“Everyone will converge in Mesopotamia,
Here is Eden and here is the beginning
Here once a common speech
The word of God sounded ... "
( Konstantin Mikhailov )
While wild nomads roamed the territory of ancient Europe, very interesting (sometimes inexplicable) events took place in the East. They are colorfully written about them in the Old Testament and in other historical sources. For example, such well-known biblical stories as the Tower of Babel and the Flood occurred just on the territory of Mesopotamia.
Ancient Mesopotamia without any embellishment can be called the cradle of civilization. It was on this earth around the 4th century BC that the first eastern civilization was born. Such states of Mesopotamia (Ancient Mesopotamia in Greek), such as Sumer and Akkad, gave mankind a written language and amazing temple buildings. Let's go on a journey through this land full of secrets!
Geographical position
What was the name of Mesopotamia? Mesopotamia. The second name of Mesopotamia is Mesopotamia. You can also hear the word Naharaim - this is also the same, only in Hebrew.
Mesopotamia is a historical and geographical territory located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Now there are three states on this earth: Iraq, Syria and Turkey. The history of civilization of ancient Mesopotamia developed precisely in this territory.
Located in the very center of the Middle East, the region is bounded from the west by the Arabian platform, from the east by the foothills of Zagros. In the south, Mesopotamia is washed by the waters of the Persian Gulf, and in the north towers the picturesque Ararat mountains.
The interfluve is a flat plain stretching along two great rivers. In shape, it looks like an oval shape - such is the amazing Mesopotamia (the map confirms this).
Division of Interfluve into regions
Historians conditionally divide Mesopotamia into:
- Upper Mesopotamia is the northern part of the region. Since ancient times (from the middle of the 1st millennium BC) it was called “Assyria”. Many years later, modern Syria was formed on this territory with its capital in the beautiful city of Damascus.
- Lower Mesopotamia is the southern part of Mesopotamia. It was densely populated by people before our era. In turn, the Southern Mesopotamia is also subdivided into two separate regions. Namely, to the northern and southern parts. The first (northern part) was originally called Key Uri, and then Akkad. The second (southern part) was called Sumer. From here the beautiful and sonorous name of one of the first cradles of civilization was born - "Sumer and Akkad." A little later, this historic area began to be called Babylonia. It is noteworthy in that it was there that the legendary tower, according to legend, reaching its height to the sky, was located.
On the territory of the Ancient Mesopotamia at different times there were four ancient kingdoms:
- Sumer
- Akkad;
- Babylonia
- Assyria.
Why did Mesopotamia become the cradle of civilization?
About 6 thousand years ago, an amazing event occurred on our planet: at about the same time two civilizations were born - Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia. The nature of civilization is at the same time similar and not like the first ancient state.
The similarity lies in the fact that both arose in territories with favorable conditions for human life. They are not similar in that each of them is distinguished by a unique story (the first thing that comes to mind: there were pharaohs in Egypt, but not in Mesopotamia).
The topic of the article, however, is the state of Mesopotamia. Therefore, we will not deviate from it.
Ancient Mesopotamia is a kind of desert oasis. On both sides, the area is fenced by rivers. And from the north - mountains that protect the oasis from the humid winds from Armenia.
Such favorable natural features made this land attractive to ancient people. Amazingly, it combines a comfortable climate with the ability to engage in agriculture. The soil is so fertile and rich in moisture that the grown fruits are juicy, and the sprouted legumes are tasty.
The ancient Sumerians who inhabited this territory about 6 thousand years ago were the first to notice this. They learned to masterfully grow various plants and left behind a rich history, the riddles of which to this day enthusiastic people solve.
A bit of conspiracy theories: about the origin of the Sumerians
Modern history does not answer the question of where the Sumerians came from. There are many assumptions about this, but the scientific community has not yet come to a consensus. Why? Because the Sumerians stood out from the rest of the tribes inhabiting Mesopotamia.
One of the obvious differences is the language: it is not like any of the dialects spoken by the inhabitants of neighboring territories. That is, it has no similarities with the Indo-European language - the forerunner of most modern languages.
Also, the appearance of the inhabitants of Ancient Sumer is not at all typical of the inhabitants of those places. The tablets depict people with even ovals, surprisingly large eyes, delicate facial features and growth above average.
Another point that historians pay attention to is the unusual culture of ancient civilization. One of the hypotheses is that the Sumerians are representatives of a highly developed civilization that flew from outer space to our planet. This point of view is rather strange, but has a right to exist.
How it really was is unclear. But one thing can be said with accuracy - the Sumerians gave a lot to our civilization. One of their undeniable achievements is the invention of writing.
Ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia
Different peoples inhabited the extended territory of Mesopotamia. We will distinguish two main ones (the history of Mesopotamia without them would not be so saturated):
- Sumerians
- Semites (to be more precise, the Semitic tribes: Arabs, Armenians and Jews).
