Mesopotamia
MESOPOTAMIA CIVILIZATION
At the beginning of the historical period, the southernmost part of Mesopotamia was known as Sumeria. The area lying between Sumeria and northern Mesopotamia was called Akkad. In fact, Sumeria and Akkad together constituted southern Mesopotamia. From around 2000 BC onwards Sumeria and Akkad are often referred to as Babylonia. To sum up: Mesopotamia has two distinct geographical zones-northern Mesopotamia (or Assyria) and southern Mesopotamia. In ancient times southern Mesopotamia was subdivided into two parts. These were Akkad and Sumeria. From c. 2000 onwards Akkad and Sumeria together are referred to as Babylonia, since southern BabyloMesopotamia.n became the political centre of a major empire The most outstanding achievement of Uruk was the development of writing. By about 3500 BC the economy of Sumeria had become sufficiently complex to necessitate some system of making a proper note of various transactions. It was not always possible to keep track of stocks or exchanges orally. Since temples were engaged in extensive economic dealings they pioneered the use of a written script. This allowed them to maintain a more durable record of transactions rather than having to rely on memory alone. Clay tablets were used for writing. Impressions were made on these tablets with a hard-pointed device (stylus). The clay tablets were then dried in the sun or baked in an oven. This gave permanent shape to the document. The earliest such tablets were of the nature of temple accounts and ration lists. These contain crude pictures of certain objects (fish, sheep, goats, ears of barley etc.). Later, these symbols were simplified further so that only the bare outline would be depicted. This kind of representation of objects in the form of short-hand pictures is called pictographic writing and the symbols are referred to as pictograms. The forerunner of these pictograms has been found at Tell el-Oheimir (ancient or Kish) on a small limestone tablet dating back to c. 3500. By 3200 this pictographic writing was employed by temples at several places in Sumeria.
The script evolved by the Sumerians is known as the cuneiform script. This grew out of the short-hand pictures. The pictograms became simpler and uniform. They were engraved on clay tablets with the tip of a stylus in the shape of small triangles or wedges (the word cuneiform is derived from the Latin word cuneus meaning 'wedge'). Each symbol was a combination of these wedges. Initially, only objects were depicted. Over a period of time symbols were formed for other words also. Towards the end of the Uruk period, several settlements in Sumeria had grown into cities. The process of transition from villages to cities continued in the Jamdat Nasr period. A number of urban centres had come up in southern Mesopotamia by c. 3200-3100 BC. Gordon Childe calls this phenomenon 'the urban revolution. The emergence of cities is not merely a question of an increase in population. Of course, at very basic level urbanization does imply the concentration of a large population. In terms of numbers, this might be taken to mean a settlement with at least 5000 inhabitants. But an urban centre is not just an overgrown village(an increase in population can at times lead just to a simple multiplication of village units, i.e ., a group of rural settlements rather than a city). Urbanization denotes the concentration, in a particular settlement, of a fairly large population, pursuing diverse economic activities and having a high degree of interdependence. A prominent feature of urban centres is extensive specialization and division of labour on the one hand and the absence of self-sufficiency on the other. Cities are marked by complex social and economic organization. Elaborate political arrangements for regulating and controlling settlement are also to be found. There are structures of authority for managing disputes. Moreover, cities contain some large buildings which have specific functions.
Gordon Childe notes that the growth of urban centres at the end of the Neolithic period went hand in hand with other developments which were of far-reaching historical significance: i) centralized accumulation of capital resulting from the imposition of tribute or taxation; ii) monumental public works; iii) the invention of writing; iv) advances towards exact and predictive sciences; v) the emergence of a class-stratified society; vi) the freeing of a part of the population from subsistence tasks for full-time craft specialization; vii) the substitution of a politically organized society based on territorial principles, the state, for one based on kin ties; and viii) the appearance and growth of long-distance trade in luxuries. It is when we view the rise of cities in the context of these developments that we can grasp the importance of the 'urban revolution. Childe placed special emphasis on the progress of metallurgy. He traced a link between urbanization, metallurgy and the rise of bronze age civilization.
