Mesopotamia (/ˌmɛsəpəˈteɪmiə/,Ancient Greek: Μεσοποταμία "[land] between rivers"; from Ancient Armenian Միջագետք (Mijagetq); Arabic: بلاد الرافدينbilād ar-rāfidayn; Persian: میانرودان miyān rodān; Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪܝܢ Beth Nahrain "land of rivers") is a name for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, roughly corresponding to modern-day Iraq, Syria andKuwait, including regions along the Turkish-Syrian and Iran–Iraq borders. Widely considered to be one of the cradles of civilization by the Western world, Bronze AgeMesopotamia included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires, all native to the territory of modern-day Iraq. In the Iron Age, it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian andNeo-Babylonian Empires. The indigenous Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians and Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of written history (c. 3100 BC) to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC, when it was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his death, it became part of the Greek Seleucid Empire. Around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthian Empire. Mesopotamia became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians, with parts of Mesopotamia coming under ephemeral Roman control. In AD 226, it fell to the Sassanid Persians and remained under Persian rule until the 7th century Muslim conquest of Persia of the Sasanian Empire. A number of primarily neo-Assyrian and Christian native Mesopotamian states existed between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD, including Adiabene, Osroene, andHatra. Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. It has been identified as having "inspired some of the most important developments in human history including the invention of the wheel, the planting of the first cereal crops and the development of cursive script, Mathematics, Astronomy andAgriculture." A modern Mesopotamian identity is espoused by the ethnically indigenousMesopotamian and Eastern Aramaic speaking people, known as Assyrians and Chaldean Christians.
- for ancient mesopotamians, life in this world was dismal and filled with bitter experiences. There were few comforts and little joy for most people. The rulers of mesopotamian society showed little mercy to their subjects and one could not expect anything much different in the next life. The gods were just as uncaring and indifferent to the trials and tribulations of humanity as the earthly rulers.
- Mesopotamian custom of sacred prostitution in the ring https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-most-sleazy-thing-to-occur-in-the-history-of-mankind
- cities
- https://www.quora.com/What-did-Ancient-Mesopotamian-cities-look-like
- language
- https://www.quora.com/What-language-did-the-people-of-Mesopotamia-speak The earliest known inhabitants of Mesopotamia were the Sumerians, who spoke a language isolate: that is, a language with no known relationship to any other language, ancient or modern. It is agglutinative in its structure, and thus similar to the Finno-Ugric languages (Finnish, Estonian, and Hungarian), as well as some Native American ones. The Semitic-speaking Akkadians, who, under Sargon, conquered the Sumerians c. 2300 B.C.E., called the land “Shumer,” and so the language of the vanquished people came to be called Sumerian by the scholars who deciphered the cuneiform script in the mid-19th century. The Sumerians themselves called their country Kengir, and their language Emegir. The Akkadians adopted the cuneiform script, which they used to write their own language, which they called lishanum akkaditum (the Akkadian tongue/language). This earliest stage of their language is practically the same as Old Assyrian, which gave rise to Middle Assyrian and Old Babylonian (since there came to be numerous city-states). Middle Assyrian gave way to Neo-Assyrian, and the language of Babylon went through two additional phases: Middle Babylonian and Neo-Babylonian (the language spoken at the height of Babylon’s power, when it was an empire, under Nebuchadnezzar, c. 600 B.C.E.)
- economist 9feb2020 obit lamia al-gailani-werr, guardian of the smallest antiquities of iraq
The Akkadian Empire (/əˈkeɪdiən/) was the first ancient empire of Mesopotamia, centered in the city of Akkad /ˈækæd/ and its surrounding region, which the Bible also called Akkad. The empire united Akkadian and Sumerian speakers under one rule. The Akkadian Empire exercised influence across Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Anatolia, sending military expeditions as far south as Dilmun and Magan (modern Bahrain and Oman) in the Arabian Peninsula. During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed a very intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism.[5]Akkadian, an East Semitic language,[6] gradually replaced Sumerian as a spoken language somewhere between the 3rd and the 2nd millennia BC (the exact dating being a matter of debate).The Akkadian Empire reached its political peak between the 24th and 22nd centuries BC, following the conquests by its founder Sargon of Akkad.[8] Under Sargon and his successors, the Akkadian language was briefly imposed on neighboring conquered states such as Elam and Gutium. Akkad is sometimes regarded as the first empire in history, though the meaning of this term is not precise, and there are earlier Sumerian claimants. After the fall of the Akkadian Empire, the people of Mesopotamia eventually coalesced into two major Akkadian-speaking nations: Assyria in the north, and, a few centuries later, Babylonia in the south.
- https://www.quora.com/Which-is-the-oldest-empire-ever-to-exist
- The Sumerians were conquered by the Semite Akkadians. When the Akkadian Empire collapsed, Northern Mesopotamia became Assyria and Southern Mesopotamia became Babylon.
