THE SITES OF EARLY CITIES AND THE RACIAL CHARACTER OF THEIR INHABITANTS
The excavations which have been conducted on the sites of early
Babylonian cities since the middle of last century have furnished
material for the reconstruction of their history, but during different
periods and for different districts it varies considerably in value
and amount. While little is known of the earlier settlements in
Akkad, and the very sites of two of its most famous cities have not
yet been identified, our knowledge of Sumerian history and topography
is relatively more complete. Here the cities, as represented by the
mounds of earth and _débris_ which now cover them, fall naturally
into two groups. The one consists of those cities which continued in
existence during the later periods of Babylonian history. In their
case the earliest Sumerian remains have been considerably disturbed
by later builders, and are now buried deep beneath the accumulations
of successive ages. Their excavation is consequently a task of
considerable difficulty, and, even when the lowest strata are reached,
the interpretation of the evidence is often doubtful. The other group
comprises towns which were occupied mainly by the Sumerians, and, after
being destroyed at an early date, were rarely, or never, reoccupied by
the later inhabitants of the country. The mounds of this description,
so far as they have been examined, have naturally yielded fuller
information, and they may therefore be taken first in the following
description of the early sites.
The greater part of our knowledge of early Sumerian history has been
derived from the wonderfully successful series of excavations carried
out by the late M. de Sarzec at Tello,[1] between 1877 and 1900, and
continued for some months in 1903 by Captain (now Commandant) Gaston
Cros. These mounds mark the site of the city of Shirpurla or Lagash,
and lie a few miles to the north-east of the modern village of Shatra,
to the east of the Shatt el-Hai, and about an hour's ride from the
present course of the stream. It is evident, however, that the city was
built upon the stream, which at this point may originally have formed a
branch of the Euphrates,[2] for there are traces of a dry channel upon
its western side.
The name of the city is expressed by the signs _shir-pur-la_ (_-ki_),
which are rendered in a bilingual incantation-text as Lagash.[3]
Hitherto it has been generally held that Shirpurla represented the
Sumerian name of the city, which was known to the later Semitic
inhabitants as Lagash, in much the same way as Akkad was the Semitic
name for Agade, though in the latter case the original name was taken
over. But the prolonged excavations carried out in the mounds of
Tello have failed to bring to light any Babylonian remains later than
the period of the kings of Larsa who were contemporaneous with the
First Dynasty of Babylon. At that time the city appears to have been
destroyed, and to have lain deserted and forgotten until it was once
more inhabited in the second century B.C. Thus it is difficult to find
a reason for a second name. We may therefore assume that the place
was called Lagash by the Sumerians, and that the signs which can be
read as Shirpurla represent a traditional ideographic way of writing
the name among the Sumerians themselves. There is no difficulty in
supposing that the city's name and the way of writing it were preserved
in Babylonian literature, although its site had been forgotten.
The group of mounds and hillocks which mark the site of the ancient
city and its suburbs form a rough oval, running north and south, and
measuring about two and a half miles long and one and a quarter broad.
During the early spring the limits of the city are clearly visible, for
its ruins stand out as a yellow spot in the midst of the light green
vegetation which covers the surrounding plain. The grouping of the
principal mounds may be seen in the accompanying plan, in which each
contour-line represents an increase of one metre in height above the
desert level. The three principal mounds in the centre of the oval,
marked on the plan by the letters A, K, and V,[4] are those in which
the most important discoveries have been made. The mound A, which
rises steeply towards the north-west end of the oval, is known as the
Palace Tell, since here was uncovered a great Parthian palace, erected
immediately over a building of Gudea, whose bricks were partly reused
and partly imitated. In consequence of this it was at first believed
to be a palace of Gudea himself, an error that was corrected on the
discovery that some of the later bricks bore the name of Hadadnadinakhe
in Aramean and Greek characters, proving that the building belonged
to the Seleucid era, and was probably not earlier than about 130 B.C.
Coins were also found in the palace with Greek inscriptions of kings
of the little independent province or kingdom of Kharakene, which was
founded about 160 B.C. at the mouth of the Shatt el-'Arab. But worked
into the structure of this late palace were the remains of Gudea's
building, which formed part of E-ninnû, the temple of the city-god of
Lagash. Of Gudea's structure a gateway and part of a tower are the
portions that are best preserved,[5] while under the south-east corner
of the palace was a wall of the rather earlier ruler Ur-Bau.[6]
[Illustration: TELLO after de Sarzec]
In the lower strata no other earlier remains were brought to light,
and it is possible that the site of the temple was changed or
enlarged at this period, and that in earlier times it stood nearer
the mound K, where the oldest buildings in Tello have been found.
Here was a storehouse of Ur-Ninâ,[7] a very early patesi of the city
and the founder of its most powerful dynasty, and in its immediate
neighbourhood were recovered the most important monuments and
inscriptions of the earlier period. Beneath Ur-Ninâ's storehouse was a
still earlier building,[8] and at the same deep level above the virgin
soil were found some of the earliest examples of Sumerian sculpture
that have yet been recovered. In the mound V, christened the "Tell of
the Tablets," were large collections of temple-documents and tablets of
accounts, the majority of them dating from the period of the Dynasty of
Ur.
The monuments and inscriptions from Tello have furnished us with
material for reconstructing the history of the city with but few
gaps from the earliest age until the time when the Dynasty of Isin
succeeded that of Ur in the rule of Sumer and Akkad. To the destruction
of the city during the period of the First Dynasty of Babylon and
its subsequent isolation we owe the wealth of early records and
archaeological remains which have come down to us, for its soil has
escaped disturbance at the hands of later builders except for a short
interval in Hellenistic times. The fact that other cities in the
neighbourhood, which shared a similar fate, have not yielded such
striking results to the excavator, in itself bears testimony to the
important position occupied by Lagash, not only as the seat of a long
line of successful rulers, but as the most important centre of Sumerian
culture and art.
[Illustration: DOORWAY OF A BUILDING AT TELLO ERECTED BY GUDEA, PATESI
OF SHIRPURLA; ON THE LEFT IS PART OF A LATER BUILDING OF THE SELEUCID
ERA. Déc. en Chald., pl. 53 (bis).]
The mounds of Surghul and El-Hibba, lying to the north-east of Tello
and about six miles from each other, which were excavated by Dr.
Koldewey in 1887, are instances in point. Both mounds, and particularly
the former, contain numerous early graves beneath houses of unburnt
brick, such as have subsequently been found at Fâra, and both cities
were destroyed by fire probably at the time when Lagash was wiped
out. From the quantities of ashes, and from the fact that some of the
bodies appeared to have been partially burnt, Dr. Koldewey erroneously
concluded that the mounds marked the sites of "fire-necropoles,"
where he imagined the early Babylonians burnt their dead, and the
houses he regarded as tombs.[9] But in no period of Sumerian or
Babylonian history was this practice in vogue. The dead were always
buried, and any appearance of burning must have been produced during
the destruction of the cities by fire. At El-Hibba remains were also
visible of buildings constructed wholly or in part of kiln-baked
bricks, which, coupled with the greater extent of its mounds, suggests
that it was a more important Sumerian city than Surghul. This has been
confirmed by the greater number of inscriptions which were found upon
its site and have recently been published.[10] They include texts of
the early patesis of Lagash, Eannatum and Enannatum I, and of the
later patesi Gudea. A text of Gudea was also found at Surghul proving
that both places were subject to Lagash, in whose territory they were
probably always included during the periods of that city's power.
That, apart from the graves, few objects of archaeological or artistic
interest were recovered, may in part be traced to their proximity to
Lagash, which as the seat of government naturally enjoyed an advantage
in this respect over neighbouring towns.
During the course of her early history the most persistent rival of
Lagash was the neighbouring city of Umma,[11] now identified with the
mound of Jôkha, lying some distance to the north-west in the region
between the Shatt el-Hai and the Shatt el-Kâr. Its neighbourhood and
part of the mound itself are covered with sand-dunes, which give the
spot a very desolate appearance, but they are of recent formation,
since between them can still be seen traces of former cultivation.