We have seen that the production and use of metal presuppose the presence of specialists. Society should be able "to support these specialists by providing them with food and other basic necessities. The use of metal can become widespread when it is possible for a group of specialists to permanently withdraw from food production. This would allow the specialist metallurgists to exclusively produce metal. However, in order to support this specialist activity, society should be able to produce sufficient food over and above the requirements of food producers (surplus) on a regular basis. The surplus can then sustain specialists.
In southern Mesopotamia, an additional problem was that it did not possess deposits of copper. The metal had to be
[01/09, 2:36 am] Daddy: imported from outside. Copper was brought to Sumeria mainly from Iran and Anatolia. In fact, Sumeria was deficient in supplies of wood and stone as well. As a result, the Sumerians relied on a network of trade with other areas for procuring metal and other raw materials. This trade had to be carried on by exchanging the surplus produce of Sumeria for raw materials that the region lacked. A group of specialist traders came into existence to carry on this trade. It was imperative that there should be a suitable mechanism for the regular production and redistribution of the surplus. The surplus produce had to be stored and used for trade as well as to sustain artisans and traders. Gordon Childe points out that even though possibilities for producing a surplus were present in southern Mesopotamia during the neolithic, farmers might not have been inclined to produce over and above their immediate requirements. More labour is required for surplus production
Why should people constantly go on producing a surplus if their immediate needs are fulfilled?
The technological and geographical possibility of producing a surplus does not necessarily lead to the regular production of that surplus. Some kind of compulsion might be needed to induce the farmers to produce a surplus on a permanent basis. This historical situation, as we shall see in
' the next section, coincided with the process of state formation and the creation of a coercive apparatus.
The production of surpluses set in motion another development. Systematic extraction of the surplus created conditions for its redistribution in an inequitable manner. Some groups in society were to establish control over a disproportionately large share of the surplus, This share was far in excess of what these groups (chieftains, priests, warriors) contributed to society, unlike the artisans. On the other end there were groups which were denied their legitimate share of the surplus. This marked the division of society into classes: a class of people who actually produced (peasants, artisans, slaves); and a class which took over-appropriated-the bulk of the surplus and possessed political and economic power.
[01/09, 2:37 am] Daddy: According to Childe, urbanization was not an event but was closely related to technological advance metallurgy, surplus production, specialization, class differentiation, and state formation. All these elements combined with the invention of writing together constituted the urban revolution. The urban revolution ushered in civilization. Civilization is a definite stage of human social evolution. It is distinct from the earlier phases, namely hunting-gathering ('savagery'), and those neolithic societies which are not yet sufficiently advanced to produce surpluses ("barbarism'). Urbanization; surplus production; complex social systems; division of labour; the existence of a state; organized religion; use of metal; development of writing and exact
sciences are some of the traits of civilization.
Some scholars, as for example Robert Adams, are slightly critical of Gordon Childe because they feel that he attaches excessive importance to a particular attribute of civilization i.e ., the city. Secondly, some civilizations like America did not use metal and had no written script. Further, has been suggested that factors like changes in the social organization of temple officials . . . and the necessary labour forces for the maintenance work were apparently organized and directed by the individual temples'. This circumstance strengthened the authority of the temple. The temple could use its authority to coerce peasants to grow a surplus. Coercion need not always have meant the use of force. People could have been compelled to produce a surplus by simply instilling the fear of displeasure of gods/goddesses in them. If gods/ goddesses were dissatisfied they would cause crop failures. It should be kept in mind that S despite the progress that agriculture had made, the outcome of a harvest was still a matter of great uncertainty and anxiety.
Through various myths, legends and rituals a value system was ingrained among the people which stressed on the desirability of producing in abundance for the pleasure of the deities and for the welfare of the community. A part of the produce was collected in the form of offerings made to deities. The objective of these offerings was to propitiate the
deities. Some of the rituals went back to the time when food production had just begun. The temple now became the point of collection, storage and redistribution of the surplus produce. Needless to say, coercion was ultimately backed by force and the threat that force would be resorted to in case of resistance.