Based on this, we will talk about the most interesting events and historical figures.
In order to preserve the general outline of our narrative, we begin the story of ancient civilizations from the Sumerian kingdom.
Sumer: a brief historical background
This was the first written civilization that arose in the southeast of Mesopotamia from the 4th to 3rd century BC. Now in this area is the modern state of Iraq (Ancient Mesopotamia, the map again helps us to navigate).
The Sumerians are the only non-Semitic people in the territory of Mesopotamia. Numerous linguistic and cultural studies confirm this. Official history says that the Sumerians came to the territory of Mesopotamia from some mountainous Asian country.
They began their journey along Mesopotamia from the east: they settled along river mouths and developed irrigation farming. The first city in which representatives of this ancient civilization stayed was Eredou. Then the Sumerians moved deeper into the plains: they did not subjugate the local population, but assimilated; sometimes they even adopted some cultural achievements of wild tribes.
The history of the Sumerians is a fascinating process of struggle between various groups of people led by a king. The state reached its heyday under the ruler Ummah Lugalzagessa.
The Babylonian historian Beros in his work divided Sumerian history into two periods:
- before the Flood (meaning the Great Flood and the story of Noah described in the Old Testament);
- after the Flood.
Culture of Ancient Mesopotamia (Sumer)
The first Sumerian settlements were original - they were small cities surrounded by stone walls; from 40 to 50 thousand people lived in them. An important city in the southeast of the country was Ur. The city of Nippur, located in the center of the country, was recognized as the center of the Sumerian kingdom. Known for the large temple of God Enlil.
The Sumerians were a fairly developed civilization, we list in what they reached heights.
- In agriculture. This is confirmed by the agricultural almanac that has reached us. It describes in detail how to grow plants properly, when they need to be watered, and how to plow the soil correctly.
- In the craft. The Sumerians knew how to build houses and knew how to use the potter's wheel.
- In writing. It will be discussed in our next chapter.
The legend of writing
Most important inventions occur in a rather strange way, especially when it comes to ancient times. The emergence of writing is no exception.
Two ancient Sumerian rulers argued among themselves. This was expressed in the fact that they puzzled each other and exchanged them through their ambassadors. One ruler turned out to be very inventive and came up with such a complicated rebus that his ambassador could not remember him. Then I had to invent writing.
Sumerians wrote on clay boards with reed sticks. Initially, the letters were depicted in the form of signs and hieroglyphs, then - in the form of coherent syllables. This process was called cuneiform writing.
The culture of Ancient Mesopotamia is unthinkable without the Sumerian. The neighboring nations borrowed the writing skill from this civilization.
Babylonia (Kingdom of Babylon)
A state arose at the beginning of the second millennium BC in the south of Mesopotamia. Having existed for about 15 centuries, it left behind a rich history and interesting architectural monuments.
The Semitic people of the Amorites inhabited the territory of the Babylonian state. They adopted the earlier Sumerian culture, but already spoke the Akkadian language, which belongs to the Semitic group.
Ancient Babylon arose on the site of the earlier Sumerian city of Cadir.
The key historical figure was King Hammurabi. During his military campaigns, he subjugated many neighboring cities. He also wrote the work that has reached us - "The Laws of Mesopotamia (Hammurabi)."
We will tell in more detail about the rules of social life recorded by the wise king. The laws of Hammurabi are phrases written on an clay tablet that regulate the rights and obligations of the average Babylonian. Historians have suggested that the presumption of innocence and the principle of “an eye for an eye” were first formulated by Hammurabi.
The ruler himself invented some principles, some - he rewrote from earlier Sumerian sources.
The laws of Hammurabi say that ancient civilization was really developed, since people followed certain rules and already had an idea of what is good and what is bad.
The original work is in the Louvre, an exact copy can be found in some Moscow museum.
The Tower of Babel
The cities of Mesopotamia are a topic for a separate work. We will stop at Babylon, the very one where the interesting events described in the Old Testament took place.
First we tell an interesting biblical story about the Tower of Babel, then - the point of view of the scientific community on this subject. The tradition of the Tower of Babel is a story about the appearance of different languages on Earth. The first mention of it can be found in Genesis: the event occurred after the Flood.
In those immemorial times, humanity was a single people, therefore, all people spoke the same language. They moved south and came to the lower reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates. There they decided to found a city (Babylon) and build a tower up to the sky. Work was in full swing ... But then God intervened in the process. He created various languages, so people no longer understand each other. It is clear that very soon the construction of the tower was discontinued. The final story was the resettlement of people in different parts of our planet.
What does the scientific community think about the Tower of Babel? Scientists suggest that the Tower of Babel was one of the ancient temples for observing the stars and conducting religious rites. Such structures were called ziggurats. The highest temple (reaching a height of 91 meters) was located in Babylon. His name sounded like "Etemenanke." The literal translation of the word is "The house where heaven converges with the Earth."
