Sumerian culture. What was the history of Sumer? The culture of ancient Sumer in brief

The Sumerian culture is considered the first civilization on Earth. Around the beginning of the third millennium BC, nomadic tribes living in Asia are believed to have formed the first slave states in the lands of Mesopotamia. The Sumerian culture was formed, in which there were still strong remnants of the primitive communal system. Along with numerous fragmented states, the art of the Sumerians began its development, which subsequently had a strong impact on the art of all peoples and states that existed after. The art of the Sumerians and Akkadians, the peoples who inhabited Mesopotamia, was not only unique and original, it was the first, so its role in world history cannot be overestimated.

Sumerian culture - the first hearths

The first, among others, to arise were Sumerian cities such as Uruk and Lagash. It was they who became the first strongholds of the development of Sumerian culture. Subsequently, certain economic and political reasons forced small city-states to unite into larger entities. Most of these formations occurred with the help of military force, as evidenced by the few Sumerian artifacts.

Around the second half of the third millennium, we can say that the culture of mankind experienced a noticeable leap in its development, the reason for which was the formation of a single state in the lands of Mesopotamia under the control of King Sargon I. The formed Akkadian state represented the interests of the slave-owning elite. In those days, Sumerian culture literally depended on religion, and the main element of cultural life was the priesthood and the numerous celebrations associated with it. Faith and religion represented the worship of a complex cult of gods and the deification of the ruling king. A significant role in the culture of the Sumerians and their religion was played by the worship of the forces of nature, which was a relic of the communal cult of animals. The Sumerian culture of the Akkadian era created only what received the condescension of religious leaders, so it is not surprising that most of the ancient Sumerian examples of art are mythological tales and frescoes with images of gods. The ancient masters, whose hands created the Sumerian culture, depicted the gods in the form of animals, beast-men and fantastic creatures with wings, horns and other elements more typical of fauna than of humans.

It was during this period, during the period of unrest, economic and political instability, that the first features of ancient art began to take hold, and the culture of the Sumerians, who lived in Dvurchye in the area of ​​the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, began to form. The ancient world was far from the humanity inherent in modern people, it was far from what we picture in our imagination. The Sumerian culture that actually existed was based on unusual architecture palace and temple buildings, for decorations, sculpture and painting, the main purpose of which was the glorification of the gods and the ruling king. The architecture, culture of the Sumerians and their way of life, determined by the military doctrine of the existing city-states, were exclusively serf-like in nature, life was cruel and merciless to people, as evidenced by the remains of city buildings, art of ancient Sumerians, defensive walls, with prudently erected towers and the remains of people buried under the rubble for thousands of years.

The main material for the construction of cities and majestic structures in Mesopotamia was raw brick, in more in rare cases burnt brick. The Sumerian culture really developed unique way construction, its main feature is that most ancient buildings were erected on artificial platforms. This unique feature of Sumerian culture is explained by the need to isolate residential, religious and other buildings from flooding and dampness. The Sumerians were no less driven by the desire to show themselves off to their neighbors by making the building visible from all sides. The windows, architectural examples of ancient art, were built into the upper part of one of the walls and were so narrow that they barely let in any light. Sumerian culture and architecture developed in such a way that the main source of light in their buildings was often doorways and specially constructed openings in the ceiling. The main institutions of Sumerian culture were famous for their craftsmanship and unusual approach, for example, the structures discovered and preserved in good condition in the south had an open and surprisingly large courtyard around which small buildings were grouped. This method of planning was determined by the climatic conditions of Mesopotamia, extremely high temperatures. In the northern part of the ancient state that the Sumerian culture created, buildings of a completely different layout were discovered. These were residential buildings and palace buildings, devoid of an open courtyard, their place was occupied by a covered central room. In some cases, the structures were two stories high.

Sumerian culture and examples of art of the ancient people

A striking example of the art inherent in the Sumerian people is the ancient temple architecture that developed in the cities of the third millennium BC. One such temple that the Sumerian culture built was the temple, now ruins, at El Obeid. The structure, dedicated to the fertility goddess Nin-Khursag, dates back to 2600 BC. According to the reconstructions, the temple was located on a hill, an artificial platform made of compacted tiles. According to tradition, the walls were divided by vertical projections, and the bottoms were painted with black bitumen. There was an architectural rhythm in horizontal sections, however, it was achieved in completely different ways, which was developed by the Sumerian culture, for example, with the help of numerous horizontal sections.

It was in this temple that relief was first used and it was for it that sculptures were first created. Sumerian culture, ancient masters created lions located on the sides of the entrance. The sculptures were made of wood covered with a layer of bitumen and finely hammered copper sheets. In addition, colored stones were inlaid into the eyes, tongue and other elements of the lion statue, giving them a bright and memorable appearance.

Along the front wall of the temple, in the niches between the ledges, there were figurines of bulls carved from copper. used a certain set of material and rarely changed its traditions. Top part the walls were decorated with three friezes located at a short distance from each other. One of them was bas-relief and contained images of copper bulls, the other two were flat with a mosaic relief of white mother-of-pearl and black slate plates. Sumerian culture, using such a contrast of materials, created a unique color scheme that echoed both the color of the platforms and the style of the temple itself.

One of the friezes of the temple depicted scenes of the everyday life of a resident of the ancient empire; perhaps they had some cultural significance, or the Sumerian culture, when creating them, pursued goals unknown to scientists. Another frieze contained images of sacred birds and animals. The inlay technique, first tested by the ancient Sumerians, was also used to create the facade and columns of the temple. Some of them were decorated with colored stones, shells and mother-of-pearl, others with metal tiles attached to nails.

The copper bas-relief located above the entrance to the temple deserves special attention and praise. Sumerian culture was famous for its enviable craftsmen, however, here the ancient architects outdid themselves. This bas-relief, which in places turned into a rounded sculpture, contained an image of an eagle with the head of a lion, clawing deer. Similar images were discovered on the walls of several other ancient temples, which were created by the Sumerian culture around the third millennium BC. An important feature of the relief above the entrance is the almost perfectly symmetrical heraldic composition, which later became a characteristic feature of the Western Asian relief.

The Sumerian culture created the ziggurat, a completely unique type of religious building that occupied an iconic place in the architecture of a number of ancient states and empires. The ziggurat was always erected at the temple of the presiding local deity and was a high stepped tower made of raw brick. At the top of the ziggurat that the Sumerian culture created, there was a small building called the “dwelling of god.” The Sumerian people built similar structures with enviable regularity, serving as a sanctuary for territorial gods, all of them were exceptionally grandiose.

Sumerian art in architecture

This one in Huerta has been preserved many times better than other ziggurats. This ziggurat/temple was built in the 22-21 centuries BC, or rather, during these centuries it was reconstructed and completed. The art of the Sumerians during the construction of this ziggurat and during its reconstruction showed itself to the maximum. The ziggurat consisted of several, presumably three, massive towers, built one above the other, forming wide terraces connected by stairs.

At the base of the ziggurat there was a rectangle with sides of 65 and 43 meters, the walls reached 13 meters in height. The total height of the building, created by the art of the Sumerians, is 21 meters, which is equal to the modern average 5-7 storey building. The external space of the ziggurat was either absent in principle or specially limited to a small room. All the towers of the ziggurat at Ur were of different colors. The lower tower was the color of black bitumen, the middle one was red, the color of natural brick, and the upper tower was white.

Sumerian art honored its traditions, which developed over many centuries in the ancient state. On the terrace, located at the top of the ziggurat (the dwelling of the god), all kinds of ritual mysteries took place and religious celebrations were held. At the same time, at inopportune hours, the ziggurat, as a unique example of Sumerian art, served as a kind of observatory for the ancient priests, who were also astronomers. The monumentality that Sumerian art developed was achieved through simple forms and volumes, as well as obvious proportions that created the impression of a grandiose structure and majestic architecture. In terms of impressions, the ziggurat is comparable to the pyramids in Egypt, in terms of impressions, but not in proportions.

The art of the Sumerians on the southern side of Mesopotamia, which included the cities of Lagash and Ur, was distinguished by the integrity of the stone blocks used and the unique interpretation of the need to use decorative elements. For the most part, local sculpture consists of squat figures that lack a neck and have a beak-shaped nose combined with large eyes. The art of the Sumerians in the northern part of the country (the settlements of Khafaj and Ashnunak) was distinguished by the presence of more elongated proportions, detailed elaboration of details and naturalism bordering on madness; perfect bodies and wonderfully strange noses and faces in general, as an example.

Particular attention among other features that have been developed institutions of Sumerian culture, deserves metal-plastic and related types of handicraft products. Nakhodki metal products, dating back to the 26th-27th century BC, testify to class differentiation and the cult of the dead, which reached right up to the art of the Sumerian empire. Luxurious utensils decorated with colored stones in some tombs border on the poverty of other burials. Among the especially valuable items discovered in the graves, the king’s golden helmet of exquisite workmanship stands out. The art of the Sumerians created this most valuable specimen and placed it in the tomb of the ruler Meskalamdurg for eternal rest. The helmet reproduced a golden-colored wig with tiny inlays. No less valuable is a golden dagger with a filigree-cut scabbard, discovered in the same tomb. In addition, images of animals, figurines and other valuable items made of gold were discovered in the tombs. Some of them took the form of a bull, others were simple rings, earrings and beads.

The oldest art in history of Sumer and Akkad

Numerous, however, all similar in style, examples of mosaic products were found in the tombs of the city of Ur. The art of Sumer and Akkad made them in huge quantities. The most notable example is the so-called “standard”, the name archaeologists gave to two oblong rectangular plates fixed in an inclined position. This “standard”, which the culture of ancient Sumer could be proud of, is made of wood, and covered with pieces of lapis lazuli on the background and shells in the form of figures, resulting in the formation of a beautiful ornament. Divided into several tiers, the plates, according to the tradition already established at that time, contained images, paintings, battles and battles in which the famous army of Ur took part. The “standard” of Sumerian and Akkadian art was made with the aim of glorifying the ruling rulers who won such significant victories.

