An Historical Screw Up

Map of Mesopotamia

In the early part of the third century B.C.E., two priests of local long established civilizations attempted to introduce to the Greeks the culture and history of their respective civilizations. They were the Egyptian Priest Manetho and the Babylonian Priest Berossus. Both wrote short books giving an outline of the histories of their respective cultures going back to mythological times. In the case of Manetho, who I have discussed in an earlier posting,1 despite the apparent lack of interest by most Greco-Romans in his book enough survived, mainly because Christian writers preserved large sections of Manetho’s chronology. This gave to modern Egyptologists the familiar outline Egyptian history has a series of dynasties and it turned out to be reasonably accurate.2 Despite the fact that Manetho’s account used Ancient Egyptian records his short book was generally ignored by the Greco-Romans and in fact what was preserved by the later Christian writers, i.e., Manetho’s dynastic list was from summaries. It appears that the actual book had swiftly become a rarity and disappeared fairly rapidly. It appears for their history of Ancient Egypt the Greeks and the Romans preferred the mess of Herodotus or the fantasies preserved by Diodorus. So what the pagan writers preserved were cute stories and interesting anecdotes; only later Christian writers with a different mindset preserved much of the dynastic list provided by Manetho.3

With Berossus it is much, much worst. What we have is summaries of summaries of summaries etc., and the information is even more garbled than that of Manetho.

The Emergence of Civilization

Part I 

Great Bath at Mohenjodaro
Indus Civilization c. 2300 B.C.E.

The emergence of Civilization is without a doubt one of the great mysteries of human history. We know far too little about the process by which civilization emerged and then spread. However let us first go through a few definitions.

Innkeeper

Hittite relief of the Goddess KuBuba

Sometimes history throws you a loop that is tantalizing but also annoying in its brevity and lack of detail such is the story or should I say lack of Story concerning Kug-Bau (alternative spelling Ku-baba), queen of Kish c. 2400 B.C.E. She is the only Queen mentioned in the Sumerian King List and has such she stands out very much in the list.1

Kish was one of the most important city states of ancient Babylonia / Sumer. In fact the first non-legendary dynasty to be listed in the Sumerian King list is in fact the first dynasty of Kish. In fact when a ruler of one of the many city states of Babylonia / Sumer was claiming some sort of domination over all of Babylonia / Sumer he would frequently title himself “King of Kish“ and try to be crowned there. If the Sumerian King List is anything to go by the rulers of Kish were very frequently the most powerful city state in Babylonia / Sumer, through out this time period.2

Map of Ancient Sumer

One of the most consistent aspects about Kingship in the Mesopotamian world is that it was a very masculine activity. Queens could of course weld considerable power but Queen’s regnant seem to have been very rare indeed.

So just how did this even happen? We do not know! However we do have two sources. The first is the Sumerian King List, which exists in c. 17 versions and in very fragmentary condition,3 which says:

Then Mari was {defeated} {(ms. TL has instead:) destroyed} and the kingship was taken to Kiš. In Kiš, Kug-Bau, the woman tavern-keeper, who made firm the foundations of Kiš, became king; she ruled for 100 years. 1 king; she ruled for 100 years. Then Kiš was {defeated} {(ms. TL has instead:) destroyed} and the kingship was taken to Akšak.

…

{Then Akšak was defeated} {(ms. S has instead:) Then the reign of Akšak was abolished} and the kingship was taken to Kiš. In Kiš, Puzur-Suen, the son of Kug-Bau, became king; he ruled for 25 years.4

Another translation of the above passages is:

Then Mari was defeated and the kingship was taken to Kiš. In Kiš, Ku-Baba, the woman tavern-keeper, who made firm the foundations of Kiš, became king; she ruled for 100 years. One queen ruled for 100 years.

…
Then Akšak was defeated and the kingship was taken to Kiš. In Kiš, Puzur-Sin, son of Ku-Baba, became king; he ruled for 25 years.5

First is must be mentioned that the Sumerian King List is a very problematic document. Only a few of the Kings mentioned in the list have yielded contemporary documents indicating that they existed and some of them like Dumuzi a fertility god seem to be clearly mythological.6

Then it must be realized that the Kings listed are in a chronological order. The first author of the King list who was copied by his successors seems to have assumed that each dynasties in the list ruled over the whole land of Sumer and Akkad. This is almost certainly wrong. It appears that the dynasties recorded were in many respects contemporary with each other. The phrasing that such and such a city was defeated / destroyed and Kingship carried off seems to be nothing more than a stock phrase meaning very little in real terms.7

We have for example in the Sumerian King List itself the following absurdity. We have listed as the son and successor of Puzur-Sin a man named Ur-Zababa, followed by 5 more kings reigning a total of 66 years. Following that Kingship is taken to Uruk whose King reigns for 25 years before Sargon the great takes Kingship to Akkade. Thus a total of 91 years separates Ur-Zababa from the Kingship of Sargon the Great who reigned, supposedly for 56 years.8 The problem is that Sargon the great is describe in the Sumerian King List as “the cupbearer of Ur-Zababa”!9 Also stories describe Ur-Zababa and Sargon as contemporaries.10

Finally the length’s given to the reigns of the Kings in the list are frequently absurd. For example 28,800 years, 1,200 years, and 900 years, and Kug-Bau is given a reign of 100 years and her grandson Ur-Zababa a reign of 400 years.11 Despite the above the Sumerian King List is considered to be fairly accurate as a list of Kings in various city states and their order.12

The first rendition of the Sumerian King List may have been during the reign of Narum-Sin, grandson of Sargon the Great and subsequently rewritten and added to until the end of the dynasty of Isin in the 18th century C.E.13

The other document is the so called Chronicle of the Esaglia (also called the Weidler Chronicle). It purports to list lessons learned by Kings in the past and especially warn of dire consequences for ignoring the cult of Marduk. It dates sometime after 1100 B.C.E.14

The passage goes follows:

38' In the reign of Puzur-Nirah, king of Akšak, the freshwater fishermen of Esagila
39' were catching fish for the meal of the great lord Marduk;
40' the officers of the king took away the fish.
41' The fisherman was fishing when 7 (or 8) days had passed [...]
42' in the house of Kubaba,[3] the tavern-keeper [...] they brought to Esagila.
42a' At that time BROKEN[4] anew for Esagila [...]
43' Kubaba gave bread to the fisherman and gave water, she made him offer the fish to Esagila.
44' Marduk, the king, the prince of the Apsû,[5] favored her and said: "Let it be so!"
45' He entrusted to Kubaba, the tavern-keeper, sovereignty over the whole world.15

Another translation of the same passage goes as follows:

During the reign of King Puzur-Nirah of Aksak, fishermen from the Esaglia caught fish on the banks of […] they caught fish for the meal of the great lord Marduk, but the king’s officers seized them. The fishermen […] Seven days having gone by, the fishermen (again) caught fish, […it] into the home of Ku-Baba, the innkeeper, […] for the large beer vat. They carried […] to the Esaglia as an offering. At this time its foun,dation. (?) BREAK, newly, for the Esaglia, […] Ku-Baba offered bread to the fishermen and offered wine to them, (but) she hurried to [deliver] the fish to the Esaglia. Marduk, the king, the ,son. Of the prince of Apsu, looked benevolently upon her and she said “Let it be so!” Ku-Baba was entrusted with the whole kingship over all the lands.16

Not is this passage late it is obviously a propaganda piece designed to help discourage Kings and that agents from taking goods and merchandise from the Temple of Marduk by claiming that those who do will be punished and those who give the temple what it is entitled to will prosper.

