WARS OF THE CITY STATES OF SUMER AND AKKAD
Civilization well advanced--The Patesi--Prominent City
States--Surroundings of Babylonia--The Elamites--Biblical References
to Susa--The Sumerian Temperament--Fragmentary Records--City States
of Kish and Opis--A Shopkeeper who became a Queen--Goddess
Worship--Tammuz as Nin-Girsu--Great Dynasty of Lagash--Ur-Nina and
his Descendants--A Napoleonic Conqueror--Golden Age of Sumerian
Art--The First Reformer in History--His Rise and Fall--The Dynasty
of Erech--Sargon of Akkad--The Royal Gardener--Sargon Myth in
India--A Great Empire--The King who Purchased Land--Naram Sin the
Conqueror--Disastrous Foreign Raid--Lagash again Prominent--Gudea
the Temple Builder--Dynasty of Ur--Dynasty of Isin--Another Gardener
becomes King--Rise of Babylon--Humanized Deities--Why Sumerian Gods
wore Beards.
When the curtain rises to reveal the drama of Babylonian civilization
we find that we have missed the first act and its many fascinating
scenes. Sumerians and Akkadians come and go, but it is not always
possible to distinguish between them. Although most Semites are
recognizable by their flowing beards, prominent noses, and long robes,
some have so closely imitated the Sumerians as to suffer almost
complete loss of identity. It is noticeable that in the north the
Akkadians are more Semitic than their contemporaries in the south, but
it is difficult at times to say whether a city is controlled by the
descendants of the indigenous people or those of later settlers.
Dynasties rise and fall, and, as in Egypt at times, the progress of
the fragmentary narrative is interrupted by a sudden change of scene
ere we have properly grasped a situation and realized its
significance.
What we know for certain is that civilization is well advanced. Both
in the north and the south there are many organized and independent
city states, and not unfrequently these wage war one against another.
Occasionally ambitious rulers tower among their fellows, conduct
vigorous military campaigns, and become overlords of wide districts.
As a rule, a subjugated monarch who has perforce to acknowledge the
suzerainty of a powerful king is allowed to remain in a state of
semi-independence on condition that he pays a heavy annual tribute of
grain. His own laws continue in force, and the city deities remain
supreme, although recognition may also be given to the deities of his
conqueror. He styles himself a Patesi--a "priest king", or more
literally, "servant of the chief deity". But as an independent monarch
may also be a pious Patesi, it does not always follow when a ruler is
referred to by that title he is necessarily less powerful than his
neighbours.
When the historical narrative begins Akkad included the cities of
Babylon, Cutha, Kish, Akkad, and Sippar, and north of Babylonia proper
is Semitic Opis. Among the cities of Sumer were Eridu, Ur, Lagash,
Larsa, Erech, Shuruppak, and probably Nippur, which was situated on
the "border". On the north Assyria was yet "in the making", and
shrouded in obscurity. A vague but vast area above Hit on the
Euphrates, and extending to the Syrian coast, was known as the "land
of the Amorites". The fish-shaped Babylonian valley lying between the
rivers, where walled towns were surrounded by green fields and
numerous canals flashed in the sunshine, was bounded on the west by
the bleak wastes of the Arabian desert, where during the dry season
"the rocks branded the body" and occasional sandstorms swept in
blinding folds towards the "plain of Shinar" (Sumer) like demon hosts
who sought to destroy the world. To the east the skyline was fretted
by the Persian Highlands, and amidst the southern mountains dwelt the
fierce Elamites, the hereditary enemies of the Sumerians, although a
people apparently of the same origin. Like the Nubians and the
Libyans, who kept watchful eyes on Egypt, the Elamites seemed ever to
be hovering on the eastern frontier of Sumeria, longing for an
opportunity to raid and plunder.
The capital of the Elamites was the city of Susa, where excavations
have revealed traces of an independent civilization which reaches back
to an early period in the Late Stone Age. Susa is referred to in the
Old Testament--"The words of Nehemiah.... I was in Shushan the
palace".[144] An Assyrian plan of the city shows it occupying a
strategic position at a bend of the Shawur river, which afforded
protection against Sumerian attacks from the west, while a canal
curved round its northern and eastern sides, so that Susa was
completely surrounded by water. Fortifications had been erected on the
river and canal banks, and between these and the high city walls were
thick clumps of trees. That the kings of Elam imitated the splendours
of Babylonian courts in the later days of Esther and Haman and
Mordecai, is made evident by the Biblical references to the gorgeous
palace, which had "white, green, and blue hangings, fastened with
cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble;
the beds were of gold and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue,
and white, and black marble ".[145] Beyond Elam were the plains,
plateaus, and grassy steppes occupied by the Medes and other peoples
of Aryan speech. Cultural influences came and went like spring winds
between the various ancient communities.
For ten long centuries Sumer and Akkad flourished and prospered ere we
meet with the great Hammurabi, whose name has now become almost as
familiar as that of Julius Caesar. But our knowledge of the leading
historical events of this vast period is exceedingly fragmentary. The
Sumerians were not like the later Assyrians or their Egyptian
contemporaries--a people with a passion for history. When inscriptions
were composed and cut on stone, or impressed upon clay tablets and
bricks, the kings selected as a general rule to record pious deeds
rather than to celebrate their victories and conquests. Indeed, the
average monarch had a temperament resembling that of Keats, who
declared:
The silver flow
Of Hero's tears, the swoon of Imogen,
Fair Pastorella in the bandits' den,
Are things to brood on with more ardency
Than the death day of empires.