The most remarkable example of the sculptural relief of the Sumerians, what was created by the art of Sumer and Akkad, is the stele of Eannatum, called the “Stele of the Vultures”. This monument was built in honor of the victory of the ruler of the city of Lagos over his enemies and over the city of Umma in particular. It was made approximately in the 25th century BC. Today the stele that I created culture of Sumerian civilization, has the appearance of fragments, however, even they make it possible to study and determine the basic principles of monumental art and relief characteristic of the Sumerians. The image of the stele is divided by several horizontal lines along which the composition is built. Separate images, often from different times, are shown in the resulting belts, revealing a visual narrative about certain events. What is noteworthy is that the art of Sumer and Akkad created the stele in such a way that the heads of the depicted people are always or almost always at the same level. The only exceptions are the heads of god and king, emphasizing their divine origin and proclaiming above all.

The human figures in the image are exactly the same, they are static and often take the same position: the legs and head are turned in profile, while the shoulders and eyes are turned in front. On the front side of the “Stele of the Vultures,” which was created by the Akkadian and Sumerian culture, there is an image of a large figure of the supreme god of the city of Lagash, the god holds a net with the enemies of the ruler Eannatum gathered in it. On the reverse side, which is logical, the great king is depicted at the head of his army, walking over the corpses of fallen enemies. The inscription on the stele reveals the content of both the images themselves and the role of the set in general; it describes the victory of the army of Lagash and glorifies the courage of the king, who personally commanded the army and took a direct part in the battle.

Of particular importance to the culture it represents art of Sumerian and Akkadian, have glyptic monuments, carved stones, amulets and seals. These elements often act as a filler for gaps caused by the absence of monumental architecture as such. These glyptics allow scientists to imagine and model the stages of development of the art of Mesopotamia, and at the same time of the ancient Sumerian state itself. The images on cylinder seals are often distinguished by outstanding craftsmanship, which the early art of the Sumerians and Akkadians, which developed over the first few centuries in the history of the state, could not boast of. They, made of completely different stones, some of softer ones, others made, on the contrary, of hard ones (carnelian, hematite and others), are the most valuable example of the skills of the architects of the first civilization on Earth. Surprisingly, they were all made using the simplest devices, which makes them even more important.

The cylinder seals created by the culture of the ancient Sumerians are diverse. The favorite stories of ancient masters are the myths about Gilgamesh, the Sumerian hero, who had incredible strength, courage, ingenuity and dexterity. There are also other contents that represent more high value for modern researchers, in particular those that tell about the events of the great flood, described in isolated myths of the Sumerian people. Scientists also discovered several seals that tell the story of the flight of the local hero Etana on an eagle to the heavens for a special herb that can resurrect people.

Printing, like Sumerian culture in general, is replete with conventions. Sketchy figures of people, animals and even gods, low detail of images, the desire to cover the image with unnecessary, often stupid, decorative elements. In seals, reliefs, bas-reliefs and other examples of ancient craft, artists try to adhere to a schematic arrangement of figures, in which the heads of the depicted people are fixed at the same level, and the bodies are, if not in the same, then in similar positions. The exception is isolated examples of art that are of particular value, which were primarily aimed at glorifying the great Gilgamesh. If you look at it, this is probably one of the most popular themes that Sumerian art developed; unfortunately, it has survived to this day in single copies, which does not diminish the role and influence exerted by the Sumerian people on the development of subsequent cultures.

The transition to agriculture and livestock breeding began earliest in the Middle East region. There were already large settlements there in the 6th millennium, whose inhabitants knew the secrets of agriculture, pottery production and weaving. By the turn of the 3rd millennium, the first civilizations began to take shape in this region.

As already noted, the founder of anthropology L. G. Morgan used the concept of “civilization” to designate a higher stage of development of society than barbarism. In modern science, the concept of civilization is used to designate the stage of development of society at which there exist: cities, class society, state and law, writing.

Those features that distinguish civilization from the primitive era arose in the 4th millennium, and fully manifested themselves in the 3rd millennium BC. e. in the lives of people who developed the valleys of rivers flowing in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Later, in the middle of the 3rd millennium, civilizations began to emerge in the Indus River Valley (in the territory of modern Pakistan) and in the Yellow River Valley (China).

Let us trace the process of formation and development of the first civilizations using the example of the Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer.

Irrigation agriculture as the basis of civilization

The Greeks called Mesopotamia (Interfluve) the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which in the territory of modern Iraq flow almost parallel to each other. In southern Mesopotamia, a people called the Sumerians created the first civilization in the region. It existed until the end of the 3rd millennium and became the basis for the development of other civilizations in the region, primarily for the Babylonian culture of the 2nd and 1st millennium BC. e.

The basis of Sumerian, like all other eastern civilizations, was irrigation agriculture. The rivers brought fertile silt from their upper reaches. Grains thrown into the mud gave high yields. But it was necessary to learn how to drain excess water during the flood period and supply water during the drought period, that is, to irrigate the fields. Irrigation of fields is called irrigation. As the population grew, people had to irrigate additional areas of land, creating complex irrigation systems.

Irrigation agriculture was the basis for the civilizational breakthrough. One of the first consequences of the development of irrigation was an increase in the population living in one area. Now dozens of clan communities, i.e. several thousand people, lived together, forming a new community: a large territorial community.

In order to maintain a complex irrigation system and ensure peace and order in a region with a large population, special authorities were required. This is how the state arose - an institution of power and management, which stood above all the tribal communities of the district and performed two internal functions: economic management and socio-political management (maintaining public order). Management required knowledge and experience, therefore, from the clan nobility, which had accumulated management skills within the clan, a category of people was formed who carried out the functions of public administration on an ongoing basis. State power extended to the entire territory of the district, and this territory was quite defined. This is where another meaning of the concept of state arose - a certain territorial entity. It was necessary to defend its territory, so the main external function of the state became the protection of its territory from external threats.

The appearance in one of the settlements of governing bodies, whose power extended to the entire district, turned this settlement into the center of the district. The center began to stand out among other villages in size and architecture. The largest buildings of secular and religious nature, crafts and trade developed most actively. This is how cities appeared.

In Sumer, cities with surrounding rural areas for a long time existed independently as city-states. At the beginning of the 3rd millennium, Sumerian city-states such as Ur, Uruk, Lagash, and Kish numbered up to 10 thousand inhabitants. By the middle of the 3rd millennium, population density increased. For example, the population of the city-state of Lagash exceeded 100 thousand people. In the second half of the 3rd millennium, a number of city-states were united by the ruler of the city of Akkad, Sargon the Ancient, into the kingdom of Sumer and Akkad. However, the unification was not durable. More durable large states existed in Mesopotamia only in the 2nd and 1st millennia (Old Babylonian Kingdom, Assyrian Empire, New Babylonian Kingdom, Persian Empire).

Social order

How the city-state of Sumer was structured in the 3rd millennium. It was headed by a ruler (en or ensi, then lugal). The power of the ruler was limited by the people's assembly and the council of elders. Gradually, the position of ruler from an elective one became hereditary, although for a long time the procedures for confirming the right of a son to take over the post of his father by the people's assembly remained in place for a long time. The formation of the institution of hereditary power was due to the fact that the ruling dynasty had a monopoly on management experience.

The process of sacralization of the ruler’s personality played an important role in the formation of hereditary power. It was stimulated by the fact that the ruler combined secular and religious functions, since religion among farmers was closely intertwined with industrial magic. The cult of fertility played the main role, and the ruler, as the main manager of economic work, performed rituals designed to ensure a good harvest. In particular, he performed the ritual of “sacred marriage”, which was carried out on the eve of sowing. If the main deity of the city was feminine, then the ruler himself entered into a sacred marriage with him; if it was masculine, then the daughter or wife of the ruler. This gave the ruler’s family special authority; it was considered closer and more pleasing to God than other families. The deification of living rulers was atypical for the Sumerians. Only at the end of the 3rd millennium did rulers demand to consider themselves living gods. They were officially called that, but it does not follow from this that people believed that they were ruled by living gods.

The unity of secular and religious power was also secured by the fact that at first the community had a single administrative, economic and spiritual center - a temple, the house of God. There was a temple economy attached to the temple. It created and stored grain reserves to insure the community in case of crop failure. Plots were allocated on temple land for officials. Most of them combined administrative and religious functions, which is why they are traditionally called priests.

Another category of people who separated from the community were fed from the temple reserves - professional artisans who donated their products to the temple. Weavers and potters played an important role. The latter made ceramics on a potter's wheel. Foundry workers melted copper, silver and gold, then pouring them into clay molds; they knew how to make bronze, but there was little of it. A significant part of the artisans' products and surplus grain were sold. The centralization of trade in the hands of the temple administration made it possible to more profitably purchase those goods that were not available in Sumer itself, primarily metals and wood.

A group of professional warriors was also formed at the temple - the embryo of a standing army, armed with copper daggers and spears. The Sumerians created war chariots for leaders, harnessing donkeys to them.

Irrigation agriculture, although it required collective work to create an irrigation system, at the same time made it possible to make the patriarchal family the main economic unit of society. Each family worked on a plot of land allocated to it, and other relatives had no right to the result of the family’s labor. Family ownership of the produced product arose because each family could feed itself, and therefore there was no need to socialize and redistribute this product within the clan. The presence of private ownership of the produced product of labor was combined with the absence of complete private ownership of land. According to the Sumerians, the land belonged to God, the patron saint of the community, and people only used it, making sacrifices for it. Thus, collective ownership of land was preserved in religious form. Community land could be leased for a fee, but there are no firmly established cases of sale of community land to private ownership.

The emergence of family property contributed to the emergence of wealth inequality. Due to dozens of everyday reasons, some families became richer, while others became poorer.

