THE SUMERIANS, FOREFATHERS OF CIVILIZATION IN MESOPOTAMIA
Some of the earliest civilizations known to us sat in-between the rivers Tigris (Sumerian Idigna, Akkadian Idiqlat) and Euphrates (Sumerian Buranuna, Akkadian Purattu), an area known by the later Greeks as Mesopotamia (Μεσοποταμία, “land between the rivers”) and commonly referred to now as the ‘Fertile Crescent’. These rivers sprouted from the Taurus Mountains, during spring the snows from the mountaintops would melt and cause the rivers to flood. This being harvest season, the danger of crops being destroyed before they were even gathered made flood control an important staple of the Mesopotamian lifestyle.
In years where the rivers flooded heavily, they could shift and change course, multiplying channels in some areas while leaving canals and irrigation ditches dry in others; turning once well-watered fields into wasteland, and leaving port cities abandoned. By the use of irrigation, the building of dams and canals, communities were well sustained at the expense of those who live south of them as this diversion of water could shift the river flow to other channels. While at times unintentional, there are several accounts of kings using this to their advantage. Depriving others of water and, in effect, food; they would also do the opposite and drown them, destroying settlements, and devastating crops.
Tigris and Euphrates rivers
Mesopotamia is caught on all corners by boundaries, both geographic and in the form of cultural societies. To the south is the Persian Gulf, an important sea trade route as it connected to the famed trade cultures of Dilmun (Bahrain), Magan (Oman) and the Meluḫḫa (Indus Valley Civilization). To the west the Syrian Desert was inhabited by nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples, most notably the kingdom of Mari to the Northwest in the Euphrates River valley, the Arameans who inhabited a hilly semi-desert and Ebla near the Mediterranean coast in Syria, the Amorites of Jebel Bishri (just west of the Euphrates River, they were nomadic though so they also traversed the Levant [Modern Syria, Israel, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon]) and Nagar in the Khabur River Valley. To the east the powerful river Tigris and marshland separate Mesopotamia from the powerful, rich and ethnically unique Elamites and the Zagros Mountains which were home to the infamous barbarian hill-men known as the Gutians and the Lullubi. This mountain range continues northwestward wrapping around the north of Mesopotamia to form the Taurus Mountains.
Southern Mesopotamia was an alluvian plain comprised of the southern delta plain known as Sumer and the northern river plain known as Akkad. Further north lays the plain of Subartu that would later give rise to the infamous Assyrian Empire.
Respect for tradition was important to the Mesopotamians, as most descendant cultures continued to follow the religions, customs, rituals, languages and forms of writing of their ancestors for thousands of years down to the Babylonians and the Assyrians.
Assyrian king Ashurbanipal sacked the Elamite city of Susa and found a statue of Inanna (Akk. Ishtar) which he took back to Uruk, the Elamites had stolen it over 1600 years earlier. Him being known as a intellectual, he had his scribes travel around his vast empire creating copies of texts (especially from the Babylonians) and placing them in his Great Library in Nineveh which contained more than 30,000 tablets and fragments.
Temples, ziggurats (step pyramids), steles, tablets, and cities were restored and treated with nostalgic reverence; believing that in doing so they would please the gods, while also proving their legitimacy by linking themselves to divinities, past rulers, dynasties, cities and empires.
This period is named after the city of Ubaid (modern Tell al-Ubaid). The dating of this period is troublesome as while some areas are definitely Ubaid, others are just influenced by its material culture; a distinctive style of pottery (black-painted buff pottery). Late into the Ubaid period settlements could hold as many as two-thousand people, while the city of Eridu could sustain as much as five-thousand. The main focus of Eridu, as with most other Mesopotamian settlements, was the importance given to temples which were initially administrative centers but would later also be used for storing grain and making burnt offerings.
^ The Statue of Enki Sails from Eridu by Balage Balogh
Here religion and temples played important roles in the evolution of settlements as they united people under core beliefs. With the construction of temples people were drawn to these settlements and this would in turn lead to population growth, more manpower and greater resource production. Villages grew into towns and cities, cities into city-states; classes and professions like artisans and craftsmen began to spring up.
