The transition to agriculture and pastoralism began the earliest in the Middle East region. Already in the 6th millennium there were large settlements, whose inhabitants owned the secrets of agriculture, pottery and weaving. By the turn of the 3rd millennium, the first civilizations began to take shape in this region.
As already noted, the founder of anthropology, L. G. Morgan, used the concept of "civilization" to denote a higher stage in the development of society than barbarism. In modern science, the concept of civilization is used to denote the stage of development of society at which there are: cities, class society, state and law, writing.
Those features that distinguish civilization from the primitive era originated in the 4th millennium, and were fully manifested in the 3rd millennium BC. e. in the lives of people who have mastered the valleys of the rivers flowing in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Later, in the middle of the 3rd millennium, civilizations began to take shape in the Indus River valley (on the territory of modern Pakistan) and in the Yellow River valley (China).
Let us trace the process of formation and development of the first civilizations on the example of the Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer.
Irrigation agriculture as the basis of civilization
The Greeks called Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia) the lands between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which in the territory of modern Iraq flow almost parallel to each other. In southern Mesopotamia, a people called the Sumerians created the first civilization in the region. It existed until the end of the 3rd millennium and became the basis for the development of other civilizations in the region, primarily for the Babylonian culture of the 2nd and 1st millennium BC. e.
The basis of the Sumerian, like all other eastern civilizations, was irrigation agriculture. The rivers brought fertile silt with the upper reaches. Grains thrown into the silt gave high yields. But it was necessary to learn how to divert excess water during the flood and supply water during the drought, that is, to irrigate the fields. Irrigation of fields is called irrigation. As the population grew, people had to irrigate additional tracts of land, creating complex irrigation systems.
Irrigated agriculture was the basis for a civilizational breakthrough. One of the first consequences of the development of irrigation was the growth of the population living in one locality. Now dozens of tribal communities, that is, several thousand people, lived together, forming a new community: a large territorial community.
In order to maintain a complex irrigation system and ensure peace and order in a district with a large population, special bodies were required. This is how the state arose - an institution of power and control, which stood above all the tribal communities of the district and performed two internal functions: economic management and socio-political management (maintaining public order). Management required knowledge and experience, therefore, from the clan nobility, who had accumulated management skills within the family, a category of people was formed who performed the functions of state administration on an ongoing basis. State power extended to the entire territory of the district, and this territory was quite definite. From this arose another meaning of the concept of the state - a certain territorial entity. It was necessary to protect its territory, so the main external function of the state was to protect its territory from external threats.
The appearance in one of the settlements of governing bodies, whose authority extended to the entire district, turned this settlement into the center of the district. The center began to stand out among other settlements in size and architecture. The largest secular and religious buildings were built here, crafts and trade developed most actively. This is how cities were born.
In Sumer, cities with an adjacent rural district existed for a long time independently as city-states. At the beginning of the 3rd millennium, such Sumerian city-states as Ur, Uruk, Lagash, Kish, numbered up to 10 thousand inhabitants. By the middle of the 3rd millennium, the population density had increased. For example, the population of the city-state of Lagash exceeded 100 thousand people. In the second half of the 3rd millennium, a number of city-states were united by the ruler of the city of Akkad, Sargon the Ancient, into the kingdom of Sumer and Akkad. However, the association was not strong. Stronger large states existed in Mesopotamia only in the 2nd and 1st millennia (the Old Babylonian kingdom, the Assyrian state, the New Babylonian kingdom, the Persian state).
social order
How the city-state of Sumer was arranged in the 3rd millennium. At the head was the ruler (en or ensi, then lugal). The power of the ruler was limited by the people's assembly and the council of elders. Gradually, the position of the ruler from an elective one becomes hereditary, although the procedures for confirming the son's right to take the father's post by the people's assembly were preserved for a long time. The formation of the institution of hereditary power was due to the fact that the ruling dynasty had a monopoly on management experience.
An important role in the formation of hereditary power was played by the process of sacralization of the personality of the ruler. It was stimulated by the fact that the ruler combined secular and religious functions, since the religion of the farmers was closely intertwined with industrial magic. The main role was played by the cult of fertility, and the ruler, as the main manager of household work, performed rituals designed to ensure a good harvest. In particular, he performed the rite of "sacred marriage", which was held on the eve of sowing. If the main deity of the city was female, then the ruler himself entered into a sacred marriage with him, if male, then the daughter or wife of the ruler. This gave the ruler's family a special authority, it was considered closer and more pleasing to God than other families. The deification of living rulers was atypical for the Sumerians. Only at the end of the 3rd millennium did the rulers demand that they consider themselves living gods. They were so officially called, but it does not follow from this that people believed that they were ruled by living gods.
The unity of secular and religious authorities was also reinforced by the fact that at first the community had a single administrative, economic and spiritual center - the temple, the house of God. There was a temple economy at the temple. It created and stored stocks of grain to insure the community in case of crop failure. On the temple grounds, plots were allocated for officials. Most of them combined administrative and religious functions, which is why they are traditionally called priests.
Another category of people who separated from the community was fed from the temple stocks - professional artisans who handed over their products to the temple. Weavers and potters played an important role. The latter made ceramics on the potter's wheel. Casters melted copper, silver and gold, then poured them into clay molds, they knew how to make bronze, but there was not enough of it. A significant part of the products of artisans and surplus grain were sold. The centralization of trade in the hands of the temple administration made it possible to more profitably purchase those goods that were not in Sumer itself, primarily metals and wood.
At the temple, a group of professional warriors was also formed - the embryo of a standing army, armed with copper daggers and spears. The Sumerians created war chariots for the leaders, harnessing donkeys to them.
Irrigation agriculture, although it required collective work to create an irrigation system, at the same time made it possible to make the patriarchal family the main economic unit of society. Each family worked on a plot of land allotted to it, and other relatives had no right to the result of the work of this family. Family ownership of the produced product arose because each family could feed itself, and therefore there was no need to socialize and redistribute this product within the genus. The presence of private ownership of the produced product of labor was combined with the absence of complete private ownership of land. According to the Sumerians, the land belonged to the god - the patron of the community, and people only used it, making sacrifices for it. Thus, in a religious form, collective ownership of land was preserved. Communal land could be leased for a fee, but there are no well-established cases of the sale of communal land into private ownership.
The emergence of family property contributed to the emergence of property inequality. Due to the action of dozens of everyday reasons, some families became richer, while others became poorer.
