Unit Name and Number I-SUMMERIANS

Name of the Faculty:- Sehdev Shrama UID :- 12915 E-mail :- sehdev.12915@lpu.co.in

In case you disagree with certain content of the reading material, kindly mail to the concerned faculty.

Objective of study
To under the origin of Sumerian civilization To know about art , culture and society of Sumerians To know about the art and sculpture development during Jahangir To know its relevance in studying the history.

Reference
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumer www.ancientscripts.com/sumerian.html mesopotamia.mrdonn.org/sumer.html

SUMMERIANS

MAPS

SUMERIANS

Sumerians first arrived in region around 5000 BC Typical Paleolithic people motivated by search for game Settled in region and took up farming Built dams, dikes, and short canals to use water from the Euphrates Grew barley and dates and raised sheep and goats

SUMERIAN CITY-STATES
City-states gradually emerged over next 1000 years Ur, Uruk, Lagash, Nippur, Kish, Umma, etc. Larger than Neolithic settlements and displayed evidence of economic specialization and strong political organization Included the urban center plus surrounding countryside Each was also an independent political unit

CITY CHARACTERISTICS
Each city surrounded by walls Permanent garrisons of soldiers stationed in towers and at each gate Wide boulevards crossed city, lined by houses of the wealthy Rest of city made up of narrow, twisting alleys surrounded by small, flat-roofed huts Homes of farmers, and small craftsmen

SUMERIAN AGRICULTURE
Each was crisscrossed by irrigation system of major canals and minor channels Designed to bring water from Euphrates to farmland Farmland divided into square and rectangle-shaped plots Farmers worked land with plows, seed-drills, and stone hoes and received yield of 40:1 Other areas set aside as gardens and fruit orchards Carts pulled by donkeys and boats on the canals took produce to the urban center itself

ZIGGURAT
Most dominant structure in each city was its temple Dedicated to patron god of the city Largest structure in city Resembled a gigantic stepped pyramid Designed to look like mountains because Sumerians believed their gods liked to live on top of mountains

LUGAL
Cities originally governed by an assembly of adult males Kings appeared who claimed to be representatives of the gods and who took control of most government functions Called lugals Not originally an hereditary position and the kings power was limited to interpreting the will of the gods But this position would become extraordinarily powerful in a relatively short period of time

SARGON THE GREAT

According to legend, he was a poor orphan adopted by a gardener Not a harsh ruler By Mesopotamian standards Respected and adopted Sumerian culture and civilization

THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE

In 2000 BC, the Amorites moved into region from Arabia Settled near Babylon and ultimately took it over Amorites/Babylonians prospered and became wealthiest and more powerful people in Mesopotamia Under King Hammurabi, they conquered the region Babylonian Empire Peak of Mesopotamia civilization Produced first written law code Empire collapsed shortly after Hammurabis death Victim of new invading tribes and jealously independent spirit of Sumerian city states

Hammurabi

INVENTION OF WRITING
As early as 3500 BC, the Sumerians used pictograms to represent certain physical objects Drawn on clay By 3500 BC, they began to use ideograms (symbols standing for abstract, non-physical concepts) and phonograms (symbols representing phonetic sounds) Meanwhile pictograms became more stylized

CUNEIFORM WRITING
Emerging writing system known as cuneiform Means wedge-shaped Impressed on clay tablets with wood stylus Very complicated Originally 2000 symbols Reduced to 500 over time Only small group of professional scribes could master it After 15 years of training A secret held by only a few specially-trained individuals

MATH
Developed in response to needs associated with raising and storing food and designing irrigation systems Based on units of 60 Only used today to measure time and circles Also had supplemental system based on units of 10 Invented system to measure metal and grain based on units of 60 Developed fundamental principles of geometry Used to measure fields and design buildings Invented first calendar Based on phases of moon Had 12 months

SUMERIAN GODS
At top of Sumerian pantheon of gods was An Divine force, the creator, thought to be the sky Below An came Enhil Controlled the weather Capricious Then came Enki Controlled fertility of the earth and abundance of harvests Also capricious and cruel Then 50 other major gods and a host of minor gods, demons, spirits, and the like

NATURE OF RELIGION
Sumerian gods did not pay much attention to mortals More interested in drinking, partying, and fighting among themselves Sumerians did not therefore worship their gods out of any sense of devotion or love They worshipped them out of fear of the gods power and capriciousness Sumerian religion was pessimistic Reflected mentality of a people who had just recently raised themselves to the level of civilization in a land marked by a severe climate and where the dangers of flood and disease were always present (and also unexplainable and incurable)
Sumerian priest

RELIGIOUS DILEMMA I
Sumerians were proud of their achievements But they worried about to what extent did their achievements, or at least their pride in their achievements, go against what the gods wanted To what extent did mans achievements upset the natural order created by the gods? This dilemma was reflected in their mythology Myth of Great Flood Myth of the Garden of Eden Mythology reflected Mesopotamian insecurity over the alleged contradiction between their growing belief in the importance of man and his earthly accomplishments and the ingrained belief that they were the insignificant creation of divine beings much more important than they were

SOCIAL CLASSES
Establishment of a social hierarchy where some people had more power, wealth, and privileges than others Equality originally prevailed in Sumerian city-states But divisions soon appeared First group to claim special privileges and status were priests Gave up working and began to live off work of others Temples given huge tracts of land which priests rented in small parcels to farmers Lived off rent

SLAVERY
Originated with practice of men selling themselves and/or their families to pay off debts Supplemented by using pows as slaves Demand for slaves increased as civilization progressed Advance of civilization did not bring same benefits to everyone Some benefited a great deal Others saw a deterioration in their situation Civilization brought important benefits but it also introduced inequality, exploitation, taxes, and slavery

THE PURPOSE OF LAW

If inequality and exploitation become too naked, society will not survive Ancient Mesopotamia rulers realized this They established law to define the limits of exploitation In order to prevent such terrible acts of oppression that it would have sparked the oppressed to rise up and the destroy the entire system Law was invented by those on top to protect their superior status by limiting the abuses they theoretically had the power to commit

HAMMURABI
Several Sumerian citystates seem to have some sort of rudimentary law code by 2300 BC But the man credited with implementing the first uniform law code was the Babylonian king Hammurabi Applied to almost all of Mesopotamia

HAMMURABIS LAW CODE

Greatest of his accomplishments Carved on a huge stone slab Discovered in Syria in 1901 Probably carried off from Babylon after Ebla destroyed the Babylonian Empire Contained 282 sections and incorporated many unique features

FEATURES
Basic feature was eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth Revolutionary new legal principal Earlier Sumerian laws calculated all punishments, no matter what the crime, in monetary fines Punishments varied according to the social status of offender Very harsh punishments No concept of cruel and unusual punishment Detailed regulation of economic life Subsidiary status of women

Summary