and the Euphrates is yet an uncertain matter, still it is clear
that the unification of Egypt long preceded that of Babylonia. The
earliest date of the scattered Sumerian kings is about that of the
fourth dynasty; the earliest Semitic dynasty--Sargon and Naramsin--was
contemporary with the ninth dynasty, and the rise of the dynasties of
Babylon is of the later Hyksos age of the sixteenth dynasty.
[Sidenote: Sea-shore Moved 47 Miles]
EUPHRATES VALLEY. The conditions of the Euphrates valley are very
different from those of the Nile. On the Egyptian coast the river
runs into a strong current in the Mediterranean, which sweeps away
its sediment and prevents any continuous growth of the coast. But the
Mesopotamian rivers reach the sea-level at the head of a deep bay,
the Persian Gulf, and hence there has been a continuous formation of
new land at the estuary. The Mesopotamian valley and the Persian Gulf
form one long drainage valley gently sloping down to a distance about
twenty miles outside Hormuz, where the valley bottom drops suddenly
three miles into the floor of the Indian Ocean. The slope of this
valley so far as submerged, is about 1 ft. to the mile, and it is
probably even less in the Babylonian plain, where sea-shells are found
as far up as Babylon. This valley has been filled, and the sea-shore
pushed downward, 47 miles in 2,200 years, or 115 ft. yearly, since
Spasinus Charax--now Mohammerah--was founded on the shore in the time
of Alexander. The account of a sea expedition to Elam by Sennacherib
is usually interpreted as showing a more rapid growth; but in the
uncertainty how far he went down a channel before entering the Persian
Gulf, it is not decisive.
How far back the extension of land has been going on, and whether
it was continuous to above Babylon, has not yet been proved. The
appearance of the map much suggests that the original drainage bed
ended--_i.e._, the valley was submerged--at about the nearing of the
two rivers by Sippara, and that all below this is the filling up of the
estuary. Should this growth have extended uniformly back so far, it
would give limits to the possible ages of cities--5000 B.C. for Eridu,
8000 B.C. for the whole plain of Shumer, 10,000 B.C. for Nippur, and
earlier for the site of Babylon. This would bar the southern region
from being as old as Memphis, and Eridu was probably open sea when
Menes laid out his capital.
[Illustration: THE PLAIN OF BABYLONIA: ITS EXTENT AT DIFFERENT PERIODS
IN HISTORY
This map shows how the Plain of Babylonia has been extended down
by silting since 10,000 B.C. The dotted lines, marked 330 B.C. and
1830 A.D., show the known positions of the coast, as it shifted
by silting up. These give an approximate scale of dating for the
coast-line of earlier ages, which is marked here at each thousand
years.
]
RANGE OF CIVILISATION. In looking for the earliest movements of people
that we can trace, it seems that the Semites must have extended from
Northern Arabia into Upper Mesopotamia and Assyria. In short, Semitica
stretched up to the mountain ranges of Armenia and Media. But the
culture was barbaric, and probably they were nomads who had no fixed
centres of life or stable organisation which could resist any united
movement. At this period the Persian Gulf probably extended as far as
Babylon. On their eastern flank were the mountain tribes, in what is
known as Parthia and Media, south of the Caspian. How remote is the
beginning of civilisation in this region has been found in the last
few years. On the north-east extremity of Parthia, in the far end of
Hyrcania, stands a group of mounds, near the modern Askabad, not far
from the celebrated Turkoman stronghold of Geok Tepe. Here are 14 ft.
of town ruins with iron, 15 ft. with copper and lead, about 70 ft. of
ruins with wheel-made pottery and domesticated animals, and 45 ft. of
remains with only rude hand-made pottery. What ages these represent we
cannot judge until the full account by Prof. Pumpelly is issued. But
in any case a very long period is involved. If the accumulation is at
the rate found in Palestine, 4½ ft. per century, the periods would be
perhaps 1,500 years for the wheel pottery, and 1,000 years for the
rough pottery, before the beginning of the age of copper.
At the other side of these countries stands the great mound of Susa,
with over 80 ft. of ruins. The inscriptions show that about 26 ft.
of the height was accumulated between about 4500 and 500 B.C., or in
about 4,000 years. Yet before that there is a depth of about 50 ft.
comprising three periods. In the upper of these is elementary cuneiform
writing on tablets. Below that is a period of rather rough, thick
pottery, painted with chequer patterns and closely-crossed lines, of
the style common in early Syria and Cyprus. And at the bottom of all is
a great quantity of very fine, thin wheel-made pottery of buff tints,
with decoration of thin diagonal lines, rows of ostriches, and various
patterns all derived from basket-work.
