Monarchy

The Sumerians seem to have developed one of the world's first systems of monarchy; the early states they formed needed a new form of government in order to govern larger areas and diverse peoples. The very first states in human history, the states of Sumer, seemed to have been ruled by a type of priest-king [...]; among their duties were leading the military, administering trade, judging disputes, and engaging in the most important religious ceremonies. The priest-king ruled through a series of bureaucrats, many of them priests, that carefully surveyed land, assigned fields, and distributed crops after harvest. This new institution of monarchy required the invention of a new legitimation of authority beyond the tribal justification of chieftainship based on concepts of kinship and responsibility. So the Sumerians seemed to have at first justified the monarch's authority based on some sort of divine selection, but later began to assert that the monarch himself was divine and worthy of worship. This legitimation of monarchical authority would serve all the later peoples who settled or imitated Mesopotamian city-states; the only exception were the Hebrews who imitated Mesopotamian kingship but construed the monarchy not as a divine election but as disobedience to Yahweh, the Hebrew god.

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee//MESO/SUMER.HTM

Sumerian History

"Among the earliest civilizations were the diverse peoples living in the fertile valleys lying between the Tigris and Euphrates valley, or Mesopotamia, which in Greek means, "between the rivers." In the south of this region, in an area now in Kuwait and northern Saudi Arabia, a mysterious group of people, speaking a language unrelated to any other human language we know of, began to live in cities, which were ruled by some sort of monarch, and began to write. These were the Sumerians, and around 3000 BC they began to form large city-states in southern Mesopotamia that controlled areas of several hundred square miles. The names of these cities speak from a distant and foggy past: Ur, Lagash, Eridu. These Sumerians were constantly at war with one another and other peoples, for water was a scarce and valuable resource. The result over time of these wars was the growth of larger city-states as the more powerful swallowed up the smaller city-states. Eventually, the Sumerians would have to battle another peoples, the Akkadians, who migrated up from the Arabian Peninsula. The Akkadians were a Semitic people, that is, they spoke a Semitic language related to languages such as Hebrew and Arabic. When the two peoples clashed, the Sumerians gradually lost control over the city-states they had so brilliantly created and fell under the hegemony of the Akkadian kingdom which was based in Akkad, the city that was later to become Babylon.

But that was not the end of the Sumerians. The Akkadians abandoned much of their culture and absorbed vast amounts of Sumerian culture, including their religion, writing, government structure, literature, and law. But the Sumerians retained nominal control over many of their defeated city-states, and in 2125, the Sumerian city of Ur rose up against the Akkadians and gained for their daring control over the city-states of southern Mesopotamia. But the revival of Sumerian fortune was to be short-lived, for after a short century, another wave of Semitic migrations signed the end of the original creators of Mesopotamian culture.

But history sometimes plays paradoxical games and human cultures sometimes persist in strange ways. For the great experiment of the Sumerians was civilization, a culture transformed by the practical effects of urbanization, writing, and monarchy. While the Sumerians disappear from the human story around 2000 BC, the invaders that overthrew them adopted their culture and became, more or less, Sumerian. They adopted the government, economy, city-living, writing, law, religion, and stories of the original peoples. Why? What would inspire a people to deliberately adopt foreign ways?"

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee//MESO/SUMER.HTM

Names

Many people ignoring Anunnaki as a fundamental bone of Sumer civilization. A civilization, which is beginning of all civilizations, including ours, today, right now, but it began over 6.000 yrs ago before B.C., as the first one on Earth.

Meaning and interpretation the word Anunnaki (Anunnaqi) in following cultures.

ANUNNAKI - in shorter form AN, a "terrifying splendor", meaning of gold, as "Golden Age" in Sumerian myth. It was a standard word for "kingship", as AN, the founder of their "Golden Age", a prosperity time, also associated with Anunnaki's mission in search for gold.

ANUNNAKI, - AN, also known as ANACHIN (Anakim - a giant), which means also "we" in English.

"AN," is also interpreted as "Heaven".
"NAKI", mean "clean" (pure).

