Copyright (c) 2013 by Dimitry Bubis. All Rights Reserved

1. History of
Civilization
3. MESOPOTAMIA AND
NEAR EAST IN BRONZE AGE

2. TOPICS
 Sargon the Great and
Akkadian Empire
 Ur-Nammu and
Sumerian Renaissance
 Elamites and Amorites
 Babylonian Kingdom
 Hammurabi and his
Code of Laws
 Mittani and Hatti

3. THE SUMERIANS
 Mesopotamia became an area of
multiple city-states, each built around a
temple of local deity
 Sumer (Akkadian word meaning
“native/noble”) in south developed a
culture in 5th millenium BCE, which
initially was close to pre-historic
Samarran culture (in north) Semitic
tribes
Arian peoples
“Fisher-folk”
Eridu: city of Enki, one of
five cities before the Deluge
“When kingship from
heaven was lowered, the
kingship was in Eridu”
 Historical periods:
 Ubaid (ca. 6500-3800 BCE)
 Uruk (ca. 4000-3100 BCE)
 Dynastic (from ca. 2900 BCE)
 Mythological timeline:
Sumerian king list, starting in
pre-dynastic (antediluvian) times

4. THE NEIGHBORHOOD
 Languages:
 Indo-European
 Afro-Asiatic
 Isolates
Shem, Ham, and Japheth
by James Tissot (1890th)
 The Fertile Crescent
according to Genesis 10

5. CHRONOLOGY
 Fundamental problems:
 Dating reign of Hammurabi
 When Hittites sacked Babylon?
 Chronologies: Short, Medium, Long, Extra-Long, etc.
3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 BCE
Ancient Sumer Akkad Amorite K. Babylon Cassite K.
Sack of Babylon
ca. 1531 BCE
by Mursilis I
Amarna Letters
Hattusa
destroyed
Hittite Empire
Treaty of Kadesh 1258 BCE
Nebuchadnezzar I takes Susa
Sack of Babylon by Elamites 1158 BCEGreat
Pyramids Thutmose III
Egypt's New K.
HammurabiSargon
Ur-
Nammu
The
Flood?
Babylon taken by Assyrians ca. 1234 BCE
Babylon destroyed
by Assyrians ca. 1087 BCE
Babylon independent: ca. 1894 BCE

6. CITY OF URUK
 The settlement (since 5th millenium BCE) gave
name to the Uruk period (between 4000 – 3100
BCE) of Chalcolithic Mesopotamia
 The city is said to become the capital of Sumerian
king Enmerkar
 Capital of King Gilgamesh (according to epic)
 Erech in Book of Genesis
 Archaeology: Uruk XVIII – I, abandoned ca.700BCE
Mask of Warka
(Lady of Uruk)
(ca. 3100 BCE)

7. STORIES OF CREATION AND FLOOD
 Sumerian cities each had its god
(it was said there were 60x60 deities)
 Before 3rd millenium these cities were
theocracies, led by “En”/”Ensi” (priests)
 Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic,
inheriting many generic traits of Indo-
European religions (sacrifices, magic,
purification, divinations, etc.)
 Gods’ traits = duties of men
 Seven Gods Who Decree created world,
animals, “black-headed people” (as servants)
 Abgal (7 demi-god sages) gave culture to
mankind, then stayed as advisors
 Mes were fundamental things/ideas created
by Enlil and given to Enki to be spread
 King Zi-ud-sura learnt about impending
flood and saved men and animals in an ark
Creation
to be understood
as functional
not material
Enlil and Ninlil

8. SUMERIAN COSMOLOGY
 Primordial beings
 Abzu: fresh underground waters
 Tiamat (Nammu): ocean (and chaos monster)
 Mummu: “the deep one who has awaken”
 Lahmu & Lahamu: born of Abzu & Tiamat
 Anshar (sky pivot) and Kishar (earth mother):
 son and daughter of Lahmu & Lahamu
 parents of Anu
 Seven gods who decree
 Anu: lord of heaven, king of deities, demons, and spirits
 Enlil: lord of the storm
 Enki: creation, intelligence, crafts, patron of city of Eridu
 Ninhursag (Mamma): fertility
 Inanna (Ishtar): love, war, planet Venus, patroness of Uruk
 Nanna (Sin): wisdom, Moon god, patron of city of Ur
 Utu (Shamash): the Sun
 Deities
 Demigods and Heroes
 Spirits and Monsters
DINGIR (Sumerian)
IL (Akkadian)

