Looking for Jesus according to Matthew

Daily life in Mesopotamia 17)

The Mesopotamians had singers, of course, and also percussion (drums, bells, castinets, sistrums, and rattles), wind instruments (recorders, flutes, horns, and panpipes), and stringed instruments (the lyre and the harp). Images throughout Mesopotamia attest to the people's great love of music and Bertman writes:

So great, in fact, was a queen of Ur's love of music, she could not bear the thought of being in the afterworld without it; so, with the help of a sleeping potion in the tomb, she took her royal musicians with her into the beyond. (295)

Inscriptions & images also depict Mesopotamians listening to music while drinking beer or reading or relaxing in their home or garden.

Inscriptions and images also depict Mesopotamians listening to music while drinking beer or reading or relaxing in their home or garden. Bertman notes that “music was an integral part of ancient Mesopotamian life. The images on inlaid plaques, carved seal-stones, and sculpted reliefs transport us back to a world of sound. We watch a shepherd playing his flute as his dog sits and attentively listens” (294). Music was also, at least for the wealthier citizens, an integral part of the banquet and even private meals.

- Music was everywhere!

- So similar!

- We just have to listen!

- It is as simple as that!

- Our modern world seems to be a pale copy of the past!

- Everything seems so real and more real!

- Today everything seems artificial and polluted!
 
Daily life in Mesopotamia 18)

Food & Clothing​

The chief grain crop in Mesopotamia was barley, and so it is no wonder that they were the first to invent beer. The goddess of beer was Ninkasi whose famous hymn from c. 1800 BCE is also the world's oldest beer recipe. Beer is thought to have originated from fermented barley bread. The Mesopotamians also enjoyed a diet of fruits and vegetables (apples, cherries, figs, melons, apricots, pears, plums, and dates as well as lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, beans, peas, beets, cabbage, and turnips) as well as fish from the streams and rivers, and livestock from their pens (mostly goats, pigs, and sheep, since cows were expensive to keep and were too precious to be slaughtered for beef). They would have augmented this diet through hunting game such as deer and gazelle and birds.

- Barley and beer!

- Fruits and vegetables (apples, cherries, figs, melons, apricots, pears, plums, and dates as well as lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, beans, peas, beets, cabbage, and turnips)!

- fish from the streams and rivers!

- livestock from their pens (mostly goats, pigs, and sheep, since cows were expensive to keep and were too precious to be slaughtered for beef)!

- hunting game such as deer and gazelle and birds!
 
Daily life in Mesopotamia 19)

The people also kept domesticated geese and ducks for eggs. Scholar Jean Bottero notes that the Mesopotamians had “an impressive inventory of goods” which made up their daily meals and flavored their food with oils and mineral products (sesame oil and salt, for example) and further notes that “all these indigenous ingredients were so varied that, as far as we know, the Mesopotamians never imported from abroad, so to speak, in spite of the intensity and geographical extent of their trade” (45-46). Along with beer (which was so greatly valued it was used to pay workers' wages) the people drank strong wine or water. Beer, however, was the most popular beverage in ancient Mesopotamia and, because of its nutrients and thickness, often served as the largest part of the mid-day meal.

- Eggs from domesticated geese and ducks!

- Oils (sesame oils and salt!

- Beer, wine and water!
 
Daily life in Mesopotamia 20)

Mesopotamians would wash and dress for the evening meal. Before eating anything, prayers of gratitude would be offered to the gods who had provided the food. Religion was an integral part of the lives of all Mesopotamians and, since it was centered on a human being as co-worker with the gods, the deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon were a part of one's daily existence. The gods provided the people with all their needs and, in return, the people labored in the service of the gods. Bottero writes:

Not only were these gods the originators of the universe and mankind, but they remained their supreme masters and guided their existence and evolution from day to day. For that reason, they were regarded as the promoters and guarantors of all the infinite obligations – positive and negative – that govern human life. (248)

All aspects of Mesopotamian existence were imbued with a sense of the divine at work, even the clothes that they wore. Clothing in Mesopotamia, like everything else, was dictated by, and reflected, one's social standing.

- Mesopotamians would wash and dress for the evening meal!

- They would pray before eating!

- Religion was everywhere!

