Mesopotamia Mesopotamia was mainly in between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers The earliest civilization of the Bronze Age and the first to develop writing First forms of a social hierarchy appear Mesopotamia was composed of many city states which gave birth to rivalries and fighting possibly due to the unstable and unpredictable nature of the rivers they lived near Sumer Originally led the way for Mesopotamian culture in the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age 5 300 BC 2 334 BC Located in the southeastern region of Mesopotamia The city states of Ur and Uruk tended to rule over the other city states in the region Despite the city states rivalries they were fairly consistent in terms of religion The world is made up of realms essentially the land in which humans lived were encased in a sphere of sorts with the other realms which is then surrounded by water Gods and goddesses were connected to forces of nature or various principles such as war and peace gods will The gods were more powerful than humans and were subject to the Each city state chose a particular god or goddess to represent them The priests and or ruler king would be the communicators between the Their temples called ziggurats were mainly composed of a platform and the gods goddesses and the people temple or shrine itself In the early days these ziggurats were simple and modest but eventually they began to become grander as evidenced at the Ziggurat at Ur Considered stairways to heaven and the residence of the chief deity of the area as such entrance was restricted to only the priests and the ruler Offerings of food or sacrificial animals would be left for the god goddess and also statues in the priests ruler s in a pose of prayer to represent constant reverence Due to the priest ruler s importance in Sumer society they carried a great deal of power and wealth This is easily seen in their burial grounds most notably the Royal Tombs of Ur Used from 2 650 BC to 2 000 BC although the Royal tombs were only used from 2 650 BC to 2 500 BC Contains the burials of specific rulers such as King Meskalamdug a queen priestess Puabi unknown royalty and hosts of attendants Has close to 2 000 burials Many artifacts have been found within the tombs many exhibiting fine craftsmanship and the use of precious metals gold lapis lazuli etc These artifacts were possibly used as a show of power and wealth in the afterlife and or as gifts to the gods of the underworld Lyres Standard of Ur Many lyres are found within the Royal Tombs They may have played a part in a funerary banquet or ritual to honor the deceased before being sealed in the tombs as music was supposedly a big part of Mesopotamian life Or they may have been gifts designed to entertain the gods of the underworld and by extension appease them A trapezoidal box decorated with shell lapis lazuli and red limestone Shows evidence of Sumerian life and perhaps even the earliest example of a historical narrative Provides a continuous narrative of the events on each side One side dubbed the Peace side shows a celebration A hierarchical scale of the sitting people On the bottom two rows people bringing food and offerings for the celebration The other side the War side gives evidence to a battle The bottom row shows clear conflict The defeated are naked a show of shame and humility and rounded up before the ruler Bringing these two sides together could show a ruler king acting in accordance with what the gods demanded Akkad While Sumer was developing so too were the Akkadians and their city state of Akkad was likely located where modern day Baghdad is Not much is known about the group until their ruler Sargon I 2 334 BC 2 279 BC began taking over the areas in and around Mesopotamia including Sumer According to legend Sargon I was born into poverty but eventually became the king of the four quarters or essentially king of the world Akkadian and Sumerian culture will end up mixing and combining Akkadian language will be the common language of the people while the Sumerian language will be reserved for writing Very few Akkadian artifacts remain but the few that do show a high level of craftsmanship and are generally very politically charged Copper head of a man used the lost wax technique which involved carving the object out of wax encasing it in clay and then pouring molten copper into the hole left open Originally while shows of power these artifacts also paid homage to the gods However during the rule of Naram Sin 2 254 BC 2 218 BC a dramatic shift of the gods relationship with the rulers began as shown on the Stele of Naram Sin Made of pink sandstone and is over 6 feet tall Depicts Narum Sin s victory over the Lullubi people in the Zagros Mountains The gods may be present in the form of stars but the eye is drawn away from them and towards Naram Sin himself Naram Sin s stature and dress in the Stele mark him as a divine figure himself Akkadian rule does not last long however after about 200 years the empire begans collapsing when an outside group the Gutains would invade the area From about 2 154 BC to 2 083 BC Mesopotamia would again be segmented into different independent city states Lagash allowing the city state to prosper The city state of Lagash however would not be touched by the invading Gutians Lagash s ruler Gudea 2 144 BC 2 124 BC was a more passive ruler He built a number of temples restored others that were in disarray and erected a number of statues of himself for the gods These statues were all created from diorite a black stone and shows Gudea with his hands clasped cleanly shaven and wearing a long robe draped over one shoulder The statues are more similar in nature to Sumerian temple figures than the more bold Akkadian artifacts Sumer Rises Again Around 2 100 BC the city state of Ur and its ruler Ur Nammu would re unite the lands lost to the Gutians and restore order within the Sumer region Signs of this resurgence are found with various artifacts such as the elaborate Ziggurat at Ur and the Stele of Ur Nammu The Stele of Ur Nammu shows a ruler before the gods as the gods take the largest top register of the Stele and the ruler the second and parallels that religious relationship between the ruler and his people Despite the Sumerians returning to form of sorts with their religious relationships the power of the king priest appeared to be waning in terms of keeping peace and social order in response to this the Code of Ur Nammu was created The oldest known form of law