DNA taken from modern people in Iraq like the Assyrians, Marsh Arabs, Mandaeans and Iraqi Arabs show they have a common origin going back to ancient Mesopotamia https://www.quora.com/Who-are-the-current-descendants-of-Sumerians
- 四千二百年前突然滅亡的阿卡德帝國（Akkadian Empire），是美索不達米亞地區兼人類史上首個帝國。考古學家過去認為它是被敵人入侵滅亡，但一個國際考古團隊近日分析帝國遺址的溫度和水文變化等數據，發現該帝國是因突然而至的乾旱和沙塵暴令農作物失收、人民無法得到溫飽往外遷徙而導致滅亡。https://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20191101/00180_024.htmlLagash/ˈleɪɡæʃ/ (cuneiform: 𒉢𒁓𒆷𒆠 LAGAŠKI; Sumerian: Lagaš) is an ancient city located northwest of the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers and east of Uruk, about 22 kilometres (14 mi) east of the modern town of Ash Shatrah, Iraq. Lagash (modern Al-Hiba) was one of the oldest cities of the Ancient Near East. The ancient site of Nina (modern Surghul) is around 10 km (6.2 mi) away and marks the southern limit of the state. Nearby Girsu (modern Telloh), about 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Lagash, was the religious center of the Lagash state. Lagash's main temple was the E-Ninnu, dedicated to the god Ningirsu.From inscriptions found at Girsu such as the Gudea cylinders, it appears that Lagash was an important Sumerian city in the late 3rd millennium BC. It was at that time ruled by independent kings, Ur-Nanshe (24th century BC) and his successors, who were engaged in contests with the Elamites on the east and the kings of Kienĝir and Kish on the north. Some of the earlier works from before the Akkadian conquest are also extremely interesting, in particular Eanatum's Stele of the Vultures and Entemena's great silver vase ornamented with Ningirsu's sacred animal Anzu: a lion-headed eagle with wings outspread, grasping a lion in each talon. With the Akkadian conquest Lagash lost its independence, its ruler or ensi becoming a vassal of Sargon of Akkad and his successors; but Lagash continued to be a city of much importance and above all, a centre of artistic development. After the collapse of Sargon's state, Lagash again thrived under its independent kings (ensis), Ur-Baba and Gudea, and had extensive commercial communications with distant realms. According to his own records, Gudea brought cedars from the Amanus and Lebanon mountains in Syria, diorite from eastern Arabia, copper and gold from central and southern Arabia, while his armies were engaged in battles with Elam on the east. His was especially the era of artistic development. We even have a fairly good idea of what Gudea looked like, since he placed in temples throughout his city numerous statues or idols depicting himself with lifelike realism, (Statues of Gudea). At the time of Gudea, the capital of Lagash was actually in Girsu. The kingdom covered an area of approximately 1,600 square kilometres (620 sq mi). It contained 17 larger cities, eight district capitals, and numerous villages (about 40 known by name). According to one estimate, Lagash was the largest city in the world from c. 2075 to 2030 BC. Soon after the time of Gudea, Lagash was absorbed into the Ur III state as one of its prime provinces.[6] There is some information about the area during the Old Babylonian period. After that it seems to have lost its importance; at least we know nothing more about it until the construction of the Seleucid fortress mentioned, when it seems to have become part of the Greek kingdom of Characene.
- Gudea (Sumerian 𒅗𒌣𒀀 Gu3-de2-a) was a ruler (ensi) of the state of Lagash in Southern Mesopotamia who ruled c. 2144–2124 BC. He probably did not come from the city, but had married Ninalla, daughter of the ruler Ur-Baba (2164–2144 BC) of Lagash, thus gaining entrance to the royal house of Lagash. He was succeeded by his son Ur-Ningirsu.The social reforms instituted during Gudea’s rulership, which included the cancellation of debts and allowing women to own family land, may have been honest reform or a return to old Lagašite custom.[citation needed] His era was especially one of artistic development. But it was Ningirsu who received the majority of Gudea’s attention. Ningirsu the war god, for whom Gudea built maces, spears, and axes, all appropriately named for the destructive power of Ningirsu—enormous and gilt. However, the devotion for Ningirsu was especially inspired by the fact that this was Gudea's personal god and that Ningirsu was since ancient times the main god of the Lagashite region (together with his spouse Ba'u or Baba).[citation needed] In matters of trade, Lagash under Gudea had extensive commercial communications with distant realms. According to his own records, Gudea brought cedars from the Amanus and Lebanon mountains in Syria, diorite from eastern Arabia, copper and gold from central and southern Arabia and from Sinai, while his armies were engaged in battles in Elam on the east.
- religion
- Nintinugga was a Babylonian goddess of healing, the consort of Ninurta. She is identical with the goddess of Akkadian mythology, known as Bau (cuneiform: 𒀭𒁀𒌑 Dba-u2), Baba though it would seem that the two were originally independent. Later as Gula and in medical incantations, Bēlet or Balāti, also as the Azugallatu the "great healer",same as her son Damu. Other names borne by this goddess are Nin-Karrak, Nin Ezen, Ga-tum-dug and Nm-din-dug. Her epithets are "great healer of the land" and "great healer of the black-headed ones", a "herb grower", "the lady who makes the broken up whole again", and "creates life in the land", making her a vegetation/fertility goddess endowed with regenerative power.[1] She was the daughter of An and a wife of Ninurta. She had seven daughters, including Hegir-Nuna (Gangir).
