon is actually a title meaning “Righteous king” (Akkadian: Šaru-kin), and numerous legends are associated with him. Like the Jewish Moses, he was placed in a basket and sent down the river as a child, where he was raised. and he was consecrated in Kiš, where he later became the military commander at the court of the Sumerian ruler Ur-Zababa.
The Akkadian Empire will last for about three hundred years and this Semitic people will completely adopt the Sumerian culture, changing only the names of the gods and relocating the capital to Akkad, a city whose spatial location is still unknown. This is a period of further cultural development, and the Sumerian influence will spread far beyond the borders of the empire, to Africa, Egypt, and the Indus Valley, where trade was conducted with the cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa.
Around 2200 BC, a wild people called the Gutians unstoppably invaded from the East, destroying the Akkadian Empire. They ruled Mesopotamia for about a hundred years and were fully assimilated into the society’s culture. This marked the beginning of the so-called “Sumerian Renaissance.” During this period, many Sumerian hymns and epics were recorded, numerous temples and palaces were built, sculptures and wall paintings were created, and scientific and philosophical knowledge was deepened. One of the first cities to recover from the Gutian invasion was. Lagash, where Gudea, the governor of Lagash, gathered citizens “as children of the same mother” and built one of the most beautiful and culturally rich cities of his time. Similarly, as Lorenzo de Medici would do three and a half millennia later in Florence, Gudea had a sculpture workshop from which masterpieces of Sumerian art emerged. After him, the ruler Ur-Nammu, who left behind the oldest known written code of laws, conquered all territories of Sumer and Akkad, and his son Shulgi led Sumer and Akkad to the peak of power. The most famous architectural monument of that time was the ziggurat in Ur.
This period of about a hundred years represented the last surge of Sumer, which would gradually disappear from the stage of world events, but its culture would outlive its own builders. In 1894 BCE, one of the Amorite tribes founded a settlement in the “heartland” of Mesopotamia, the place where the Euphrates and Tigris rivers are closest to each other. The Sumerians called it Ka-dingir-ra, and the Akkadians called it Bab-ilim, which means “Gate of God” in both languages. “The Divine Gate”. One hundred years later, its ruler Hammurabi (Babylonian: Hammurapi- “God is the healer”) creates the First Babylonian Empire, which assimilates Sumerian culture through the Akkadians, once again changing the names of the gods, and the Sumerian language becomes the language of the learned.
With the invasion of the Hittites, who in around 1600 BC topple Babylon, and the arrival of the Kassites from present-day Iran, the Assyrian Empire is established in the north and the Babylonia-Kassite Empire in the south. From that time on, much knowledge and art gradually decline. In 626 BC, Nabuchadnezzar II, supported by Chaldean priests from the south, establishes the Neo-Babylonian Empire and builds another Babylon that will become famous for its size, splendor, power, and its Tower of Babel. However, this will not last long, as in 529 BC the Persians will bury all previous states, religions, and customs in an unstoppable tide, but like many before them, they will assimilate many elements, this time from the Assyrian-Babylonian culture, art, state organization, and legislation, and create They have established the foundations of legislation, basic principles of state governance, and the concept of a centralized state. The first known legal codes originated in Mesopotamia, as did the first written laws. The concept of private property and contracts was also developed in this region. The importance of trade and commerce can be seen in the development of the first known banking system in Mesopotamia, which included loans, interest rates, and insurance. Additionally, the ancient civilizations of the Middle East made significant contributions to mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and literature, which have greatly influenced our modern understanding in these fields. The tax system, public works. They established standing armies and laid the foundations of military tactics, had the first battle cars, defensive walls, and the first attack devices. They constructed strategic roads with signposts, had an organized postal system, created an extensive irrigation system and waterways.
Their scientific knowledge was the basis for all subsequent traditional and modern sciences. They developed writing, astrology, astronomy, mathematics and numerology, medicine and philosophy, alchemy and indispensable magic. From them originates the division of the sky into constellations, twelve signs of the zodiac, and the division into years, months, weeks, days, hours, and minutes. They knew how to calculate eclipses, knew the orbits of planets, and created the first instruments for measuring the position of celestial bodies such as the gnomon, pole, alidade, armillary sphere, and others. They wrote the first horoscopes or “tables of destiny,” dream books, and agricultural calendars.
They attributed mystical and symbolic values to numbers and geometric shapes, but their mathematics and geometry were not pure, they were intertwined with spiritual beliefs and the occult. They knew how to serve practically when it came to solving problems in business, construction, and timekeeping. They had established systems of measurement for length, weight, volume, and area. They were familiar with square and square root numbers and performed mathematical operations with nine decimal places, which was unheard of in Europe until the 17th century. They solved geometric problems through calculations. They divided the circle into 360 degrees and angles into degrees, minutes, and seconds.