9. SUMERIAN LEGENDS
 Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta
 Enmerkar and Ensuhkeshdanna
 Lugalbanda in the Mountain Cave
 Lugalbanda and the Anzu Bird
 …continued in:
 Dumuzid the Shepherd
 Epic of Gilgamesh
Marriage of Dumuzid and Inanna

10. ELAMITES
 Semitic people near
Zagros mountains
 ca. 3200 – 1100 BCE
(Babylonian invasion)
Guennol
Lioness
(ca. 2900 BCE)

11. CITY OF UR
 Dates from 3800 BCE
 Independent city-state in 26th
century BCE
 According to biblical account the
native city of patriarch Abraham
Golden Lyre
and Standard of Ur
(ca. 2600 BCE)

12. SARGON THE GREAT
 Reigned ca. 2270 – 2215 BCE
 “Šarru-kīnu” means “King is Legitimate”
 “Sargon legend” describes his
background and path to power
 Came to power in Kish, captured Uruk,
leveled its walls, conquered Sumerian
cities and established Akkadian empire
 Court: 5400 men “share table with king”
and govern the empire, Akkadian
becomes lingua franca
 Was succeeded by sons Rimush and
Manishtushu who had to put down revolts
and uprisings

13. COLLAPSE OF EMPIRE AND GUTIANS
 Gutian people originated in Zagros mountains, as nomads
practiced hit-and-run tactics, overran the Akkad ca. 2150 BCE
 Gutians were said to be uncouth “barbarians”
“unhappy people unaware how to revere the gods”
 Gutian dynasty in Sumer: ca. 2150 – 2050 BCE
King Gudea of Lagash
(ca. 2080 – 2060 BCE)
 Rise of city of Lagash:
 largely unaffected by Gutians, independent
after the collapse of empire
 patron god: Nin Ur (Nin Girsu), warrior
deity who dispatched Slain Heroes
 Earlier kings:
 Lugalanda (24th century BCE), corrupt
 Urukagina (ca. 2380 – 2360 BCE), the reformer

14. UR-NAMMU
 Sumerian Renaissance:
 Utu-Hengal, ruler of Uruk, defeated Gutians with
help of other cities and became Sumerian King
 Seven years later Ur-Nammu (governor of Ur and
his son-in-law) established new Sumerian dynasty:
18 years of rule (ca. 2112 – 2094 BCE), restoring
law and order
 Period of Ur III
ca. 2100 – 1900 BCE
 Centralization, state-run projects,
new towns (with Akkadian names)
 Law code of Ur-Nammu
 Literature, epic poems
(one describes death of king Shulgi, son of
Ur-Nammu, in the battle against Gutians)
King Ur-Nammu appoints city governor
Half –mina (248 g)
with inscription of king Shulgi

15. EPIC OF GILGAMESH
 Epic poem converged from
several Sumerian sources around
2100 BCE
 Early written versions before
18th century, “standard” texts:
ca. 13-10th cent. BCE
 Twelve tablets are canonicGilgamesh and Enkidu slaying
Humbaba
 Stories of Gilgamesh and his rival/friend Enkidu
 The legendary king of Uruk and builder of its
walls, probably ca. 26th century BCE
 Also featured: flood hero Utnapishtim
 Second half of epic tells about the hero’s quest
for immortality

16. ZIGGURATS
 Etymology: “built on raised area”
 Stepped pyramid structure, originated
as shrine built on top of raised
platform
 Central part of the temple complex,
and as extension, of the city
 Reflection of Axis Mundi: shrine on
top is meeting place of gods and men
Great Ziggurat of Ur
built by Ur-Nammu and Shulgi
(21st century BCE)
Tower of Babel
by Lucas van Valckenborch (ca. 1555)
 Building of the Tower and confusion
of tongues (from Genesis):
 "They are one people and have one
language, and nothing will be withheld
from them which they purpose to do"
 "Come, let us go down and confound
their speech"

17. FINDS OF LEONARD WOOLLEY
 Excavations (in 1920s) of City of Ur
 Artifacts dated before 2000 BCE
 “Ram in a Thicket” alludes to Genesis 22
 Royal Game of Ur is one of the oldest
known table games

