Download Early Civilization Primary Source Documents

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Primary Source Analysis:
The Dawn of Civilization
Name: ___________________________
Period: _____
Part I: Directions: Read each primary source and answer the related questions below.
Source 1:
(a) The Legend of Sargon of Akkad, c. 2300 BCE
(http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/2300sargon1.html)
1. Sargon, the mighty king, king of Akkadê am I,
10. Akki, the irrigator, as his own son brought me up;
2. My mother was lowly; my father I did not know;
11. Akki, the irrigator, as his gardener appointed me.
3. The brother of my father dwelt in the mountain.
12. When I was a gardener the goddess Ishtar loved me,
4. My city is Azupiranu, which is situated on the bank of 13. And for four years I ruled the kingdom.
the Purattu [Euphrates],
14. The black-headed (Sumerian) peoples I ruled, I
5. My lowly mother conceived me, in secret she brought governed;
me forth.
15. Mighty mountains with axes of bronze I destroyed.
6. She placed me in a basket of reeds, she closed my
entrance with bitumen,
16. I ascended the upper mountains;
7. She cast me upon the rivers which did not overflow me.
17. I burst through the lower mountains.
8. The river carried me, it brought me to Akki, the irrigator. 18. The country of the sea I besieged three times …
9. Akki, the irrigator, in the goodness of his heart lifted me
out,
Questions:
What region was Sargon from? (or where did he “rule[d] the kingdom”) Provide evidence from the poem to support your
answer.
Do you know of any other famous story (clue: Biblical story) that resembles this one?
Alston
Source 2:
(b) Excerpt from the Chronicle of Early Kings, a later Babylonian historiographical text:
“[Sargon] had neither rival nor equal. His splendor, over the lands it diffused. He crossed the sea in the east. In the
eleventh year he conquered the western land to its farthest point. He brought it under one authority. He set up his statues
there and ferried the west's booty across on barges...”
Question:
What type of new territorial organization was established by King Sargon as a result of his conquests? (see your notes)
Provide clues from the source that support your answer.
Source 3:
(c.) Code of Hammurabi, 18th century, B.C.E. (excerpts)
(http://eawc.evansville.edu/anthology/hammurabi.htm)
196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.
197. If he break another man's bone, his bone shall be broken.
198. If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina.
199. If he put out the eye of a man's slave, or break the bone of a man's slave, he shall pay one-half of
its value.
200. If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out.
201. If he knock out the teeth of a freed man, he shall pay one-third of a gold mina.
202. If any one strike the body of a man higher in rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an oxwhip in public.
203. If a free-born man strike the body of another free-born man or equal rank, he shall pay one gold
mina.
204. If a freed man strike the body of another freed man, he shall pay ten shekels in money.
205. If the slave of a freed man strike the body of a freed man, his ear shall be cut off.
Questions:
What were the advantages of having the Code of Laws posted all over the diverse Babylonian Empire by its rulers?
(see your notes)
What can you conclude about the Babylonian society at that time? Provide clues from the document to support your
answer.
Alston
Source 4:
(d) Hymn to the Nile, 2100 B.C.E.
(http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/hymn-nile.html)
Hail to thee, O Nile! Who manifests thyself over this land, and comes to give life to Egypt! Mysterious is thy issuing forth
from the darkness, on this day whereon it is celebrated! Watering the orchards created by Re, to cause all the cattle to live,
you give the earth to drink, inexhaustible one! Path that descends from the sky, loving the bread of Seb and the first-fruits
of Nepera, You cause the workshops of Ptah to prosper!
Lord of the fish, during the inundation, no bird alights on the crops. You create the grain, you bring forth the barley,
assuring perpetuity to the temples. If you cease your toil and your work, then all that exists is in anguish. If the gods suffer
in heaven, then the faces of men waste away.
…He is the creator of all good things, as master of energy, full of sweetness in his choice….
Questions:
Why did ancient Egyptians honor the Nile with so many compliments?
Explain how the location of Egypt’s civilization and the “behavior” of the Nile were different from the patterns of natural
environment in Mesopotamia. (base the answer on your notes). What effect might this have on the Egyptian religion? (
critical thinking question)
Alston
Source 5:
(e.) The Dead Pharaoh Ascends to Heaven
(http://www.mircea-eliade.com/from-primitives-to-zen/166.html)
The so-called Pyramid Texts are religious texts inscribed on the interior walls of the pyramids of certain pharaohs of the
fifth and sixth dynasties (Ca. 2425-2300 B.C.).-The Pyramid Texts contain the oldest references to Egyptian cosmology
and theology, but they are primarily concerned with the victorious passage of the dead pharaoh to his new, celestial
dwelling.
