Summer and Akkad Geographical Context The Fertile Crescent Ubaid Culture • Roughly 6000 – 3500 BC. • First pottery • First settled ‘towns’ • “The creators of the Ubaid… were heirs to cumulative developments in the long history of agricultural village life in the Near East” (Hout 1992, 188). Sumerians Arrived from Asia ca 3900 – 3500 Unique language that resembles Turkic and Hungarian • Brought (?) Copper tech. • Applied to irrigation • Kish or Uruk earliest city • Competing city states • Legend of the Flood • Legends of divine parentage Sumer Kuhrt • Kuhrt, Amelie. 1995. The Ancient Near East. • Cultural parallelism • Semitic words in Sumerian texts • Diversity of land ownership • Monarchy more than theocracy • Contra Edgar et al. City Rivalries • Eannatum, king of Lagash • Ca. 2450 BC • Conquered the cities of Sumer • Vulture Stele commemorates victory over Enakalle of Umma The Vulture Stele The Vulture Stele • Winter, Irene. 1985. After the Battle is Over: The “Stele of the Vultures” and the Beninning of Historical Narrative in the Art of the Ancient Near East. Studies in the History of Art 16, Symposium Papers IV: Pictoral Narrative in Antiquity and the Middle Ages: 11 – 32. Sargon of Akkad (Agade) • Lugalzagesi • Ruler of Uruk • Hegemon of Sumerian empire • Sargon • Ruler of Akkad (2296 - 2240) • Semitic • Begins a literary tradition of pasts remembered (recreated). The Dynasty of Sargon • Sargon (2296 -2240) • Rimush (2239 – 2230) • Manishtushu (2229 – 2214) • Naram Sin (2213 – 2176) • Sharkalisharri (2175 – 2150) • …but these dates are disputed Ur – The Sumerian Renaissence • Utuhegal (2119 – 2113) • Ur-Nammu (2112 – 2095) • Shulgi (2094 – 2047) • Amar –Sin (2046 – 2038) • Shu-Sin (2037 – 2027) • Ibbi-Sin (2026 – 2004) Material Record Cylinder Seals Cuneiform Bronze • Ca. 3000 BC • Mix of copper and tin • Lagash: • the soldiers of Eanatum (2455-2425 BC.) wear metal helmets and are arranged in columns. By the time of Sargon of Akkad "bronze had become the weapon of conquerors" (Keegan 1993: 134)..