However, a more important source of inequality was professional differentiation in society: wealth was concentrated primarily in the hands of the managerial elite. The economic basis of this process was the emergence of a surplus product - an excess in food products. The greater the surplus, the greater the opportunity for the managerial elite to appropriate part of it, creating for themselves certain privileges. To a certain extent, the elite had the right to privileges: managerial work was more qualified and responsible. But gradually property received according to merit became a source of income disproportionate to merit.

The ruler's family stood out for its wealth. This is evidenced by the burials of the mid-3rd millennium in Ur. Here the tomb of the priestess Puabi was found, buried with a retinue of 25 people. Beautiful utensils and jewelry made of gold, silver, emeralds and lapis lazuli were found in the tomb. Including a crown of golden flowers and two harps decorated with sculptures of a bull and a cow. The bearded wild bull is the personification of the Ur god Nanna (god of the Moon), and the wild cow is the personification of Nanna's wife, the goddess Ningal. This suggests that Puabi was a priestess, a participant in the ritual of sacred marriage with the moon god. Burials with a retinue are rare and are associated with some very significant event.

The nature of the jewelry shows that the nobility was already living a different life. Ordinary people at this time were content with little. Men's clothes in summer consisted of a loincloth, women wore skirts. In winter, a woolen cloak was added to this. The food was simple: barley cake, beans, dates, fish. Meat was eaten on holidays associated with the sacrifice of animals: people did not dare to eat meat without sharing it with the gods.

Social stratification gave rise to conflicts. The most serious problems arose when impoverished community members lost their land and fell into bondage to the rich due to their inability to repay what they had borrowed. In cases where the community was threatened with major conflicts caused by debt bondage, the Sumerians used a custom called “return to the mother”: the ruler canceled all bonded transactions, returned the mortgaged plots of land to its original owners, and freed the poor from debt slavery.

So, Sumerian society had mechanisms that protected community members from loss of freedom and livelihood. However, it also included categories of unfree people, slaves. The first and main source of slavery was intercommunal wars, that is, people who were strangers to the community became slaves. At first, only women were taken prisoner. Men were killed because it was difficult to keep them in obedience (a slave with a hoe in his hands was little inferior to a war with a spear). Women slaves worked in the temple economy and gave birth to children who became temple workers. These were not free people, but they could not be sold; they were trusted with weapons. They differed from the free ones in that they could not receive plots of communal land and become full members of the community. As the population grew, men were also taken prisoner. They worked at the temple and on family farms. Such slaves were sold, but they, as a rule, were not subjected to harsh exploitation, since it gave rise to the danger of an uprising and associated losses. Slavery in Sumer was predominantly patriarchal in nature, that is, slaves were viewed as junior and inferior members of the family.

These were the main features of the social structure of the Sumerian city-states of the first half of the 3rd millennium.

Spiritual culture

Writing. We know about the Sumerians because they invented writing. The growth of the temple economy made it important to record land, grain reserves, livestock, etc. These needs became the reason for the creation of writing. The Sumerians began writing on clay tablets, which dried in the sun and became very durable. The tablets have survived to this day in large numbers. They are deciphered, although sometimes very roughly.

At first, the letter took the form of stylized pictograms indicating the most important objects and actions. The sign of the foot meant “go”, “stand”, “bring”, etc. Such writing is called pictographic (pictured) or ideographic, since the sign conveyed a whole idea, an image. Then signs appeared to indicate the roots of words, syllables and individual sounds. Since the signs were extruded on clay with a wedge-shaped stick made of reed, scientists called the Sumerian script wedge-shaped or cuneform (kuneus - wedge). Squeezing out the signs was easier than drawing on clay with a stick. It took six centuries for writing to evolve from reminder signs into a system for transmitting complex information. This happened around 2400 BC. e.

Religion. The Sumerians moved from animism to polytheism (polytheism): from animation and veneration of natural phenomena to belief in gods as supreme beings, creators of the world and man. Each city had its own main patron god. In Uruk supreme god was An - the god of the sky. In Ur - Nanna, god of the moon. The Sumerians sought to place their gods in the sky, believing that it was from there that the gods watched over and ruled the world. The heavenly or stellar (astral) nature of the cult increased the authority of the deity. Gradually, a common Sumerian pantheon emerged. Its basis was: An - the god of the sky, Enlil - the god of the air, Enki - the god of water, Ki - the goddess of the earth. They represented the four main, according to the Sumerians, elements of the universe.

The Sumerians imagined the gods as anthropomorphic beings. Special temples were dedicated to the gods, where priests performed certain rituals every day. In addition to temples, each family had clay figurines of gods and kept them in special niches in the house.

Mythology and literature

The Sumerians composed and recorded many myths.

At first, myths were created orally. But with the development of writing, written versions of myths also appeared. Fragments of surviving records date back to the second half of the 3rd millennium.

There is a well-known cosmogonic myth about the creation of the world, according to which the primary element of the world was water chaos or the great ocean: “It had neither beginning nor end. Nobody created it, it has always existed.” In the depths of the ocean, the sky god An, depicted with a horned tiara on his head, and the earth goddess Ki were born. Other gods came from them. As can be seen from this myth, the Sumerians had no idea of ​​a creator God who created the earth and all life on earth. Nature in the form of watery chaos existed forever, or at least until the rise of the gods.

Myths associated with the cult of fertility played an important role. A myth has reached us about a ruler named Dumuzi, who achieved the love of the goddess Inanna and thereby ensured the fertility of his land. But then Inanna fell into the underworld and, in order to get out of it, she sent Dumuzi there in her place. For six months of the year he sat in a dungeon. During these months, the earth became dry from the sun and gave birth to nothing. And on the day of the autumnal equinox, the New Year holiday began: Dumuzi came out of the dungeon and entered into marital relations with his wife, and the earth gave new harvest. Every year, the cities of Sumer celebrated the sacred marriage between Inanna and Dumuzi.

This myth gives insight into the Sumerian attitude towards the afterlife. The Sumerians believed that after death their souls fell into the underworld, from which there was no way out, and there it was much worse than on earth. Therefore, they viewed earthly life as the highest reward that the gods bestowed on people in exchange for service to the gods. It was the Sumerians who created the idea of ​​an underground river as the border of the underworld and of a carrier that transports the souls of the deceased there. The Sumerians had the beginnings teachings about retribution: Wars who died in battle, as well as parents with many children, receive clean drinking water and peace in the underworld. You could improve your life there by properly observing funeral rites.

Heroic or epic myths played an important role in shaping the worldview of the Sumerians - tales of heroes. The most famous myth is about Gilgamesh, the ruler of Uruk at the end of the 27th century. Five stories of his exploits have survived. One of them was a trip to Lebanon for a cedar tree, during which Gilgamesh kills the guardian of the cedars, the giant Humbaba. Others are associated with victories over a monstrous bull, a gigantic bird, magic snake, communicating with the spirit of his deceased friend Enkidu, who spoke of a gloomy life in the underworld. In the next, Babylonian, period of Mesopotamian history, a whole cycle of myths about Gilgamesh will be created.

In total, more than one hundred and fifty monuments of Sumerian literature are currently known (many are only partially preserved). Among them, in addition to myths, there are hymns, psalms, wedding and love songs, funeral laments, laments about social disasters, psalms in honor of kings. Teachings, debates, dialogues, fables, anecdotes, and proverbs are widely represented.

Architecture

Sumer is called the civilization of clay, because clay bricks were used as the main material in architecture. This had dire consequences. Not a single surviving architectural monument has survived from the Sumerian civilization. The architecture can only be judged by the surviving fragments of the foundations and lower parts of the walls.

The most important task was the construction of temples. One of the early temples was excavated in the Sumerian city of Eredu and dates back to the end of the 4th millennium. This is a rectangular building made of bricks (clay and straw), at the ends of which there was, on the one hand, a statue of a deity, and on the other hand, a table for sacrifices. The walls are decorated with protruding blades (pilasters) that break up the surface. The temple was placed on a platform made of stone, since the area was swampy and the foundation sank.

Sumerian temples were quickly destroyed, and then a platform was made from the bricks of the destroyed temple and placed on it new temple. Thus, gradually, by the middle of the 3rd millennium, a special Sumerian type of temple emerged - a stepped tower ( ziggurat). The most famous is the ziggurat at Ur: the 21 m high temple stood on three platforms decorated with tiles and connected by ramps (XXI century BC).

The sculpture is mainly represented by small figures made of soft stones, which were placed in the niches of the temple. Few statues of deities have survived. The most famous is the head of the goddess Inanna. Of the statues of rulers, several sculptural portraits of Gudea, the ruler of the city of Lagash, have been preserved. Several wall reliefs have survived. There is a known relief on the stele of Naram-Suen, the grandson of Sargon (circa 2320 BC), where the king is depicted at the head of an army. The figure of the king is larger than the figures of the warriors; the signs of the Sun and Moon shine above his head.

Glyptic, stone carving is a favorite form applied arts. Carving was done on signets, first flat, then cylindrical seals appeared, which were rolled over clay and left friezes ( decorative composition in the form of a horizontal strip).

One of the seals preserves a relief depicting King Gilgamesh as a mighty hero with a curly beard. The hero fights with a lion, with one hand he restrains the rearing lion, and with the other he plunges a dagger into the predator’s scruff.

The high level of development of jewelry is evidenced by the above-mentioned Puabi jewelry - a harp, a crown of golden flowers.

Painting represented mainly by painting on ceramics. The surviving images allow us to judge the canons. The person was depicted like this: face and legs in profile, eyes in front, torso turned 3/4. The figures are shortened. The eyes and ears are shown emphatically large.