The Sumerian king was emotionally religious as the great English poet
was emotionally poetical. The tears of Ishtar for Tammuz, and the
afflictions endured by the goddess imprisoned in Hades, to which she
had descended for love of her slain husband, seemed to have concerned
the royal recorder to a greater degree than the memories of political
upheavals and the social changes which passed over the land, like the
seasons which alternately brought greenness and gold, barrenness and
flood.
City chronicles, as a rule, are but indices of obscure events, to
which meagre references were sometimes also made on mace heads, vases,
tablets, stelae, and sculptured monoliths. Consequently, present-day
excavators and students have often reason to be grateful that the
habit likewise obtained of inscribing on bricks in buildings and the
stone sockets of doors the names of kings and others. These records
render obscure periods faintly articulate, and are indispensable for
comparative purposes. Historical clues are also obtained from lists of
year names. Each city king named a year in celebration of a great
event--his own succession to the throne, the erection of a new temple
or of a city wall, or, mayhap, the defeat of an invading army from a
rival state. Sometimes, too, a monarch gave the name of his father in
an official inscription, or happily mentioned several ancestors.
Another may be found to have made an illuminating statement regarding
a predecessor, who centuries previously erected the particular temple
that he himself has piously restored. A reckoning of this kind,
however, cannot always be regarded as absolutely correct. It must be
compared with and tested by other records, for in these ancient days
calculations were not unfrequently based on doubtful inscriptions, or
mere oral traditions, perhaps. Nor can implicit trust be placed on
every reference to historical events, for the memoried deeds of great
rulers were not always unassociated with persistent and cumulative
myths. It must be recognized, therefore, that even portions of the
data which had of late been sifted and systematized by Oriental
scholars in Europe, may yet have to be subjected to revision. Many
interesting and important discoveries, which will throw fresh light on
this fascinating early period, remain to be made in that ancient and
deserted land, which still lies under the curse of the Hebrew prophet,
who exclaimed: "Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the
Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and
Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited; neither shall the Arabian pitch
tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But
wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be
full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs
shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in
their desolate houses and dragons in their pleasant palaces."[146]
The curtain rises, as has been indicated, after civilization had been
well advanced. To begin with, our interests abide with Akkad, and
during a period dated approximately between 3000 B.C. and 2800 B.C.,
when Egypt was already a united kingdom, and the Cretans were at the
dawn of the first early Minoan period, and beginning to use bronze. In
Kish Sumerian and Akkadian elements had apparently blended, and the
city was the centre of a powerful and independent government. After
years have fluttered past dimly, and with them the shadow-shapes of
vigorous rulers, it is found that Kish came under the sway of the
pronouncedly Semitic city of Opis, which was situated "farthest north"
and on the western bank of the river Tigris. A century elapsed ere
Kish again threw off the oppressor's yoke and renewed the strength of
its youth.
The city of Kish was one of the many ancient centres of goddess
worship. The Great Mother appears to have been the Sumerian Bau, whose
chief seat was at Lagash. If tradition is to be relied upon, Kish owed
its existence to that notable lady, Queen Azag-Bau. Although floating
legends gathered round her memory as they have often gathered round
the memories of famous men, like Sargon of Akkad, Alexander the Great,
and Theodoric the Goth, who became Emperor of Rome, it is probable
that the queen was a prominent historical personage. She was reputed
to have been of humble origin, and to have first achieved popularity
and influence as the keeper of a wine shop. Although no reference
survives to indicate that she was believed to be of miraculous birth,
the Chronicle of Kish gravely credits her with a prolonged and
apparently prosperous reign of a hundred years. Her son, who succeeded
her, sat on the throne for a quarter of a century. These calculations
are certainly remarkable. If the Queen Azag-Bau founded Kish when she
was only twenty, and gave birth to the future ruler in her fiftieth
year, he must have been an elderly gentleman of seventy when he began
to reign. When it is found, further, that the dynasty in which mother
and son flourished was supposed to have lasted for 586 years, divided
between eight rulers, one of whom reigned for only three years, two
for six, and two for eleven, it becomes evident that the historian of
Kish cannot be absolutely relied upon in detail. It seems evident that
the memory of this lady of forceful character, who flourished about
thirteen hundred years before the rise of Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt,
has overshadowed the doubtful annals of ancient Kish at a period when
Sumerian and Semite were striving in the various states to achieve
political ascendancy.
Meanwhile the purely Sumerian city of Lagash had similarly grown
powerful and aggressive. For a time it acknowledged the suzerainty of
Kish, but ultimately it threw off the oppressor's yoke and asserted
its independence. The cumulative efforts of a succession of energetic
rulers elevated Lagash to the position of a metropolis in Ancient
Babylonia.
The goddess Bau, "the mother of Lagash", was worshipped in conjunction
with other deities, including the god Nin-Girsu, an agricultural
deity, and therefore a deity of war, who had solar attributes. One of
the titles of Nin-Girsu was En-Mersi, which, according to Assyrian
evidence, was another name of Tammuz, the spring god who slew the
storm and winter demons, and made the land fertile so that man might
have food. Nin-Girsu was, it would seem, a developed form of Tammuz,
like the Scandinavian Frey, god of harvest, or Heimdal, the celestial
warrior. Bau was one of the several goddesses whose attributes were
absorbed by the Semitic Ishtar. She was a "Great Mother", a creatrix,
the source of all human and bestial life, and, of course, a harvest
goddess. She was identified with Gula, "the great one", who cured
diseases and prolonged life. Evidently the religion of Lagash was
based on the popular worship of the "Queen of Heaven", and her son,
the dying god who became "husband of his mother".
