Afleveringen
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Guest: Stacy
First, a story about Enlil, the Sumerian god of kingship, and his future wife Ninlil; he sees her bathing in a canal in their hometown of Nippur, and the narrative isn't especially concerned how consensual the resulting sexual encounter is.
Then, we visit Nippur, a temple center which one scholar called the "Mesopotamian Vatican", starting with a cylinder seal from a very early level of the later Inanna Temple complex. Then, we look at the first certain temple from that complex, including what may be a shrine to the mother/crafting goddess Nin-SAR.
Then, we visit level VIIB of the same temple, dating to around the same time as the Fara texts from Shuruppak and Abu Salabikh, and look at the various inscribed objects dedicated to Inanna (and Nin-SAR).
Then, we look at a few less-documented aspects of this period of Nippur's history: Enlil's E-kur temple complex (archaeologically invisible before the late 2200s), its municipal government (we know the names of a few ensis, but not much more), and a handful of burials (nothing fancy, compared to what's coming next episode).
Finally, we finish with a short incantation from around this time.
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Works cited
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Guests: Lily, Annika
First: a literary debate between two women (much of its meaning hidden beneath several layers of abstraction). It tells us a lot about public expectations of Sumerian housewives, but one could argue that it tells us more about their private anxieties (as envisioned by their husbands): sex, property, and enslaved women.
Then, we visit Abu Salabikh, the first major city downriver from Kish, in the north-central alluvium. We're primarily here for its Fara tablets (from the 26th century BCE), which are primarily scribal rather than administrative, for what may turn out to be interesting reasons.
After wondering why they moved the entire city shortly after 2900 BCE, we take a look at these tablets and their contents: gods, languages, advancements in the cuneiform writing system, and so on. Then, we look at the texts from Abu Salabikh that belong to the "Kish tradition" we talked about last time, many of which were apparently written in the local East Semitic language (which some scholars call Akkadian).
Then, a brief detour through various types of bird skeletons found at Abu Salabikh: ducks, geese, doves, crows, and a complete goshawk buried in a child's grave.
Then, we tackle the question of which city this might have been. Was it Gishgi (which I mentioned offhand in a different section)? Or Kesh (with an E)? Personally, I think it's most likely to have been Eresh, home of Nisaba, the patron goddess of scribes and writing. (Is that an interesting reason?)
Finally: a story I've been talking about forever and finally including here, because this tablet from Abu Salabikh marks the earliest known narrative about the kings of Unug, a tradition most famous for the later epic of Gilgamesh.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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(Sorry I disappeared for three months! I burned myself out working on rewriting old episodes and had to focus on other stuff for a couple months. I'm back in the saddle now, with episodes written up to the end of the Sargonic / Old Akkadian period! Also, I switched my scripts from bullet-point outlines to full paragraphs written out, in hopes that it will take less time to edit audio. Let me know if you think it sounds too robotic.)
First, a hymn to the Semitic sun god Shamash, possibly the earliest known work of literature written in the Akkadian language, produced by the culture centered on the kingdom of Kish during the 2500s BCE. The TI.URU.DA is the SHU.AG of prince Ea, the god of rejoicing!
Then, we return to Kish now that we have more documentary evidence to make sense of its kingdom. During the Fara period (2600-2450 BCE, named after the site of Shuruppak), texts from the so-called "Kish tradition" appear to reflect Kish's hegemony over much of central Mesopotamia. We take a look at the List of Geographic Names, which may be a list of the settlements in this kingdom.
Then, we look at the geological differences between Kish (and the delta plain in the northern alluvium) and the Sumerian cities (situated in the floodplain in the southern alluvium), and the resulting differences in settlement hierarchy and political organization.
Then, we look at the city of Kish itself: its two major temple complexes (the Hursang-kalama of Ishtar and the E-kishib-ba of Zababa), its cemeteries (including the cart burials, with parallels at Ur and Susa), and its palace complex, which was sacked late in the Early Dynastic IIIB period.
Then, we examine our scanty evidence of Kish's political history during this period: two kings of Kish known from their own inscriptions, various Sumerian kings who called themselves Kings of Kish, the elusive queen Ku-Baba (alias Kug-Bau), and a few foreign kings who may have actually ruled Kish before Sargon.
Finally, we finish up with the Kesh temple hymn. Earlier versions of this text refer to a ritual performed in Kesh (with an E) by the king of Kish; later versions (produced after Kish's heyday) remove this explicit reference. Will anyone else bring forth something as great as Kesh (with an E)?
