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Introduction Into the First Society. The Ancient Middle East.
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The Ancient Middle East
Archeologists estimate that, in ordinary circumstances, the activity of gathering in temperate and tropic areas provides 75 to 80% of the total calories consumed, with hunting providing the balance. In existing hunting and gathering cultures, women usually do most of the gathering, while the men specialize in hunting.
Domestication can be defined as a primitive form of genetic engineering in which certain plants and animals are brought under human control, their objectionable characteristics eliminated, their favorable ones enhanced and in the case of animals, can be induced to reproduce in captivity. --Nagle, p. 3.
In the Near East, many varieties of the wild cereal grasses, wheat and barley, shown below were exploited as major food sources.
The act of harvesting the wild grains changed them genetically. • For example, a small percentage of wild grass plants has seed that clings to the stalk even when ripe, rather than separating easily.
Humans collecting wheat or barley seed would succeed in gathering a disproportionate amount of the mutant seeds-that-cling in each harvest. • Thus, the seed they sowed the next year would gradually increase the amount of seeds-that-cling in the next crop.
Over time, the percentage of wheat and barley seed that falls off the stalk when ripe declined--which made harvesting much easier. • In this way, these crops were "domesticated" to the point where they cannot reproduce themselves without human intervention. • Other qualities, such as the size and number of the kernals, also changed over time, due to human activities.
In contrast to hunting and gathering as a mode of life, agriculture means modifying the environment in order to exploit it more effectively. Agriculture alters both the animals and plants it domesticates. Ultimately, it changes the very landscape itself.
Indo-European Migrations: 4m-2m BCE The Middle East: “The Crossroads of Three Continents”
The Ancient Fertile Crescent Area The Middle East: “The Cradle of Civilization”
The State and Urban Revolution: In the city-state (or state), kin and tribal loyalties are, by definition, subordinated and replaced by political ties…. What makes a city-state different from an agricultural town is the collaboration ( synergy )created by its people interacting with each other on the basis of political relationships rather than traditional blood ties.
The Beginnings of Writing Farmers needed to keep records.The Sumerians were very good farmers. They raised animals such as goats and cows (called livestock). Because they needed to keep records of their livestock, food, and other things, officials began using tokens. Tokens were used for trade.Clay tokens came in different shapes and sizes. These represented different objects. For example, a cone shape could have represented a bag of wheat. These tokens were placed inside clay balls that were sealed. If you were sending five goats to someone, then you would put five tokens in the clay ball. When the goat arrived, the person would open the clay ball and count the tokens to make sure the correct number of goats had arrived. The number of tokens began to be pressed on the outside of the clay balls. Many experts believe that this is how writing on clay tablets began. A system of writing develops. The earliest form of writing dates back to 3300 B.C. People back then would draw "word-pictures" on clay tablets using a pointed instrument called a stylus. These "word-pictures" then developed into wedge-shaped signs. This type of script was called cuneiform (from the Latin word cuneus which means wedge). Who used cuneiform?Not everyone learned to read and write. The ones that were picked by the gods were called scribes. Boys that were chosen to become scribes (professional writers) began to study at the age of 8. They finished when they were 20 years old. The scribes wrote on clay tablets and used a triangular shaped reed called a stylus to make marks in the clay. The marks represented the tens of thousands of words in their language.
THE ORIGINS OF WRITING: Tokens are small geometric clay objects (cylinders, cones, spheres, etc.) found all over the Near East from about 8000 B.C. until the development of writing. The earliest tokens were simple shapes and were comparatively unadorned; they stood for basic agricultural commodities such as grain and sheep. A specific shape of token always represented a specific quantity of a particular item. For example, "the cone ... stood for a small measure of grain, the sphere represented a large measure of grain, the ovoid stood for a jar of oil." (Before Writing 161). Two jars of oil would be represented by two ovoids, three jars by three ovoids, and so on. Thus, the tokens presented an abstraction of the things being counted, but also a system of great specificity and precision.
