Ancient Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia) - culture, art, religion. Babylon - the ancient city of Mesopotamia, which was once considered a kind of "megalopolis"

The World History without complexes and stereotypes. Volume 1 Gitin Valery Grigorievich

Mesopotamia (Mesopotamia)

In the southern foothills of the Caucasus, two rivers originate, the Euphrates and the Tigris, which flow into the Persian Gulf. The space bounded by their middle and lower reaches has long been called Mesopotamia (in Greek - Mesopotamia).

During the entire period of ancient history in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates, three lush civilizations, three powers are formed, develop and wither: Sumer, Babylon and Assyria.

The Sumerian civilization is the most ancient not only in this region, but, perhaps, in the entire inhabited world. And perhaps the most mysterious.

She left to her descendants the concepts of a year, which consists of 12 months or 365 days, of the zodiac constellations, of the wheel and the potter's wheel, of bronze and colored glass, of the professional army and the legal code. But at the same time, this civilization left many unresolved issues. For example, in the Sumerian myths, military operations are mentioned, which are carried out with the help of some kind of long metal arrows that carry the “glow of hellfire” (the translation may not be entirely accurate, but the meaning is exactly that). Battle missiles for six thousand years BC? And the fact that the Sumerian warriors thoroughly washed their weapons and clothes with some special solution after the battle? This process is called deactivation. It is a necessary measure of protection against nuclear contamination. So, the description of this process in the Sumerian myths is an indefinite play on words? So, of course, I would like those who, with maniacal persistence, are trying to drive the world into the narrow framework of their life stereotypes.

“Whatever a patient with jaundice looks at, everything seems yellowish to him.”

Tat Lucretius Kar

Apparently, the Sumerians at one time experienced something unimaginably terrifying, some kind of terrible tragedy, which they could not give an exhaustive definition of, but which was clearly imprinted on their worldview.

Sumerian mythology is permeated with chilling horror and a hopeless struggle against evil fate, against what is beyond understanding and therefore especially scary.

The Sumerians completely lack the motives of the afterlife prosperity characteristic of the Egyptians in the bright kingdom of Osiris. Their gods are cruel and merciless, they know neither pity nor mercy, and in the other world there is gloom and suffering. This living world, in the Sumerian perception, is not much better, but still allows for the presence of certain joys that can be obtained at the cost of intense and cruel struggle, suffering and deprivation.

Authorship catchphrase“Momento more” (“Remember death”) does not belong to the Romans, as is commonly believed, but to the Sumerians. It was the Sumerians who proclaimed the constant feeling of the threat of death and, at the same time, the desire to enjoy every moment of a fleeting life as the norm of the worldview.

"Death is an arrow shot at you, and life is the moment that it flies to you."

Al Husri

The interpretation of the Sumerian worldview, wandering from one academic textbook to another, is incredibly amusing. It is based, first of all, on the difficult natural conditions of Mesopotamia, on the floods of the Tigris and Euphrates, on the hot climate, etc. And therefore, they say, such a gloomy philosophy of life arose in these harsh lands. Well, what can I say? To be honest, I really want to turn to the pundit: “Dubina, look at the map!” Indeed, this Mesopotamia was not located in Alaska. Fertile soil, on which each sown grain yielded a crop in the ratio of 1 to 100; date palms; forests full of game and rivers full of fish. Almost the same region with Egypt. As for the philosophy of life, natural conditions if they play some role in its formation, but still far from decisive.

The very life philosophy of this or that people, or rather, the dominant philosophy of this or that people, undoubtedly plays a decisive role in the formation of its spiritual values.

By the way, the Sumerian myth of the global flood arose, if not earlier than the biblical one, then at least independently of it. It features both the ark and the raven that found the earthly firmament.

The most significant literary monument of the Sumerians is the Epic of Gilgamesh. The hero of this epic goes on a long and dangerous path wishing for immortality. His search is painful and full of dangerous adventures. Eventually Gilgamesh returns home. He looks at the high city walls and consoles himself with the thought that if what remains after a person is what he built, then immortality may well lie in his accomplishments.

The Sumerians also left behind such symbols of immortality as stepped towers, the so-called ziggurats. These towers were the central structures of the temple complex. At the top of the multi-stage tower there was a sanctuary, which was considered the abode of the god. There, the priests entered into direct communication with higher powers, and no one can know for sure whether they were monologues or dialogues ...

We know too little for sure.

Well, perhaps knowledge is not at all a necessary condition for the progress of civilization.

Maybe it's for this reason cultural heritage the Sumerians are permeated with such deep sadness.

But the heirs of the Sumerian culture - the Babylonians - were already distinguished by unshakable optimism, and not at all because they knew less, but because they treated their knowledge differently, more soberly, pragmatically - to a certain extent. Yes, if life is a black sheep, then from a black sheep - at least a tuft of wool!

And they took their tuft of wool cheerfully, boldly, recklessly.

It is not for nothing that Babylon is a symbol of vitality, a synonym for hypertrophy of any life phenomenon. There is such a common expression "Babylonian harlot." No one will be able to define the exact parameters of this concept, but anyone will say that it means some kind of super whore, some kind of subverter of all decorum, all moral dogmas, all social stereotypes.

And the expression "Babylonian pandemonium" by itself implies something large-scale, crowded, amazing in its scope. According to the biblical myth, the construction of a huge tower began in the city of Babylon, which was supposed to reach the sky. Naturally, an incredible number of builders took part in the implementation of this daring project. The construction was developing quite successfully, and the Tower of Babel (pillar) was already very high, when God, angry with the presumptuous people, endowed them with different languages, and then, having lost the opportunity to communicate freely with each other, they were forced to stop construction ...