However, professional differentiation in society became a more important source of inequality: wealth was concentrated primarily in the hands of the administrative elite. The economic basis of this process was the emergence of a surplus product - excess in food. The greater the surplus, the more opportunities the managerial elite had to appropriate part of it, creating certain privileges for themselves. To a certain extent, the elite had the right to privileges: managerial work was more qualified and responsible. But gradually the property received according to merit became a source of income disproportionate to merit.
The family of the ruler stood out for its wealth. This is evidenced by the burials of the middle of the 3rd millennium in Ur. The tomb of the priestess Puabi was found here, buried with a retinue of 25 people. Fine utensils and jewelry made of gold, silver, emeralds and lapis lazuli were found in the tomb. Including a crown of golden flowers and two harps, decorated with sculptures of a bull and a cow. The bearded wild bull is the personification of the Ur god Nanna (god of the moon), and the wild cow is the personification of Nanna's wife, the goddess Ningal. This suggests that Puabi was a priestess, a participant in the rite of sacred marriage with the god of the moon. Burials with retinue are rare and are associated with some very significant event.
The nature of the jewelry shows that the nobility already lived a different life. Ordinary people at this time were content with little. Men's clothing in summer consisted of a loincloth, women wore skirts. In winter, a woolen cloak was added to this. The food was simple: barley cake, beans, dates, fish. Meat was eaten on holidays associated with the sacrifice of animals: people did not dare to eat meat without sharing it with the gods.
Social stratification gave rise to conflicts. The most serious problems arose when impoverished community members lost their land and fell into bondage to the rich as a result of their inability to repay what they borrowed. In cases where the community was threatened with major conflicts caused by debt bondage, the Sumerians used a custom called “return to the mother”: the ruler canceled all bonded transactions, returned mortgaged land to its original owners, freed the poor from debt slavery.
So, in Sumerian society there were mechanisms that protected members of the community from the loss of freedom and livelihood. However, it also included categories of unfree people, slaves. The first and main source of slavery was intercommunal wars, i.e., strangers to the community became slaves. Initially, only women were taken prisoner. Men were killed, because it was difficult to keep them in obedience (a slave with a hoe in his hands was not much inferior to a war with a spear). Slave women worked in the temple economy and gave birth to children who became temple workers. These were not free people, but they could not be sold, they were entrusted with weapons. They differed from the free ones in that they could not receive allotments of communal land and become full members of the community. As the population grew, men were also taken prisoner. They worked at the temple and in family farms. Such slaves were sold, but they, as a rule, were not subjected to harsh exploitation, since it gave rise to the danger of rebellion and the losses associated with it. Slavery in Sumer was predominantly patriarchal in nature, i.e. slaves were viewed as junior and incomplete members of the family.
These were the main features of the social system of the Sumerian city-states of the first half of the 3rd millennium BC.
spiritual culture
Writing. We know about the Sumerians because they invented writing. The growth of the temple economy made it important to take into account the land, stocks of grain, livestock, etc. These needs became the reason for the creation of writing. The Sumerians began to write on clay tablets, which dried in the sun and became very durable. Tablets have survived to this day in large numbers. They are deciphered, although sometimes very approximately.
At first, the letter was in the form of stylized pictograms, denoting the most important objects and actions. The sign of the foot meant “to go”, “to stand”, “to bring”, etc. Such a letter is called pictographic (pictorial) or ideographic, since the sign conveyed the whole idea, image. Then signs appeared to indicate the roots of words, syllables and individual sounds. Since the signs were squeezed out on clay with a wedge-shaped reed stick, scientists called Sumerian writing wedge-shaped or cuneform (cuneus - wedge). Squeezing out the signs was easier than drawing on clay with a stick. It took six centuries for writing to turn from reminder signs into a system for conveying complex information. This happened around 2400 BC. e.
Religion. The Sumerians moved from animism to polytheism (polytheism): from animation and veneration of natural phenomena to belief in gods as higher beings, creators of the world and man. Each city had its own chief patron god. In Uruk, the supreme god was An, the god of the sky. In Ur, Nanna, god of the moon. The Sumerians sought to place their gods in the sky, believing that it was from there that the gods observed the world and ruled it. The heavenly or stellar (astral) nature of the cult increased the authority of the deity. Gradually, the Sumerian pantheon took shape. Its basis was: An - the god of heaven, Enlil - the god of air, Enki - the god of water, Ki - the goddess of the earth. They represented the four main, according to the Sumerians, elements of the universe.
The Sumerians imagined the gods as anthropomorphic beings. Special temples were dedicated to the gods, where priests performed certain rituals daily. In addition to temples, each family had clay figurines of gods and kept them in the house in special niches.
Mythology and literature
The Sumerians composed and wrote down many myths.
In the beginning, myths were created orally. But with the development of writing, written versions of myths also appeared. Fragments of surviving records date back to the second half of the 3rd millennium BC.
A cosmogonic myth about the creation of the world is known, according to which the primary element of the world was water chaos or the great ocean: “It had neither beginning nor end. No one created it, it has always existed.” In the bowels of the ocean, the sky god An, depicted with a horned tiara on his head, and the earth goddess Ki were born. From them came other gods. As can be seen from this myth, the Sumerians had no idea of a Creator God who created the earth and all life on earth. Nature in the form of watery chaos has existed forever, or at least before the rise of the gods.
An important role was played by myths associated with the cult of fertility. A myth has come down to us about a ruler named Dumuzi, who won the love of the goddess Inanna and thereby ensured the fertility of his land. But then Inanna fell into the underworld and, in order to get out of it, sent Dumuzi there instead of herself. For six months of the year he sat in the dungeon. During these months the earth became dry from the sun and gave birth to nothing. And on the day of the autumnal equinox, the new year holiday began: Dumuzi left the dungeon and entered into marital relations with his wife, and the earth gave a new crop. Every year the cities of Sumer celebrated the sacred marriage between Inanna and Dumuzi.
This myth gives an idea of the Sumerians' attitude towards the afterlife. The Sumerians believed that after death their souls fall into the underworld, from which there is no way out, and it is much worse there than on earth. Therefore, they considered earthly life as the highest reward that the gods bestowed on people in exchange for serving the gods. It was the Sumerians who created the idea of an underground river as the border of the underworld and a carrier that transports the souls of the dead there. The Sumerians had the beginnings doctrine of retribution: clean drinking water and peace in the underworld are received by warriors who died in battle, as well as parents with many children. It was also possible to improve one's life there by proper observance of the funeral rite.
An important role in shaping the worldview of the Sumerians was played by heroic or epic myths - tales of heroes. The most famous is the myth of Gilgamesh, the ruler of Uruk at the end of the 27th century. Five stories about his exploits have been preserved. One of them was a trip to Lebanon for a cedar tree, during which Gilgamesh killed the giant Humbaba, the keeper of the cedars. Others are associated with victories over a monstrous bull, a gigantic bird, a magic snake, communication with the spirit of his deceased friend Enkidu, who spoke about a gloomy life in the underworld. In the next, Babylonian, period of the history of Mesopotamia, a whole cycle of myths about Gilgamesh will be created.
