Looking for Jesus according to Matthew

Eridu Genesis 8)

Conclusion​

The Sumerian Flood Story is considered the first written account of the popular myth which appears in almost every culture of the ancient world.
The Sumerian Flood Story is considered the first written account of the popular myth of a worldwide flood sent by divine agency which appears in almost every culture of the ancient world. The seemingly universal treatment of the same story has suggested to some that there must have once been such an event, which people of different cultures, independently, responded to with the creation of the story.

Modern-day scholars tend to reject this interpretation and, instead, suggest that an early story of a Great Flood and the destruction of humanity resonated with an ancient audience and came to be widely repeated, traveling through trade from one region to another. Each culture adapted the story to their own needs and vision and so the original was altered, to greater or lesser degrees, as it was told – and then written down – in different locales. The original may or may not have been the Sumerian Flood Story but many scholars in the present day, including Stephanie Dalley, believe it was.
 
Eridu Genesis 9)

Dalley writes:

All these flood stories may be explained as deriving from the one Mesopotamian original, used in traveler's tales for over two thousand years, along the great caravan routes of Western Asia: translated, embroidered, and adapted according to local tastes to give a myriad of divergent versions. (7)

The concept of a god's wrath – or the collective displeasure of many gods – causing catastrophic events was understood simply as how the world worked by ancient civilizations around the world. The story of the Great Flood would have served a number of purposes but, primarily, explained the creation of the world as the people knew it while strongly suggesting they pay greater attention to the divine will in their daily lives.

In each version of the flood story mentioned above, the gods – or God – repent of their decision – in the Genesis story, God even places the rainbow in the sky as a promise he will never flood the world again; but, to an ancient audience, this would not have meant that the Divine could not as easily send some equally dire punishment for human transgression of its will at some point in the future whenever it wanted to. The story would have then encouraged people to err on the side of caution in adhering to religious-cultural precepts in order to maintain the goodwill of a deity or deities who could as easily destroy as support them.
 
The city of Uruk 1)

Uruk was one of the most important cities (at one time, the most important) in ancient Mesopotamia. According to the Sumerian King List, it was founded by King Enmerkar c. 4500 BCE. Uruk is best known as the birthplace of writing c. 3200 BCE as well as for its architecture and other cultural innovations.

Located in the southern region of Sumer (modern day Warka, Iraq), Uruk was known in the Aramaic language as Erech which, it is believed, gave rise to the modern name for the country of Iraq, though another likely derivation is Al-Iraq, the Arabic name for the region of Babylonia. The city of Uruk is most famous for its great king Gilgamesh and the epic tale of his quest for immortality but also for a number of firsts in the development of civilization which occurred there.

It is considered the first true city in the world, the origin of writing, the first example of architectural work in stone and the building of great stone structures, the origin of the ziggurat, and the first city to develop the cylinder seal which the ancient Mesopotamians used to designate personal property or as a signature on documents. Considering the importance the cylinder seal had for the people of the time, and that it stood for one's personal identity and reputation, Uruk could also be credited as the city which first recognized the importance of the individual in the collective community.

The city was continuously inhabited from its founding until c. 300 CE when, owing to both natural and man-made influences, people began to desert the area. By this time, it had depleted natural resources in the surrounding area and was no longer a major political or commercial power. It lay abandoned and buried until excavated in 1853 by William Loftus for the British Museum.
 
The city of Uruk 2)

The Uruk Period​

The Ubaid Period (c. 5000-4100 BCE) when the so-called Ubaid people first inhabited the region of Sumer is followed by the Uruk Period (4100-2900 BCE) during which time cities began to develop across Mesopotamia and Uruk became the most influential. The Uruk Period is divided into 8 phases from the oldest, through its prominence, and into its decline based upon the levels of the ruins excavated and the history which the artifacts found there reveal. The city was most influential between 4100-c.3000 BCE when Uruk was the largest urban center and the hub of trade and administration.