And the very word "Babylon" is synonymous with a large and majestic city, full of temptations and some kind of sophisticated sin, in many respects corresponding to popular ideas about modern Las Vegas.

In the Bible, Babylon is characterized as a city that “did all nations to drink with the wine of its wrathful fornication.”

One way or another, but Babylon was the capital of a powerful kingdom and the largest trading center of Mesopotamia, at least during its heyday (the first half of the 2nd millennium BC).

In the history of mankind, Babylon was the first of the cities corresponding to the concept of "capital of the world."

It is known that in Babylon there were 53 temples of the great gods, 55 temples of the supreme god Marduk, 300 sanctuaries of earthly and underground gods, 600 sanctuaries of heavenly gods, 180 altars to the goddess of war and love Ishtar and 200 altars dedicated to other gods. The crowning glory of this huge complex cult architecture was the so-called Esagila - a 90-meter multi-stage tower (ziggurat), built in honor of the supreme god Marduk.

It goes without saying that all these structures were not empty.

The religious zeal of the Babylonians was stimulated primarily by a powerful sexual instinct, because the temples served as places of mass copulation.

We can say that the sexual ecstasy of the Babylonians gently turned into a religious one. And vice versa.

At that time, temple prostitution was already quite developed, so that men had ample opportunities to make contact with certain deities through intercourse with their priestesses.

"The beginning of fornication is turning to idols."

Book of proverbs. 14;12.

Babylon was considered a classic country of religious prostitution.

Herodotus noted that all the inhabitants of Babylon were obliged to come to the temple of Militta at least once in their lives in order to surrender themselves to some stranger there. Of course, not all of them had the necessary degree of attractiveness, especially given the fierce competition, so some had to wait for their happy occasion pretty long. However, given the huge number of "guests of the capital", the situation of the ugly girls was not so hopeless.

In all other respects, this human hive was the same as all others like it. shopping centers Ancient and all other worlds. And so it was before the country began to rule king Hammurabi(from 1792 to 1750 BC). During his reign in the temples or in the marketplaces, everything continued in its long-established routine, as in the houses of the Babylonians, if we consider the external side of being. But in the inner, in its true essence, being has changed radically, and this change has determined special place Babylon in the history of civilization.

At the beginning of the 20th century, archaeologists found tall pole from black stone. On this pillar, the laws of King Hammurabi were carved in neat cuneiform writing, very likely the first written laws on our planet.

These laws to a certain extent became the foundation for all subsequent legal norms of all peoples and states.

“I, Hammurabi,” was written in the introductory part of this code, “the leader appointed by the gods, the first of the kings who conquered the Euphrates settlements, I put truth and justice into the mouth of the country and gave prosperity to the people.

From now on:

If man will steal the property of the temple or the king, he must be killed; and the one who accepts the stolen must be killed ... "

In the textbooks of the Soviet period, buckets of sarcastic bile poured out on the above lines. Here, they say, how the rulers took care of the safety of their property. Is there any other way to ensure the safety of property?

Now, at the beginning of the 20th century, cases of theft of hundreds of meters of copper wires directly from trolleybus lines are not uncommon. At night. In the morning - in addition to material losses, there was also a surprise for those who were going to arrive at their place of work by trolleybus.

So what will the adherents of abstract humanism advise to do in such cases with caught thieves? A couple of years in a penal colony, where these subjects will feel like pikes in a pond? Freed, they will take up the old, perhaps, and for something new, more impressive.

As Nietzsche wrote in 1887, the Germans for many centuries resorted to terrifyingly cruel means to achieve elementary order in order to "train the 'people of thinkers'.

Unfortunately, there is no other way, and the best way to protect trolleybus wires from theft is to hang a caught thief on one of the desecrated poles, and next to him - a buyer of stolen goods.

But back to the laws of Hammurabi.

They are based on the well-known law of Nature, which says: “The force of action is equal to the force of reaction” (yes, physics is the mouthpiece of Nature, this is not history or sociology for you).

According to the laws of Hammurabi, theft in any of its manifestations is punishable by death, and this is absolutely fair. A person's property arises as a result of the expenditure of his vital energy, therefore, by encroaching on it, the thief thereby encroaches on a person's life. This often manifests itself in literally when, for example, they steal a car purchased at the cost of many years of hardship, or steal a wallet from an old woman with her miserable but vital pension. I don’t know about the humanists, but I don’t see any other way out of this situation, except for the public and, moreover, the shameful execution of the guilty.

Or the following: “If a person strikes an equal on the cheek, he must pay a fine”. Who will object to this just demand? Is that the champions of a general massacre, which for some reason is beneficial to them.

And here “If a person hits the cheek of the highest (noble, priest), he should be hit 60 times with a whip of oxhide”. This is very serious, on the verge, perhaps, of the death penalty, but on the other hand, is not the old saying true: "Power cannot be touched"?

Otherwise chaos will reign.

And in conclusion it was written: “I, Hammurabi, the just king, to whom the god of the Sun granted laws…”

This is truly a contribution to history.

In this regard, the literature of Babylon should also be noted.

"The Poem of Atrahasis" contains a vivid and figurative description of the global flood that came shortly after the repentance of the gods in the creation of people.

In the epic, called "When Above," its own version of the Sumerian poem about Gilgamesh is being developed, who continues to search for ephemeral immortality and, of course, does not find ... And the problem of good and evil is reflected in the famous dialogue between a slave and his master. He gives an order to a slave, and this order is immediately and unquestioningly executed. Then the master gives an order of the exact opposite meaning, and it is carried out with the same diligence. And then the master asks: “What, then, is considered good, and what is evil, if both find such unhindered use for themselves?” The slave answers the master: “Break your neck and mine and throw it into the river, because there is neither good nor evil”.

