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From last time…

From last time…. Website: www.tutino.wikispaces.com Office hours: M, 2-4pm Office: HSSB 3063 E-mail: tutino@religion.ucsb.edu. Also from last time…. We talked about the two main themes of the class: Change vs. continuity The relation between laws, religion, conscience.

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From last time…

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  1. From last time… • Website: www.tutino.wikispaces.com • Office hours: M, 2-4pm • Office: HSSB 3063 • E-mail: tutino@religion.ucsb.edu

  2. Also from last time… • We talked about the two main themes of the class: • Change vs. continuity • The relation between laws, religion, conscience

  3. Mesopotamian civilization

  4. Where is Mesopotamia?

  5. What is Mesopotamia now?

  6. Last map…

  7. Mesopotamia: geography • Northern Mesopotamia, or Assyria: -Mild temperature -More rainfall • Southern Mesopotamia, or Sumer: -Hot temperature (until 120o in the summer!) -The rivers flood in a dramatic and unpredictable way, not suitable for cultivation unless men regulate irrigation -Not enough rainfall: irrigation is again essential!

  8. Agriculture & Civilization • Link between development of agriculture and development of civilization • The first step: domestication • The successive steps: cultivation and the end of hunter-gatherer society • Results: societies who could cultivate the land abandoned the hunter-gatherer society earlier than societies who did not

  9. Agriculture and Civilization: past and present

  10. Mesopotamia: history (Sumerian period) • 3500 BCE: first cities are founded in Sumer • 2730 BCE: the Akkadians formed the first empire in history • 2125 BCE: the Sumerian city of Ur takes control

  11. Mesopotamia: history (Babylonian period) • 2027 BCE: Ur falls, Babylon rises • The most famous king of the Babylonian dynasty is Hammurabi (ca. 1792-1750 BCE) • 1600 BCE: the Babylonian kingdom fell under the pressure from some people from the North, especially the Hittites

  12. 3500 BCE: first cities in Sumer, then… Babylon: 2027 BCE Akkadians: 2730-2125 BCE Ur: 2125 BCE

  13. Cuneiform scripture, from Latin cunaeus = wedge Clay tablet, 3000 BCE ca

  14. Mesopotamia: religion • Mesopotamian religion is POLYTHEISTIC, that is to say, has many Gods, and not just one • How did they look like? How did it all start?

  15. Basic cosmogony: The universe • Mesopotamian landscape is troubled: frequent and dramatic floods, blistering hot temperatures, so… • The universe is chaotic too! • In fact, the universe started out as a ‘liquid’ mess:

  16. Apsu & Tiamat • The Gods Apsu (the fresh water, and the male principle) and Tiamat (the salt water, and the female principle) were at the beginning of everything, and created other Gods, their children • Seeing how rowdy they were, they decided to kill them, but one of them, Ea, God of intelligence, killed the father, and Marduk, the God of wisdom, killed the mother

  17. Ea (from a seal in Ur)

  18. Marduk (from a Babylonian seal)

  19. The result is… • The creation of the earth and the sky (not just water), and the creation of humans as slaves, and the ordering of the chaos. • Humans exist for the sake of the Gods! • Can it go back to mess? Sure, that is why men and women have to behave and work for the Gods, to help them maintain the order….

  20. From the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’, ca. 2150 BCE • Gilgamesh is a hero that is looking for immortality. In his quest, he speaks with Utnapishtim, sole survivor of a great flood, who became immortal after that • Gilgamesh wants to know how the flood was like:

  21. Utnapishtim’s Account: look at your source!

  22. What do you notice? • Water: a central element in Mesopotamian geography AND religion • The tempest and the Gods’ reaction: they do not know what to do! • The role of mankind in that: what do you think?

  23. Hierarchy on heaven and earth • The Gods created humans as slaves • Both Gods and humans are at the mercy of chaos, that can overcome everything at any time… • That is why humans have to do their job as slaves of the Gods • Who is in charge of making sure that this happens?

  24. Hammurabi, King until 1750 BCE (stele from Susa, Iran, 1780 BCE)

  25. The beginning of Hammurabi’s Law Code: look at the source!

  26. What do you notice? • Relationship between king and gods • Relationship between king and people • Direct line between the gods, the king, and his laws: one comes directly after the other. No possibility of conflict! • What is the reward?

  27. Afterlife? • Sumerians and Babylonians had a shadowy and gloomy picture of the afterlife: • Every person is doomed to the same misery: they are condemned to perpetual hunger in a dark afterworld, and no reward for good works….

  28. In fact… • The end of Hammurabi’s Law Code: ‘if a succeeding ruler considers my words…if he do not annul my law, nor corrupt my words…then may Shamash lengthen that king’s reign’. If not, the gods will ‘order…the destruction of his city, the dispersion of his subjects, the cutting off of his rule, the removal of his name and memory from the land’ • Also, Gilgamesh fails! He never gets his immortality!

  29. Conclusions • Mesopotamian civilization: link with agriculture • Mesopotamian religion: POLYTHEISTIC, influenced by natural landscape: water is important! • Both humans and Gods fear chaos: humans are created by the Gods to help them deal with it, but Gods are NOT ‘omnipotent’! • Direct link between Gods, kings and people: the king can do no harm nor wrong, as he is the ‘lieutenant’ of the Gods, enlisted to help them deal with the chaos • No afterlife! The only reward is to keep chaos at bay

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