In total, more than one hundred and fifty monuments of Sumerian literature are currently known (many have survived only partially). Among them, in addition to myths, there are hymns, psalms, wedding-love songs, funeral laments, lamentations about social disasters, psalms in honor of kings. Teachings, disputes-dialogues, fables, anecdotes, proverbs are widely represented.
Architecture
Sumer is called the civilization of clay, because clay bricks were used as the main material in architecture. This had unfortunate consequences. Not a single surviving monument of architecture came from the Sumerian civilization. The architecture can only be judged by the surviving fragments of the foundations and the lower parts of the walls.
The most important task was the construction of temples. One of the early temples was excavated in the Sumerian city of Eredu and dates back to the end of the 4th millennium. This is a rectangular building made of bricks (clay and straw), at the ends of which, on the one hand, there was a statue of a deity, and on the other hand, a table for sacrifices. The walls are decorated with protruding blades (pilasters) that dissect the surface. The temple was placed on a stone platform, as the area was swampy and the foundation sagged.
Sumerian temples were rapidly destroyed, and then a platform was made from the bricks of the destroyed temple and a new temple was placed on it. So gradually, by the middle of the 3rd millennium, a special Sumerian type of temple developed - a stepped tower ( ziggurat). The most famous is the ziggurat in Ur: the temple, 21 meters high, stood on three platforms, decorated with tiles and connected by ramps (21st century BC).
Sculpture is mainly represented by small figurines made of soft rocks, which were placed in the niches of the temple. Few statues of deities have survived. The most famous is the head of the goddess Inanna. Of the statues of the rulers, several sculptural portraits of Gudea, the ruler of the city of Lagash, have been preserved. Several wall reliefs have survived. A relief is known on the stele of Naram-Suen, the grandson of Sargon (about 2320 BC), where the king is depicted at the head of the army. The figure of the king is larger than the figures of warriors, the signs of the Sun and the Moon shine above his head.
Glyptic, stone carving is a favorite form of applied art. The carving was done on seals, at first flat, then cylindrical seals appeared, which were rolled over clay and left friezes (decorative composition in the form of a horizontal strip).
One of the seals preserved a relief depicting King Gilgamesh as a mighty hero with a curly beard. The hero fights with a lion, with one hand he restrains the rearing lion, and with the other he plunges the dagger into the predator's scruff.
The high level of development of jewelry is evidenced by the above-mentioned Puabi jewelry - a harp, a crown of golden flowers.
Painting represented mainly by painting on ceramics. The images that have come down allow us to judge the canons. The man was depicted as follows: face and legs in profile, eye in front, torso turned 3/4. The figures are shortened. Eyes and ears are depicted as emphasized large.
The science. The economic needs of the Sumerians laid the foundation for the development of mathematical, geometric, and astronomical knowledge. To keep records of temple reserves, the Sumerians created two counting systems: decimal and sexagesimal. And both have survived to this day. Hexadecimal was preserved in the calculation of time: 1 hour 60 minutes, 1 minute 60 seconds. The number 60 was taken because it is easily divisible by many other numbers. It was convenient to divide by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 30. The needs associated with laying irrigation systems, measuring field areas, building buildings led to the creation of the foundations of geometry. In particular, the Sumerians used the Pythagorean theorem 2000 years before the Greeks formulated it. They were probably the first to divide the circle into 360 degrees. Conducted observations of the sky, linking the position of the stars with the floods of the rivers. Allocate various planets and constellations. Particular attention was paid to those luminaries that were associated with deities. The Sumerians introduced standards for measures of length, weight, area and volume, and value.
Right. Order could exist only if there were laws known to all, that is, norms that were obligatory for execution. The totality of mandatory norms, protected by the power of the state, is commonly called law. Law arises before the emergence of the state and exists in the form of customs - norms established on the basis of tradition. However, with the advent of the state, the concept of “law” is always associated with state power, since it is the state that officially establishes and protects legal norms.
From the III dynasty of Ur, the oldest known code of laws, drawn up by the ruler of Shulgi, the son of Ur - Nammu (XXI century BC), has come down to us, although not completely. The laws protected the property and personal rights of citizens: the fields of community members from seizures, from flooding by negligent neighbors, from a lazy tenant; provided compensation to the owner for the damage caused to his slave; defended the right of the wife to monetary compensation in the event of a divorce from her husband, the right of the groom to the bride after paying her father a marriage gift, etc. It is obvious that these laws were based on a long legal tradition that has not come down to us. The legal tradition of the Sumerians had a religious basis: it was believed that it was the gods who created a set of rules that everyone must follow.
The legacy of the Sumerian civilization
Around 2000, the III dynasty of Ur fell under the blows of a new wave of Semitic tribes. The Semitic ethnic element came to dominate Mesopotamia. The Sumerian civilization seems to be disappearing, but in fact all the main elements of its culture continue to live within the framework of the Babylonian civilization, named after Babylon, the main city of Mesopotamia in the 2nd and 1st millennium BC. e.
The Babylonians took the system of cuneiform writing from the Sumerians and for a long time used the already dead Sumerian language as a language of knowledge, gradually translating Sumerian scientific, legal, religious documents, as well as monuments of Sumerian literature into Semitic (Akkadian) language. It was the Sumerian heritage that helped the most famous king of the Old Babylonian kingdom, Hammurabi (1792 - 1750 BC), create the largest code of laws of the Ancient World, consisting of 282 articles, regulating in detail all the main aspects of the life of Babylonian society. The famous Tower of Babel, which became a symbol of the New Babylonian kingdom, which existed in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e., was also a direct successor to the stepped Sumerian ziggurats.
bottling wine 
Sumerian pottery
First schools.
The Sumerian school arose and developed before the advent of writing, the very cuneiform, the invention and improvement of which was the most significant contribution of Sumer to the history of civilization.
The first written monuments were discovered among the ruins of the ancient Sumerian city of Uruk (biblical Erech). More than a thousand small clay tablets covered with pictographic writing were found here. These were mainly household and administrative records, but among them were several educational texts: lists of words for memorization. This indicates that at least 3000 years before and. e. Sumerian scribes were already dealing with learning. Over the following centuries, Erech's business developed slowly, but by the middle of the III millennium BC. c), in the territory of Sumer). APPEARS that there was a network of schools for the systematic teaching of reading and writing. In ancient Shuruppak-pa, the birthplace of the Sumerian ... during excavations in 1902-1903. a significant number of tablets with school texts were found.
