ALGY 288 Exam
1. Discuss the nature and use of writing in early Mesopotamia (i.e. before 2000 BC).
The writing of Mesopotamia and its surrounding areas has been an everchanging and crucial aspect
of living and working through the many millennia of its history. The beginning of this development
into written language began with clay bullae and clay tokens that were in use from the start of the
Late Neolithic. These were simple pictographs pressed onto a clay ball to record and measure
amounts of certain goods or commodities. In the Early Dynastic eras, as the economy and the cities
themselves grew, more records were needed to be kept, and soon the scribes writing them found
that it was simpler and quicker to produce a stylised representation of an object rather than make a
naturalistic drawing. These became standardised and simplified so that everyone could recognise and
read them. They used a reed stylus to draw these signs, the point where the stylus first touches the
clay creating a wedge-like shape. This became what we know today as cuneiform writing, the name
derived from the Latin cuneus, meaning wedge (Walker 1987).
As the first archaic cuneiform was used, it blended the older pictographic symbols with the newer
cuneiform symbols. This is when we can start deriving the actual language it is written in, as purely
pictographic tablets have no language structure or syllabic elements that hint to a specific language
being used, though it is usually assumed that they are Sumerian. The first clear differences in
language can be found between the Jemdet Nasr and Uruk III tablets and the tablets from Susa, all of
which date between 3300-2900 BC. We can separate these two sets of tablets as Sumerian and
Proto-Elamite respectively (Walker 1987). Later tablets show clear syllabic elements, clearly defining
them as a certain language. These signs started being given phonetic value and abstract ideas and
names started being able to be expressed. While most tablets were used for business and economic
purposes, due to the development of syllabic signs, the spoken language could start being recorded.
With these developments, the texts started moving away from solely being economic and started
being used to record tales of the divine, recipes, legal codes, moral codes and dedications to certain
gods and kings.
As the written language started moving away from simple logograms and toward purely cuneiform
signs, more aspects of the spoken language could be implemented, such as grammar, proper nouns,
homophones and more complex abstract ideas. To accommodate the expansion in language, more
signs were added, some completely new and some being combinations of multiple signs. Often,
words with similar meanings but different sounds were written with the same sign, like the Sumerian
words 'tooth' (zu), 'mouth' (ka) and 'voice' (gu) all being denoted by the symbol for mouth (𒅗), but
words that sounded similar but with different meaning would have multiple signs for each meaning,
like the syllable ‘gu’, which had 14 different signs.
When the Akkadian Empire came into power, they adopted the cuneiform script. The Akkadian
language is very different than the Sumerian one, the former being a Semitic language and the latter
being a language isolate. They used many Sumerian signs to denote different words they had, with
ones of the same meaning often using Sumerian signs as a stand in for their words. For example, the
sign for ‘god’ (𒀭) is used in both written languages, with the Sumerian word being ‘dingir’ and the
Akkadian being ‘ilum’. These are known as Sumerograms. As the Akkadian language developed, all
dialects kept using this cuneiform script, from Old Akkadian, to Babylonian, to Assyrian. While
Aramaic took over in common use, Neo-Assyrian cuneiform stayed in use in literary tradition through
the Parthian Empire.
Walker, C. B. F. (1987), Reading the Past: Cuneiform, British Museum Press, pp. 7-10.
2. Discuss the development and organisation of the Ur III Empire.
The Third Dynasty of Ur, or the Neo-Sumerian Empire was a ruling dynasty based in the city of Ur
that ruled the Mesopotamian region from 2112-2004 BC. It rose to power shortly after the Akkadian
Empire fell, with the region very briefly controlled by Gutian kings. The first king of the dynasty was
Ur-Nammu, and while not much is known about his life, he is chiefly known for his legal code, the
Code of Ur-Nammu, the oldest known legal code in existence, and his building of the Ziggurat of Ur.
Ur-Nammu is believed to be a governor and a general, who killed the ruler of Lagash in battle,
claiming the title of ‘King of Sumer and Akkad’. The empire solidified under the subsequent ruler,
Šulgi. He centralised and standardised many aspects of government, like administrative processes,
archival documentation, the tax system and the national calendar. He expanded the empire from the
Persian Gulf to southeastern Anatolia, even taking control of Susa, the Elamite capital.
The sheer amount of expansion made in Šulgi’s reign was possible due to a very strong economy
based on agriculture and trade, with trade even going as far as with the Indus River Valley civilisation.
This infrastructure provided viable funding of the military forces used to conquer these other cities,
with treasures being looted from them which only further strengthened their economy.
The organisation of the empire was characterised by its highly centralised bureaucratic system. The
king was the at the top of the hierarchy, followed by provincial governors (ensi) and generals
(Šagina), and in turn followed by freemen, then slaves. Each province had responsibility over itself,
but the state controlled all of the resources and controlled taxation. One province at a time
supported the kingdom, through redistribution centres where provincial taxes, or ‘bala’ (Sumerian
for ‘exchange’) would be collected and then shipped to the capital. These taxes could be paid in
silver, but more usually they were paid in goods like barley, flour, reeds and timber (Podany 2013).
As mentioned earlier, the Code of Ur-Nammu was created in this dynasty, and it summarised the
laws and rules of the land. While some of it does not survive, we can get a clear insight into the ways
of life followed by the people of this dynasty and how these laws were enforced. Many punishments
for breaking these laws were fines, which were paid to the either the state and redistributed or
directly to the victim, as compensation to the victims of the crime. Some were physical punishments
and for some crimes, namely homicide, rape of a virgin wife of another man, adultery by a married
woman, and some other crime pertaining to lawlessness (the meaning of the law is unclear). No one
was sent to prison as a penalty for committing a crime (Podany 2013). Legal disputes over
accusations of crime were mostly dealt with by local government officials, sometimes being held in
public – in front of a temple or in a public square. Decisions made by these officials could however be
overturned by provincial governors or the king himself. The image of the king as the judge of the land
was common and is depicted in many poems and literary works, for example in the Code of Ur-
Nammu itself, specifically stating Ur-Nammu as the lord of justice, claiming to want equity and justice
for all in the land. Religion was also a huge part of daily life and the legal system in place, with oaths
to the gods having to be taken in a legal trial. If one broke this oath, it was expected that the gods
would punish them far harsher than the judges ever would. Due to this, anyone who swore this oath
of honesty’s testimony was considered to be reliable, as it was thought that no one would lie to the
gods themselves (Podany 2013). These laws helped to create a solid foundation for a lawful and
successful empire, for the time it was in rule.
The Ur III dynasty eventually fell in 2004 BC under the rule of Ibbi-Sin, when he launched failed
campaigns into Elam. The Elamites retaliated, being allied with the people of Susa, which was under
Sumerian rule at the time, led by Kindattu, the king of the Shimashki dynasty of Elam. They sacked Ur
and captured Ibbi-Sin, ending the Ur III dynasty and ruling over the land for the next 21 years.
However, the economic and legal structures created by the kings of Ur III remained and inspired
future rulers and even citizens themselves, with the kings aiming to be loved instead of feared, like
Ur-Nammu and Šulgi, and young scribes having to copy letters written by and to the kings of Ur as
part of their formal training (Podany 2013).
Podany, A. H. (2013), The Third Dynasty of Ur, 2193-2004 BCE, The Ancient Near East: A Very Short
Introduction, Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 56-62.