Nineveh (/ˈnɪnɪvə/ or /ˈnɪnəvə/; Akkadian: Ninua) was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located on the outskirts of Mosul in modern-day northern Iraq. It is on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and was the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. It was the largest city in the world for some fifty years[1] until the year 612 BC when, after a bitter period of civil war in Assyria, it was sacked by a coalition of its former subject peoples, the Babylonians, Medes, Chaldeans, Persians, Scythians and Cimmerians. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq. The two main tells, or mound-ruins, within the walls are Kouyunjik (Kuyuncuk), the Northern Palace, and Tell Nabī Yūnus.
- The English placename Nineveh comes from Latin Ninive and Septuagint Greek Nineuḗ (Νινευή) under influence of the BiblicalHebrew Nīnewēh (נִינְוֶה), from the Akkadian Ninua (var. Ninâ) or Old Babylonian Ninuwā. The original meaning of the name is unclear but may have referred to a patron goddess. The cuneiform for Ninâ is a fish within a house (cf. Aramaic nuna, "fish"). This may have simply intended "Place of Fish" or may have indicated a goddess associated with fish or the Tigris, possibly originally of Hurrian origin. The city was later said to be devoted to "the Ishtar of Nineveh" and Nina was one of the Sumerian and Assyrian names of that goddess. The city was also known as Ninii or Ni in Ancient Egyptian; Ninuwa in Mari; Ninawa in Aramaic; ܢܸܢܘܵܐ[clarification needed] in Syriac;[citation needed] and Nainavā (نینوا) in Persian. Nabī Yūnus is the Arabic for "Prophet Jonah". Kouyunjik was, according to Layard, a Turkish name, and it was known as Armousheeah by the Arabs,[6] and is thought to have some connection with the Kara Koyunlu dynasty.
- [tr berg] king ashubanipal's library as thought to be vistied by alexander the great
Uruk was one of the most important cities (at one time, the most important) in ancient Mesopotamia. According to the Sumerian King List, it was founded by King Enmerkar sometime around 4500 BCE. Located in the southern region of Sumer (modern day Warka, Iraq), Uruk was known in the Aramaic language as Erech which, it is believed, gave rise to the modern name for the country of Iraq (though another likely derivation is Al-Iraq, the Arabic name for the region ofBabylonia). The city of Uruk is most famous for its great king Gilgamesh and the epic tale of his quest for immortality but also for a number of `firsts’ in the development of civilization which occurred there. It is considered the first true city in the world, the origin of writing, the first example of architectural work in stone and the building of great stone structures, the origin of the ziggurat, and the first city to develop the cylinder seal which the ancient Mesopotamians used to designate personal property or as a signature on documents. Considering the importance the cylinder seal had for the people of the time, and that it stood for one’s personal identity and reputation, Uruk could also be credited as the city which first recognized the importance of the individual in the collective community. The city was continuously inhabited from its founding until c. 300 CE when, owing to both natural and man-made influences, people began to desert the area. It lay abandoned and buried until excavated in 1853 CE by William Loftus for the British Museum.
- In myth and literature, Uruk was famous as the capital city of Gilgamesh, hero of theEpic of Gilgamesh. It is also believed Uruk is the biblical Erech (Genesis 10:10), the second city founded by Nimrod in Shinar.
- https://www.quora.com/Were-there-any-surviving-records-of-the-Epic-of-Gilgamesh-before-archaeologists-found-it-on-baked-clay-tablets
The Halaf culture is a prehistoric period which lasted between about 6100 BCE and 5100 BCE.[1] The period is a continuous development out of the earlier Pottery Neolithic and is located primarily in south-eastern Turkey, Syria, and northern Iraq, although Halaf-influenced material is found throughout Greater Mesopotamia. While the period is named after the site of Tell Halaf in north Syria, excavated by Max von Oppenheim between 1911 and 1927, the earliest Halaf period material was excavated by John Garstang in 1908 at the site of Sakce Gözü, then in Syria but now part of Turkey. Small amounts of Halaf material were also excavated in 1913 by Leonard Woolley at Carchemish, on the Turkish/Syrian border. However, the most important site for the Halaf tradition was the site of Tell Arpachiyah, now located in the suburbs of Mosul, Iraq. The Halaf period was succeeded by the Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period which comprised the late Halaf (c. 5400-5000 BC), and then by the Ubaid period.
- translated as 哈雷夫 in 文学与神明 饶宗颐访谈录
THE URUK PERIOD
The Ubaid Period (c. 5000-4100 BCE) when the so-called Ubaid people first inhabited the region of Sumer is followed by the Uruk Period (4100-2900 BCE) during which time cities began to develop across Mesopotamia and Uruk became the most influential. The Uruk Period is divided into 8 phases from the oldest, through its prominence, and into its decline based upon the levels of the ruins excavated and the history which the artifacts found there reveal. The city was most influential between 4100-c.3000 BCE when Uruk was the largest urban center and the hub of trade and administration. In precisely what manner Uruk ruled the region, why and how it became the first city in the world, and in what manner it exercised its authority is not fully known. The historian Gwendolyn Leick writes, “The Uruk phenomenon is still much debated, as to what extent Uruk exercised political control over the large area covered by the Uruk artifacts, whether this relied on the use of force, and which institutions were in charge. Too little of the site has been excavated to provide any firm answers to these questions. However, it is clear that, at this time, the urbanization process was set in motion, concentrated at Uruk itself” (183-184). Since the city of Ur had a more advantageous placement for trade, further south toward the Persian Gulf, it would seem to make sense that city, rather than Uruk, would have wielded more influence but this is not the case.