Eventually the city of Uruk grew to overshadow Eridu and interestingly this is mentioned in their mythology. It is noted that Enki (god of wisdom, patron of Eridu) passed “me” (Akkadian parshu - gifts, curses, tools, instruments, technologies, ideas and concepts) to Inanna the goddess of love and war, patroness of Uruk. Geology however tells another tale, an intense dry period known as the 5.9 kiloyear event is believed to have ended the Ubaid period, while also triggering migrations into river valleys like those of Mesopotamia and the Nile River in Egypt.
^ Eridu as envisioned by Balage Balogh
^ A Sumerian reed house under construction by Richard Hook
The earliest Sumerian houses were built of reeds while the later ones were made of sun-baked bricks using bitumen (glue and tar substance) to hold the bricks in place. The city streets were narrow and winding, the garbage would be left in-front of the house and burned, covered in dirt, this would elevate the floor level which would require you to raise the height of the entrance of your house.
With an average floor space of about 700 square meters (c.750 feet), some houses would be separated from each other while others shared walls. The houses had air-vents and central courtyards which would reach from the first floor to the roof, both of these were intended to keep the inside of the house cool. Most sleep on the their roof during the cooler nights when the weather allowed. Near the temple is where most houses were clustered.
The Uruk Period is named after the ancient city of Uruk, a large settlement that could sustain a population as high as 40,000-50,000. Where in the earlier periods the sizes of war-bands were only in the hundreds, they could now support armies of as much as 5,000 men. Although they were also supported by about 146 smaller settlements that lay within their domains, these villages and cities began to decrease as the inhabitants flocked to the larger capital cities for the safety of their walls and promise of a better life.
Artifacts manufactured in Uruk can be found throughout Mesopotamia, one of the primary items found is also believed to be the world‘s first mass produced object, a “bevel rimmed bowl”. Most believe that these cheaply made ordinary looking bowls were actually part of the early Sumerian currency system. With the increase of urbanization less city folk farmed, instead finding work within the cities where they would be paid in grain. How much grain one had in a bowl would determine how much one was paid (for you to eat from, save or trade with).
An urban revolution had occurred; populations and the focus of agriculture now shifted over to the more fertile river valleys and irrigation increased the productivity and amount of crops which led to a population boom. With more cities lying beside channels and rivers there was an increase in trade and income as now they could more easily travel and connect with those along these waters. With the overall increase of food and income also came an increase in specialists professions; merchants, craftsmen, artisans, warlords, high priests, nobles and kings.
^ A clay tablet maker and cuneiform scribe recording a cattle sale in a Sumerian market place about 3000 B.C. by Neville Dear
Temples were now being built on a larger scale and were more numerous, priestly roles became more important as well. The en (“priest, lord”) was the high-priest, a title denoting sovereignty and the power to make things prosper. The en-priestess (Akkadian ‘entum’, Sumerian ‘Nin’) would live in a temple complex called a giparu (“storehouse”) which were in earlier times used as storage areas for the harvest and even cattle. En-priestesses were buried in a cemetery by the giparu, offerings were given to deceased priestesses and reverence to them extended to the point of there being a cult devoted to them. A common custom in Mesopotamia was to bury the diseased in the floors of the household, the same can be found in the giparu as the priestesses were also buried here. Sadly the city of Ur, the giparu and its cemetery were all looted by the Elamites late in Sumerian history.
The first and most famous of these en-priestesses was the daughter of Sargon the Great, Enheduanna (“En, ornament [ie. the moon] of the heavens”), who was the high-priestess of Nanna/Sin (moon god) and was renowned for being the first author in history, at least 42 hymns are attributed to her. The en-priestesses were also seen as the wife of their patron god therefore representing the godly wife; an example being that the Enheduanna, en-priestess of Ur, represented Ningal (goddess of reeds) the wife of Nanna/Sin (moon god). During the warring city-states period that followed, the title en would also grow to into a more militarized and authoritative position. This priest-king (Ensi, “lord [of the] plowland”) was seen as an intermediary between the gods and man.
The lugal (“big man”) signified the owner of something and inevitably became the term for kings. The title lugal would not become prominent until c.2700 BCE, the ensi were more important than them but in time they would become seen as their subordinates. Unlike the high-priests and high-priestesses, who would be elected, the lugal’s succession would pass onto their heirs. According to some the lugals may have initially been elected as ad hoc leaders much like the consuls of Rome and the judges (shoftim) of the bible, but generally needed for military purposes.