So that. And the size of the trade turnover in the markets of Babylon does not in the least excite the refined and capricious muse of Clio, just as she does not care about the yields on the fields of this state, nor the threatening gestures of the Babylonian (and not only Babylonian) military. What's the point? 232 years after the death of King Hammurabi, Babylon was conquered by the mountain tribes, who ruled there for a long time, but as they came, they went home, like snow under the rays of the Sun.

Babylon blossomed again, and in such a lush and riotous color as the world has never seen before.

Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylonia in 605-562. BC, became famous, first of all, for his urban planning zeal. He surrounded the capital with powerful fortress walls, so powerful that two war chariots could pass on them.

The city gates looked at all four directions of the world, from where merchants, travelers, adventurers, artisans, prostitutes, wandering warriors and many other people, attracted by stories of fabulous luxury and equally fabulous freedom of morals, flocked to the legendary Babylon in inexhaustible streams. Incidentally, the main ones facing rising sun, the city gates were dedicated to the goddess of war and love - Ishtar (Ashtoret, Astarte), and this in itself says a lot.

By the will of King Nebuchadnezzar II, the second wonder of the world was created in Babylon - the so-called Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Such is the real contribution of Nebuchadnezzar II to History.

And his other actions, although they were distinguished by their scale, however, no longer bore that personal beginning, which is so highly appreciated by the muse of History. It is known that in 605 BC. this king captured the territories of Syria and Palestine. In 597, and then in 587 (or in 586 BC), he destroyed the rebellious Jerusalem, liquidated the Kingdom of Judah and took most of its inhabitants into captivity. But this was quite within the power of any experienced military leader, but the gardens of Babylon ...

Semiramide- the legendary queen of Babylon (according to other sources - Assyria). At least, her Assyrian name is also known - Shammuramat. She ruled at the end of the 9th century. BC. She had no direct relation to Nebuchadnezzar II and could not have had it because of the obvious age difference (IX century and VII century), so the “Gardens of Babylon” is a more traditional name than a real one. They also say about Semiramis that she allowed incestuous marriages and married her son, whom she herself killed after some time. Whatever it was, but the lady is outstanding, and, apparently, it is not by chance that the second wonder of the world is associated with her name.

In 538 B.C. Babylon was taken by the Persians.

Theoretically, this was a completely unthinkable enterprise, given the power of the fortifications and the garrison protecting them, but in practice everything was simple and obscene: the Babylonian priests treacherously opened one of the four city gates. Apparently, something was not shared with the secular authorities. Well, on the tablets of History, this happens all the time ...

Goddess with snakes XVII century BC

And after the short domination of the Persians in Mesopotamia, the real pearl of this region becomes Assyria.

To a large extent, Assyria can be considered the heir of the Babylonian civilization, the successor of its achievements, but it also transformed them, adapted them to the basic requirements of its state ideology. Religion, culture, and all, in principle, the social institutions of Babylon were subjected to such an impact.

If before the power was means achievement of economic power, fabulous luxury and loud glory in its tinsel-oriental sense, then in the Assyrian version the power was already purpose, in a self-valuable way, the appearance of which was formed from the symbols of sovereign greatness.

Assyrian culture breathed the pathos of power, invincibility, wisdom and justice of royal power. Religious motives gave way to secular ones. majestic temples challenged even more majestic palaces built on artificial hills and surrounded by fortified walls. This was the famous palace of the king Sargon II, built in the vicinity of the city of Nineveh. The entrance to it was guarded by skillfully carved figures of winged bulls with human heads, the inner walls were decorated with bas-reliefs on military or hunting themes, demonstrating the highest art of Assyrian sculptors.

In the king's palace Ashurbanipala (Sardanapala) was a masterpiece of the world visual arts- Bas-relief "Dying lioness". This is undoubtedly the creation of a great master, much more valuable to History than his royal customer.

However, Ashurbanipal went down in history not only as a formidable tyrant and indefatigable conqueror of foreign territories, but also as a thoughtful collector of ancient written monuments. He possessed the richest library at that time, consisting of more than two tens of thousands of cuneiform tablets, which reflected the most diverse aspects of life. “I have learned the most secret secrets of the art of writing, - Ashurbanipal noted on one of the tablets of his library, - I read in the heavenly and earthly spheres and pondered for a long time on what I read ".

Well, not bad at all for an autocrat.

But the lifestyle of that era was least of all characterized by blissful pastime in the quiet of libraries. The authorities need a constant show of force to maintain their image.

The Assyrians masterfully mastered the art of war, as evidenced by imperishable clay tablets:

“Look, here they come quickly and irresistibly, no one will doze off and fall asleep. The hooves of their horses are like stone, and the wheels are like a violent whirlwind. Their roar is like that of a lion. No one can hide from them."

“Across the abysses and gorges, I made their blood flow like rivers; steppes, plains, heights I painted like scarlet wool; I lit the surrounding villages like bonfires; I turned the fresh water of the canal into a swamp. My warriors broke into the beautiful gardens and let the iron ax rattle ... I did not leave a wheel.

And if you ask them why, in the end, all these vile things that they were so proud of were committed? And not only them. The history of mankind is literally stuffed with such abominations. When you read this, the thought involuntarily arises that one global flood was, perhaps, not enough ...