That being the case it does seem to be an interesting indication that even more than 1000 years after Kug-Bau’s reign she was still remembered, with a reputation for piety, and those legends about her were positive.

So what do those the above, very laconic, documents tell us about Kug-Bau? They tell us that she started out in what we call a fairly “middle class” situation. Occupations were usually hereditary among the peoples of ancient Babylonia / Sumer so her parents were probably also Innkeepers also. Since women could own and run businesses in ancient Babylonia / Sumer and Inn keeping seems to have been one of the ones with a fair number of female practitioners.17

This was certainly not the sort of occupation that would lead to becoming ruler; usually. So just what did Kug-Bau do that got her to power? The answer is we do not know. The Esaglia Chronicle would appear to indicate that perhaps Kug-Bau was helped to power in alliance with the local Priesthood, although it would not have been the Priesthood of Marduk but possibly the Priesthood of the Sumerian supreme God An / Anu, or perhaps Enlil.18

Now we know from the Sumerian King list that Kug-Bau was the founder of a dynasty, in this case the third dynasty of Kish. This would seem to indicate that Kug-Bau took power after some sort of calamity or coup seemed to necessitate the replacement of the ruling dynasty. Perhaps some sort of defeat in war? The very fact that Kug-Bau was able to take, hold on to power and establish a dynasty would seem to indicate a very high level of political skill on her part. Certainly given that in ancient Babylonia and Sumer Kingship was regarded as almost entirely outside of a women’s role; we can be assured that Kug-Bau was quite a politician.

The statement Kug-Bau, “who made firm the foundations of Kiš (Kish)”, would appear to indicate that Kug-Bau re-established Kish’s power and greatly strengthened the state, and perhaps also greatly extended Kish’s power and influence throughout Babylonia / Sumer.

The closing section is a bit bizarre. Kish is said to have been defeated and Kingship taken to Aksak for 93 years and then Kingship is restored to Kish and in the hands of Puzur-Sin the son of Kug-Bau who reigned for 25 years. Obviously that is false. Further Kug-Bau is supposed to have reigned after carrying off Kingship from Mari yet according to the Esaglia Chronicle Puzur-Nirah who according to the Sumerian King List was the third King of the dynasty of Aksak that succeeded Kug-Bau!19

It seems to be obvious that the break that the author of the Sumerian King List introduces is an error. Although rather amazingly some people call the list of names staring with Kug-Bau’s son Puzur-Sin as the fourth dynasty of Kish. This is almost certainly a mistake and what as in fact happened is that the author has broken the third dynasty of Kish into two parts.20

So it appears that in fact Kug-Bau’s reign ended simply with her death and the passing of the throne to her son.

Kug-Bau had a curious sort of afterlife, aside from showing up in legends, in that she seems to have become assimilated with a goddess Kubaba / Kububa known later on in Greco-Roman times as Cybebe or Kybebe, a Mother Earth Goddess. As Kubaba this cult spread throughout Mesopotamia, Palestine and Asia Minor; later on under the name Cybebe, / Kybebe this cult spread throughout the Roman Empire.21

It is more likely that Kug-Bau was named after a Goddess than that she inspired the cult by being deified; still it is likely that she had some influence on the cult and was to a degree assimilated to the Goddess. It is also possible that this is another example of a mythological figure, in this case a Goddess, getting into the Sumerian King List. This is rather doubtful given the circumstantial detail of her being an Innkeeper and the rather earthy statement she built up the power of Kish. It appears that Kug-Bau was indeed a real person.22

Certainly there is massive room for speculation and perhaps a few historical novels to put some flesh on the very bare bones facts we have about Kug-Bau.

Did Kug-Bau when she was Queen of Kish sometimes wistfully recall those times when she was a Innkeeper serving her customers another tall cold one? We will likely never know. But the story of the Innkeeper who became a Queen and founded a dynasty will continue to fascinate.

Map of Kish

1. Roux, Ancient Iraq, 3rd Edition, Penguin Books, London, 1992, After p. 498, in the Chronological table the fifth page, Bertman, Stephen, Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2003, p. 91.

2. Bertman, p. 24, . Saggs, H. W. F., The Greatness that was Babylonia, Mentor Books, New York, 1962, pp. 60-61, Roux, pp. 138-139.

3. Glasser, Jean-Jacques, Mesopotamian Chronicles, Society of Biblical Literature, Atlanta, 2004, pp. 117-118.

4. From The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature (ETCSL), Sumerian King List, (SKL) Here, Glasser, pp. 118-127, includes translation and transliteration of original Sumerian.

5. From Livius, Sumerian King List, (SKL) Here.

6. Saggs, pp. 55-56, Bertman, p. 50, Khurt, Amelie, The Ancient Near East c. 3000-330 B.C., v. 1, Routledge, New York, 1995, pp. 29-31, Roux, pp. 107-108, 123-125.

7. IBID, Roux, pp. 138-145.

8. ETSCL, SKL, Livius, SKL, Glasser, p. 123.

9. IBID, Glasser.

10. IBID, p. 267. See also story Sargon and Ur-Zababa, ETSCL Here.

11. IBID, pp. 121-123, see also Livius, SKL, and ETSCL, SKL.

12. Roux, pp. 123-124.

13.Glasser, p. 118.

14. IBID, pp. 263-264.

15. Livius, The Weilder Chronicle, (WC) Here.

16. Glasser, p. 267.

17. Hawkes, Jacquetta, The First Great Civilizations, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1973, pp. 104, 114-115.

18. For more about those Gods see Bertman, pp. 116, 118.

19. Glasser, pp. 123, 267, Livius, SKL, WC.

20. For an example of this see Wikipedia, Sumerian King List Here.

21. Wikipedia, Kubaba Here.

22. See Footnotes 6 & 7.

Pierre Cloutier

Diffusionistic Fantasies I

One of the most persistent mythological ideas concerning the development of civilization in the Americas is the notion that the pre-Columbian civilizations of Americas were the result of the diffusion of cultural traits from the Old World to the New World.

In other words that civilization in the New World was the result of the diffusion of cultural traits from the Old World to the New World.

Now this idea was fairly popular in the late Nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and has since declined considerably in popularity. However it still has many adherents the great majority of whom are not experts in the Civilizations in question or even terribly knowledgeable or experts who just like thumb their noses at the “orthodox establishment”.1

Now one of the most persistent characteristic’s of this type of thinking is a pervasive inability to believe that the Peoples of the New World could have developed civilization on their own.2 Thus the accomplishments of the peoples of the New World is nothing more than them borrowing from the peoples of the Old World.3 Part of this approach is the infamous “White God” mythos which is to put it politely a total crock.4

Now this attitude is worth exploring in greater detail elsewhere but her I will examine just one example of diffusionistic reasoning. The example of Pyramids. It is a common trope in Diffusion literature.