The science. The economic needs of the Sumerians laid the foundation for the development of mathematical, geometric, and astronomical knowledge. To keep track of temple reserves, the Sumerians created two counting systems: decimal and sexagesimal. And both have survived to this day. Hexadecimal was preserved when calculating time: there are 60 minutes in 1 hour, 60 seconds in 1 minute. The number 60 was chosen because it was easily divisible by many other numbers. It was convenient to divide by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 15, 20, and 30. The needs associated with laying irrigation systems, measuring field areas, and constructing buildings led to the creation of the foundations of geometry. In particular, the Sumerians used the Pythagorean theorem 2 thousand years before the Greeks formulated it. They were probably the first to divide the circle into 360 degrees. They made observations of the sky, linking the positions of the luminaries with river floods. Various planets and constellations were identified. Particular attention was paid to those luminaries that were associated with deities. The Sumerians introduced standards for measures of length, weight, area and volume, and value.

Right. Order could exist only if there were laws known to everyone, that is, mandatory norms. The set of mandatory norms protected by the power of the state is usually called law. Law arises before the emergence of the state and exists in the form of customs - norms developed on the basis of tradition. However, with the advent of the state, the concept of “law” is always associated with state power, since it is the state that officially establishes and protects legal norms.

From the III dynasty of Ur, the oldest known set of laws, compiled by the ruler of Shulgi, son of Ur - Nammu (XXI century BC), has reached us, although not completely. Laws protected the property and personal rights of citizens: the fields of community members from seizures, from flooding by negligent neighbors, from lazy tenants; provided for compensation to the owner for damage caused to his slave; protected the wife's right to monetary compensation in the event of a divorce from her husband, the groom's right to the bride after paying her father a marriage gift, etc. Obviously, these laws were based on a long legal tradition that has not reached us. The Sumerian legal tradition had a religious basis: it was believed that it was the gods who created a set of rules that everyone must follow.

Legacy of Sumerian civilization

Around 2000, the Third Dynasty of Ur fell under the blows of a new wave of Semitic tribes. The Semitic ethnic element became dominant in Mesopotamia. The Sumerian civilization seems to be disappearing, but in fact all the main elements of its culture continue to live within the framework of the Babylonian civilization, which was named after Babylon, the main city of Mesopotamia in the 2nd and 1st millennia BC. e.

The Babylonians took the cuneiform writing system from the Sumerians and for a long time used the already dead Sumerian language as the language of knowledge, gradually translating Sumerian scientific, legal, religious documents, as well as monuments of Sumerian literature. It was the Sumerian heritage that helped the most famous king of the Old Babylonian kingdom, Hammurabi (1792 - 1750 BC), create the largest set of laws of the Ancient World, consisting of 282 articles, regulating in detail all the main aspects of the life of Babylonian society. Famous Tower of Babel, which became a symbol of the New Babylonian kingdom, which existed in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e., was also a direct descendant of the stepped Sumerian ziggurats.

Send your good work in the knowledge base is simple. Use the form below

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

Posted on http:// www. allbest. ru/

Introduction

culture Sumerian temple

Back in the 4th millennium BC. e. in the southern part of Mesopotamia on the territory of modern Iraq, between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, a high culture of the Sumerians was formed at that time (the self-name of the Saggig people is the Blackheads), which was then inherited by the Babylonians and Assyrians. At the turn of the 3rd-2nd millennium BC. e. Sumer declines, and over time the Sumerian language was forgotten by the population; only the Babylonian priests knew it; it was the language of sacred texts. At the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. primacy in Mesopotamia passes to Babylon.

In the south of Mesopotamia, where agriculture was widespread, the ancient city-states of Ur, Uruk, Kish, Umma, Lagash, Nippur, and Akkad developed. The youngest of these cities was Babylon, built on the banks of the Euphrates. Most cities were founded by the Sumerians, so ancient culture Mesopotamia is usually called Sumerian. Now they are called "progenitor" modern civilization"The heyday of the city-states is called the golden age of the ancient state of the Sumerians. This is true both in the literal and figurative meaning of the word: here, objects for a wide variety of household purposes and weapons were made from gold. The culture of the Sumerians had a great influence on the subsequent progress of not only Mesopotamia, but also of all humanity.

This culture was ahead of the development of other great cultures. Nomads and trading caravans spread news of it throughout.

1 . Writing

The Sumerians' cultural contributions were not limited to discovering metalworking techniques, making wheeled carts and the potter's wheel. They became the inventors of the first form of recording human speech. At the first stage, it was pictography (picture writing), that is, a letter consisting of drawings and, less often, symbols denoting one word or concept. The combination of these drawings conveyed writing certain information. However, Sumerian legends say that even before the advent of picture writing, there existed an even more ancient way of fixing thoughts - tying knots on a rope and notching in trees. At subsequent stages, the drawings were stylized (from a complete, fairly detailed and thorough depiction of objects, the Sumerians gradually moved to their incomplete, schematic or symbolic depiction), which accelerated the writing process. This is a step forward, but the possibilities of such writing were still limited. Thanks to simplifications, individual characters could be used multiple times. Thus, for many complex concepts there were no signs at all, and even in order to designate such a familiar phenomenon as rain, the scribe had to combine the symbol of the sky - a star and the symbol of water - ripples. This type of writing is called ideographic rebus.

Historians believe that it was the formation of the management system that led to the appearance of writing in temples and royal palaces. This ingenious invention should apparently be considered the merit of Sumerian temple officials, who improved pictography to simplify the recording of economic events and trade transactions. Records were made on clay tiles or tablets: the soft clay was pressed with the corner of a rectangular stick, and the lines on the tablets had the characteristic appearance of wedge-shaped indentations. In general, the entire inscription was a mass of wedge-shaped dashes and therefore Sumerian writing is usually called cuneiform. The oldest tablets with cuneiform writing, which made up entire archives, contain information about the temple economy: lease agreements, documents on control of work performed and registration of incoming goods. These are the oldest written monuments in the world.

Subsequently, the principle of picture writing began to be replaced by the principle of transmitting the sound side of the word. Hundreds of signs indicating syllables and several alphabetic signs corresponding to the main letters appeared. They were used mainly to denote function words and particles. Writing was a great achievement of Sumerian-Akkadian culture. It was borrowed and developed by the Babylonians and spread widely throughout Western Asia: cuneiform was used in Syria, ancient Persia, and other states. In the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. Cuneiform became an international writing system: it was known and used even egyptian pharaohs. In the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. Cuneiform becomes an alphabetic script.

2 . Language

For a long time, scientists believed that the Sumerian language was not similar to any living or dead language known to mankind, so the question of the origin of this people remained a mystery. To date, the genetic connections of the Sumerian language have not yet been established, but most scientists suggest that this language, like the language of the ancient Egyptians and the inhabitants of Akkad, belongs to the Semitic-Hamitic language group.

Around 2 thousand BC, the Sumerian language was replaced by Akkadian from spoken language, but continued to be used as a sacred, liturgical and scientific language until the beginning of the century. e.

3 . CultureAndreligion

In ancient Sumer, the origins of religion had purely materialistic, rather than “ethical” roots. Early Sumerian deities 4-3 thousand BC. acted primarily as givers of life's blessings and abundance. The cult of the gods was not aimed at “purification and holiness” but was intended to ensure a good harvest, military success, etc. - this is precisely why mere mortals revered them, built temples for them, and made sacrifices. The Sumerians argued that everything in the world belonged to the gods - temples were not the place of residence of the gods, who were obliged to take care of people, but the granaries of the gods - barns. Most of the early Sumerian deities were formed by local gods, whose power did not extend beyond a very small territory. The second group of gods were the patrons of large cities - they were more powerful than the local gods, but they were revered only in their cities. Finally the gods who were known and worshiped in all Sumerian cities.

In Sumer, the gods were like people. In their relationships there are matchmaking and wars, anger and vindictiveness, deception and anger. Quarrels and intrigues were common among the gods; the gods knew love and hate. Like people, they did business during the day - they decided the fate of the world, and at night they retired.

Sumerian hell - Kur - a gloomy dark underground world, on the way where there were three servants - “door man”, “underground river man”, “carrier”. Reminiscent of the ancient Greek Hades and Sheol of the ancient Jews. There a man went through trial, and a gloomy, dreary existence awaited him. A person comes into this world for a short time, and then disappears into the dark mouth of Kur. In the Sumerian culture, for the first time in history, man made an attempt to morally overcome death, to understand it as a moment of transition to eternity. All the thoughts of the inhabitants of Mesopotamia were turned to the living: the living wished for well-being and health every day, multiplication of the family and a happy marriage for their daughters, a successful career for their sons, and that in the house “beer, wine and all sorts of goods would never run out.” The posthumous fate of a person interested them less and seemed to them rather sad and uncertain: the food of the dead is dust and clay, they “do not see the light” and “dwell in darkness.”

In Sumerian mythology there are also myths about the golden age of humanity and heavenly life, which over time became part of the religious ideas of the peoples of Western Asia, and later - into biblical stories.

The only thing that can brighten up a person’s existence in the dungeon is the memory of those living on earth. The people of Mesopotamia were raised in the deep belief that they needed to leave a memory of themselves on earth. Memory lasts longest in erected cultural monuments. It was they, created by the hands, thought and spirit of man, that constituted the spiritual values ​​of this people, this country and truly left behind a powerful historical memory. In general, the views of the Sumerians were reflected in many later religions.

Table. The most powerful gods

Table. Other important deities

The goddesses of the Sumerian-Akkadian pantheon usually acted as wives of powerful gods or as deities personifying death and the underworld.

In Sumerian religion, the most important gods, in whose honor ziggurats were built, were represented in human form lords of the sky, sun, earth, water and storm. In each city, the Sumerians worshiped their own god.

Priests acted as mediators between people and gods. With the help of fortune telling, spells and magical formulas, they tried to comprehend the will of the celestials and convey it to the common people.

Throughout 3 thousand BC. attitudes towards the gods gradually changed: new qualities began to be attributed to them.