War, in truth, is not such a disgusting phenomenon, if we consider it as a clash on a huge field of two conflicting armies, and then God will decide, but such as “I turned the fresh water of the canal into a swamp” can only be considered a crime, and no the personal valor of its participants will not atone for such a terrible sin. And what the hell can be valor here?

Speaking of virtue. Herodotus and cuneiform texts tell many interesting facts about the reign of one of the most valiant rulers of Assyria, whose name was Sennacherib(reigned 705-680 BC).

This worthy man began his reign with a radical revision of his genealogy. Renouncing your own father, the king Sargon II, he declared himself a direct descendant of the demigods Adapa and Gilgamesh.

He often fought with neighbors, devastating their cities and villages, brutally suppressing uprisings in the occupied areas.

He conquered almost all of Asia Minor, and only Babylon for many years remained a white spot on the map of the victorious acquisitions of the valiant Sennacherib. All these years he circled like a kite around the famous city, the most revered cult center of Mesopotamia, waiting for his finest hour.

And that hour has come. In 689 B.C. Sennacherib, having previously bled all possible allies of Babylon, surrounded him and took him by storm.

After the "heroic" sack of the great city, its inhabitants were partly resettled, partly given into slavery.

Countless treasures were taken out by Sennacherib from Babylon, but this action, as it turned out, was only a small part of a comprehensive plan to trample on shrines. After the removal of the treasures, Sennacherib ordered to demolish all the residential quarters of Babylon, all administrative and places of worship, that is, wipe the city off the face of the earth. But that's not all. Having blocked part of the Euphrates channel, he let the waters of the river flow through the ruined city, turning it into a swamp. And at the end of the operation, samples Babylonian land were solemnly scattered to the wind ...

And seven years later, Sennacherib became a victim of a palace coup. He was killed in the temple by his two sons, who, however, were soon forced to flee, fleeing the revenge of their brother, the third son of the valiant Assyrian king Sennacherib.

These, for the most part, were the historical realities in which the characters of this heroic farce acted.

Right word, it is better and, no doubt, immeasurably more moral to serve the insatiable gods in the manner described by Herodotus: “Every woman in the country should once in her life sit down at the temple of Aphrodite and give herself up to some stranger. servant. But the majority do the following: they sit in the sacred grove of Aphrodite with wreaths of ropes on their heads - there are many of them, because some leave and others come.

From the circle formed by the women, straight roads diverge in all directions, along which strangers pass in order to choose one of those seated for themselves. Since a woman came and sat down here, she cannot return home until she has received money from a stranger and has not entered into intercourse with him outside the sanctuary. Throwing money to her, he must say: in the name of the goddess Militta. Militta is called by the Assyrians Aphrodite. No matter how much money he gives her, she should not reject it. It is forbidden because the money is dedicated to the deity. She should go with the first person who gave her money, and should not refuse anyone..

It would be better if History kept in memory something like this, and not seas of blood shed, among other things, completely in vain.

Laurels-covered robbery,

Both land and sea

Not worth praise.

I'm ready to give my blood

In that life-creating battle

What we call love.

I glorify the triumph of the world,

Contentment and prosperity.

It's nicer to make one

How to destroy a dozen!

Robert Burns

Even with a cursory acquaintance with ancient history one gets the impression that, of course, they did something, but they exterminated people much more and with immeasurably greater zeal.

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Although idols are not ordered to be created, but I still have them ... and the second in importance is Agatha Christie. There are enough reasons for this, but I was mainly inspired when I read this from her:

I have never had a professional view of things, I could not accurately remember the dates of the life of the Assyrian kings, but I have always been terribly interested in the human aspect of what archeology reveals.
I have never had enough archeological scholarship to appreciate the strata, excavation plans, and the like, discussed with such fervor by modern scientific schools. I admit without any embarrassment that I am only interested in handicrafts and art objects that are taken out of the ground. I understand that the first, perhaps, is more important, but for me the greatest charm is always hidden in the products of human hands: small ivory tabernacles, on which musicians with their instruments are carved in a circle, a figure of a boy with wings, a wonderful head of an ugly woman but full of vitality and character...

It was like an insight, or rather, I could not express my own views on history in general, and on archeology in particular. For me, in the same way, various specific events such as the redistribution of power and territories, the change of dynasties, religious reforms and movements, etc. are not of particular interest and importance. But on the other hand, stories about human destinies, ups, dramas and achievements in a particular time period have an invariable charm for me. So, I want to start compiling my atypical historical classification. Namely, I want to collect different centuries and eras, perhaps not the most fateful, but the most amazing, courageous, popular stories and events. Today's post will kick off. And this will be the beginning of Mesopotamia.

I have long been disturbed by such a blatant discrepancy: perhaps the most unattractive regions in the modern world that Syria and Iraq occupy today were mysterious Mesopotamia in the past. And Mesopotamia, with its Sumerian traditions and Babylonian kings, has indisputable merit in the development of human civilization. As for me, she eclipsed in this all other "superpowers" of antiquity. I will now just list some of the achievements and amazing facts, I think they will convince you too.

The most intelligible references to the use, and in fact the invention of the wheel, date back to the 4th millennium BC! And these references, as you understand, were found on the territory of Mesopotamia.
The famous cuneiform of Sumer is, in fact, the beginnings of human writing in general.
Modern historians usually name the three most ancient cities in the world, the settlement of which has not been interrupted for centuries and millennia. One of these three is Syrian Damascus.
One of the Babylonian kings, Hammurabi, issued the very first legal laws in the world.
Another ruler of Babylon - Nebuchadnezzar, in addition to his other qualities, was distinguished by his love of art. He arranged the first museums of antiquities in human history.
Metal coins and cylinder seals are also Mesopotamian inventions.
The real-life ziggurat of Babylon called Etemenanki (height 91 meters) is immortalized in the biblical tradition of the Tower of Babel.