From them we learn that the number of professional scribes at that time reached several thousand. Scribes were divided into junior and senior ones: there were royal and temple scribes, scribes with a narrow specialization in any one area, and highly qualified scribes who occupied important government positions. All this gives grounds to assume that many fairly large schools for scribes were scattered throughout Sumer and that considerable importance was attached to these schools. However, none of the tablets of that era still gives us a clear idea about the Sumerian schools, about the system and teaching methods in them. To obtain this kind of information, it is necessary to refer to the tablets of the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. From the archaeological layer corresponding to this era, hundreds of educational tablets were extracted with all kinds of tasks performed by the students themselves during the lessons. All stages of learning are represented here. Such clay "notebooks" allow us to draw many interesting conclusions about the system of education adopted in the Sumerian schools, and about the program that was studied there. Fortunately, the teachers themselves liked to write about school life. Many of these records also survive, albeit in fragments. These records and teaching tablets give a fairly complete picture of the Sumerian school, its tasks and goals, students and teachers, the program and teaching methods. This is the only case in the history of mankind when we can learn so much about the schools of such a distant era.
Initially, the goals of education in the Sumerian school were, so to speak, purely professional, that is, the school was supposed to train scribes necessary in the economic and administrative life of the country, mainly for palaces and temples. This task remained central throughout the existence of Sumer. As the network of schools develops. and as the curriculum expands, the schools gradually become centers of Sumerian culture and knowledge. Formally, the type of a universal "scientist" - a specialist in all sections of knowledge that existed in that era: in botany, zoology, mineralogy, geography, mathematics, grammar and linguistics, is rarely taken into account. poog^shahi knowledge of their ethics. and not the era.
Finally, unlike modern educational institutions, the Sumerian schools were a kind of literary centers. Here they not only studied and copied the literary monuments of the past, but also created new works.
Most of the students who graduated from these schools, as a rule, became scribes at palaces and temples or in the households of rich and noble people, but a certain part of them devoted their lives to science and teaching.
Like university professors today, many of these ancient scholars earned their living by teaching, devoting their free time to research and writing.
The Sumerian school, which appeared initially as an appendage of the temple, eventually separated from it, and its program acquired a purely secular character in the main. Therefore, the work of the teacher was most likely paid for by the contributions of the students.
Of course, there was neither universal nor compulsory education in Sumer. Most of the students came from rich or wealthy families - after all, it was not easy for the poor to find time and money for long-term studies. Although Assyriologists had long ago come to this conclusion, it was only a hypothesis, and it was not until 1946 that the German Assyriologist Nikolaus Schneider was able to back it up with ingenious evidence based on documents from that era. On thousands of published economic and administrative tablets dating back to about 2000 BC. about five hundred names of scribes are mentioned. Many of them. To avoid mistakes, next to their name they put the name of their father and indicated his profession. Having carefully sorted all the tablets, N. Schneider established that the fathers of these scribes - and all of them, of course, were trained in schools - were rulers, "fathers of the city", envoys managing temples, military leaders, ship captains, high tax officials, priests various ranks, contractors, overseers, scribes, archivists, accountants.
In other words, the fathers of the scribes were the most prosperous townspeople. Interesting. that in none of the fragments does the name of a female scribe occur; apparently. and Sumerian schools taught only boys.
The head of the school was an ummia (knowledgeable person, teacher), who was also called the father of the school. Pupils were called "sons of the school", and the teacher's assistant was called "big brother". His duties, in particular, included the production of calligraphic sample tablets, which were then copied by the students. He also checked the written assignments and made the students recite the lessons they had learned.
Among the teachers were also a teacher of drawing and a teacher of the Sumerian language, a mentor who monitored attendance, and the so-called "know no \ flat"> (obviously, the warden who was responsible for discipline at the school). It is difficult to say which of them was considered higher in rank "We only know that the 'father of the school' was its actual headmaster. Nor do we know anything about the source of the existence of the school staff. It is probable that the 'father of the school' paid each of them his share of the total tuition fees.
As for school programs, here we have at our disposal the richest information gleaned from the school tablets themselves - a fact truly unique in the history of antiquity. Therefore, we do not need to resort to indirect evidence or to the writings of ancient authors: we have primary sources - tablets of students, ranging from scribbles of "first-graders" to the works of "graduates", so perfect that they can hardly be distinguished from the tablets written by teachers.
These works allow us to establish that the course of study followed two main programs. The first gravitated toward science and technology, the second was literary and developed creative features.
Speaking about the first program, it must be emphasized that it was by no means prompted by a thirst for knowledge, a desire to find the truth. This program gradually developed in the process of teaching, the main purpose of which was to teach Sumerian writing. Based on this main task, the Sumerian teachers created a system of education. based on the principle of linguistic classification. The lexicon of the Sumerian language was divided by them into groups, and the words and expressions were connected by a common basis. These ground words were memorized and hierarchized until the students got used to reproduce on their own. But by the III millennium BC, e. school texts began to expand noticeably and gradually turned into more or less stable teaching aids adopted in all schools in Sumer.
Some texts give long lists of names for trees and reeds; in others, the names of all kinds of nodding creatures (animals, insects and birds): in the third, the names of countries, cities and villages; fourthly, the names of stones and minerals. Such lists testify to the significant knowledge of the Sumerians in the field of "botany", "zoology", "geography" and "mineralogy" - a very curious and little-known fact. which has only recently attracted the attention of scientists dealing with the history of science.
Sumerian educators also created all kinds of mathematical tables and compiled collections of problems, accompanying each with an appropriate solution and answer.
Speaking of linguistics, it should first of all be noted that, judging by the numerous school tablets, special attention was paid to grammar. Most of these tablets are long lists of compound nouns, verb forms, etc. This suggests that Sumerian grammar was well developed. Later, in the last quarter of the III millennium BC. e., when the Semites of Akkad gradually conquered Sumer, the Sumerian teachers created the first "dictionaries" known to us. The fact is that the Semitic conquerors adopted not only the Sumerian script: they also highly valued the literature of ancient Sumer, preserved and studied its monuments and imitated them even when Sumerian became a dead language. This was the reason for the need for "dictionaries". where the translation of Sumerian words and expressions into the language of Akkad was given.
Let us now turn to the second curriculum, which had a literary bias. Education under this program consisted mainly in memorizing and copying literary works of the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. e .. when literature was especially rich, as well as in imitation of them. There were hundreds of such texts and almost all of them were poetic works ranging in size from 30 (or less) to 1000 lines. Judging by those of them. which have been compiled and deciphered. these works fell under various canons: myths and epic tales in verse, glorifying songs; Sumerian gods and heroes; hymns of praise to the gods; kings. cry; ruined, biblical cities.