The first great and outstanding ruler of Lagash was Ur-Nina, who
appears to have owed his power to the successful military operations
of his predecessors. It is uncertain whether or not he himself engaged
in any great war. His records are silent in that connection, but,
judging from what we know of him, it may be taken for granted that he
was able and fully prepared to give a good account of himself in
battle. He certainly took steps to make secure his position, for he
caused a strong wall to be erected round Lagash. His inscriptions are
eloquent of his piety, which took practical shape, for he repaired and
built temples, dedicated offerings to deities, and increased the
wealth of religious bodies and the prosperity of the State by cutting
canals and developing agriculture. In addition to serving local
deities, he also gave practical recognition to Ea at Eridu and Enlil
at Nippur. He, however, overlooked Anu at Erech, a fact which suggests
that he held sway over Eridu and Nippur, but had to recognize Erech as
an independent city state.
Among the deities of Lagash, Ur-Nina favoured most the goddess Nina,
whose name he bore. As she was a water deity, and perhaps identical
with Belit-sheri, sister of "Tammuz of the Abyss" and daughter of Ea,
one of the canals was dedicated to her. She was also honoured with a
new temple, in which was probably placed her great statue, constructed
by special order of her royal worshipper. Like the Egyptian goddess,
the "Mother of Mendes", Nina received offerings of fish, not only as a
patroness of fishermen, but also as a corn spirit and a goddess of
maternity. She was in time identified with Ishtar.
A famous limestone plaque, which is preserved in the Louvre, Paris,
depicts on its upper half the pious King Ur-Nina engaged in the
ceremony of laying the foundations of a temple dedicated either to the
goddess Nina or to the god Nin-Girsu. His face and scalp are clean
shaven, and he has a prominent nose and firm mouth, eloquent of
decision. The folds of neck and jaw suggest Bismarckian traits. He is
bare to the waist, and wears a pleated kilt, with three flounces,
which reaches almost to his ankles. On his long head he has poised
deftly a woven basket containing the clay with which he is to make the
first brick. In front of him stand five figures. The foremost is
honoured by being sculptured larger than the others, except the
prominent monarch. Apparently this is a royal princess, for her head
is unshaven, and her shoulder dress or long hair drops over one of her
arms. Her name is Lida, and the conspicuous part she took in the
ceremony suggests that she was the representative of the goddess Nina.
She is accompanied by her brothers, and at least one official, Anita,
the cup-bearer, or high priest. The concluding part of this ceremony,
or another ceremonial act, is illustrated on the lower part of the
plaque. Ur-Nina is seated on his throne, not, as would seem at first
sight, raising the wine cup to his lips and toasting to the success of
the work, but pouring out a libation upon the ground. The princess is
not present; the place of honour next to the king is taken by the
crown prince. Possibly in this case it is the god Nin-Girsu who is
being honoured. Three male figures, perhaps royal sons, accompany the
prominent crown prince. The cup-bearer is in attendance behind the
throne.
The inscription on this plaque, which is pierced in the centre so as
to be nailed to a sacred shrine, refers to the temples erected by
Ur-Nina, including those of Nina and Nin-Girsu.
After Ur-Nina's prosperous reign came to a close, his son Akurgal
ascended the throne. He had trouble with Umma, a powerful city, which
lay to the north-west of Lagash, between the Shatt-el-Kai and
Shatt-el-Hai canals. An army of raiders invaded his territory and had
to be driven back.
The next king, whose name was Eannatum, had Napoleonic
characteristics. He was a military genius with great ambitions, and
was successful in establishing by conquest a small but brilliant
empire. Like his grandfather, he strengthened the fortifications of
Lagash; then he engaged in a series of successful campaigns. Umma had
been causing anxiety in Lagash, but Eannatum stormed and captured that
rival city, appropriated one of its fertile plains, and imposed an
annual tribute to be paid in kind. An army of Elamites swept down from
the hills, but Ur-Nina's grandson inflicted upon these bold foreigners
a crushing defeat and pursued them over the frontier. Several cities
were afterwards forced to come under the sway of triumphant Lagash,
including Erech and Ur, and as his suzerainty was already acknowledged
at Eridu, Eannatum's power in Sumeria became as supreme as it was
firmly established.
Evidently Zuzu, king of the northern city of Opis, considered that the
occasion was opportune to overcome the powerful Sumerian conqueror,
and at the same time establish Semitic rule over the subdued and
war-wasted cities. He marched south with a large army, but the
tireless and ever-watchful Eannatum hastened to the fray, scattered
the forces of Opis, and captured the foolhardy Zuzu.
Eannatum's activities, however, were not confined to battlefields. At
Lagash he carried out great improvements in the interests of
agriculture; he constructed a large reservoir and developed the canal
system. He also extended and repaired existing temples in his native
city and at Erech. Being a patron of the arts, he encouraged sculpture
work, and the finest Sumerian examples belong to his reign.
Eannatum was succeeded by his brother, Enannatum I. Apparently the new
monarch did not share the military qualities of his royal predecessor,
for there were signs of unrest in the loose confederacy of states.
