Early Sumerian Cities
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Y 28 NEAR EASTERN, EGYPTIAN, AND AEGEAN CITIES enjoyed more starus, privileges, and possesions than orhers. Evenrually hierarchy would prevail- CHAPTER 2 Managemenr of food sources seems ro have been responsible for rhis, with excess production, which en be stored and sold or traded, providing accumulared wealch and power for some. Religion may have offered an ideological justification For such inequaliry. These periods were Early Sumerian cities marked in addi¡ion by innovations in technology (wheelmade pottery, sheer meral), rrans- ponarion (boats wirh sails), and agriculture (tree crops). Trade neworks conrinued, as rhe broad distribution of Hdaf and Ubaid pottery indicates, from Medirerrmean Turkey to Inn. Litrle by linle rhe rechnologiel, commerciel, and social wo¡ld of rhe Ancienr Near Easr wæ preparing irself for rhe rise of full-fledged ciries. The Sumerians (firsr period of dominarion): Ubaid period: a. 5000-3500 Bc Proroliterare (Uruk) period: ca.3500-2900 ¡c Early Dynasric period: ca. 2900-2350r;c The Êrs¡ ciries in the Near Easr-Mediletranean basin appeared in souchern Mesoponmia, or Sumer, rhe crearion of a people we call rhe Sumerians (Figure 2.1). \Ve have seen that environrnental changes in south-west fuia during rhe previous 5,000 years led to human control over food production; with this masrery came major social changes, including Êxed setdemen¡s. The socio-economic developmenr of these towns and villages is marked by the gradual appearance ofthe ten criteria proposed by Childe as a mark of rhe rrue ciry. AII ten factors finally emerge in Sumer during the later fourth millennium Bc. This chapter will explore early Sumerian ciries. We will wanr ro ask why true cities originated in southern Mesopotamia, a small region that did not figure in the Fertile Crescent and the Anatolian-Zagros highlands, areas so important for the domes¡ication of planrc and animals. lVhar factors led rhe Sumerians ro develop writing, che rool rhat propelled their settlemenrs inro thc rank of "ciry"? \ühar characrerized the Sumerian ciry, and how did it compare and conrras¡ wirh rhe Neolithic towns presented in Chapter 1? As examples, we shall inspect in parricular che city of IJruk and irs nonhern colony ar Habzba Kabira. Aspeccs of rwo additional cities will also be examined: rhe Temph Oual, an important religious complex ar KhaFajeh; and the Royal Tombs of Ur, a specracular group of burials from the Early Dynasric III period, found in¡act. But Êrsr, before we turn ¡o Uruk, some background information about the Sumerians is needed. THE SUMERIANS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT The Sumerians, the inhabitants of southern Mesopotamia from rhe founh into the early second *Shumer-" millennium sc, are so called after the ancient Akkadian name for rhis region, Thanks ro their wriring, invented during rhe fourth millennium BC, fa¡ more is known about the Sumerians rhan abour rheir anonymous predecessors of the Neoli¡hic age. The survival oF the clay rablers on which rhey wrote, together with the remains of their cicies, allow us to rrace with grearer conñdence rhe increasing complexiry ofsociery in rhe ancienr Near East. The Sumerians scand alone in human history. Their language has no known relatives, and their architecture and artiFacrs do nor indicare erhnic ties wirh cultures ofother regions. The conrinuiry of rhe material remains at their ciries suggests, however, char rhe Sume¡ians had 30 NEAR EASTERN, EGYPTIAN, AND AEGÊAN CITIES EARLY SUMERIAN CITIES 31 rerritorial disputes Rivalries be¡ween ciria grw inrense in rhe Early Dynastic period, rhanks to IURKEY e from rhe countryside in rhis region where agricul the upper hand' inro ,h..i,io, towwell pro fned cerrain balance P e ciry-state as rhe bæic In.,."d, " SYRIA flourished. \ t\.\-\ resulr thar those people working in one sector would seek exchanges o€products with the ochers. Another lactor in rhe rise ofthe Sumerian ciry-states was the need ro organize an effective JORDAN J wstem of irrigation- Blisteringly hot in the summer, pleasandy cool in the winter, central and .._.' SAUDI ARAB¡A sourhern Mesoporamia has a dry climare. Irrigarion is required for successful agriculture- AJrhough rhe Euphrares and Tigris swell in the lace spring with rhe water meked F¡om the snow- covered mounains oFTurkey and northern lraq, an annual overflow ofrhe silt-bearing rivers olo2& was not critic¿I for farming - in contrast with Egypt. hre spring, the period of flooding, does nor coordinate well wirh the rwo growing seæons of winter and summer crops. Consequenrly, a sophisricaced system ofcenals was developed to bring water to the Êdds ar rhe appropriàre Figure 2 1 Mesopotam¡a: early Sumerian citìes rimes, and ro protect newly sown crops from being washed away. The land drains poorly, however. ti(/hereas the annual flooding ofthe Nile flushed away rhe already serrled in sourhern Iraq in rhe later Neolithic