Chapter 2 of John Heise's 'Akkadian language' with some geographical and

climatological background about the Ancient Near East, including an introduction to

the people (Sumerian, Akkadians and neighbors), the divine world, economy,
Assyriology and Archeology.

II Mesopotamia
a bird's eye view (important time periods, famous city names, dynasties, terminology).
See the literature on the Ancient Near East.

I. Mesopotamia, general introduction

Millennia ago the fertile low lands in the river basins of Euphrates and Tigris were the
home land of a rich and complex society. These civilizations were saved from
oblivion by the unexpected discovery in the previous century of complete libraries in
the archeological remains. Thousands of clay tablets, written in a cuneiform writing
system, are buried deep under the ruins of ancient cities, when they were sacked and
set into fire. The clay tablets, usually only sun-dried and stored on (inflammable)
wooden shelves, are often inadvertently baked while a city was destroyed and
treasures were removed. Clay was not valuable to treasure hunters and robbers in later
times and clay tablets (at least until the 19th century CE) were left untouched and thus
saved for eternity.
The branch of science dealing with the study of ancient civilizations in the Near East
is called Assyriology, named after an Assyrian empire uncovered by the first
archeological excavations. This empire is now known as the New Assyrian empire in
the first millennium BCE.

1. Geography
Mesopotamia. The word 'Mesopotamia' is in origin a Greek name (mesos 'middle'
and potamos 'river', so 'land between the rivers'). The name is used for the area
watered by the Euphrates and Tigris and its tributaries, roughly comprising modern
Irak and part of Syria. South of modern Bagdad, the alluvial plains of the rivers were
called the land of Sumer and Akkad in the third millennium. Sumer is the most
southern part, while the land of Akkad is the area around modern Bagdad, where the
Euphrates and Tigris are close to each other. In the second millennium both regions

together are called Babylonia, a mostly flat country. The territory in the north
(between the rivers Tigris and the Great Zab) is called Assyria, with the city A ur as
center. It borders to the mountains.
Neighboring regions. The region roughly containing the Asian part of modern Turkey
are referred to as Anatolia. The countries along the east-Mediterranean coast (modern
Syria, the Lebanon, Jordan and Israel) bounded on the east by the Syrian desert and
extending north towards Mesopotamia will be called Syria-Palestine. Modern Iran is
roughly equivalent to Persia and including in its southwestern part ancient Elam.
Human use of the rivers. Man have been attracted to both rivers since prehistoric
times. As water ways they make inland navigation possible. The rivers yearly flood its
banks, producing fertile land. The character of Euphrates and Tigris are different.
The Tigris is rough and fast flowing. 'Tigris' is the Greek pronunciation of the
Akkadian name idiqlat, (initial vocal disappears and l>r), Sumerian idigna meaning
'fast as an arrow'. The upper course in particular is difficult to pass. The river cuts
deep in the surrounding land and the water flow can hardly be used for irrigation.
The Euphrates is a lifeline. It can more easily be used by ships. The banks are lower,
suitable for irrigation, with less violent floods. Precipitation in the mountains to the
north is large and rainfall-agriculture is possible. In the Babylonian low lands
precipitation is low and moreover rain is concentrated in shortly lasting showers in the
winter period December-February. Intensive sunshine after a short spring parch the
soil in the summer. Without irrigation agriculture is not possible.
Change of river flow and shore line. In the last few hundred kilometer in the lower
course, the river drops only of order 10 meter. Consequently the river flow has
changed significantly in the course of time. The ruins of many famous ancient cities,
like Eridu, Ur, Nippur and Kish are now far from the river, but were in the past
situated at the river banks. The location of the sea shore is determined by the extend of
silk deposition in the Persian Gulf and the rising of the sea level. The river delta has
probably gained territory over the Persian gulf. The coastal line has moved further
south or at least lagoons and estuaries in the past have now become silted up. The city
of Eridu, home of the water god (in Sumerian Enki, Akkadian Ea, one of the top three
deities in the pantheon) was in the past situated at a lagoon near the sea and had a
famous port.
The change in course of many arms of the river has had great consequences in the
past. A breakthrough somewhat more north in the plains of Mesopotamia could drain
several river arms and render a network of irrigation channels useless. It has been a
question of constant debate, struggle and war between early Sumerian cities.

Euphrates vs. Nile delta. The Euphrates reaches its highest water levels at the end of
March to the beginning of May, the Tigris a few weeks earlier. In both cases the crops
are already growing on the field. The river flood can only be used for agriculture
when the fields are shielded by a system of dams, dikes and canals. This contrasts
with the Nile in Egypt. High water in the Nile are a result of the summer monsoon in
Central Africa and has is highest water levels in September-October. The Nile
fertilizes the land in the autumn and the crops can grow in (early) spring when no
floods occur. Moreover the Nile, fed by rivers in a large area, has a more constant
flow and carries the soluble salts and lime into the sea. The Euphrates is more easily
prone to salination.
Irrigation. The irrigation system is attested already in very ancient times, the earliest
around 6000 BCE. Through a system of dikes, dams and canals the precipitation in the
mountainous region in the north is used in the south. This required a high level of
organization of the society and collective efforts for the construction, maintenance,
supervision and adjustments of the irrigation network. Over-irrigation and limited
drainage gradually brackished the fields, often causing ecological crisis. Together with
the change of river flow, it stimulates throughout the Mesopotamian history the
foundation of new settlements and cities.
Our knowledge about the history of irrigation networks is limited by the difficulty of
dating most of the water works.

2. Climate and environment

Climate in the Pleistocene. The motor of the general atmospheric circulation is the
heating of the tropics and the evaporation of the tropical seas. The pleistoceneis the
geological period of cold climates (glaciers in the mountains and at high latitudes) that
coincides with the cultural period, the paleolithic (Old Stone Age). Atmospheric
circulation and the evaporation of the tropical seas, is 'in low gear'. The monsoonal
rains now watering the southernmost margins of the Near East, are retracted to lower
latitudes and mid-latitude westerly storms carry little moisture. The ice-age at the
latitude of the Near East is characterized by low evaporation and thus little
precipitation. The large quantities of water held in the form of ice lowered the sea
level to typical ~100 meter below present sea level.
The Wrm ice-age made its last attack around 8000 BCE. The geological epoch
starting then is called Holocene. Within a fairly short time (of order 1000 year) the
world climate is basically the same as nowadays, with fluctuations on a large time
scale. Recovery to normal temperature after an ice age is generally fast. It was even
warmer and wetter than it ever has been since. The optimum of the warm and wet