Indeed, Umma revolted. From that city an army marched forth and took
forcible possession of the plain which Eannatum had appropriated,
removing and breaking the landmarks, and otherwise challenging the
supremacy of the sovran state. A Lagash force defeated the men of
Umma, but appears to have done little more than hold in check their
aggressive tendencies.
No sooner had Entemena, the next king, ascended the throne than the
flame of revolt burst forth again. The Patesi of Umma was evidently
determined to free, once and for all, his native state from the yoke
of Lagash. But he had gravely miscalculated the strength of the
vigorous young ruler. Entemena inflicted upon the rebels a crushing
defeat, and following up his success, entered the walled city and
captured and slew the patesi. Then he took steps to stamp out the
embers of revolt in Umma by appointing as its governor one of his own
officials, named Ili, who was duly installed with great ceremony.
Other military successes followed, including the sacking of Opis and
Kish, which assured the supremacy of Lagash for many years. Entemena,
with characteristic vigour, engaged himself during periods of peace in
strengthening his city fortifications and in continuing the work of
improving and developing the irrigation system. He lived in the golden
age of Sumerian art, and to his reign belongs the exquisite silver
vase of Lagash, which was taken from the Tello mound, and is now in
the Louvre. This votive offering was placed by the king in the temple
of Nin-Girsu. It is exquisitely shaped, and has a base of copper. The
symbolic decorations include the lion-headed eagle, which was probably
a form of the spring god of war and fertility, the lion, beloved by
the Mother goddess, and deer and ibexes, which recall the mountain
herds of Astarte. In the dedicatory inscription the king is referred
to as a patesi, and the fact that the name of the high priest, Dudu,
is given may be taken as an indication of the growing power of an
aggressive priesthood. After a brilliant reign of twenty-nine years
the king died, and was succeeded by his son, Enannatum II, who was the
last ruler of Ur-Nina's line. An obscure period ensued. Apparently
there had been a city revolt, which may have given the enemies of
Lagash the desired opportunity to gather strength for the coming
conflict. There is a reference to an Elamite raid which, although
repulsed, may be regarded as proof of disturbed political conditions.
One or two priests sat on the throne of Lagash in brief succession,
and then arose to power the famous Urukagina, the first reformer in
history. He began to rule as patesi, but afterwards styled himself
king. What appears certain is that he was the leader of a great social
upheaval, which received the support of a section of the priesthood,
for he recorded that his elevation was due to the intercession of the
god Nin-Girsu. Other deities, who were sons and daughters of Nin-Girsu
and Nina, had been given recognition by his predecessors, and it is
possible that the orthodox section of Lagash, and especially the
agricultural classes, supported the new ruler in sweeping away
innovations to which they were hostile.
Like Khufu and his descendants, the Pyramid kings of Egypt's fourth
dynasty, the vigorous and efficient monarchs of the Ur-Nina dynasty of
Lagash were apparently remembered and execrated as tyrants and
oppressors of the people. To maintain many endowed temples and a
standing army the traders and agriculturists had been heavily taxed.
Each successive monarch who undertook public works on a large scale
for the purpose of extending and developing the area under
cultivation, appears to have done so mainly to increase the revenue of
the exchequer, so as to conserve the strength of the city and secure
its pre-eminence as a metropolis. A leisured class had come into
existence, with the result that culture was fostered and civilization
advanced. Lagash seems to have been intensely modern in character
prior to 2800 B.C., but with the passing of the old order of things
there arose grave social problems which never appear to have been
seriously dealt with. All indications of social unrest were, it would
appear, severely repressed by the iron-gloved monarchs of Ur-Nina's
dynasty.
The people as a whole groaned under an ever-increasing burden of
taxation. Sumeria was overrun by an army of officials who were
notoriously corrupt; they do not appear to have been held in check, as
in Egypt, by royal auditors. "In the domain of Nin-Girsu", one of
Urukagina's tablets sets forth, "there were tax gatherers down to the
sea." They not only attended to the needs of the exchequer, but
enriched themselves by sheer robbery, while the priests followed their
example by doubling their fees and appropriating temple offerings to
their own use. The splendid organization of Lagash was crippled by the
dishonesty of those who should have been its main support.
Reforms were necessary and perhaps overdue, but, unfortunately for
Lagash, Urukagina's zeal for the people's cause amounted to
fanaticism. Instead of gradually readjusting the machinery of
government so as to secure equality of treatment without impairing its
efficiency as a defensive force in these perilous times, he
inaugurated sweeping and revolutionary social changes of far-reaching
character regardless of consequences. Taxes and temple fees were cut
down, and the number of officials reduced to a minimum. Society was
thoroughly disorganized. The army, which was recruited mainly from the
leisured and official classes, went practically out of existence, so
that traders and agriculturists obtained relief from taxation at the
expense of their material security.
Urukagina's motives were undoubtedly above reproach, and he showed an
example to all who occupied positions of trust by living an upright
life and denying himself luxuries. He was disinterestedly pious, and
built and restored temples, and acted as the steward of his god with
desire to promote the welfare and comfort of all true worshippers. His
laws were similar to those which over two centuries afterwards were
codified by Hammurabi, and like that monarch he was professedly the
guardian of the weak and the helper of the needy; he sought to
establish justice and liberty in the kingdom. But his social Arcadia
vanished like a dream because he failed to recognize that Right must
be supported by Might.