The principal mound is in the form of a ridge over half a mile long,
running W.S.W. to E.N.E. and rising at its highest point about fifteen
metres above the plain. Two lower extensions of the principal mound
stretch out to the east and south-east.
[Illustration: JÔKHA after Andrae]
No excavations have yet been conducted on this site, but it was visited
by Dr. Andrae in the winter of 1902-3. He noted traces of a large
building on a platform to the north of the principal ridge, marked A
on the plan. It appears to have formed a square, its sides measuring
seventy metres in length, and a small mound rises in the centre of
it. Quantities of square, kiln-burnt bricks are scattered on the
mound which covers it, and on the south side traces of a rectangular
chamber are visible.[12] Numerous fragments of diorite also suggest
the presence of sculptures, and at the south corner of the building,
at the spot marked with a cross on the plan, the Germans found a
fragment of diorite with part of a carefully chiselled inscription
in archaic characters. The occurrence of unglazed potsherds, flint
implements, and plano-convex bricks on other parts of the mound are an
indication that, like Fâra, the site contains relics of still earlier
habitation. Moreover, it is said that for years past Arab diggings
have been carried out there, and early tablets and three cones of the
patesi Galu-Babbar have reached Europe from this site. In view of the
promising traces he noted and of the important part which the city
played in early Sumerian history, it is almost to be regretted that
Dr. Andrae did not substitute Jôkha for Abû Hatab as a site for his
subsequent excavation.
Other mounds in the same neighbourhood also suggest prospects of
success for the future excavator. One of these is Hammâm, which lies
about seven and a half miles W.S.W. of Jôkha and close to the bed of
the Shatt el-Kâr. It consists of a group of separate mounds, on one of
which are the remains of a rectangular building resembling a ziggurat
or temple-tower. Its side measures thirty metres, and it rises to
a height of twelve metres above the surface of the mound, which in
turn is three metres above the plain. Clay, in which layers of reeds
are embedded, has been spread between the bricks as at Warka. More
to the north of it in the same mound are traces of another building,
possibly the temple of which it formed a part. To the south of Hammâm,
and a little over three miles to the west of the Shatt el-Kâr is
Tell 'Îd, another site which might repay excavation. It consists of
a well-defined mound, about thirty metres high at the summit, and is
visible from a considerable distance. Unlike Hammâm and Jôkha, however,
it shows no trace upon its surface of any building, and there are no
potsherds, bricks, or other objects scattered on the mound to afford
an indication of its date. Both Tell 'Îd and Hammâm stand on a slightly
elevated tract of desert soil, some ten miles broad, which raises
them above the marshes caused by the inundations of the Euphrates. On
the same tract farther to the south are Senkera and Warka, which were
examined by Loftus in the early fifties.[13]
Of the early sites in the region of the Shatt el-Kâr the mounds at Fâra
have been the most productive of remains dating from the prehistoric
period of Sumerian culture. Systematic excavations were begun here by
Dr. Koldewey in 1902,[14] and were continued in the following year by
Drs. Andrae and Noeldeke.[15] The accompanying plan will give some idea
of the extensive area occupied by the mounds, and of the method adopted
for ascertaining their contents without too great an expenditure of
time. The Arabic numerals against the contour lines indicate their
height in metres above the level of the plain. Roman figures are set at
each end of the trenches in the order in which they were cut. Thus the
first two trenches (I. and II.), running from north to south and from
east to west respectively, were cut across the mounds by Dr. Koldewey
to gain some idea of their general character. The subsequent trenches
were all cut parallel to the second through the higher portions of the
site, a few of them being extended so as to cover the lower detached
mounds to the east. In the plan the trenches are marked as continuous,
but actually each consists of a series of short sections, divided by
bands of soil left uncut. These hold up the sides of the trench and
leave passages for crossing from one side to the other.[16] Whenever
a trench discloses the remains of a building it can be completely
uncovered and the trench afterwards continued until another building is
disclosed. In the plan the principal cleared areas are outlined, and
the position of walls which were uncovered within them is indicated by
fine lines.
[Illustration: FÂRA after Andrae and Noeldeke]
In the course of the systematic excavation of the site, it was clearly
established that all the mounds at Fâra belong to a very early period.
In many places the trenches cut through thick strata of ashes and
charred remains, and it was seen that the whole settlement had been
destroyed by fire, and that the greater part of it had never been
reoccupied. All trace of buildings practically ceased at a depth of
more than two metres beneath the present surface, and those that were
excavated appear to belong to a single epoch. Their early period
is attested by the fact that they are all built of plano-convex
bricks,[17] both baked and unbaked, with thumb-marks or lines impressed
by the finger on their upper surface. Many of them were clearly
dwelling-houses, consisting of chambers grouped around a rectangular
court; others are of circular form, measuring from two to five metres
across, and their use has not been determined.[18] It has been
suggested that the latter may have served as wells, and it is true that
they generally descend to a depth of about four metres below the level
of the plain. But they are scattered so thickly in the mound that this
explanation of their use is scarcely adequate; moreover each was roofed
in with an arch of overlapping bricks laid horizontally. They may have
been cisterns, or designed for receiving refuse-water from the houses,
but against this view is to be set the fact that they are not connected
in any way with the numerous brick channels and clay drains that were
discovered. Similar constructions were found at Surghul, and nothing
in the _débris_ which filled them, either there or at Fâra, has thrown
light upon the purpose which they served.
The most interesting discoveries at Fâra were the graves. These consist
of two classes, sarcophagus-graves and mat-burials. The sarcophagi
are of unglazed clay, oval in form, with flat bottoms and upright
sides, and each is closed with a terra-cotta lid. In the mat-burials
the corpse with its offerings was wrapped in reed-matting and placed
in a grave dug in the soil. The bodies were never buried at length,
for in both classes of graves the skeletons are found lying on their
sides with their legs and arms bent. The right hand usually holds a
drinking-cup, of clay, stone, copper or shell, which it appears to
be raising to the mouth; and near the skull are often other vessels
and great water-pots of clay. In the graves the weapons of the dead
man were placed, and the tools and ornaments he had used during life.
Copper spear-heads and axes were often found, and the blades of daggers
with rivets for a wooden handle, and copper fish-hooks and net-weights.
[Illustration: OUTER FACE OF A FOUNDATION-WALL AT TELLO, BUILT BY
UR-BAU, PATESI OF SHIRPURLA.--Déc. en Chald., pl. 51.]
The ornaments were very numerous, the wealthy wearing bead-necklaces
of agate and lapis-lazuli, the poorer contenting themselves with paste
or shell, while silver finger-rings and copper arm-rings were not
uncommon. A very typical class of grave-furniture consisted of palettes
or colour-dishes, made of alabaster, often of graceful shape, and
sometimes standing on four feet. There is no doubt as to their use, for
colour still remains in many of them, generally black and yellow, but
sometimes a light rose and a light green. Since all other objects in
the graves were placed there for the personal use of the dead man, we
may infer that colour was employed at that period for painting the body.
No difference in age appears to have separated the two classes of
burial, for the offerings are alike in each, and the arrangement
of the bodies is the same. Why there should have been a difference
in custom it is difficult to say. It might be inferred that the
sarcophagus was a mark of wealth, were it not that the offerings they
contain are generally more scanty than in the mat-burials. Whatever
may be the explanation there is little doubt that they belong to the
same race and period. Moreover, we may definitely connect the graves
with the buildings under which they are found, for in some of them
were seal-cylinders precisely similar to others found in the _débris_
covering the houses, and the designs upon them resemble those on
sealings from the strata of ashes in the upper surface of the mounds.
The seals are generally of shell or limestone, rarely of harder
stone, and the designs represent heroes and mythological beings in
conflict with animals. The presence of the sealings and seal-cylinders,
resembling in form and design those of the early period at Tello, in
itself suggests that Fâra marks the site of an early Sumerian town.