- Humans were co-workers with the gods!
 
Daily life in Mesopotamia 21)

Bertman notes:

Archaeologists confirm that textiles were among the first of human inventions. Plant fibers may have been twisted, sewn, and plaited [to make clothing] as far back as the Old Stone Age, some 25,000 years ago [but] wool seems to have been Mesopotamia's most common kind of cloth, along with linen, which was reserved for more expensive garments. Cotton wasn't introduced until the days of the Assyrians, who imported the plant from Egypt and the Sudan around 700 BCE; and silk, perhaps not until the days of the Romans, who imported it from China. (289)

- Clothes were made of wool and linen!

- Cotton was used during the days of the Assyrians who imported it from Egypt and the Sudan (700 BCE)!

- Silk was used during the days of the Romans who imported it from China!
 
Daily life in Mesopotamia 22)

Men generally wore either a long robe or pleated skirts of goatskin or sheepskin, and women dressed in one-piece tunics of either wool or linen. Soldiers are distinctive in the ancient depictions in that they always wore hooded capes over their uniforms. Older men are always seen in one-piece robes which fall to their ankles, while younger men seem to have worn either the robe or the skirt. Women are always depicted wearing the robe but these robes were not uniformly mono-colored.

Many different patterns and designs are seen in the dress of Mesopotamian women, while the men, except for kings and soldiers and, sometimes, scribes, are routinely seen in monotone robes. Shawls, hooded capes, and wraps were used in bad weather and these were often embroidered and tassled. Girls dressed like their mothers and boys like their fathers and everyone wore sandals of greater or more modest design. Women's sandals, generally, were more likely to be ornamented than those of men.

Women and men both wore cosmetics and, as Bertman writes, “the desire to enhance one's natural beauty and allure through the use of cosmetics and perfume is attested as far back as Sumerian times” (291). Men and women would outline their eyes with an early form of mascara, much as the Egyptians are famous for doing, and perfumes were used by both sexes after bathing. Perfumes were made by “steeping aromatic plants in water and blending their essence with oil” (Bertman, 291), and some of these recipes became so popular that were closely guarded, since they could raise a perfume maker from a lower class worker to almost the level of nobility.

- Men wore long robes or pleated skirts of goatskin or sheepskin!​

- Women wore one-piece tunics of either wool or linen!​

- Soldiers wore hooded capes over their uniforms!​

- Older men wore one-piece robes which fell to their ankles!

- Younger men wore either the robe or the skirt!

- Women and men both wore cosmetics and perfumes!​

- Thus, it is nothing new!​

- Fashion is often a repetition of the past!​

- As usual, there is a lot to learn from the past!​

 
Daily life in Mesopotamia 23)

Conclusion​

The daily life of the ancient Mesopotamians was not so different from the lives of those who live in that area today. Like those of the modern world, the people of the ancient regions of Mesopotamia loved their families, worked their jobs, and enjoyed their leisure time. Advances in technology give one the impression today that we are much wiser and vastly different from those who lived thousands of years before us, but the archaeological records tell a different story. Human beings have never been very different, in both good and bad ways, than we are today and the basic needs and desires, as well as the daily lives, of the people of ancient Mesopotamia adhere to a pattern that is easily recognizable.

- We should remember that:

- Advances in technology give one the impression today that we are much wiser and vastly different from those who lived thousands of years before us, but the archaeological records tell a different story.

- Human beings have never been very different, in both good and bad ways, than we are today and the basic needs and desires, as well as the daily lives, of the people of ancient Mesopotamia adhere to a pattern that is easily recognizable.

- If we keep this in mind, it will help us think differently and wisely!

- Modern way doesn’t mean better!

- On the contrary!
 

Mesopotamian Education 1)​


- First of all, I can’t believe what I am learning!

- I have never learnt so much!

- I have to put everything in the trash and start learning everything from nothing!

- There are so many researchers in education!

- It seems to be that they keep looking for nothing!

- When I look at such civilizations, I don't see any progress!

- On the contrary, I only see regression!

- Of course, the whole society is responsible!

- What a shame!
 