The strengthening of statehood in Mesopotamia was also reflected in the religious beliefs of the residents. The deities who personified cosmic and natural forces began to be perceived as great “heavenly leaders” and only then as a natural element and “giver of blessings.” In the pantheon of gods there appeared a god-secretary, a god-bearer of the ruler's throne, and gods-gatekeepers. Important deities have been associated with various planets and constellations:

Utu is with the Sun, Nergal is with Mars, Inanna is with Venus. Therefore, all townspeople were interested in the position of the luminaries in the sky, their relative positions, and especially the place of “their” star: this promised inevitable changes in the life of the city-state and its population, be it prosperity or misfortune. Thus a cult gradually formed heavenly bodies, astronomical thought and astrology began to develop. Astrology was born among the first civilization of mankind - the Sumerian civilization. This was approximately 6 thousand years ago. At first, the Sumerians deified the 7 planets closest to Earth. Their influence on the Earth was considered as the will of the Divine living on this planet. The Sumerians first noticed that changes in position celestial bodies in heaven cause changes in earthly life. Observing the constantly changing dynamics of the starry sky, Sumerian clergy constantly studied and explored the influence of the movement of celestial bodies on earthly life. That is, they correlated earthly life with the movement of celestial bodies. There in the sky there was a sense of order, harmony, consistency, and legality. They made the following logical conclusion: if earthly life is consistent with the will of the Gods living on the planets, then a similar order and harmony will arise on Earth. Predictions of the future were based on studying the position of stars and constellations in the sky, the flights of birds, and the entrails of animals sacrificed to the gods. People believed in the predetermination of human destiny, in the subordination of man higher powers; believed that supernatural powers always invisibly present in real world and manifest themselves in mysterious ways.

4 . ArchitectureAndconstruction

The Sumerians knew how to build multi-story buildings and wonderful temples.

Sumer was a country of city-states. The largest of them had their own ruler, who was also the high priest. The cities themselves were built up without any plan and were surrounded by an outer wall that reached considerable thickness. Residential houses of the townspeople were rectangular, two-story with a mandatory courtyard, sometimes with hanging gardens. Many houses had sewerage.

The center of the city was a temple complex. It included the temple of the main god - the patron of the city, the king's palace and the temple estate.

The palaces of the rulers of Sumer combined a secular building and a fortress. The palace was surrounded by a wall. To supply water to the palaces, aqueducts were built - water was supplied through pipes hermetically sealed with bitumen and stone. The facades of the majestic palaces were decorated with bright reliefs, usually depicting hunting scenes, historical battles with the enemy, as well as animals most revered for their strength and power.

Early temples were small rectangular buildings on a low platform. As the cities grew richer and more prosperous, the temples became more impressive and majestic. New temples were usually erected on the site of old ones. Therefore, temple platforms increased in volume over time; a certain type of structure arose - a ziggurat (see figure) - a three- and seven-step pyramid with a small temple at the top. All steps were painted in different colors- black, white, red, blue. The construction of the temple on a platform protected it from floods and river overflows. A wide staircase led to the upper tower, sometimes several staircases on different sides. The tower could be topped with a golden dome, and its walls were lined with glazed bricks.

The lower powerful walls were alternating ledges and projections, which created a play of light and shadow and visually increased the volume of the building. In the sanctuary - the main room of the temple complex - there was a statue of the deity - the heavenly patron of the city. Only priests could enter here, and access to the people was strictly prohibited. There were small windows under the ceiling, and the main decoration of the interior were mother-of-pearl friezes and a mosaic of red, black and white clay nail heads driven into the brick walls. Trees and shrubs were planted on stepped terraces.

The most famous ziggurat in history is considered to be the temple of the god Marduk in Babylon - the famous Tower of Babel, the construction of which is mentioned in the Bible.

Wealthy townspeople lived in two-story houses with a very complex interior. The bedrooms were located on the second floor, with lounge rooms and a kitchen downstairs. All windows and doors opened onto the courtyard, and only blank walls faced the street.

In the architecture of Mesopotamia, columns have been found since ancient times, which, however, did not play a big role, as well as vaults. Quite early on, the technique of dividing walls using projections and niches, as well as decorating walls with friezes made using the mosaic technique, appeared.

The Sumerians first encountered the arch. This design was invented in Mesopotamia. There was no forest here, and the builders came up with the idea of ​​installing an arched or vaulted ceiling instead of a beam. Arches and vaults were also used in Egypt (this is not surprising, since Egypt and Mesopotamia had contacts), but in Mesopotamia they arose earlier, were used more often, and from there they spread throughout the world.

The Sumerians established the length of the solar year, which allowed them to accurately orient their buildings to the four cardinal directions.

Mesopotamia was poor in stone, and the main building material raw brick, dried in the sun, served there. Time has not been kind to brick buildings. In addition, cities were often subjected to enemy invasions, during which homes were destroyed to the ground. ordinary people, palaces and temples.

5 . Nauka

The Sumerians created astrology and substantiated the influence of stars on people's destinies and their health. Medicine was mainly homeopathic. Numerous clay tablets with recipes and magic formulas against the demons of disease.

Priests and magicians used knowledge about the movement of the stars, the Moon, the Sun, the behavior of animals for fortune telling, and foresight of events in the state. The Sumerians knew how to predict solar and lunar eclipses and created a solar-lunar calendar.

They discovered the Zodiac belt - 12 constellations that form a large circle along which the Sun makes its way throughout the year. Learned Priests made calendars, calculated deadlines lunar eclipses. In Sumer, the beginning of one of the most ancient sciences, astronomy, was laid.

In mathematics, the Sumerians knew how to count in tens. But the numbers 12 (a dozen) and 60 (five dozen) were especially revered. We still use the Sumerian heritage when we divide an hour into 60 minutes, a minute into 60 seconds, a year into 12 months, and a circle into 360 degrees.

The earliest extant mathematical texts, written down by the Sumerians in the 22nd century BC, show high computational skill. They contain multiplication tables that combine a well-developed sexagesimal system with the earlier decimal system. A penchant for mysticism was revealed in the fact that numbers were divided into lucky and unlucky - even the invented sexagesimal system of numbers was a relic of magical ideas: the number six was considered lucky. The Sumerians created a positional notation system in which a number would take on a different meaning depending on the place it occupied in a multi-digit number.

The first schools were created in the cities of Ancient Sumer. Rich Sumerians sent their sons there. The classes lasted all day. It was not easy to learn to write in cuneiform, count, and tell stories about gods and heroes. Boys were subjected to corporal punishment for failure to complete their homework. Anyone who successfully completed school could get a job as a scribe, official, or become a priest. This made it possible to live without knowing poverty.

A person was considered educated: one who was fully proficient in writing, who could sing, who owned musical instruments, and who was able to make reasonable and legal decisions.

6. Literature

Their cultural achievements are great and indisputable: the Sumerians created the first poem in human history - “The Golden Age”, wrote the first elegies, and compiled the world’s first library catalogue. The Sumerians are the authors of the world's first and oldest medical books - collections of recipes. They were the first to develop and record the farmer's calendar and left the first information about protective plantings.

It has reached us big number monuments of Sumerian literature, mainly in copies copied after the fall of the III dynasty of Ur and stored in the temple library in the city of Nippur. Unfortunately, partly due to the difficulty of the Sumerian literary language, partly due to the poor condition of the texts (some tablets were found broken into dozens of pieces, now stored in museums in various countries), these works are only recently managed to read it.

Mostly these are religious hymns to the gods, prayers, myths, legends about the emergence of the world, human civilization and agriculture. In addition, lists have long been kept in churches royal dynasties. The oldest lists are those written in Sumerian by the priests of the city of Ur. Particularly interesting are several small poems containing legends about the emergence of agriculture and civilization, the creation of which is attributed to the gods. These poems also raise the question of comparative value for humans, agriculture and cattle breeding, which probably reflects the fact of the relatively recent transition of the Sumerian tribes to an agricultural way of life.

The myth about the goddess Inanna, imprisoned in underground kingdom death and liberation from there; along with her return to the earth, life that had been frozen returns. This myth reflected the change in the growing season and the “dead” period in the life of nature.

There were also hymns addressed to various deities, and historical poems (for example, a poem about the victory of the Uruk king over the Gutei). The largest work of Sumerian religious literature is a poem, written in deliberately intricate language, about the construction of the temple of the god Ningirsu by the ruler of Lagash, Gudea. This poem was written on two clay cylinders, each about a meter high. A number of poems of a moral and instructive nature have been preserved.

Few literary monuments of folk art have reached us. Such people died for us folk works like fairy tales. Only a few fables and proverbs have survived.

The most important monument of Sumerian literature is the cycle of epic tales about the hero Gilgamesh, the legendary king of the city of Uruk, who, as follows from dynastic lists, ruled in the 28th century BC. In these tales, the hero Gilgamesh is presented as the son of a mere mortal and the goddess Ninsun. Gilgamesh's wanderings around the world in search of the secret of immortality and his friendship with the wild man Enkidu are described in detail. In its most complete form, the text of the great epic poem about Gilgamesh is preserved written down in the Akkadian language. But the records of primary individual epics about Gilgamesh that have reached us irrefutably testify to the Sumerian origin of the epic.

The cycle of tales of Gilgamesh had a great influence on the surrounding peoples. It was adopted by the Akkadian Semites, and from them it spread to Northern Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. There were also cycles of epic songs dedicated to various other heroes.

An important place in the literature and worldview of the Sumerians was occupied by legends about the flood, with which the gods supposedly destroyed all living things, and only the pious hero Ziusudra was saved in a ship built on the advice of the god Enki. The legends about the flood, which served as the basis for the corresponding biblical legend, took shape under the undoubted influence of memories of catastrophic floods that occurred in the 4th millennium BC. e. Many Sumerian settlements were destroyed more than once.

