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c. 3700 BC Beginning of development of
urban centres in Mesopotamia
c. 3600-3500 BC Pictographic writing in use
c. 3000 BC Start of development of city-states
c. 3300-3000 BC Scribes using ideograms for
sounds, credited to Sumerians. Subsequent
stylisation leads to development of
cuneiform writing
c. 2330 BC Semitic-speakers of Mesopotamia
use system to develop Akkadian
c. 2000 BC Akkadian develops into Assyrian
and Babylonian dialects
stele (pl. stelae)
c. 2500 Kings becoming distinct from priests
as leaders of city-states
Social classes: Kings
Nobility incl. priests and others
Semi-free peasants
Free peasants (50% of population)
Merchants
Slaves
ziggurat
extispicy (divination using a ram’s liver)
Sacred Marriage ceremony:
Initially of citizen to city deity
From c. 2500 BC re-enactment
of union of Dumuzi and Inanna
The Mesopotamian View of the Cosmos
Heavens
Earth
Abzu (Akk. Apsu, subterranean
freshwater ocean)
Underworld
Meet some gods…
An (Akk: Anu)
Sky god of Uruk, temple at Eanna in city
Head of the elder gods (Annunaki)
Father of several gods
Symbol: horned crown, sometimes on a shrine
Meet some gods… Enki
(Akk: Ea, a.k.a. Nudimmud)
God of subterranean freshwater ocean (Abzu),
wisdom, magic, arts and crafts
Cult based at Eridu
Meet some gods…
Enlil (Akk: Ellil, a.k.a. Illil)
Uncertain nature and attributes, but father of
some gods and goddesses and in charge of the
earth
Head of the younger gods (Igigi), keeper of
Tablet of Destinies, cult based at Nippur
Symbol: horned cap
Meet some gods…
Inanna (Akk: Ishtar)
Goddess of love, fertility, sex (incl. extramarital), also fond of war. Not esp. mother
goddess or patron of marriage
Patron of Uruk (at Eanna), Nineveh and Erbil
Meet some gods…
Dumuzi (Akk: Tammuz)
God of vegetation and protector of flocks
Lover of Inanna, for whose sake spends
half year in Underworld
Meet some gods…
Ishkur (Akk: Adad)
Storm god and canal-controller, often seen
with bulls or forked lightning. Lord of omens
and extispicy
Cult based at Aleppo
Meet some gods…
Nin-hursag (a.k.a. Ninmah,
Nintu, Mami, Belet-ili,
Aruru)
Great mother goddess, important in early
mythology
Shrine at Kesh in central Mesopotamia