Secret_History

Chapter 11: Time 481
economic facilities. They referred to themselves as the “black-headed people” as if
to emphasize their difference from the indigenous population who, one might
assume, were not black-headed.
The picture painted by the archaeological record of the Sumerian City-State
civilization before Sargon is one of constant strife between these cities, especially
the most prominent ones: Kish, Erech, Ur, Adab, and later Lagash and Umma.
Constant warring weakened the Sumerians until, “the kingship was carried away
by foreigners”, such as the king of Awan, Sargon of Akkad, the Gutians, the
Elamites, and eventually Hammurabi. Sargon of Akkad, the first Semite, was then,
a “foreigner” to the Sumerians who had (as we will see) a rather “lengthy” history
prior to the Semitic influence.
It is quite curious that despite their sense of nationalism and the sharing of a
common identity, the “black-headed people” were unable to unite in order to resist
the conquerors. What is even more ironic is the fact that, even though they were
unable to resist being conquered and ruled - in fact - by foreigners, the Sumerian
culture was, to a great extent, assimilated by the conquerors by the adoption of
their customs, script, and literature, including many of their religious myths.
The cultural “soul” of a people can be found in their stories, myths, and rituals.
The stories of Sumer, as inscribed on its clay tablets, allow us to reconstruct, at
least partially, a process of dynamic development that took place over many
centuries. Some experts propose that Sumerian storytelling was indebted to the
wandering Semitic tribes, who, being allegedly “illiterate”, had the narrative
memory capacity of “illiterate peoples”. It is suggested by such experts that these
Semites often entertained their more “civilized” Sumerian hosts by “telling tales
around the campfire” or in the market place. It is then suggested that these stories
were then written down by Sumerian scribes, who attempted to categorize the
material into orderly groups of continuous narrative. Obviously, the “wandering,
illiterate Semites” weren’t quite so backward since they conquered the Sumerians
and their influence actually gave the Sumerian civilization a cultural boost. What
is more likely is that the writing of the Sumerians was developed for economic and
military purposes, which was the purview of the “god” and his priests. It was only
after the incursions of the Semites that a literary tradition began, and the
development of writing proceeded in such a way that it could be utilized for
literature.
The experts tell us that the Sumerians themselves had no real “sense of history”,
even though they had invented writing. This opinion is arrived at due to the fact
that the Sumerians had recorded a sort of “history”, in the form of a King list that
was, to understate the matter, astonishing.
The Sumerians’ relationship with their gods was the driving force in the rise of
their civilization. The very reason for the existence of Sumer and her people
seemed to lie with these strange and mortal ‘deities’. The very reason for being
was to serve the appropriate deity.
The Sumerian religion was more like a feudal covenental relationship with an
overlord than the mystical worship of a god as we would understand religion
today. For the Sumerian, worship of the gods meant complete servitude - the very
purpose for which mankind was, (according to the Sumerians), created by the
Sumerian gods.