[Sidenote: Measuring the Depths of Time]
If the scale of accumulation of the historic times were to apply here,
it would reach back to 12,000 B.C.; but if the far quicker scale found
in Palestine applied, it would hardly reach 6000 B.C. In any case we
have here evidence of a civilisation apparently much earlier than that
of Babylonia, and none of this earliest fine pottery has been found in
the great plains. The highland civilisation may have begun as early,
or earlier, than that of Egypt; but that of Babylonia started probably
later than the North African culture on the Nile. Seeing, then, that
there was a very early civilisation at Susa on the west of Media,
and that further east on the limits of Parthia we meet another early
centre, it is not surprising that the inhabitants of these regions
united to spread down into the fertile plain which was created by
the growing delta of Mesopotamia. These people belonged neither to
the Semite of Arabia nor to the Aryan of Persia and India, but used
an agglutinative language of entirely different structure from these
others, and most akin to Turkish or Finnish. Having descended from
their mountain homes, the people were known as Akkadu, probably meaning
“highlanders,” though there are other open derivations. And hence the
northern part of the Babylonian plain, next to the Semitic Assyrians,
was the land of Akkad; while the southern part, next to the sea, was
known by the native Babylonian name of Sumer, or Shumer.
[Sidenote: China’s Links with Babylon]
SUMERIANS. The civilisation of the Sumerians was more akin to that of
the Chinese than to western types, especially in its art, its picture
writing and devotion to literature, its capacity for town life, and its
religious ideas. The cognate origins of the people may well account for
this, and some more precise resemblances led Terrien de Lacouperie to
the view that Chinese civilisation was an offshoot from the Sumerian
stock in its old Parthian home.
The elements of life were well developed by the Sumerians. They were
great agriculturists, and wrote works on the main industry of man, much
as the Carthaginians wrote standard works prized later by the Romans.
They fermented the grape and corn, and had alcoholic drinks. Cattle of
all kinds were raised, and prized as stock, which was fed on grass or
grain or oilcake. The horse is mentioned first in Semitic times, Abut
2000 B.C. Dates and figs were the principal fruits grown; and, indeed,
the date palm seems to have had a far more important place in the
civilisation than it did in that of Egypt. Both wool and leather were
used for clothing, as might be expected.
[Sidenote: Materials for the Great Buildings]
BUILDING. The main structural industry of the country was that of
brickmaking and building. Immense piles of brickwork were made to
support the temples, marking clearly the custom of the highlander
Akkadi worshipping on the hilltops. The brick _ziggurat_, or
five-stepped pyramid, at Nippur was 190 ft. by 128 ft., and about a
hundred feet high. The earliest baked bricks are 8·7 in. by 5·6 in. by
2·2 in., and they were enlarged to 12 in. by 7·8 in. by 1·9 in. within
the Sumerian age. Toward the close of that time large square bricks
were used. Sargon made baked bricks 18 in. square and 3½ in. thick.
From the time of Ur-Engur (3200 B.C.) onward the baked bricks were
11 in. or 12 in. square. Beside the baked brick used for pavements,
drains, facings, and important work, the great bulk was made up of
crude brick as in Egypt. For important purposes, such as store-rooms,
the inside of chambers was lined with a coat of bitumen, rendering them
damp-proof; and such a lining was used on tanks. Pottery is abundant
in all ages, but we still need a study of the pottery such as has
been made in Egypt, so that it can be used to date excavations in
general. Stands for jars, framed of wood, were used as in Egypt; and
also the clay sealings were of the same type in both lands. Stone vases
were made to imitate pottery; and this suggests that the highlanders
were only using basket-work when they descended into the plain, and
therefore did not possess any types of stonework.
[Illustration: THE ANCIENT BABYLONIANS AND THEIR WEAPONS OF WAR
There is a fine study of weapons on a carving of Eannatum (4400
B.C.), where spears about 7 ft. long, with blade heads, are
figured. Shields are shown reaching from the neck to the ankles,
straight-sided, used edge to edge as a shield wall by a phalanx of
soldiers. The heads of the men are covered by well-formed peaked
helmets reaching down to the nape of the neck, with nose pieces.