Alas! both the Tower of Babel and other buildings have not survived to this day due to the use of not so durable building material as clay bricks. And modern revolutions and wars in this region have dealt with the heritage of universal human significance in a completely barbaric way. Where and what can you still see from the remnants of Mesopotamian culture outside the hotspots of Iraq and Syria?

Gate of the goddess Ishtar, built in Babylon in 575 BC. - the only thing architectural structure period, the remnants of which have survived to this day. These individual fragments can be seen in various museums around the world (Istanbul, Paris, Detroit and Chicago, London). But the most complete reconstruction is in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin
The British Museum, London, stores exhibits found by archaeological expeditions in Syria, Iran, Iraq. Agatha Christie was a member of these expeditions ...
The Tower of Babel served as a source of inspiration for many European artists. The most famous work with such a plot is the work of the artist Pieter Brueghel the Elder. Two paintings with the established authorship of Brueghel are kept in the museums of Vienna and Rotterdam, one, presumably by the Dutchman, is in the Dresden Gallery.
The stele with the laws of Hammurabi is in the Louvre. The photo below is a copy that I saw in Berlin

Babylon is one of the oldest civilizations, rooted in the kingdom of Sumer. The topic is extremely broad and interesting. Suffice it to mention the Tower of Babel, a myth that entered the Christian religion, or the myth of the Deluge, first found in Sumerian cuneiform tablets. Since it is impossible to grasp the immensity, let us consider the roots of this civilization, namely, the kingdom of Sumer.

Sumer is the oldest and most mysterious, according to scientists, civilization on Earth. It seems to me that this is not entirely true. We agree that this is the oldest known and correctly dated civilization.

The thing is that the ancient Sumerians used a very durable material as a “carrier of information” - clay tablets, and even burnt ones. Such material is not afraid of time, fire and water. Plus dry climate.

And that is why we can learn something about what happened in 4 thousand years BC. in the delta of the Tigris and Euphrates there was a highly developed civilization. If we assume that other, no less developed civilizations used less durable information carriers, say, a natural product - birch bark, and the buildings were destroyed by a glacier, then we are waiting for the discovery of several more similar civilizations. As an example, the Harappan kingdom in the Indus Valley, comparable in time to the Sumerian. It surpasses it many times in area, most likely surpasses the latter in terms of culture, but the written sources that have come down to us cannot be deciphered and therefore we know very, very little about this civilization and in modern society they talk little about it.

But that's in the future, but now...

The Sumerian civilization, which arose out of nowhere about 4 thousand years BC. one of the most mysterious. First, it is completely incomprehensible where they came from. Judging by the level of technology, they came from where these technologies were already developed. Taking into account the place of penetration of the Sumerians in Mesopotamia, they came from the sea, and, therefore, they should have already mastered shipping and navigation, and therefore, had an idea about astronomy. Other indirect signs indicate that the homeland of the Sumerians was located in the mountains. This is evidenced by the fact, according to scientists, that the Sumerians built their religious buildings on artificial elevations.

But, one way or another, having come to Mesopotamia, according to scientists, a relatively small group, they first very quickly mastered the Euphrates Delta, built their cities there and moved to colonize the north of Mesopotamia.

The extremely high level of technology of the ancient Sumerians is somewhat surprising. Arriving in Mesopotamia, they almost immediately took up irrigation, and the places there are swampy. Having created a system of channels, and keeping it in working condition, they had an excess of products. The next technological breakthrough is baked clay. It should be noted that the reed, which grew in abundance in those places, is useless fuel. But there is oil, or rather bitumen, literally oozing from the ground. And this fuel will be more serious, and it is this, according to scientists, that allowed the ancient Sumerians to produce building materials from baked clay in large quantities and build well-fortified cities and places of worship. Ruins that scientists are still studying.

Most likely, it was the presence of oil that became the competitive advantage that allowed the ancient Sumerians to create such a highly developed civilization.

The next mystery of the Sumerians is that, according to scientists, they are not relatives of the Semitic tribes that inhabited this area. I will make a reservation that the term “Semitic” does not mean Jews. Arabs are also Semites! This difference between the Sumerians follows from linguistics and other indirect signs. Apparently, by the time the Sumerians arrived in Mesopotamia, they already had a written language.

The scientists gathered the maximum information from clay tablets, which have come down to us in abundance. There are household documents, and children's, schoolchildren's "tests of the pen", there are also epic works, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, which give a clear idea of the social structure and beliefs of the ancient Sumerians.

It is worth mentioning that scientists attribute the invention of money to the ancient Sumerians. Or rather, not the invention of money itself, but their inclusion in some rather intricate economic construction. And it was there, for the first time, that money began to lose its own use value, like, for example, gold, and began to be replaced by certain “surrogates”. Conventionally, this can be expressed as follows: the Sumerians invented the "nominal value" of banknotes.

Well, speaking of the Sumerian civilization, it is difficult not to mention the studies of Zecharia Setchin, who proves that under the names of the Sumerian gods - Enke, Enlil, Ishtar, etc. very specific living beings appear, but aliens. And there, in the Sumerian tablets, Setchin saw the technology of creating a person as a creature obtained by genetic engineering.

Read at your leisure, very convincingly, the beast, sets out!

Everything that happened next on the territory of Mesopotamia is the logical development of the Sumerian civilization, but not quite by the Sumerians themselves. In ancient Babylon, we see the same gods, the same technologies, the same writing, or rather cuneiform, but in a different language.

