A Lament for the Middle East
20 July 2006 by Eve
Snippets from an ancient Sumerian lament of the fall of the city of Ur paint an all-too-accurate picture of war:
…(behold,) they gave instruction that Ur be destroyed, and as its destiny decreed that its inhabitants be killed.[sic] Enlil (wind god or spirit) called the storm.
[....]
The storm ordered by Enlil in hate, the storm which wears away the country,
covered Ur like a cloth, veiled it like a linen sheet.
On that day did the storm leave the city; that city was a ruin.
[....]
On that day did the storm leave the country. The people mourn.
Its people(’s corpses), not potsherds, littered the approaches.
The walls were gaping; the high gates, the roads, were piled with dead.
In the wide streets, where feasting crowds (once) gathered, jumbled they lay.
In all the streets and roadways bodies lay.
In open fields that used to fill with dancers, the people lay in heaps.
The country’s blood now filled its holes, like metal in a mold; bodies dissolved — like butter left in the sun.
[Note: The ancient civilization of Sumer, "considered the first settled society in the world to have manifested all the features needed to qualify fully as a "civilization," was located in Mesopotamia (modern southeastern Iraq), and has arguably influenced all western civilization to date - including all three Abrahamic religions. Scholars have pointed out the similarities between this particular lament and the Book of Lamentations about the fall of Jerusalem in the Bible's Old Testament. Mesopotamia itself is still referred to as the "Cradle of Civilization."]
20 July 2006, on 10:53 pm
Mesopotamia? Was that the one with “Rock Lobster” on it?
20 July 2006, on 11:13 pm
Seeing as I have no fear of Armageddon, no plans for the Rapture but loot, loot, loot, I’m almost resigned and content to let the whole thing dissolve into all out war. That may be the only way resolution happens here, the decimation of both sides.
21 July 2006, on 1:15 am
The religious loonies of the planet are intent on killing each other. Perhaps sanity will reign after a few million of them have killed each other off.
21 July 2006, on 2:08 am
Another great post from our professor of mythology: Eve!
When I was in New York not long after the pillaging of Baghdad, the exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was the “Art of the First Cities.” Those exhibits are planned months, sometimes years in advance, and the timing couldn’t have been more ironic.
Posted on the wall just inside the entrance to the exhibit was a note from the specialists who created the show saying how much they lamented the loss of Baghdad’s antiquities, and that they vowed to spend their lives searching the globe for these stolen treasures and bringing them back to where they belonged: in museums. It was wrenching.
The U.S., despite international pleas from archaeologists and anthropologists long before the fighting began, did nothing to secure Iraq’s museums. Fucking tragic.
21 July 2006, on 3:17 pm
Wait, I thought the Harappa tradition was the oldest known civilization?
http://www.answers.com/topic/harappa
“[1] The earliest radiocarbon dating mentioned on the web is 2725+-185 BCE (uncalibrated) or 3338, 3213, 3203 BCE calibrated, giving a midpoint of 3251 BCE. Kenoyer, Jonathan Mark (1991) Urban process in the Indus Tradition: A preliminary report. In Harappa Excavations, 1986-1990: A multidisciplanary approach to Third Millennium urbanism, edited by Richard H. Meadow: 29-59. Monographs in World Archaeology No.3. Prehistory Press, Madison Wisconsin.”
Whereas the earliest date for Mesopotamia is given at 5000 BCE.
21 July 2006, on 3:41 pm
Maybe my Math is wrong but aren’t 3338, 3213, and 3203 BCE all more recent than 5000BCE? And what about Atlantis?
21 July 2006, on 4:23 pm
Raindogzilla’s right: 5000 BCE is older than 3338, 3213, and 3203 BCE. Besides, Sumer is “considered the first settled society in the world to have manifested all the features needed to qualify fully as a ‘civilization;’ there are far older human settlements discovered, just not manifesting “all the features needed to qualify fully as a ‘civilization.’” A subtle distinction but an important one nonetheless…
Now, if Atlantis truly existed as Plato is often interpreted to claim, it would undoubtedly count as the oldest “civilization” at circa 10,000 BCE!
21 July 2006, on 4:37 pm
There ain’t no Atlantis, folks. Prove me wrong.
21 July 2006, on 6:24 pm
The “cradle of civilization” has become the cemetery of children. I don’t think civilization has yet come to the world. Humans have always behaved with the same animalistic territorial instincts that other animals exhibit. Just because we can draw pictures, carve figures out of stone and write characters on paper we think we’ve accomplished something. Ha! The world is crumbling around us and we continue to cut down trees, bomb buildings, burn oil, shit in our drinking water and erect houses on dwindling farm land. We are soooooo civilized.