This was put beyond a doubt by the discovery of clay tablets in six
of the houses,[19] where they lay on the clay floor beneath masses
of charred _débris_ which had fallen from the roof; beside them were
objects of household use, and in one room the remains of a charred
reed-mat were under them. The tablets were of unbaked clay, similar in
shape to early contracts from Tello, and the texts upon them, written
in extremely archaic characters, referred to deeds of sale.
There is thus no doubt as to the racial character of the inhabitants of
this early settlement. The discovery of a brick inscribed with the name
of Khaladda, patesi of Shuruppak, proved that Fâra was the site of the
ancient city which later tradition regarded as the scene of the Deluge.
Khaladda's inscription is not written in very archaic characters, and
he probably lived in the time of the kings of Sumer and Akkad. We may
thus infer that Shuruppak continued to exist as a city at that period,
but the greater part of the site was never again inhabited after the
destruction of the early town by fire. We have described its remains
in some detail as they are our most valuable source of information
concerning the earliest Sumerians in Babylonia. Until the objects
that were found have been published it is difficult to determine
accurately its relation in date to the earlier remains at Tello. A few
fragments of sculpture in relief were discovered in the course of the
excavations, and these, taken in conjunction with the cylinder-seals,
the inscribed tablets, and the pottery, suggest that no long interval
separated its period from that of the earliest Sumerians of history.
[Illustration: ABÛ HATAB after Andrae and Noeldeke]
A less exhaustive examination of the neighbouring mounds of Abû Hatab
was also undertaken by Drs. Andrae and Noeldeke. This site lies to
the north of Fâra, and, like it, is close to the Shatt el-Kâr.[20]
The southern part of the tell could not be examined because of the
modern Arab graves which here lie thick around the tomb of the Imâm
Sa'îd Muhammad. But the trenches cut in the higher parts of the mound,
to the north and along its eastern edge, sufficed to indicate its
general character.[21] Earlier remains, such as were found at Fâra,
are here completely wanting, and it would appear to be not earlier
than the period of the kings of Sumer and Akkad. This is indicated by
bricks of Bûr-Sin I., King of Ur, which were discovered scattered in
_débris_ in the north-west part of the mound, and by the finding of
case-tablets in the houses belonging to the period of the dynasties of
Ur and Isin.[22] The graves also differed from those at Fâra, generally
consisting of pot-burials. Here, in place of a shallow trough with
a lid, the sarcophagus was formed of two great pots, deeply ribbed
on the outside; these were set, one over the other, with their edges
meeting, and after burial they were fixed together by means of pitch
or bitumen. The skeleton is usually found within lying on its back or
side in a crouching position with bent legs. The general arrangement
of drinking-cups, offerings, and ornaments resembles that in the Fâra
burials, so that the difference in the form of the sarcophagus is
merely due to a later custom and not to any racial change. Very similar
burials were found by Taylor at Mukayyar, and others have also been
unearthed in the earlier strata of the mounds at Babylon.
The majority of the houses at Abû Hatab appear to have been destroyed
by fire, and, in view of the complete absence of later remains, the
tablets scattered on their floors indicate the period of its latest
settlement. It thus represents a well-defined epoch, later than that
of the mounds at Fâra, and most valuable for comparison with them. At
neither Fâra nor Abû Hatab were the remains of any important building
or temple disclosed, but the graves and houses of the common people
have furnished information of even greater value for the archaeologist
and historian. Another mound which should provide further material for
the study of this earliest period is Bismâya, the site of the city
at Adab, at which excavations were begun on December 25, 1903 by the
University of Chicago and continued during the following year.[23] The
mound of Hêtime to the west of Fâra, may, to judge from the square
bricks and fragments of pot-burials that are found there, date from
about the same period as Abû Hatab. But it is of small extent and
height, the greater part being merely six or seven feet above the
plain, while its two central mounds rise to a height of less than
fourteen feet.
Such are the principal early Sumerian mounds in the region of the Shatt
el-Kâr and the Shatt el-Hai. Other mounds in the same neighbourhood may
well prove to be of equally early dates; but it should be noted that
some of these do not cover Sumerian cities, but represent far later
periods of occupation. The character of the extensive mound of Jidr to
the east of Fâra and Abû Hatab is doubtful; but the use of lime-mortar
in such remains as are visible upon the surface indicates a late epoch.
A number of smaller tells may be definitely regarded as representing a
settlement in this district during Sassanian times. Such are Dubâ'i,
which, with two others, lies to the south of Fâra, and Bint el-Mderre
to the east; to the same period may be assigned Menêdir, which lies
to the north-east, beyond Deke, the nearest village to Fâra. This
last mound, little more than a hundred yards long, covers the site of
a burial-place; it has been completely burrowed through by the Arabs
in their search for antiquities, and is now covered with fragments of
sarcophagi. The mounds of Mjelli and Abû Khuwâsîj to the west of Fâra
are probably still later, and belong to the Arab period.
It will have been noted that all the Sumerian mounds described or
referred to in the preceding paragraphs cover cities which, after being
burned down and destroyed in a comparatively early period, were never
reoccupied, but were left deserted. Lagash, Umma, Shuruppak, Kisurra,
and Adab play no part in the subsequent history of Babylonia. We may
infer that they perished during the fierce struggle which took place
between the Babylonian kings of the First Dynasty and the Elamite
kings of Larsa. At this time city after city in Sumer was captured and
retaken many times, and on Samsu-iluna's final victory over Rîm-Sin, it
is probable that he decided to destroy many of the cities and make the
region a desert, so as to put an end to trouble for the future. As a
matter of fact, he only succeeded in shifting the area of disturbance
southwards, for the Sumerian inhabitants fled to the Sea-country on
the shores of the Persian Gulf; and to their influence, and to the
reinforcements they brought with them, may be traced the troubles of
Samsu-iluna and his son at the hands of Iluma-ilu, who had already
established his independence in this region. Thus Samsu-iluna's policy
of repression was scarcely a success; but the archaeologist has reason
to be grateful to it. The undisturbed condition of these early cities
renders their excavation a comparatively simple matter, and lends a
certainty to conclusions drawn from a study of their remains, which is
necessarily lacking in the case of more complicated sites.
Another class of Sumerian cities consists of those which were not
finally destroyed by the Western Semites, but continued to be important
centres of political and social life during the later periods of
Babylonian history. Niffer, Warka, Senkera, Mukayyar, and Abû Shahrain
all doubtless contain in their lower strata remains of the early
Sumerian cities which stood upon their sites; but the greater part of
the mounds are made up of ruins dating from a period not earlier than
that of the great builders of the Dynasty of Ur. In Nippur, during the
American excavations on this site, the history of Ekur, the temple of
the god Enlil, was traced back to the period of Shar-Gani-Sharri and
Narâm-Sin;[24] and fragments of early vases found scattered in the
_débris_ beneath the chambers on the south-east side of the Ziggurat,
have thrown valuable light upon an early period of Sumerian history.
But the excavation of the pre-Sargonic strata, so far as it has yet
been carried, has given negative rather than positive results. The
excavations carried out on the other sites referred to were of a
purely tentative character, and, although they were made in the early
fifties of last century, they still remain the principal source of our
knowledge concerning them.
[Illustration: WARKA after Loftus]
Some idea of the extent of the mounds of Warka may be gathered from
Loftus's plan. The irregular circle of the mounds, marking the later
walls of the city, covers an area nearly six miles in circumference,
and in view of this fact and of the short time and limited means at
his disposal, it is surprising that he should have achieved such good
results. His work at Buwârîya, the principal mound of the group (marked
A on the plan), resulted in its identification with E-anna, the great
temple of the goddess Ninni, or Ishtar, which was enormously added to
in the reign of Ur-Engur. Loftus's careful notes and drawings of the
facade of another important building, covered by the mound known as
Wuswas (B), have been of great value from the architectural point of
view, while no less interesting is his description of the "Cone Wall"
(at E on the plan), consisting in great part of terra-cotta cones,
dipped in red or black colour, and arranged to form various patterns on
the surface of a wall composed of mud and chopped straw.[25] But the
date of both these constructions is uncertain. The sarcophagus-graves
and pot-burials which he came across when cutting his tunnels and
trenches are clearly contemporaneous with those at Abû Hatab, and
the mound may well contain still earlier remains. The finds made in
the neighbouring mounds of Senkera (Larsa), and Tell Sifr, were also
promising,[26] and, in spite of his want of success at Tell Medîna, it
is possible that a longer examination would have yielded better results.