Mesopotamian Education 2)​

Mesopotamian education was invented by the Sumerians following the creation of writing c. 3500 BCE. The earliest schools were attached to temples but later established in separate buildings in which the scribes of ancient Mesopotamia learned their craft as they created and preserved the first written works in history.

The scribal school was known as the edubba ("House of Tablets") as students wrote their works in cuneiform script on clay tablets. Scribal houses were first discovered in the mid-19th century when European and American archaeologists engaged in extensive excavations throughout the region of the Near East, especially in Iraq.

Based on information from tablets discovered in the ruins of the city of Nippur (primarily) and elsewhere, students entered school before the age of ten and graduated around twelve years later having mastered cuneiform script, Sumerian and Akkadian, and an array of subjects including agriculture, architectural design, astronomy, botany, engineering, history, literature, medicine, philosophy, religion, and zoology.

The basic form of the edubba was retained from its establishment prior to the Early Dynastic Period (2900-2334 BCE) through the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (912-612 BCE). An educational system existed in the region after 612 BCE, modeled on the Sumerian edubba, but the clearest evidence for the schools and their operation comes from the Early Dynastic Period through the reign of the Neo-Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (668-627 BCE). The ruins of the Library of Ashurbanipal at Nineveh and those of the scribal school at Nippur have provided modern-day scholars with much of what is known of Sumerian literature and the Mesopotamian educational system.
 
- If there is no school, there is no education!

- if there is no writing, there is no education!

- Modern education is losing writing!

- We are losing our education!

- You look in the past, you understand why we are going into the wall!

- And not only that but we are going faster and faster!

- Modern man is getting better and better in his ability to destroy everything!
 
Mesopotamian Education 3)

Writing & First Schools​

Once a writing system was developed, it was necessary to preserve it & train others in its use, & this led to the establishment of the first schools.
The Sumerians invented writing during the Uruk Period (4100-2900 BCE) c. 3500 BCE as a means of communication for long-distance trade. Trade in ancient Mesopotamia had, by this time, expanded from local exchange to long-distance commerce, and merchants needed to be able to communicate clearly with their representatives and clients in distant regions. Early methods, such as the clay balls known as bullae – containing tokens representing goods – gave way to pictographs, phonograms, and logograms (signs representing words) which became cuneiform script, modified c. 3200 BCE for ease of use but still requiring considerable training to master.

According to the Sumerian poem Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta, from the literary cycle known as the Matter of Aratta (dated to 2047-1750 BCE), writing was invented by Enmerkar of Uruk when his servant found his message to the Lord of Aratta too long to memorize. Enmerkar is said to have grabbed a piece of clay and reed stylus to write the message out. Although this is fiction, it describes what was no doubt a major incentive in working out written communication. Once a writing system was developed, it was necessary to preserve it and train others in its use, and this led to the establishment of the first schools.

______________________________________________________________________________________

- Invention of writing c. 3500 BCE!

- Preserving the writing system!

- Train others in its use!

- Creation of the first schools!

- A means of communication for long-distance trade!
 

Mesopotamian Education 4)​

Scholar Stephen Bertman comments:

The oldest evidence, lists of vocabulary words, survives from the ruins of the city of Uruk and dates to around 3000 BCE, close to the time when writing itself was invented. From 2500 BCE come archaeological remains of the first real schools, at least two of which were established by royal edict. From between 2500 and 2000 BCE sufficient remains exist to document the operation of a true school system. Additional proof comes in the form of hundreds of cuneiform tablets, the actual homework and classroom exercises of ancient students, ranging from beginner to advanced, along with directions and corrections from their teachers and even literary vignettes of everyday life in a Mesopotamian school. The abundant evidence dates to between 2000 and 1500 BCE, and it comes from a whole array of cities. (301)

The earliest schools were part of the temple complex of a city and were staffed by priests, but by c. 2900-2500 BCE, schools were operating out of private homes or buildings constructed to serve the educational system. School buildings uncovered at Mari, Nippur, Ur, Uruk, and Sippar have classrooms featuring rows of baked clay benches for students and a space at the front for the instructor.

______________________________________________________________________________________

- Vocabulary words (city of Uruk - 3000 BCE)!

- First real schools (2500 BCE)!

- 2500-2000 BCE (school system)!

- Hundreds of cuneiform tablets!