period (called Atlanticum, one of the subdivisions of the Holocene) is around 5000
BCE. It is the era in which England becomes an island again and northern Europe
changes in marshland by the heavy rainfall. Modern shorelines are approximately
reestablished. Coastal settlements earlier than 5000 BCE are now under water. During
the Atlanticum westerly rainstorms stray deep into the desert zones of North Africa
and the Near East. The present-day steppe areas were turned into green land. Many
lakes are seen, in particular in Africa, that are now always dry. The distribution of the
precipitation is the same as nowadays, only the absolute values change.
The fertile crescent. Because of the shape of this distribution in the Near East (almost
absent precipitation in the central desert regions and high rainfall in the mountains
around it), the area is called the fertile crescent. The total precipitation is indirectly
known from the deposit of organic material in the sediments on the sea floor in the
Gulf of Persia, from radiocarbon dates in lake sediments. The ratio of the Oxygen-18
isotope in lake sediments is an indicator of the total lake volume of water. There is no
systematical trend (e.g. it is not getting dryer and dryer) in the last 5000 years
(historical times), but there are three large scale dry periods effecting the entire Near
East: 3200-2900, 2350-2000 and around 1300 BCE.
Local and temporal climatic anomalies. Local anomalies in the climatic history are
important to mankind, but not always seen in the data (which have a coarse
resolution). In arid environment, where water resources are at a premium, climate
local anomalies are of real significance and may cause abandonment of settlements
and movements of nomadic groups.
Agriculture. After 8000 BCE Near Eastern environments become substantially more
attractive for human settlements. The Atlanticum is the period in which agriculture
developed in the Near East, around the Nile in Egypt and in the Indus valley in India.
The use of agriculture is expanding gradually further to the north and west. The
Atlanticum is followed by a climate of lower temperature and precipitation. One of
the relative cold and dry periods (4000-3000 BCE) coincides with the expansion of
cities in Mesopotamia and the foundation of the first Egyption dynasty.
Climate determinism. Many attempts have been made (particularly in the early parts
of this century) to explain the course of history as a result of large scale climatic
change. These theories are called climate determinism. The modern equivalent of this
is an explanation from an ecological perspective, in which still external influences
(change in natural environment, now including e.g. deforestation etc) are the driving
factor. Another school emphasizes the interhuman relations and sociological changes
as the dominant process. It is now clear that a combination of these and additional
factors play a significant role (cultural changes, technological innovations, new tools).
However, a new hot and dry period, starting around 500 BCE, which hastens

environmental changes (overgrazing and deforestation) probably did contribute to

weaken the Mesopotamian civilization and caused the ''center of civilization'' to move
to northern latitudes.
Literature:
Karl W. Butzer, 'Environmental Change in the Near East and Human Impact on the
Land', in Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, J.M.Sasson (ed.), p.123-p.151, Vol.I.
with extensive references

3. People
Two cultural groups form the principle elements in the population of Mesopotamia
before the beginning of history and in the millennium thereafter (the 3rd millennium
BCE). These are the Sumerians and the Akkadians. They lived peacefully together
and created in mutual fertilization, by symbiosis and osmosis, the conditions for a
common high civilization. Mesopotamian sources in all periods seem to be free of
strong racial ideologies or ethnic stereotypes. Enemies, both groups and individuals,
may be cursed and reviled heavily, but this applies more strongly to the ruler of a
nearby city than to one of a remote territory.
Sumerians
The people responsible for the first monumental temples and palaces, for the founding
of the first city states and most likely for the invention of writing (all in the period of
3100-3000 BCE) are the Sumerians. The first written signs are pictographic, so they
can be read in any language and one can't infer a particular language. A pictogram of
an arrow means 'arrow' in any language. A few centuries later, however, these signs
were used to represent Sumerian phonetic values and Sumerian words. The pictogram
for an arrow is now used to represent ti, the Sumerian word for 'arrow', but also for
the phonetic sound ti in words not related to 'arrow'. So it is generally assumed that
the Sumerians were also responsible for the pictographic signs, or possibly together
with (or with a large influence of) the contemporaneous Elamites. If the Sumerians
aren't the ones who actually invented writing than they are at least responsible for
quickly adopting and expanding the invention to their economic needs (the first tablets
are predominantly economic in nature).
The name 'Sumer' is derived from the Babylonian name for southern Babylonia:
mt umeri 'the land of Sumer'. (construct state of mtum 'country' followed by
genitive of Sumer; unknown meaning in Akkadian)
The Sumerians called their country ken.gi(r) 'civilized land', their
language eme.gir and themselves sag.gi6.ga 'the black-headed ones'. [the consonant in

between brackets appears in writing depending on following sounds. Compare e.g.

French 'les Francais' where in both words the final -s are not pronounced, but they are
explicitly heard if a vowel follows, e.g. in 'les Anglaises'.]
The Sumerian language is not Semitic. It is a so called agglutinating language, like
Finnish and Japanese (and in fact like the majority of languages in the world). This is
a term in the typology of languages that contrasts with inflecting languages, like the
Indo-European and Semitic languages. In an agglutinating (or agglutinative) language
words are composed by stringing forms together, often into quite lengthy sequences.
In inflecting languages the basic element (the root) of the word may change
(like 'foot', 'feet' and sing, sang, sung, called internal inflection).
Sumerian has no known relation to any other language. There seems to be a remote
relationship with Dravidian languages (like spoken by the Tamils, now in the south of
India). There is evidence that the Dravidian languages were spoken in the north of
India, being displaced by the arrival of the Indo-European invaders around 1500 BCE.
Because of the term 'the black-headed ones', it is possible (but far from proven) that
the Sumerians are an early branch of one of the people now living in southern India.
Sumerian/Elamite inventions: Cylinder seals (French Sceaux-cylindres,
German Zylindersiegel) are small (2-6 cm) cylinder-shaped stones carved with a
decorative design in intaglio (engraved). The cylinder was roled over wet clay to mark
or identify clay tablets, envelopes, ceramics and bricks. It so covers an area as large as
desired, an advantage over earlier stamp seals. Its use and spread coincides with the
use of clay tablets, starting at the end of the 4th millennium up to the end of the first
millennium. After this time stamp seals are used again. Cylinder seals are important to
historians: they literally give First Impressions (title of a book by D. Collon, see
literature below)
Purpose. The seals are needed as signature, confirmation of receipt, or to mark clay
tablets and building blocks. The invention fits with the needs caused by the general
development of city states.
Geographical spread:
Materials.
Inscriptions are mostly carved in reverse, so as to leave a positive image on the clay
with figures standing out. Some are directly carved and leave a negative imprint.
See references to images of cylinder seals on the Web:
Literature:
Dominique Collon, 'First Impressions, cylinder seals in the Ancient Near East', British
Museum Publications, London, 1987, ISBN 0-7141-1121-X