In precisely what manner Uruk ruled the region, why and how it became the first city in the world, and in what manner it exercised its authority is not fully known. Scholar Gwendolyn Leick writes:

The Uruk phenomenon is still much debated, as to what extent Uruk exercised political control over the large area covered by the Uruk artifacts, whether this relied on the use of force, and which institutions were in charge. Too little of the site has been excavated to provide any firm answers to these questions. However, it is clear that, at this time, the urbanization process was set in motion, concentrated at Uruk itself. (183-184)

Since the city of Ur had a more advantageous placement for trade, further south toward the Persian Gulf, it would seem to make sense that city, rather than Uruk, would have wielded more influence but this is not the case.

The city was most influential between 4100-c.3000 BCE when Uruk was the largest urban center and the hub of trade and administration.
 
The city of Uruk 3)

Artifacts from Uruk appear at virtually every excavated site throughout Mesopotamia and even in Egypt. The historian Julian Reade notes:

Perhaps the most striking example of the wide spread of some features of the Uruk culture consists in the distribution of what must be one of the crudest forms ever made, the so-called beveled-rim bowl. This kind of bowl, mould-made and mass-produced, is found in large numbers throughout Mesopotamia and beyond. (30)

This bowl was the means by which workers seem to have been paid: by a certain amount of grain ladled into a standard-sized bowl. The remains of these bowls, throughout all of Mesopotamia, suggest that they “were frequently discarded immediately after use, like the aluminum foil containing a modern take-away meal” (Reade, 30). So popular was the beveled-rim bowl that manufacturing centres sprang up throughout Mesopotamia extending as far away from Uruk as the city of Mari in the far north. Because of this, it is unclear if the bowl originated at Uruk or elsewhere (though Uruk is generally held as the bowl's origin). If at Uruk, then the beveled-rim bowl must be counted among the many of the city's accomplishments as it is the first known example of a mass-produced product.
 
The city of Uruk 4)

The City Districts & Gods​

The city was divided into two sections, the Eanna District and the older Anu District, named for, and dedicated to, the goddess Inanna and her grand-father-god Anu, respectively. The famous Mask of Warka (also known as `The Lady of Uruk') a sculpted marble female face found at Uruk, is considered a likeness of Inanna and was most likely part of a larger work from one of the temples in her district.

The Eanna District was walled off from the rest of the city but it is unclear if this was for ceremonial purposes or if, in building the newer Eanna District, the builders required a wall for some reason. Scholar Samuel Noah Kramer suggests that Anu, the male god, presided over the early city until the rise in popularity of his daughter Inanna and, at this time, she was given a private dwelling, complete with a wall, in the Eanna District.

Since temples were considered the literal dwelling place of deities on earth, and since Inanna is regularly depicted as a goddess who very much preferred things her own way, perhaps the walled district was simply to provide her with some privacy. Kramer also notes that, even though Inanna continued to be a popular deity throughout Mesopotamia (eventually merging into Ishtar) goddesses declined in power and prestige at the same time (during the reign of Hammurabi of Babylon), and at the same rate, as women's rights deteriorated. This being the case, perhaps the Eanna district was walled off to restrict access to a male priestly class. As with much concerning Uruk's history, however, this theory remains largely speculation.
 
The city of Uruk 5)

Inanna played a pivotal role in the mythological history of Uruk as it was she who stole the sacred meh from her father-god Enki at the sacred city of Eridu and brought them to Uruk. The meh were, in the words of Kramer (who first translated the cuneiform) “divine decrees which are the basis of the culture pattern of Sumerian civilization.” As Eridu was considered, by the Sumerians, the first city created by the gods and a place holy to them, the removal of the meh to Uruk signified a transference of power and prestige from one city to the other.

In the tale of Inanna and The God of Wisdom, Enki god goes to great lengths, once he finds the meh are stolen, to have them brought back to Eridu – but in vain. Inanna has tricked her father and now Uruk, not Eridu, would be the seat of power. Eridu was associated with rural life and the primordial sea from which life sprang; Uruk was the embodiment of the new way of life – the city. The story would have provided an ancient Mesopotamian with the reason why Eridu declined in importance and Uruk rose to the heights it did: it was the work of the gods.
 