7 . Art

Special place in Sumerian cultural heritage belongs to glyptic - carving on precious or semi-precious stone. Many Sumerian carved seals in the shape of a cylinder have survived. The seal was rolled over a clay surface and an impression was obtained - a miniature relief with a large number of characters and a clear, carefully constructed composition. For the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, a seal was not just a sign of ownership, but an object that had magical power. The seals were kept as talismans, given to temples, and placed in burial places. In Sumerian engravings, the most common motifs were ritual feasts with figures seated eating and drinking. Other motifs included the legendary heroes Gilgamesh and his friend Enkidu fighting monsters, as well as anthropomorphic figures of a man-bull. Over time, this style gave way to a continuous frieze depicting fighting animals, plants or flowers.

There was no monumental sculpture in Sumer. Small cult figurines are more common. They depict people in a position of prayer. All sculptures have an emphasis big eyes, since they were supposed to resemble the all-seeing eye. Large ears emphasized and symbolized wisdom; it is no coincidence that “wisdom” and “ear” are referred to as one word in the Sumerian language.

Sumerian art was developed in numerous bas-reliefs, the main theme being the theme of hunting and battles. The faces in them were depicted in front, and the eyes in profile, the shoulders in a three-quarter spread, and the legs in profile. The proportions of human figures were not respected. But in the compositions of bas-reliefs, the artists sought to convey movement.

The art of music certainly found its development in Sumer. Over more than three millennia, the Sumerians composed their spell songs, legends, laments, wedding songs, etc. The first stringed musical instruments - the lyre and the harp - also appeared among the Sumerians. They also had double oboes and big drums.

8 . EndSumera

After one and a half thousand years, the Sumerian culture was replaced by the Akkadian one. At the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. Mesopotamia was invaded by hordes of Semitic tribes. The conquerors adopted a higher local culture, but did not abandon their own. Moreover, they turned Akkadian into the official state language, and left Sumerian the role of the language of religious worship and science. The ethnic type gradually disappears: the Sumerians dissolve into more numerous Semitic tribes. Their cultural conquests were continued by their successors: the Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians and Chaldeans. After the emergence of the Akkadian Semitic kingdom, religious ideas also changed: there was a mixture of Semitic and Sumerian deities. Literary texts and school exercises, preserved on clay tablets, indicate an increasing level of literacy among the inhabitants of Akkad. During the reign of the dynasty from Akkad (about 2300 BC), the severity and schematic character of the Sumerian style gave way to more freedom composition, volume of figures and portrait features, primarily in sculpture and reliefs. In a single cultural complex called the Sumerian-Akkadian culture, the Sumerians played a leading role. They, according to modern orientalists, are the founders of the famous Babylonian culture.

Since the decline of culture Ancient Mesopotamia Two and a half thousand years have passed, and until recently they knew about it only from the stories of ancient Greek writers and from biblical legends. But in the last century, archaeological excavations discovered monuments of the material and written culture of Sumer, Assyria and Babylon, and this era appeared before us in all its barbaric splendor and gloomy grandeur.

There is still much that remains unsolved in the spiritual culture of the Sumerians.

Csqueakusedliterature

1. Kravchenko A. I. Culturology: Study. manual for universities. - M.: Academic project, 2001.

2.Emelyanov V.V. Ancient Sumer: Essays on culture. St. Petersburg, 2001

3. History of the Ancient World Ukolova V.I., Marinovich L.P. (Online edition)

4.Culturology, edited by Professor A.N. Markova, Moscow, 2000, Unity

5.Culturology History of world culture, edited by N. O. Voskresenskaya, Moscow, 2003, Unity

6. History of world culture, E.P. Borzova, St. Petersburg, 2001

7.Culturology, history of world culture, edited by Professor A.N. Markova, Moscow, 1998, Unity

Posted on Allbest.ru

Similar documents

The Sumerian civilization is one of the most mysterious and developed in the history of the Ancient World. Sources and monuments of that period. The origin of humanity according to the Sumerian theory. Sumerian cities: Babylon and Nippur. Sumerian architecture. Sumerian-Akkadian mythology.

report, added 05/29/2009


The Sumerians believed that they were created by the gods to sacrifice and work for them. Development of religion and mythology in Mesopotamia. Writing, literature and science, the first Sumerian hieroglyphs. Architectural forms of Sumerian architecture.

abstract, added 01/18/2010


General characteristics of the territory of Ancient Mesopotamia, description of culture and architecture. The history of the emergence of writing, the spread of Sumerian cuneiform. Literature and literature in Mesopotamia, the level of development of sciences. Architectural buildings - Ziggurats.

abstract, added 05/16/2013


Peculiarities of cultural worldview. Understanding the historical and cultural relativity of modern culture and its boundaries. The concept of world culture as a single cultural stream - from the Sumerians to the present day. Interest in cultural studies in Russia.

abstract, added 12/16/2009


Acquaintance with the main stages of the formation of knights. Analysis of the reasons for deprivation of knighthood. Consideration of the features of the formation of knightly culture in the medieval West, general characteristics of ideas. Prerequisites for the appearance of courtly literature.

presentation, added 02/28/2016


Consideration of the main stages of the culture of Ancient Rus'. The influence of the Christianization of Rus' on the development of writing. Birch bark letters in Novgorod. Creation of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabet by Cyril and Methodius. Folk craft, architecture and the most ancient temples of the state.

presentation, added 02/19/2012


The world of spiritual culture of the Sumerians. Economic life, religious beliefs, way of life, morals and worldview of the ancient inhabitants of Mesopotamia. Religion, art and ideology of Ancient Babylon. Culture of Ancient China. Architectural monuments Babylonian art.

abstract, added 12/03/2014


General characteristics of Etruscan civilization. Analysis of the development of writing, religion, sculpture, painting. Description of the achievements of ancient Greek culture. Identification of areas of Etruscan culture that ancient greek culture had the greatest impact.

abstract, added 05/12/2014


Ancient Egypt as one of the most powerful and mysterious civilizations. The originality of the culture of Ancient Egypt. Fundamentals of state organization, religion. Amazing discoveries of the ancients, high level of science. Outstanding creations of architecture and art.

abstract, added 10/07/2009


Comparative characteristics of the emergence of civilizations of the Ancient East and Europe. The specifics of ancient Egyptian culture, the reform of Pharaoh Amenhotep. The meaning of the funeral cult in Egyptian religion. Achievements of Sumerian civilization and the pantheon of gods.

bottling wine

Sumerian pottery

The first schools.
The Sumerian school arose and developed before the advent of writing, the same cuneiform script, the invention and improvement of which was Sumer's most significant contribution to the history of civilization.

The first written monuments were discovered among the ruins of the ancient Sumerian city of Uruk (biblical Erech). More than a thousand small clay tablets covered with pictographic writing were found here. These were mainly business and administrative records, but among them were several educational texts: lists of words for learning by heart. This indicates that at least 3000 years before and. e. Sumerian scribes were already dealing with issues of learning. During the following centuries of Erech, things developed slowly, but by the middle III millennium before i. c), on the territory of Sumer). Apparently, there was a network of schools for the systematic teaching of reading and writing. In ancient Shuruppak-pa, the homeland of the Sumerian ... during excavations in 1902-1903. A significant number of tablets with school texts were found.

From them we learn that the number of professional scribes in that period reached several thousand. The scribes were divided into junior and senior: there were royal and temple scribes, scribes with a narrow specialization in any one area, and highly qualified scribes who occupied important government positions. All this suggests that there were many rather large schools for scribes scattered throughout Sumer and that considerable importance was attached to these schools. However, none of the tablets from that era yet gives us a clear idea of ​​the Sumerian schools, the system and methods of teaching in them. To obtain this kind of information, it is necessary to turn to the tablets of the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. From the archaeological layer corresponding to this era, hundreds of educational tablets were extracted with all kinds of tasks completed by the students themselves during lessons. All stages of training are presented here. Such clay “notebooks” allow one to draw many interesting conclusions about the educational system adopted in Sumerian schools and about the program that was studied there. Fortunately, the teachers themselves loved to write about school life. Many of these recordings also survive, albeit in fragments. These records and educational tablets give a fairly complete picture of the Sumerian school, its tasks and goals, students and teachers, program and teaching methods. In the history of mankind, this is the only time when we can learn so much about schools from such a distant era.

Initially, the goals of education in the Sumerian school were, so to speak, purely professional, that is, the school was supposed to prepare scribes necessary in the economic and administrative life of the country, mainly for palaces and temples. This task remained central throughout the existence of Sumer. As the network of schools develops. and as the curriculum expanded, the schools gradually became centers of Sumerian culture and knowledge. Formally, the type of universal “scientist” - a specialist in all branches of knowledge that existed in that era: botany, zoology, mineralogy, geography, mathematics, grammar and linguistics is rarely taken into account. gain knowledge of your ethics. and not the era.

Finally, unlike modern educational institutions, Sumerian schools were unique literary centers. Here they not only studied and rewrote literary monuments of the past, but also created new works.

Most of the students who graduated from these schools, as a rule, became scribes at palaces and temples or in the households of rich and noble people, but a certain part of them devoted their lives to science and teaching.

Like university professors today, many of these ancient scholars made their living teaching activities, devoting his free time to research and literary work.

The Sumerian school, which apparently initially arose as an appendage of the temple, eventually separated from it, and its program acquired a largely purely secular character. Therefore, the teacher’s work was most likely paid from student contributions.

Of course, in Sumer there was neither universal nor compulsory education. Most of the students came from rich or wealthy families - after all, it was not easy for the poor to find time and money for long-term studies. Although Assyriologists had long come to this conclusion, it was only a hypothesis, and only in 1946 the German Assyriologist Nikolaus Schneider was able to support it with ingenious evidence based on documents of that era. On thousands of published economic and administrative tablets dating back to around 2000 BC. e.. approximately five hundred names of scribes are mentioned. Many of them. To avoid mistakes, they put the name of their father next to their name and indicated his profession. Having carefully sorted all the tablets, N. Schneider established that the fathers of these scribes - and all of them, of course, studied in schools - were rulers, “city fathers”, envoys, temple administrators, military leaders, ship captains, senior tax officials, priests of various ranks, contractors, overseers, scribes, archive keepers, accountants.