Pre-Sumerians
The origin of the Sumerians is unknown. The intriguing question keeps returning
into the literature but has so far unsatisfactory answers. The Sumerians were not the
first people in Mesopotamia. They were not present before 4000 BCE, while before
that time village communities existed with a high degree of organization. The
''principle of agriculture'' was not discovered by the Sumerians. This is evident from
words the Sumerians use for items in relation to the domestication of plants and
animals.
substrate languages. A language (in particular as it appears in proper names and
geographical names) may show signs of so called substrate languages (like the
influence of Celtic on ancient Gaul; compare some Indian geographical names in the
US attesting the original inhabitants). Some professional names and agricultural
implements in Sumerian show that agriculture and the economic use of metals existed
before the arrival of the Sumerians.
Sumerian words with a pre-Sumerian origin are:
professional names such as simug 'blacksmith' and tibira 'copper smith', 'metalmanifacturer' are not in origin Sumerian words.
agricultural terms, like engar 'farmer', apin 'plow' and absin 'furrow', are neither
of Sumerian origin.
craftsman like nangar 'carpenter', a

gab

'leather worker'

religious terms like sanga 'priest'

some of the most ancient cities, like Kish, have names that are not Sumerian in
origin.
These words must have been loan words from a substrate language. The words show
how far the division in labor had progressed even before the Sumerians arrived.
Some craftsmen have Sumerian names.
Some professions are typically Sumerian:
za.dim 'stonecutter', from za '(precious) stone' and dim 'to build', 'to cut', 'to
make'.
The stonecutter makes cylinder seals which are a typical Sumerian invention.
These activities are characteristic for the growing urban society.

 Also other terminology is typical Sumerian, like

en.si(k) 'city king' is derived form en 'lord' and si 'region', 'country';

meaning 'military authority', later 'king'; the word is derived

from lu 'man', 'someone' and gal 'great': 'great man'.
lu.gal

Akkadians
(Semi-)nomads in the Near East. Even at the time that a large part of the population
in Mesopotamia had a sedentary (non-migratory) life in settlements, large groups of
people (nomads) at the same time are migrating. Nomads roam from place to place in
search for pasture and moving with the season. Semi-nomads graze their small live
stock near the fields of the settlements, often trading for goods obtained elsewhere and
having all kinds of other interactions. This characteristic is still present in the Near
East today. Nomads leave little archeological trace and are illiterate, so not much is
known about them by direct means. However, some description does appear in written
form: recorded by the Sumerians and later by the Akkadians. Some of the
(semi-)nomads, either as individuals or as groups, mix with the sedentary population
and become sedentary themselves. In times of political or economical crisis they may
do so by force, but they adapt quickly to the current civilization and even to the
dominant language. Their increased influence on the society is manifested by a change
in type of personal names. Sometimes the names are the only remains of their original
language. In their new positions, they often stimulate further cultural development.
Akkadians, speaking a Semitic language, may have been present in Mesopotamia
since the time the Sumerians arrived, or they may have diffused into the region later.
Their culture intermingled and they must have been living peacefully together. On
Sumerian clay tablets dated around 2900-2800 BCE found in Fara, Semitic
(Akkadian) names are attested for the first time. It concerns the names of kings in the
city Kish. Kish is in the north of Babylonia where according to the Sumerian King
Lists 'kingship descended again from heaven' after the great Flood. The proper names
often contain animal names like zuqiqpum 'scorpion' and kalbum 'dog'. Kings with
Semitic names are the first postdiluvial kings to rule Kish. They started the first
historical period called the Early Dynastic Period.
A few centuries later the first Akkadian king Sargon of Akkad ruled over an empire
that included a large part of Mesopotamia. Apparently Semitic speaking people have
lived for centuries amidst the Sumerians and gradually became an integral part of the
Sumerian culture. We don't hear much about them in the first part of the 3rd
millennium, because the (scholarly) language used in writing is Sumerian.

Neighbors
Mesopotamia has no natural boundaries and is difficult to defend. The influence of
neighboring countries is large. Throughout the history of Mesopotamia trade contacts,
slow diffusion of foreign tribes and military confrontations have been of great
influence.

Neighbors in 3rd millennium

In the east: Elamites
In the west: city of Ebla The discovery in 19.. of the 3rd millennium city Ebla took
Assyriologist by surprise. The extend of the Sumerian culture in the 3rd millennium
was not known, but not expected to go so far west. Ebla is situated at Tell
Mardikh 65 km south of Aleppo in Syria and appeared to be an urban culture in the
middle of the 3rd millennium in the far west of Mesopotamia. The site shows
impressive archeological remains (royal palace) and has a rich archive of cuneiform
tablets which attests a new (western) Semitic language (called Eblaite) different from
and even slightly older than Old Akkadian.
The Ebla archive is found as a shelved room with ~2100 clay tablets. Subjects range
from administration, textile- and metal accounting, tax deliveries, temple offerings,
letters, state reports and scribal exercises. Texts and excavations show Ebla to be a
complex mixture of (Sumerian) borrowings and local traditions. From ~2600-2350
BCE a good deal of Sumerian literacy and school tradition had been assimilated by
Ebla scribes and in addition they used cuneiform for their own language. Ebla's power
depended on political hegemony over a local territory with autonomous minor urban
centers. Hundreds of villages are named in the archives, mention is made of large
(~6700 animals) heards, wool industry, and large quantities of gold and silver. During
at least 26 years tribute is paid to Mari (an important city on the Middle Euphrates),
with which Ebla usually had a friendly relation (exchange of gifts). From the lack of
long distance ventures it is concluded that Ebla probably was not a commercial
empire, but merely profited of the strategic position at the crossroads of major trade
routes.
Ebla ended by a fire in ~2350, probably in a conflict with Sargon of Akkad, the first
Mesopotamian empire. It was rebuilt and flourished again during the Ur-III dynasty
and in a period roughly coinciding with the Old Babylonian Period. A final destruction

took place by a Hittite king ~1600 BCE, after which Ebla remained a small village.
Literature:
Lucio Milano, 'Ebla, A Third-Millennium City-State in Ancient Syria', in 'Civilizations
of the Ancient Near East, J.M.Sasson (ed.)', Vol. II, p.1219-p.1230, with further
references
Gutians
Amorites
Literature:
Robert M. Whiting, 'Amorite Tribes and nations of Second-Millennium Western Asia'
in 'Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, J.M.Sasson (ed.)', Vol. II, p.1231-p.1242 ,
with further references

Neighbors in 2nd millennium

Kassites
Hittites
Sea people

Neighbors in 1st millennium

Arameans

4. The Divine World

The Mesopotamian view on the supernatural is an inextricable mixture of Sumerian
and Akkadian origin, influenced by an unknown substrate population. Most Sumerian
literature is written by Akkadian speakers when Sumerian was an extinct language.
The religious ideas evolved in time and since most texts are dated in the 2nd and 1st
millennium, it is not always clear how 2nd millennium views represent 3rd
millennium opinions.