Sumerian priests already had physical access to a sizable portion of the surplus produce due to the role played by the temple in its storage and redistribution. They used this huge surplus to further consolidate their position. Part of the surplus was expended on warriors. Warriors defended the territory and engaged in raids on neighbouring regions. They also provided armed support to the priests for coercing peasants and artisans.
From the time since southern Mesopotamia was settled, temples had been the focal point of the communities in the region. This is demonstrated by the archaeological record. The Eridu temple grew up into a large structure in the Ubaid period. It stands on a high platform and is the most prominent building of the settlement. The temple at Uruk was a massive structure. It was rebuilt at the same spot several times (at least six times). At the end of the Uruk, the phase temple was 245 feet by 100 feet and it rose to a height of feet or more. Another temple, at Uqair, was rebuilt then these huge temples, built in the shape of step pyramids with long flights of steps leading to the top, are referred to as ziggurats (or ziggurats). This term is derived from the word zagaru which means 'to build high"
The main ziggurat at Uruk was the E-annacomplex.This was devoted to the goddess Inanna (we will discuss this cult below). The E-anna complex was not only a place for ritual and worship. It contained warehouses, workshops, and living quarters for artisans. The warehouses were meant for centralized storage of grain. The grain was used to feed artisans who produced metal objects, pottery and textiles in the temple workshops. The surplus was also used to procure raw materials, especially copper. The manner in which the religious, social and economic life of the community revolved around the temple has led Gordon Childe to describe these communities as 'temple households'.
The temple was the nucleus around which the city developed. In the Jamdat Nasr culture, a number of cities were concentrated in the extreme south of Mesopotamia: Uruk, Ur, Jamdat Nasr, Kish, Uqair etc. This was the time when city-states were being formed in the region. A large city and its surrounding countryside made up the city-state. The city-states were located at points where there were adequate water resources. Many cities were fortified.
The control of temples over the surplus, irrigation, and a wide range of economic activities facilitated the concentration of political authority in the hands of the priests. In addition, the priests had an important status as ritual specialists. It is not surprising therefore that the formation of the state in Sumeria was reflected in the growing political power of the temple. The various elements which constitute the state(kingship, army, law, bureaucracy, political bodies etc.) were associated with the temple. In early bronze age Mesopotamia the temple was the state. Anna Schneider has termed this as a 'temple state'.
From c. 3100 BC Sumerian city-states were governed by chiefs or kings who also happened to be priests. Kingship was integrated with priestly functions. At this stage, archaeological evidence can be supplemented with literary sources. Written texts in the cuneiform script are available for the period following the Jamdat Nasr culture. The cuneiform script had by now been systematized and symbols were being used not just for objects but for speech sounds. In Jamdat Nasr, the script had progressed from pictograms to being partly phonetic. This meant that some of the symbols stood for speech sounds (i.e. they had a phonetic value). Without this improvement, it would have been difficult to denote various parts of grammar with written records we can fill in some of the details of political history, We are fortunate to possess detailed 'King `Lists' which give an account of the main dynasties of ancient Mesopotamia. These lists are useful for working out the chronology of political events. Another useful source is the epic of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh, the hero of the epic, was a ruler of Uruk. His heroic exploits became the subject of many legends. In these legends, Gilgamesh was depicted as part human and partly divine. The legends were compiled around 2000 BC in the form of a long poem, known as the 'Gilgamesh Epic'. This epic, the earliest of its kind, is an outstanding example of Mesopotamian literature and has come down to us more or less in its entirety. Apart from its great literary value, it is rich in details about contemporary society and religion.
The periodization of the Mesopotamian bronze age civilization, c. 3000 to 2350 BC is labelled as the Early Dynastic Period. During this period the major city-states of Sumeria (Ur, Uruk, Kish, Lagash) struggled to gain supremacy over the fertile region. Many of these conflicts were over water rights. Warfare was a regular feature of the period. Raids against neighbouring states were the easiest way to augment the surplus. Chiefs or kings provided leadership in war and successful campaigns enhanced their prestige. The emergence of a class of soldiers for regular warfare speeded up the
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