Like the classical Greeks, the Sumerians and Akkadians may have believed that whomever won these wars, the gods favored more so. Countless tablets show both pictorial representations and written texts which depicted gods warring when it was known that kings fought these conflicts. An example of this is when Umma and Lagash were warring the texts say that Ningirsu (patron war god of Lagash) battled against Umma and “By the command of Enlil, he cast (his) big battle-net upon it, and its many tumuli (burial mounds) he laid upon the ground in the plain.”
There was even a king of Akkad named Naram-Sin who is depicted in artwork wearing a horned helmet only worn by the gods and was deified as “the god of Agade (Akkad)”. Despite the apparent supremacy the ensis and lugals held, early Mesopotamian history shows that the council (ukkin, “council, assembly”) still held sway over most important decisions; one made up of elders (abba urru, “father/elders of the city”) and one of youths. In the poem “Gilgamesh and Agga” even Gilgamesh, the great legendary king of Uruk, needed their permission to go to war against Aga of Kish. The elders disapproved “Let us submit to the house of Kish, let us not smite it with weapons” but the people of the city sided with Gilgamesh.
Other city states arose, like the great cities of Kish and Ur, which surpassed Uruk in importance. This transition from the Uruk period to the First Dynasty of Ur is said by some to coincide with a wet and dry period known as the Piora Oscillation which led to massive flooding (possibly inspiring the great flood myth) and drought (leading to a scramble for resources).
Side note: The Great Flood Myth
According to Sumerian, Akkadian and later Babylonian mythology the Anunnaki made the Igigu (lesser gods) dig canals and clear channels but in time they grew tired and rebelled.
“When the gods, man-like, Bore the labor, carried the load, the gods’ load was great, The toil grievous, the trouble excessive. The great Anunnaku, the Seven, Were making the Igigu undertake the toil.”
The gods sacrificed one of the rebel leaders (Geshtu-e, his name meaning “a god who had intelligence”) and to make from his remains and clay a new being to take on this labor, humans.
“Let them slaughter one god, so that all the gods may be purified by dipping. With his flesh and blood let Nintu mix clay. So let god and man be mingled together in the clay. After she had mixed the clay, she called the Anunna[ki], the great gods. The Igigu, the great gods, spat upon the clay. Mami opened her mouth and said to the great gods:
“You commanded me a task and I have finished it, I have removed your toil, I have imposed your load on man.”” – Atrahasis Epic
In time humans grew too numerous and loud for the gods to handle, the ‘clamor’ prevented Enlil from sleeping. The gods decided to bring forth calamities against them in the form of drought, followed by pestilence and famine; each time man had recovered from these and multiplied once again.
“The country was as noisy as a bellowing bull. The God grew restless at their racket, Enlil had to listen to their noise. He addressed the great gods, 'The noise of mankind has become too much, I am losing sleep over their racket. Give the order that surrupu-disease shall break out.”
Despite Enki’s (Babylonian Ea) arguing the gods decide to send a great flood that would kill off mankind. Enki warns his human servant to dismantle his house, build a boat from its remains and fill it with two of every animal.
Christ stilleth the Tempest by John Martin, 1852
“Like a wild ass screaming the winds howled, the darkness was total, there was no sun. As for Nintu the Great Mistress, her lips became encrusted with rime. The great gods, the Anunna[ki], stayed parched and famished. The goddess watched and wept.”
After the flood Nintu and the other gods wept in grief and regret for the annihilation of man as they “clog the river like dragonflies”. Note that it says river and not the world, hinting towards it being a local flood and not a global one but much later this tale was added to the Epic of Gilgamesh which replaces the sentence with “Like the spawn of fishes, they fill the sea”. The gods, without sacrifices from man grew hungry and thirsty but Enki’s servant survived the flood and offered the gods a sacrifice from which they feasted.
The Deluge by Francis Danby
Nonetheless Enlil was angered at Enki for deceiving them but Enki brought them the proposal that they can create new humans that will not only live shortened lives but will be less fertile, become victims of miscarriage (now only two-thirds of births will be successful), priestesses will remain celibate virgins and the pasittu (she-demon) that would ‘snatch babies from their mother’s lap’. Enki’s servant is separated from these new men and placed within a paradise alongside his wife to live eternally.
According to the Sumerians after the ‘great flood’ sent by the gods, the gods themselves founded the city of Kish, the first city to have a king since the catastrophe.
“[The great gods, the Igigi] designed a city, [the Igigi] laid its foundations. [The Anunnaki] designed the city of Kish, [The Anunnaki] laid its foundation, the Igigi made its brickwork firm.”