[Illustration: MUKAYYAR after Taylor]
The mounds of Mukayyar, which mark the site of Ur, the centre of the
Moon-god's cult in Sumer, were partly excavated by Taylor in 1854 and
1855.[27] In the northern portion of the group he examined the great
temple of the Moon-god (marked A on the plan), the earliest portions
of its structure which he came across dating from the reigns of Dungi
and Ur-Engur. Beneath a building in the neighbourhood of the temple (at
B on the plan) he found a pavement consisting of plano-convex bricks,
a sure indication that at this point, at least, were buildings of
the earliest Sumerian period, while the sarcophagus-burials in other
parts of the mound were of the early type. Taylor came across similar
evidence of early building at Abû Shahrain,[28] the comparatively small
mound which marks the site of the sacred city of Eridu, for at a point
in the south-east side of the group he uncovered a building constructed
of bricks of the same early character.
At Abû Shahrain indeed we should expect to find traces of one of the
earliest and most sacred shrines of the Sumerians, for here dwelt
Enki, the mysterious god of the deep. The remains of his later temple
now dominates the group, the great temple-tower still rising in two
stages (A and B) at the northern end of the mound. Unlike the other
cities of Sumer, Eridu was not built on the alluvium. Its situation
is in a valley on the edge of the Arabian desert, cut off from Ur and
the Euphrates by a low pebbly and sandstone ridge. In fact, its ruins
appear to rise abruptly from the bed of an inland sea, which no doubt
at one time was connected directly with the Persian Gulf; hence the
description of Eridu in cuneiform literature as standing "on the shore
of the sea." Another characteristic which distinguishes Eridu from
other cities in Babylonia is the extensive use of stone as a building
material. The raised platform, on which the city and its temple stood,
was faced with a massive retaining wall of sandstone, no doubt
obtained from quarries in the neighbourhood, while the stairway (marked
D on the plan) leading to the first stage of the temple-tower had been
formed of polished marble slabs which were now scattered on the surface
of the mound. The marble stairs and the numerous fragments of gold-leaf
and gold-headed and copper nails, which Taylor found at the base of
the second stage of the temple-tower, attest its magnificence during
the latest stage of its history. The name and period of the city now
covered by the neighbouring mound of Tell Lahm, which was also examined
by Taylor, have not yet been ascertained.
[Illustration: ABÛ SHAHRAIN after Taylor]
It will thus be seen that excavations conducted on the sites of the
more famous cities of Sumer have not, with the single exception of
Nippur, yielded much information concerning the earlier periods of
history, while the position of one of them, the city of Isin, is still
unknown. Our knowledge of similar sites in Akkad is still more scanty.
Up to the present time systematic excavations have been carried out
at only two sites in the north, Babylon and Sippar, and these have
thrown little light upon the more remote periods of their occupation.
The existing ruins of Babylon date from the period of Nebuchadnezzar
II., and so thorough was Sennacherib's destruction of the city in 689
B.C., that, after several years of work, Dr. Koldewey concluded that
all traces of earlier buildings had been destroyed on that occasion.
More recently some remains of earlier strata have been recognized, and
contract-tablets have been found which date from the period of the
First Dynasty. Moreover, a number of earlier pot-burials have been
unearthed, but a careful examination of the greater part of the ruins
has added little to our knowledge of this most famous city before the
Neo-Babylonian era. The same negative results were obtained, so far
as early remains are concerned, from the less exhaustive work on the
site of Borsippa. Abû Habba is a far more promising site, and has been
the scene of excavations begun by Mr. Rassam in 1881 and 1882, and
renewed by Père Scheil for some months in 1894, while excavations were
undertaken in the neighbouring mounds of Deir by Dr. Wallis Budge in
1891. These two sites have yielded thousands of tablets of the period
of the earliest kings of Babylon, and the site of the famous temple of
the Sun-god at Sippar, which Narâm-Sin rebuilt, has been identified,
but little is yet accurately known concerning the early city and its
suburbs. The great extent of the mounds, and the fact that for nearly
thirty years they have been the happy hunting-ground of Arab diggers,
would add to the difficulty of any final and exhaustive examination. It
is probably in the neighbourhood of Sippar that the site of the city of
Agade, or Akkad, will eventually be identified.
Concerning the sites of other cities in Northern Babylonia,
considerable uncertainty still exists. The extensive mounds of Tell
Ibrâhîm, situated about four hours to the north-east of Hilla, are
probably to be identified with Cutha, the centre of the cult of Nergal,
but the mound of 'Akarkûf, which may be seen from so great a distance
on the road between Baghdad and Falûja, probably covers a temple and
city of the Kassite period. Both the cities of Kish and Opis, which
figure so prominently in the early history of the relations between
Sumer and Akkad, were, until quite recently, thought to be situated
close to one another on the Tigris. That Opis lay on that river and not
on the Euphrates is clear from the account which Nebuchadnezzar II. has
left us of his famous fortifications of Babylon,[29] which are referred
to by Greek writers as "the Median Wall" and "the Fortification of
Semiramis."
The outermost ring of Nebuchadnezzar's triple line of defence consisted
of an earthen rampart and a ditch, which he tells us extended from
the bank of the Tigris above Opis to a point on the Euphrates within
the city of Sippar, proving that Opis is to be sought upon the former
river. His second line of defence was a similar ditch and rampart which
stretched from the causeway on the bank of the Euphrates up to the city
of Kish. It was assumed that this rampart also extended to the Tigris,
although this is not stated in the text, and, since the ideogram for
Opis is once rendered as Kesh in a bilingual incantation,[30] it seemed
probable that Kish and Opis were twin cities, both situated on the
Tigris at no great distance from each other. This view appeared to find
corroboration in the close association of the two places during the
wars of Eannatum, and in the fact that at the time of Enbi-Ishtar they
seem to have formed a single state. But it has recently been shown that
Kish lay upon the Euphrates,[31] and we may thus accept its former
identification with the mound of El-Ohêmir where bricks were found
by Ker Porter recording the building of E-meteursagga, the temple of
Zamama, the patron deity of Kish.[32] Whether Opis is to be identified
with the extensive mounds of Tell Manjûr, situated on the right bank
of the Tigris in the great bend made by the river between Samarra and
Baghdad, or whether, as appears more probable, it is to be sought
further down stream in the neighbourhood of Seleucia, are questions
which future excavation may decide.[33]
The brief outline that has been given of our knowledge concerning the
early cities of Sumer and Akkad, and of the results obtained by the
partial excavation of their sites, will have served to show how much
still remains to be done in this field of archaeological research. Not
only do the majority of the sites still await systematic excavation,
but a large part of the material already obtained has not yet been
published. Up to the present time, for instance, only the briefest
notes have been given of the important finds at Fâra and Abû Hatab.
In contrast to this rather leisurely method of publication, the plan
followed by M. de Morgan in making available without delay the results
of his work in Persia is strongly to be commended. In this connection
mention should in any case be made of the excavations at Susa, since
they have brought to light some of the most remarkable monuments of
the early Semitic kings of Akkad. It is true the majority of these had
been carried as spoil from Babylonia to Elam, but they are none the
less precious as examples of early Semitic art. Such monuments as the
recently discovered stele of Sharru-Gi, the statues of Manishtusu,
and Narâm-Sin's stele of victory afford valuable evidence concerning
the racial characteristics of the early inhabitants of Northern
Babylonia, and enable us to trace some of the stages in their artistic
development. But in Akkad itself the excavations have not thrown much
light upon these subjects, nor have they contributed to the solution
of the problems as to the period at which Sumerians and Semites first
came in contact, or which race was first in possession of the land. For
the study of these questions our material is mainly furnished from the
Sumerian side, more particularly by the sculptures and inscriptions
discovered during the French excavations at Tello.