The idea is that the peoples of the Americas got the idea of pyramids from the Old World; most commonly they were alleged to be copying the pyramids of Egypt.5

Pyramids of Giza, Egypt

Here is where nomenclature helps confuse the issue. Simply calling two things by the same name does not prove that the two things are the same thing. For example we have wolves in the Old World & North America and on the island of Tasmania there used to exist, the now extinct, Tasmanian wolf. The fact is the Tasmanian wolf is not a wolf at all, but a marsupial and aside from being a mammal is not related to wolves at all, which are placental mammals.6 Thus calling something the same thing as something else does not prove that they are identical or that there is any sort of relationship between them. In the case of the Tasmanian wolf, they certainly look dog like, but are about as close to dogs as is the Spiny Anteater or Platypus.

Tasmanian Wolves
In the case of the Pyramids it is the same the fact that pyramids in Egypt and Mexico / Peru look alike does not prove that they are linked in any way. In order to link the two items one must do a comparison and this involves discussing that they were made of and how they were made.

Egyptian pyramids like the Great pyramid at Giza were largely built as tombs for the Pharaohs of Egypt. The era of the building of huge spectacular pyramids in Egypt lasted only a little less than a two centuries.7 This was the period of the 3rd and 4th dynasties.

It was during the reign of these Kings that Pyramid building reached its climax and then went into rapid decline. Ever since the unification of Egypt under the 1st dynasty Egyptians had been increasingly experimenting with stone work and with building stone monuments. By the beginning of the 3rd dynasty the Egyptians were fairly accomplished in this work.8

It was during the reign of Pharaoh Djoser of the 3rd dynasty that the first spectacular example of both pyramid construction and massive stone work was built. Djoser’s step pyramid and the mortuary complex around it are the first outstanding examples of truly massive stonework in human history. It is also a very well built series of constructions that are in quite good shape considering their age, (more 4500 years!).9

Step Pyramid of Djoser

In terms of construction the Step pyramid of Djoser was constructed of a series of stepped layers and the stone blocks constructing it were much smaller that the stone blocks later used.10 It was all part of the process by which the Egyptians were learning how to construct massive stone monuments. Later developments would add smooth sides to the pyramids and, enlarge the blocks of they were composed add granite covering stones and make them progressively larger.11

However towards the end of the 4th dynasty pyramids got drastically smaller. For example Menkaure’s pyramid is only about ¼ the size of the Great pyramid.12 Afterwards in the 5th and 6th dynasties pyramids were drastically smaller and far less finely constructed , being made largely of rubble and mud brick. It appears that Egyptians decided that the enormous cost of building such colossal and finely built edifices of stone was simply not worth it anymore.13

Now if the idea of Pyramids were brought to the Americas by people who were influenced by structures like the Great Pyramid one would expect pyramids in Mexico / Peru to resemble them. The problem is they do not.

Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacan

Because of the very extensive time period over which pyramids were built in the Americas and the very wide diversity of cultures and places that built them there was, not surprisingly a great diversity of methods by which pyramids were constructed in the New World.

Pyramid, Tikal, Guatemala

There are some commonalities; however, one is that the pyramid had an earth / mud brick / rubble interior and that it was almost always used as a platform for a temple where sacred services / rituals would be performed. Also not infrequently there would be burials in the pyramids, but there chief purpose seemed to almost always have been platforms for temples.14

Pyramid at Sipan, Peru

Now one of the problems for the idea that someone had to bring over the idea of building pyramids from the Old World is that it is hard believe that it would not have independently occurred to someone that piling up earth etc, was a way to build an impressive monument. The fact is that the pyramid shape has a great deal of stability and strength and anyone who engages in trying to build impressive mounds will find out that the four sided shape is remarkably stable. Once you start building such monuments you would naturally come to this conclusion.15

Aside from differences between the purpose and techniques of building pyramids between Egyptian and New World pyramids there is the rather difficult task of explaining why New World inhabitants would seek to copy pyramids built during the great age of Pyramid building. As I said above the great age of Pyramid building lasted less than 200 years and then pyramid building went into rapid decline. After all pyramids built did no start being built in Mesoamerica until c. 1500 B.C.E., and they could not by any stretch of the imagination be compared to stone built Egyptian pyramids. If there was diffusion one would expect copies of the rather roughly stone, adobe, rubble cores with stone facings of pyramids of the Middle Kingdom.16

Of course by 1500 B.C.E., the Middle Kingdom was over and the New Kingdom had began and Egyptian Pharaohs from were being buried in rock cut tombs not pyramids. So just why would Egyptian visitors teach Mesoamericans to build pyramids when they were not building them anymore? That along with different purposes, and techniques of construction, aside make it highly dubious one as anything to do with the other.

As for South America, the same strictures apply as above with one important exception. The first pyramids in South America date to c. 3500-3000 B.C.E., at Notre Chico in Peru!17 This needless to say throws a severe monkey wrench into the idea that the natives of the New World got the idea for building pyramids from elsewhere.

Pyramids at Caral Peru, Notre Chico Culture

In fact it appears vastly more likely that if there was diffusion of pyramid building it would have been from Peru into Mesoamerica rather than from the Old World to either Mesoamerica or South America.

Now a much better idea, if you’re going to postulate diffusion is from Mesopotamia to the Americas, at least in terms of time. Mesopotamia developed into a complex society between 4000-3000 B.C.E., and during the same time period started erecting platforms, made of baked mud brick and rubble, for temples.18 This is about the same time period for the development of the pyramid temples of the Notre Chico civilization so it does fit the time period. Further Mesopotamian Ziggurats did have temples on their tops. However it does run into a whole series of problems. The four most important being.

Ziggurat of Ur, Iraq

1. If there was contact one would expect some artifacts from Mesopotamia in Peru and some artifacts from Peru in Mesopotamia. What one finds is nothing.19

2. The techniques of building are very different. For example Mesopotamian Ziggurats were built of baked mud brick with rubble cores. The pyramids of Notre Chico were built of earth and some rubble put into place in reed baskets.20

3. Mesopotamian Ziggurats don’t look a lot like Peruvian or Mexican pyramids.

4. The Mesopotamian Ziggurats did not attain the form that looks like pyramids until after Egyptian pyramids, (c. 500 years later). Which of course precludes them being inspirational for Notre Chico civilization.21

Now it is of interest to report that although the Mesopotamian Ziggurats look at lot more like New World pyramids than Egyptian pyramids they were never used as burial places, meanwhile New World pyramids were often used as burial places. Egyptian pyramids were always used as burial places and never used as platforms for temples.22

The dual use of so many New World pyramids would seem to indicate that some sort of independent development was going on.

Also one would expect that if there was contact between the New World and the Old world that one would find Old World artifacts in the New World and New World artifacts in the Old World in the relevant archaeological strata. One does not. With the exception of a slew of truly dubious alleged finds which have no providence and just show up with no background the finding of pre-Columbian Old World artifacts in the New world has been to all apparently zip. The same is true for New World finds in the Old World.23

Certainly if Egyptians influenced the development of Mexican Pyramids or in fact brought the idea, one would expect to find some Egyptian artifacts in the New World during this time period. In fact one does not find such artifacts. The same is true for Mesopotamian artifacts. They are absent.24

As said above it is absolutely incredible that anyone would think that it requires someone to bring the idea of building large impressive mounds to the New World. That such an idea would never occur to anyone except one lone genius in all of human history, from whom everybody took the idea. One just has to look at children playing in a playground to realize that piling up earth and sand is a very common idea.