- Homework and classroom exercises!

- The earliest schools were part of the temple complex of a city and were staffed by priests!

- 2900 - 2500 BCE, schools were operating out of private homes or buildings constructed to serve the educational system!
 
Mesopotamian Education 5)

Bertman notes:

A complete schoolroom likely would have had shelves on which completed work was laid out to dry, storage chests for miscellaneous school supplies and for the safekeeping of "textbooks" and perhaps an oven to bake selected clay tablets in order to give them permanence. (301)

Schools also had large ceramic vessels which held the damp clay that would be molded into writing tablets and others filled with water into which old tablets were dropped to soften so they could be erased, reformed, and reused. Students seem to have begun their education as early as the age of eight, attended class from sunrise to sunset for at least 24 days a month (possibly year-round), and graduated in their early twenties as scribes.

______________________________________________________________________________________

A complete schoolroom had:

- shelves on which completed work was laid out to dry!

- storage chests for miscellaneous school supplies and for the safekeeping of “textbooks”

- an oven to bake selected clay tablets!

- ceramic vessels to held the damp clay to be molded into writing tablets and others filled with water to erase, reform and reuse old tablets!
 

Mesopotamian Education 6)​

Student Body & Faculty​

School was optional, not mandatory, and was funded by the parents of the students through tuition. Only the children of the upper class and nobility could afford to attend, and most of the student body was male. Daughters of nobles, merchants, or clergy were allowed to attend if they were going to follow in their parents' profession, but girls seem to have remained a minority throughout the history of the edubba. Slaves were also sometimes sent to school, especially those belonging to merchants or priests, so they could help with the scribal responsibilities of their masters.

Students had to create their own writing tablets & then learn how to inscribe them with hand-made implements.

Like Enmerkar in the poem, students began their education by taking a piece of clay and making marks in it with a reed stylus. By c. 3200 BCE, these 'marks' were not pictograms but 600 cuneiform characters, each of which had to be made precisely. Tablets, also, had standard shapes and sizes which were mandated by the instructors and formed by the students. Students, therefore, had to create their own writing tablets and then learn how to inscribe them with hand-made implements.

Writing in cuneiform on a clay tablet was not as easy as doing the same today with a pen or pencil on paper. As one wrote, one needed to turn the tablet in one hand while pressing the stylus into the clay with the other and each character had to be precise. Any student who failed in this was beaten by the teacher or the administrator in charge of discipline or both. The faculty was structured on the model of the family where the father was head of the household. The head of a Mesopotamian school, in fact, was known as the "Father of the Tablet House" and corresponded to today's school principal. Every other faculty member was an expert in his particular discipline, and older students, known as "big brothers", served as teacher's assistants in guiding younger learners.

______________________________________________________________________________________

- Schools were only for the upper class and nobility who could afford it!

- The majority of the students were males!

- Slaves could go to school to help their masters (priests and merchants)!

- Students had to create their own writing tablets and learn how to inscribe the cuneiform characters!
 

Mesopotamian Education 7)​

Curriculum​

After a student had mastered the basics of cuneiform script, they practiced writing signs and symbols, then words, then lists of vocabulary words which they would memorize. After these simple lists were mastered, they moved to more complex vocabulary words in various disciplines from astronomy to zoology. Students moved through four stages of instruction, and for each, they used a different type of writing tablet, given here according to scholar A. Leo Oppenheim as presented by Assyriologists Megan Lewis and Joshua Bowen of Digital Hammurabi:

  • Type 1: large, multi-column tablets
  • Type 2: 2-column instructor-student tablets
  • Type 3: 1-column tablets with c. 25% of a composition
  • Type 4: 'lentil-shaped' tablets with basic writing
Students began with Type 4 and progressed to Type 1 through the four stages:

  • Stage 1: Type 4 Tablet – 'Lentil-shaped' tablets of simple writing exercises designed to teach a student to make proper wedges and signs.
  • Stage 2: Type 2 Tablet – The instructor would write on the left side of the tablet and the student would copy that text on the right, often erasing errors – so the right side of the tablets found in the modern era are usually thinner than the left due to loss of clay. The reverse of the tablet held previous lessons of text already completed and memorized.
  • Stage 3: Type 3 Tablet – These tablets hold a quarter or more of a long, completed composition that had been memorized.
  • Stage 4: Type 1 Tablet – Complete compositions created from memory and demonstrating mastery of cuneiform script and subject matter.
The curriculum relied on proverbs, in all four stages, to teach students proper vocabulary, form, grammar, style, and interpretation. Ashurbanipal's collection of Sumerian and Babylonian proverbs, found in his library at Nineveh, include many that appear in the homework of students from the scribal schools. Proverbs were especially emphasized in the early years of one's education in preparation for the advanced stages of the Tetrad (four compositions) and Decad (ten compositions) that needed to be mastered, along with even more advanced works, before one could graduate.
 

Mesopotamian Education 8)​

Tetrad, Decad & House F Compositions​

These works were discovered in numerous copies in the ruins of the scribal school at Nippur, designated by archaeologists as House F. Scholar Jeremy Black comments:

The House F literary tablets are strikingly representative of the Sumerian literary corpus as a whole. That is partly because they have deeply influenced our notions of what that representative corpus is; and partly because they originate from Nippur, where nineteenth-century American digs had already uncovered the vast bulk of known Sumerian literature…Nippur was also at the intellectual heart of Sumer, as the home of Enlil, father of the gods, and geographically close to its core. (xliii-xliv)

Although, as Black also notes, Mesopotamian literature was more diverse than the collection found at Nippur suggests, the same core curriculum works of the Tetrad and Decad found there have been unearthed elsewhere. These works, as given by scholar Eleanor Robson, are:

Tetrad:

Decad:

 

Mesopotamian Education 9)​

The works of the Tetrad were more difficult than the proverbs and other pieces students had mastered earlier, and those of the Decad were even more advanced. The other compositions found in House F (known as The House F Fourteen) were even more complex and the last works a student needed to master prior to graduation:

By the time one had mastered these compositions – which meant copying, memorizing, and reciting each one – the student was recognized as a scribe and focused on their area of interest (comparable to one's major in college) and then began their career.
 

Mesopotamian Education 10)​

Bertman comments:

The goal of this educational system was to turn a child into a scribe. When grown up, the graduate of the Mesopotamian school system would be able to serve society by taking his place in the worlds of temple, palace, and business, drawing upon his skills in literacy and numeracy to excel at his job. Some might become professional scribes serving the practical needs of others; but others would follow their father's professions as government or temple officials or as businessmen. (303)

- Turn a child into a scribe!
 

Mesopotamian Education 11)​

The student's life in pursuing this goal, however, was not an easy one. The satirical poem Schooldays describes this life which included rising early and getting to school on time, the work involved, and the daily beatings the student might expect for infractions of rules, including talking in class, leaving the grounds without permission, tardiness, rising from one's seat without permission, or failing to produce clean copy (not having a "good hand"), among others. A Supervisor's Advice to a Young Scribe is another satirical work on student life in which the young scribe is depicted as essentially the slave of his teacher until graduation.

- Rising early!

- Getting to school on time!

- Daily beatings for infractions of rules (talking in class, leaving the grounds without permission, tardiness, rising from one's seat without permission, or failing to produce clean copy…)!
 

Mesopotamian Education 12)​

Scribal Jobs & Works​

Once graduated, however, the scribe was recognized as an elite member of society, known as a dub.sar ("tablet writer") in Sumerian and a tupshar (or tupsharru) in Akkadian. There was no lack of opportunity for a scribe as work was guaranteed at every level of society. Scribes were employed by the palace for administrative and diplomatic work as well as for the composition of songs, hymns, and inscriptions praising the king and recording his accomplishments. The temple employed scribes in administration and copying of sacred texts, and businesses employed scribes to keep their accounts and carry on correspondence with suppliers and customers.

Aside from these opportunities, scribes worked as architects, in construction, as engineers, astronomers and astrologers, brewers, doctors, dentists, surveyors, mathematicians, musicians, or any other career requiring literacy and a high degree of education. Scribes could also work for themselves as freelance writers in service to anyone who paid them for their work. A scribe could be hired by anyone who needed a letter or legal complaint written.

- The scribe was recognized as an elite member of society!

- There were plenty of work opportunities!
 

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