Meaning Anunannki in Sumerian language translates as, "we are from heaven" or (we are giants from heaven), Heaven mean also a sky in Sumerian, other way, "we are a pure-clean giant kings from heaven".

AN, was also known to Sumerian as ANU, who had wife ANTU and son ENLIL.

Pronunciation of Anunaki sound like Anunnaqi (with QI at the end), where QI, means EA, which translate to modern English as Earth.

Also ENQI (Enki), other son of Anu, with "QI", two letters at the end of the word, mean "King of Earth". That's why Christians called him a God, but deny Sumerian culture, where actually he was know as a chief warrior or heavenly being as alien, not a god...

Other reason for this was, the Sumerian associated ANU (AN) with SATURN planet, so ANU became a chief-god of Saturn, also known as "chief of heavenly wars".

He could give life or take a way, he was known as "Sun-God", because Saturn was recognized as never dying planet in ancient Sumer.

Babylonian, interpret name ANU, as SHAMASH, mostly cause of their different dialect, also known as "Sun-God", of Saturn (still had been using both names).

SHAMASH, also translate as "White House" (the Sun god, as pure as Sun god's House). For Babylonian, the SUN means also SIN, as Moon-God (he had to work during the night as well, so he gain another name SIN, which Christians late interpreted as evil).

In ancient Persia, Saturn, became known a Zurvan, the "King and Lord of the Long Dominion".

In ancient Iran, Saturn was named as the God-King-Yima, a transcript of the Hindu Yama, also know as founder of the "Golden Age", which was strongly linked with Saturn.
Then, Hindu named Saturn as Arka, meaning of "the Star of the Sun" (again, another local dialect).

Even ancient Chinese of the Taoist religion identified planet Saturn with God Fetu-Tea, known as the "King of the planet Saturn".

The first ancient Hebrew recognized their race as Suturnian, 'sons of Sun', when they lived under the rule of El.

They translate Anunnaki, as ANAKI, a giants living on Earth, describing them also as beings from heaven, which were much taller than average human, that's also the reason why they called them a gods.

Hebrew also called the Anunnaki, the Nephilim, (this word is recored in Bible with the same meaning), known as "falling down from heaven (sky) on earth", or extraterrestrial beings (giants) on earth. A race which was ... a new generation of semi-gods (demi-gods), also known as "fallen angels" (fallen beings). In order for them to disguise their true identity, they wear masks, head-wears in some case body-wear as decorations representing of birds, cats, falcons, lions, lizards, etc in public.

This idea was followed by many other ancient civilizations, which is preserved today in art and artifacts. Some of today primitive African tribes in their believes as tradition this is still consider as necessity of decorating their bodies to gain a social status on the images of their gods as their creators and protectors.

To many of them the Saturn planet was (is) also known as "the Best Sun", a true Sun planet, which never die, where only gods can live. For them Saturn is representing day and night, life and death as the only one planet.

Mayas and Incas, of South-Central America, followed the same idea, accept, they changed Saturn to Sun as a main planet, but still left name AN, known as the "ruler the world", which was recognized also with "Golden Life", an early morning and late evening hours of each day. They called Sun a Huracan (Quetzalcoati).

Ancient Egypt.

Egyptians translate Anunnaki, as AN-AMUM (King of Heaven on Earth).
This name was changed later to, AMUM (Amen, Amon, Ammon), than took form AMEN-RA (RE), than became known as, ATUM-RA, in shorter version known as god RA.
The ancient Egyptians renamed the "Sun-God-AN" (Anu, Shamash), to ATUM-RA (Atum-Re), as their translation from Sumerian language to Egyptian, they mis-translate word "Sun" for planet Sun, that's how RA became a god of planet Sun as one who brings "Golden Life-splendor of each morning day". (Similar interpretation to Inka and Maya).
Anunnaki here also known to ancient Egyptian as ANUKET (Anukis, Anqet), it was a female type, known as "Divine wife of the God Kham", associate with the Nile Cataracts, Aswa and Elopantine Island.