Further the techniques of building Old World as against New World pyramids are different. To quote:

But those early Meso-American pyramids were made of earth and rubble covered with clay or plaster. The impressive stone structures that tourists travel to Mexico City, Yucatan, and Guatemala to see belong to the Classic Period (c. 300-900) or later. Even these later monuments were built with a core of earth and rubble and only an outer coating of limestone blocks. This building technique is quite different from those used to erect pyramids in Egypt or ziggurats in Mesopotamia.25

Also as indicated above the time periods are all screwed up. What with the Mesoamericans taking up pyramids after the Egyptians had abandoned them. And most decisively that the earliest pyramids on Earth seem to be Peruvian. If anyone spread the idea it would be from Peru to the rest of the world. Yes before the Egyptian pyramids before Babylonian Ziggurats Peru structures superficially like them were being built in Peru; in the coastal desert valleys.26

Of course some authors make foolish use of the tomb of Pacal in the Temple of the Inscriptions, (c. 670-700 C.E.) and say that it is a copy of a Pharaoh’s pyramid tomb in Egypt complete with sarcophagus. Unfortunately aside from missing the fact that why would a Mayan King imitate a tomb built 3000+ years earlier, there is the fact that Pacal’s tomb including the sarcophagus are only superficially similar. Also Pacal’s tomb is in many ways, including its huge stone sarcophagus unique in Mesoamerica, (so far). I further note not a trace of Egyptian iconography or artistic influence can be found in the tomb. (Ditto for Mesopotamian)27

Tomb of Pacal in The Temple of the Inscriptions, Palenque, Mexico

In many respects the attitude that assumes that because something looks like something else they are linked assumes that:

A) Similarity proves contact / influence without regard to details.

B) Similarity cannot arise or is very unlikely to arise independently.

Both of those assumptions are dubious. Given that humans are biologically similar and have similar brains the idea that they just might come to similar solutions to similar problems should not be a surprise.

Why so many want to deny the possibility that the natives of the New World were largely responsible for the civilizations of the New World is in itself a very interesting question that says a great deal about those who propose it.

Akapana Pyramid, Tiwanku, Bolivia

1. See Williams, Stephen, Fantastic Archaeology, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1991, Steibings, William H., Ancient Astronauts Cosmic Collisions and Other Popular Theories About Man’s Past, Prometheus Books, Buffalo NY, 1984, Fagan, Garrett, Review of Voyages of the Pyramid Builders, from In the Hall of Maat Here.

2. See for example Heyerdahl, Thor, Early Man and The Ocean, Vintage Books, New York, 1978.

3. An all too common attitude see for example IBID, and such books as Marx, Robert F., & Marx, Jennifer, In Quest of the Great White Gods, Crown Publishing Group, New York, 1992.

4. See Marx above & Heyerdahl pp. 93-126. For an effective demolition of this nonsense see Davies, Nigel, Voyagers to the New World, William Morrow and Co. Inc., New York, 1979, pp. 125-140, Reece, Katherine, The Spanish Imposition, from In the Hall of Maat, Here, Townsend, Camilla, Burying the White Gods, American Historical Review, vol. 108 No. 3, June 2003, also at In the Hall of Maat, Here.

5. Heyerdahl, pp. 85-86.

6. Thylacine, Wikipedia Here.

7. Edwards, I. E. S., The Pyramids of Egypt, Second Edition, Penguin Books, London, 1961, p. 297. (2700 – 2500 B.C.E.)

8. Rice, Michael, Egypt’s Making, Routledge, London, 1990, pp. 169-198.

9. IBID, Mendelssohn, Kurt, The Riddle of the Pyramids, Sphere Books Ltd., London, 1974, pp. 45-54, Edwards, pp. 53-80.

10. IBID, Edwards.

11. IBID. pp. 90-115.

12. Mendelssohn, p. 48.

13. IBID, 127-131, Edwards, pp. 170-210.

14. Stiebings, pp. 120-125.

15. For an amusing demonstration about the strength of pyramid structures see Thomson, Devon, Stressed Out Structures, at Here. It turned out that a pyramid could handle c. 9 times the weight that caused other structures tested to collapse. See also Fagan.

16. Edwards, pp. 211-253.

17. Notre Chico at Wikipedia Here. see also Moseley, Michael E., The Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization: An Evolving Hypothesis, From In The Hall of Maat Here.


18. Bertman, Stephen, Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, Oxford University Press, 2003, pp. 194-198.

19. Davies, pp. 9-10.

20. Bertman, pp. 194-198, Lost Pyramids of Caral at BBC Here

21. Stiebings, p. 121.

22. Stiebings, pp. 120-125, Feder, Kenneth L., Frauds, Myths and Mysteries, Mayfield Pub. Co., Mountain View CA., 1999, pp. 172-175.

23. See Note 19.

24. IBID.

25. Stiebing, p. 124.

26. Footnote 17.

27. Schele, Linda & Mathews, Peter, The Code of Kings, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1998, pp. 95-132.

Pierre Cloutier

Ur-Nammu and his Laws

Seal of Ur-Nammu receiving official while enthroned
C. 2100 B.C.E., Ur-Nammu, the King of Ur in modern day southern Iraq published a code of laws to help regulate the lives of his subjects.

Ur-Nammu was the founder of the third Dynasty of Ur and of the empire of the third dynasty that dominated most of modern day Iraq and western Iran. Sumeria, (Southern Iraq) had been controlled for almost a century by the Gutians, a nomadic tribe, that was able to invade Sumeria and Akkad, (central Iraq) after the collapse of the Akkadian dynasty.1

A king of Uruk by the name of Utu-hegal defeated and drove out the Gutians c. 2120 B.C. One of the men who aided him was Ur-Nammu, governor of Ur. It is unclear if Ur-Nammu overthrew Utu-hegal or seized power in the chaos that followed Utu-hegal accidentally drowning while inspecting an irrigation project.2

Apparently Ur-Nammu spent his reign conquering and consolidating his empire, and part of this effort of consolidation was the issuing of a code of laws. Now Ur-Nammu was not the first to establish a code of laws, it appears that various rulers in ancient Mesopotamia had set up codes of law before Ur-Nammu, although the only one surviving in any tangible form is the law code of Urukagina king of Lagash, in Sumeria, c. 2350 B.C.E. Although what we have in the case of the law code of Urukagina are references to its provisions in poems and other sources not the actual law code itself.3

The Empire of the Third Dynasty of Ur.

It appears that the law code of Ur-Nammu is the first surviving actual law code.

The laws that we have survive in several copies in only a very fragmentary state and as such are very incomplete. The surviving versions consist of a prologue and the laws proper. The ending, which if a comparison with later law codes, is anything to go by, had after the laws an epilogue is lost.4

In the prologue Ur-Nammu boasts of his achievements:

At that time, by the might of Nanna, [The moon god] my lord, I liberated Akshak, Marad, Girkal, Kazallu, and their settlements, and Usarum, whatever (territories) were under the subjugation of Anshan.5

In the prologue Ur-Nammu talks about how he established order, regulated / encouraged trade and agriculture, standardized measures and so forth. At the end of the prologue Ur-Nammu states:

I did not deliver the orphan to the rich. I did not deliver the widow to the mighty. I did not deliver the man with but one shekel to the man with one mina (i.e., 60 shekels). I did not deliver the man with but one sheep to the man with one ox.