Sumer (/ˈsuːmər/) was the first urban civilization in the historical region of southernMesopotamia, modern-day southern Iraq, during the Chalcolithic and Early Bronze ages, and arguably the first civilization in the world. Proto-writing in the region dates back to c. 3500 BC. The earliest texts come from the cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr and date back to 3300 BC; early cuneiform writing emerged in 3000 BC.[2] Modern historians have suggested that Sumer was first permanently settled between c. 5500 and 4000 BC by a West Asian people who spoke the Sumerian language (pointing to the names of cities, rivers, basic occupations, etc., as evidence), an agglutinative language isolate.[3][4][5][6] These conjectured, prehistoric people are now called "proto-Euphrateans" or "Ubaidians",[7]and are theorized to have evolved from the Samarra culture of northern Mesopotamia (Assyria).[8][9][10][11] The Ubaidians (though never mentioned by the Sumerians themselves) are assumed by modern-day scholars to have been the first civilizing force in Sumer, draining the marshes for agriculture, developing trade, and establishing industries, including weaving, leatherwork, metalwork, masonry, and pottery.[7] However, some scholars contest the idea of a Proto-Euphratean language or one substrate language. It has been suggested by them and others, that the Sumerian language was originally that of the hunter and fisher peoples, who lived in the marshland and the Eastern Arabia littoral region, and were part of the Arabian bifacial culture.[12] Reliable historical records begin much later; there are none in Sumer of any kind that have been dated beforeEnmebaragesi (c. 26th century BC). Professor Juris Zarins believes the Sumerians were settled along the coast of Eastern Arabia, today's Persian Gulf region, before it flooded at the end of the Ice Age.[13] Sumerian civilization took form in the Uruk period (4th millennium BC), continuing into theJemdat Nasr and Early Dynastic periods. During the 3rd millennium BC, a close cultural symbiosis developed between the Sumerians, who spoke a language isolate, and Akkadian-speakers, which included widespread bilingualism. Sumerian culture seems to have appeared as a fully formed civilization, with no pre-history. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian (and vice versa) is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a massive scale, to syntactic, morphological, and phonological convergence.[14]This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the 3rd millennium BC as aSprachbund. Sumer was conquered by the Semitic-speaking kings of the Akkadian Empire around 2270 BC (short chronology), but Sumerian continued as a sacred language. Native Sumerian rule re-emerged for about a century in the Neo-Sumerian Empire or Third Dynasty of Ur (Sumerian Renaissance) approximately 2100-2000 BC, but the Akkadian language also remained in use. The Sumerian city of Eridu, on the coast of the Persian Gulf, is considered to have been the world's first city, where three separate cultures may have fused — that of peasant Ubaidian farmers, living in mud-brick huts and practicing irrigation; that of mobile nomadic Semitic pastoralists living in black tents and following herds of sheep and goats; and that of fisher folk, living in reed huts in the marshlands, who may have be.
- Cuneiform script, one of the earliest systems of writing, was invented by the Sumerians.[3]It is distinguished by its wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets, made by means of a blunt reedfor a stylus. The name cuneiform itself simply means "wedge shaped".楔形文字（くさびがたもじ、せっけいもじ）とは、世界四大文明の一つであるメソポタミア文明で使用されていた古代文字である。楔形文字(cuneiform)という名称は、ラテン語の cuneus （くさび）と、forma （形）からなる造語であり、1712年のエンゲルベルト・ケンペル『廻国奇観』の中で使われてから一般でも使用されるようになったとされている[1][2]。オリエント学のうち、この文字を使用した文明・文化の研究は、一般に「アッシリア学」と呼ばれる。
- sumerian (people)- That picture up there is 99% Sumerian, but there is a name, towards the end that isn’t Sumerian. This is Siium, second to last Gutian king of Sumer. And that is the extent of what we know of Gutian, names. Gutians were a nomadic tribe and are described as unhappy, barbarous people. Probably just Sumerian propaganda, but whatever. They conquered the crumbling Akkadian Empire, and ruled both Sumer and Akkad for 100 years. Gutian wasn’t a written language as far as we know, and we aren’t given an explanation of their names. They seemed to use Sumerian in the courts, because all of the written records were in Sumerian. No one wrote down any Gutian except for important stuff that can’t change like names.https://www.quora.com/Which-ancient-language-are-we-aware-of-but-are-unable-to-decode
- https://www.quora.com/Which-civilization-was-the-Sumer-civilization-Are-Sumer-people-still-around The Sumer civilization was comprised of several large cities in Southern Mesopotamia. The Sumerians are believed to have come from West Asia or North Africa, they spoke a language unfamiliar to the region around them.They settled the lower river valleys, bringing the knowledge of farming and city building. They ruled the area under various dynasties, until the rise of the Semitic Akkadian empire. The Kings of Sumer submitted to the Akkadians and power in the region shifted. Although still known as Sumer the Sumerians were no longer in power. The people assimilated into the Akkadian empire and slowly lost their unique cultural ID as far as are they still around.