“Everyone will converge in Mesopotamia,
Here is Eden and here is the beginning
Here once a common speech
The word of God sounded...

(Konstantin Mikhailov)

While wild nomads roamed the territory of ancient Europe, very interesting (sometimes inexplicable) events took place in the East with might and main. They are colorfully written in the Old Testament and in other historical sources. For example, such well-known biblical stories as the Flood happened just on the territory of Mesopotamia.

Ancient Mesopotamia without any embellishment can be called the cradle of civilization. It was on this land that the first eastern civilization was born around the 4th century BC. Such states of Mesopotamia (Ancient Mesopotamia in Greek), like Sumer and Akkad, gave mankind writing and amazing temple buildings. Let's go on a journey through this land full of secrets!

Geographical position

What was the name of Mesopotamia? Mesopotamia. The second name of Mesopotamia is Mesopotamia. You can also hear the word Naharaim - this is also she, only in Hebrew.

Mesopotamia is a historical and geographical area located between and the Euphrates. Now there are three states on this land: Iraq, Syria and Türkiye. The history of Mesopotamia developed in this territory.

Located in the very center of the Middle East, the region is bounded from the west by the Arabian Platform, from the east by the foothills of the Zagros. In the south, Mesopotamia is washed by the waters of the Persian Gulf, and in the north, the picturesque Ararat Mountains rise.

Mesopotamia is a flat plain stretching along two great rivers. In shape, it looks like an oval figure - such is the amazing Mesopotamia (the map confirms this).

Division of Mesopotamia into regions

Historians conventionally divide Mesopotamia into:

In the territory Ancient Mesopotamia at different times there were four ancient kingdoms:

Sumer;
Akkad;
Babylonia;
Assyria.

Why did Mesopotamia become the cradle of civilization?

About 6 thousand years ago, an amazing event took place on our planet: at about the same time, two civilizations were born - Egypt and Ancient Mesopotamia. The nature of civilization is both similar and unlike the first ancient state.

The similarity lies in the fact that both originated in territories with favorable conditions for human life. Not similar in that each of them distinguishes unique story(the first thing that comes to mind: there were pharaohs in Egypt, but not in Mesopotamia).

The topic of the article, nevertheless, is the state of Mesopotamia. Therefore, we will not deviate from it.

Ancient Mesopotamia is a kind of oasis in the desert. The area is surrounded by rivers on both sides. And from the north - mountains that protect the oasis from humid winds from Armenia.

Such favorable natural features have made this land attractive for ancient man. Surprisingly, a comfortable climate is combined with the opportunity to engage in agriculture. The soil is so fertile and rich in moisture that grown fruits are juicy, and sprouted legumes are delicious.

The first to notice this were the ancient Sumerians, who settled this territory about 6 thousand years ago. They learned how to skillfully grow various plants and left behind rich history, the riddles of which are still being solved by enthusiastic people.

A bit of conspiracy: about the origin of the Sumerians

Modern history does not answer the question of where the Sumerians came from. There are many assumptions about this, but the scientific community has not yet come to a consensus. Why? Because the Sumerians stood out strongly against the background of other tribes inhabiting Mesopotamia.

One of the obvious differences is the language: it is not similar to any of the dialects spoken by the inhabitants of neighboring territories. That is, it has no resemblance to Indo-European language- the forerunner of most modern languages.

Also, the appearance of the inhabitants of Ancient Sumer is not at all typical for the inhabitants of those places. The tablets depict people with even oval faces, surprisingly large eyes, fine features and above average height.

Another point that historians pay attention to is the unusual culture of an ancient civilization. One of the hypotheses says that the Sumerians are representatives of a highly developed civilization that flew from outer space to our planet. This point of view is rather strange, but it has a right to exist.

How it actually happened is unclear. But one thing can be said with accuracy - the Sumerians gave a lot to our civilization. One of their undeniable achievements is the invention of writing.

Ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia

Different peoples inhabited the extended territory of Mesopotamia. We will highlight two main ones (the history of Mesopotamia without them would not have been so rich):

Sumerians;
Semites (to be more precise, Semitic tribes: Arabs, Armenians and Jews).

Based on this, we will talk about the most interesting events and historical figures.

Sumer: a brief historical background

It was the first written civilization to emerge in southeastern Mesopotamia from the 4th to 3rd century BC. Now on this area is the modern state of Iraq (Ancient Mesopotamia, the map again helps us orient ourselves).

The Sumerians are the only non-Semitic people on the territory of Mesopotamia. Numerous linguistic and cultural studies confirm this. official history says that the Sumerians came to the territory of Mesopotamia from some mountainous Asian country.

They began their journey along Mesopotamia from the east: they settled along the mouths of the rivers and mastered the irrigation economy. The first city where the representatives of this ancient civilization stopped was Eredu. Further, the Sumerians moved deep into the plain: they did not subjugate local population, but assimilated; sometimes they even adopted some cultural achievements of wild tribes.

The history of the Sumerians is a fascinating process of struggle between various groups people under the leadership of one king or another. The state reached its heyday under the ruler Umma Lugalzages.

The Babylonian historian Beross in his work divided Sumerian history into two periods:

before the Flood (meaning the Great Flood and the story of Noah, described in the Old Testament);
after the Flood.

Culture of Ancient Mesopotamia (Sumer)

The first settlements of the Sumerians were original - they were small towns surrounded by stone walls; lived in them from 40 to 50 thousand people. important city in the southeast of the country was Ur. The center of the Sumerian kingdom was recognized as the city of Nippur, located in the center of the country. Known for the large temple of God Enlil.