]
TOOLS AND WEAPONS. The common tools were used, such as knives and
drills; and great skill was developed in seal engraving upon hard
stone cylinders. Of weapons there is a fine study on a carving of
Eannatum (4400 B.C.), where spears of about 7 ft. long, with blade
heads, are shown; also shields reaching from the neck to the ankles,
straight-sided, and used edge to edge as a shield wall by a phalanx of
soldiers; while the heads are covered by well-formed peaked helmets,
with nose pieces, and reaching down to the nape of the neck. Bows
and arrows and daggers were also used; and stone mace-heads, of the
pear shape used in Egypt, were important ceremonially, and often bear
inscriptions. Woodwork was elaborated with carving, and used for
bed-steads and stools, as seen in the seats of the gods figured on
seals and tablets.
CLOTHING. Clothing varied a good deal. A primitive custom of nudity
when offering to the gods was continued down to the close of the
Sumerian age, as shown on the tablet of Ur-en-lil. The kilt was worn
with a fringe, not reaching the knee; or it was worn from the waist to
the ankles, as by shepherds. A robe over the left shoulder reaching to
the knee was used with a deep fringe all down the front edge and round
the bottom. A long robe reaching to the ankles is shown on the figures
of Gudea. But the most characteristic dress was that of ribbed woollen
stuff, much like that of the fifth century B.C. in Greece, as on the
Running Maiden. This stuff was worn as a flounced petticoat (Urnina
4500 B.C.), or in a longer form over the left shoulder and down to the
ankles, as by Eannatum and Naram-Sin. A splendid flounced cape and long
robe of this stuff is shown as worn by Ishtar on the Anubanini rock
stele, about 3600 B.C.
SCIENCE AND ART. The system of number, weight, and measure was
peculiarly Babylonian. Some people have theorised about all later
standards having been derived in various intricate ways from those of
Babylon. But it is very unlikely that standards should not arise in
different centres, and still more unlikely that the complex derivations
should be formed when the whole object would be to maintain a system in
common.
[Sidenote: Science in Sumeria]
But there is no question of the great advance of the Sumerian in these
matters. The sexagesimal system, which is far more convenient for many
purposes than the decimal, and which we still retain for time and
for angle, was due to the Sumerian intellect, while the standards of
weight, the talent, maneh, and shekel, were also from the same source.
And we cannot doubt that the cubit was already in use by a people
living in cities and carrying on business.
The style of art was clumsy, owing to the habit of crowding together
as much as possible into the space, in order to form the record. The
human forms are thick and short, and detail is firmly and perseveringly
repeated. It entirely lacks, in its early stages, the spontaneous truth
of the early dynastic work in Egypt. At the close of the Sumerian age,
under Naramsin, there is a fine bold design in groups of figures, well
proportioned, and with good action, recalling curiously the spirit of
late Greek work from Praxiteles to the Pergamene warriors. The stages
of change cannot yet be distinguished, owing to the scarcity of the
dated examples that we have.
[Sidenote: Loss of History]
LITERATURE AND WRITINGS. It is in literature that we know the Sumerian
best. Unhappily, other branches of archæology have been neglected,
and even destroyed, in the eager search for tablets, and yet more
tablets. By the thousand they are found, and hurriedly removed, while
the architecture, crafts, and art-history are thrown aside in the
process. The hunter for tablets in Babylonia, and for papyrus in Egypt,
is a heartless wrecker, without any interests beyond his own line.
When so much has been sacrificed for the written record, we must glean
all we can from it for the history of the civilisation, as most of the
other material that might have been preserved has been sacrificed.
The Sumerian language was the sole language of civilisation, until,
at about 4000 B.C., the Semite began to conquer and to take part
in the advance of the world. Yet the older tongue was by no means
extinguished; it held its place as the official religious and literary
language, like Latin in Europe. The literature of the world was in
Sumerian, and only gradually did the new Semite intruders translate the
older works or rise to writing a literature of their own.
The Sumerian literature was for long accompanied by a Semitic
translation, like Latin and Saxon gospels; and syllabaries,
vocabularies, and grammatical lists were written to teach the Semite
the old religious language. Legal documents were drawn up in Sumerian,
and it only gradually lost its precedence from 4000 B.C. down to 1600
B.C., when it was almost extinct, being only revived as a literary
curiosity in the seventh century B.C.
