The land between two rivers
The early Sumerians had no stone for tools, and they had to make their sickles out of dried clay. But there was wood for building ships to sail upstream or across the Persian Gulf, taking traders and their wares to other countries.
By 4000 BC, the early villages of reed huts built round local shrines had grown into towns with populations of several thousand, like Eridu, Uruk, Lagash, and Ur. All kinds of craftsmen lived in these early Sumerian cities, as well as merchants and traders, but the most important people were the priests. The Sumerians were religious people, and paid regular tribute to their gods. The priests looked after the land around shrines, and directed the work carried on in and around the temples. The temples were rebuilt many times, because the Sumerians believed that to repair a temple would bring favor from the gods. Each temple, after serving its time, was filled in with brickwork to become the foundations for the next; so the temple mound, or Ziggurat, grew higher and higher, until it dominated the whole town.
Written recordsThe Sumerians used clay tablets for writing, and once these were baked, they lasted thousands of years. The earliest tablets have simple pictures and numbers scratched on them. They are accounts kept by priests, lists of cattle, flocks of sheep, wheat, barley, and dairy products, and records of receipts and expenditure. As time went on, these pictures became simplified, until eventually they were only symbols marked in the clay by a reed stylus, or pen. These marks were wedge-shaped or cuneiform, the name given to Sumerian writing.
From about 3000 BC on, the names of kings, or city-governors, begin to appear in the records. They were closely connected with patron gods of cities, and called themselves 'tenant-farmers' of the gods. They were also war leaders, and the victorious king assailing his enemies is a favorite theme in Sumerian art.
The Sumerians taught themselves to calculate, beginning with dots stamped on clay. They invented a special symbol for the number 10. They also invented a sun-dial and a water clock for measuring hours, and standards for weights and measures. Wages and rents were paid in barley, but silver and copper were used in exchanging goods.
A towering Ziggurat overlooked the Sumerian town, and was the last stronghold of its defense. The city of Ur was fortified by outer walls, inner walls enclosing the Ziggurat. The small shrine at the summit was used chiefly at the great New Year festival, connected with the watering of the land and the fertility of crops. The dazzling procession of priests and leading citizens, the king (taking the part of their god) and his court, would wind its way up the triple staircase to the top of the temple tower. From the summit they would see the smoke of sacrifices rising from distant shrines; then they would offer the ritual sacrifice of living creatures which the gods required.
The Royal cemeteryThe discovery in 1926 of a Royal Cemetery, just outside the temple enclosure at Ur, is one of the most thrilling events in the whole history of excavation. The first undisturbed tomb to be found was that of an unknown lady wearing a gold head-dress and holding a gold tumbler to her lips. A magnificent gold dagger and seal belonging to a prince were found in the shaft leading to the tomb, as though they had been thrown down in a farewell gesture. The next tombs discovered were those of a man and a woman, identified by inscribed seals as Abargi and Shubad. They were probably a king and queen of Ur, since they were surrounded by attendants: soldiers wearing copper helmets and carrying spears and daggers, and magnificently dressed court ladies. Each of these attendants had brought with them a little cup of poison which they had taken, sure of continuing to serve their king and queen in another life. There were also animals in the tombs, drawing wagons and chariots, which had been sacrificed so that they too might enter the after-world with their master and mistress. Some of the treasures found in the Royal Cemetery at Ur are on view in the Babylonian Room of the British Museum in London.
Home • Copyright © The Worlds of David Darling • Encyclopedia of Science • Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy • Contact