- cosmology
- sumerians divided the universe into two parts. Above was heaven and belowvwas the flat earth. Later the sumerians added the underworld to their picture of the cosmos. The earth (ki) was conceived to be a flat surface engulfed by a vast holow space, the outer edge of which was made out of some unknown solid substance. Since the sumerian term for tin is the metal of heaven, it is likely that the sumerians believed that the walls of universe were made from tin. A substance called lil or atmosphere filled in the empty space existing between the sky (an) and earth(ki). ocean was considered as the primary source and first cause of everything including heaven and earth.
- pantheon
- four most important gods were an, the god of heaven; enlil, the air god; enki, the water god; and ninhursag, the great mother goddess. Different gods assumed the role of high god in different times of sumerian religion. Other important gods included shamash, the sun god who sped across thecsky each day in his chariot; ishtar, the babylonian goddess of love and war; adad, weather god who rode storms on his thundering bull; and marduk, the babylonian high god.
- three important astral gods were nanna, the moon-god, utu, the sun god and nanna's daughter, Inanna (referred to as ishtar by the semites). Along with An, Enlil, enki and ninhursag, tey formed the 7 gods that were responsible for a decree of fates.
- the underworld was ruled by the gods ereshkigal and nergal who ruled over a group of lesser deities including the 7 anunnaki, a few fallen sky gods and other officials of nether world called gallas. The pushkin museum tablet statesthat the judgment of the nether world was conducted by the sky god utu and the moon god nanna. A deceased person could call upon their own personal god or the god of city-state for prayers and assistance. Entrance of the nether world - lapis lazuli mountain.
- [tr berg] before the babylons, the sumerians were leading people of iraqi plains. Their closest neighbours to the east were elamites, a rival people with whom the sumerians were often at wat, while in the west wandered the martu, a semitic, nomadic people who lived in tents, and kept sheep and goats. In the north lived the subartu, a people the martu often pillaged in order to obtain timber, other raw materials and slaves. To the south was dilmun (Bahrain), a trading post that became associated with both the creation narrative and the land of the dead.The golden age was fromaround 3500 to 2270bc. Legacy was script and maths. Sumerians developed units of measure around year 3000bc, and 200 years later used geometry to survey arable land and calculate taxes. Also introduced triangulation.
- https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-interesting-facts-about-the-Ancient-Sumerians
- historical reference, artefacts
- https://www.quora.com/In-Kramer-s-book-on-the-Sumerians-written-in-1963-when-the-translation-of-the-cuneiform-began-to-arrive-Has-anything-been-learned-from-translating-inscriptions-since-then-What-has-been-learned-about-the-Sumerians
Assyria was a major Mesopotamian East Semitic-speaking kingdom and empire of the ancient Near East and the Levant. It existed as a state from perhaps as early as the 25th century BC in the form of the Assur city-state,[1] until its lapse between 612 BC and 599 BC, spanning the Early to Middle Bronze Age through to the late Iron Age. After its fall from power by the early 6th century BC, Assyria endured for the next thirteen centuries a geopoliticalregion and province of other empires, although between the mid-2nd century BC and late 3rd century AD a patchwork of small independent Assyrian kingdoms arose in the form of Ashur, Adiabene, Osroene, Beth Nuhadra, Beth Garmai and Hatra during the Parthian and early Sasanian Empires, a period which also saw Assyria become a major centre of Syriac Christianity and the birthplace of the Church of the East. Centered on the Tigris in Upper Mesopotamia (modern northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkeyand the northwestern fringes of Iran), the Assyrians came to rule powerful empires at several times. Making up a substantial part of the greater Mesopotamian "cradle of civilization", which included Sumer, the Akkadian Empire, and the later appearing Babylonia, Assyria was at the height of technological, scientific, economic, military and cultural achievements for its time. At its peak, the Assyrian empire, the largest the world had yet seen, stretched from Cyprus and the East Mediterranean to Iran, and from what is now Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan in the Caucasus, to the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt and eastern Libya. Assyria is named after its original capital, the ancient city of Aššur, which dates to c. 2600 BC, originally one of a number of Akkadian city states in Mesopotamia. The region of Assyria fell under the successive control of the Median Empire, the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Seleucid Empire, the Parthian Empire, the Roman Empire, and the Sasanian Empire. The Arab Islamic Conquest in the mid-seventh century finally dissolved Assyria (Assuristan) as a geopolitical entity, after which the remnants of the Assyrian people (by now almost all Christians) gradually became an ethnic, linguistic, cultural and religious minority in the Assyrian homeland, surviving there to this day as an indigenous people of the region.