“The Sebitti [seven warrior gods] barred the gates [of Kish] against armies. [The Anunnaki gods] barred them against [other] settled peoples. The Igigi [gods] would patrol the city.”
This is the mythical version but the historical information points towards a migration of east-Semitic people from the Levant (modern Palestine, Israel, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon) into non-Semitic Mesopotamia which contributed to the collapse of the Uruk period and produced the Kishite civilization as well as the later Akkadians and Assyrians. Another possible factor in the collapse of the Uruk period is the above mentioned wet and dry period known as the Piora Oscillation.
The city of Kish had great importance in Mesopotamia, holding said city would grant you to the title King of Kish (Lugal Kish) which would later take on greater context under the Akkadians with the title King of the World (alternatively “all, “the Universe”; šar kiššati). This designation effectively implied that you held sway over Akkad and Sumer but not complete control (hegemony, ‘dominance of a group over another’). The Kishite civilization encompassed much of the middle Mesopotamian region of Uri (later known as Akkad) and reached as far west as the city of Ebla (Tell Hariri in modern Syria).
^ Ruins of a ziggurat at the Sumerian city of Kish. Babel Governorate, Iraq
It is believed that the modern location of Kish lies among a series of mounds, namely modern Tell Uhaimir, which means “the red”, named after the red-bricked ziggurat built by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II. Surrounding the Uhaimir mound are several others, most notably Tell Ingharra (ancient Hursagkalamma) which contains a royal palace that was later evacuated and then used as a cemetery where many “chariot burials” (or early war-carts) were found.
The two last rulers of the 1st Dynasty of Kish were Enmebaragesi and his son Aga, the latter reigned until “Kish was defeated [in battle by Gilgamesh of Uruk] and its kingship was carried off to [the temple] Eanna [in the city of Uruk]”. According to mythology Gilgamesh defeated Kish and brought its supremacy to an end but according to archaeology and geology this can be attributed to a series of floods (c.3000-2800 BCE) and an even more powerful deluge that struck Sumer c.2600 BCE.
After the first Dynasty of Kish, Ur’s first Dynasty rose to prominence as a major port city. One of the greatest finds here was the Cemetery of Ur which contained about 2,000 burials (human sacrifice) dating as late as the Sargonic period of Akkad, sixteen of which were labeled “Royal Tombs”. The funerary process was made up of ceremonial feasts and music which would last for days followed by a funeral procession consisting of oxcarts, musicians, singers, mourners, and guards or soldiers.
‘The Great Lyre’: the sun god of destiny and judgment, Shamash, is represented here as a bull [wooden] covered in sheets of gold with a lapis lazuli beard
Gold, silver, food, weapons, cylinder seals, jewelry, cups and bowls would be left with the deceased as well as both human and animal sacrifices; buried alongside the kings and queens or Ur, they would accompany the deceased and join them in the afterlife. The architecture of the royal tombs comprised of a ramp leading down a deep pit (labeled the ‘death pit’) toward a vaulted or domed stone chamber. The humans who were sacrificed were those who served and attended the kings and queens while they were alive, they were buried within the chamber with their rulers and also outside of it, in the pit.
Most burials in this cemetery were common inhumation (burying in a grave or tomb); where the deceased were set on their side, legs flexed, with arms over their chest and hands in front of their mouth. They would be placed in a rectangular pit in either a coffin or wrapped in a reed mat.
Reconstructed Sumerian headgear necklaces
One royal tomb (PG1237), labeled the “Great Death Pit” held 6 men and 68 women, the majority of the latter wore headdresses of silver, gold and lapis as well as having “shells with cosmetic pigment”. They were believed to have willingly consumed some sort of sedative or deadly drug but at least 2 skeletons show perimortem (before time of death or close to it) fractures and circular holes which match blunt force trauma with a heavy pointed blunt object. Signs of sun damage and mercury sulfide (HgS) on a body (used to slow down decomposition) suggests that the bodies were exposed to sunlight during the above mentioned long festive ceremonies and funeral procession.
Also within the Royal Tombs of Ur two game boards were discovered, labeled the ‘Royal Game of Ur’ (aka Game of Twenty Squares), these are some of the oldest board games ever discovered.