In bringing about his sudden social revolution, Urukagina had at the
same time unwittingly let loose the forces of disorder. Discontented
and unemployed officials, and many representatives of the despoiled
leisured and military classes of Lagash, no doubt sought refuge
elsewhere, and fostered the spirit of revolt which ever smouldered in
subject states. At any rate, Umma, remembering the oppressions of
other days, was not slow to recognize that the iron hand of Lagash had
become unnerved. The zealous and iconoclastic reformer had reigned but
seven years when he was called upon to defend his people against the
invader. He appears to have been utterly unprepared to do so. The
victorious forces of Umma swept against the stately city of Lagash and
shattered its power in a single day. Echoes of the great disaster
which ensued rise from a pious tablet inscription left by a priest,
who was convinced that the conquerors would be called to account for
the sins they had committed against the great god Nin-Girsu. He
lamented the butchery and robbery which had taken place. We gather
from his composition that blood was shed by the raiders of Umma even
in the sacred precincts of temples, that statues were shattered, that
silver and precious stones were carried away, that granaries were
plundered and standing crops destroyed, and that many buildings were
set on fire. Amidst these horrors of savagery and vengeance, the now
tragic figure of the great reformer suddenly vanishes from before our
eyes. Perhaps he perished in a burning temple; perhaps he found a
nameless grave with the thousands of his subjects whose bodies had
lain scattered about the blood-stained streets. With Urukagina the
glory of Lagash departed. Although the city was rebuilt in time, and
was even made more stately than before, it never again became the
metropolis of Sumeria.
The vengeful destroyer of Lagash was Lugal-zaggisi, Patesi of Umma, a
masterful figure in early Sumerian history. We gather from the tablet
of the unknown scribe, who regarded him as a sinner against the god
Nin-Girsu, that his city goddess was named Nidaba. He appears also to
have been a worshipper of Enlil of Nippur, to whose influence he
credited his military successes. But Enlil was not his highest god, he
was the interceder who carried the prayers of Lugal-zaggisi to the
beloved father, Anu, god of the sky. No doubt Nin-Girsu represented a
school of theology which was associated with unpleasant memories in
Umma. The sacking and burning of the temples of Lagash suggests as
much.
Having broken the power of Lagash, Lugal-zaggisi directed his
attention to the rival city of Kish, where Semitic influence was
predominating. When Nanizak, the last monarch of the line of the
famous Queen Azag-Bau, had sat upon the throne for but three years, he
perished by the sword of the Umma conqueror. Nippur likewise came
under his sway, and he also subdued the southern cities.
Lugal-zaggisi chose for his capital ancient Erech, the city of Anu,
and of his daughter, the goddess Nana, who afterwards was identified
with Ishtar. Anu's spouse was Anatu, and the pair subsequently became
abstract deities, like Anshar and Kishar, their parents, who figure in
the Babylonian Creation story. Nana was worshipped as the goddess of
vegetation, and her relation to Anu was similar to that of Belit-sheri
to Ea at Eridu. Anu and Ea were originally identical, but it would
appear that the one was differentiated as the god of the waters above
the heaven and the other as god of the waters beneath the earth, both
being forms of Anshar. Elsewhere the chief god of the spring sun or
the moon, the lover of the goddess, became pre-eminent, displacing the
elder god, like Nin-Girsu at Lagash. At Sippar the sun god, Babbar,
whose Semitic name was Shamash, was exalted as the chief deity, while
the moon god remained supreme at Ur. This specializing process, which
was due to local theorizing and the influence of alien settlers, has
been dealt with in a previous chapter.
In referring to himself as the favoured ruler of various city deities,
Lugal-zaggisi appears as a ruler of all Sumeria. How far his empire
extended it is impossible to determine with certainty. He appears to
have overrun Akkad, and even penetrated to the Syrian coast, for in
one inscription it is stated that he "made straight his path from the
Lower Sea (the Persian Gulf) over the Euphrates and Tigris to the
Upper Sea (the Mediterranean)". The allegiance of certain states,
however, depended on the strength of the central power. One of his
successors found it necessary to attack Kish, which was ever waiting
for an opportunity to regain its independence.
According to the Chronicle of Kish, the next ruler of Sumer and Akkad
after Lugal-zaggisi was the famous Sargon I. It would appear that he
was an adventurer or usurper, and that he owed his throne indirectly
to Lugal-zaggisi, who had dethroned the ruler of Akkad. Later
traditions, which have been partly confirmed by contemporary
inscriptions, agree that Sargon was of humble birth. In the previous
chapter reference was made to the Tammuz-like myth attached to his
memory. His mother was a vestal virgin dedicated to the sun god,
Shamash, and his father an unknown stranger from the mountains--a
suggestion of immediate Semitic affinities. Perhaps Sargon owed his
rise to power to the assistance received by bands of settlers from the
land of the Amorites, which Lugal-zaggisi had invaded.
According to the legend, Sargon's birth was concealed. He was placed
in a vessel which was committed to the river. Brought up by a
commoner, he lived in obscurity until the Semitic goddess, Ishtar,
gave him her aid.
A similar myth was attached in India to the memory of Karna, the
Hector of that great Sanskrit epic the _Mahabharata_. Kama's mother,
the Princess Pritha, who afterwards became a queen, was loved by the
sun god, Surya. When in secret she gave birth to her son she placed
him in an ark of wickerwork, which was set adrift on a stream.