The Sumerians were quite advanced civilization Let's list what they achieved heights.

In agriculture. This is evidenced by the agricultural almanac that has come down to us. It tells in detail how to properly grow plants, when they need to be watered, how to properly plow the soil.
In craft. The Sumerians knew how to build houses and how to use the potter's wheel.
In writing. It will be discussed in our next chapter.

The legend of the origin of writing

Most important inventions happen in rather strange ways, especially when it comes to ancient times. The emergence of writing is no exception.

Two ancient Sumerian rulers argued among themselves. This was expressed in the fact that they made riddles to each other and exchanged them through their ambassadors. One ruler turned out to be very inventive and came up with a puzzle so complicated that his ambassador could not remember it. Then writing had to be invented.

The Sumerians wrote on clay boards with reed sticks. Initially, the letters were depicted in the form of signs and hieroglyphs, then - in the form of connected syllables. This process was called cuneiform writing.

The culture of Ancient Mesopotamia is inconceivable without the Sumerian. Neighboring peoples borrowed the skill of writing from this civilization.

Babylonia (Babylonian kingdom)

A state arose at the beginning of the second millennium BC in the south of Mesopotamia. Having existed for about 15 centuries, it left behind a rich history and interesting monuments architecture.

The Semitic people of the Amorites inhabited the territory of the Babylonian state. They adopted the earlier culture of the Sumerians, but they already spoke the Akkadian language, which belongs to the Semitic group.

It arose on the site of the earlier Sumerian city of Kadingir.

The key historical figure was In the course of his military campaigns, he subjugated many neighboring cities. He also wrote a work that has come down to us - "The Laws of Mesopotamia (Hammurabi)".

Let us tell in more detail about the rules of social life written down by the wise king. The laws of Hammurabi are phrases written on a clay tablet that regulate the rights and obligations of the average Babylonian. Historians suggest that the principle of "an eye for an eye" was first formulated by Hammurabi.

The ruler came up with some principles himself, some he rewrote from earlier Sumerian sources.

The laws of Hammurabi say that ancient civilization was really developed, because people followed certain rules and already had an idea of what is good and what is bad.

The original work is in the Louvre, an exact copy can be found in some Moscow museum.

Babel Tower

The cities of Mesopotamia are a topic for a separate work. We will stop at Babylon, the very place where the interesting events described in the Old Testament took place.

First, we will tell an interesting biblical story about the Tower of Babel, then - the point of view of the scientific community on this matter. The legend of the Tower of Babel is a story about the appearance of different languages on Earth. The first mention of it can be found in the Book of Genesis: the event took place after the Flood.

In those ancient times, mankind was a single people, therefore, all people spoke the same language. They moved south and came to downstream Tigris and Euphrates. There they decided to found a city (Babylon) and build a tower as high as the sky. The work was in full swing ... But then God intervened in the process. He created different languages, so people stopped understanding each other. It is clear that very soon the construction of the tower was stopped. The end of history was the resettlement of people in different parts of our planet.

What does he think science community about the Tower of Babel? Scientists speculate that Babel Tower was one of the ancient temples for observing the stars and conducting religious rites. Such structures were called ziggurats. The highest temple (91 meters high) was located in Babylon. Its name sounded like "Etemenanke". The literal translation of the word is "The house where the heavens meet the Earth."

Assyrian Empire

The first mention of Assyria dates back to the 24th century BC. The state existed for two thousand years. And in the seventh century BC ceased to exist. The Assyrian Empire is recognized as the first in the history of mankind.

The state was located in the Northern Mesopotamia (on the territory of modern Iraq). It was distinguished by militancy: a lot of cities were subjugated and destroyed by Assyrian commanders. They captured not only the territory of Mesopotamia, but also the territory of the kingdom of Israel and the island of Cyprus. There was an attempt to subdue the ancient Egyptians, but it was unsuccessful - after 15 years, the inhabitants of this country regained their independence.

Cruel measures were applied to the captured population: the Assyrians were obliged to pay a monthly tribute.

The major Assyrian cities were:

Ashur;
Kalah;
Dur-Sharrukin (Sargon's Palace).

Assyrian culture and religion

Here again one can trace the connection with the Sumerian culture. The Assyrians spoke in a northern dialect. In schools, they studied the literary works of the Sumerians and Babylonians; some of the moral norms of ancient civilizations were adopted by the Assyrians. On palaces and temples, local architects depicted a bold lion as a symbol of the military success of the empire. Assyrian literature, again, is associated with the campaigns of local rulers: the kings have always been described as brave and courageous people, while their opponents, on the contrary, are shown as cowardly and petty (here one can notice the obvious reception of state propaganda).

Religion of Mesopotamia

The ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia are inextricably linked to the local religion. Moreover, their inhabitants sacredly believed in the gods and necessarily performed certain rituals. Speaking very generally, it was polytheism (belief in various gods) that distinguished Ancient Mesopotamia. To better understand the religion of Mesopotamia, you need to read the local epic. One of the most striking literary works of that time is the myth of Gilgamesh. A thoughtful reading of this book suggests that the hypothesis of an unearthly origin of the Sumerians is not groundless.

The ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia gave us three main mythologies:

Sumero-Akkadian.
Babylonian.
Assyrian.

Let's consider each of them in more detail.

Sumero-Akkadian mythology

It included all the beliefs of the Sumerian-speaking population. It also includes the religion of the Akkadians. The gods of Mesopotamia are conditionally united: each Big City had its own pantheon and its temples. However, similarities can be found.