The city of Uruk 6)

Uruk's Importance & Long Decline​

During the Early Dynastic Period (2900-2334 BCE), which followed the Uruk Period, Uruk was still the seat of power in the region, though in a much diminished state, and the major dynasties of the time ruled from the city. The great wall of Uruk, which was said to have been built by King Gilgamesh himself, still rose around the city when King Eannutum forged his First Dynasty of Lagash in 2500 BCE and established his control of the region.

The later king of that empire, Lugal-Zage (also known as Lugalzagesi), so admired the city that he chose Uruk as his capital and seat of power. When Sumer was brought under the rule of the Akkadian Empire in 2334 BCE, Sargon of Akkad (r. 2334-2279 BCE) continued to pay special reverence to Uruk and the sacred districts of Inanna and Anu continued in use and, in fact, were renovated and improved upon.
 
The city of Uruk 7)

Even though the city lost the position of pre-eminence it had enjoyed during the Uruk Period, it continued to play an important position down through the Ur III Period (2047-1750 BCE). The Third Dynasty of Ur, founded by Ur-Nammu (r. 2047-2030 BCE), governed in such a way as to give birth to a Sumerian Renaissance and Uruk benefited from this as much as the rest of the region. With the fall of the city of Ur in 1750 BCE, and the invasion of Sumer by Elamites, along with the incursions of the Amorites, Uruk went into decline along with the rest of Sumer.

The city continued to play a significant role, however, throughout the Seleucid and Parthian periods of Sumer's late history. This is a substantial point to note in that many other Sumerian cities fared far less well at this same time. The sacred districts continued to be maintained, though to lesser degrees, into the 7th century CE; long past the time when many other Mesopotamian cities had been abandoned. Scholar Stephen Bertman writes:

Uruk had a life-span of 5,000 years. Its oldest layers lie virtually unexplored, submerged deep in the mud of the alluvial plain from which its life once sprouted. (37)
 
The city of Uruk 8)

Perhaps buried in the ancient ruins is the answer to why the first city in the world rose as it did, where it did, and remained so important to the people of Mesopotamia for so long. Unlike other cities throughout the region, it was not abandoned until the Muslim Conquest of Mesopotamia in 630 CE.

The answer to the mystery of Uruk's prominence, however, may be simpler than it appears. The historian Paul Kriwaczek has noted that any important change in a society springs from “the everlasting conflict between progressives and conservatives, between the forward and backward looking, between those who propose `let's do something new' and those who think `the old ways are best'. No great shift in culture ever took place without such a contest” (21).

Perhaps the story of Inanna and Enki and the shift of power from Eridu to Uruk told of this very contest and showed how the old ways of rural life, exemplified in the ancient site of Eridu, gave way to the rise of the city and a new kind of community. It had to happen somewhere, once the process of urbanization began, and the place where it happened was at Uruk.
 
The city of Ur 1)

Ur was a city in the region of Sumer, southern Mesopotamia, and its ruins lie in what is modern-day Tell el-Muqayyar, Iraq. According to biblical tradition, the city is named after the man who founded the first settlement there, Ur, though this has been challenged. The city is famous for its biblical associations and as an ancient trade center.

The city's other biblical link is to the patriarch Abraham who left Ur to settle in the land of Canaan. This claim has also been contested by scholars who believe that Abraham's home was further north in Mesopotamia in a place called Ura, near the city of Harran, and that the writers of the biblical narrative in the Book of Genesis confused the two.

Whatever its biblical connections may have been, Ur was a significant port city on the Persian Gulf which began, most likely, as a small village in the Ubaid Period of Mesopotamian history (5000-4100 BCE) and was an established city by 3800 BCE continually inhabited until 450 BCE. Ur's biblical associations have made it famous in the modern-day but it was a significant urban center long before the biblical narratives were written and highly respected in its time.
 