Other sample of Egyptian god, ANUBIS (was taken from Sumerian god-Anu, who also wear animal mask among the mortals), but this time he gain head of jackal or dog, known as the "Judge of the Dead".

The masks and head-wears were a very important aspect of Ancient Egypt, of their burial and life time, in addition to recognized the body during the life-time and after-death.

....this is only a very small sample of what is recorded detailed in written on millions of clay tablets, preserved in the basements of the British Museum and others around the world. Hopefully some day they will be displayed to the public.

Ref : Names, names, names ...

Traces of Tulu -Kannada-Dravida words in early Sumerian language

Sumerian civilization flourished about 3500 to 2000 BC in the Mesopotamia region of northern Africa and Asia Minor, between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. John A.Halloran has reconstructed the Sumerican lexicon and its version 3 is available in the internet.Sumerian language was considered to the spoken and written language in what is now the southern Iraq, during the period 3400 to 1800BC.

Some of the words cited in Halloran's Sumerian lexicon have similar words in Tulu and other Dravidan languages.

Infact, origin of the word Tulu has been disputed for long.It is considered to represent something connected with water. 1.Tuluku (verb) in Kannada means to swish or oscillate or overflow (like water). 2.Tuluve in Tulu also means soft fruit especially refers to ripened soft watery jack fruits.

In the Sumerian lexicon the following entries are found:

1.Tul = public fountain, cistern, lowland or well .
Tu=wash , bath.(ie. activity connected with water)

2.Tu-lu = to make loose or limp.

(Numbers 1, 2 ..shown for relevant comparisons)

Ur or Uru (=city) was a major city during Sumerian civilizatin times. The word Uru or Ooru ( village or township) has got into almost all Dravidan languages including Tulu.Possibly the the name of the once famous Sumerian city was extended to all civilized settlements later on.It is a common suffix now in most of the place names in southern India. Mangalur,Bengalur,Mundkur,Arialur,Trichur,Gudur etc.

Possibly, the suffix -ur became -pur or -pura in Sanskrit. Jaipur,Udaipur,Mathura,Nagpur, Shivpura, etc.

There are also other Sumerian/Dravidian words sharing similar sounding verb -ur. Sumerian
Uru (2) (= firewood.) has similar words in Tulu, Kannada (Uri- is to burn) and other Dravidian languages. Similarly, Sumerian Uru (3)(=to till or grow) has Urpini/Ulpini (Tulu), Ulu(=to till) in Kannada.

One of the numbers,"five" in Sumerian was Ia or i (=five).It is ain in Tulu and aidu in Kannada.

Sig(=sun burnt clay tiles) has analogous Sike or seke (=sunny sultriness) and Sigadi (=fire place/oven) in Tulu and Kannada.

There may be more such analogous words in Sumerian and Tulu/Kannada/Dravidian languages.

The analogy is cited here to suggest that some early Tulu,Kannada and other Dravidian tribes might have migrated from Sumerian region to India.

Found Here

Invention of writing and the culture, people and economy of Sumeria

One of the most remarkable advancements of civilization is writing. In Mesopotamia, writing has been generally assigned as a Sumerian innovation that occurred in three main stages.

Stage one: clay tokens and hollow clay balls called bulla. The tokens themselves represented commodities like animals or grain and the hollow ball, the bulla, was used as a security device. The advantage of this sort of representation is that a trader could trade a herd of goats through a middle man without worry that the middle man might short the sale, keeping a few goats for himself. The middle man knows that the clay ball contains the representative number of goats in the form of clay tokens..