Among the Literary tablets and their ilomkop. recovered from the ruins of Sumer, many are school copies copied by the hands of students.
We still know very little about the methods and techniques of teaching in the schools of Sumer. In the morning, having come to school, the students dismantled the tablet, which they wrote the day before.
Then - the elder brother, that is, the teacher's assistant, prepared a NEW tablet, which the students began to disassemble and rewrite. Older brother. and also the father of the school, apparently, barely / followed the work of the students, checking whether they copied the text correctly. no doubt that the success of the Sumerian students depended to a large extent on their memory, teachers and their assistants had to accompany too dry lists of words with detailed explanations. tables and literary texts copied by students. But these lectures, which could have been of invaluable help to us in the study of Sumerian scientific and religious thought and literature, apparently were never written down, and therefore are forever lost.
One thing is certain: teaching in the schools of Sumer had nothing to do with the modern system of education, in which the assimilation of knowledge largely depends on initiative and independent work; the student himself.
As for discipline. it could not do without a stick. It is quite possible that. without refusing to encourage students for success, the Sumerian teachers nevertheless relied more on the awesome action of the stick, which instantly punished by no means heavenly. He went to school every day and just there from morning to evening. Probably, some holidays were organized during the year, but we do not have any information about this. The training lasted for years, the child managed to turn into a young man. it would be interesting to see. whether Sumerian students had the opportunity to choose a job or OTHER specialization. and if yes. to what extent and at what stage of training. However, about this, as well as about many other details. sources are silent.
One in Sippar. and the other in Ur. But besides that. that a large number of tablets were found in each of these buildings, they are almost no different from ordinary residential buildings, and therefore our guess may be erroneous. Only in the winter of 1934.35, French archaeologists discovered two rooms in the city of Mari on the Euphrates (to the northwest of Nippur), which, in their location and features, clearly represent school classes. They preserved rows of benches made of baked bricks, designed for one, two or four students.
But what did the students themselves think about the then school? To give at least an incomplete answer to this question. Let us turn to the next chapter, which contains a very interesting text about school life in Sumer, written almost four thousand years ago, but only recently compiled from numerous passages and finally translated. This text gives, in particular, a clear picture of the relationship between students and teachers and is a unique first document in the history of pedagogy.
Sumerian schools
reconstruction of the Sumerian furnace
Babylon Seals-2000-1800
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Silver boat model, checkers game
Ancient Nimrud
Mirror
Life Sumer, scribes
Writing boards
Classroom at school
Plow-seeder, 1000 BC
Wine Vault
Sumerian literature
Epic of Gilgamesh
Sumerian pottery
Ur
Ur
Ur
Ur
Ur
ur
Ur
Ur
Ur
Ur
Ur
Ur
Ur
Ur
Ur
Ur
Uruk
Uruk
Ubeid culture
Copper relief depicting the Imdugud bird from the temple at El-Ubeid. Sumer
Fragments of frescoes in the palace of Zimrilim.
Marie. 18th century BC e.
Sculpture of the professional singer Ur-Nin. Marie.
Ser. III millennium BC uh
A lion-headed monster, one of the seven evil demons, born in the Mountain of the East and dwelling in pits and ruins. It causes discord and disease among people. Geniuses, both evil and good, played a large role in the life of the Babylonians. I millennium BC e.
Stone carved bowl from Ur.
III millennium BC e.
Silver rings for donkey harness. Tomb of Queen Pu-abi.
Lv. III millennium BC e.
The head of the goddess Ninlil - the wife of the moon god Nanna, the patron of Ur
Terracotta figure of a Sumerian deity. Tello (Lagash).
III millennium BC e.
Statue of Kurlil - head of the granaries of Uruk. Uruk. Early dynastic period, III millennium BC e.
Vessel with the image of animals. Susa. Con. IV millennium BC e.
Stone vessel with colored inlays. Uruk (Warka).Con. IV millennium BC e.
"White Temple" in Uruk (Warka).
Thatched dwelling house from the Ubeid period. Modern reconstruction. Ctesiphon National Park
Reconstruction of a private house (inner courtyard) Ur
Ur-royal grave
Life
Life
Sumer carrying a lamb for sacrifice
The Sumerian civilization is the oldest on our planet. In the second half of the 4th millennium, it appeared, as if from nowhere. According to customs, the language of this people was alien to the Semitic tribes who settled Northern Mesopotamia a little later. The racial identity of the ancient Sumer has not been determined so far. The history of the Sumerians is mysterious and amazing. Sumerian culture gave mankind writing, the ability to work metals, the wheel and the potter's wheel. In an incomprehensible way, these people possessed knowledge that relatively recently only became known to science. They left behind so many mysteries and secrets that they rightfully occupy almost the first place among all the amazing events in our lives.
The origins of Mesopotamian culture date back to the 4th millennium BC. when cities began to emerge. The initial stages of Mesopotamian culture were marked by the invention of a kind of writing, which later turned into cuneiform. When the cuneiform was completely forgotten, the Mesopotamian culture perished along with it. However, its most important values were adopted by the Persians, Arameans, Greeks and other peoples, and as a result of a complex and not yet fully elucidated chain of transmission, they entered the treasury of modern world culture.
Writing. At first, Sumerian writing was pictographic, that is, individual objects were depicted in the form of drawings. The oldest texts inscribed in such a script date back to about 3200 BC. e. However, only the simplest facts of economic life could be marked with pictography. However, such a letter could not fix their own names or convey abstract concepts (for example, thunder, flood) or human emotions (joy, grief, etc.). Therefore, strictly speaking, pictography was not yet a real letter, since it did not convey coherent speech, but only recorded fragmentary information or helped to remember this information.
Gradually, in the process of a long and extremely complex development, pictography turned into a verbal-syllabic script. One of the ways in which pictography moved into writing was due to the association of drawings with words.
the letter began to lose its pictorial character. Instead of a drawing to designate this or that object, they began to depict some of its characteristic detail (for example, instead of a bird, its wing), and then only schematically. Since they wrote with a reed stick on soft clay, it was inconvenient to draw on it. In addition, when writing from left to right, the drawings had to be rotated 90 degrees, as a result of which they lost all resemblance to the objects depicted and gradually took on the form of horizontal, vertical and angular wedges. So, as a result of centuries of development, pictorial writing turned into cuneiform. However, neither the Sumerians nor other peoples who borrowed their writing developed it into an alphabet, that is, a sound writing, where each sign conveys only one consonant or vowel sound. The Sumerian script contains logograms (or ideograms) that are read as whole words, signs for vowels, as well as consonants together with vowels (but not just consonants separately). In the XXIV century. BC e. the first lengthy texts known to us written in the Sumerian language appear.