Ultimately it reached the Ganges, and it was borne by that river to
the country of Anga, where the child was rescued by a woman and
afterwards reared by her and her husband, a charioteer. In time Karna
became a great warrior, and was crowned King of Anga by the Kaurava
warriors.[147]
Before he became king, Sargon of Akkad, the Sharrukin of the texts,
was, according to tradition, a gardener and watchman attached to the
temple of the war god Zamama of Kish. This deity was subsequently
identified with Merodach, son of Ea; Ninip, son of Enlil; and
Nin-Girsu of Lagash. He was therefore one of the many developed forms
of Tammuz--a solar, corn, and military deity, and an interceder for
mankind. The goddess of Kish appears to have been a form of Bau, as is
testified by the name of Queen Azag-Bau, the legendary founder of the
city.
Unfortunately our knowledge of Sargon's reign is of meagre character.
It is undoubted that he was a distinguished general and able ruler. He
built up an empire which included Sumer and Akkad, and also Amurru,
"the western land", or "land of the Amorites". The Elamites gave him
an opportunity to extend his conquests eastward. They appear to have
attacked Opis, but he drove them back, and on more than one occasion
penetrated their country, over the western part of which, known as
Anshan, he ultimately imposed his rule. Thither went many Semitic
settlers who had absorbed the culture of Sumeria.
During Sargon's reign Akkad attained to a splendour which surpassed
that of Babylon. In an omen text the monarch is lauded as the "highly
exalted one without a peer". Tradition relates that when he was an old
man all the Babylonian states rose in revolt against him and besieged
Akkad. But the old warrior led forth his army against the combined
forces and achieved a shattering victory.
Manishtusu, who succeeded Sargon I, had similarly to subdue a great
confederacy of thirty-two city states, and must therefore have been a
distinguished general. But he is best known as the monarch who
purchased several large estates adjoining subject cities, his aim
having been probably to settle on these Semitic allies who would be
less liable to rebel against him than the workers they displaced. For
the latter, however, he found employment elsewhere. These
transactions, which were recorded on a monument subsequently carried
off with other spoils by the Elamites and discovered at Susa, show
that at this early period (about 2600 B.C.) even a conquering monarch
considered it advisable to observe existing land laws. Urumush,[148]
the next ruler, also achieved successes in Elam and elsewhere, but his
life was cut short by a palace revolution.
The prominent figure of Naram Sin, a later king of Akkad, bulks
largely in history and tradition. According to the Chronicle of Kish,
he was a son of Sargon. Whether he was or not, it is certain that he
inherited the military and administrative genius of that famous
ex-gardener. The arts flourished during his reign. One of the
memorable products of the period was an exquisitely sculptured
monument celebrating one of Naram Sin's victories, which was
discovered at Susa. It is one of the most wonderful examples of
Babylonian stone work which has come to light.
A successful campaign had been waged against a mountain people. The
stele shows the warrior king leading his army up a steep incline and
round the base of a great peak surmounted by stars. His enemies flee
in confusion before him. One lies on the ground clutching a spear
which has penetrated his throat, two are falling over a cliff, while
others apparently sue for mercy. Trees have been depicted to show that
part of the conquered territory is wooded. Naram Sin is armed with
battleaxe and bow, and his helmet is decorated with horns. The whole
composition is spirited and finely grouped; and the military bearing
of the disciplined troops contrasts sharply with the despairing
attitudes of the fleeing remnants of the defending army.
During this period the Semitized mountaineers to the north-east of
Babylonia became the most aggressive opponents of the city states. The
two most prominent were the Gutium, or men of Kutu, and the Lulubu.
Naram Sin's great empire included the whole of Sumer and Akkad, Amurru
and northern Palestine, and part of Elam, and the district to the
north. He also penetrated Arabia, probably by way of the Persian Gulf,
and caused diorite to be quarried there. One of his steles, which is
now in the Imperial Ottoman Museum at Constantinople, depicts him as a
fully bearded man with Semitic characteristics. During his lifetime he
was deified--a clear indication of the introduction of foreign ideas,
for the Sumerians were not worshippers of kings and ancestors.
Naram Sin was the last great king of his line. Soon after his death
the power of Akkad went to pieces, and the Sumerian city of Erech
again became the centre of empire. Its triumph, however, was
shortlived. After a quarter of a century had elapsed, Akkad and Sumer
were overswept by the fierce Gutium from the north-eastern mountains.
They sacked and burned many cities, including Babylon, where the
memory of the horrors perpetrated by these invaders endured until the
Grecian Age. An obscure period, like the Egyptian Hyksos Age, ensued,
but it was of comparatively brief duration.
When the mists cleared away, the city Lagash once more came to the
front, having evidently successfully withstood the onslaughts of the
Gutium, but it never recovered the place of eminence it occupied under
the brilliant Ur-Nina dynasty. It is manifest that it must have
enjoyed under the various overlords, during the interval, a
considerable degree of independence, for its individuality remained
unimpaired. Of all its energetic and capable patesis, the most
celebrated was Gudea, who reigned sometime before 2400 B.C. In
contrast to the Semitic Naram Sin, he was beardless and pronouncedly
Sumerian in aspect. His favoured deity, the city god Nin-Girsu, again
became prominent, having triumphed over his jealous rivals after
remaining in obscurity for three or four centuries. Trade flourished,
and the arts were fostered. Gudea had himself depicted, in one of the
most characteristic sculptures of his age, as an architect, seated
reverently with folded hands with a temple plan lying on his knees,
and his head uplifted as if watching the builders engaged in
materializing the dream of his life. The temple in which his interests
were centred was erected in honour of Nin-Girsu. Its ruins suggest
that it was of elaborate structure and great beauty. Like Solomon in
later days, Gudea procured material for his temple from many distant
parts--cedar from Lebanon, marble from Amurru, diorite from Arabia,
copper from Elam, and so forth. Apparently the King of Lagash was
strong enough or wealthy enough to command respect over a wide area.