Stage two: bullae with clay tokens, but the outside incised or impressed with numerals. The information on the inside (the tokens) was duplicated on the outside (the impressions). Recording it on the outside probably reassured the middleman that the traders aren’t shorting him, since the number inside and out should both match. Any discrepancy would reveal the guilty party

Stage three: tablets
3a: numeral tablets. The earliest tablets are referred to as proto-cuneiform since they include symbols that refer to numbers. In economic transactions like trade, the most important things to keep track of are numbers. Documents like this are essentially methods of keeping track of numbers: numbers of cattle; numbers of goats; volume of grains like barley; numbers of slaves; etc.
3b: tablets with signs. In Mesopotamia, the earliest script, of course, was cuneiform. Produced by a wedge-shaped stylus, the scribe wrote on clay tablets that stored the text, particularly after firing the clay, for centuries. Once signs get introduced, they begin an evolution to script. A symbol for “head” is a very obvious pictograph that resembles a head in 3100 BCE during the Uruk period. A hundred years later, the relationship can still be made out. By 2500 BCE, however, the Sumerian symbol for head is more abstract and less obvious, though the relationship can be seen when put into context. By adding the symbol for “bread,” the Sumerian word Gu₇ is produced, which means “to eat.”



Putting the advent of writing into perspective with regard to the Sumerian culture is important because of the many “firsts” this allowed the Sumerians to accomplish: the first novel, the first prescription, the first cosmogony, the first farmer’s almanac, the first law codes, and so on. Each of these found in clay tablets uncovered in excavations at sites like Ur, Eridu, and Uruk. It probably isn’t that other cultures didn’t think of these things or have stories, but until writing was invented, they hadn’t any way beyond oral tradition to effectively record them.

Sumerian writing had a profound effect on the rest of Mesopotamia as they engaged in trade to and from regions as far away as Egypt and Anatolia and perhaps even Afghanistan. Copper from Anatolia and lapis lazuli from Afghanistan found its way to Mesopotamia then on to Egypt where lapis was prized. But the Sumerians made good use of it as well.

The impact of Sumerian literature and writing on the ancient Near East is a lasting and profound one. Gilgamesh, clearly a Sumerian story, survived and was passed on to the Akkadians and the Babylonians, where most of the story as it is known today has survived. The story even resonates in Genesis where parts of the Noachian flood myth are nearly line-for-line correlates with Gilgamesh. Cuneiform script itself was adopted and used by cultures across Mesopotamia and Southern Anatolia as well as Egypt. Cuneiform was written in most languages of the day: Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, and Elamite included. And, even after Sumerian ceased being a spoken language, it continued to be an academic language for years much like Latin in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Sumerian People Culture and Economy.
Sumeria had two main centers, Eridu in the south and Nippur in the north, but it had 15 or so main and independent city-states including Eridu, Nippur, Mari, Agad, Ur, and Uruk. Each city-state had its own god or goddess. Eridu’s god was Enki and Uruk’s deity was the goddess Inanna (Ishtar).

The Sumerians adopted the agricultural practices of the region and many if not most of the words they used for agriculture, primitive industry, and local flora and fauna were Semitic or at least non-Sumerian. Words that related to law, politics, sophisticated metalworking and the like were all Sumerian. These distinctions give some clue as to what they brought with them and what was adopted upon arrival to the region. The Sumerians raised goats, pigs, sheep and cattle and grew typical Mesopotamian crops including wheat, barley, lentils, dates, etc., and they used donkeys as beasts of burden. Their agriculture depended heavily on irrigation and they made good use of the shaduf, a tool that allowed water to be lifted from one body and moved to another using a lever balanced on an upright frame. Such technology can lift 2,500 liters of water/day.

Because the region lacked minerals and trees, their architecture was primarily of mudbrick. Sumerians built intricate cities with streets, alleys, temples, and palaces as well as harbors and canals. Extravagant temples and palaces demonstrated that they had the ability to conscript intensive labor for public architecture as well as the wealth to make it happen. Immense ziggurats like that at Ur were constructed in dedication to their gods and aren’t generally believed to be actual places of worship or ceremony, at least not for the public. Indeed, many of the earliest cult centers were exclusive to elites and the public was kept away. The ziggurat may be a representation of mountains and the shrine at the top, if we are to believe Herodotus, was the place “on high” where the god resided. The ziggurat may even have influenced early Egyptian mastabas and the Genesis myth of the Tower of Babel may have been inspired by the ziggurats of Mesopotamia.