period, at the end ofthe sixth millennium noxious salts in Eryprian Êelds, in Mesopotamia the irrigarion channels brought salts bur did eC, well before rhey developed rhe arr of writing. This era of the srliesr known settlements in nor remove them. Salr-¡ole¡ating barley became the chief grain. But these sala accumulated the region is called the Ubaid period, named a.fter a sire that has felded a good sample of rhese in the Êelds and gradually ruined the greac Fertiliry ofthe land. Even barley couldn't survive- The early remains. Subsequent periods re the Protoliterate or Uruk period (when rhe city of Uruk problem of salinizrion preoccupied rhe mcients, as documenr as far back as the end of the rhird was dominant); rhen rhe Early Dynasdc period, divided inro ¡hree parts (abbreviated as ED I, millennium Bc resriry. They had no remedy For it, and evenrually it defeared them. II, md III), during which the Sumerian city-states became increasingly prosperous. Today this flat, often marshy area is remore, worked only by herders and modesr farmers. Only Cities are a distinctive feature of the Sumerians. Indeed, the independent, self-governing the many tells dotting the landscape remind us rhat rhis region was once home to a flourishing city was their basic political unit. In this respecr Sumer resembles ancient Greece, as we shall urban civilizarion. see. Geography seems not ro be the determining facror in this political development, For the landscape of Sumer is flat, its rerrain marked only by rivers and c¿nals, whereas Greece is divided by mountains and valleys. Instead, religious reasons seem responsible. Each Sumerian ciry- URUK srate nomindly belonged to a god or goddess. The temple wæ thus the focus of both ritual and economic activiry- ft also became the regional adminisrrarive cenrer. Each town rhat grew around l'he dominanr ciry of early Sumer was lJruk (tVarÞa, in Arabic). F¡om its long and often such a temple wæ entrusted, on behalFof rhe presiding deiry, ro rhe ca¡e ofa m ortallctng (lugal, distinguished hisrory, we shall focus here on Uruk in rhe Protoliterare period (kvek IV and III), in Sumerian) or viceroy (mr)- K.ingship firsr began in rhe cicy of Eridu, according to Sumerian rhe importanr formarive era of Sumerian urbanism. m¡h- The institution was later copied and spread ro o¡her towns- The ciry-state, then, originated Archaeologicd suruey conducred norably by Robert Adams and Hans Nissen in rhe 1960s in remoce, heroic times, the work of rhe gods; rhe divinely sanctioned ciry-srare would be for rhe and 1970s has revealed ¡har Uruk was far and away rhe largesr serrlement ofthe region in the Sumerians rhe basic unir of polirical organiztion. Prorolirerate period. The cicy was indeed immense. Although walls of irs earliest ser¡lemenrc L 32 NEAR EASTERN, EGYPTIAN, AND AEGEAN CITIES EARLY SUMERIAN CITIES 33 ofrhe Ubaid and Protoliterare periods have nor been discovered, rhe mud brick forrilìcarion of mighr come as something of a surprise, considering the important role rhe temple played in rhe the ED I period measured nearly I Okm in length and enclosed a vasr area o F 435ha (Figure 2.2). economic liFe of rhe city as rhe central clearing house for agricultural and orher products- A The site oF the ancienr ciry has been jusr \ùØar exrensively explored since before the Firsr V'o¡ld Sumerian ciry would be [urrher divided in¡o differenr neighborhoods, residenrial, adminisrrarive by teams from the German oriental Sociery. Excavations have focused on rhe temples, rhe maror (including palaces, ifpresenr), industrial (including crafr workshops), and a cemetery. Differenr public buildings of rhe ciry. social clâsses mixed rogether; they were nor segregated in rheir separare neighborhoods. Similarly, The prominence of monumenral religious buildings in Sumerian ciries is striking and marks overlapping of tasks occurred. Craft workshops, for example, we¡e scarrered throughour rhe an important difference from earlier Neoli¡hic towns. In larer periods, palaces, rhe dwellings of residenrial disrric¡s, and bu¡ials mighr rake place benearh houses. There was ¡herefore no standard kings, occupl'this cen¡ral position, but in Sumer, from very early rimes, remples dominated. placemenr oFrhese funcrions in rhe overall ciry plan- After all, as noced above, rhe god or goddess worshipped in a ciry's main cemple was considered Neighborhoods were divided by such leatures as srreers, walls, and warer channels- Indeed, the rrue ruler of the ciry, rhe ruler of all. Orher diviniries would be celebrared in smaller temples rhese last gave Sumerian cities a disdncriye characrer. These canals were parr olrhe larger regiona.l scartered throughout the ciry- Not only ar Uruk, bur also at such rowns as Eridu, considered by sysrem of wetercourses. That rhey rourinely flowed rhrough cities as well as alongside rhem the Sumerians as the oldes¡ in ¡he world, and Nippur, rhe preeminenr holy ciry, remples were demonstrares rheir supreme importance in Sumerian geography.