[Sidenote: How the Semite Made His Notes]
The writing was a pictorial system like the Egyptian hieroglyphics. And
so long as the Sumerian used it he clung to the pictorial origin even
though obscured by the lineal style of drawing. On papyrus or parchment
it is easy to make curved forms, and such were adopted in drawing the
signs originally. But on clay, which was the all-available material in
the Babylonian plain, impressing lines is far neater than scratching
them up; and the handy tool for making impressions was a slip of wood
with a square end. Hence all the curves tended to become four or
five-sided outlines, and all the detail became built up of little lines
tapering off to one end, or “digs” with the corner of the stylus. Yet
down to the close of the Sumerian age the forms of the objects can
still be discerned, and they are still pictures rather than mere
immaterial symbols.
[Illustration:
Mansell
THE FINEST EARLY BABYLONIAN ART: TRIUMPH OF KING NARAMSIN, 3750 B.C.
This work, found in Susa, is curiously free and pictorial; it is
unrivalled by any early carvings, and most resembles the action and
spirit of late Greek sculpture. It marks the great period of the
fusion of the Sumerian and Semite.
]
The Semite, however, changed all this. He learned merely the sound
values of certain forms, their meaning could not appeal to him, and
he built up his words out of these sounds or syllables. He found it
inconvenient to write in vertical columns, which was the constant
Sumerian habit, and turned his tablet sideways to his hand, so as to
make his signs along a horizontal line of writing. Hence these signs
became familiar to him on their sides, and as they had to him no
pictorial values, the position was indifferent. Lastly, he produced a
syllabary of signs written with combinations of four forms of impress,
a long line wider at one end, a short line, a tall triangle, and a
small equilateral triangle, written in horizontal lines; and each sign
was standing on what had originally been its side. The wedge-shaped
form of these lines has given rise to the name of wedge-writing, or
cuneiform writing for this system.
[Sidenote: The Story of a Language]
The knowledge of this writing survived Greek influence for some four
centuries after Alexander, only becoming extinct at the close of the
first century of our era. In its long history, double that of the Roman
alphabet at present, it had been used for very diverse languages. The
Sumerian inventor had handed it on to the Semitic intruder, and he had
passed it to the Syrian, the Mitannian, the Hittite, and the Vannic
peoples. Probably it had kept its hold in its first home in Elam, where
it is found in historic times, and thence it became the writing of
Persia, and even of the Parthian, before it became extinct. The variety
of languages and the extent of country which it covered is much like
the scope of the Roman alphabet in Europe to-day.
LAW AND RELIGION. In matters of law the Sumerian was well advanced. The
needs of city life which he had developed necessarily required a full
definition of rights and duties. The first law book was that of Ea,
the god of civilisation, the Oannes of the later legends of Berosus.
The decisions of judges were kept in abstract, and such case-made law
served as a body of precedent to guide decisions. The position of women
was on a level with that of men; in the Sumerian hymns the woman takes
precedence, and one of the great Sumerian divinities was Ishhtar, who
became Ashtaroth of Syria, Athtar of Arabia, and hence Hathor of Egypt.
In the Semitic system the goddess is but a feeble companion of a god;
but Ishtar was the great divinity of war, to whom the kings owed their
triumphs, as well as the queen of love, who ruled the course of nature.
[Illustration:
_VASES_
_FORK_ _COMB_ _HARP_ _BOW AND ARROW_ _ARROWS_
_STONE_
_CLAY_
_EARLY_
_FISH_ _BIRD_ _AXE_ _VASE_ _LATE_
_EARLY_
_FISH_ _MAN_ _MONTH_ _REED_ _LATE_
THE DECAY OF PICTURE-WRITING
This illustrates the decay of pictures into signs, and shows very
clearly how the cuneiform writing was developed from the earlier
hieroglyphics. It will be noticed that the word originally rendered
by a crude drawing of the object--“fish,” for example--retains even
in its final cuneiform style some resemblance to the tail of a
fish. The cuneiform lettering was necessary to the Babylonians, as
clay was the most abundant material in their land and could best be
marked upon in lines without curves.
]
The religion of the Sumerians was like that of other Turanian races.