The city of Ur 2)

The Early Period & Excavation​

The site became famous in 1922 when Sir Leonard Wooley excavated the ruins and discovered what he called The Great Death Pit (an elaborate grave complex), the Royal Tombs, and, more significantly to him, claimed to have found evidence of the Great Flood described in the Book of Genesis (this claim was later discredited but continues to find supporters). In its time, Ur was a city of enormous size, scope, and opulence which drew its vast wealth from its position on the Persian Gulf and the trade this allowed with countries as far away as India. The present site of the ruins of Ur are much further inland than they were at the time when the city flourished owing to silting of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

From the beginning, Ur was an important trade center owing to its location at a pivotal point where the Tigris and Euphrates run into the Persian Gulf. Archaeological excavations have substantiated that, early on, Ur possessed great wealth and the citizens enjoyed a level of comfort unknown in other Mesopotamian cities.

As with other great urban complexes in the region, the city began as a small village which was most likely led by a priest or priest-king. The king of the First Dynasty, Mesannepadda, is only known through the Sumerian King List and from inscriptions on artifacts found in the graves of Ur.

The Second Dynasty is known to have had four kings but about them, their accomplishments, or the history during this time, nothing is known. The early Mesopotamian writers did not consider it worthwhile to record the deeds of mortals and preferred to link human achievements to the work and will of the gods. Ancient hero-kings such as Gilgamesh of Uruk or those who performed amazing feats such as Etana were worthy of record but mortal kings were not afforded that same level of concern regarding the details of their reigns.
 

The Hero-Kings of​

This changed with the rise of Sargon of Akkad (r. 2334-2279 BCE) and his Akkadian Empire which ruled over the diverse regions of Mesopotamia between 2334-2083 BCE. Sargon the Great claimed to have been born of a priestess and a god, floated down the river in a basket of bulrushes to be found by the servant of the king of the city of Lagash, and rose from obscurity – through the will of the goddess Inanna – to rule all of Mesopotamia. The inscriptions he left dare those who follow him to do the deeds he did if they hope to call themselves a king and his life was worthy of the efforts of the scribes of the region for centuries after his death.

His grandson, Naram-Sin (r. 2261-2224 BCE), learning well the lessons of the importance of personal propaganda, claimed he had gone further than his grandfather and had himself deified during his reign. In doing so, he provided a model for those kings who would follow him. Sargon the Great and Naram-Sin were the most powerful rulers of the Akkadian Empire and, once it fell, their names became legend and their deeds worth emulating.

At Ur, the heroes of Akkad were most closely emulated by the rulers of the Third Dynasty. This period in the history of Sumer is known as the Ur III Period (2047-1750 BCE) and was the age in which the city of Ur reached its height. The great ziggurat of Ur, which can still be visited in modern times, dates from this period as do most of the ruins of the city and the cuneiform tablets discovered there.

Two of the greatest kings of the Third Dynasty were Ur-Nammu (r. 2047-2030 BCE) and his son Shulgi of Ur (r. 2029-1982 BCE) who created an urban community devoted to cultural progress and excellence and, in doing so, gave birth to what is known as the Sumerian Renaissance.

- Kings deified themselves!

- This tradition would prosper!
 
The city of Ur 4)

Ur-Nammu & Shulgi: The Sumerian Renaissance​

Ur-Nammu wrote down the first codified law system of the land, the Code of Ur-Nammu, some three hundred years before Hammurabi of Babylon would write his, and governed his realm in accordance with a patriarchal hierarchy in which he was the father guiding his children to prosperity and continued health. Under Ur-Nammu the great ziggurat was built and trade flourished. The arts and technology for which the Sumerians are most famous were all encouraged in Ur during this time.

The scholar Paul Kriwaczek observes that, in order for such a patriarchal system of government to succeed, the people must believe that their ruler is greater, more powerful, than they are in the same way that children regard their father. To this end, it seems, Ur-Nammu presented himself to his subjects in line with the hero-kings Sargon and Naram-Sin in order to encourage the populace to follow him in the pursuit of excellence. He was killed in battle with the Gutians and immortalized in the poem The Death of Ur-Nammu which imagines him in the underworld realm of Ereshkigal, Queen of the Dead.