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Works cited
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I interviewed Karrar Sabah Al Ramahi, PhD student at Baghdad University, about his research on the city of Eridu! Furqan Salam helped with the translation.
We talk about its earliest settlement during the Ubaid period, its prominence as a temple town, the building projects of the kings of Ur, and the reason for its primacy in the Sumerian King List.
Thanks to Karrar & Furqan for the interview!
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Guest: Lily
First: the world's oldest known wisdom literature, in the form of a series of proverbs delivered from the eponymous Shuruppak (king of Shuruppak) to his son Zi-ud-sura (alias Utnapishtim, the Noah figure from the Sumerian flood myth). Only insults and stupid speaking receive the attention of the Land!
Then we visit the city of Shuruppak, in central Sumer. After a quick look at its early administration during the Jemdet Nasr and "Archaic" periods, we introduce the Fara period (roughly 2600-2450 BCE), a phase in the development of cuneiform writing that more or less corresponds to the Early Dynastic IIIA period. Most importantly, we have literature now!
Then, we look at Shuruppak's place in the world, including the copious evidence for intensive trade with the broader region. What was its relation to the "city league"? Was it part of the kingdom of Kish? Who destroyed Shuruppak, and why?
Then: more proverbs from Shuruppak of Shuruppak. You should not beat a farmer's son; he has constructed your embankments and ditches!
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Guest: Annika
First, a classic sitcom setup: Ningishzida plans to sail a boat to hell with his friend (an ill-intentioned demon), but his sister Ama-shilama wants to tag along!
Then, we visit the construction site of Mari, a city built from scratch in the middle of nowhere around 2900 BCE, along with 150 km (90 mi) of canals to connect it to both the Euphrates and the Khabur river. You can do the math: the perfectly circular outer walls, with a diameter of 1.9 km, enclose an area of about 280 hectares! (The inner walls enclose about 130 ha.) Who built it? Who built Thebes of the seven gates? So many questions!
Then, we head west to the lower Diyala river, to see the temples in Tutub and the statuary in Eshnunna. What can famous art tell us about the chronology of the late early Early Dynastic period?
Also, skipping forward in time: you're never going to guess where this textile worker who died young under unclear circumstances got her pendant from.
Finally: the text is broken, but Ningishzida receives a blessing, possibly from Ereshkigal, the underworld goddess who fell in love with Nergal back in episode 6.
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Works cited
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(Re-recorded as of December 3, 2022)
Guest: Victoria
First: Having insulted Ereshkigal (queen of the Sumerian underworld) by offending her messenger's honor at a dinner party in heaven, Nergal (god of war, plague, and death) has to travel down to the underworld to apologize to her in person. Will he be able to restrain his overweening libido?
Then, we tour Çatalhöyük (in modern south-central Turkey), one of the biggest and densest communities in the world during the late 6,000s BCE. What can their patterns of burial tell us about their social organization? What did this dense concentration of people portend for public health? What do the few murals with photographic documentation imply about the history of volcanic eruptions in the region?
Then, the adoption and spread of the Neolithic lifestyle had a variety of effects on the human body, including a few useful adaptations, like lactase persistence. However, the combination of a grain-based diet, daily interaction with new species of livestock, and the growth of large, dense settlements also exposed people to countless new (or newly common) diseases: anemia, brucellosis, malaria, tooth decay, and more!
Then, we look at the evidence for warfare during the 8.2-kiloyear climatic event, which affected societies across the Near East during the late 7th millennium BCE.
Then, we visit a singular burial installation in southeastern Anatolia: a death pit containing the remains of about three dozen people and several dogs, not to mention the bones of the animals eaten for their funerary feast. What were they doing with all these bones?
Finally: even though their relationship seems unsalvageable by the end of the second act, Nergal & Ereshkigal find a way to patch up their issues by the middle of the third act!
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Works cited
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Guests: Kelten, James
First, Gilgamesh ignores the branch of the government standing between him and a unilateral declaration of war on King Aga of Kish, the mightiest kingdom in the Mesopotamian alluvium at the time. Infrastructure is boring, kings are always right, and war is always glorious!
Then, we look at the city of Kish during the Archaic period (2900-2600 BCE), which was apparently the seat of a powerful kingdom controlling much more territory than any other Sumerian city-state at the time.
Then, we look at the oldest historical document from Mesopotamia, and our only historical document from this period of Kish's history. The "Prisoner plaque" totals 36,000 prisoners of war taken from at least 25 towns and villages during a series of military campaigns. Zababa is the god of manhood!