I settled (in independent settlements?) my generals, my mothers, my brothers, and their families; I did not accept their instructions (?), I did not impose orders. I eliminated enmity, violence, and cries for justice. I established justice in the land.

At that time:6

There are some obscurities in the above text but it appears that the phrase regarding the settlement of his Generals etc., refers to the fact that he did not impose his followers of his subjects to exploit them but settled them in their own independent settlements. Also further to that he did not let himself be swayed by nepotism and favouritism while carrying out his duties has King and along with this Ur-Nammu claims to have established order with little coercion.

The laws themselves are not complete since we are missing the end of the document. The surviving laws are 34 in number.7 Even among the laws listed some are incomplete and others are just mystifying in terms of what they mean.

Examples of incompleteness are laws 27 and 33:

27 [If…]

33 If a man …another man…8

An example of obscurity is law 2:

2 If a man acts lawlessly (?). They shall kill him.9

Exactly what this refers to is any one's guess. It is possible that this is a general rule that officials who acted outside the law and where oppressive and brutal where liable to be put to death.

The surviving laws deal with interpersonal violence, family relations, certain legal matters and commerce among other things.

Concerning violence some of the laws are as follows:

1 If a man commits a homicide they shall kill him.

6 If a man violates the rights of another and deflowers the virgin wife of a young man, they shall kill that male.10

Those are similar to other latter law codes of Mesopotamia like the Code of Hammurabi. However unlike later codes, like Hammurabi’s or the middle Assyrian Law codes which have a long and gruesome list of mutilations and death as punishments for various violent offences in many instances Ur-Nammu’s code has instead fines. For example:

18 If [a man] cuts off the foot of [another man with…], he shall weigh and deliver 10 shekels of silver.

19 If a man shatters the …bone of another man with a club, he shall weigh and deliver 60 shekels of silver.

22. If [a man knocks out another man’s] tooth with […], he shall weigh and deliver 2 shekels of silver.11

Regarding what can be called family relations the following laws are of interest:

9 If a man divorces his first-ranking wife, he shall weigh and deliver 60 shekels of silver.

10 If he divorces a widow, he shall weigh and deliver 30 shekels of silver.

15 If a son-in-law [enters] the household of his father-in-law but subsequently the father-in-law [gives his wife to his (the son-in-law’s) comrade], he (the father-in-law) shall [weigh and deliver to him (the jilted son-in-law)] twofold (the value of) the prestations[which he (the son-in-law) brought (when he entered the house)]12

The third of the above laws seem to be concerning the case of a man who is betrothed to someone’s daughter and in preparation for the formalization of the marriage moves into the home of the father of the bride, bringing gifts and other items. The case seems to involve what happens if subsequent to such events the bride marries someone else. This law then covers the compensation the would-be groom gets.

Some of the laws relating to commerce are as follows:

31 If a man floods(?) another man’s field, he shall measure and deliver 900 silas of grain per 100 sars of field.

32 If a man gives a field to another man to cultivate but he does not cultivate it and allows it to become wasteland, he shall measure out 900 silas of grain per 100 sars.13

The above laws seem to be related to encouraging the cultivation of farmland and discouraging actions that might decrease agricultural productivity and therefore commerce and not incidentally decrease tax revenue.

There are also laws related to the administration of justice.

28 If a man presents himself as a witness but is demonstrated to be a perjurer, he shall weigh and deliver 15 shekels of silver.

29 If a man presents himself as a witness but refuses to take the oath, he shall make compensation of whatever was the object of the case.14

Law 28 is of interest especially when compared with later Mesopotamian codes of law, like Hammurabi’s which prescribed savage penalties, involving death and mutilation for perjury.

Law 29 seems to refer to cases in which someone is suing or being sued and refuses to take the oath as a witness. The law says that such a person as forfeited his case automatically.

In a society like that of ancient Mesopotamia where slavery was very common, there were many laws related to slavery.

4 If a male slave marries a female slave, his beloved, and the male slave (later) is given his freedom, she/he will not leave (or: be evicted from?) the house.

5 If a male slave marries a native [free] woman, she/he shall place one male child in the service of his master; the child who is placed in the service of his master, his paternal estate,…the wall, the house, […]; a child of the native woman will not be owned by the master, he will be pressed into slavery.

17 If [a slave or(?)] a slave woman […] ventures beyond the borders of (his or) her city and a man returns (him or) her, the slave’s master shall weigh and deliver [x] shekels of silver to the man who returned (the slave).

25 If a slave woman curses someone acting with the a mistress, they shall scour her mouth with one sila of salt.15

Compared to the savage penalties enacted against slaves in later codes of law these are comparatively benign. It is of interest that the law sought to with law 4 to protect the marriages of slaves at least to the extent of forbidding the breaking up of the marriages, by forced separation, of newly freed slaves with those who were still slaves. It is also of interest that freeborn woman could legally marry male slaves, which is quite unlike the rules in the vast majority of later slave owning societies, without it affecting at all their status as free persons. The text is confusing regarding the status of the one male child placed in the service of the master. It appears that the child was not actually a slave and had some rights to inherit from the master. It appears that all the other children where completely free, which is again very unlike the great majority of slave societies where all the children of a male slave were slaves regardless of who the mother was.16

Finally malicious gossip is dealt with although not in manner we today would approve of:

14 If a man accuses the wife of a young man of promiscuity but the river Ordeal clears her, the man who accused her shall weigh and deliver 20 shekels of silver.17

Exactly what the “River Ordeal” was is not known although in comparison with later penalties for slander, mutilation etc., a fine is certainly far more humane.

Over all the this early Mesopotamian law code is far more humane than the later law codes which substituted the fines with a rather mourn full list of beatings, mutilations and torture along with fines. Further it appears that the relatively “liberal” laws relating to slavery and the status of women were also made more severe, unfair and brutal. Exactly why this occurred is not clearly understood.

In c. 2095 B.C.E., Ur-Nammu died on the battlefield; his death described as follows: “abandoned on the battlefield like a crushed vessel”18 Ur-Nammu was succeeded by his son Shulgi, who reigned 47 years, and became one of the greatest of Mesopotamian rulers. The glory did not long survive Shulgi’s death a little more than 40 years after Shulgi’s death (2047 B.C.E.), Ur was sacked by the Elamites, (2004 B.C.E.) and the third dynasty of Ur and its empire came to an end.19

Shulgi making an offering to a seated god.

Despite this indication that power and glory are ephemeral it appears, from these laws, that the human desire for justice is an ever present reality.

1. Roux Georges, Ancient Iraq, Penguin Books, London, 1992, p. 158-162. Ur-Nammu reigned c. 2112-1995 B.C.E., see Roux p. 162.

2. IBID. pp. 161-162, which quotes an inscription which says “His body was carried off by the river”, Bertman, Stephen, Handbook to Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, University of Oxford Press, Oxford, 2003, p. 110, Kuhrt, Amelie, The Ancient Near East c. 3000-330 B.C., vol. 1, Routledge, New York, 1995, pp. 58-59.