In the afterlife the spirit (Sumerian gidim, Akk. eṭemmu) would eat dust, thirst and live in darkness. It is believed that these objects which were found in tombs and graves were offering for the gods and for the deceased themselves. One reason for the former is that according to the Sumerian myth, “The Death of Urnamma”, the deceased king Urnamma was buried with objects so he could then offer them to the gatekeepers and the many gods of the netherworld, including Ereshkigal (queen of the Underworld) and her consort Nergal (god of war and pestilence). As gifts he gave vessels, garments and weaponry as well as presenting them with a banquet and in exchange he was given a dwelling place and given rule over fallen soldiers and condemned criminals.
“after Ur-Namma had presented properly the offerings of the nether world, the … of the underworld, the Anunnaki seated Ur-Namma on a great dais of the nether world and set up a dwelling place for him in the nether world. At the command of Ereckigala all the soldiers who had been killed by weapons and all the men who had been found guilty were given into the king’s hands.” – The Death of Ur-Namma
Queen’s Lyre (reconstruction), 2600 BCE
Offerings made to the deceased themselves were used as gifts for the gatekeepers in exchange for safe passage into the afterlife and also so the spirits could eat and drink but those who were killed by fire or remained unburied would have no spirit and afterlife. Those who did make it to the afterlife needed offerings of food and drink from living relatives. If offerings weren’t made then the deceased could haunt and inflict sickness on the living.
According to the Epic of Gilgamesh despite of one’s status while they lived all are equal in the afterlife:
“I entered the house of dust and I saw the kings of the earth, their crowns put away forever; rulers and princes, all those who once wore kingly crowns and ruled the world in the days of old. They who had stood in the place of the gods like Anu and Enlil, stood now like servants to fetch baked meats in the house of dust, to carry cooked meat and cold water from the waterskin.”
The god of the sun and justice Utu/Shamash would descend into the netherworld every night and would punish abusive spirits, gift offerings to forgotten spirits and would judge the fates of the deceased with the help of the seven judges, the Anunnaki.
“To the land of no return, the land of darkness, Ishtar, the daughter of Sin (moon god) directed her thought. Directed her thought, Ishtar, the daughter of Sin, to the house of shadows, the dwelling, of Irkalla (Netherworld), to the house without exit for him who enters therein. To the road, whence there is no turning, to the house without light for him who enters therein, the place where dust is their nourishment, clay their food.’ they have no light, in darkness they dwell. Clothed like birds, with wings as garments, over door and bolt, dust has gathered.” – Ishtar’s Descent into the Underworld
Here in the story of ‘Inanna’s descent to the Underworld’ she threatens the gatekeeper into opening the gates to the underworld for her.
“O gatekeeper, open thy gate, open thy gate so I may enter! If thou openest not the gate so that I cannot enter, I will smash the door, i will shatter the bolt, I will smash the doorpost, I will move the doors, I will raise up the dead eating the living, so that the dead will outnumber the living.”
^ The Walking Dead, anyone? ;D
Neti (the chief gatekeeper) rushed to Erishkigal (goddess of the underworld) to tell her of her sister Ishtar’s arrival.
“Ho there, does this one wish to dwell with me? To eat clay as food, to drink dust as wine? I weep for the men who have left their wives. I weep for the wives torn from the embrace of their husbands; for the little ones cut off before their time. Go, gatekeeper, open thy gate for her, deal with her according to the ancient decree.” – Ishtar’s Descent into the Underworld
The Standard of Ur, 2600-2400 B.C.E
This consists of the offering of gifts at each gate to Neti (chief gatekeeper) in order to pass them,in the end she lays powerless and naked before her sister Ereshkigal and the seven judges of the underworld known as the Anunnaki.
“the Anunna[ki], the judges of the underworld, surrounded her they passed judgment against her. Then Ereshkigal fastened on Inanna the eye of death, she spoke against her the word of wrath, she uttered against her the cry of guilt. She struck her, Inanna was turned into a corpse, a piece of rotting meat and was hung from a hook on the wall.”
– Inanna (Akk. Ishtar) Descent into the Underworld
Even the gods cannot escape the underworld and so the Sumerian Inanna version explains that she only escaped by means of trickery and the bartering of her husband Dumuzi’s (who wasn’t mourning) life who in turn is saved by his sister Ngeshtin-ana who replaces him in the underworld for half of the year. Ngeshtin-ana was a goddess of fertility, absence correlates with the changing of the seasons so this tale bares similarities with the Greek tale of Hades, Persephone and her mother Demeter (goddess of harvest).