The universe basically is seen as a stratification of two or three layers. Usually it

consists of 'heaven' (Sumerian an, Akkadian am) and 'earth' (Sumerian ki,
Akkadian erSetum) or in other traditions as a tri-partition, either:
'heaven', 'earth' and 'Netherworld' or
'heaven', 'sky/atmosphere' and 'earth'.
The symbol for 'heaven'
AN has evolved from a pictographic representation of a
star. Heaven is thus the upper level of the universe, all that is 'high' or 'elevated', and
apparently associated with the celestial sphere.
Deities.
Antropomorphic gods. The supernatural universe is populated with divine beings:
gods and demons. They are portrayed in an antropomorphic way as superior humans,
imaging the ruling class of society. They are, however, more powerful, freed from
human miseries and mishaps and they live endless lifes. The Sumerian word for 'god'
is dingir, Akkadian ilu. The sign
to represent this, is the same as AN 'heaven', and
also used as a determinative (classifier) attached to the name of the deity to indicate
his/her divine nature. In transcription the sign is represented with a d from dingir in
superscript, like dEnlil. It is not pronounced. Deities live in a temple,
Sum. , Akkadian btum, which is also the word for 'house'. In the temple they
are represented by a sculpture. Some deities have in addition a representation
on the celestial sphere by a constellation or a star. Gods have human
appearance, they have a body, they need food, want to be washed and dressed,
want to travel, carry weapons etc. Each god has a well defined character,
representing the scala of human characters. They may be ill-tempered,
aggressive, cheerful, clever, just, ambitious, skillful, merciful and
graceful, etc. Some are better disposed to mankind than others.
Male and female gods. A god is either male or female. The Sumerian language
does not have gender as noun class, so sometimes the gender is unknown of some
older deities, or may change according to tradition. Gods can have all kinds
of attitudes associated with gender. Their behaviour reflects the patriarchal
society. They have spouses (Akkadian a atum, 'wife') and created offspring
which in one tradition may be different from another, depending on which epic
one reads. Often the family relationship are purposely altered to reflect a
change in status of the god. A goddess may be a sister of a god in one
tradition and be his spouse in another (later) tradition, it doesn't
necessarily means that the god married his sister. Gods can have concubines,
they can rape (even the supreme god Enlil raped the goddess who eventually
became his wife Ninlil), they may seduce and sometimes dispose of their lovers
in the most awful ways.
Epithets (< Gr. epithetos 'supplemented'). In the texts divine names (and
royal names) are often accompanied by an expression giving a quality,
attribute or a significant appelation, called epithet. Compare e.g. from other
era 'Charles, the Bald', 'Louis, the Sun King', 'Achilles, the swift-footed',
'Jezus Christ' (< Gr. christos 'anointed'). A person may be referred to, using
his epithet: 'Sun King' in stead of Louis XVI or 'Christ' in stead of Jezus.
An epithet may thus become indistinguishable from an actual or original name.

Names of many deities are used as epithet to other deities, thus adding the
quality of the first to the latter. In the course of time they merge into one
personality. It is often unknown whether a name used in an epithet originally
referred to a separate deity.
Another, kind of inverse process, in which a quality becomes personalized as a
deity, is called hypothasis (< Gr.hupostasis, hupo 'under'; litt.: 'what
stands under'). This is in religious studies the term used for personalization
(substantization). Qualities, properties and concepts are personalized,
represented as persons who speak and take actions. Some deities are seen as
the hypothasis of one of the qualities of another god. Some personalizations
are ad hoc, not generally accepted and only seen in a particular epic for a
particular purpose.
Epithets form a fixed connection with the personal name. When the god Enlil is
mentioned for the first time in a text, one writes e.g. 'Enlil, Lord of heaven
and earth' as his standard epithet, identifying him as the chief god. Deities
have many epithets. The choice in a particular texts refers to the quality of
the deity in relation to the subject of the text. E.g.
ama is the Sun

god, but in most texts his dominant quality is

ama bl dnim 'lord of justice' (construct state of blum 'lord';

genitive of dnum 'verdict', 'judgment').

He is also (together with Adad) god of the divination (as Sun god he is allseeing, and also sees the future). In that quality he has the epithet
ama bl brim 'Lord of divination' (construct state of blum 'lord';

genitive of brum 'divination').

Syncretism in general is the synthesis of cultural elements. In the religious
sphere it results in the equation, identification or unification of deities in
the different cultures. This happens in all cultures with polytheism. One is
with respect to religion very tolerant and recognize one's own deitie in the
pantheon of other nations. To mention a simple example: Jupiter
(Lat. Iuppiter), the Roman supreme god (probably himself taken from the
Etruskians) is by syncretism identified with the Greek supreme god Zeus (in
fact, the Romans took almost the entire Greek pantheon and mythology, but used
Roman names). The Greeks themselves interpreted whenever possible an Eastern
deity with an existing Greek deity. This particular form of syncretism is
called with a Latin term interpretatio graeca. E.g. the Greeks identified the
Akkadian supreme god Anu with the Greek supreme god Zeus. In a similar way
there is an interpretatio hurritica of the Hittite pantheon etc.
In the Sumero-Semitic syncretism of the third millennium the process of
identification (unification) of deities had already taken place before the
majority of records were written. Numerous God Lists exist of the
type an = Anum. So we are not well informed about the exact difference between
these deities. The largest number of gods, however, have Sumerian names. Often
syncretism is the result of political changes. Originally each city has its

own pantheon but when dominated by another city analogous gods unify into one.
The strongest personality absorbs the weaker ones, at most keeping their names
and epithets (see e.g. the goddess Inanna/Ishtar). In this way the number of
gods decreased considerably in the course of time.