It is now generally recognized that the two races which inhabited Sumer
and Akkad during the early historical periods were sharply divided
from one another not only by their speech but also in their physical
characteristics.[34] One of the principal traits by which they may
be distinguished consists in the treatment of the hair. While the
Sumerians invariably shaved the head and face, the Semites retained the
hair of the head and wore long beards. A slight modification in the
dressing of the hair was introduced by the Western Semites of the First
Babylonian Dynasty, who brought with them from Syria the Canaanite
Bedouin custom of shaving the lips and allowing the beard to fall
only from the chin; while they also appear to have cut the hair short
in the manner of the Arabs or Nabateans of the Sinai peninsula.[35]
The Semites who were settled in Babylonia during the earlier period,
retained the moustache as well as the beard, and wore their hair long.
While recognizing the slight change of custom, introduced for a time
during the West Semitic domination, the practice of wearing hair and
beard was a Semitic characteristic during all periods of history. The
phrase "the black-headed ones," which is of frequent occurrence in the
later texts, clearly originated as a description of the Semites, in
contradistinction to the Sumerians with their shaven heads.
[Illustration: LIMESTONE FIGURE OF AN EARLY SUMERIAN PATESI, OR HIGH
OFFICIAL.--Brit. Mus., No. 90929; photo. by Messrs. Mansell & Co.]
Another distinctive characteristic, almost equally striking, may
be seen in the features of the face as represented in the outline
engraving and in the sculpture of the earlier periods. It is true
that the Sumerian had a prominent nose, which forms, indeed, his most
striking feature, but both nose and lips are never full and fleshy
as with the Semites. It is sometimes claimed that such primitive
representations as occur upon Ur-Ninâ's bas-reliefs, or in Fig. 1 in
the accompanying block, are too rude to be regarded as representing
accurately an ethnological type. But it will be noted that the same
general characteristics are also found in the later and more finished
sculptures of Gudea's period. This fact is illustrated by the two
black diorite heads of statuettes figured on the following page. In
both examples certain archaic conventions are retained, such as the
exaggerated line of the eyebrows, and the unfinished ear; but nose and
lips are obviously not Semitic, and they accurately reproduce the same
racial type which is found upon the earlier reliefs.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Fig. 2. Figures of early Sumerians,
engraved upon fragments of shell, which were probably employed for
inlaying boxes, or for ornamenting furniture. Earliest period: from
Tello.--Déc., pl. 46, Nos. 2 and 1.]
A third characteristic consists of the different forms of dress
worn by Sumerians and Semites, as represented on the monuments. The
earliest Sumerians wore only a thick woollen garment, in the form of a
petticoat, fastened round the waist by a band or girdle. The garment is
sometimes represented as quite plain, in other cases it has a scolloped
fringe or border, while in its most elaborate form it consists of
three, four, or five horizontal flounces, each lined vertically and
scolloped at the edge to represent thick locks of wool.[36] With the
later Sumerian patesis this rough garment has been given up in favour
of a great shawl or mantle, decorated with a border, which was worn
over the left shoulder, and, falling in straight folds, draped the body
with its opening in front.[37] Both these Sumerian forms of garment
are of quite different types from the Semitic loin-cloth worn by
Narâm-Sin on his stele of victory, and the Semitic plaid in which he is
represented on his stele from Pir Hussein.[38] The latter garment is a
long, narrow plaid which is wrapped round the body in parallel bands,
with the end thrown over the left shoulder. It has no slit, or opening,
in front like the later Sumerian mantle, and, on the other hand, was
not a shaped garment like the earlier Sumerian flounced petticoat,
though both were doubtless made of wool and were probably dyed in
bright colours.
[Illustration: Fig. 3--Fig. 4--Fig. 5--Later types of Sumerians, as
exhibited by heads of male statuettes from Tello. Figs. 4 and 5 are
different views of the same head, which probably dates from the age of
Gudea; Fig. 3 may possibly be assigned to a rather later period.--In
the Louvre; Cat. Nos. 95 and 93.]
Two distinct racial types are thus represented on the monuments,
differentiated not only by physical features but also by the method
of treating the hair and by dress. Moreover, the one type is
characteristic of those rulers whose language was Sumerian, the other
represents those whose inscriptions are in the Semitic tongue. Two
apparent inconsistencies should here be noted. On the Stele of the
Vultures, Eannatum and his soldiers are sculptured with thick hair
flowing from beneath their helmets and falling on their shoulders.
But they have shaven faces, and, in view of the fact that on the same
monument all the dead upon the field of battle and in the burial mounds
have shaven heads, like those of the Sumerians assisting at the burial
and the sacrificial rites, we may regard the hair of Eannatum and his
warriors as wigs, worn like the wigs of the Egyptians, on special
occasions and particularly in battle. The other inconsistency arises
from the dress worn by Hammurabi on his monuments. This is not the
Semitic plaid, but the Sumerian fringed mantle, and we may conjecture
that, as he wrote his votive inscriptions in the Sumerian as well as in
the Semitic language, so, too, he may have symbolized his rule in Sumer
by the adoption of the Sumerian form of dress.
It is natural that upon monuments of the later period from Tello
both racial types should be represented. The fragments of sculpture
illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7 may possibly belong to the same monument,
and, if so, we must assign it to a Semitic king.[39] That on the left
represents a file of nude captives with shaven heads and faces, bound
neck to neck with the same cord, and their arms tied behind them.
On the other fragment both captive and conqueror are bearded. The
latter's nose is anything but Semitic, though in figures of such small
proportions carved in relief it would perhaps be rash to regard its
shape as significant. The treatment of the hair, however, in itself
constitutes a sufficiently marked difference in racial custom. Fig.
8 represents a circular support of steatite, around which are seated
seven little figures holding tablets on their knees; it is here
reproduced on a far smaller scale than the other fragments. The little
figure that is best preserved is of unmistakably Semitic type, and
wears a curled beard trimmed to a point, and hair that falls on the
shoulders in two great twisted tresses; the face of the figure on his
left is broken, but the head is clearly shaved. A similar mixture of
types upon a single monument occurs on a large fragment of sculpture
representing scenes of worship,[40] and also on Sharru-Gi's monument
which has been found at Susa.[41]
[Illustration: Fig. 6.--Fig. 7.--Fig. 8.--Examples of sculpture of the
later period, from Tello, representing different racial types--_Déc.,_
pl. 26, Figs. 10_b_ and 10_a_; pl. 21, Fig. 5.]
At the period from which these sculptures date it is not questioned
that the Semites were in occupation of Akkad, and that during certain
periods they had already extended their authority over Sumer. It is not
surprising, therefore, that at this time both Sumerians and Semites
should be represented side by side upon the monuments. When, however,
we examine what is undoubtedly one of the earliest sculptured reliefs
from Tello the same mixture of racial types is met with.
[Illustration: Fig. 9--Fig. 10--Fig 11--Fragments of a circular
bas-relief of the earliest period, from Tello, sculptured with a scene
representing the meeting of two chieftains and their followers. The
different methods of treating the hair are noteworthy.--In the Louvre;
Cat. No. 5.]
The object is unfortunately broken into fragments, but enough of them
have been recovered to indicate its character. Originally, it consisted
of two circular blocks, placed one upon the other and sculptured on
their outer edge with reliefs. They were perforated vertically with
two holes which were intended to support maces, or other votive
objects, in an upright position. The figures in the relief form two
separate rows which advance towards one another, and at their head
are two chiefs, who are represented meeting face to face (Fig. 9). It
will be noticed that the chief on the left, who carries a bent club,
has long hair falling on the shoulders and is bearded. Four of his
followers on another fragment (Fig. 10) also have long hair and beards.
The other chief, on the contrary, wears no hair on his face, only on
his head, and, since his followers have shaven heads and faces,[42] we
may conjecture that, like Eannatum on the Stele of the Vultures, he
wears a wig. All the figures are nude to the waist, and the followers
clasp their hands in token of subordination to their chiefs.