Assyrian Empire
The first mention of Assyria dates back to the 24th century BC. The state lasted two thousand years. And in the seventh century BC, it ceased to exist. The Assyrian Empire is recognized as the first in the history of mankind.
The state was located in the Northern Mesopotamia (on the territory of modern Iraq). It was distinguished by militancy: a lot of cities subjugated and destroyed the Assyrian military leaders. They captured not only the territory of Mesopotamia, but also the territory of the kingdom of Israel and the island of Cyprus. There was an attempt to subjugate the ancient Egyptians, but it was unsuccessful - after 15 years, the inhabitants of this country regained their independence.
Cruel measures were applied to the captured population: Assyrians obliged to pay a monthly tribute.
Major Assyrian cities were:
- Ashur;
- Kalah
- Dur Sharrukin (Sargon Palace).
Assyrian culture and religion
Here again, you can trace the connection with the Sumerian culture. The Assyrians spoke in the northern dialect of the Akkadian language. The schools studied the literary works of the Sumerians and Babylonians; some moral standards of ancient civilizations were adopted by the Assyrians. At palaces and temples, local architects portrayed a bold lion as a symbol of the military successes of the empire. Assyrian literature, again, is associated with the campaigns of local rulers: kings have always been described as brave and courageous people, and their opponents, on the contrary, are shown cowardly and petty (here you can notice the obvious reception of state propaganda).
Religion Mesopotamia
The ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia are inextricably linked with the local religion. Moreover, their inhabitants sacredly believed in gods and necessarily performed certain rites. Speaking very generally, it was polytheism (faith in various gods) that distinguished the Ancient Mesopotamia. To better understand the religion of Mesopotamia, you need to read the local epic. One of the most striking literary works of the time is the myth of Gilgamesh. Thoughtful reading of this book suggests that the hypothesis about the unearthly origin of the Sumerians is not groundless.
The ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia gave us three main mythologies:
- Sumer-Akkadian.
- Babylonian.
- Assyrian.
Let us consider in more detail each of them.
Sumero-Akkadian mythology
Included all the beliefs of the Sumerians. Also included is the religion of Akkadians. The gods of Mesopotamia are conditionally united: each major city had its own pantheon and its own temples. Nevertheless, similarities can be found.
We list the important gods for the Sumerians:
- An (Anu - Akkad.) - the god of heaven, responsible for the cosmos and stars. He was very revered by the ancient Sumerians. He was considered a passive ruler, that is, he did not interfere in the life of people.
- Enlil is the lord of the air, the second most important god for the Sumerians. Only, unlike Ana, was an active deity. He was revered as responsible for fertility, productivity and for peaceful life.
- Ishtar (Inanna) is the key goddess for Sumerian-Akkadian mythology. Information about her is very contradictory: on the one hand, she is the patroness of fertility and good relations between a man and a woman, and on the other, a fierce warrior. Such inconsistencies arise due to the large number of different sources that contain references to it.
- Umu (Sumerian version of the pronunciation) or Shamash (Akkadian version, speaking about the similarity of the language with Hebrew, since "shemesh" means the sun).
Babylonian mythology
The basic ideas for their religion were adopted from the Sumerians. True, with significant complications.
The Babylonian religion was built on the belief of man in his powerlessness before the gods of the pantheon. It is clear that such an ideology rested on fear and limited the development of ancient man. The priests managed to build a similar structure: they performed various manipulations in ziggurats (majestic high temples), including a complex ceremony of sacrifice.
In Babylonia, the following gods were revered:
- Tammuz - was the patron of agriculture, vegetation and fertility. There is a connection with a similar Sumerian cult of the resurrecting and dying god of vegetation.
- Adad is the patron saint of thunder and rain. A very powerful and evil deity.
- Shamash and Sin are the patrons of the heavenly bodies: the sun and the moon.
Assyrian mythology
The religion of warlike Assyrians is very similar to the Babylonian. Most of the rites, traditions and traditions came to the people of the Northern Mesopotamia from the Babylonians. The latter borrowed, as mentioned earlier, their religion from the Sumerians.
Important gods were:
- Ashur is the main god. The patron of the entire Assyrian kingdom, created not only all the other mythological heroes, but also himself.
- Ishtar is the goddess of war.
- Ramman - responsible for luck in military battles, brought luck to the Assyrians.
The considered gods of Mesopotamia and the cults of ancient peoples are a fascinating topic, rooted in very ancient times. The conclusion suggests itself that the main inventors of religion were the Sumerians, whose ideas were adopted by other peoples.
The rich cultural and historical heritage was left to us by ancient people living in Mesopotamia.
It is a pleasure to study the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, as they are associated with interesting and instructive myths. And all that concerns the Sumerians - this is generally one continuous mystery, the answers to which have not yet been found. But historians and archaeologists continue to "dig the soil" in this direction. Any person can join them and also study this interesting and very ancient civilization.