Pantheon
Number of deities.
Organization; the chief deities Anum and Enlil. The organization of the divine
world parallels the political organization of the society. There is a
hierarchy, on top of which are Anum, god of Heaven (Sumerian an) and Enlil
(Lord Atmosphere, god of the Sky). Anum and Enlil are both supreme gods, king
of heaven and earth. In the divine world Kingship is shared, as appears both
in pictures (on kudurru's, boundary stones mid 2nd millennium) and in the
texts. In tables of deities Anum and Enlil are listed first in hierarchy,
followed by Enki (Akkadian Ea), some name of the mother goddess and three
astral gods Sn (Moon), Shamash (Sun) and the goddess Ishtar (Venus).
In pictures Anum and Enlil carry 10 pair of horns, the same emblem for both of
them, showing their equal (high) rank. In some texts (like in the prologue of
the Codex Hammurabi) there appears a division of tasks, where Anum is 'King of
the gods' and Enlil is 'Lord of heaven and earth'.
Assembly of the gods. The gods take their decisions in an assembly (TBW)
Igigi and Anunnaki
d

Anunnaki is a collective name for the gods of heaven and earth, and in other
contexts only for the gods of the Netherworld, the empire of the death (in
particular beginning in the second half of the second millennium). It is a
loan word (plural only) from Sumerian a.nun.(n)a(k) 'semen/descendants of
the (-ak) monarch (nun) and refers to the offspring of the King of
Heaven An/Anum. The gods together are called Anunnaki and in the text one
might specifically add
d
Anunnaki a am u erSetim, 'the Anunnaki of heaven and earth'.
Sometimes a differentiation is made in the indication of the totality of the
gods, the d Igigi and the d Anunnaki. The Igigi in that case are the gods of
heaven, while the Anunnaki refer to the gods of the Netherword, the empire of
the death.
d

Igigi is a term with unknown origin and meaning. It ended up by indicating

in some instances the entirety of the gods, and sometimes more commonly those
that occupied heaven. The use of the word may be interchanged with 'Anunnaki'
with literary freedom. In the Creation Epic (Ee IV-20) Marduk has a question
to the Anunnaki, while the Igigi answer him (Ee IV-27:)
pul uma d Igigi il rabtu
'the Igigi, the great gods, answered him'
[first word is the verb in preterite 3rd person plural of the G-stem
infinitive aplu 'to answer' + suffix u 'him' +enclitic particle -ma]

Igigi is usually spelled as

, i-gi4-gi4
but in late orthography one also finds in a playful way
-g-g
in which = ia (the word for five in Sumerian) also stands for '5' and
twice g = dish stand for either '2' or '2x60', so as a number it could mean
either 5+1+1=7 (number of Great Gods) or 5x2x60 = 600 ("total number of gods"
in some traditions).
Number of Igigi and Anunnaki. In the later tradition of the Babylonian Epic of
Creation the supreme god at that time, Marduk, divided all deities into
Anunnaki and Igigi, but the words for Anunnaki and Igigi are used almost
interchangeably elsewhere in the text. 'Marduk, King of the gods, divided....
d
Anunnaki gimratsunu eli u apli
'the Anunnaki, their totality, (over the regions) above and below'
Their total number is 600 (300 Anunnaki and 300 Igigi):
ina am u erSetim 600 (gi -u) u t ib
litt.: '(and so) he [Marduk] caused 600 (deities) to sit in heaven and earth'
or: '(and so) he [Marduk] gave 600 (deities) residence in heaven and earth'
[the verb is the so called
-perfect stem (causative
) of the

infinitive in the G-stem wa bum 'to sit']

Igigi and Anunnaki in the Atrahass-epic. The epic of Atrahass (Poem of the
Supersage) is a long epic, probably composed around 1700 BCE, which deserves
more attention than given here. In this epic heavenly society is divided into
two classes. The labour on the fields was carried out by gods of second rank,
the Igigi, on behalf of the more important gods, the leaders, called the
Anunnaki. The story starts with a revolt by the Igigi. They bang the door and
went on strike, protesting before their chief employer Enlil. No work on the
fields eventually means famine, so the gods panic and convene a general
assembly, this time presided by the chief Anu himself. The solution proposed
by the intelligent Ea is to create mankind who would have as prime duty to
work on the fields, to fulfill the role of servants towards the gods. Men
feed, cloth and shelter the gods and thus replace the labour done previously
by the Igigi, and this is why men has to work so hard...... Their sole purpose
is to be devoted to the gods.
It is possible that the Igigi represent the younger gods of the Akkadians and
the Anunnaki the older Sumerian gods. Between the lines of the Epic one could
read a struggle for equal rights, possibly reflecting such a struggle between
the Sumerians and the Akkadians. Other theories (e.g. due to von Soden) deny
the resulting settlement and agreement between the gods. It is said that in
fact the Igigi seized power over the Anunnaki. They, the Igigi, gods of the
heaven, become at the top and are the consulting gods in the assembly,
eventually dominated by four or seven 'Great Gods'. In this theory the Igigi
dislodge the Anunnaki to the Netherworld.
Temples.
Temple Lists. There are several ancient Temple Lists. They group temple names
according to different ordering principles (geographical, deities etc.). One
of them apparently list the temples in hierarchical order, according to

importance (fame, cosmological importance or supposed antiquity). An important

List is nowadays called the Canonical Temple List. It lists Babylonian temple
names and is dated in the 12th century BCE. Temple Lists contain two or three
columns, e.g. with respectively temple name (like .babbar.ra 'the White
House', 'Shining House), in the second column a description (like btd

ama 'house/temple of Shamash' (the sun god) and in the third column a
geographical indication (like Sipparki 'that of (the city) Sippar'
(ki is determinative for 'city').
Literature:
A.R. George, 'House Most High, The temples of Ancient Mesopotamia', 1993,
Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Indiana, ISBN 0-931464-80-3, volume 5 in the series
'Mesopotamian Civilizations' (193p.), basically a gazetteer of the ceremonial
names (alphabetically listed) of the temples of Sumer and Akkad, and of
Babylonia and Assyria, with a short introduction.

The great gods

The term 'Great Gods' is often used in the texts. In a wide sense it refers to
the consulting gods that constitute the assembly of gods. They are the deities
with a certain importance, mostly the city gods (god and goddess as a married
couple) of the major cities in Mesopotamia. Their number is often set to 50.
In a more narrow sense the 'Great Gods' are the seven Fates, the
gods/goddesses of destiny, the top of an hierarchical list. These are the gods
that determine the destinies of king, state, country, men and mankind. Anum,
god of Heaven, and Enlil the Sky god, are listed first in hierarchy, followed
by the water god Enki (Akkadian Ea), some name of the mother goddess and three
astral gods Sn (Moon), Shamash (Sun) and the goddess Ishtar (Venus).
d

Anum, the god of Heaven.

Anum is a supreme god of the Sumerian pantheon and shares the title 'king of
heaven and earth' with Enlil. He is in mythology a somewhat dim personality.
He doesn't figure very often in epics and even when he does, he has little
specifics in his character, apart from possibly a 'fatherly attitude'. Anum is
the head of the divine dynasty, but he leaves the exercise of sovereign
authority to Enlil. Only in times of crisis (e.g. when the gods are on strike,
see the Atrahass epic) it is Anum himself who presides the general assembly
of the gods.
Anum is at home in Uruk, together with the (city) goddess I tar. In a late
first millenium composition, called 'the exaltation of I tar, it is described
how she obtaines the status of Antum, the spouse of Anum.
In prayers one may call Anum (in the vocative):
d

A-num AN-e ; d Anum am

'O Anum of the heaven'
(Note the usage of the same sign
, first as a determinative (classifier) to
identify Anum as a deity and secondly as a logogram an for 'heaven',
supplemented with -e as phonetic complement). In a third usage, the
sign an stands for the logogram Anum, without the determinative for a deity.