3. Bertman, pp. 68, 110, Roux, p. 138.

4. Pritchard, James, Editor, The Ancient Near East: Supplementary Texts and Pictures Relating to the Old Testament, Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ., 1969, p. 87, Roth, Martha T., Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, 2nd Edition, Scholars Press, Athens GA., 1997, pp. 13-14. The Code of Hammurabi can be found at Holy Ebooks, Here. Excerpts from the code of Assyria, (or Assura) can be found at The Ancient History Source Book, Here.

5. Roth, p. 16. Other copies of the Laws of Ur-Nammu can be found at Pritchard, 1969, pp. 87-89, and Pritchard, James B., The Ancient Near East, vol. 2, Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ., 1975, pp. 31-34.

6. IBID, Roth, pp. 16-17.

7. IBID, pp. 17-21. Although the laws listed are numbered 1-37, laws 34-36 are wholly missing.

8. IBID. pp. 20-21.

9. IBID. p. 17.

10. IBID, p. 17.

11. IBID, p. 19.

12. IBID, p. 18-19.

13. IBID, pp. 20-21.

14. IBID, p. 20.

15. IBID, pp. 17, 19-20.

16. IBID, p. 21, See also Patterson, Orlando, Slavery and Social Death, Harvard University Press, London, 1982, pp. 132-147.

17. Roth, p. 18.

18. Roux, p. 168.

19. Roux, pp. 168-178, Bertman, pp. 56-57,104-105.

Pierre Cloutier

A Note on Zero
Part I

Zero

One of the most important intellectual feats of all time was the invention of the Zero. Now “0” is what enabled the creation of a place system of writing numbers and in fact seems to absolutely necessary for higher mathematics aside allowing the use of numbers in a significantly less cumbersome way.

Now the “0” is a symbol meaning “nothing” and indicating non existence and as such the idea of something representing “nothing” can be a bit of a stretch especially if you figure out that this “nothing” is in fact a real number and not simply “nothing”.

Now the concept of Zero, as a number, since it is not obvious seems to have been invented only three times. In Ancient Babylonia, Mesoamerica and India.1 In each case the invention seems to be independent. So called uses of Zero like symbols in Egypt etcetera do not count in that they seem to have been used to indicate that nothing of X remained and not to have been used as a true number to count with. A dash in list by an item is also today commonly used to indicate nothing.2

Babylonian Zero

Now I mentioned above although a Zero represents “nothing” this nothing is still in mathematical terms a real number so that thinking of Zero as simply being nothing misunderstands what it is.3 This being the case any symbol representing nothing is not necessarily a Zero. In order for a Zero to be a true Zero it must be used in a numerical system and must be understood to be a number like other numbers.

Now to get to the point of what do I mean about a Zero being a “true number” perhaps one can look at the following problem:

6789 divided by 0 = ?

If you don’t treat Zero like a real number you get the answer “0”. If you treat Zero like a real number you get the answer infinity. In other words zero goes into 6789 an infinite number of times.4

Now the other use of Zero indicating that it is viewed as a “true number” and not simply an indication of nothing is if you use it in ordinary ways to number things. For example the Maya had Zero days, and years indicating that they understood Zero as a true number.5

Mayan Zero

It is strange that the Greeks and the Romans had a hard time with the idea of both infinity and the void and that this led them to avoid using a Zero. To put it simply the idea that there could exist “nothing” was thought impossible by most Greeks and Romans and further the idea that something could be infinite further bothered them has being both absurd and horrible.6

The Mathematicians of India however had no problem at all with either the idea of a void “nothing” or the idea of infinity. The result was that they devised a Zero and place system of writing numerals.7

Indian Zero

The Zero is one of these inventions that only seems obvious in retrospect. In fact it seems that the idea of using something to represent nothing and that that “nothing” is in fact something is simply counter intuitive.

Later I might write some more about the Zero but this is it for the time being.

1. Seife, Charles, Zero, Penguin Books, London, 2000, p. 12-19, 63-71, Ifrah, Georges, The Universal History of Numbers, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 2000, pp. 148-156, 308-311, 438-439.

2. See web page on Egyptian Zero. Lumpkin, Beatrice, The Ancient Egyptian Concept of Zero and the Egyptian Symbol for Zero, Here Page provides some interesting material but fails to prove that the “Zero” is a Zero at all.

3. Seife, pp. 19-23, 131-156.

4. See Seife p. 71, Ifrah, p. 440, and Wikipedia, Division by Zero, Here. I should note that this answer does not solve all division by Zero problems and that this result can lead to mathematical paradoxes etc., if your not careful. See Wikipedia article for more info.

5. Ifrah, pp. 312-316.

6. Seife, pp. 19-62.

7. Ifrah, pp. 356-440, Seife, pp. 63-82.

Pierre Cloutier

Sargon the Great

Bronze head of a Akkadian King possibly Sargon

1. Sargon, the mighty king, king of Akkadê am I,
2. My mother was an entum; my father I did not know;
3. The brother of my father dwelt in the mountain.
4. My city is Azupiranu, which is situated on the bank of the Purattu [Euphrates],
5. My mother the entum conceived me, in secret she brought me forth.
6. She placed me in a basket of reeds; she closed my entrance with bitumen,
7. She cast me upon the rivers which did not overflow me.
8. The river carried me; it brought me to Akki, the irrigator.
9. Akki, the irrigator, in the goodness of his heart lifted me out,
10. Akki, the irrigator, as his own son brought me up;
11. Akki, the irrigator, as his gardener appointed me.
12. When I was a gardener the goddess Ishtar loved me,
13. And for four and … years I ruled the kingdom.
14. The black-headed peoples I ruled, I governed;
15. Mighty mountains with axes of bronze I destroyed (?).
16. I ascended the upper mountains;
17. I burst through the lower mountains.
18. The country of the sea I besieged three times;
19. Dilmun I captured (?).
20. Unto the great Dur-ilu I went up, I . . . . . . . . .
21 . . . . . . . . . .I altered. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
22. Whatsoever king shall be exalted after me,
23. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
24. Let him rule, let him govern the black-headed peoples;
25. Mighty mountains with axes of bronze let him destroy;
26. Let him ascend the upper mountains,
27. Let him break through the lower mountains;
28. The country of the sea let him besiege three times;
29. Dilmun let him capture;
30. To great Dur-ilu let him go up.2

Such is the piece of writing called The Legend of Sargon. Which a few centuries after the death of Sargon the Great illustrates the legends that had began to encrust his life.

