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Hammurabi, King of Babylon:
The Uses of the Past in
Ancient and Modern Mesopotamia
Lecture 5
Babylon (modern central Iraq)
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
BABYLON
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
A Sumerian city-girl’s
view of the nomadic lifestyle:
“Martu doesn’t grow grain, but digs
roots in the desert. He wears animal
skins and does not bend his knee (in
worship before the gods). He has no
house when he is alive, and not even a
proper burial when he is dead.”
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Modern Nomads:
Cultural Descendants of “Martu”
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
STELE OF UR-NAMMU, KING OF UR
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Built under the third
dynasty of Ur during the
21rst century BC (!), the
ziggurat at Ur was
frequently repaired by
subsequent rulers.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The Ziggurat at Ur
The area around Ur
witnessed intense
combat during the first
Gulf War.
The ziggurat at Ur was
heavily restored by Iraqi
archaeologists under
Saddam Hussein, who
liked to present himself
as the legitimate
successor of ancient
Mesopotamian rulers.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Green stone seal, which
belonged to Hashhamer,
governor of the city of
Ishkun-Sin, servant of
Ur-Nammu, strong man,
king of Ur. This was the
first Sumerian text to be
published (1820).
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Seal of governor under
the III Dynasty of Ur
The seal depicts the
goddess Ishtar and
another goddess
introducing the governor
before Ur-Nammu, king of
Ur, seated on his throne.
Amorites
Sumerian
Cities
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Note the location of
Mari, on the upper
Euphrates River.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Mudbrick remains of the
palace at Mari today.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Palace of King of Mari in
the era of Hammurabi
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Model of the Palace of Zimri-Lim, King of Mari
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The grinding room in the
palace at Ebla in
northern Syria,
second millennium B.C.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Drawing of the frescoes
decorating the throne
room in the palace of
Zimri-Lim at Mari.
ca. 1780 BC
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The central panels of the
frescoes at the palace of
Zimri-Lin at Mari, ca.
1780 BC. In the upper
scene, the king receives
symbols of royal power
from the goddess Ishtar.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
A bull and driver depicted
in the palace of the king
of Mari, ca. 1780 BC.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Statue of worshipper
found in the royal palace
at Mari in northern
Syria. The style is
reminiscent of the early
dynastic statues (ca.
2800 BC) found in
southern Mesopotamia.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Statue of a governor in
the service of the king of
Mari. ca. 1800 BC. The
style anticipates later
Assyrian sculpture from
northern Iraq.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Excavation of the
cuneiform tablet archive
in the palace at Mari,
which was burned and
(ironically) thus
preserved during the
Babylonian sack of the
city in 1760 B.C.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Old Babylonian ruler
portrait, often identified
as Hammurabi.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
“I raised the top of the foundation
of Sippar’s city wall with earth so that
it was like a mighty mountain.
That mighty wall I built. From the distant past
no king among kings had ever made such a wall
for my Lord, the god Shamash.
I named the wall
‘At-the-command-of-the-god-Shamash,
may-Hammurabi-have-no-rival.’”
Numerous copies of this inscription
were found by archaeologists excavating at Sippar.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
European painters, under
the influence of the Bible,
often depicted Babylon
as a sensuous, decadent
civilization. Here, a
“Babylonian wedding” is
depicted as a kind of
slave sale.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The stele was excavated
at Susa in the land of
Elam in 1902. In his
own era, Hammurabi
sacked Elam, but the
Elamites got their
revenge 600 years later
by hauling off his stele.
The stele originally stood
in the city of Sippar or
one of the other
Mesopotamian cities.
Ironically, its removal to
Elam ensured its survival
and Hammurabi’s fame.
The Stele of Hammurabi
Louvre Museum, Paris
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Hammurabi stands as a
supplicant before the
enthroned god Marduk,
whom the Babylonians
revered as the high god
of the Mesopotamian
pantheon.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Marduk is no longer a
household name -- except
among fans of heavy
metal. “Marduk” at the
2008 Metalmania
concert.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Saddam Hussein, an avid
patron of reconstruction
efforts at the site of
ancient Babylon, also
built one of his own
(numerous) palaces in the
vicinity.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
In direct imitation of
ancient Mesopotamian
rulers, Saddam had his
inscription recorded on
the bricks of the palace
of ancient Babylon as
restored by Iraqi
archaeologists.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
The cultural system
rooted in the cuneiform
system of writing spread
from the Levant and
Central Anatolia to SW
Iran and lasted more
than 3000 years in its
Mesopotamian homeland
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Since the late 1990s, the
sites of several major
Sumerian cities have
been badly pillaged by
looters. Although many
objects resurface on the
antiquities market, the
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
damage to the sites and
the heritage of ancient
Mesopotamia is
irreparable.