The above mentioned beginning of a prayer could have been written with only
three signs an an-e).
In the epilogue of the Codex Hammurabi he is called
Anum rab abu il 'The great Anum, father (ancestor) of the gods'
In the Creation Epic Enma eli it is told how Anu transfers his power to
Marduk (city god of Babylon), who gradually becomes the new supreme god in the
blooming days of the city Babylon. In the Seleucid era (331 - 125 BCE) Anu is
identified with the Greek supreme god Zeus.
(After the Old Babylonian period the final -m in case endings falls off.
So Anum is spelled A-nu, Anu).
d

Enlil, the Sky god

(pronounced by assimilation as d Ellil at least in later times), 'Lord
Atmosphere' is the city god of Nippur, the Sumerian sacred city and religious
center. Although Anum and Enlil both are supreme gods and 'king of heaven and
earth', it is Enlil who presides the assembly of the gods, carries out the
decisions and in fact exercises sovereign authority. Enlil resides in the
famous Ekur temple (Sumerian .kur 'House Mountain') in Nippur. This temple
ranks number one on hierarchical ordered (according to importance) Temple
Lists.
An important task of Enlil is to decree the destinies (Sumerian nam.tar or
shortly nam, Akkadian mtum) of mankind (kings, countries, ordinary people,
etc.). The destinies have been determined in the assembly of the gods,
presided by Enlil. They are divine decisions written on the tablet of
destinies. The procedure again mimics the function of a king, who decreed his
orders and wrote them on clay tablets.
In mythology Enlil has a definite character and is central in many epics. He
is stern, strict, and behaves in a authoritarion way.
Enki/Ea the water god in the ABZU/Aps-temple
The Sumerian god d ENKI, Akkadian d Ea is the third deity mentioned in god
lists and as such depicted in illustrations. He is disposed to mankind and
plays a central role in many epics, so his character and abilities are well
known: he represents intelligence and technical capabilities. He is a master
craftsman,
bl nmeqi 'Lord of cunning/skill'
referring to the body of experience, knowledge, skills, and traditions which
are the basis of a craft or occupation and form the basis of civilization as a
whole.
The Sumerian name ENKI seen as "Lord Earth" (en 'lord', ki 'earth') is a case
of (ancient) folk etymology, because the name is originally enki(g), with g appearing in connections. The meaning of this name is uncertain, possibly
'Lord Kindness'.
Enki/Ea is the god of the sweet waters. His realm are the rivers, lakes and
the subterranean waters, together called theABZU (Akkadian Aps, see next
paragraph). These waters fertilize the land and Enki/Ea is also called
en.uru 'Lord Reed-sheaf'
One of the epithets of Enki/Ea is
bl nagb 'Lord of the sources' (construct state of blum 'lord'; genitive
of nagbum 'well', 'source')
and another epithet
ar aps 'king of the Aps' (construct state of arrum 'king')

On cylinder seals one sees Ea sitting on a thrown with water streams out of
his shoulders.
Because of his connection with water, Enki/Ea is also the patron god of the
(hand-)washing and purifying rituals and of white magic: he is the patron god
of the exorcists.
Enki/Ea is the city god of Eridu, one of the most ancient Sumerian cities in
the southern part of Mesopotamia. In ancient time Eridu is situated on a large
lake or lagoon near the Persian gulf and surrounded by reed-lands and marshy
areas, with swamps and half-floating islands, where almost literally the earth
(fertile land) is created by the interplay between the sweet water (Aps) and
the salt water (the sea Timat) as stated in the first few lines of the Epic
of Creation Enma eli . In Eridu Ea resides in his temple -abzu (Aps House).
This is a prestigious temple, ranking as number four in a hierarchical ordered
(according to importance) Temple Lists.
He is worshiped in many other cities, such as A ur, Babylon, Borsippa, Laga ,
Larsa, Ki etc.
In mythology Enki/Ea is most of all the god of wisdom, of craftsmanship and
arts. He is
d
Ea er u 'the wise Ea'
and the genius behind most technical concepts. Ea creates man (modeled in
clay) in collaboration with the mother goddess Ninmah (which, in the later
Epic of Creation, he does so conform the idea of Marduk).
Enki/Ea has the epithet Mummu meaning 'genius' e.g. in:
d
Ea Mummu bn(i) kal 'Ea, the Mummu (genius, clever man) who created
everything'
In the Creation Epic Enma elish Mummu is the third primeval being, the vizier
of Aps and ad hoc personalized as if to show how Ea obtained his well known
epithet Mummu.
The temple workshop/studio where the statue of the gods for the temples were
made and restored, is called
bt Mummu 'workshop' ('the house of Mummu')
In practice this is done by craftsmen, in mythology by Enki/Ea and his mates,
some of which are
d
Nin-zadim 'Lord Stonecutter'
d
Gu kin-banda 'Lord Goldsmith' and
d
Nin-ildu 'Lord Cabinetmaker/Carpenter'
d
Nin-kur(ra) 'Lord Mountain'
(the mountains are the source of supply of precious stones used as decoration
for statue of deities).
ABZU/Aps
The Sumerian word ABZU is described in the The Sumerian Dictionary, see ' What
ABZU Means'.
The subterranean waters are called ABZU, Akkadian Aps, the domain of the
water god Ea. His temple (residence of the god) is -abzu.
(Sumerian 'house', 'temple'; temple names in Akkadian are always the
Sumerian names) in the city Eridu. One conceives the subterranean waters as an
enormous reservoir of water on which the ground floats. After all, if you dig
a hole anywhere in the alluvial plains of Mesopotamia, you find water. Still
nowadays in the marshlands of modern southern Iraq (where now the Marsh Arabs
live/lived?) much of the fertile land is on islands actually floating on the