In other words, the fathers of the scribes were the most prosperous townspeople. Interesting. that in none of the fragments does the name of a female scribe appear; apparently. and Sumerian schools only educated boys.

At the head of the school was an ummia (knowledgeable person, teacher), who was also called the father of the school. The students were called “sons of the school,” and the assistant teacher was called “elder brother.” His duties, in particular, included making calligraphic sample tablets, which were then copied by his students. He also checked written assignments and forced students to recite the lessons they had learned.

Among the teachers there were also an art teacher and a Sumerian language teacher, a tutor who monitored attendance, and the so-called "speaker" (apparently the overseer in charge of discipline at the school). It is difficult to say which of them was considered higher in rank ; we only know that the "father of the school" was its actual director. We also know nothing about the sources of livelihood of the school staff. Probably, the "father of the school" paid everyone their share of the total amount received as payment for education.

Concerning school programs, then here we have at our disposal a wealth of information gleaned from the school tablets themselves - a fact truly unique in the history of antiquity. Therefore, we do not need to resort to indirect evidence or to the writings of ancient authors: we have primary sources - tablets of students, ranging from the scribbles of “first-graders” to the works of “graduates”, so perfect that they can hardly be distinguished from tablets written by teachers.

These works make it possible to establish that the training course followed two main programs. The first gravitated towards science and technology, the second was literary and developed creative features.

Speaking about the first program, it is necessary to emphasize that it was by no means prompted by a thirst for knowledge, a desire to find the truth. This program gradually developed through the teaching process, the main goal of which was to teach Sumerian writing. Based on this main task, the Sumerian teachers created a system of education. based on the principle of linguistic classification. The vocabulary of the Sumerian language was divided into groups; the words and expressions were connected by common elements. These basic words were memorized and practiced until the students got used to reproducing them on their own. But by the 3rd millennium BC. school educational texts began to expand noticeably and gradually turned into more or less stable teaching aids accepted in all schools of Sumer.

Some texts provide long lists names of trees and reeds; in others, the names of all kinds of nodding creatures (animals, insects and birds): in others, the names of countries, cities and villages; fourthly, the names of stones and minerals. Such lists indicate a significant knowledge of the Sumerians in the fields of "botany", "zoology", "geography" and "mineralogy" - a very curious and little-known fact. which has only recently attracted the attention of scholars involved in the history of science.

Sumerian teachers also created all kinds of mathematical tables and compiled collections of problems, accompanying each with a corresponding solution and answer.

Speaking about linguistics, it should first of all be noted that Special attention, judging by numerous school signs, was devoted to grammar. Most of these tablets are long lists of compound nouns, verb forms etc. This suggests that the Sumerian grammar was well developed. Later, in the last quarter of the 3rd millennium BC. e., when the Semites of Akkad gradually conquered Sumer, Sumerian teachers created the first “dictionaries” known to us. The fact is that the Semitic conquerors adopted not only the Sumerian writing: they also highly valued the literature of ancient Sumer, preserved and studied its monuments and imitated them even when Sumerian became a dead language. This was the reason for the need for “dictionaries”. where a translation of Sumerian words and expressions into the Akkadian language was given.

Let us now turn to the second curriculum, which had a literary bias. Training under this program consisted mainly of memorizing and rewriting literary works of the second half of the 3rd millennium BC. e.. when literature was especially rich, as well as in imitation of them. There were hundreds of such texts and almost all of them were poetic works ranging in size from 30 (or less) to 1000 lines. Judging by those of them. which we managed to compose and decipher. these works fell into different canons: myths and epic tales in verse, glorifying songs; Sumerian gods and heroes; hymns of praise to gods and kings. cry; ruined, biblical cities.

Among the Literary Tablets and their Ilomkop. recovered from the ruins of Sumer, many are school copies copied by the hands of students.

We still know very little about the methods and techniques of teaching in Sumerian schools. In the morning, upon arriving at school, the students dismantled the sign they had written the day before.

Then the elder brother, that is, the teacher’s assistant, prepared a NEW tablet, which the students began to disassemble and rewrite. Older brother. and also the father of the school, apparently, barely followed the students’ work, checking whether they were rewriting the text correctly. There is no doubt that the success of Sumerian students depended to a large extent on their memory; teachers and their assistants had to accompany detailed explanations of too dry lists of words. tables and literary texts copied by students. But these lectures, which could have been of invaluable assistance to us in the study of Sumerian scientific and religious thought and literature, apparently were never written down and are therefore forever lost.

One thing is certain: teaching in Sumerian schools had nothing in common with the modern educational system, in which the acquisition of knowledge largely depends on initiative and independent work; the student himself.

As for discipline. then the matter could not be done without a stick. It is quite possible that. Without refusing to reward students for success, Sumerian teachers still relied more on the terrifying effect of the stick, which instantly punished not at all from heaven. He went to school every day and was just there from morning to evening. Probably there were some kind of vacations during the year, but we have no information about this. The training lasted for years, the child had time to turn into a young man. It would be interesting to see. whether Sumerian students had the opportunity to choose a job or OTHER specialization. and if so. then to what extent and at what stage of training. However, about this, as well as about many other details. sources are silent.

One in Sippar. and the other in Ur. But also. that in each of these buildings a large number of tablets were found, they are almost no different from ordinary residential buildings, and therefore our guess may be wrong. Only in the winter of 1934.35, French archaeologists discovered two rooms in the city of Marie on the Euphrates (northwest of Nippur), which, in their location and features, clearly represent school classrooms. They contain rows of baked brick benches, designed for one, two or four students.

But what did the students themselves think about the school at that time? To give at least an incomplete answer to this question. Let us turn to the next chapter, which contains a very interesting text about school life in Sumer, written almost four thousand years ago, but only recently collected from numerous passages and finally translated. This text gives, in particular, a clear understanding of the relationship between students and teachers and is a unique first document in the history of pedagogy.

Sumerian schools

reconstruction of a Sumerian oven

Babylon seals - 2000-1800.

O

Silver boat model, checkers game

Ancient Nimrud

Mirror

Life of the Sumerians, scribes

Writing boards

Classroom at school

Plow-seeder, 1000 BC

Wine Vault

Sumerian literature

Epic of Gilgamesh

Sumerian pottery

Ur

Ur

Ur

Ur

Ur

ur

Ur

Ur

Ur

Ur

Ur

Ur

Ur

Ur

Ur

Ur

Uruk

Uruk

Ubaid culture

Copper relief depicting the Imdugud bird from the temple at Al Ubaid. Sumer

Fragments of fresco paintings in the Zimrilim Palace.

Marie. XVIII century BC e.

Sculpture of the professional singer Ur-Nin. Marie.

Ser. III millennium BC uh

A monster with the head of a lion, one of the seven evil demons, born in the Mountain of the East and living in pits and ruins. It causes discord and disease among people. Geniuses, both evil and good, played a large role in the life of the Babylonians. 1st millennium BC e.

Carved stone bowl from Ur.

III millennium BC e.

Silver rings for donkey harness. Tomb of Queen Pu-abi.

Lv. III millennium BC e.

Head of the goddess Ninlil - wife of the moon god Nanna, patron of Ur

Terracotta figure of a Sumerian deity. Tello (Lagash).

III millennium BC e.

Statue of Kurlil - the head of the granaries of Uruk.Uruk. Early Dynastic period, III millennium BC. e.

Vessel with images of animals. Susa. Con. IV millennium BC e.

Stone vessel with colored inlays. Uruk (Varka).Con. IV millennium BC e.

"White Temple" in Uruk (Varka).

Reed residential building from the Ubaid period. Modern reconstruction. National Park Ctesiphon

Reconstruction of a private house (patio)Ur

Ur-royal tomb

Life

Life

Sumer carrying a lamb for sacrifice

The basin of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers is called Mesopotamia, which means in Greek Mesopotamia or Mesopotamia. This natural area became one of the largest agricultural and cultural centers of the Ancient East. The first settlements in this territory began to appear already in the 6th millennium BC. e. In 4-3 millennia BC, ancient states began to form on the territory of Mesopotamia.

A revival of interest in the history of the ancient world began in Europe with the Renaissance. It took several centuries to come close to deciphering the long-forgotten Sumerian cuneiform script. Texts written in Sumerian were read only at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and at the same time archaeological excavations of Sumerian cities began.

In 1889, an American expedition began exploring Nippur, in the 1920s, the English archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley conducted excavations on the territory of Ur, a little later, a German archaeological expedition explored Uruk, British and American scientists found the royal palace and necropolis in Kish, and, finally, In 1946, archaeologists Fuad Safar and Seton Lloyd, under the auspices of the Iraqi Antiquities Authority, began digging into Eris. Through the efforts of archaeologists, huge temple complexes were discovered in Ur, Uruk, Nippur, Eridu and other cult centers of the Sumerian civilization. Colossal stepped platforms freed from sand - ziggurats, which served as the basis for Sumerian sanctuaries, indicate that the Sumerians already in the 4th millennium BC. e. laid the foundation traditions of religious construction on the territory of Ancient Mesopotamia.

Sumer - one of the most ancient civilizations of the Middle East, which existed at the end of the 4th - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. in the Southern Mesopotamia, the region of the lower reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates in the south of modern Iraq. Around 3000 BC e. On the territory of Sumer, the city-states of the Sumerians began to take shape (the main political centers were Lagash, Ur, Kish, etc.), which fought among themselves for hegemony. The conquests of Sargon the Ancient (24th century BC), the founder of the great Akkadian power, which stretched from Syria to the Persian Gulf, united Sumer.
Posted on ref.rf
The main center was the city of Akkad, whose name served as the name of the new power. The Akkadian Empire fell in the 22nd century. BC e. under the onslaught of the Gutians - tribes that came from the western part of the Iranian plateau. With its fall, a period of civil strife began again on the territory of Mesopotamia. In the last third of the 22nd century. BC e. marks the heyday of Lagash, one of the few city-states that maintained relative independence from the Gutians. Its prosperity was associated with the reign of Gudea (d. ca. 2123 BC), a builder king who erected a grandiose temple near Lagash, concentrating the cults of Sumer around the Lagash god Ningirsu. Many monumental steles and statues of Gudea, covered with inscriptions glorifying his construction activities, have survived to this day. At the end of the 3rd millennium BC. e. the center of Sumerian statehood moved to Ur, whose kings managed to reunite all the regions of the Lower Mesopotamia. The last rise of Sumerian culture is associated with this period.