In medicine, they left behind the first written diagnoses and prescriptions for treatment. They had doctors, surgeons, and veterinarians. They performed surgeries on the eye with a copper knife, were able to extract nerves from teeth, amputate limbs, and knew about the circulatory system, etc. They set the first regulations regarding nutrition and hygiene.
They were familiar with the “galvanic” article and obtained electrum, “white gold”, a mixture of silver and gold, through electrolysis.
In philosophy, they left behind the first written discussions on the meaning of existence, questions of impermanence, immortality, and destiny. In literature, the first written records date back to the humnus, stories and love songs, the inevitable epic of Gilgamesh, comedic and satirical plays. They were exceptional administrators and kept records of everything that was done or possessed.
If this is not enough, let’s add that tens of thousands of clay tablets with cuneiform script are still awaiting translation, not all tombs have been excavated, not all lost cities have been discovered, and who knows what other discoveries are still waiting for us. Let’s also mention that the Sumerians never claimed to have invented all of this, and if they and the Egyptians are historically the first for us, it’s only because we don’t know of anyone older. They themselves claimed to have acquired this knowledge from others, just as their successors did after them, adding something of their own on the slow path of evolution. They gave humanity a much longer history than what modern science provides. Their genealogies of kings go back 460,000 years into the past, distinguishing periods before and after the great flood.
The World and People
Although the climate in In the area that is now occupied by Iraq, the climate has significantly changed over the past four thousand years and has become more desert-like than before. Even during the time of the Sumerians, it was not easy to live there. Mesopotamia could only become a paradise on earth through the immense efforts of people who managed to adapt the marshy and alluvial area of the great rivers to their needs. There were no copper deposits, quality stone, or wood in Sumer, but the power of will was able to compensate for all of that. Mesopotamia has always been at the crossroads of East and West, which is why the history of Mesopotamia is a history of wars and destruction, but also of constant revival. The people who lived there had the strength and abilities to impose their culture on anyone who came to conquer them.
If we take as an example a text that conveys a conversation between a concerned father and his son who is attending school to become a scribe, in which the father scolds his son for preferring to roam the streets rather than study, we could say: ordinary people, just like us today.
When we read today In praising the Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh, we acknowledge the author’s profound thoughtfulness, the beauty of their style, philosophical contemplation, and idealism. The epic concludes unusually and ambiguously, with only a short sentence that could serve as an introduction to new events rather than the celebratory and happy ending we are accustomed to.
The Sumerians loved the world in which they lived and the nature that surrounded them, perhaps understanding it far better than we do. This is evident in their cities, settlements, and structures, which harmoniously blended with nature in terms of appearance and functionality. It is also reflected in their poems, filled with praises and love for nature and its protectors, the goddess mother Inanna and the god Dumuzid, the shepherd of all living things. For them, nothing was dead. The entire nature was imbued with the breath of life; everything had its own will and personality. To comprehend nature, it was necessary to understand the personality, qualities, and will of objects, phenomena, and beings. One had to grasp their names, divine power, and the source of their existence. through the Panels of Destiny that were defined by the great gods Enlil and Enki, the forces of cosmic winds and waters under the protection of Anu, the divine word, the ruler of the heavens and the spiritual father of all that lives.
An ordinary man maintained this contact through his guardian spirit, his personal deity, who ensured his success if the man made an effort to fulfill his life obligations. With sympathy, we read the “complaints” of personal deities about the injustices that undeservedly befall their diligent proteges. The Sumerians were a modest and simple people, but their sages knew how to find a path to high intellectual, intellectual, and spiritual heights, and, more importantly, they knew how to leave models, methods, and guidelines that anyone who truly desires can follow. After all, this is recorded in the epic of Gilgamesh.
1 Dating historical events is not precise and varies in the range of a hundred to five hundred years, depending on different authors.
2 teloh – an artificial mound. In Mesopotamia, there was a millennia-old custom. Old buildings, especially temples, made of unbaked bricks were simply leveled and new ones were built on the platform created in this way. Over time, mounds of clay up to one hundred meters high were formed.
1 Dating historical events is not precise and varies in the range of one hundred to five hundred years, depending on different authors.
2 Teloh – an artificial hill. In Mesopotamia, there was a thousand-year-old tradition of simply leveling old buildings, especially temples made of unbaked bricks, and building new ones on the platform created in this way. As a result, mounds of clay up to one hundred meters high were formed over time.