These peoples have an aversion to the idea of a personal god, to
which the Semitic peoples cling. The Samoyede believes in a multitude
of local spirits, the Chinese have their impersonal Heaven and the
host of gnomes or earth spirits. Thus also the Sumerian thought of
all objects as having a _zi_ or spirit, good or evil, which needed to
be appeased by the weak or commanded by the sorcery of the strong.
Shamanism was the type of religion; and books of exorcisms and magic
spells were in permanent use. The importance of the principalities
naturally led to their local spirits being of general importance; and
hence the political changes brought Sin the moon god of Ur, or Utuki
the sun god of Sippar and Larsa, or Marduk of Babylon, into a leading
position, and led toward the Semitic type of deities. How far this
change was due to the beginning of Semitic influence we cannot now say.
Other native gods were less personal, such as Ana the sky, Enlila the
earth, and Ea the sea.
[Illustration: THE SUMERIAN TYPE OF BABYLONIAN
The fact that the shaven type of face appears in all the monuments
back to 4500 B.C. indicates that the Sumerians were shaven as they
were the older of the two main races in Babylonia.
]
[Illustration: THE SEMITIC TYPE OF BABYLONIAN
Men with full beards are not represented on Babylonian monuments
until 3750 B.C.; hence it is clear that such figures represented
people of the Semitic type. This portrait is from a sculpture of
King Hammurabi.
]
TYPES OF RACES. The physical type of the people is shown to us by the
early monuments, though we hardly yet know enough of the early history
to understand them fully. Two main types stand out entirely apart,
the shaven and the full-haired. And when it is seen that the shaven
type is that of all the earliest human figures, dating from 4500 B.C.
and extending down to even 2100 B.C., while the full-haired type is
not found on men before 3750 B.C., it is clear that the shaven is the
Sumerian and the bearded is the Semitic type. The remarkable point is
that the gods are represented with long hair tressed up and long beards
from 4400 B.C.; and as early as we can go back there is never a figure
of a beardless god. The reason probably is that personal gods were of
Semitic origin, their worship was borrowed, and hence their forms.
If so, we must see a large Semitic influence already acting on the
earliest known Sumerian art. The variations of type may perhaps lead to
some further distinctions. The full, curly, square-ended beard and long
hair are usual for the gods, as seen under Eannatum (4400), Urenlil
(4000), Gudea (3300), and Hammurabi (2100). The same beard, but with
the hair done up into a disc (as on the Tello heads and Hammurabi), is
worn by the King Anubanini (3600). The long and rather pointed beard is
seen on Naramsin (3750), and Hammurabi (2100). The short, square beard
is seen on the god, under Eannatum (4400), and on men about Naramsin’s
age [see the seal of Ubilishtar]. The shaven type has a wide face, with
a large prominent aquiline nose, best seen in the head from Tello. This
type is that of all the human figures on the scenes of Urnina (4500),
Eannatum (4400), and Urenlil (4000); and in the figures of the Scribe
Kalhi (cylinder, 3750), Gudea (stele, 3300), the heads of the same age
from Tello, and the later head of beautiful work at Berlin. The general
conclusions may be that the beard was worn and admired by Semites, who
elaborated a very full type for the gods; and that the Semitic influx,
though ruling under Naramsin at Sippara, north of Babylon, was yet
subordinate at the later date of Gudea, in the Sumerian south.
[Illustration: THE FAMILIAR BEARDED TYPE OF ASSYRIAN GODS AND MEN
Although the full-haired faces are later in appearing on the
monuments of Babylonia, all figures of gods are shown as possessed
of full beards and a wealth of hair. A familiar example is here
reproduced. It is supposed that the Semitic race in Assyria was the
first to personalise the deities, and hence the resemblance of the
images to the features of the Semites.
]
SEMITIC AGE. We now turn to the later stage of the civilisation, as it
flourished under the mixed race of Sumerians and Semites, partaking of
the culture of the older race and the higher moral tone of the less
advanced people. The Sumerians, as we have noted, had pushed down
from the Median highlands into the growing plain of Babylonia, while
the earlier Semites remained to the north in Assyria, and to the
west in Naharaina and Syria. Sooner or later a fusion was inevitable;
as we have seen already, the gods were of a Semitic type at a very
early time, and gradually the union took place during three thousand
years, until in the later times the product was unified in one strong
civilisation which spread its strength far and wide to the Crimea, to
Egypt, and to the deserts of Central Asia.