Thy two wings are spread out like a falcon with thick plumage, like the hawk seen in the evening traversing the sky (Pyr.
1048).
He flies who flies; this king Pepi flies away from you, ye mortals. He is not of the earth, he is of the sky. . . . This king
Pepi flies as a cloud to the sky, like a masthead bird; this king Pepi kisses the sky like a falcon, this king Pepi reaches the
sky like Horizon-god (Harakhte) (Pyr. 890-1)…
King Unis ascends upon the ladder which his father Re (the Sun-god) made for him (Pyr. 390)…
The king ascends to the sky among the gods dwelling in the sky. He stands on the great [dais], he hears (in judicial
session) the (legal) affairs of men. Re finds thee upon the shores of the sky in this lake that is in Nut (the Sky-goddess).
‘The arriver comes !’ say the gods. He (Re) gives thee his arm on the stairway to the sky. ‘He who knows his place
comes,’ say the gods. 0 Pure One, assume thy throne in the barque of Re and sail thou the sky. . . . Sail thou with the
Imperishable Stars, sad thou with the Unwearied Stars. Receive thou the tribute’ of the Evening Barque, become thou a
spirit dwelling in Dewat. Live thou this pleasant life which the lord of the horizon lives (Pyr. 1169-72).
Questions:
What is the status of the Egyptian kings (pharaohs) in relation to the Egyptian gods? Provide evidence to support your
conclusion.
According to this source, what kind of afterlife awaits the dead pharaoh? Provide evidence.
Alston
Source 6:
(f) Palette of Narmer (c. 31st cen. B.C.E)
ferrebeekeeper.wordpress.com
ferrebeekeeper.wordpress.com
Questions:
Provide your own interpretation of this primary source. More specifically, you can address
the following points:
a). Identification of the central figure on the left side. Any symbolism in his action? Two men
on the bottom of the left plate.
b). Details: Headgear, Clothing or absence of it, Symbolism behind animals portrayed on the
right side, etc.
Alston
Source 7:
(g) The Epic of Gilgamesh
The Chaldean Flood Tablets from the city of Ur in what is now Southern Iraq contain a story that describes how the
Bablylonian god Enlil had been bothered by the incessant noise generated by humans. He convinced the other gods to
completely exterminate every person on Earth as well as land animals and birds with a great flood. One of the gods, Ea,
went against the decision of the rest of the gods, and told Ut-Napishtim to build an ark to save a few humans, and some
animals.
Excerpt from the Epic of Gilgamesh as translated by N. K. Sandars:
"You know the city Shurrupak, it stands on the banks of the Euphrates. That city grew old and the gods that were in it
were old. There was Anu, lord of the firmament {earth}, their father, and warrior Enlil their counselor, Ninurta the helper,
and Ennugi, watcher over canals; and with them also was Ea. In those days the world teemed, the people multiplied, the
world bellowed like a wild bull, and the great god was aroused by the clamor. Enlil heard the clamor and he said to the
gods in council, 'The uproar of mankind is intolerable and sleep is no longer possible by reason of the babel {everyone
talking at once}.' So the gods agreed to exterminate mankind. Enlil did this, but Ea warned me in a dream. He whispered
their words to my house of reeds, “Reed-house, reed-house! Wall, O wall, hearken reed-house, wall reflect; O man of
Shurrupak, son of Ubara-Tutu; tear down your house and build a boat, abandon possessions and look for life, despise
worldly goods and save your soul alive. Tear down your house, I say, and build a boat. These are the measurements of the
barque {boat} as you shall build her: let her beam equal her length, let her deck be roofed like the vault that covers the
abyss; then take up into the boat the seed of all living creatures." 1.
Questions:
What does this story reveal about life in ancient Mesopotamia?
Do you know of any other famous story (clue: Biblical story) that resembles this one?
Source 8:
(g) The Ten Commandments (excerpt from the book of Exodus)
20 And God spoke all these words:
2
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3
“You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the
waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing
the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a
4
Alston
thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
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“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is
a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or
female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens
and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day
and made it holy.
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12
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
13
“You shall not murder.
14
“You shall not commit adultery.
15
“You shall not steal.
16
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his
ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
17
18
When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled
with fear. They stayed at a distance 19 and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God
speak to us or we will die.”
Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep
you from sinning.”
20
21
The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
Questions:
What does this excerpt from the book of Exodus reveal about the Hebrew people, and/or the progression of organized
religion?
Alston
Part II:
Directions: Prepare a presentation to your classmates that will explain the PERSIA (political, economic, religious, social,
intellectual, and artistic) influences of your time period. Explain how the documents reveal these elements of culture.