Sargon the Great, (2334-2279 B.C.E.) or Sharru-kin, was ruler of the city of Kish and created, as far as we can tell, of the worlds first true empire.3

Sargon was apparently of humble origin one account says as follows:

Then Sargon -- his city was the city of ……, his father was La’ibum, his mother …… -- Sargon …… with happy heart. Since he was born …….4

Other accounts make him the son of a date grower. Other accounts give his father the name Akki. Although the later legend recorded in The Legend of Sargon make him a gardener and his home town the city of Azupiranu not to far from Kish. Somehow, we not sure how, he became the cup-bearer of Urzababa king of Kish in Babylonia and one of the most powerful cities in Babylonia. A version of events is has follows:

One day, after the evening had arrived and Sargon had brought the regular deliveries to the palace, Ur-Zababa was sleeping (and dreaming) in the holy bed-chamber, his holy residence. He realized what the dream was about, but did not put into words, did not discuss it with anyone. After Sargon had received the regular deliveries for the palace, Ur-Zababa appointed him cup bearer, putting him in charge of the drinks cupboard. Holy Inanna did not cease to stand by him.5

It appears that Urzababa was involved in efforts to get rid of Sargon.6 A document from a later time say:

In those days, writing on tablets certainly existed, but covering tablets with envelopes did not exist. King Urzababa wrote to Sargon, chosen of the gods, a tablet which would cause his own death, and dispatched it to Lugalzagesi in Uruk.7

These efforts failed and Sargon took the throne after disposing of, probably violently, of Urzababa. Apparently one of the first things he did was take the name Sharru-kin (Sargon) meaning righteous and / or legitimate ruler probably has a way of dealing with his patent usurpation of the throne of Kish. What Sargon’s “real” name was is unknown.8

The most powerful ruler that Sargon had to deal with next was Lugalzagesi king of Uruk, ruler of most of southern Babylonia and apparently involved in the plot to kill Sargon with Urzababa. An inscription from a later period records events as follows:

(Sargon, the king of Agade, the … of Inanna [Ishtar], king of Kish, anointed of Anu [sky-god], king) of lands, governor of Enil, [supreme Sumerian deity] conquered the city of Uruk and destroyed its walls. He challenged (the man of) Uruk in battle and took Lugalzagesi, the king of Uruk, prisoner in the course of the battle; he lead him in a wooden collar to the gate of Enil.

Sargon, king of Agade, challenged (the man of) Ur in a battle and defeated the city and destroyed its walls. He defeated E-Nin-kimara (town probably between Ur and Lagash) and destroyed its walls and conquered its land from Lagash to the sea. He washed his weapons in the sea. He challenged Umma in a battle (and defeated the city and destroyed its walls).

To Sargon, king of lands, Enil gave no rival: Enil gave him the Upper Sea and the Lower Sea. From the Lower Sea, citizens of Agade held the government. Mari and Elam were subject to Sargon, King of lands. Sargon, king of lands, restored Kish and made (its fugitive inhabitants re)occupy the city.9

Another record of the Reign of Sargon is the Sumerian King List which records the events of Sargon’s ascension has follows:

In Unug [Uruk], Lugalzagesi became king; he ruled for 25 (other ms. have 34) years. 1 king; he ruled for 25 (other ms. Have 34) years. Then Unug was defeated (other ms. Have Then the reign of Unug was abolished.) and the kingship was taken to Agade.

In Agade, Sargon, whose father was a gardener, the cup bearer of Urzababa, became king, the king of Agade, who built Agade (other ms. has Under whom Agade was built); he ruled for 56 (other ms. 55 or 54) years.10...  

 Mesopotamian Seal

Sargon built the first great ancient Royal city that of Agade. The location of which is unfortunately still unknown. He also instituted a system of royal governors to police and keep the subject kings under control. He also apparently began the process of greatly increasing the sanctity of the ruler. It appears for example that he claimed to be the lover of Ishtar (in Sumerian Inanna).11
 

It appears that alone with Royal Governors, (Ensi) Sargon established a system of garrisons with a permanent standing army. It appears that Sargon had generals (Sagina) under his command who were separate from the civil administration. There appear to have been bureaucratic staff and record keepers associated with the upkeep and maintenance along with the creation of a permanent bureaucracy, to organize the maintenance of the administrative structure of the empire and to ensure the payment of tribute.
 

As mentioned in the quotes above Sargon tried to ensure compliance with the Imperial will by among other things destroying the wall of cities he conquered so has to make rebellion far more difficult. The settling in place of a cadre of Royal officials also helped to ensure loyalty.
 

These officials were granted personal estates to both ensure their loyalty and to enable them to fulfill financially their duties. It appears that land was acquired by conquest and that the land owned by the previous dynasty of cities conquered was expropriated by Sargon for himself and his family.12
 

We know that some high officials owned great amounts of land for example one Mesag, who was Governor of Umma, held about 1,270 hectares of land.13 The governor was responsible for agriculture, distribution of the harvest, labour and draft animals, human labourers, sheep and goats, hunting and fishing, oils fats and perfumes and manufacturing, food production and commerce.
 

Some land was held directly for the king although in all cases the harvest was carefully monitored probably to make sure that the portion going to the king and his servants was fully paid up. Cargoes that went to Agade were carefully inspected and sealed to prevent tampering and theft. It appears that the system was designed to breakdown local loyalties and create an elite that would be loyal to the ruling dynasty, by creating a mass extended royal household.14
 

It appears for example from the archives found so far that such things as fishing and hunting were closely regulated with the royal governors distributing mass quantities of food stuffs as many as 60,000 at a time.15 Even the baking of bread and mass production of pottery was controlled by the governors along with carpenters and smiths also on the state ration list.
 

The records indicate a uniformity of governmental system across the empire. In some areas colonies of Mesopotamians were established and centres like Susa in Southern Iran) established to maintain control over conquered areas.16

This state certainly sounds very bureaucratic, authoritarian and frankly “statist”. I doubt however the people of Sargon’s empire would have made the distinction between public and private enterprise that we would make. Aside from Elam it appears that the empire of Sargon controlled Sumer, Assyria northern Mesopotamia, parts if not all of Syria and parts of Asia Minor. Later accounts would credit him with conquests in Crete and Egypt. Those are not likely to be true.17
 

It appears that Sargon by taking control of Kish had established himself in a very powerful position in that it appears that Kish dominated central Mesopotamia for centuries compared to the far more divided south. Also Kish may have had a more centralized, authoritarian kingship along with possibly sanctifying, sacralizing it more.18
 

It also appears that Sargon’s empire was likely the culmination of efforts to achieve the creation of empire based on efforts of his Sargon’s predecessors. Sargon, however, seems to have been vastly more successful.
 

Although Sargon established his rule through Akkadian governors over the largely Sumerian southern cities and used Akkadian, a Semitic language, as the language of administration it appears that there were little what we call ethnic hostility between the groups. What evidence we have seems to indicate that virtually every city state in central and Southern Babylonia at this time had both Semitic and Sumerian speakers and ethnic discord played little if any role in the politics of that time.19
 

In fact Sargon had his daughter Enheduanna made a priestess (Entum) of the Nanna, the moon god of the southern city of Ur. A position of considerable power and authority. Later centuries attributed a whole series of hymns in Sumerian to the goddess Inanna (Ishtar), who was her fathers personal deity and supposedly his lover, to her making her the first author in history who we can name. For hundreds of years after predominant Mesopotamian rulers would make one of their daughters the priestess of Nanna at Ur.20

Portrait of Enheduanna

We have samples of the hymns attributed to Enheduanna, for example:

“My own trial is not yet over, but a stranger sentence surrounds me as though it were my sentence. (complaint) To the radiant bed, I did not stretch out my hand. Nor did I reveal the words of Ningal to that ‘someone’ The radiant en-priestess of Nanna am I, (protest) My Queen, beloved of An, may your heart be calmed for me.