21 July 2006, on 6:54 pm
Lynda: The “cradle of civilization” has become the cemetery of children.
Too true, and in many ways it probably always has been. Societies have crumbled and fallen, most often beneath the sweep of war, in that exact same region since Sumer finally gave way to the Babylonian Empire. The ancient Mesopotamians would be aghast at the weapons of destruction we wield today – but they’d probably turn right around and use them against their own enemies first chance they could get.
21 July 2006, on 11:39 pm
Raindogzilla:
Maybe my Math is wrong but aren’t 3338, 3213, and 3203 BCE all more recent than 5000BCE?
My error. The Atlantis crack, however, was unwarranted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harappan_civilization
“The Indus Civilization was predated by the first farming cultures in South Asia, which emerged in the hills of what is now called Balochistan, to the west of the Indus Valley. North Eastern Balochistan is connected to Afghanistan by passes over the Toba Kakar Range. Valleys on the Makran coast are open towards the Arabian Sea. Through these routes Balochistan was in contact with West Asia and took part in the so-called Neolithic Revolution, which took place in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 to 6000 BCE. The earliest evidence of sedentary lifestyle in South Asia was discovered at Mehrgarh in the foothills of the Brahui Hills. This settlement is dated 7000 BCE and was located on the west bank of the Bolan River, about 30 kilometres from the town of Sibi. These early farmers domesticated wheat and a variety of animals, including cattle. In the “Era” terminology, the aceramic Neolithic is known as the “Early Food Producing Era”.
Pottery was in use by around 5500 BCE, taken to initiate the “Regionalization Era”. It has been surmised that the inhabitants of Mehrgarh migrated to the fertile Indus river valley as Balochistan became arid due to climatic changes. The Indus Civilization grew out of this culture’s technological base, as well as its geographic expansion into the alluvial plains of what are now the provinces of Sindh and Punjab in contemporary Pakistan and Northern India. By 4000 BCE farming communities spread further east to other parts of Balochistan and Lower Sind. Later this culture spread to Upper Sind, Punjab and the western states of India.”
It was my understanding that traces of civilization were found dating as far back as 9000 BCE, in the Indus Valley (which makes 5000 BCE more recent).
22 July 2006, on 9:17 am
RA, the “crack” wasn’t meant at you. It just occurred to me while writing the rest of the comment, so I added it. Didn’t intend to imply some connection with the Harappans.
24 July 2006, on 3:38 pm
Absolutely agree with you, RA, but again, I’m not maintaining that Sumer was the “oldest” human settlement.
I’m reiterating what the experts say, which is, as I mention above, “Sumer is ‘considered the first settled society in the world to have manifested all the features needed to qualify fully as a “civilization;” there are far older human settlements discovered, just not manifesting ‘all the features needed to qualify fully as a “civilization.”‘ A subtle distinction but an important one nonetheless…”
Plus, take a look at the map of the Fertile Crescent, in which the “so-called Neolithic Revolution” occurred at circa 9000 BCE: it includes Mesopotamia, and the article refers to the entire region as also being known as the Cradle of Civilization. You and I are not at odds on this issue; we’re simply emphasizing different aspects, that’s all.
26 July 2006, on 4:41 pm
Eve:
Absolutely agree with you, RA, but again, I’m not maintaining that Sumer was the “oldest” human settlement.
The distinction was made, this is true.
You and I are not at odds on this issue; we’re simply emphasizing different aspects, that’s all.
Sorry: all this heat is making me a touch grumpy. My profuse apologies to all.
What qualifies as a civilization, exactly? We know so little about the Harappan settlements.
The Encyclopedia defines it as:
“The specific characteristics of civilization are: food production (plant and animal domestication), metallurgy, a high degree of occupational specialization, writing, and the growth of cities. Such characteristics originally emerged in several different parts of the prehistoric world: Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India, the central Andes, and Mesoamerica.”
Not enough is known, ergo, the cradle of civilization is, by default Mesopotamia.
26 July 2006, on 8:15 pm
RA: “Such characteristics originally emerged in several different parts of the prehistoric world: Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India, the central Andes, and Mesoamerica.”/Not enough is known, ergo, the cradle of civilization is, by default Mesopotamia.
So far, so it seems, RA. Maybe Sumer’s monumental buildings (ziggurats, palace complexes, etc.) plus its wealth of art continue to put it “ahead of the pack,” so to speak – at least, as of now.