18. UR III RISE AND FALL
 After 42 – year reign by king Shulgi
his descendants ruled over most of
Mesopotamia and upper Euphrates:
 Amar-Sin (9 years)
 Shu-Sin (8 years)
 Ibbi-Sin (13 years)
 City of Eridu is abandoned due to
salinity increase in Amar-Sin years
 Ur around 2000 BCE with ~65000
inhabitants was probably largest city
in the world
 Elamites sacked Ur ca. 1940 BCE,
commemorated in Lament of Ur
 Ishbi-Erra, governor of Isin,
established independent kingdom
and ruled 1953 – 1921 BCE

19. AŠŠUR AND AMORITES
 Sumerian dynasty of “Ur-III” was defeated
by Elamites and collapsed after 1940 BCE
 Sumerian becomes language of high
learning and religion
 Ashur (Assyria) existed in northern Tigris
area as independent Akkadian state since
early 24th century
 Amorites were Semitic people migrating to
lower Mesopotamia from Levant
 Founded by Amorite chieftain ca. 1894
BCE, Babylon was a tiny city-state on
shores of Euphrates Old Babylonian cylinder seal
(19th century BCE)

20. HAMMURABI
 The sixth king of Babylon,
ruled ca. 1728 – 1686 BCE
(short chronology)
 Established Babylonian empire
Hammurabi
receives regalia
from Shamash:
image on the top
of the stele with
laws inscribed
 The Code of 282 laws:
 Precise descriptions of offenses
and punishments
 Presumption of innocence and
competitiveness in presenting
evidence
 Scaling according to social status
 Regulating contracts and wages

21. ENÛMA ELIŠ
 Babylonian variation of creation mythos:
 Apsu and Tiamat are fought by Ea (Enki) and
younger gods
 Apsu is slain, Tiamat establishes Qingu as her
consort and gives him Tablets of Destiny
 Marduk son of Ea slays Qingu and Tiamat
 Humankind is created for the service of gods
When on High the sky was not named
And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name
And the primeval Apsu, who begat them
And chaos, Tiamat, the mother of them both
Their waters were mingled together
And no field was formed, no marsh was to be seen
When of the gods none had been called into being

22. MARDUK
 Planet Jupiter and patron deity of Babylon
gained supremacy over Enlil and Ashur
 Enuma Elish established supremacy of
Marduk in Babylonian religion
 12 days of Akitu festival in spring were
celebration dedicated to Marduk
 The fifty names of Marduk
 The Marduk prophesy (the itinerant idol)
 Poem How Erra Wrecked the World tells story of
god of discord luring Marduk out of his statue after
Erra is called to be a leader of Seven “peerless
champions” sent by Anu on mission of destruction

23. BABYLONIAN ASTRONOMY
 Recognition of periodic character of
astronomical phenomena and
application of mathematics to make
predictions
 Star catalogues and recognition of
constellations (including 18 zodiacal)
 Origins: Sumerian or Elamite?
 Influence on Greek astronomy
 “Enuma Anu Enlil …” texts
(major series of 70 tablets) contained
collection of omens and became
source of astrology
☿
Shamash
SIN
NERGAL
NeboMarduk
Ninurta
Ishtar

24. BABYLONIAN MATHEMATICS
 Sumerians had multiplication
and division tables, geometric
exercises
 Babylonians developed pre-
calculated tables for solution
of quadratic and cubical
equations
 Calculations of growth (e.g.
for loans)
 Calculation of ephemeris into
astronomical tables
 Extensive metrological system
Sexagesimal Numerals in Cuneiform

25. ASSYRIANS
 Semitic people in North Mesopotamia
(Sumerian province of Subartu)
 After fall of Akkadian empire:
rise of Old Assyrian Kingdom :
 ca. 2000 BCE: Oligarchy rather than Monarchy
 Under king Shamshi-Adad I (reigned 1813 –
1791 BCE), son of Amorite: gaining control of
neighboring cities and trade routes
 Fell to Hammurabi ca. 1756 BCE
 Independency restored ca. 1730 BCE
 Expansion into Anatolia: trade and colonies
Old Assyrian “Khabur Ware” jar
(ca. 1800 BCE)