The Akkadian language is attested in southern Mesopotamia from the first half of the 3rd millennium BC. e, when the speakers of this language borrowed cuneiform from the Sumerians and began to use it widely in their daily lives. From the same time, intensive processes of interpenetration of the Sumerian and Akkadian languages began, as a result of which they learned many words from each other. But the predominant source of such borrowings was the Sumerian language. In the last quarter of the III millennium BC. e. the oldest bilingual (Sumero-Akkadian) dictionaries were compiled.
At the end of the XXV century. BC e. Sumerian cuneiform began to be used in Ebla, the oldest state in Syria, where a library and archive were found, consisting of many thousands of tablets,
Sumerian writing was borrowed by many other peoples (Elamites, Hurrians, Hittites, and later Urartians), who adapted it to their languages, and gradually by the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. the whole of Asia Minor began to use the Sumero-Akkadian script.
Natural conditions were of particular importance for the Mesopotamian civilization. Unlike other centers of ancient culture, Mesopotamia had no stone, let alone papyrus, on which to write. But there was plenty of clay, which gave unlimited possibilities for writing, without requiring, in essence, any costs. At the same time, clay was a durable material. Clay tablets were not destroyed by fire, but, on the contrary, they acquired even greater strength. Therefore, the main material for writing in Mesopotamia was clay. In the first millennium BC. e. Babylonians and Assyrians also began to use leather and imported papyrus for writing. At the same time, in Mesopotamia, they began to use long narrow wooden boards covered with a thin layer of wax, on which cuneiform signs were applied.
Libraries. One of the greatest achievements of Babylonian and Assyrian culture was the creation of libraries. In Ur, Nippur and other cities, starting from the II millennium BC. BC, for many centuries scribes collected literary and scientific texts, and thus there were extensive private libraries.
Among all the libraries in the Ancient East, the most famous was the library of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (669-c. 635 BC), carefully and with great skill collected in his palace in Nineveh. For her, throughout Mesopotamia, scribes made copies of books from official and private collections, or collected the books themselves.
Archives. Ancient Mesopotamia was a land of archives. The earliest archives date back to the first quarter of the 3rd millennium BC. e. During this period, the premises in which the archives were stored, in most cases, did not differ from ordinary rooms. Later, the tablets began to be stored in boxes and baskets covered with bitumen to protect them from moisture. Labels were attached to the baskets indicating the contents of the documents and the period to which they belong.
Schools. Most of the scribes were educated at school, although scribe knowledge was often passed on in the family, from father to son. The Sumerian school, like the later Babylonian school, mainly trained scribes for state and temple administration. The school became a center of education and culture. The curriculum was so secular that religious education was not part of the curriculum at all. The main subject of study was the Sumerian language and literature. Pupils of the senior classes, depending on the narrower specialization assumed in the future, received grammatical, mathematical and astronomical knowledge. Those who were going to devote their lives to science studied law, astronomy, medicine and mathematics for a long time.
Literature. A significant number of poems, lyric works, myths, hymns, legends, epic tales and collections of proverbs have survived that once made up the rich Sumerian literature. The most famous monument of Sumerian literature is the cycle of epic tales about the legendary hero Gilgamesh. In its most complete form, this cycle was preserved in a later Akkadian revision found in the library of Ashurbanap-la.
Religion. Religion played a dominant role in the ideological life of ancient Mesopotamia. Even at the turn of the IV-III millennium BC. e. in Sumer a thoroughly developed theological system arose, which was later largely borrowed and developed further by the Babylonians. Each Sumerian city revered its patron god. In addition, there were gods who were revered throughout Sumer, although each of them had their own special places of worship, usually where their cult originated. They were the sky god Anu, the earth god Enlil, the Akkadians also called him Belomili Ea. The deities personified the elemental forces of nature and were often identified with cosmic bodies. Each deity was assigned specific functions. Enlil, whose center was the ancient holy city of Nippur, was the god of fate, the creator of cities, and the inventor of the hoe and plow. The god of the sun Utu (in Akkadian mythology, he bears the name Shamash), the god of the moon Nannar (in Akkadian Sin), who was considered the son of Enlil, "the fire of love and fertility Inanna (in the Vazilonian and Assyrian pantheon - Lshtar) and the god of eternity wildlife Du-muzi (Babylonian Tammuz), personifying dying and resurrecting vegetation.The god of war, disease and death Nergal was identified with the planet Mars, the supreme Babylonian god Marduk - with the planet Jupiter, Nabu (the son of Marduk), who was considered the god of wisdom, letters and accounts - with the planet Mercury.The supreme god of Assyria was the tribal god of this country Ashur.
In the beginning, Marduk was one of the most insignificant gods. But his role began to grow along with the political rise of Babylon, of which he was considered the patron.
In addition to deities, the inhabitants of Mesopotamia also revered numerous demons of goodness and sought to propitiate the demons of evil, who were considered the cause of various diseases and death. They also tried to save themselves against evil spirits with the help of spells and special amulets.
The Sumerians and Akkadians believed in an afterlife. According to their ideas, it was a realm of shadows, where the dead suffered from hunger and thirst forever and were forced to eat clay and dust. Therefore, the children of the dead were obliged to make sacrifices to them.
Scientific knowledge. The peoples of Mesopotamia achieved certain successes in the scientific knowledge of the world. Particularly great were the achievements of Babylonian mathematics, which originally arose from the practical needs of measuring fields, constructing canals and various buildings. Since ancient times, the Babylonians erected multi-story (usually seven-story) ziggurats. From the upper floors of the ziggurats, scientists from year to year conducted observations of the movements of celestial bodies. In this way, the Babylonians collected and recorded empirical observations of the Sun, the Moon, the positions of various planets and constellations. In particular, astronomers noted the position of the Moon in relation to the planets and gradually established the periodicity of the movement of celestial bodies visible to the naked eye. In the process of such centuries-old observations, Babylonian mathematical astronomy arose.
A large number of Babylonian medical texts have survived. It can be seen from them that the doctors of Ancient Mesopotamia were able to treat dislocations and fractures of the limbs well. However, the Babylonians had very weak ideas about the structure of the human body and they failed to achieve noticeable success in the treatment of internal diseases.