…

“you are even greater than your own mother, full of wisdom, foresight, queen over all lands, who allows existence too many, I now strike up your fate-determining song! All powerful divinity, suitable for the ME, that which you have said magnificently is the most powerful! Of unfathomable heart, oh highly driven woman, of radiant heart, your ME I will list for you now!”21

Sargon finally built the great royal city of Agade apparently with temple palaces to the various gods of Mesopotamia including, not surprisingly Ishtar (Inanna).22

Sargon reigned for c. 55 years towards the end of his reign a great revolt happened and as an ancient account say:

All the lands revolted against him, and they besieged him in Agade. …He went forth to battle and defeated them; he knocked them over and destroyed their vast army…Subartu [nomads] in their might attacked, but they submitted to his arms, and Sargon settled their inhabitants, and he smote them grievously.23

So Sargon was able to bequeath his empire to his successors and it reached its height under the reign of his grandson Naram-Sin. Shortly after Naram-Sin’s death it collapsed leaving to subsequent generations a myth of power and glory and of a series of “God-Kings”. 24

In a later Sumerian poem called The Curse of Agade, which denounces the corruption and pride of Agade and of Naram-Sin especially has leading to the Gods arranging the destruction of the city there is still this invocation of Agade during the reign of Sargon:

In those days the dwelling of Agade were filled with gold,
Its bright-shining houses were filled with silver,
Into its granaries were brought copper, lead (and) slabs of lapis lazuli,
Its silos bulged at the sides,
Its old women were endowed with counsel,
Its old men were endowed with eloquence,
Its young men were endowed with the “strength of weapons”,
Its little children were endowed with joyous hearts,
The nurse raised children of the governors, played on the algarsur instruments,
Inside the city (was full of) tigi music,
Outside it (was full of) reed pipe (and) zamzam music,
Its quay where the boats docked were all abustle,
All lands lived in security,
Their people witnessed (nothing but) happiness…25

 Head of Akkadian King

 

1. an Entum is a female cultic functionary of high status. See Kuhrt, Amelie, The Ancient Near East: c. 3000-330 BC, v. 1, Routledge, London, 1995, p. 58.
 

2. George A. Barton, Archaeology and The Bible, 3rd Ed., (Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union, 1920), p. 310. Prof. Arkenberg of Cal. Tech. has modernized the text. See Ancient History Source Book, Here. I have made a few more changes to the translation using other translations. Such as Legend of Sargon, at Here. See also translation in Pritchard, James B., Editor, The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts, v. 1, Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, 1958, pp. 85-86.
 

3. Roux, Georges, Ancient Iraq, Penguin Books, London, 1992, pp. 151-155, 500, Saggs, H.W.F., The Greatness that was Babylon, New American Library, New York, 1962, pp. 66-68, Kuhrt, pp. 58-60, Yoffee, Norman, Myths of the Archaic State, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1005, pp. 142-144, Lloyd, Seton, The Archaeology of Mesopotamia, Revd. Edition, Thames and Hudson, London, 1984, pp. 137-138, Michalowski, Piotr, Memory and Deed, in Akkad The First World Empire, Ed. Liverani, Mario, Tipografia Poligafica Moderna, Padua, 1993, pp. 69-90.
 

4. See ETCSL, at Here
 

5. IBID.
 

6. Roux, pp. 152-153, Kuhrt, pp, 48-49. Urzbaba’s attempts to get rid of Sargon are given as follows in an ancient account:

After five or 10 days had passed, King Ur-Zababa …… and became frightened in his residence. Like a lion he urinated, sprinkling his legs, and the urine contained blood and pus. He was troubled, he was disturbed like a fish living in brackish water. 

It was then that the cup bearer of Ezina's wine-house, Sargon, lay down not to sleep, but lay down to dream. In the dream, holy Inanna drowned Ur-Zababa in a river of blood. The sleeping Sargon groaned and gnawed the ground. When King Ur-Zababa heard about this groaning, he was brought into the king's holy presence, Sargon was brought into the presence of Ur-Zababa (who said:) "Cupbearer, was a dream revealed to you in the night?" Sargon answered his king: "My king, this is my dream, which I will tell you about: There was a young woman who was as high as the heavens and as broad as the earth. She was firmly set as the base of a wall. For me, she drowned you in a great river, a river of blood." 

Ur-Zababa chewed his lips, he became seriously afraid. He spoke to ……, his chancellor: "My royal sister, holy Inanna, is going to change (?) my finger into a …… of blood; she will drown Sargon, the cup bearer, in the great river. Beliš-tikal, chief smith, man of my choosing, who can write tablets, I will give you orders, let my orders be carried out! Let my advice be followed! Now then, when the cupbearer has delivered my bronze hand-mirror (?) to you, in the E-sikil, the fated house, throw them (the mirror and Sargon) into the mould like statues." 

Beliš-tikal heeded his king's words and prepared the moulds in the E-sikil, the fated house. The king spoke to Sargon: "Go and deliver my bronze hand-mirror (?) to the chief smith!" Sargon left the palace of Ur-Zababa. Holy Inanna, however, did not cease to stand at his right hand side, and before he had come within five or 10 nindan of the E-sikil, the fated house, holy Inanna turned around toward him and blocked his way, (saying:) "The E-sikil is a holy house! No one polluted with blood should enter it!" Thus he met the chief smith of the king only at the gate of the fated house. After he delivered the king's bronze hand-mirror (?) to the chief smith, Beliš-tikal, the chief smith, …… and threw it into the mould like statues. 

After five or 10 days had passed, Sargon came into the presence of Ur-Zababa, his king; he came into the palace, firmly founded like a great mountain. King Ur-Zababa …… and became frightened in his residence. He realized what was it about, but did not put into words, did not discuss it with anyone. Ur-Zababa became frightened in the bed-chamber, his holy residence. He realized what was it about, but did not put into words, did not discuss it with anyone.

From ETCSL, at Here

7. Cooper, Jerrold S., Paradigm and Propaganda: The Dynasty of Akkade in the 21st Century, in Ed. Liverani, pp. 23, p. 18.
 

8. See Footnote 6.
 

9. Kuhrt, p. 49.
 

10. See ETCSL, at Here
 

11. See Footnote 3.
 

12. Foster, Benjamin R., Management and Administration in the Sargonic Period, in Ed. Liverani, pp. 25-39.
 

13. IBID. p. 29.
 

14. IBID. pp. 29-31.
 

15. IBID. pp. 31-32.
 

16. IBID. pp. 32-34.
 

17. See Footnote 3, Michalowski, Roux, Kuhrt.
 

18. Steinkeller, Piotr, Early Political Development in Mesopotamia and the Origins of the Sargonic Empire, in Ed. Liverani, pp. 107-129, at pp.118-121.
 

19. See Roux, pp. 146-155.
 

20. Kuhrt, p. 50, Roux p.153.
 

21 Enheduana, website Here
 

22. Roux. p. 152.
 

23, Roux, p. 155.
 

24 Roux, pp. 155-160, Kuhrt, pp. 50-55, Saggs, pp. 66-70.
 

25, Pritchard, James B., The Ancient Near East: A New Anthology of Texts, v. 2, Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ, 1975, p. 206.
 

Pierre Cloutier