Two thousand years ago, ancient civilisations such as the Roman Empire in the West and the
Han Dynasty in the East had risen to prominence. In the modern Middle East, the Parthian Empire
ruled ancient Persia and the surrounding regions from their main capital at Ctesiphon. These
cultures are known to us as being almost unfathomably ancient, but what was ancient to them? Six
thousand years ago - four thousand years before Augustus created the Roman Empire, one of
the first true urban settlements emerged in the ancient region of Sumer. Its people’s
accomplishments sowed the seeds for civilisation to spread, first to the ancient near east,
and then the entire world. Welcome to our series on the ancient Near East, beginning
with the period from Uruk to Akkad. Beginning in the aftermath of the last ice
age - 10,000 years ago - the human population of Mesopotamia and several other regions gradually
began to adopt a more settled mode of living. This was a lifestyle which contrasted with
the earlier ways in which humans had survived - most commonly by functioning as hunter-gatherers.
They would begin to cultivate, modify, plant and harvest crops in the earliest forms of
agriculture and herd animals. Many humans gradually began to live in this
manner in small village communities, while others retained their primal hunter-gatherer
lifestyle. However, over the thousands of years following the glacial retreat, agricultural
lifestyles increased in popularity. In ancient Mesopotamia, the increased surpluses of food
generated by agricultural production would soon lead to the blossoming of civilisation’s
first seeds. At this point it is important to detail the
unique geographical and environmental state of Mesopotamia, and to understand how this
affected the development of civilization there. The name itself literally means ‘Land between
rivers’ - specifically the Tigris and Euphrates. The latter of these water courses was given
the name Buranun by the native Sumerians, a word meaning ‘Great Rushing Flood’,
a phenomenon which would define the relationship of the native people with their gods and land.
Consequently, many prominent Mesopotamian deities such as Enlil, the chief god of the
pantheon, were related to wind, air and storms. The faithful of Sumer would seek to appease
these gods to stave off the common devastating and inexplicable flash floods which struck
the region, made worse by the flat nature of the Tigris-Euphrates plain. For instance,
on one occasion in Sumerian myth, Enlil destroyed all of humanity with a flood simply because
they were too noisy - showing the arbitrary and often capricious nature of the Mesopotamian
gods. Early village settlements in the ‘land between
rivers’ required most or all of the population to be engaged in the production of food. This
was known as the Ubaid period - which lasted from around 6,500 to 3,800BC - of which Eridu
was a prominent settlement. However, the increasing food surplus allowed the maintenance of full-time
specialised workers who were not engaged in agriculture, such as merchants, weavers, metallurgists
and craftsmen. It is worth noting that the taxation and redistribution of food supplies
lead to the formation of governments. The first true city of the Mesopotamian area
is disputed, but most historians believe that it was the famous urban centre at Uruk, whose
urban way of life was indisputably superior to all of its surrounding contemporaries.
Huge buildings were present, as well as social hierarchy, high officials and temple-sponsored
craft workshops. This early city developed a stratified society and was initially not
ruled by a king as we know them, but a high priest of the temples. There were two of these
temple complexes in Uruk - the Eanna district and the older Anu district.
This proto-king’s power was derived from his leading role in the temple itself, representing
the various gods and goddesses of Sumer. Just below the ‘priest-king’ in status were
the keepers, scribes, priests and administrators whose activities were meant to ensure the
community’s organisation and cohesion. At the bottom of the hierarchy were the producers,
such as farmers and fishermen. The very first systems of writing also developed in this
period, possibly as a memory aid for the recording of tributes, taxes and distributions of surplus
food - and were mainly based on simple symbols, rather than representing a spoken language.
From 3,500 BC onwards, the influence of Uruk over the surrounding areas became increasingly
clear to see. The buildings of the ascendant city and its iconic and pioneering mass-produced
pottery and tools also found themselves in settlements all across the near-east from
Syria to Iran, such as Susa. The people who brought them probably settled in existing
towns with existing populations, made colonies of their own in unoccupied land or even invaded
other settlements violently from their dominant position in Uruk.
The latter phenomenon occurred at Tell Hamoukar, where native architecture was burned and destroyed,
followed by the construction of buildings in the Uruk style - the earliest noted occurrence
of organised warfare. The pseudo-colonial effort may have been attempted in order to
obtain resources which were not present in resource-poor Mesopotamia, such as wood, obsidian,
stone or metals, rather than it being a conscious effort to forge an Empire.