26. RISE OF HITTITES
 People speaking Indo-European
language migrated into Anatolia
after 2000 BCE
 King Labarna
(reigned ca. 1586 – 1556 BCE) moved
his capital from Nesa to Hattusa and
became Hattusili I
 King Mursili I
(reigned ca. 1556 – 1526 BCE)
 reached southern Mesopotamia
and sacked Babylon ca. 1531
 His assassination marked the end
of the Old Hittite Kingdom
Egyptian picture of Hittite chariot

27. CASSITE KINGDOM OF BABYLON
 Cassites: originated in Zagros mountains
and spoke language isolate
 After the fall of Old Babylonian kingdom
(ca. 1531 BCE) took control of Mesopotamia
 Original Cassite deities merged with
Babylonian pantheon
 Cassites built a new royal capital and restored
previously abandoned Nippur
 Recovered Marduk idol from Hittites
 Assyrian interferences:
 sack of Babylon ca. 1360s BCE:
intervention after king’s murder and
installation of new king
 periods of direct Assyrian rule
 Elamites destroyed Babylon in
1155 BCE, taking the last king to Susa
Cassite Ningal temple
in Ur

28. EGYPT’S EXPANSION
 XVIIIth dynasty:
 Hatshepsut (1508 – 1458 BCE) expanded
the kingdom’s riches
 Thutmose III (1479 – 1425 BCE)
achieved the greatest territorial span for
Egypt
 War with Kadesh and battle of Megiddo
 Tale of Taking of Joppa
(by general Djehuty)
 Conquest of Canaan
 Attack on Mittani: crossing the Euphrates

29. HURRIANS & MITTANI
 Hurrians were located in North
Mesopotamia (bronze age),
speaking language isolate
 Mittani were Indo-European –
speaking people who were ruling
class in land of Hurrians (Hanigalbat
in Assyrian)
 Mittani king Shaushtatar (ruled in
15th century BCE) sacked Assur
 King Tushratta was a contemporary
of Amenhotep III, Akhenaten, and
Suppiluliuma I
Urkish lion
and the earliest writing in Hurrian
(21st century BCE)

30. AMARNA LETTERS
 Archive of Egyptian kings
(XVIIIth dynasty)
 Period of 15th – 14th cent.
 Clay tablets:
 001–014 Babylonia
 015–016 Assyria
 017–030 Mittani
 031–032 Arzawa
 033–040 Alashiya
 041–044 Hatti
 045–380+ Syria/Lebanon/Canaan

31. HITTITE EMPIRE
 Maximal extent under
Suppiluliuma I
(reigned 1344 – 1322 BCE)
his sons:
 Arnuwanda (1321 BCE)
 Piyasshili (ruler of Carchemish)
 Mursili II (1321 – 1295 BCE)
 Zannanza
his grandsons:
 Muwatali II (1295 – 1272 BCE)
 Hattusili III (1267 – 1237 BCE)
Kadesh
 Battle: 1274 BCE
 Treaty: 1258 BCE
1300 BCE

32. CASSITES IN MESOPOTAMIA
 Cassite dynasties: till ca. 1155 BCE
 Almost 400 years of stability
 Transformation of Babylonian
kingdom into territorial state
Kudurru of King Meli-Shipak II
(ca. 1186 – 1172 BCE)
granting lands to his daughter
Cassite decorative art:
Glass, dog figurines
(12th century BCE)

33. ANCIENT CANAAN, HEBREWS
 Semitic people native to Canaan
worshipped El and Ashera, Baal,
Moloch, Yahweh
The Tetragrammaton
 Israelites adopted Yahweh as
national god and believed in a
covenant with the LORD
Egyptian depiction of the
Canaanites
(13th century BCE)
Figure of Baal
(Ugarit,
ca. 14th cent. BCE)

34. BOOK OF GENESIS
 Genesis is the first book of
Hebrew bible and first of Five Books
of Moses (Tora)
Creation of Light
by Gustav Dore (1864)
‫ית‬ִׁ‫אש‬ ֵ‫ְּר‬‫ב‬,‫א‬ ָּ‫ָּר‬‫ב‬‫ִׁים‬‫ה‬‫ֹל‬ֱ‫א‬...
1–6: Creation, Eden, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel
6–11: Noah's Ark, the Flood, the Tower of Babel
12–17: Abraham, Sarah, Lot, Hagar and Ishmael
18–22: Abraham's visitors, Sodomites, Lot's visitors
and flight, Hagar expelled, binding of Isaac
23–25: Sarah buried, Rebekah for Isaac
25–28: Esau and Jacob, Esau's birthright, Isaac's blessing
28–32: Jacob flees, Rachel, Leah, Laban, Jacob's children
32–36: Jacob's reunion with Esau, the rape of Dinah
37–40: Joseph's dreams, coat, and slavery,
Judah with Tamar, Joseph and Potiphar
41–44: Pharaoh's dream, Joseph in government
44–47: Joseph's brothers visit Egypt, he reveals himself
48–50: Jacob's blessings, death of Jacob and of Joseph