His son Shulgi, in an effort to surpass the achievements of his father, went even further. One example of this is his famous run when, to impress his people and distinguish himself from his father, Shulgi ran 200 miles (321.8 km) between the religious centre of Nippur and the capital city of Ur and back again – in one day – in order to officiate at the festivals in both cities. His feat was celebrated in A Praise Poem of Shulgi which was read throughout his realm. Shulgi continued his father's policies, bettering them when he saw fit, and is considered the greatest king of the Third Dynasty of Ur for the heights civilization reached under his reign, including making literacy a priority.

Shulgi improved the roads, created roadside inns with gardens and running water, and commissioned the renovation and rebuilding of many structures throughout his territories. Among his many building projects was a wall which ran 155 miles (250 km) along the border of the region of Sumer to keep out the barbarian tribes known as the Martu (also given as the Tidnum) who are most recognizable to modern readers from their biblical designation as Amorites. Shulgi's wall was maintained by his son, grandson, and great grandson but could not hold back the tribes on the borders.

The wall was too long to be properly manned and, since it was not anchored at either end, invaders could by-pass the obstacle simply by marching around it. In 1750 BCE the neighboring kingdom of Elam breached the wall, sacked Ur and carried away the last king as a prisoner. The Amorites, who had already found their way around the wall, merged with the Sumerian populace and, in this way, Sumerian culture came to an end with the fall of Ur.
 
The city of Ur 5)

The Decline of Ur & Excavation​

In the Old Babylonian Period (c. 2000-1600 BCE) Ur remained a city of importance and was considered a centre of learning and culture. According to scholar Gwendolyn Leick, “The `heirs' of Ur, the kings of Isin and Larsa, were keen to show their respect to the gods of Ur by repairing the devastated temples” (180) and the Kassite kings, who later conquered the region, did the same as would the Assyrian rulers who followed them.

The city continued to be inhabited through the early part of the Achaemenid Period (c. 550-330 BCE) but, due to climate change and an overuse of the land, more and more people migrated to the northern regions of Mesopotamia or south toward the land of Canaan (the patriarch Abraham, some claim, among them, as previously noted). Ur slowly dwindled in importance as the Persian Gulf receded further and further south from the city and eventually fell into ruin around 450 BCE.

The area was buried under the sands until it was visited by Pietro della Valle in 1625 who noted strange inscriptions on bricks (later identified as cuneiform script) and images on artifacts which were later recognized as cylinder seals used to identify property or sign letters. In 1853 -1854 the first excavation of the site was made by John George Taylor in the interests of the British Museum who noted multiple grave complexes and concluded the site may have been a Babylonian necropolis.

- Many people migrated because of climate change and an overuse of the land!

- It may remind us of something!

- The big difference with today is that we are a lot more inhabitants!

- That’s why the problems will increase a lot more!

- Men will never understand!

- Men always commit suicide!
 
The city of Ur 6)

The definitive excavation of the ruins of Ur was conducted between 1922-1934 by Sir Leonard Wooley, working on behalf of the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania. The famous Tomb of Tutankhamun had been discovered by Howard Carter in November 1922 and Wooley was hoping for an equally impressive find. At Ur he uncovered the graves of sixteen kings and queens, including that of the Queen Puabi (also known as Shub-ad) and her treasures.

The Great Death Pit, as Wooley named it, was the largest of those uncovered and, in it, “Wooley found six armed guards and 68 serving women. They wore ribbons of gold and silver in their hair, except one woman who still held in her hand the coiled-up silver ribbon she was unable to fasten before the sleeping potion took hold that painlessly carried her away to the afterworld with her master” (Bertman, 36).