Then, a look at the institution of the kingship of Kish (which, as you may know, long outlasted the kingdom of Kish as such). After revisiting the Sumerian King List, we meet two of our best candidates for the first kings to appear in both the Sumerian legendary tradition and the historical record: Enmebaragesi and his son Aga (or Akka), both of whom appear in this episode's Gilgamesh story.
Speaking of which, because this is a Sumerian epic poem, it turns out that kings are always right and war is always glorious (for our heroes)! Gilgamesh captures his rival Aga, son of Enmebaragesi, and refers to a lost historical tradition of past interaction between Unug and Kish in deciding how to treat his prisoner.
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Works cited
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Guest: James
First: To punish Gilgamesh, Inanna sends the massive Bull of Heaven to ravage Unug. But, as it destroys farmland and drinks the rivers dry, Gilgamesh sits idle, drinking beer and listening to music!
Then, we visit Ur during the Archaic period (2900-2600 BCE) and finally take a look at the first certainly Sumerian writing. Administrative texts record a complex economy centered on the temple of the moon god Nanna, school tablets give us a look at scribal education, and the first lists of deities give us a faint glimpse of early Sumerian religion (although most of the gods listed are obscure).
Also: was Ur part of a league of Sumerian cities? Scattered evidence from the first half of the 3rd millennium BCE points to a confederation of city-states in southern Sumer (Ur, Unug, Nippur, Larsa, etc), who may have allied with each other to counterbalance the power of Kish (a large kingdom in the northern alluvium and our destination next episode!).
Finally, Gilgamesh faces off against the Bull of Heaven! We discuss the logistics of animal sacrifice and what may be a Sumerian euphemism describing Gilgamesh slapping Inanna with a wet bull pizzle.
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Works cited
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Guest: Lily
First, we finally meet Gilgamesh! Cherished in Unug, heroic bearer of a scepter of wide-ranging power, noble glory of the gods, angry bull standing ready for a fight, etc. We read one of two Sumerian poems dealing with Gilgamesh's conquest of the remote Mountains of Cedar-felling and his fight against the mighty Ḫuwawa, the demigod who rules the mountains at the edge of the world!
Then: an introduction to the Early Dynastic period (2900-late 2300s BCE) in Sumer. We take a first look at the geography of the 3rd-millennium Mesopotamian alluvium; the nature of temples, palaces, and city-states; the emergence of silver as money; the broader world surrounding Sumer; and language and identity in Mesopotamia.
Then, a look at the Sumerian King List, a writing exercise (and an ideological tapestry of various folklore traditions) which often gets mistaken for an objective historical document. What can it tell us about the Early Dynastic period?
Then, a look at our evidence for a historical King Gilgamesh of archaic Unug (2900-2600 BCE?). What does a king have to do in the 28th century BCE to be worshipped as a god by the 26th century?
Then, we read the rest of this version of the Ḫuwawa story. The half-divine Gilgamesh reifies his power over both humans & the natural world by breaking an oath between gentlemen, on the one hand, and domesticating a demigod and exploiting his homeland for raw resources, on the other. Warrior, you lied!
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It's the podcast's first interview!
I talk to Malath Feadha and Dr. Jaafar Jotheri, two Iraqi archaeologists studying ancient Mesopotamia at Al-Qadisiyah University, about the relationship between the early inhabitants of the alluvium (in southern Iraq) and the rivers and wetlands that shaped their landscape.
We talk about the history of irrigation, from a few Ubaid households digging small canals from gaps in the natural levees (in the 5000s BCE) to Sumerian city-states levying armies of manual laborers to incorporate the entire alluvium into a single irrigation network (in the 2000s).
We also talk about a recent paper* they coauthored, a geoarchaeological analysis of ancient human movement through the alluvial wetlands. Both boats and domestic herds of water buffalo stirred up the sediment on the river floor over time, leaving tracks still visible in the modern desert landscape. What can these tell us about daily life in early southern Mesopotamia?
Follow Malath and Grandchildren of the Sumerians on Twitter!
*Jaafar Jotheri, Michelle de Gruchy, Rola Almaliki, & Malath Feadha. "Remote Sensing the Archaeological Traces of Boat Movement in the Marshes of Southern Mesopotamia" Remote Sensing, 2019, 11, 2474.
Also: look forward to the upcoming sequel, coauthored by our guests (et al), to be published in Sustainability: "Landscape archaeology of Southern Mesopotamia: identifying features in the dried marshes."
Questions? Feedback? Email us at [email protected].
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Works cited
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New update, as of July 18:
Episode 17 is entirely new, and episodes 18-20 are mostly new.
I've rearranged the order of episodes 22-26, and I've re-recorded audio for episodes 23-26 that I haven't edited yet.