The origin of the Sumerian people.
The origin of the Sumerians is simply unknown. What is known is that they were non-Semitic. They didn’t originate from the region for which they are known. This presents some problems for archaeologists such as what were the pre-Sumerian cultures present in the region if the Sumerians are immigrants. And from where did the Sumerians originate. Linguistically speaking, Sumerian is an isolate. It has no known language family, making it even more difficult to pin down the origin of the culture.

One hypothesis is that the Sumerians were invaders at around the Ubaid or Uruk period, but this doesn’t follow since the archaeological record shows continuity from the early Ubaid through the Dynastic periods. Excavations at temple sites show occupation that is clearly Sumerian through lower levels where characteristically Sumerian features aren’t found. Identifiably Sumerian artifacts are found no earlier than the Jemdet Nasr period, but temples like the one at Eridu have levels that go back much further. The best evidence points to a type of acculturation occurring where a cultural exchange happened rather than an invasion.

But that still leaves the question of from where did the Sumerians come? One hypothesis that has fallen in and out of favor (mostly out as near as I can tell) is that the Sumerians arrived from the east via the Persian Gulf. Another is that they arrived from the north from mountainous regions. The latter might explain their affinity for “mountain-like” ziggurats as they attempted to recreate the conditions by which they worshipped in their homelands where shrines may have been constructed atop mountains. Their unique skills in metalworking might also offer a similar clue since ores for such trades would be more readily available in a mountainous homeland. Perhaps they are expatriates or refugees who fled the inundation of the Black Sea around 7150 years ago. This might even have provided an originating source of the flood myth prominent in the Atrahasis and Gilgamesh!


Source : http://hotcupofjoe.blogspot.com/2007/02/rise-of-sumerian-culture.html

The Sumerians

In ancient times the land area now known as modern Iraq was almost equivalent to Mesopotamia, the land between the two rivers Tigris and Euphrates (in Arabic, the Dijla and Furat, respectively), the Mesopotamian plain was called the Fertile Crescent. This region is known as the Cradle of Civilization; was the birthplace of the varied civilizations that moved us from prehistory to history. An advanced civilization flourished in this region long before that of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, for it was here in about 4000BC that the Sumerian culture flourished.

The civilized life that emerged at Sumer was shaped by two conflicting factors: the unpredictability of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which at any time could unleash devastating floods that wiped out entire peoples, and the extreme richness of the river valleys, caused by centuries-old deposits of soil. Thus, while the river valleys of southern Mesopotamia attracted migrations of neighboring peoples and made possible, for the first time in history, the growing of surplus food, the volatility of the rivers necessitated a form of collective management to protect the marshy, low-lying land from flooding.

As surplus production increased and as collective management became more advanced, a process of urbanization evolved and Sumerian civilization took root.

The people of the Tigris and the Euphrates basin, the ancient Sumerians, using the fertile land and the abundant water supply of the area, developed sophisticated irrigation systems and created what was probably the first cereal agriculture as well as the earliest writing, cuneiform - a way of arranging impression stamped on clay by the wedge-like section of chopped-off reed stylus into wet clay.

Through writing, the Sumerians were able to pass on complex agricultural techniques to successive generations; this led to marked improvements in agricultural production. Writing evolved to keep track of property. Clay envelopes marked with the owner's rolled seal were used to hold tokens for goods, the tokens within recording a specific transaction. Later on, the envelope and tokens were discarded and symbols scratched into clay recorded transactions such as 2 bunches of wheat or 7 cows. As writing evolved, pictures gave way to lines pressed into clay with a wedge tip; this allowed a scribe to make many different types of strokes without changing his grip. By 3,000 BC, the script evolved into a full syllabic alphabet.

The commerce of the times is recorded in great depth. Double entry accounting practices were found to be a part of the records. This remarkable innovation has been used to this day, as a standard for record keeping.