The extremely rude character of the sculpture is a sufficient
indication of its early date, apart from the fact that the fragments
were found scattered in the lowest strata at Tello. The fashion of
indicating the hair is very archaic, and is also met with in a class
of copper foundation-figures of extremely early date.[43] The monument
belongs to a period when writing was already employed, for there are
slight traces of an inscription on its upper surface, which probably
recorded the occasion of the meeting of the chiefs. Moreover, from a
fifth fragment that has been discovered it is seen that the names and
titles of the various personages were engraved upon their garments.
The monument thus belongs to the earliest Sumerian period, and, if we
may apply the rule as to the treatment of the hair which we have seen
holds good for the later periods, it would follow that at this time the
Semite was already in the land. The scene, in fact, would represent
the meeting of two early chieftains of the Sumerians and Semites,
sculptured to commemorate an agreement or treaty which they had drawn
up.
[Illustration: Fig. 12.--Limestone panel sculptured in relief, with
a scene representing Gudea being led by Ningishzida and another god
into the presence of a deity who is seated on a throne.--In the Berlin
Museum; _cf. Sum. und Sem._, Taf. VII.]
By a similar examination of the gods of the Sumerians, as they are
represented on the monuments, Professor Meyer has sought to show that
the Semites were not only in Babylonia at the date of the earliest
Sumerian sculptures that have been recovered, but also that they were
in occupation of the country before the Sumerians. The type of the
Sumerian gods at the later period is well illustrated by a limestone
panel of Gudea, which is preserved in the Berlin Museum. The sculptured
scene is one that is often met with on cylinder-seals of the period,
representing a suppliant being led by lesser deities into the presence
of a greater god. In this instance Gudea is being led by his patron
deity Ningishzida and another god into the presence of a deity who was
seated on a throne and held a vase from which two streams of water
flow. The right half of the panel is broken, but the figure of the
seated god may be in part restored from the similar scene upon Gudea's
cylinder-seal. There, however, the symbol of the spouting vase is
multiplied, for not only does the god hold one in each hand, but three
others are below his feet, and into them the water falls and spouts
again. Professor Meyer would identify the god of the waters with Anu,
though there is more to be said for M. Heuzey's view that he is Enki,
the god of the deep. We are not here concerned, however, with the
identity of the deities, but with the racial type they represent. It
will be seen that they all have hair and beards and wear the Semitic
plaid, and form a striking contrast to Gudea with his shaven head and
face, and his fringed Sumerian mantle.[44]
[Illustration: Fig. 13. Figure of the seated god on the cylinder-seal
of Gudea.--_Déc.,_ p 293.]
A very similar contrast is represented by the Sumerian and his gods
in the earlier historical periods. Upon the Stele of the Vultures,
for instance, the god Ningirsu is represented with abundant hair, and
although his lips and cheeks are shaved a long beard falls from below
his chin.[45] He is girt around the waist with a plain garment, which
is not of the later Semitic type, but the treatment of the hair and
beard is obviously not Sumerian. The same bearded type of god is found
upon early votive tablets from Nippur,[46] and also on a fragment of
an archaic Sumerian relief from Tello, which, from the rudimentary
character of the work and the style of the composition, has been
regarded as the most ancient example of Sumerian sculpture known. The
contours of the figures are vaguely indicated in low relief upon a
flat plaque, and the interior details are indicated only by the point.
The scene is evidently of a mythological character, for the seated
figure may be recognized as a goddess by the horned crown she wears.
Beside her stands a god who turns to smite a bound captive with a heavy
club or mace. While the captive has the shaven head and face of a
Sumerian, the god has abundant hair and a long beard.[47]
[Illustration: Fig. 14.--Fig. 15. Votive tablets from Nippur, engraved
with scenes of worship.--Cf. Hilprecht, _Explorations_, p. 475, and
_Old Bab. Inscr._, II., pl. xvi.]
Man forms his god in his own image, and it is surprising that the gods
of the Sumerians should not be of the Sumerian type. If the Sumerian
shaved his own head and face, why should he have figured his gods with
long beards and abundant hair and have clothed them with the garments
of another race? Professor Meyer's answer to the question is that
the Semites and their gods were already in occupation of Sumer and
Akkad before the Sumerians came upon the scene. He would regard the
Semites at this early period as settled throughout the whole country,
a primitive and uncultured people with only sufficient knowledge of
art to embody the figures of their gods in rude images of stone or
clay. There is no doubt that the Sumerians were a warrior folk, and
he would picture them as invading the country at a later date, and
overwhelming Semitic opposition by their superior weapons and method
of attack. The Sumerian method of fighting he would compare to that
of the Dorians with their closed phalanx of lance-bearing warriors,
though the comparison is not quite complete, since no knowledge of
iron is postulated on the part of the Sumerians. He would regard the
invaders as settling mainly in the south, driving many of the Semites
northward, and taking over from them the ancient centres of Semitic
cult. They would naturally have brought their own gods with them, and
these they would identify with the deities they found in possession of
the shrines, combining their attributes, but retaining the cult-images,
whose sacred character would ensure the permanent retention of their
outward form. The Sumerians in turn would have influenced their Semitic
subjects and neighbours, who would gradually have acquired from them
their higher culture, including a knowledge of writing and the arts.
[Illustration: Fig. 16--Sumerian deities on an archaic relief from
Tello.--_Déc._, pl. 1, Fig. 1.]
It may be admitted that the theory is attractive, and it certainly
furnishes an explanation of the apparently foreign character of the
Sumerian gods. But even from the archaeological side it is not so
complete nor so convincing as at first sight it would appear. Since the
later Sumerian gods were represented with full moustache and beard,
like the earliest figures of Semitic kings which we possess, it would
naturally be supposed that they would have this form in the still
earlier periods of Sumerian history. But, as we have seen, their lips
and cheeks are shaved. Are we then to postulate a still earlier Semitic
settlement, of a rather different racial type to that which founded
the kingdom of Kish and the empire of Akkad? Again, the garments of
the gods in the earliest period have little in common with the Semitic
plaid, and are nearer akin to the plainer form of garment worn by
contemporary Sumerians. The divine headdress, too, is different to the
later form, the single horns which encircle what may be a symbol of the
date-palm,[48] giving place to a plain conical headdress decorated with
several pairs of horns.
[Illustration: Fig. 17--Fig. 18--Fig. 19--Earlier and later forms of
divine headdresses. Figs. 17 and 18 are from the obverse of the Stele
of the Vultures, fragments C and B; Fig. 19, the later form of horned
headdress, is from a sculpture of Gudea.--_Déc._, pl. 4, and pl. 26,
No. 9.]
Thus, important differences are observable in the form of the earlier
Sumerian gods and their dress and insignia, which it is difficult to
reconcile with Professor Meyer's theory of their origin. Moreover,
the principal example which he selected to illustrate his thesis,
the god of the central shrine of Nippur, has since been proved never
to have borne the Semitic name of Bêl, but to have been known under
his Sumerian title of Enlil from the beginning.[49] It is true that
Professor Meyer claims that this point does not affect his main
argument;[50] but at least it proves that Nippur was always a Sumerian
religious centre, and its recognition as the central and most important
shrine in the country by Semites and Sumerians alike, tells against any
theory requiring a comparatively late date for its foundation.