Thanks for your patience! Like I mentioned, I have about 22 episodes written on Early Dynastic Sumer (2900-2350 BCE), of which I've recorded 4 so far.
Stay tuned for more content!
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Guest: Kelten
First: Anzu, the mythical bird guarding the mountains at the edge of the world, comes home to find that Lugalbanda has treated his beloved chick with the utmost generosity. In return, he makes several attempts to grant Lugalbanda his destiny.
Then, we continue the history of the temples at the center of the city-states in southern Mesopotamia from 3100-2900 BCE, mostly based on tablets from Unug and the northern site of Jemdet Nasr. What were they for? Who administered them? Whose work kept them running?
Then, we look at language around the turn of the 3rd millennium, starting with a quick look at the evolution of writing in Iran and focusing on the "Sumerian question". We can read these texts, but can we be sure of the language they were written in? Can we even be sure they were meant to represent grammatical language as such?
Then, Lugalbanda rejoins the soldiers who left him for dead in a mountain cave! Can he help Enmerkar win Unug's war against Aratta?
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Works cited
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Guest: Kelten
(I just finished re-recording episodes 1-10, so there's never been a better time to check them out!)
First, we continue the story of Lugalbanda as he leaves his mountain cave. After he submits to the country of oppression, Zangara, the god of dreams, asks him for a space knife and goats of varying quality.
Then, we start episode 1 of 2 on the Jemdet Nasr period (3100-2900 BCE), bridging the gap between prehistory and the beginning of recorded history. The collapse of the Uruk colonial network heralds massive cultural and demographic upheaval across the Near East, and the Mesopotamian alluvium isn't exempt.
Then, we visit a handful of cities: the eponymous Jemdet Nasr, in the north, with the second-most texts from this period; Unug (with the most texts), whose patron goddess Inanna has already begun to take on her association with the planet Venus; and Ur, Kish, Shuruppak, and Tell Uqair.
Then, we take a look at the advancements made in cuneiform writing during this period. It turns out math with fractions is exactly five thousand years old!
Then, we examine the potential evidence for a league of cities— that is, a single political entity comprising several different city-states, seven hundred years before the conquests of Sargon of Akkad. If there was such an organization, it seems to have included Unug, Ur, Nippur (in the central alluvium), and possibly Eridu, among others.
Finally, we begin the story of Lugalbanda and Anzu. Still lost in the distant mountains, Lugalbanda sets out to ask Anzu (the mythical bird guarding the mountains at the edge of the world) for directions. Stay tuned for part three!
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Works cited
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Guest: Kelten, Bella
First, the fragile peace has collapsed, and the virtuous king Enmerkar leads the army of fair Unug in an invasion of the faraway mountain kingdom of Aratta. However, en route to otherwise certain victory, the king's mightiest warrior, Lugalbanda, falls sick! His fellow soldiers, unable to help him and fearing the worst, lay him in a cave in the mountain wilderness as if it were his tomb.
Then: feasting during the Late Uruk period (3400-3100 BCE), starting with a look at livestock as movable property of these nascent states: history's first farm subsidy (on wool, paid in dairy fat), the particular position of pigs in both the real economy and the iconographic landscape of Uruk cylinder seals, and the long-term effects of large-scale cattle herding on the environment as a whole.
Then, a look at domestic commensality (that is, eating food together at home). What kinds of ingredients did people have access to? How did they prepare their meals?
Then, a look at the massive temple institutions that found themselves at the center of these sprawling new city-states. How did they organize feasts, and who was invited? What did their official propaganda have to say about them? Who prepared them? Most importantly, how did they parlay their massive grain stores into a permanent class hierarchy undergirded by grinding exploitation at the bottom? Let's find out!
Then, instrumental music: how much of the modern guitar can we credit Uruk society with inventing? The day after recording this, I learned that the European lute isn't just incidentally related to the Arab oud— the word "lute" is literally derived from Arabic "al-'ud"!
Then, Lugalbanda prays to a series of gods, to forestall the funeral feast his friends have already arranged for him. Will he ever leave the mountain cave?
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Works cited
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Guests: Jojo, Sami
First, at the dawn of cosmic time, Sheep and Grain descend from the abode of the gods, get drunk, and start a fight.
Then, after a quick historical introduction, we take a thorough look at the Uruk-period wool industry, from gathering sheep in one place for shearing to spinning thread to weaving (on various types of loom) to dyeing, fulling, sewing, and so on.