RIVAL CITIES OF UMMA AND LAGASH
Mesalim, King of Kish (Lugal Kishi)
“Enlil, king of all the lands, father of all the gods, by his righteous command, for Ningirsu and Shara, demarcated the (border) ground. Mesalim, king of Kish, by the command of Ishtaran, laid the measuring line upon it, and on that place he erected a stele.”
The two Sumerian cities of Umma and Lagash, like Mycenae and Troy, Athens and Sparta, they were rivals for much of their existence. Border disputes were common and to settle them Mesalim, king of Kish, stepped in and attempted to end these conflicts. Umma and Lagash were more than 20 miles apart and at their center was the Guedena, a fertile field and irrigated canal that is fed by the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers; Lagash dedicated this area to their patron god Ningirsu (“lord of Girsu”; god of war, hunting, plowing, fertility, rain and irrigation). Mesalim set down a boundary stele between both cities but since Lagash also owned the city of Girsu that was located south of the Guedena they ultimately held more land than Umma. It seems like Ush, ensi of Umma, disagreed with the division of land since he removed the stelae and these two armies clashed.
“Ush, ruler of Umma, something greatly beyond words he did. That stele he tore out, and into the plain of Lagash he entered.”
^ Umma in Blue, Lagash in Purple and Girsu in Green
Umma had lost to Lagash who “cast (his) big battle-net upon it,
and its many tumuli he laid upon the ground in the plain”. Lugal-sha-engur, king of Lagash, was said to have been given by Mesalim, King of Kish, a ceremonial mace-head to place in the Temple of Ningursu in Lagash
^ The inscription on the mace reads: “Mesilim, king of Kish, builder of the temple of Ningirsu, brought [this mace head] for Ningirsu, Lugalshaengur [being] prince of Lagash.”
This mace-head shows the design of a lion-headed eagle, symbol of Ningirsu the patron god of Lagash and Girsu. These conflicts started before this battle and would continue until long after, Umma would usually find themselves on the losing end.
After battle the enemy dead would be piled up and these hills of bodies would then be covered in dirt, some of these tumuli (burial mounds) were built so high that ladders would sometimes be needed to cover them completely.
EANNATUM, ENSI OF LAGASH
EVERYBODY WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD
^ “Eannatum, ensi [of] Lagash”
It seems as though Eannatum’s future as a warrior-king was set since birth, his name was inspired by the name of Inanna’s (goddess of war) temple, E-anna. Ultimately his name meant “Befitting the E-anna”. He also claimed that his ‘divine father’ was Ningirsu, the god of war (patron deity of Lagash).
“The ruler of Umma, where has he (ever) been appeased? With … men … he has been able to exploit the Gu'edena, the beloved field of Ningirsu. Let him be cast down!”
It is inscribed that Eannatum was visited by Ningirsu (God of War) in a dream and told him to make war on Umma.
^ The Sumerians at war by HongNian Zhang
“Umma, like Kish, shall therefore wander about, and by means of ones seized by anger shall surely be removed. On your right side, Utu [the sun god] I shall let come forth upon you. and a … I shall let be bound upon your forehead” “him [Umma] I shall smite, and their myriad corpses I shall make stretch to the horizon.”
“They fought each other, and towards Eannatum a man shot an arrow. He was penetrated by the arrow, but he broke it off. In front of them he made screams” “ Eannatum, in Umma, like a destructive storm of rain, he left behind a deluge.”
“Umma he defeated, and twenty tumuli (burial mounds) for it he heaped up there. Eannatum, wept over with sweet tears (of joy)…”
^ Vulture Stele commemorating Eannatum of Lagash’s victory over Umma
Eannatum set a boundary stone and had Enkale (now king of Umma) swear an oath on “the great casting-net of Enlil” to pay tribute to Lagash in exchange for them maintaining the Guedena and using a portion of it. Now with their rival subdued, they were now free to redirect their military.
“By the life of Enlil, king of heaven and earth, the fields of Ningirsu I shall exploit as an interest-bearing loan. I shall operate the levees up to the spring, and forever and ever over the boundary territory of Ningirsu I shall not cross. To its levees and irrigation ditches I shall not make changes. Its steles I shall not smash to bits. On a day when I may cross over it, the great casting-net of Enlil, king of heaven and earth, by which I have sworn, upon Umma may it fall from the sky!”
