Download Contributions of Mesopotamia (Thu. 8/3)

Contributions of Mesopotamia
Continued from August 26th
Contributed by David Badgley to The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s
Beyond Babylon online teacher workshop, January 22–March 1, 2009.

Writing
In all ancient societies,
people tried to
communicate through
art.
All ancient writing
began as pictographs
(simplified pictures).
Mesopotamia
(Sumeria)
 3300 B.C.

Developed very
first writing system
for communication

For record keeping
Cuneiform tablet and case with a
record of court testimony describing
a dispute over the ownership of a
business firm
Old Assyrian Colony; 1920-1840 B.C.E. Anatolia, Kultepe (Karum Kanesh)
Clay; 7 5/16 x 3 9/16 x 1 3/4 in. (18.5 x 9 x 4.5 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Klejman, 1966 (66.245.5b) Collection of Metropolitan Museum,
New York

Signs were drawn with
a reed stylus on pillowshaped tablets,

Most were only a few
inches wide.

The stylus created small
marks in the clay

Called cuneiform, or
wedge-shaped, writing.
These images are what some of our letters look like when
converted to cuneiform
Egyptian

3200 B.C.

The Egyptian form
is called
hieroglyphs,
another form of
pictograph
writing.

Started as art with
a message. Did not
develop into
communication
until later
Chinese

1500 B.C. (the period
that the Shang
Dynasty ruled China)

Oracle bones

Diviners would submit questions to
deities regarding future weather, crop
planting, the fortunes of members of the
royal family, military endeavors, and
other similar topics.[1] These questions
were carved onto the bone or shell in
oracle bone script using a sharp tool.
Intense heat was then applied with a
metal rod until the bone or shell cracked
due to thermal expansion. The diviner
would then interpret the pattern of cracks
and write the prognostication upon the
piece as well.
Is Writing Important?

What kinds of written
records might be
important?
◦ Did you pay your taxes?
◦ Are you legally married?
◦ How many people live in your
city?
◦ Is your Doctor, Lawyer or clergy
qualified to do their jobs?
◦ Your high school diploma?
Epic of Gilgamesh
Literature

2100 B.C.

Epic poem from ancient
Mesopotamia

Earliest surviving great work
of literature

Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, and
Enkidu, a wild man created
by the gods to stop
Gilgamesh from oppressing
the people of Uruk.

After an initial fight,
Gilgamesh and Enkidu
become close friends.
Sumerian inventions
Technology

The wheel

Pottery wheel

Plows

Wagons

Chariots

Sundials (& time)

Sailboats

Astronomy

Math based on the number 60

As city-states, each city
(Ur, Sumer, Nimrud, etc.)
governed itself, usually by
hearing from gods.

Territorial Kingdoms

Mesopotamia began
shifting power from gods
to man.

King Hammurabi – King of
Babylon extended to take
all the southern citystates

Started taxes
Government
Law
Code of Hammurabi
One of the oldest deciphered writings
of significant length in the world.

1800 B.C.

Babylonian King
Hammurabi

282 laws that set
standards of conduct
and justice for his
empire in ancient
Mesopotamia
Some of the Laws in Hammurabi’s Code:
• If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put
to death.
• If a tavern-keeper (feminine) does not accept corn according to gross
weight in payment of a drink, but takes money, and the price of the
drink is less than that of the corn, she shall be convicted and thrown
into the water.
• If a son says to his adoptive father or mother: "You are not my father, or
my mother," his tongue shall be cut off.
• If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off.
• If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked
out.
• If a man strike a free-born woman so that she lose her unborn child, he
shall pay ten shekels for her loss.
• If a slave says to his master: "You are not my master," if they convict
him his master shall cut off his ear.