- The Neo-Assyrian Empire is usually considered to have begun with the accession of Adad-nirari II, in 911 BC, lasting until the fall of Nineveh at the hands of the Babylonians, Chaldeans, Medes/Persians, Scythians and Cimmerians in 612 BC.
- Ashurbanipal (Akkadian: Aššur-bāni-apli; Syriac: ܐܫܘܪ ܒܢܐ ܐܦܠܐ; 'Ashur is the creator of an heir'; 668 BC – c. 627 BC),[1] also spelled Assurbanipal or Ashshurbanipal, was an Assyrian king, the son of Esarhaddon and the last strong king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (934–609 BC).[1] He is famed for amassing a significant collection of cuneiform documents for his royal palace at Nineveh.[2] This collection, known as the Library of Ashurbanipal [added by me - mentioned the use of saffron], is now housed at the British Museum, which also holds the famous Lion Hunt of Ashurbanipal set of Assyrian palace reliefs. In the Hebrew Bible he is called Asenappar (Ezra 4:10).[3] Roman historian Justinus identified him as Sardanapalus, although the fictional Sardanapalus is depicted as the last king of Assyria and an ineffectual, effete and debauched character, whereas three further kings succeeded Ashurbanipal, who was in fact an educated, efficient, highly capable and ambitious warrior king.
- governance
- https://www.quora.com/Why-do-you-think-the-Assyrians-took-conquered-peoples-from-their-lands-and-moved-them-to-other-places This was part of a concrete policy by the Assyrians to prevent rebellion. Most people had a very localized sense of identity. The current idea that you retain your culture and beliefs when you move from place to place did not exist at that time. As a result, forcibly deporting people also took away their identities and their gods, making them much less likely to rebel. The Assyrians did not just do it to the Israelites, but to other groups like Arameans, Phoenicians, Hattis, Hurrians, and Urartuans (at least those who were in their conquest area). It also meant that the people were much more likely to effectively “become” Assyrians because they would have no other way of talking to one another save in Aramaic; they would lose their homes, their identities, and their languages. They would lose any Pre-Assyrian sense of self.
- religion
- concept of a singlevsupreme deity is found in the supreme god ashur. Ashur was not associated with any particular assyrian city state. He reigned not only over the land of assyrians, but also over countries that were conquered by assyrians
- https://www.quora.com/Was-the-ancient-Assyrian-language-related-to-Hebrew-Could-an-Israelite-and-an-Assyrian-converse-without-a-translator
- jews
- https://www.quora.com/In-the-ancient-world-which-people-group-would-you-definitely-not-want-to-be-captured-by
People
- The Medes (/miːdz/, Old Persian Māda-, Ancient Greek: Μῆδοι, Hebrew: מָדַי) were an ancient Iranian people[N 2] who lived in an area known as Media (northwestern Iran) and who spoke the Median language. At around 1100 to 1000 BC, they inhabited the mountainous area of northwestern Iran and the northeastern and eastern region of Mesopotamia and located in the Kermanshah-Hamadan (Ecbatana) region[5] Their emergence in Iran is thought to have occurred between 800 BC to around 700 BC and in the 7th century the whole of western Iran and some other territories were under Median rule.A few archaeological sites (discovered in the "Median triangle" in western Iran) and textual sources (from contemporary Assyrians and also ancient Greeks in later centuries) provide a brief documentation of the history and culture of the Median state. Apart from a few personal names, the language of the Medes is unknown. The Medes had an ancient Iranian religion (a form of pre-Zoroastrian Mazdaism or Mithra worshipping) with a priesthood named as "Magi". Later during the reigns of the last Median kings, the reforms of Zoroaster spread into western Iran.According to the Histories of Herodotus, there were six Median tribes. The six Median tribes resided in Media proper, the triangular shaped area between Ecbatana, Rhagae and Aspadana.[9] In modern Iran,[10] that is the area between Tehran, Isfahan and Hamadan. Of the Median tribes, the Magi resided in Rhaga,[11] modern Tehran.[12] It was a type of sacred caste, which ministered to the spiritual needs of the Medes.[13] The Paretaceni tribe resided in and around Aspadana, modern Isfahan, the Arizanti lived in and around Kashan[9] and the Busae tribe lived in and around the future Median capital of Ecbatana. The Struchates and the Budii lived in villages in the Median triangle.
- The list of Median rulers and their period of reign compiled according to two sources. Firstly, Herodotus who calls them "kings" and associates them with the same family. Secondly, the Babylonian Chronicle which in "Gadd's Chronicle on the Fall of Nineveh" gives its own list. A combined list stretching over 150 years is thus: Deioces (700–647 BC) , Phraortes (647–625 BC), Scythian rule (624–597 BC), Cyaxares (624–585 BC), Astyages (585–549 BC)
- Russian historian and linguist Vladimir Minorsky suggested that the Medes, who widely inhabited the land where currently the Kurds form a majority, might have been forefathers of the modern Kurds.