Wooley also uncovered the Royal Standard of Ur which celebrated the city's triumph over her enemies in war and the festivities which the people enjoyed in peace. In an effort to out-do Carter's triumph in the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, Wooley claimed that he had found evidence at Ur of the biblical Great Flood but notes taken by his assistant, Max Mallowan, later showed that the flood record at the site in no way supported a world-wide deluge and was more in keeping with the regular flooding caused by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Further excavations at Ur since Wooley's time have corroborated Mallowan's notes and, in spite of persistent beliefs to the contrary, no evidence supporting the Great Flood story from the Bible has been found at Ur nor anywhere else in Mesopotamia. Still, as scholar Stephen Bertman notes:

Even if stripped of its biblical claims to fame, Wooley's Ur is still a glittering example of Sumeria's golden age. Though its original lyres no longer sound, with our inner ear we can still hear their melodies. (36)

The ruins of Ur today are a significant archaeological site which continues to yield important artifacts when the troubles of the region allow. The great Ziggurat of Ur rises from the plains above the mud-brick ruins of the once-great city and, as Bertman suggests, in walking among them one relives the past when Ur was a center of commerce and trade, protected by the gods, and flourishing amidst fertile fields.
 
The city of Larsa

The city of Larsa was an ancient Sumerian city in southern Mesopotamia, known as a prosperous trade center on the Persian Gulf and a key player in the Early Dynastic Period. It was one of the major cities of Sumer, alongside Eridu, Uruk, and Ur. Larsa gained prominence under the rule of kings like Rim-Sin and was the last stronghold opposing Hammurabi of Babylon before its conquest. The city was closely associated with the worship of deities Nanna and Šamaš, and it played a significant role in the political and economic landscape of southern Mesopotamia.

Larsa, one of the ancient capital cities of Babylonia, located about 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Uruk (Erech; Arabic Tall al-Warkāʾ), in southern Iraq. Larsa was probably founded in prehistoric times, but the most prosperous period of the city coincided with an independent dynasty inaugurated by a king named Naplanum (c. 2025–c. 2005 bc); he was a contemporary of Ishbi-Erra, who founded a dynasty at the rival city of Isin. Naplanum was succeeded by a line of 13 kings, many of whom exercised great authority in Babylonia and represented the new hegemony of Semitic Akkadian elements that superseded the Sumerians.

Isin and Larsa seem to have existed in a state of armed neutrality for more than a century during the time when each city was consolidating its rule. Isin was initially recognized as dominant at Ur, but business records on clay tablets found in the latter city show that by the time of the fifth and sixth kings of Larsa, Gungunum (c. 1932–c. 1906 bc) and Abisare (1905–1895), Larsa was already on the road to dominance. The 12th king of the dynasty, Silli-Adad (c. 1835), reigned for only a year and was then deposed by a powerful Elamite, Kutur-Mabuk, who installed his son Warad-Sin (1834–23) as king. This act apparently caused little disruption in the economic life of Larsa, and this was in fact a most prosperous period, as many thousands of business documents attest. Agriculture and stock breeding flourished; much attention was given to irrigation; and long-distance trade connected the Euphrates with the Indus valley through a commerce in hides, wool, vegetable oil, and ivory. Under Warad-Sin’s son Rim-Sin (1822–1763), the arts, especially the old Sumerian scribal schools, received great encouragement. The days of Larsa were numbered, however, for Hammurabi of Babylon, who had long been determined to destroy his most dangerous enemy, defeated Rim-Sin in 1763 bc and substituted his own authority for that of Larsa over southern Mesopotamia.

The brief excavations conducted in Larsa in 1933 by André Parrot revealed a ziggurat, a temple to the sun god, and a palace of Nur-Adad (c. 1865–c. 1850 bc), as well as many tombs and other remains of the Neo-Babylonian and Seleucid periods.
 
The city of Isin

Isin, ancient Mesopotamian city, probably the origin of a large mound near Ad-Dīwānīyah, in southern Iraq.

An independent dynasty was established at Isin about 2017 bc by Ishbi-Erra, “the man of Mari.” He founded a line of Amorite rulers of whom the first five claimed authority over the city of Ur to the south. The fifth of the rulers of Isin, Lipit-Ishtar (reigned 1934–24 bc), is famous as having published a series of laws in the Sumerian language anticipating the code of Hammurabi by more than a century. About 1794 Isin lost its independence, first to the neighbouring city of Larsa and later to Babylon. The city revived between about 1156 and 1025 under its 2nd dynasty, a number of whose kings exercised authority over Babylonia (southern Iraq).
 

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