To the east was a land named Elam, ethnically and linguistically different then their neighbors in Mesopotamia; the Zagros mountains marked the edge of the known world to the Sumerians and Akkadians. The rivers Karun and Karkheh sprouted out from the Zagros Mountains, feeding the landscape of the Elamites. A rich competitor that had historically made incursions into Mesopotamia and even ruled over it under the Awan Dynasty of Elam, it was an importer mostly of food and exporter of timber, horses (from the Iranian Plateau), cattle, wool, lapis lazuli, slaves, silver, gold and most importantly tin (from the Zagros mountains).
This being the Bronze Age, the use of copper weapons lessened in favor of the more durable, harder bronze which can be made from smelting copper and tin. He destroyed their capital city of Susa as well as other cities and forced them into paying him tribute.
He also took over a city state named Uru(a) which sat within the Susiana plain, a commercially significant city that not only held sway over certain passages, trade routes and choke-points but was also used by other cities for their skill in using tin to turn copper into bronze, therefore strengthening military arms and armors.
“By Eannatum, Elam, the awesome mountain range, was defeated, and its tumuli {burial mounds} he heaped up.”
“Elam and Subartu, the lands of timber and goods, he defeated.” “Susa he defeated. The Standard of Uru(a), though by its ruler, it had been set up at the head (of it), he defeated it.“ – Vulture Stele
Elam was once like Sumer and Akkad, dotted with many city-states (most notably Susa and Anshan) but under threat from their hostile western neighbors they allied to form a unified state.
^ Votive Statue of Eannatum made of Alabaster, lapis lazuli, mother of pearl inlays, and modern bitumen inlays
Now in a better financial position and militarily secure on his western and eastern flanks, he could, If he wished, continue expanding his reach. He defeated and subjugated two important Sumerian city states that lay beside the Euphrates River named Uruk and Ur.
“Uruk he defeated. Ur he defeated. Kiutu he defeated. Iriaz he destroyed, and its ruler he killed. Mishime he destroyed. Arua he obliterated. Before Eannatum, the one nominated by Ningirsu, all the lands trembled.”
^ Eannatum by Leugi, from a Civilization V mod that adds the Sumerians
Zuzu the king of Akshak (In Sumer, near Akkadian Kish) advanced against him and once again Eannatum had proven victorious.
“In the year that the king of Akshak rose up, Eannatum, the one nominated by Ningirsu, from the Antasura of Ningirsu Zuzu, the king of Akshak, all the way back to Akshak he smote, and he obliterated it – Zuzu, along with his forces, faced Eannatum and his army and a battle commenced. Eventually, Zuzu was killed in combat and his city-state of Akshak taken”
Defeating both Kish and Mari he became the new King of Kish, still having to deal with rebelling coalitions of enemies (most involving Elam, Kish and Akshak), who he too drove back, all the while never losing a battle in his entire military career. Eannatum should not only be remembered as a skilled commander, but also for instituting the building of numerous temples, canals and cities. This is thought by some to be the world’s first empire; Eannatum conquered much of the known world and set a president for future conquerors that would reach and exceed his accomplishments. Soon after Eannatum’s death Lagash quickly crumbled as their former enemies scrambled to pick the bones off of his dying empire.
LUGALANDA, ENSI OF LAGASH
FACE TO FACE WITH THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD
Lugalanda, ensi of Lagash, was infamous for his viciously corrupt leadership; taking ownership of the temples of Ningirsu (god of war), Bau (goddess of healing) and Shulshagana (son of Ningirsu and Bau) while placing his men (“men of the ensi [Lugalanda]”), his wife and himself in control of them. As long as they shared in their riches, all forms of government and administration freely exploited and abused their power. They began taxing the priesthood while confiscating the possessions of others (lands, livestock, fish and boats). People were forced into manual labor, temples began using sacred temple oxen to plow the fields, they charged an excessive amount for the burying of the dead, religious ceremonies and sacred rites.
In the “Liberty Cones” we read that Urukagina (also known as Uruinimgina), with the support of the common people (fishermen, shepherds, priests, farmers, etc.) seized the throne without bloodshed. He cleaned house; removing corruption and returning confiscated lands and property, set limits on temple fees, provided charity to the elderly and the poor and by amnesty “their prison he cleared out”. Seen as the earliest evidence of civil and legal reforms in history (2300′s BCE), they would not be outdone until the Code of Hammurabi (1700′s BCE).