Law
- The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babylonianlaw code of ancient Mesopotamia, dating back to about 1754 BC. It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. The sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi, enacted the code, and partial copies exist on a seven and a half foot stone stele and various clay tablets. The code consists of 282 laws, with scaled punishments, adjusting "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" (lex talionis) as graded depending on social status, of slave versus free man. Nearly one-half of the code deals with matters of contract, establishing, for example, the wages to be paid to an ox driver or a surgeon. Other provisions set the terms of a transaction, establishing the liability of a builder for a house that collapses, for example, or property that is damaged while left in the care of another. A third of the code addresses issues concerning household and family relationships such as inheritance, divorce, paternity, andsexual behavior. Only one provision appears to impose obligations on an official; this provision establishes that a judge who reaches an incorrect decision is to be fined and removed from the bench permanently. A few provisions address issues related to military service. The code was discovered by modern archaeologists in 1901, and its editio princepstranslation published in 1902 by Jean-Vincent Scheil. This nearly complete example of the code is carved into a basalt stele in the shape of a huge index finger,[4] 2.25 m (7.4 ft) tall (see images at right). The code is inscribed in the Akkadian language, using cuneiform scriptcarved into the stele. It is currently on display in the Louvre, with exact replicas in the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, the library of the Theological University of the Reformed Churches (Dutch: Theologische Universiteit Kampen voor de Gereformeerde Kerken) in the Netherlands, the Pergamon Museum of Berlin, and the National Museum of Iran in Tehran.
- the subject of water rights appears to be the topic that came up the most in the code and this is easily explained by the fact that the very existence of babylonian empire depended upon its irrigation system. It was vital that everyone worked together to keep the irrigation ditches in good repair.
- treaties/contracts
- During early dynastic period of southern mesopotamia (2900 bce), treaties were formal compacts
- Procedures remained unilateral since the parties undertook their obligations each one towards its own gods, only then did they exchange their promises inscribed in tablets
- Guarantee of gods as basis of obligation
- Violation of promise by one party did mot entitle the other to consider itself discharged of its own independent undertakings
- Bronze age (1600-1200 bce) - intense hittite treaty practice
- Termination or suspension of a treaty : (i) violation by the other party (ii) passing away of one king in the context of treaties inuitu personae; (iii) removal from power of one of the parties, so that that party was no longer able to carry out its obligations
- Core matter were the oath (invoked deities as guarantors of the treaty) and the curse
- Eg alliance between ramses ii of egypt and hattusili king of hittites(1278 bce), babylonians added elaborate lists of curses while hittites were often short on curses
- Tablets with unilateral commitments were then exchanged; text of treay was thus contained in two separate instruments; but the treaty had its core meaning in the conjunction of two unilateral acts
language
- https://www.quora.com/Whats-the-oldest-language-known-to-mankind/answer/Stephen-Brown-50 The oldest known language is Sumerian, as attested by the Kish tablet of 3500 BCE. The Kish tablet came from the Sumerian city of Kish in what is now central Iraq, between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Sumerian was a language isolate, not related to any other known language. Not long after, the Egyptian language of Ancient Egypt was attested, from about 3200 BCE. Egyptian was an Afro-Asiatic language (not Semitic, but related to it), and its only modern descendant is the Coptic language, still spoken in Egypt. Then the Elamite language was attested from about 2800 BCE. Elamite was not related to any other known language, and was spoken in the area of modern-day Iran. After that, the Akkadian language was attested (2500 BCE). Akkadian was a Semitic language. Then the Eblaite language was attested from 2450 BCE. Eblaite, closely related to Akkadian, was mainly a written language and not much spoken. Hittite (or nešili, which was the Hittite word for their language) is the oldest attested Indo-European language (related to English and the other European languages), attested from 1500 BCE. Hittite, as old as it was, was rather simplified in relation to later Indo-European languages such as Sanskrit and Latin, because Hittite was learned and used by many different peoples whose native languages and cultures were not Hittite. Because so many non-Hittites spoke it, its once complex grammar was simplified.
- https://www.quora.com/How-many-ancient-civilizations-have-a-written-language-we-cant-decipher/answer/Lara-Novakov
- https://www.quora.com/Do-you-know-of-any-English-words-derived-from-very-ancient-languages-like-Sumerian-Ancient-Egyptian-etc
literature
- The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia that is often regarded as the earliest surviving great work of literature. The literary history ofGilgamesh begins with five Sumerian poems about 'Bilgamesh' (Sumerian for 'Gilgamesh'), king of Uruk, dating from the Third Dynasty of Ur (circa 2100 BC). These independent stories were later used as source material for a combined epic. The first surviving version of this combined epic, known as the "Old Babylonian" version, dates to the 18th century BC and is titled after its incipit, Shūtur eli sharrī ("Surpassing All Other Kings"). Only a few tablets of it have survived. The later "Standard" version dates from the 13th to the 10th centuries BC and bears the incipit Sha naqba īmuru ("He who Saw the Deep", in modern terms: "He who Sees the Unknown"). Approximately two thirds of this longer, twelve-tablet version have been recovered. Some of the best copies were discovered in the library ruins of the 7th-century BCAssyrian king Ashurbanipal. The first half of the story discusses Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, and Enkidu, a wild man created by the gods to stop Gilgamesh from oppressing the people of Uruk. After Enkidu becomes civilized through sexual initiation with a harlot, he travels to Uruk, where he challenges Gilgamesh to a test of strength. Gilgamesh wins and the two become friends. Together, they make a six-day journey to the legendary Cedar Forest, where they plan to slay the Guardian, Humbaba the Terrible, and cut down the sacred Cedar. Later they kill the Bull of Heaven, which the goddess Ishtar sends to punish Gilgamesh for spurning her advances. As a punishment for these actions, the gods sentence Enkidu to death. In the second half of the epic, distress about Enkidu's death causes Gilgamesh to undertake a long and perilous journey to discover the secret of eternal life. He eventually learns that "Life, which you look for, you will never find. For when the gods created man, they let death be his share, and life withheld in their own hands". However, because of his great building projects, his account of Siduri's advice, and what the immortal man Utnapishtim told him about the Great Flood, Gilgamesh's fame survived his death.