35. THE SOURCES
 In Mesopotamian religions:
 Creation of order from chaos
 Garden of Eden
 The Fall of Man
 The Flood
 The Legend of Tower
From Nuremberg Chronicle (1493)
 The documentary hypotheses:

36. AND BEHOLD, IT WAS VERY GOOD

37. THE FALL OF MAN

38. CAIN AND ABEL

39. A PROPOSITION YOU CAN’T REFUSE

40. THE COVENANT WITH NOAH

41. ABRAM AND SARAI IN EGYPT

42. THE PROMISE

43. FIRE IN THE SKY

44. THE DEMAND

45. JACOB AND ESAU

46. JACOB’S LADDER

47. LEAH AND RACHEL

48. A NEW NAME

49. … AND TWELVE SONS

50. JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS

51. PHARAOH’S DREAM

52. REUNION

53. MOTIFS AND PROBLEMS
 Transcendence of God
 The Covenant
 Value of Faith
 Path to Redemption
The Fall of Man
Hendrik Goltzius, 1616
 The Problem of Free Will
 The Problem of EvilThe Destruction of Sodom
John Martin, 1842

54. OPPOSITIONS AND REPETITIONS
 Oppositions
 Cain and Abel
 Isaac and Ishmael
 Jacob and Esau
 Joseph and brothers
Cain and Abel
Titian, 1544
 Repetitions
 Sin and Catastrophe
 God’s demands and promises
 Barren wife
 Deception
Abraham and
Isaac
Rembrandt, 1635
 Male and Female
 Good and Evil

55. ABANDONING MYTHOPOEIC VIEWS
 Mythopoeic worldview
 Seeing things as persons not as
impersonal objects
 Tolerance of contradiction
 Concrete, not abstract,
understanding
 “Pre-philosophical” thinking
 Single, transcending God
 Each event is a divine act
 Divine above nature
 Modern worldview
 Universal laws
 “Philosophical” thinking
The Creation of Adam
(Michelangelo, ca. 1512)

56. BRONZE AGE COLLAPSE
 Invasions of Sea Peoples
 Destruction of Hattusa, Collapse of
Hittite Empire
 Victories of Merneptah (1213 to
1203 BCE) over Libyans and Israel
 Victories of Ramses III over Sea
Peoples ca. 1175 BCE
 Egypt withdraws from Canaan ca.
1150 BCE
Philistines in Battle of Djahy
 Disruption of trade networks
 Migrations and resettlements

57. NEBUCHADNEZZAR I
 Reigned ca. 1126 – 1103 BCE
(early Iron Age in Babylon,
the forth king of IVth dynasty)
 Victory over Elam:
 Retrieval of Marduk idol from
Susa
 Hymn to Marduk
Kudurru depicting
Nebuchadnezzar granting Lakti-Marduk
freedom from taxation
Nabû-kudurr-usur
= Nabû, protect
my heir!”

58. ASSYRIA RESURGENT
 Tiglath-Pileser I
reigned ca. 1114 – 1076 BCE
(early Iron Age), assuming title
“King of Sumer and Akkad”
 Assyria acquires leading position
in Near East it will hold thru
“Ancient Dark Ages” and for next
500 years
Clay prism glorifying
achievements of Tiglath-Pileser
(from Ashurbanipal’s library)

59. SUMMARY
 Mesopotamian Civilizations
developed advanced societies
evolving from cities to states
 First empires; spreading of
culture by trade, conquest and
exchange
 Extensive literary corpus
 Concepts: divine creation,
code of laws
 Achievements: astronomy,
mathematics, technology, etc.
 Hebrews developing
monotheistic narrative
The Tower of Babel
by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1563)

60. IN THE NEXT CHAPTER
 Aegean Civilizations
 Cyclades and Minoans
 Mycenaean Greece
 Mythology of Gods
and Heroes
 Age of Homer

61. Thank You