^ Urukagina Liberty Cones
As you will see, the pious king Urukagina of Lagash would soon become the target of Umma’s long held frustrations.
Urukagina: “For my part, what did I have of it?”. I said to him: “I did not do any violent act, but the dogs [the enemy under Lugalzagesi] today are …[damaged text] … my city”
LUGALZAGESI, ENSI OF UMMA
TIMES ARE GONE FOR HONEST MEN,
AND SOMETIMES FAR TOO LONG FOR SNAKES
After the death of Eannatum the Great hostilities had once again commenced between Lagash and Umma. Under the Uruk rulers Lugalkinishedudu andEnshakushana, there was a revival in Uruk dominance. Uruk and Ur were linked, Kish and Anshak were taken and the rulers of Uruk retained the title ‘King of Kish’. During the reign of Eannatum the Great’s nephew, Enanatum II, Lagash had declined in power and reputation; most that were once under the heel of Lagash had since rebelled and Umma began growing under the leadership of the “Man of Umma”, Lugalzagesi.
Lugalzagesi, great-grandson of Il (who took the Guedena from Lagash), was a high-priest of Nisaba (patron deity of Umma; goddess of wisdom, writing, scribes and harvest) and ensi of Umma who had also retained control over Uruk (some think through marriage, others by conquest or diplomacy) and its subject city-states. Moving his capital from Umma to Uruk, he began to be referred to as the ‘king of Uruk’, all that was left was for Lugalzagesi to take Lagash and Girsu.
After many failed attempts to defeat Urukagina of Lagash, Lugalzagesi of Umma had finally proven victorious The city was viciously sacked and destroyed as “The Man of Umma” plundered palaces, temples, daises and sacred groves; carrying off their “precious metals and lapis-lazuli”. Setting these holy places on fire and even demolishing and tipping over statues.
The Sumerians were a strongly religious people and although they were not new to warfare, such sacrilegious acts against holy structures greatly offended them. A priest-scribe writes:
“The leader of Umma, having sacked Lagash, has committed a sin against Ningirsu (patron war god of Lagash). The hand which he has raised against him (Ningirsu) will be cut off!” “May Nisaba (patron deity of Umma), the god of Lugalzagesi, ruler of Umma, makes him bear the sin!”
Now having subjugated all of Sumer he would then aim his focus northward and conquer the lands of Akkad.
“king of all the lands, to Lugalzagesi the kingship of the nation had given, and the eyes of the nation he had let be directed toward him, and all the lands at his feet he had placed, and from east to west he had made them subject to him, from the Lower Sea [Persian Gulf], along the Tigris and Euphrates [rivers] to the Upper [Mediterranean] Sea”.
While Eannatum the Great had also conquered many of these lands, according to the texts it was Lugalzagesi’s empire that was truly united and happy during his reign. However this is usually seen as propaganda spread by Lugalzagesi, and the for reaching extent of his conquests is often questioned.
“In those days, Uruk in rejoicing spent its days under him. Ur, like a bull, its head skyward did lift up under him.”
“All the lands in river meadows rested (contentedly) under him, and the nation was happily making merry under him.”’
Civilization V mod that adds the Sumerians
Soon another force would rise which would exceed the successes of both Eannatum and Lugalzagesi, one who would conquer and unite much of the known world, Sargon the Great of Akkad.
Thank you for reading, if there are any errors please privately inbox me so I can update it. As always, if you’d like to read or learn about any specific historical subjects just let me know what they are and I will take note of them.
The Cambridge Ancient History by E. S. Edwards, C. J. Gadd, N. G. L. Hammond
Warfare in the Ancient Near East to 1600 BC: Holy Warriors at the Dawn of History by William J. Hamblin
The Emergence of Civilisation:From Hunting and Gathering to Agriculture, Cities and the State of the Near East by Charles Keith Maisels
Ancient Mesopotamia: New Perspectives by Jane McIntosh
The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia: The Near East from the Early Bronze Age to the fall of the Persian Empire by Trevor Bryce
Osprey Publishing, Men-At-Arms series - 109 - Ancient Armies of the Middle East
Ancient Warfare Magazine 2.5 by Karwansaray Publishing [PDF] [Print]
The Great Armies of Antiquity by Richard A. Gabriel
Possible Future Posts
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