Even in the III millennium BC. e. the inhabitants of Mesopotamia knew the way to India, and in the 1st millennium BC. e. also in Ethiopia and Spain. The maps that have survived to this day reflect the attempts of the Babylonians to systematize and generalize their rather extensive geographical knowledge. In the middle of the II millennium BC. e. guides were compiled for Mesopotamia and adjacent countries, intended for merchants engaged in domestic and international trade. Maps covering the territory from Urartu to Egypt were found in the Ashurbanap-la library. Some maps show Babylonia and neighboring countries. These cards also contain text with the necessary comments.
Art. In the formation and subsequent development of the art of ancient Mesopotamia, the artistic traditions of the Sumerians played a decisive role. In the IV millennium BC. e., i.e., even before the emergence of the first state formations, the leading place in Sumerian art was occupied by painted ceramics with their characteristic geometric ornament. From the beginning of the III millennium BC. e. stone carving played an important role, which soon led to the rapid development of glyptics, which continued until the disappearance of cuneiform culture at the turn of the 1st century BC. n. e. Cylindrical seals depicted mythological, religious, domestic and hunting scenes.
In the XXIV-XXII centuries. BC When Mesopotamia became a single power, sculptors began to create idealized portraits of Sargon, the founder of the Akkadian dynasty.
The population of ancient Mesopotamia achieved impressive success in the construction of palace and temple buildings. They, like the houses of private individuals, were built of mud brick, but unlike the latter, they were erected on high platforms. A characteristic building of this kind was the famous palace of the kings of Mari, built at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e.
The development of technology, crafts and commodity-money relations led in the 1st millennium BC. e. to the emergence of large cities in Mesopotamia, which were the administrative, craft and cultural centers of the country, and to the improvement of living conditions. The largest city in Mesopotamia by area was Nineveh, built on the banks of the Tigris mainly under Sennacherib (705-681 BC) as the capital of Assyria.
Glass production began early in Mesopotamia: the first recipes for its manufacture date back to the 18th century. BC e.
However, the Iron Age in this country came relatively late - in the 11th century. BC e., the widespread use of iron for the production of tools and weapons began only a few centuries later.
Concluding the characterization of the culture of Ancient Mesopotamia, it should be noted that the achievements of the inhabitants of the Tigris and Euphrates valleys in architecture, art, writing and literature, in the field of scientific knowledge, in many respects played the role of a standard for the entire Near East in antiquity.
The Sumerians are one of the oldest civilizations. Their development and expansion was based on the possession of rich lands in the river valleys. The Sumerians were less fortunate than others in terms of minerals or strategic position, and did not last as long as the ancient Egyptians. Nevertheless, thanks to their many achievements, the Sumerians created one of the most important early cultures. Due to the fact that their location was militarily vulnerable and unfortunate in terms of natural resources, they had to invent a lot. Therefore, they made no less significant contribution to history than the incomparably more wealthy Egyptians.
LOCATION
Sumer was located in southern Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia), where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers converged before flowing into the Persian Gulf. By 5000 B.C. primitive farmers descended into the river valley from the Zagros Mountains to the east. The ground was good, but after the spring flood season, in the summer, it baked heavily in the sun. Early settlers learned how to build dams, control water levels in rivers, and artificially irrigate land. The early settlements at Ur, Uruk, and Eridu developed into independent cities and later into city-states.
CAPITAL
The Sumerians, who lived in cities, did not have a permanent capital, as the center of power moved from place to place. The most important cities were Ur, Lagash, Eridu, Uruk.
POWER GROWTH
In the period from 5000 to 3000 years. BC. the agricultural communities of Sumer gradually turned into city-states on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates. The culture of the city-states reached its highest peak in 2900-2400. BC. They periodically fought among themselves and competed for land and trade routes, but never created empires that would go beyond their traditional possessions.
The river valley city-states were relatively wealthy through food production, handicrafts, and trade. This predetermined that they became an attractive target for warlike neighbors in the north and east.
ECONOMY
The Sumerians grew wheat, barley, legumes, onions, turnips and dates. They raised large and small cattle, were engaged in fishing, hunting for game in the river valley. Food was usually plentiful and the population grew.
There were no deposits of copper in the river valley, but it was found in the mountains to the east and north. The Sumerians learned how to extract copper from ore by 4000 BC. and make bronze items by 3500 BC.
They sold food, textiles, and handicrafts, and bought raw materials, including wood, copper, and stone, from which they made everyday items, weapons, and other goods. Traders climbed the Tigris and Euphrates to Anatolia, reached the Mediterranean coast. They also traded in the Persian Gulf, buying goods from India and the Far East.
RELIGION AND CULTURE
The Sumerians worshiped thousands of gods, each of their cities had its own patron. The major gods, such as Enlil, the god of the air, were too busy to worry about the woes of an individual. For this reason, each Sumerian worshiped its own god, who was believed to be associated with the main gods.
The Sumerians did not believe in life after death and were realists. They recognized that although the gods are above criticism, they are not always kind to people.
The soul and center of each city-state was a temple in honor of the patron deity. The Sumerians believed that the patron deity was the owner of the city. Part of the land was cultivated specifically for the deity, often by slaves. The rest of the land was cultivated by temple workers or farmers who paid rent to the temple. The rent and offerings were used to maintain the temple and help the poor.
Slaves were an important part of society and were the main target of military campaigns. Even local residents could become slaves in case of non-payment of the debt. Slaves were allowed to work overtime and buy their freedom with their savings.
ADMINISTRATIVE-POLITICAL SYSTEM
Each city in Sumer was governed by a council of elders. In wartime, a special lugal leader was elected, who became the head of the army. Ultimately, the "lugals" turned into kings and founded dynasties.
According to some reports, the Sumerians took the first steps towards democracy, they elected a representative assembly. It consisted of two chambers: the Senate, whose members were noble citizens, and the lower chamber, which included citizens who were subject to military service.
The surviving clay tablets testify that the Sumerians had courts where fair trials were held. One of the tablets depicts one of the oldest murder trials.
Much of the production and distribution of food was controlled by the temple. The nobility was formed on the basis of income from land ownership, trade and handicraft production. Trade and crafts were largely out of temple control.
ARCHITECTURE
The disadvantage of the Sumerians was that they did not have easy access to building stone and timber. The main building material, which they skillfully used, was clay bricks, fired in the sun. The Sumerians were the first to learn how to build arches and domes. Their cities were surrounded by brick walls. The most important structures were temples, which were built in the form of large towers, called "ziggurats". After the destruction, the temple was restored in the same place, and each time it became more and more majestic. However, raw brick is subject to erosion much more than stone, and therefore little of the Sumerian architecture has survived to this day.