water. The liquid underground of the surface of the Earth, the Below, is
usually distinguished from and situated above the Netherworld, the empire of
the death. Sometimes however, Aps also includes the Netherworld.
The Aps feeds the continuous water supply of the rivers, controlled by Ea.
Rain itself and the seasonal change of the water level is controlled by the
weather god Adad. Ea and Adad both are responsible for the fertility of the
fields.
In the Babylonian Epic of Creation 'Enma elish' Aps is the second primeval
being that existed before the creation of heaven and earth. He is the male
personification of subterranean waters and represented as having enormous
dimensions. The personification of Aps (as somebody who acts and speaks) is
unique in the Epic of Creation, probably induced by the more common
personification of Timat, the first primeval being and female personification
of the sea/salt water). In the epic he is called
Aps zri il rabitim 'Aps, the begetter of the great gods'
In other texts Aps is used in the objective/impersonal sense as the
'underground water', representing the depot of precipitation and mineral
water, something that can be reached by digging a hole.
Shamash, the Sun god, and the White House.
Sumerian d UTU, Akkadian d
ama , is the Sun god. He is, together with

the moon god Sn, a popular deity throughout the Mesopotamian history. His
name also refers to the sun as an object in the celestial sky, either written
with or without thedeterminative for deity, also as
am u. The worship

of

ama

should not be seen as worship of the sun. Gods in Mesopotamia

were already detached from the phenomena of nature. He is foremost the 'judge
of heaven and earth' and in this capacity concerned with the protection of the
poor. So he is
ama bl dnim 'Lord of justice' (construct state of blum 'lord';

genitive of dnum 'verdict', 'judgment').

To this order he gives oracles intended to
he is also (together with Adad) god of the
seeing, and also sees the future). In that
ama bl brim 'Lord of divination'

genitive of brum 'divination').

guide and protect mankind. Therefor

divination (as Sun god he is allquality he has the epithet
(construct state of blum 'lord';

UTU/d

ama

is the city god (patron deity) of the

cities Larsa and Sippar (on the Euphrates, southeast of Babylon, the ruins are
modern abu habba). He resides together with his spouse Aya in temples called
(in both cities):
.BABBAR 'White House', 'Shining House' ( 'house', 'temple')
The cuneiform sign
stands for a variety of phonetic values and logograms,
related to 'sun', 'day', 'white' like

peS
mu

babbar
ud, u4

'white', 'shining'
'day'
ama

UTU

the sun god

so the name of the -babbar temple has on a graphical-etymological level the

same name as the god whose residence it is. Sumerians/Akkadians liked such
coincidences. The -babbar in Sippar is an important temple, listed as number
two on a hierarchical ordered Temple List. The White House in Larsa ranks
number 7 in this list.
In mythology

UTU/d

ama

also acts as judge and arbiter.

Sn the moon god.

The Sumerian god d su.en (unknown etymology), later also called nanna(r),
Akkadian Sn, is the Moon god. His name also refers to the moon as an object
in the celestial sky. The worship of Sn should not be seen as worship of the
moon. Gods in Mesopotamia were already detached from the phenomena of
nature. Sn is the city god of the city Ur, which had often a dominant
position. Therefor Sn is one of the more important general deities in
Mesopotamia. Together with the sun god, he maintains his popularity throughout
the Mesopotamian history. He resides in the temple ki nugal ( 'House', gi
nu '(moon-)light', gal 'to be', 'to exist'; so 'House where the (moon-)light
is'). It is an important temple, listed as number six on a hierarchical
ordered Temple List.
Family relations. Sn was the son of the chief god Enlil. His children
are
ama the sun god, the goddess I tar and the weather god Adad. His

wife is Nin.gal 'the Great Lady'.

Moonlight is important in the night. Sn has the epithet
Sn nannru pu 'Sn the brilliant/shining/splendid (moon-)light'

which is at the same time a play on words because of the analogy between
Akkadian nannru 'light' and his Sumerian namenanna(r).
Because the moon renews himself every month after New Moon and is waxing and
waning, Sn is also the god of fertility. Snhas a regular appearance
('month') in the celestial sphere and is of extreme importance for the
calender.
Inanna/Ishtar, goddess of Love and War.
The Sumerian goddess d Inanna (Sumerian (N)in.an.(n)a 'Lady of the Heaven' or
'Sister of an') has the Akkadian name I tar (with unknown meaning). She was
originally the goddess of Love, the celestial Courtisan. She is sometimes also
called the divine Prostitute although it is not very clear from the texts,
what her relation to temple prostitution actually is. By the previously
described process of 'syncretism' she was already early in history
identified/unified with a divinity of the planet Venus (delebat spelled
as dil.bat) and a god of quarrels and of war. She was an important goddess and
she had quit a complicated character because of this syncretism. She is also
goddess of fertility, but different from the Mother goddess, more emphasizing
the erotic aspects. In pictures (iconography) she can either be completely
dressed up or depicted naked.
Inanna/I tar is the city goddess of Uruk, together with the supreme god of
heaven Anum. Her temple in Uruk is -anna (.an.na, with 'house',
'temple', an either 'heaven' or the god an and -(n)a from the Sumerian
genitive, so the temple name either means 'House of Heaven', or 'House
of an'). There are at least five temples in other cities also called -anna.
She was also the patron deity and city goddess in a number of other cities
further north in Mesopotamia, like Akkad, Ki , Girsu, Mari, A ur. In each
city she manifests different qualities of here personality, which are locally
worshiped
In mythology Inanna/I tar figures in many myths. She is an independent and
whimsical woman, who attracts to men and disposes easily of them. Famous myths
are
Inanna's descent to the Netherworld
Inanna and Enki
Inanna and Sukalletuda
Inanna and Bilulu
and she plays a role in e.g. the legend of Gilgamesh.
Beginning in the 2nd millennium she monopolized a number of female deities to
such an extend that later the word i taru or i tartu (with or without
the determinative of deities) stands for a noun having the general meaning
'goddess', 'female deity', in particular as someone's personal patron deity,
the goddess that mediates between an individual and the other gods. The wife
of a god as personal god makes a sensible choice, because she is supposed to
have a great influence. For the personal gods one may write the combination
il u i tar 'my [personal] god and goddess'
(following a consonant, - (long i) is the suffix for the possessive pronoun
1st person singular 'my')
Adad, the weather god.
Akkadian d Adad is the weather god, the god of rain and storms. His symbol is
the thunderbolt, the flash of lightning. His voice is the thunder. As a noun

his name also stands for 'rain', 'shower', 'downpour'. He is probably to be

identified with the Sumerian deity I kur. d Adad is mainly a deity of the
northern part of Mesopotamia. He is not the city god of one of the cities in
the plains of Mesopotamia. d Adad gives the fertilizing rains and as such is
donor of abundance and prosperity. He is lock-keeper of heaven and earth and
controls together with the water god Enki/Ea the sweet waters. d Adad is
responsible for the wax of the river and its seasonable changes. For unknown
reasons he shares, together with the sun god
ama the responsibility as

patron god of divination and has in later times the same epithet:
d
Adad bl brim 'Lord of divination' (construct state of blum 'lord';
genitive of brum 'divination').