Such evidence as we possess from the linguistic side is also not in
favour of the view which would regard the Semites as in occupation
of the whole of Babylonia before the Sumerian immigration. If that
had been the case we should naturally expect to find abundant traces
of Semitic influence in the earliest Sumerian texts that have been
recovered. But, as a matter of fact, no Semitism occurs in any text
from Ur-Ninâ's period to that of Lugal-zaggisi with the single
exception of a Semitic loan-word on the Cone of Entemena.[51] In spite
of the scanty nature of our material, this fact distinctly militates
against the assumption that Semites and Sumerians were living side
by side in Sumer at the time.[52] But the occurrence of the Semitic
word in Entemena's inscription proves that external contact with some
Semitic people had already taken place. Moreover, it is possible
to press the argument from the purely linguistic side too far. A
date-formula of Samsu-iluna's reign has proved that the Semitic speech
of Babylonia was known as "Akkadian,"[53] and it has therefore been
argued that the first appearance of Semitic speech in the country
must date from the establishment of Shar-Gani-sharri's empire with
its capital at Akkad.[54] But there is little doubt that the Semitic
kingdom of Kish, represented by the reigns of Sharru-Gi, Manishtusu
and Urumush, was anterior to Sargon's empire,[55] and, long before the
rise of Kish, the town of Akkad may well have been the first important
centre of Semitic settlement in the north.
[Illustration: FRAGMENT OF SUMERIAN SCULPTURE REPRESENTING SCENES OF
WORSHIP BEFORE THE GODS.--_In the Louvre; Déc. en Chald., pl._ 23.]
It would thus appear that at the earliest period of which remains or
records have been recovered, Semites and Sumerians were both settled in
Babylonia, the one race in the north, the other southwards nearer the
Persian Gulf. Living at first in comparative isolation, trade and war
would gradually bring them into closer contact. Whether we may regard
the earliest rulers of Kish as Semites like their later successors,
is still in doubt. The character of Enbi-Ishtar's name points to his
being a Semite; but the still earlier king of Kish, who is referred
to on the Stele of the Vultures, is represented on that monument as a
Sumerian with shaven head and face.[56] But this may have been due to a
convention in the sculpture of the time, and it is quite possible that
Mesilim and his successors were Semites, and that their relations with
the contemporary rulers of Lagash represent the earlier stages in a
racial conflict which dominates the history of the later periods.
Of the original home of the Sumerians, from which they came to the
fertile plains of Southern Babylonia, it is impossible to speak with
confidence. The fact that they settled at the mouths of the great
rivers has led to the suggestion that they arrived by sea, and this
has been connected with the story in Berossus of Oannes and the other
fish-men, who came up from the Erythraean Sea and brought religion and
culture with them. But the legend need not bear this interpretation;
it merely points to the Sea-country on the shores of the Gulf as the
earliest centre of Sumerian culture in the land. Others have argued
that they came from a mountain-home, and have cited in support of their
view the institution of the ziggurat or temple-tower, built "like
a mountain," and the employment of the same ideogram for "mountain"
and for "land." But the massive temple-tower appears to date from the
period of Gudea and the earlier kings of Ur, and, with the single
exception of Nippur, was probably not a characteristic feature of the
earlier temples; and it is now known that the ideogram for "land" and
"mountain" was employed in the earlier periods for foreign lands, in
contradistinction to that of the Sumerians themselves.[57] But, in
spite of the unsoundness of these arguments, it is most probable that
the Sumerians did descend on Babylonia from the mountains on the east.
Their entrance into the country would thus have been the first of
several immigrations from that quarter, due to climatic and physical
changes in Central Asia.[58]
Still more obscure is the problem of their racial affinity. The
obliquely set eyes of the figures in the earlier reliefs, due mainly
to an ignorance of perspective characteristic of all primitive art,
first suggested the theory that the Sumerians were of Mongol type; and
the further developments of this view, according to which a Chinese
origin is to be sought both for Sumerian roots and for the cuneiform
character, are too improbable to need detailed refutation. A more
recent suggestion, that their language is of Indo-European origin
and structure,[59] is scarcely less improbable, while resemblances
which have been pointed out between isolated words in Sumerian and in
Armenian, Turkish, and other languages of Western Asia, may well be
fortuitous. With the Elamites upon their eastern border the Sumerians
had close relations from the first, but the two races do not appear
to be related either in language or by physical characteristics.
The scientific study of the Sumerian tongue, inaugurated by
Professors Zimmern and Jensen, and more especially by the work of M.
Thureau-Dangin on the early texts, will doubtless lead in time to more
accurate knowledge on this subject; but, until the phonetic elements of
the language are firmly established, all theories based upon linguistic
comparisons are necessarily insecure.
In view of the absence of Semitic influence in Sumer during the
earlier periods, it may be conjectured that the Semitic immigrants
did not reach Babylonia from the south, but from the north-west,
after traversing the Syrian coast-lands. This first great influx of
Semitic nomad tribes left colonists behind them in that region, who
afterwards as the Amurru, or Western Semites, pressed on in their turn
into Babylonia and established the earliest independent dynasty in
Babylon. The original movement continued into Northern Babylonia, and
its representatives in history were the early Semitic kings of Kish and
Akkad. But the movement did not stop there; it passed on to the foot of
the Zagros hills, and left its traces in the independent principalities
of Lulubu and Gutiu. Such in outline appears to have been the course
of this early migratory movement, which, after colonizing the areas
through which it passed, eventually expended itself in the western
mountains of Persia. It was mainly through contact with the higher
culture of the Sumerians that the tribes which settled in Akkad were
enabled later on to play so important a part in the history of Western
Asia.
[1] In point of time, the work of Loftus and Taylor (see below, pp.
32 ff.) preceded that of De Sarzec, but the results obtained were
necessarily less complete. It would be out of place in the present
volume to give any account of excavations in Assyria, as they have only
an indirect bearing on the period here treated. For a chronological
sketch of the early travellers and excavators, see Rogers, "History of
Babylonia and Assyria," vol. i. pp. 100 ff., who also gives a detailed
account of the decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions; cf. also
Fossey, "Manuel," I., pp. 6 ff. For a similar chronological treatment,
but from the archaeological side, see the sections with which Hilprecht
prefaces his account of the Nippur excavations in "Explorations in
Bible Lands," pp. 7 ff.
[2] See above, p. 11.
[3] Cf. "Cun. Texts in the Brit. Mus.," Pt. XVI., pl. 36, l. 4 f.;
as written here the name might also be read Lagarum or Lagadil. That
Lagash is the correct reading is proved by the fragment of a duplicate
text published in Reisner, "Sum.-Bab. Hymnen," pl. 126, No. 81, where
the final character of the name is unmistakably written as _ash_; cf.
Meissner, "Orient. Lit.-Zeit.," 1907, col. 385.
[4] Separate mounds in the group were referred to by De Sarzec under
the letters A-P, P', and V. For the account of the diggings and their
results, see E. de Sarzec and Léon Heuzey, "Découvertes en Chaldée"
("Description des fouilles" by De Sarzec; "Description des monuments"
by Heuzey; "Partie épigraphique" by Amiaud and Thureau-Dangin), Paris,
1884-1906; see also Heuzey, "Une Villa royale chaldéenne," and "Revue
d'Assyriologie," _passim_.
[5] The plate opposite p. 20 illustrates the way in which Gudea's
gateway has been worked into the structure of the Parthian Palace. The
slight difference in the ground-level of the two buildings is also
clearly shown.
[6] See the plate opposite p. 26.**
[7] From the nature of this building Amiaud christened the mound the
"Tell de la Maison des Fruits."
[8] A description of these buildings is given in Chap. IV., pp. 90 ff.**
[9] Cf. "Zeits. für Assyr." II., pp. 406 ff.
[10] Cf. Messerschmidt, "Vorderasiatische Schriftdenkmäler," p. v. f.,
pl. 1 ff.
[11] The name is still often transcribed as Gishkhu or Gishukh; for
the reading Umma, supplied by a Neo-Babylonian vocabulary, see "Cun.
Texts," XII., pl. 28, Obv., l. 7, and cf. Hrozný, "Zeits. für Assyr."
XX. (1907), pp. 421 ff. For its identification with Jôkha, see Scheil,
"Rec. de trav.," XIX., p. 63; cf. also XXI., p. 125.
[12] Cf. "Mitteil. der Deutsch. Orient-Gesellschaft," No. 16, p. 20 f.
Dr. Andrae adds valuable notes on other mounds he visited during this
journey.
[13] See below, p. 33 f.
[14] See "Mitteil. der Deutsch. Orient-Gesellschaft," No. 15, p. 9 ff.