Another city which also rose into prominence, amidst the shattered
Sumerian states, was Ur, the centre of moon worship. After Gudea's
death, its kings exercised sway over Lagash and Nippur, and, farther
south, over Erech and Larsa as well. This dynasty endured for nearly a
hundred and twenty years, during which Ur flourished like Thebes in
Egypt. Its monarchs styled themselves as "Kings of the Four Regions".
The worship of Nannar (Sin) became officially recognized at Nippur,
the seat of Enlil, during the reign of King Dungi of Ur; while at
Erech, the high priest of Anu, the sky god, became the high priest of
the moon god. Apparently matriarchal ideas, associated with lunar
worship, again came into prominence, for the king appointed two of his
daughters to be rulers of conquered states in Elam and Syria. In the
latter half of his reign, Dungi, the conqueror, was installed as high
priest at Eridu. It would thus appear that there was a renascence of
early Sumerian religious ideas. Ea, the god of the deep, had long been
overshadowed, but a few years before Dungi's death a temple was
erected to him at Nippur, where he was worshipped as Dagan. Until the
very close of his reign, which lasted for fifty-eight years, this
great monarch of tireless activity waged wars of conquest, built
temples and palaces, and developed the natural resources of Sumer and
Akkad. Among his many reforms was the introduction of standards of
weights, which received divine sanction from the moon god, who, as in
Egypt, was the measurer and regulator of human transactions and human
life.
To this age also belongs many of the Sumerian business and legal
records, which were ultimately carried off to Susa, where they have
been recovered by French excavators.
About half a century after Dungi's death the Dynasty of Ur came to an
end, its last king having been captured by an Elamite force.
At some time subsequent to this period, Abraham migrated from Ur to
the northern city of Harran, where the moon god was also the chief
city deity--the Baal, or "lord". It is believed by certain
Egyptologists that Abraham sojourned in Egypt during its Twelfth
Dynasty, which, according to the Berlin system of minimum dating,
extended from about 2000 B.C. till 1780 B.C. The Hebrew patriarch may
therefore have been a contemporary of Hammurabi's, who is identified
with Amraphel, king of Shinar (Sumer) in the Bible.[149]
But after the decline of Ur's ascendancy, and long before Babylon's
great monarch came to the throne, the centre of power in Sumeria was
shifted to Isin, where sixteen kings flourished for two and a quarter
centuries. Among the royal names, recognition was given to Ea and
Dagan, Sin, Enlil, and Ishtar, indicating that Sumerian religion in
its Semitized form was receiving general recognition. The sun god was
identical with Ninip and Nin-Girsu, a god of fertility, harvest, and
war, but now more fully developed and resembling Babbar, "the shining
one", the solar deity of Akkadian Sippar, whose Semitic name was
Shamash. As Shamash was ultimately developed as the god of justice and
righteousness, it would appear that his ascendancy occurred during the
period when well-governed communities systematized their religious
beliefs to reflect social conditions.
The first great monarch of the Isin dynasty was Ishbi-Urra, who
reigned for thirty-two years. Like his successors, he called himself
"King of Sumer and Akkad", and it appears that his sway extended to
the city of Sippar, where solar worship prevailed. Traces of him have
also been found at Eridu, Ur, Erech, and Nippur, so that he must have
given recognition to Ea, Sin, Anu, and Enlil. In this period the early
national pantheon may have taken shape, Bel Enlil being the chief
deity. Enlil was afterwards displaced by Merodach of Babylon.
Before 2200 B.C. there occurred a break in the supremacy of Isin.
Gungunu, King of Ur, combined with Larsa, whose sun temple he
restored, and declared himself ruler of Sumer and Akkad. But Isin
again gathered strength under Ur-Ninip, who was not related to his
predecessor. Perhaps he came from Nippur, where the god Ninip was
worshipped as the son of Bel Enlil.
According to a Babylonian document, a royal grandson of Ur-Ninip's,
having no direct heir, selected as his successor his gardener,
Enlil-bani. He placed the crown on the head of this obscure
individual, abdicated in his favour, and then died a mysterious death
within his palace.
It is highly probable that Enlil-bani, whose name signifies "Enlil is
my creator", was a usurper like Sargon of Akkad, and he may have
similarly circulated a myth regarding his miraculous origin to justify
his sudden rise to power. The truth appears to be that he came to the
throne as the leader of a palace revolution at a time of great unrest.
But he was not allowed to remain in undisputed possession. A rival
named Sin-ikisha, evidently a moon worshipper and perhaps connected
with Ur, displaced the usurper, and proclaimed himself king. After a
brief reign of six months he was overthrown, however, by Enlil-bani,
who piously credited his triumph over his enemy to the chief god of
Nippur, whose name he bore. Although he took steps to secure his
position by strengthening the fortifications of Isin, and reigned for
about a quarter of a century, he was not succeeded by his heir, if he
had one. King Zambia, who was no relation, followed him, but his reign
lasted for only three years. The names of the next two kings are
unknown. Then came Sin-magir, who was succeeded by Damik-ilishu, the
last King of Isin.