Lesser gods

5. Economy, trade and natural resources

The alluvial plains in Mesopotamia are perfectly suitable for high food
production. The economy was based on agriculture, predominantly the
cultivation of barley. Barley was used as means of payment for wages in kind
and dayly rations. Barley was also the basis for the natural beverage: beer.
Other products are oil (sesame seeds, linseed), flax, wheat and horticultural
products. Heards of sheep and goats graze the meadows outside the season.
Cattle pasture when sufficient water is available. Wool production was large
and converted to an assortment of textile fabrics. The extreme south of
Mesopotamia has always had a different economy (dates and fishing).
No stones = end of Stone Age. In the vast clay field there is a fundamental
lack of natural resources, materials that are indispensable for an urban
society. The lack of stone may literally be seen as attributing to the end of
the Stone Age. Timber and stone are needed for the construction of buildings,
metals become increasingly important. A roof span of 10 meters requires strong
rafters, but timber made from date palm trees is too flexible. Good timber was
only available in the forests (at those times) in far away Lebanon or somewhat
nearer in the mountains of modern Iran. The mountains are also rich in
minerals, stones and metals. If you don't have it, go and get it. History
hasn't changed in five millennia.
Tribute and loot. There are two basic methods to obtain the required
fundamental materials: by war or by trade. These materials were often demanded
as tribute or taken as loot after a military expedition. An old Sumerian epic
(accounts of the legendary king Gilgamesh, king of Uruk 'who build the walls',
'who goes to the cedar forests'). Others tell about the victories
by king Lugalbanda, the tributes and the exchange of grain for precious
stones.
Trade and barter. Military expeditions were performed after the harvest period
(often on a yearly basis, in particular in the first millennium) when farmers

are available as soldiers. Minerals (like copper, tin, silver, a black stone
called diorite, etc.) were only available in remote parts of the area, for
which a military action would take too long, would be too vulnerable and
probably would be too expensive. Then trade is the only way. In texts from the
19th century BCE, it appears that trade was performed in a professional,
capitalistic way (at least during a period of almost a century in theOld
Assyrian period): barter by boat over the Euphrates and the Persian Golf and
with regular caravans by donkeys to Anatolia (modern Turkey).
Merchandise. Apart from cereals the inhabitants of Mesopotamia themselves had
little to offer. Cereals were indeed exported but was too bulky for donkey
transport over long distances. Imported material from elsewhere were again
exported. Like tin, an important metal for bronze, that in those times
probably came out of Afghanistan (although there are many Tin-routes). It was
exported to Anatolia, a major center of metal industry, where in extensive
forests wood was abundantly available to fuel the furnaces. Other merchandise
were dates, sesame oil and in particular craft materials. Babylonia had an
extensive wool industry. Coupons of 4 by 4.5 meter were in the 19th century
BCE transported by the hundreds. From Anatolia silver and gold was imported
(see Kltepe and process of commerce).

6. Assyriology
Decipherment of Akkadian.
First excavations in the Near East. During excavations in 1843 and 1845 CE
large collections of clay tablets were found carrying cuneiform signs. They
pointed to a forgotten Assyrian civilization which was hinted at in the bible
and in Greek scripts (Herodotus). The decipherment of the language was in
essence completed in 1851 and the language was first calledAssyrian. Nowadays
Assyrian is considered a dialect of Akkadian. The branch of science dealing
with the language and the civilization was called Assyriology. The name now
applies to a much wider field: the study of all the civilizations in
Mesopotamia and all related questions. Assyriology rests on information from
archeological excavations on the one hand and on the study of written
documents by philologists on the other hand.
Discovery of libraries of clay tablets. The discovery in 1854 CE of the
library of A
urbanipal (mid 7th century BCE) in Nineveh, halfway the
Euphrates river, stirred great interest. This Kuyunjik-collection (called
after the discovery site near Nineveh) is at the British Museum. These clay
tablets are identified with a K-number.
Discovery of Sumerian. The writing system didn't seem to be well adopted to
the needs and specifics of Semitic languages (with many consonants not used in
other languages). It was at the start already suspected that cuneiform
developed from another hitherto unknown language. A decisive clue came from a
special type of tablets. Some of tablets appear to beLexical Lists, written in
two or three columns. In some lists the middle columns is an
Akkadian logogram, the last column gives apparently the Akkadian meaning
written phonetically and corresponding to the logogram. The first column
points to another language. These lists confirm the existence of a pre-

Assyrian writing system now called Sumerian. It is a language that probably

has not been spoken anymore since almost two millennia (the era of Sargon of
Akkad, around 2350 BCE). It was a scholarly and liturgical language, like
Latin was used for many centuries after native speakers existed. Presently the
understanding of Sumerian writing is still growing. Modern translations
sometimes deviate significantly as compared to translations made a few decades
or longer ago.
Because some Mesopotamian kings use the title 'king of Sumer and Akkad' and
because 'Akkad' is known from the bible (Gen.10:10) the new language in the
first column of the lexical lists was called 'Akkadian' (different from what
is now known as Akkadian), until some deceniums later (1889) it appeared that
the ancient scribes called the extinct language
li- a-an u-me-ri 'the language/tong of Sumer'
and they called themselves 'Akkadians'. A philologist studying Sumerian is
called a Sumerologist. S.N.Kramer is one of the first Sumerologists who has
written a number of popular books on Sumer (and an autobiography In the world
of Sumer, in 1988 at the age of 91 years).

7. Tell, tepe or hyk

Human habitation is often build on the debris of previous habitation, using
the remains as rubble foundation. Villages nowadays are sometimes seen on a
hill up to 10 meter high. The Near East is dotted with such hills, called (in
Arabic and Hebrew) tell, (in Persian) tepe or (in Turkish) hyuk (all words
for 'hill') either with or without present day habitation on top. They are
often covered with sand by the high desert winds. The area of the hill can be
larger than 10000 m2. The deepest layers may be dated to the end of the
Mesolithic (10000 BCE). Some tells have not been used since millennia. The
absence of habitation can often be related to a change in the local climate or
in the course of a river, which could make the surrounding fields less
suitable for agriculture. This is true in particular when many surrounding
tells show the same absence of habitation.
In excavations the strata are numbered with Roman numbers. The layers are
sometimes subdivided. E.g. archeologists speak about a finding of clay tablets
in the layer Uruk-IVa, used as relative dating system. From artifacts (human
made objects) this layer can be dated to the end of the 4th millennium (31003000 BCE). Many impressive tells are seen in the Near East, whose origin is
unknown or only conjectured. Modern scientific excavations are slow and
expensive, because of careful methods applied.

These pages are under (slow) development.

Maintained and updated by John Heise
first installation on jan 6, 1995
last modification on Feb 17, 1996

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