MILITARY ORGANIZATION
The main factor that affected the Sumerian army was that it was forced to reckon with the vulnerable geographical position of the country. The natural barriers necessary for defense existed only in the western (desert) and southern (Persian Gulf) directions. With the emergence of more numerous and powerful enemies in the north and east, the vulnerability of the Sumerians increased.
The works of art and archaeological finds that have come down to us indicate that the Sumerian soldiers were equipped with spears and short bronze swords. They wore bronze helmets and protected themselves with large shields. There is little information about their army.
During numerous wars between cities, great attention was paid to siege art. The mudbrick walls could not resist the determined attackers, who had time to knock out the bricks or break them into crumbs.
The Sumerians invented and were the first to use it in combat. The early chariots were four-wheeled, pulled by wild onager donkeys, and were not as efficient as the two-wheeled horse-drawn chariots of the later period. Sumerian chariots were used primarily as a means of transport, but some works of art indicate that they also took part in hostilities.
DECLINE AND COLLAPSE
A group of Semitic peoples, the Akkadians, settled north of Sumer along the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates. The Akkadians very quickly mastered the culture, religion and writing of the more advanced Sumerians. In 2371 BC Sargon I seized the royal throne in Kish and gradually subjugated all the city-states of Akkad. He then went south and captured all the city-states of Sumer, which proved unable to unite in self-defense. Sargon founded the first empire in history during his reign from 2371 to 2316. BC, subjugating the territory from Elam and Sumer to the Mediterranean Sea.
Sargon's empire collapsed after his death, but was briefly restored by his grandson. Around 2230 BC The Akkadian empire was destroyed as a result of the invasion of the barbarian people of the Gutians from the Zagros mountains. New cities soon arose in the river valley, but the Sumerians disappeared as an independent culture.
HERITAGE
The Sumerians are known primarily as the inventors of the wheel and writing (around 4000 BC). The wheel was important for the development of transport and pottery (potter's wheel). Sumerian writing - cuneiform - consisted of pictograms denoting words, which were cut with special wedges on clay. Writing arose from the need to keep records and make trade transactions.
The basis of the economy of Sumer was agriculture with a developed irrigation system. Hence it is clear why one of the main monuments of Sumerian literature was the "Agricultural Almanac", containing instructions on farming - how to maintain soil fertility and avoid salinization. It was also important cattle breeding.metallurgy. Already at the beginning of the III millennium BC. the Sumerians began to manufacture bronze tools, and at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. entered the Iron Age. From the middle of the III millennium BC. potter's wheel is used in the production of dishes. Other crafts are successfully developing - weaving, stone-cutting, blacksmithing. Extensive trade and exchange take place both between the Sumerian cities and with other countries - Egypt, Iran. India, the states of Asia Minor.
It should be emphasized the importance Sumerian writing. The cuneiform script invented by the Sumerians turned out to be the most successful and effective. Improved in the II millennium BC. Phoenicians, it formed the basis of almost all modern alphabets.
System religious and mythological ideas and cults Sumer partly echoes the Egyptian. In particular, it also contains the myth of a dying and resurrecting god, which is the god Dumuzi. As in Egypt, the ruler of the city-state was declared a descendant of a god and was perceived as an earthly god. At the same time, there were notable differences between the Sumerian and Egyptian systems. So, among the Sumerians, the funeral cult, belief in the afterlife did not acquire great importance. Equally, the priests among the Sumerians did not become a special layer that played a huge role in public life. In general, the Sumerian system of religious beliefs seems to be less complex.
As a rule, each city-state had its own patron god. However, there were gods who were revered throughout Mesopotamia. Behind them stood those forces of nature, the importance of which for agriculture was especially great - sky, earth and water. These were the sky god An, the earth god Enlil and the water god Enki. Some gods were associated with individual stars or constellations. It is noteworthy that in Sumerian writing, the pictogram of a star meant the concept of "god". Of great importance in the Sumerian religion was the mother goddess, the patroness of agriculture, fertility and childbearing. There were several such goddesses, one of them was the goddess Inanna. patroness of the city of Uruk. Some Sumerian myths - about the creation of the world, the global flood - had a strong influence on the mythology of other peoples, including Christian ones.
In the artistic culture of Sumer, the leading art was architecture. Unlike the Egyptians, the Sumerians did not know stone construction and all structures were created from raw brick. Due to the swampy terrain, buildings were erected on artificial platforms - embankments. From the middle of the III millennium BC. The Sumerians were the first to widely use arches and vaults in construction.
The first architectural monuments were two temples, White and Red, discovered in Uruk (end of the 4th millennium BC) and dedicated to the main deities of the city - the god Anu and the goddess Inanna. Both temples are rectangular in plan, with ledges and niches, decorated with relief images in the "Egyptian style". Another significant monument is the small temple of the goddess of fertility Ninhursag in Ur (XXVI century BC). It was built using the same architectural forms, but decorated not only with relief but also with round sculpture. In the niches of the walls there were copper figurines of walking gobies, and on the friezes there were high reliefs of lying gobies. At the entrance to the temple - two statues of lions made of wood. All this made the temple festive and elegant.
In Sumer, a peculiar type of cult building developed - a ziggurag, which was a stepped, rectangular in plan tower. On the upper platform of the ziggurat there was usually a small temple - "the dwelling of the god." The ziggurat for thousands of years played approximately the same role as the Egyptian pyramid, but unlike the latter, it was not an afterlife temple. The most famous was the ziggurat (“temple-mountain”) in Ur (XXII-XXI centuries BC), which was part of a complex of two large temples and a palace and had three platforms: black, red and white. Only the lower, black platform has survived, but even in this form, the ziggurat makes a grandiose impression.
Sculpture in Sumer was less developed than architecture. As a rule, it had a cult, "initiatory" character: the believer placed a figurine made to his order, most often small in size, in the temple, which, as it were, was praying for his fate. The person was depicted conditionally, schematically and abstractly. without respect for proportions and without a portrait resemblance to the model, often in the pose of a prayer. An example is a female figurine (26 cm) from Lagash, which has mostly common ethnic features.
In the Akkadian period, sculpture changes significantly: it becomes more realistic, acquires individual features. The most famous masterpiece of this period is the copper head of Sargon the Ancient (XXIII century BC), which perfectly conveys the unique traits of the king's character: courage, will, severity. This work, rare in expressiveness, is almost indistinguishable from modern ones.
Sumerian reached a high level literature. In addition to the above-mentioned "Agricultural Almanac", the most significant literary monument was the Epic of Gilgamesh. This epic poem tells about a man who saw everything, experienced everything, knew everything and who was close to unraveling the mystery of immortality.
By the end of the III millennium BC. Sumer gradually declines and is eventually conquered by Babylonia.