It was the custom for all to pay for what they needed at a fair price. Royalty was not exception. The king may have had an edge on getting a "better deal", but it wasn't the law as it was in Egypt where the Pharaoh was the "living god" and as such, owned all things. It seems that everyone had the right to bargain fairly for his or her goods. Unlike their Egyptian neighbors, these people were believers in private property, and the kings were very much answerable to the citizens. In Egypt, all things, including the people and property, were owned by the pharaoh. Sumerians invented the wheel and the first plow in 3700 BC.

Sumerians developed a math system based on the numeral 60, which is the basis of time in the modern world. Sumerian society was "Matriarchal" and women had a highly respected place in society. Banking originated in Mesopotamia (Babylonia) out of the activities of temples and palaces, which provided safe places for the storage of valuables. Initially deposits of grain were accepted and later other goods including cattle, agricultural implements, and precious metals. Another important Sumerian legacy was the recording of literature.

Poetry and epic literature were produced. The most famous Sumerian epic and the one that has survived in the most nearly complete form is the epic of Gilgamesh. The story of Gilgamesh, who actually was king of the city-state of Uruk in approximately 2700 BC, is a moving story of the ruler's deep sorrow at the death of his friend Enkidu, and of his consequent search for immortality. Other central themes of the story are a devastating flood and the tenuous nature of man's existence, and ended by meeting a wise and ancient man who had survived a great flood by building an ark.

Land was cultivated for the first time, early calendars were used and the first written alphabet was invented here. Its bountiful land, fresh waters, and varying climate contributed to the creation of deep-rooted civilization that had fostered humanity from its affluent fountain since thousand of years.

Sumerian states were believed to be under the rule of a local god or goddess, and a bureaucratic system of the priesthood arose to oversee the ritualistic and complex religion. High Priests represented the gods on earth, one of their jobs being to discern the divine will. A favorite method of divination was reading sheep or goat entrails. The priests ruled from their ziggurats, high rising temples of sunbaked brick with outside staircases leading to the shrine on top. The Sumerian gods personified local elements and natural forces. The Sumerians worshiped Anu, the supreme god of heaven, Enlil, god of water, and Ea, god of magic and creator of man. The Sumerians held the belief that a sacred ritual marriage between the ruler and Inanna, goddess of love and fertility brought rich harvests.

Eventually, the Sumerians would have to battle another peoples, the Akkadians, who migrated up from the Arabian Peninsula. The Akkadians were a Semitic people, that is, they spoke a language drawn from a family of languages called Semitic languages; a Semitic languages include Hebrew, Arabic, Assyrian, and Babylonian (the term "Semite" is a modern designation taken from the Hebrew Scriptures; Shem was a son of Noah and the nations descended from Shem are the Semites). When the two peoples clashed, the Sumerians gradually lost control over the city-states they had so brilliantly created and fell under the hegemony of the Akkadian kingdom, which was based in Akkad (Sumerian Agade). This great capital of the largest empire humans had ever seen up until that point that was later to become Babylon, which was the commercial and cultural center of the Middle East for almost two thousand years. In 2340 BC, the great Akkadian military leader, Sargon, conquered Sumer and built an Akkadian empire stretching over most of the Sumerian city-states and extending as far away as Lebanon. Sargon based his empire in the city of Akkad, which became the basis of the name of his people. But Sargon's ambitious empire lasted for only a blink of an eye in the long time spans of Mesopotamian history. In 2125 BC, the Sumerian city of Ur in southern Mesopotamia rose up in revolt, and the Akkadian empire fell before a renewal of Sumerian city-states. Mesopotamia is the suspected spot known as the "Garden of Eden." Ur of the Chaldees, and that's where Abraham came from, (that's just north of the traditional site of the Garden of Eden, about twenty-five miles northeast of Eridu, at present Mughair), was a great and famous Sumerian city, dating from this time. Predating the Babylonian by about 2,000 years, was Noah, who lived in Fara, 100 miles southeast of Babylon (from Bab-ili, meaning "Gate of God").

The early Assyrians, some of the earliest people there, were known to be warriors, so the first wars were fought there, and the land has been full of wars ever since.

The Assyrians were in the northern part of Mesopotamia and the Babylonians more in the middle and southern part.