We list the important gods for the Sumerians:

An (Anu - Akkad.) - the god of the sky, responsible for the Cosmos and the stars. He was very revered by the ancient Sumerians. He was considered a passive ruler, that is, he did not interfere in people's lives.
Enlil is the lord of the air, the second most important god for the Sumerians. Only, unlike An, was an active deity. He was revered as responsible for fertility, productivity and peaceful life.
Ishtar (Inanna) is a key goddess in Sumero-Akkadian mythology. Information about her is very contradictory: on the one hand, she is the patroness of fertility and good relations between a man and a woman, and on the other, a fierce warrior. Such inconsistencies arise due to the large number of different sources that contain references to it.
Umu (the Sumerian pronunciation) or Shamash (the Akkadian version, which speaks of the similarity of the language with Hebrew, since "shemesh" means the sun).

Babylonian mythology

The main ideas for their religion were adopted from the Sumerians. True, with significant complications.

The Babylonian religion was built on the belief of man in his impotence before the gods of the pantheon. It is clear that such an ideology was based on fear and limited the development of ancient man. The priests managed to build a similar structure: they spent in ziggurats (majestic high temples) various manipulations, including a complex ritual of sacrifice.

In Babylonia, the following gods were revered:

Tammuz - was the patron of agriculture, vegetation and fertility. There is a connection with a similar Sumerian cult of the resurrecting and dying god of vegetation.
Adad is the patron of thunder and rain. A very powerful and evil deity.
Shamash and Sin are the patrons of the heavenly bodies: the sun and the moon.

Assyrian mythology

The religion of the warlike Assyrians is very similar to the Babylonian. Most of the rituals, traditions and legends came to the people of the Northern Mesopotamia from the Babylonians. The latter borrowed, as mentioned earlier, their religion from the Sumerians.

Important gods were:

Ashur is the main god. The patron of the entire Assyrian kingdom, created not only all the other mythological heroes, but also himself.
Ishtar is the goddess of war.
Ramman - responsible for good luck in military battles, brought good luck to the Assyrians.

Considered the gods of Mesopotamia and the cults of the ancient peoples - a fascinating topic, rooted in a very old times. The conclusion suggests itself that the main inventors of religion were the Sumerians, whose ideas were adopted by other peoples.

rich cultural and historical heritage left us living in Mesopotamia.

It is a pleasure to study the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, as they are associated with interesting and instructive myths. And everything that concerns the Sumerians is generally one continuous riddle, the answers to which have not yet been found. But historians and archaeologists continue to "dig the ground" in this direction. Anyone can join them and also study this most interesting and very ancient civilization.

Mesopotamia

What did the inhabitants of Mesopotamia look like, what clothes did they wear, did they like to listen to music? Answers to these questions can be found by carefully looking at the reliefs that have come down to us in the palaces of the Assyrian-Babylonian rulers.

The images of musical scenes on the reliefs of Western Asia are indirect evidence that music was of great importance in the life of these peoples. The Assyrians used various musical instruments: lyre, lute, flute and hand drum.

The ideal of Assyro-Babylonian beauty was solidity and massiveness. They, unlike the slender and graceful Egyptians, depicted themselves as massive and clumsy, with powerful muscles.

Sumerian monuments have preserved for us the type of the most ancient men's clothing, the so-called kaunakes, which replaced clothing made from animal skin and often imitated fur. The love of fur was preserved among the Assyrians. Their cloaks, decorated with scarves and capes, were also originally trimmed with fur, which later began to be replaced with fringes.

Assyrian national clothing was a shirt. Among the common people, it reached the knees and was tied with a sash, rich people wore a multi-colored shirt to the heels and decorated with tassels at the bottom. Fringed scarves were worn only by dignitaries. The staff, which initially served as a symbol of royal power, later began to be used by all noble people.

The Assyrians paid special attention to hair decoration: hairstyle, beard, mustache, sideburns. The rulers wore long hair, often tied in a bun. The beard and mustache were carefully curled. Golden threads were woven into the beard, eyebrows were blackened, and the face was whitened and blushed.

Assyro-Babylonian furniture is simple and massive, lacking the soft, dynamic lines that the Egyptians used. The dwellings had chairs, stools, ceremonial thrones, couches, benches, canopies.

The Assyro-Babylonian ornament is rich in images of fantastic animals and plants.

The Assyrians sailed in simple boats, which were woven from strong rods, covered with leather and had a round shape. In addition to boats, they also had rafts, with leather, air-filled furs.

Herodotus found the ships of Mesopotamia the most amazing of what he saw in this country.

The rulers raised their power to the gods, and the entire spiritual culture of Sumer was permeated with a religious worldview. It completely determined the development of architecture and fine arts of the Ancient Mesopotamia. The temple of the patron deity, in the construction of which all the inhabitants took part, occupied central location in the city.

Usually it was built of unbaked raw bricks on a high artificial hill. The massive walls of the building were divided vertically by alternating ledges and niches. Inside the temple there was an open courtyard, from where one could get into narrow and long halls with vaulted ceilings. A special role in Sumerian architecture was played by stepped temples - ziggurats (which means "mountain house").

One of these temples - the ziggurat of the moon god Nanna in Ur (XXI century BC) - stood on a ten-meter-high platform. At its base lay a rectangle measuring 65x43 m. Three steps rose above it, which were crowned with a small temple, lined with blue tiles. The steps of the ziggurat were connected by ladders.

During the days of solemn festivities, thousands of spectators contemplated the processions of priests, who, to the sound of music, climbed the stairs to the temple.