With the development of cities came a more complex economy and more complex social structures. This cultural evolution is reflected in the tokens, which begin to appear in a much greater diversity of shapes and are given more complicated designs of incisions and holes.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF CUNEIFORM: The Sumerian writing system during the early periods was constantly in flux. The original direction of writing was from top to bottom, but for reasons unknown, it changed to left-to-right very early on (perhaps around 3000 BCE). This also affected the orientation of the signs by rotating all of them 90° counterclockwise. Another change in this early system involved the "style" of the signs. The early signs were more "linear" in that the strokes making up the signs were lines and curves. But starting after 3000 BC, these strokes started to evolve into wedges, thus changing the visual style of the signs from linear to "cuneiform".
Social and political organization: • The King ( Lugal ): he had military powers. • The Governors: they governed the territories of the kingdom. They were generals and judges at the same time. • The aristocracy: they were priests and traders. • The peasants: the people who work the land. The King The Governors The Aristocracy The Peasantry
The Dynasty of Ur, 2100-2000 B.C. Sumer, 3200-2350 B.C. Sargon’s Empire, 2350-2320 B.C. Reign of Hammurapi of Babylon, 1792-1750 B.C. The Amorite invasions, 2100-1900 B.C.
Kish was one of the twelve city-states of ancient Sumer civilization. In this city lived the famous and magnificent Akkadian King Sargon of Agade, founder of the first Empire in history. One of the earlier kings in Kish was Etana who "stabilized all the lands" securing the 1st dynasty of Kish and establishing rule over ancient Sumer and some of its neighbors. The title King of Kish became synonymous with Kind of Sumer. Ruins of Kish Grand Palace of Kish Ziggurat of Kish
For thousands of years, Nippur was the religious center of Mesopotamia. According to Sumerian religion, it was at Nippur where Enlil, the supreme god of the Sumerian pantheon, created mankind. Although never a capital city, Nippur had great political importance because royal rule over Mesopotamia was not considered legitimate without recognition in its temples. Thus, Nippur was the focus of pilgrimage and building programs by dozens of kings including Hammurabi of Babylon and Ashurbanipal of Assyria.
Fragment from the Stele of the Vultures, erected by Eannatum of Lagash. It depicts the battle of Umma with Eannatum of Lagash defeating the king of Umma, included is a professional phalanx. Circa 2525 B.C.
The Standard of Ur comes to us from a royal tombs found in the ancient Sumerian city of Ur. In the Standard of Ur, a chariot is shown in the top register on the left. The Standard presents, on the top 2 registers, the aftermath of another successful victory for Sumer, with a procession of troops presenting POWs to the victorious king at the center of the top.
Sargon of Akkad unifies Mesopotamia: world’s first empire, ca. 2240 B.C.
The Dynasty of Ur, 2100-2000 B.C. Sumer, 3200-2350 B.C. Sargon’s Empire, 2350-2320 B.C. Reign of Hammurapi of Babylon, 1792-1750 B.C. The Amorite invasions, 2100-1900 B.C.
Apsu: the fresh waters (male principle) Tiamat: the salt waters (female principle) Ea, the god of intelligence and wisdom, puts Apsu in a trance and then kills him. The statue of the god Marduk with his dragon, from a Babylonian cylinder seal. Marduk killed Tiamat.
These carved stone figures, their eyes wide with awe and their hands clasped in reverence, were placed in Mesopotamian temples by worshippers to stand in perpetual prayer on their behalf before the god or goddess to whom the sanctuary was dedicated. There were many gods. For example, Anu was the father of the gods and the god of the sky; Enlil was the god of the air; Utu was the sun god and the lord of truth and justice; Nanna was the moon god; Inanna was the goddess of love and war; Ninhursag was the goddess of earth; and Enki was the god of fresh water as well as the lord of wisdom and magic. While they served and revered the great gods, most people felt little connection with these distant beings. Ordinary people depended on a relationship with their own personal god - a kind of guardian angel - who protected individuals and interceded for them with the great deities.