Attesting to the far-reaching nature of Uruk’s civilisation at this time, it is also thought
that they had a presence in Egypt as well - whose tombs in the predynastic period began
to be constructed in the Uruk niche and buttress style. However, around the year 2,900 BC,
it seems that the Uruk colonies such as Habuba Kebira abruptly disappear from outside southern
Mesopotamia. Meanwhile, Uruk itself appears to have been razed in some devastating event
and gradually lost its hegemonic status. We do not know exactly what happened to end the
Uruk period, but it could have been that those ‘colonised’ individuals rebelled against
Uruk, or a civil war occurred between different factions in the city.
Over the centuries following the decline of Uruk, a number of Sumerian city-states emerged
and grew in size. This created a political map which would have appeared similar to Ancient
Greece and its network of city states. These city-states mostly consisted of an urban centre
and a hinterland consisting of various villages. Examples of such city-states included Lagash,
Umma, Ur, Nippur, Eridu, Larsa and Uruk itself - which retained its power, but not its hegemony.
In the centuries from 2,900 to around 2,350 BC, known as the Early Dynastic Period, the
population of Sumer grew dramatically, possibly due to immigration from other regions or increasing
agricultural productivity. This strained the resources of the various city-states and necessitated
territorial expansion, leading to continuous inter-city conflicts over border regions.
The military leaders during these small-scale wars were often elected by a popular assembly
in a form of primitive democracy, though this soon unravelled into a dynastic system. These
military leaders are said to have been the first kings or ‘Lugals’ - Literally ‘Great
Men’. Also in this period, another dominant structure emerged to rival the temple: The
palace - house of kings. The iconic Gilgamesh is thought to have been a historical king
of Uruk in the Early Dynastic Period, possibly reigning around 2,800 to 2,500BC - though
the tale also could have been based on a mythical figure.
We have a documented account of one of the many border conflicts over a 150-year period
from 2,500 to 2,350 BC. The kings of Lagash, wealthy on account of their prosperous agriculture
and position on a trade route to Susa, wrote their accounts of a continuous border conflict
with their western neighbor - the city of Umma. Owing to the prominence of agriculture
in the economies of ancient Mesopotamia, these two rival city-states engaged in a conflict
over the region of Gu’edena - which was rich in fields and pasturelands.
One victorious King, Eannatum of Lagash, portrayed himself as a champion of his respective local
god. Ningursu of Lagash and Sharu of Umma were depicted as the lords of the conflict,
using the kings of the various cities as their deputies. It is interesting to note that this
initial borderland between Umma and Lagash was reportedly drawn by Enlil of Nippur - the
supreme god, and this again indicates his prominence in Mesopotamian religion. Due to
the amount of victory inscriptions by the kings of Lagash during this conflict, it can
be inferred that they were dominant. While the temple had largely lost its political
dominance over Sumerian city-states to the Kings at this point, the economic and ideological
position of the temple remained strong. They were a ‘total institution’, comprising
spaces dedicated to the gods - only accessible by high priestly officials, courtyards for
communal gatherings, storehouses for the accumulation and distribution of food surpluses, archives
and workshops. Another example of the ideological dominance of religion is that while the king
would lead the military action, the outcome would be credited to and determined by the
will of the city god. The concept of city gods is worth further discussion:
During this time of relative equilibrium between the many city-states of lower Mesopotamia,
each political entity housed one of the Sumerian gods. For instance, Ur was the home of Nanna,
god of the moon and wisdom, while Uruk housed Inanna, goddess of war and fertility. Most
prominent was the long-lasting city of Nippur which sat on the border between Sumer and
Akkad to the north. Its patron god was Enlil - considered as the supreme god of the Mesopotamian
pantheon. Many prospective kings of cities such as Ur containing lesser gods commonly
sought the recognition of Nippur, due to its prominent religious position.
The period of labyrinthine diplomatic and military relations between the many Sumerian
city-states gradually began to give way to additional centralisation in the region by
the later 3rd millennium BC. Why this happened is not known, but it is possible that the
rulers in this period had heard of the now-unified Old Kingdom of Egypt, which ruled the entirety
of the Nile river valley and built the famous pyramids, and wished to emulate their power
and wealth. For a century and a half, Umma had been humbled
by their more powerful neighbor of Lagash - but this was soon to change. A dynamic new
ruler - Lugalzagesi, ascended to the kingship in Umma and began to expand his realm, hungering
for revenge against Lagash. He first conquered the prominent cities of Ur and Uruk, before
defeating his rival, sacking the city and plundering its temples of rich goods. Having
established this territorial kingdom by 2,350BC, Lugalzagesi moved his capital to the prestigious
city of Uruk - establishing the Third Dynasty of that city. However, this new kingdom would
not last for long, and soon a figure from north of Sumer would create the first true
Empire in history.
Our series on the history of the Mesopotamian civilizations will continue, so make sure
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