In the 19th century BC. among the Sumerian cities rises Babylon [Sumer.
Posted on ref.rf
Kadingirra (ʼʼgate of godʼʼ), Akkadian. Babilu (same meaning), Greek. Babulwn, lat. Babylon] is an ancient city in northern Mesopotamia, on the banks of the Euphrates (southwest of modern Baghdad). It was apparently founded by the Sumerians, but was first mentioned during the time of the Akkadian king Sargon the Ancient (2350-2150 BC). It was an insignificant city until the establishment of the so-called Old Babylonian dynasty of Amorite origin, the ancestor of which was Sumuabum. The representative of this dynasty, Hammurabi (reigned 1792-50 BC), turned Babylon into the largest political, cultural and economic center not only of Mesopotamia, but of all of Western Asia. The Babylonian god Marduk became the head of the pantheon. In his honor, in addition to the temple, Hammurabi began to erect the ziggurat of Etemenanki, known as the Tower of Babel. In 1595 ᴦ. BC e. The Hittites, led by Mursili I, invaded Babylon and plundered and destroyed the city. At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. The king of Assyria, Tukulti-Ninurta I, defeated the Babylonian army and captured the king.

The subsequent period of the history of Babylon was associated with the ongoing struggle with Assyria. The city was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt. From the time of Tiglath-pileser III, Babylon was included in Assyria (732 BC).

An ancient state in the Northern Mesopotamia of Assyria (in the territory of modern Iraq) in the 14th-9th centuries. BC e. repeatedly subjugated Northern Mesopotamia and surrounding areas. The period of the highest power of Assyria was the 2nd half. 8 – 1st floor. 7th centuries BC e.

In 626 BC. e. Nabopolassar, the king of Babylon, destroyed the capital of Assyria, proclaimed the separation of Babylon from Assyria and founded the Neo-Babylonian dynasty. Babylon grew stronger under his son, the king of Babylonia Nebuchadnezzar II(605-562 BC), who led numerous wars. During the forty years of his reign, he turned the city into the most magnificent in the Middle East and in the entire world of that time. Nebuchadnezzar led entire nations into captivity in Babylon. Under him, the city developed according to a strict plan. The Ishtar Gate, the Processional Road, the fortress-palace with the Hanging Gardens were built and decorated, and the fortress walls were again strengthened. From 539 ᴦ.BC Babylon practically ceased to exist as an independent state. It was conquered by the Persians, the Greeks, A. Macedonian, and the Parthians. After the Arab conquest of 624, a small village remains, although the Arab population retains the memory of a majestic city hidden under the hills.

In Europe, Babylon was known by references in the Bible, reflecting the impressions it once made on the ancient Jews. At the same time, a description of the Greek historian Herodotus, who visited Babylon during his journey, compiled between 470 and 460 BC, has been preserved. e., but in detail the “father of history” is not entirely accurate, since he did not know the local language. Later Greek and Roman authors did not see Babylon with their own eyes, but were based on the same Herodotus and the stories of travelers, always embellished. Interest in Babylon arose after the Italian Pietro della Valle brought bricks with cuneiform inscriptions from here in 1616. In 1765, the Danish scientist K. Niebuhr identified Babylon with the Arab village of Hille. Systematic excavations began with the German expedition of R. Koldewey (1899). She immediately discovered the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar's palace in Qasr Hill.
Posted on ref.rf
Before the First World War, when work was curtailed due to the advance of the British army, a German expedition excavated a significant part of Babylon during its heyday. Numerous reconstructions are presented in the Museum of Western Asia in Berlin.

One of the largest and most significant achievements of early civilizations was the invention of writing. . The world's oldest writing system was hieroglyphs, which were originally pictorial in nature.
Posted on ref.rf
Subsequently, hieroglyphs turned into symbolic signs. Most hieroglyphs were phonograms, that is, they denoted combinations of two or three consonant sounds. Another type of hieroglyphs - ideograms - denoted individual words and concepts.

Picturesque character hieroglyphic writing lost at the turn of the 4th–3rd millennium BC. e.. About 3000 ᴦ. BC. originated in Sumer cuneiform. This term was introduced into early XVIII century Kaempfer to designate the letters used by the ancient inhabitants of the Tigris and Euphrates valley. Sumerian writing, which went from hieroglyphic, figurative signs-symbols to the signs that began to write the simplest syllables, turned out to be an extremely progressive system that was borrowed and used by many peoples who spoke other languages. Thanks to this circumstance, the cultural influence of the Sumerians in the ancient Near East was enormous and outlived their own civilization for many centuries.

The name cuneiform corresponds to the shape of the signs, which have a thickening at the top, but is true only for their later form; the original one, preserved in the most ancient inscriptions of the Sumerian and first Babylonian kings, bears all the features of pictorial, hieroglyphic writing. Through gradual reductions and thanks to the material - clay and stone, the signs acquired a less rounded and coherent shape and finally began to consist of individual strokes thickened upward, placed in different positions and combinations. Cuneiform is a syllabic letter consisting of several hundred characters, of which 300 are the most common. These include more than 50 ideograms, about 100 signs for simple syllables and 130 for complex ones; There are signs for numbers in hexadecimal and decimal systems.

Although Sumerian writing was invented exclusively for economic needs, the first written literary monuments appeared among the Sumerians very early. Among the records dating back to the 26th century. BC e., there are already examples of folk wisdom genres, cult texts and hymns. Found cuneiform archives brought to us about 150 monuments of Sumerian literature, among which there are myths, epic tales, ritual songs, hymns in honor of kings, collections of fables, sayings, debates, dialogues and edifications. The Sumerian tradition played a large role in the spread legends compiled in the form of a dispute - a genre typical of many literatures of the Ancient East.

One of the important achievements of the Assyrian and Babylonian cultures was the creation libraries. The largest library known to us was founded by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (7th century BC) in his palace of Nineveh - archaeologists discovered about 25 thousand clay tablets and fragments. Among them: royal annals, chronicles of the most important historical events, collections of laws, literary monuments, scientific texts. Literature as a whole was anonymous, the names of the authors were semi-legendary. Assyro-Babylonian literature was completely borrowed from Sumerian literary plots, only the names of the heroes and gods were changed.

The most ancient and significant monument of Sumerian literature is Epic of Gilgamesh(ʼʼThe Tale of Gilgameshʼʼ - ʼʼAbout who has seen everythingʼʼ). The history of the discovery of the epic in the 70s of the 19th century is associated with the name George Smith, an employee of the British Museum, who, among the extensive archaeological materials sent to London from Mesopotamia, discovered cuneiform fragments of the legend of the Flood. A report on this discovery, made at the end of 1872 by the Biblical Archaeological Society, created a sensation; Seeking to prove the authenticity of his find, Smith went to the excavation site in Nineveh in 1873 and found new fragments of cuneiform tablets. J. Smith died in 1876 in the midst of work on cuneiform texts during his third trip to Mesopotamia, bequeathing in his diaries to subsequent generations of researchers to continue the study of the epic he had begun.

Epic lyrics They consider Gilgamesh to be the son of the hero Lugalbanda and the goddess Ninsun. The “Royal List” from Nippur - a list of the dynasties of Mesopotamia - dates the reign of Gilgamesh to the era of the First Dynasty of Uruk (27–26 centuries BC). The duration of Gilgamesh's reign is determined by the King List to be 126 years.

There are several versions of the epic: Sumerian (3rd millennium BC), Akkadian (late 3rd millennium BC), Babylonian. The Epic of Gilgamesh is written on 12 clay tablets. As the plot of the epic develops, the image of Gilgamesh changes. The fairy-tale hero-hero, boasting of his strength, turns into a person who has learned the tragic transience of life. The powerful spirit of Gilgamesh rebels against the recognition of the inevitability of death; Only at the end of his wanderings does the hero begin to understand that immortality can be brought to him by the eternal glory of his name.

The Sumerian tales of Gilgamesh are part of an ancient tradition that is closely related to oral tradition and has parallels with the stories of other peoples. The epic contains one of the oldest versions of Flood, known for bible book Genesis. The intersection with the motif is also interesting Greek myth about Orpheus.

Information about musical culture has the most general character.
Posted on ref.rf
Music was included as the most important component in all three layers of art of ancient cultures, which can be distinguished in accordance with their purpose:

• Folklore (from Anᴦ. Folk-lore - folk wisdom) - folk song and poetry with elements of theatricality and choreography;
• Temple art is cult, liturgical, growing out of ritual actions;
• Palace - secular art; its functions are hedonic (to give pleasure) and ceremonial.

Accordingly, music was played during religious and palace ceremonies, and at folk festivals. We have no way to restore it. Only individual relief images, as well as descriptions in ancient written monuments, allow us to make certain generalizations. For example, frequently encountered images harps make it possible to consider it a popular and revered musical instrument. From written sources it is known that in Sumer and Babylon they revered flute. The sound of this instrument, according to the Sumerians, was capable of bringing the dead back to life. Apparently, this was due to the very method of sound production - breathing, which was considered a sign of life. At annual festivals in honor of Tammuz, the eternally resurrecting god, flutes were played to represent the resurrection. On one of the clay tablets it was written: ʼʼIn the days of Tammuz, play for me on the azure flute...ʼʼ

Sumerian culture - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Sumerian culture" 2017, 2018.