- one of the most important myths of ancient mesopotamia
- gilgamesh is 2/3 divine and 1/3 human
- Mount nimush - pir omar gudrun in kurdistan, landing place of ark in gilgamesh epic
- Ninsun, mother of gilgamesh, was a goddess called the wild cow
- Various themes, plot elements, and characters in the Epic of Gilgamesh have counterparts in the Hebrew Bible, notably the accounts of the Garden of Eden, the advice from Ecclesiastes, and the Genesis flood narrative.
- A serpent stole the magic plant from utanapishtim (survivor of the great flood) and gained the power of immortality
- utnapishtim's account of flood story in ancient city of shuruppak is similar to that in book of genesis
Myth
- Anzû, before misread as Zû (Sumerian: AN.ZUD2, AN.ZUD, AN.IM.DUGUD.MUŠEN, AN.IM.MI.MUŠEN; cuneiform:
AN.IM.MI-mušen), also known as Imdugud, is a lesser divinity or monster in several Mesopotamian religions. He was conceived by the pure waters of the Apsu and the wide Earth, or as son of Siris.[1] Anzû was depicted as a massive bird who can breathe fire and water, although Anzû is alternately depicted as a lion-headed eagle.
- utanapishtim (akkadian), another akkadian name atrahasis meaning super wise
- ziggurat was one of the distinctive design features of the ancient mesopotamia temple. For some, it represents the cosmic mountain; for others, it symbolises an altar or the throne of gods
UK
- Anzû, before misread as Zû (Sumerian: AN.ZUD2, AN.ZUD, AN.IM.DUGUD.MUŠEN, AN.IM.MI.MUŠEN; cuneiform:
AN.IM.MI-mušen), also known as Imdugud, is a lesser divinity or monster in several Mesopotamian religions. He was conceived by the pure waters of the Apsu and the wide Earth, or as son of Siris.[1] Anzû was depicted as a massive bird who can breathe fire and water, although Anzû is alternately depicted as a lion-headed eagle.- utanapishtim (akkadian), another akkadian name atrahasis meaning super wise
- Means "he found life"
- Called "ziusudra" in sumerian and "ullu" in hittite
- ziggurat was one of the distinctive design features of the ancient mesopotamia temple. For some, it represents the cosmic mountain; for others, it symbolises an altar or the throne of gods
- “Shinar” is the Biblical name for Mesopotamia and “Babel” is just an archaic name for the city of Babylon. The Hebrew name that is used here is exactly that same one that is used to refer to Babylon everywhere else in the Hebrew Bible. Nonetheless, modern Biblical translators like to translate it as “Babel” in the context of the Tower of Babel because it sounds like the English word babble, meaning “to speak incoherently,” and thus preserves the sense of the pun that is made here in the original Hebrew.Modern historians regard this account from the Book of Genesis as a legend and not as a historical account. Modern historians do not generally regard the Tower of Babylon as a real monument that actually existed. That being said, the story of the Tower of Babylon may have been inspired by the fact that people in ancient Mesopotamia really did build towering structures known as ziggurats, which were used as temples to the gods.One of the largest and best preserved surviving ziggurats is the Ziggurat of Ur, which was originally constructed by the Neo-Sumerian king Ur-Nammu (ruled c. 2112 – c. 2095 BC). It is located in what is now the Dhi Qar Governorate in Iraq. This ziggurat has been reconstructed several times over the course of its history, first by the Babylonian king Nabonidus (ruled c. 556 – 539 BC) and later by the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.https://www.quora.com/Did-the-Tower-of-Babylon-exist
UK
- Reginald Campbell Thompson (21 August 1876 – 23 May 1941) was a British archaeologist, assyriologist, and cuneiformist. He excavated at Nineveh, Ur, Nebo and Carchemish among many other sites. He was born in Kensington, and educated at Colet Court, St. Paul's School and Caius College, Cambridge, where he read oriental (Hebrew and Aramaic) languages. In 1918 Mesopotamia fell into British hands, and the trustees of the British Museum applied to have an archaeologist attached to the army in the field to protect antiquities from injury.
https://www.quora.com/How-much-of-the-Sumerian-king-list-is-likely-exaggerated
https://www.quora.com/How-much-of-the-Sumerian-king-list-is-likely-exaggerated
No comments:
Post a Comment