[15] _Op. cit._, No. 17, p. 4 ff.
[16] Each section of a trench is also given a letter, so that such a
symbol as IV. _b_ or XII. _x_ indicates within very precise limits the
_provenance_ of any object discovered. The letter A on the plan marks
the site of the house built by the expedition.
[17] This form of brick is characteristic of the Pre-Sargonic period;
cf. p. 91.
[18] The positions of some of the larger ones, which were excavated in
the northern part of the mounds, are indicated by black dots in the
plan.
[19] The houses with the clay tablets were found in trenches VII., IX.,
XIII., and XV.
[20] In the folding map Fâra has been set on the right bank of the
Shatt el-Kâr, in accordance with Loftus's map published in "Travels and
Researches in Chaldaea and Susiana." From Andrae's notes it would seem
that Abû Hatab, and probably Fâra also, lie on the east or left bank.
But the ancient bed of the stream has disappeared in many places, and
is difficult to follow, and elsewhere there are traces of two or three
parallel channels at considerable distances apart, so that the exact
position of the original bed of the Euphrates is not certain at this
point.
[21] In the plan the trenches and excavated sites are lettered from A
to K. The figures, preceded by a cross, give in metres and centimetres
the height of the mound at that point above the level of the plain.
[22] Itûr-Shamash, whose brick-inscription furnished the information
that Abû Hatab is the site of the city Kisurra, is to be set towards
the end of this period; see below, Chap. XI., and cf. p. 283 f., n. 1.
[23] See the extracts from the "Reports of the Expedition of the
Oriental Exploration Fund (Babylonian Section) of the University of
Chicago," which were issued to the subscribers.
[24] See below, Chap. IV., pp. 85 ff.
[25] See "Chaldaea and Susiana," pp. 174 ff. and 188 f.
[26] Op. cit., pp. 244 ff., 266 ff.
[27] See his "Notes on the ruins of Mugeyer" in the _Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society_, 1855, pp. 260 ff., 414 f.
[28] See his "Notes on Abû Shahrein and Tel el-Lahm," _op. cit._, p.
409. The trench which disclosed this structure, built of uninscribed
plano-convex bricks laid in bitumen, was cut near the south-eastern
side of the ruins, between the mounds F and G (see plan), and to the
north-east of the gulley.
[29] See Weissbach, "Wâdī Brîssā," Col. VI., ll. 46 ff., and cf. pp. 39
ff.
[30] The incantation is the one which has furnished us with authority
for reading the name of Shirpurla as Lagash (see above, p. 17, n. 3).
It is directed against the machinations of evil demons, and in one
passage the powers for good inherent in the ancient cities of Babylonia
are invoked on behalf of the possessed man. Here, along with the names
of Eridu, Lagash, and Shuruppak, occurs the ideogram for Opis, which
is rendered in the Assyrian translation as _Ki-e-shi_, _i.e._ Kesh, or
Kish (cf. Thompson, "Devils and Evil Spirits," vol. i., p. 162 f.)
[31] See above, p. 9.
[32] See George Smith, "Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch.," III., p. 364, and cf.
Thureau-Dangin, "Orient. Lit.-Zeit.," 1909, col. 205 f.
[33] The fact that in an early Babylonian geographical list ("Cun.
Inscr. West. Asia," Vol. IV., pl. 36, No. 1) the name of Opis is
mentioned after a number of Sumerian cities, is no indication that the
city itself, or another city of the same name, was regarded as situated
in Sumer, as suggested by Jensen (cf. "Zeits. für Assyr.," XV., pp. 210
ff.); the next two names in the list are those of Magan and Melukhkha.
[34] For the fullest treatment of this subject, see Meyer, "Sumerier
und Semiten in Babylonien" (Abh. der Königl. Preuss. Akad. der
Wissenschaft., 1906).
[35] Cf. Herodotus, III., 8.
[36] The women of the earlier period appear to have worn a modified
form of this garment, made of the same rough wool, but worn over
the left shoulder (see below, p. 112, Fig. 43). On the Stele of the
Vultures, Eannatum, like his soldiers, wears the petticoat, but this
is supplemented by what is obviously a separate garment of different
texture thrown over the left shoulder so as to leave the right arm
free; this may have been the skin of an animal worn with the natural
hair outside (see the plate opposite p. 124).
[37] A very similar fringed mantle was usually worn by the Sumerian
women of the later period, but it was draped differently upon the body.
Pressed at first over the breasts and under each arm, it is crossed at
the back and its ends, thrown over the shoulders, fall in front in two
symmetrical points; for a good example of the garment as seen from the
front, see below, p. 71.
[38] See below, p. 245, Fig. 59.
[39] Remains of an inscription upon Fig. 6 treat of the dedication
of a temple to the god Ningirsu, and to judge from the characters it
probably does not date from a period earlier than that of Gudea.
[40] See the plate facing p. 52, and cf. p. 68 f.
[41] See below, Chap. VIII., pp. 220 ff.
[42] According to the traces on the stone the figure immediately behind
the beardless chief has a shaven head and face, like his other two
followers in Fig. 3. The figure on the right of this fragment wears
hair and beard, and probably represents a member of the opposite party
conducting them into the presence of his master.
[43] See "Déc. en Chaldée," pl. 1 _bis_, Figs. 3-7.
[44] The fact that on seals of this later period the Moon-god is
represented in the Sumerian mantle and headdress may well have been a
result of the Sumerian reaction, which took place under the kings of Ur
(see below, p. 283 f.).
[45] See below, p. 131, Fig. 46.
[46] See p. 49. In Fig. 14 the hair and beard of the god who leads the
worshipper into the presence of the goddess is clearer on the original
stone. In Fig. 15 the locks of hair and long beards of the seated gods
are more sharply outlined; they form a striking contrast to the figures
of Sumerians, who are represented as pouring out libations and bringing
offerings to the shrine.
[47] See p. 50, Fig. 16.
[48] Cf. Langdon, "Babyloniaca," II., p. 142; this explanation is
preferable to treating the crowns as a feathered form of headdress.
The changes in the dress of the Sumerian gods, and in the treatment
of their beards, appear to have taken place in the age of the later
Semitic kings of Kish and the kings of Akkad, and may well have been
due to their influence. The use of sandals was certainly introduced by
the Semites of this period.
[49] See Clay, "The Amer. Journ. of Semit. Lang, and Lit.," XXIII., pp.
269 ff. In later periods the name was pronounced as Ellil.
[50] Cf. "Nachträge zur aegyptischen Chronologie," p. 44 f., and
"Geschichte des Altertums," Bd. I., Hft. II., p. 407.
[51] See Thureau-Dangin, "Sum. und Akkad. Königsinschriften," p. 38,
Col. I., l. 26; the word is _dam-kha-ra_, which he rightly takes as
the equivalent of the Semitic _tamkhara_, "battle" (cf. also Ungnad,
"Orient. Lit.-Zeit.," 1908, col. 63 f.).
[52] In this respect the early Sumerian texts are in striking contrast
to those of the later periods; the evidence of strong Semitic influence
in the latter formed the main argument on which M. Halévy and his
followers relied to disprove the existence of the Sumerians.
[53] See Messerschmidt, "Orient. Lit.-Zeit.," 1905, col. 268 ff.; and
cf. King, "Chronicles," I., p. 180, n. 3.
[54] See Ungnad, op. cit., 1908, col. 62 ff.
[55] See below, Chap. VII. f.
[56] See below, p. 141, Fig. 48.
[57] See above, p. 14, n. 1.
[58] See further, Appendix I.
[59] Cf. Langdon, "Babyloniaca," I., pp. 225 f., 230, 284 ff., II.,
p. 99 f. The grounds, upon which the suggestion has been put forward,
consist of a comparison between the verb "to go" in Sumerian, Greek,
and Latin, an apparent resemblance in a few other roots, the existence
of compound verbs in Sumerian, and the like; but quite apart from
questions of general probability, the "parallelisms" noted are scarcely
numerous enough, or sufficiently close, to justify the inference drawn
from them.