HIST 212 Sumerian-Akkadian Culture

Sumer, 3200-2350 B.C. Sargon’s Empire, 2350-
2320 B.C.
The Amorite invasions, 2100-1900 B.C.
The Dynasty of Ur,
2100-2000 B.C.
Reign of Hammurapi of Babylon,
1792-1750 B.C.

The Ancient Fertile Crescent Area
“The Cradle of Civilization”

Sumerians

Sumer, 3200 3200-2350 2350 B.C.

Mesopotamian Trade
“The Cuneiform World”

Cuneiform: “Wedge-Shaped” Writing

Cuneiform Writing

Sumerian Scribes
“Tablet House”

Sumerian Religion - Polytheistic
Ea Ishtar
Anthropomorphic Gods

Gods and Goddesses
•Sin (the moon)
•Father figure
•Shamash (the sun)
•Deity of justice
•Ishtar (the morning star)
•Sex, war, community

Gods and Goddesses
•Ereshkigal goddess of the
Underworld
•Ea god of fresh water

“Mountain of
the Gods”
Ziggurat at Ur

The Royal Standard of Ur

Sargon of Akkad:
The World’s First Empire [Akkadians]

Sargon of Akkad unifies
Mesopotamia:
World’s first empire, ca. 2240 B.C.

Uruk: a substantial ceremonial hub by 3500 B.C.

Uruk

Ziggurat of Ur

Map of
Nippur

Complexity of Akkadians as seen through “tokens”

Sumerian/Akkadian Class System
The Aristocracy
Peasantry
The King
The Governors

The roles and rights
of Sumerian women

Status of Women
Status declined over time
• Early Sumer: more or less equality
between the sexes
• Artisan occupations were open to women
• Adultery was the worst crime in marriage

• Divorce was initiated by husbands
• Sexual and Marital Life
– Arranged marriages
– Dowry
– Brides were expected to be virgins

Board Game From Ur

Bronze Metallurgy Skills
at Ur

Mesopotamian Harp

Sumerian Cylinder Seals

Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh Epic Tablet:
Flood Story

The Babylonian Empires

Hammurabi’s Code
[r. 1792-1750 B. C. E.]

Hammurabi, the Judge

Babylonian Math

Babylonian Numbers

MAP 2.1

• Hammurabi, king of Babylon (ca. 1792 –
1750 B.C.E.), created the next great
empire in Mesopotamia
• He is remembered today largely because
of his law code

Law
Earliest known complete code of laws:
Principles
– Punishment depends on social rank
– Victim’s right to personal compensation
– Government is impartial referee

Hammurabi’s Empire

SUCCESSORS TO THE SUMERIANS
• Successors
– Akkadians (under Sargon)
– Amorites, or Old Babylonians (under Hammurabi)
– Hittites
– Assyrians
– Chaldees or New Babylonians

• Decline of Mesopotamia in World History
– Ceased to be important after the Persians
conquest the region (580s B.C.E.)

II. The Hittites
• spoke an Indo-European language
• arrived in Anatolia perhaps as early as 2700
BCE
• settled as farmers and herders in the lands of
existing Anatolian kingdoms
• were probably backwards compared to the
sophisticated kingdoms that were their
neighbors

• warfare among the Hittites’ neighbors
gave them the opportunity to rise to
prominence
• in 19 th century BCE king Hattusilis I built
the capital at Hattusas
• conquest of neighboring land begins

• Hittites may have had an advantage over
the Anatolian kingdoms they conquered
because of their iron weapons
• the Hittites were the first people to make
weapons and tools out of this metal
• they conquered much of Anatolia and
even campaigned beyond Anatolia

• around 1595 BCE the Hittites participated
in an attack on Babylon
• this attack led to the overthrow of the
dynasty that Hammurabi had founded two
centuries earlier
• the Hittites probably participated in the
sacking of the city, then returned home

• much of what is now known about the
Hittites comes from clay tablets found at
Hattusas and other locations, artifacts, and
excavations of Hittite cities
• the Hittite tablets are written in cuneiform,
which they adopted for their language

• The Hittite Empire was at its strongest
between about 1475 BCE and 1200 BCE
• Hittite warriors fought the Egyptians and
Rameses II to a standstill at Kadesh
around 1300 BCE
• peace followed the battle with both sides
realizing that a treaty of peace was better
than continued bloodshed

the Second
Millennium
B.C.E.
The Middle East in the Second Millennium B.C.E.
Although warfare was not uncommon, treaties, diplomatic missions, and correspondence in Akkadian cuneiform
fostered cooperative relationships between states. All were tied together by extensive networks of exchange
centering on the trade in metals, and peripheral regions, such as Nubia and the Aegean Sea, were drawn into the
world of commerce. (Copyright (c) Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.)
Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

• slaves
The Hittites had a complex society:
• commoners – farmers, craftsmen, herders
• warriors – possibly also commoners
• warriors sat in an assembly that could try cases
and order punishments, but could not make
laws

• nobles – strong; frequent challengers of
the king’s authority
• royal family – also a noble family;
members of this family held influential
posts
• Hittite nobles and the royal family
frequently quarreled, and plots against the
royal family were frequent

• The Hittite Empire fell abruptly around
1200 BCE
• The cause?
• The Sea Peoples raided and destroyed
Hittite cities.
• So vicious were these attacks the Hittite
Empire collapsed.

The Dynasty of Ur,
2100 2100-2000 2000 B.C.