Then, we look at some other fibers: flax, being older and more firmly entrenched than wool, remained a valuable fabric well into historical times; nettles, on the other hand, had a slightly shorter tenure as a botanical source of textile fibers.
Then, Sheep and Grain take their dispute to the gods, who declare the obvious winner. Praise be to father Enki!
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Guest: Kelten, Kirra
First, a familiar story that just happens to involve monumental construction projects, clay bricks, and universal language. Behold!
Then, we visit the city of Unug (Uruk, Erech, Warka, etc), for which the period is named, and take a tour through the construction and demolition of increasingly monumental edifices in the office complex where written language and architectural columns were invented. What did it take to build all this?
Then, a quick treatment of Uruk pottery production. Wheeled vehicles are much younger (and wine bottles are much older) than you think they are!
Then, at long last, the bureaucrats in the E-anna temple complex finally get around to inventing writing! We take a stroll through the long prehistory of administrative record-keeping, the means by which young scribes learned to write, and the fundamental shift in world history precipitated by the adoption of cuneiform.
Finally, we close with a hymn to Nisaba, goddess of writing (and cereal agriculture, of course)— good woman, chief scribe of An, record-keeper of Enlil, wise sage of the gods!
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Guest: Kirra
First, we sing the praises of Inanna, patron goddess of the city of Unug, whose home temple complex was the epicenter of the Uruk-period world system. Which god compares with her?
Then continuing our tour of the Late Uruk period (3400-3100 BCE), we examine the city-state from the top down, from the so-called "priest-king" (alias EN, alias NAMESHDA?), to the bureaucrats who ran temple complexes like the E-anna, to the artisans in these temples' employ (increasingly subject to the forces of commoditization), to the slaves and manual laborers who actually built the cities and grew their food.
Finally, we read some of the milder hymns celebrating the marriage of Inanna and her boytoy Dumuzi. He is well-watered lettuce!
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Guests: Liyan, Bella, Kirra
First, another debate poem! Hoe, child of the poor, bereft even of a loincloth, starts a quarrel with the Plow. A surprising amount of Sumerian literature boils down to the logistical complexity of various tasks facing early state institutions, not least among them the upkeep of various agricultural tools.
Then: we've made it to the Uruk period! We'll start with a look at the climate of the alluvium during the 4th millennium BCE, focusing on the dense web of rivers and canals crisscrossing the Tigris-Euphrates alluvial plain. Rivers offered the settlements on their banks effortless travel (on reed boats), endless reeds (for building, burning, and making boats), and the best imaginable conditions for large-scale field irrigation (at least in the short term). What happens when they start to dry up?
Then, a tour of the fields in the shadow of the new temples dominating Uruk life. What was the relationship between these new state organs and the millennia-old agricultural villages on their peripheries? How did their irrigation networks adapt to allow new, more efficient, less pleasant methods of year-round cultivation?
Then, we look at the process of state formation during the Middle & Late Uruk period (ca 3800-3100 BCE), starting with a few definitions of the state. We review the process through which particular households (and other household-like social institutions) consolidated social, economic, political, and religious authority among their neighbors and trade partners.
Then, we talk about how regular exchange between households might have developed over time into a permanent tribute obligation to these particular households, and the relationship between more intensive trade and social complexity.
Finally, Enlil (god of kingship, king of the gods) intervenes in the debate between Hoe and Plow. Praise be to Nisaba!
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Guest: Sheila
First, strong Copper casts his legitimate insults, insults of a miserable dog, against Silver. In my delusional hubris, I've arbitrarily pieced this particular debate text together from disparate fragments and granted it unnatural life beyond death via galvanic abominations beyond the comprehension of its original creator. As usual, I'm using the ETCSL translation.
Then, we track the development of copper metallurgy in the Near East, stretching from the early Neolithic to the Uruk and beyond. Sheila, actual chemistry expert, helps us understand the reactions occurring inside these Chalcolithic crucibles.
Then, a look at specific metals: copper, silver, gold, lead, and iron— all available to smiths at the very beginning of the so-called Bronze Age.
Speaking of which, why do we call it that anyway? Now that this podcast about the Bronze Age has finally reached the beginning of the story, it's worth explaining what exactly the familiar Stone Age / Bronze Age / Iron Age trichotomy means for our understanding of world history.
Then, we learn about arsenical bronze, the first intentional copper alloy to spread across the Near East. This, predictably, segues into an examination of the various health effects of these various metals on the people working with them. I learned something new about some familiar gods, and now you will too!
Finally, the conclusion (such as it is) to Copper's debate with Silver. Silver puts up a valiant defense, given that the constraints of the genre preordained his failure. Father Enlil be praised!
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