Towards the close of Damik-ilishu's reign of twenty-four years he came
under the suzerainty of Larsa, whose ruler was Rim Sin. Then Isin was
captured by Sin-muballit, King of Babylon, the father of the great
Hammurabi. Rim Sin was an Elamite.
Afterwards the old order of things passed away. Babylon became the
metropolis, the names of Sumer and Akkad dropped out of use, and the
whole country between the rivers was called Babylonia.[150] The
various systems of law which obtained in the different states were
then codified by Hammurabi, who appointed governors in all the cities
which came under his sway to displace the patesis and kings. A new
national pantheon of representative character was also formed, over
which Merodach (Marduk), the city god of Babylon, presided. How this
younger deity was supposed to rise to power is related in the
Babylonian legend of Creation, which is dealt with in the next
chapter.[151] In framing this myth from the fragments of older myths,
divine sanction was given to the supremacy achieved by Merodach's
city. The allegiance of future generations was thus secured, not only
by the strong arm of the law, but also by the combined influence of
the reorganized priesthoods at the various centres of administration.
An interesting problem, which should be referred to here, arises in
connection with the sculptured representations of deities before and
after the rise of Akkad as a great Power. It is found, although the
Sumerians shaved their scalps and faces at the dawn of the historical
age, that they worshipped gods who had long hair and also beards,
which were sometimes square and sometimes pointed.
At what period the Sumerian deities were given human shape it is
impossible to determine. As has been shown (Chapters II and III) all
the chief gods and goddesses had animal forms and composite monster
forms before they became anthropomorphic deities. Ea had evidently a
fish shape ere he was clad in the skin of a fish, as an Egyptian god
was simply a bull before he was depicted in human shape wearing a
bull's skin. The archaic Sumerian animal and composite monster gods of
animistic and totemic origin survived after the anthropomorphic period
as mythical figures, which were used for decorative or magical
purposes and as symbols. A form of divine headdress was a cap enclosed
in horns, between which appeared the soaring lion-headed eagle, which
symbolized Nin-Girsu. This god had also lion and antelope forms, which
probably figured in lost myths--perhaps they were like the animals
loved by Ishtar and referred to in the Gilgamesh epic. Similarly the
winged bull was associated with the moon god Nannar, or Sin, of Ur,
who was "a horned steer". On various cylinder seals appear groups of
composite monsters and rearing wild beasts, which were evidently
representations of gods and demons in conflict.
Suggestive data for comparative study is afforded in this connection
by ancient Egypt. Sokar, the primitive Memphite deity, retained until
the end his animal and composite monster forms. Other gods were
depicted with human bodies and the heads of birds, serpents, and
crocodiles, thus forming links between the archaic demoniac and the
later anthropomorphic deities. A Sumerian example is the deified
Ea-bani, who, like Pan, has the legs and hoofs of a goat.
The earliest representations of Sumerian humanized deities appear on
reliefs from Tello, the site of Lagash. These examples of archaic
gods, however, are not bearded in Semitic fashion. On the contrary,
their lips and cheeks are shaved, while an exaggerated chin tuft is
retained. The explanation suggested is that the Sumerians gave their
deities human shape before they themselves were clean shaven, and that
the retention of the characteristic facial hair growth of the
Mediterranean Race is another example of the conservatism of the
religious instinct. In Egypt the clean-shaven Pharaohs, who
represented gods, wore false chin-tuft beards; even Queen Hatshepsut
considered it necessary to assume a beard on state occasions.
Ptah-Osiris retained his archaic beard until the Ptolemaic period.
It seems highly probable that in similarly depicting their gods with
beards, the early Sumerians were not influenced by the practices of
any alien people or peoples. Not until the period of Gudea, the Patesi
of Lagash, did they give their gods heavy moustaches, side whiskers,
and flowing beards of Semitic type. It may be, however, that by then
they had completely forgotten the significance of an ancient custom.
Possibly, too, the sculptors of Lagash were working under the
influence of the Akkadian school of art, which had produced the
exquisite stele of victory for Naram-Sin, and consequently adopted the
conventional Semitic treatment of bearded figures. At any rate, they
were more likely to study and follow the artistic triumphs of Akkad
than the crude productions of the archaic period. Besides, they lived
in an age when Semitic kings were deified and the Semitic overlords
had attained to great distinction and influence.
The Semitic folks were not so highly thought of in the early Sumerian
period. It is not likely that the agricultural people regarded as
models of gods the plunderers who descended from the hills, and, after
achieving successes, returned home with their spoils. More probably
they regarded them as "foreign devils". Other Semites, however, who
came as traders, bringing wood, stone, and especially copper, and
formed communities in cities, may well have influenced Sumerian
religious thought. The god Ramman, for instance, who was given
recognition all through Babylonia, was a god of hill folks as far
north as Asia Minor and throughout Syria. He may have been introduced
by settlers who adopted Sumerian habits of life and shaved scalp and
face. But although the old cities could never have existed in a
complete state of isolation from the outer world, it is unlikely that
their inhabitants modelled their deities on those worshipped by groups
of aliens. A severe strain is imposed on our credulity if we are
expected to believe that it was due to the teachings and example of
uncultured nomads that the highly civilized Sumerians developed their
gods from composite monsters to anthropomorphic deities. Such a
supposition, at any rate, is not supported by the evidence of Ancient
Egypt.