Ancient Near East

the ancient Near East?

• How can we locate it in space?

Draw a map!

• How can we locate it in time?

Draw a timeline!

Mesopotamia

• What does the name mean?

• Where would you go today to look for its ruins?

Where are you from?

Eridu

Eridu

Babylonia

Eridu

Babylonia

the land

Other city-states?

civilizations?

Climate and geography of ancient Mesopotamia?

• CLIMATE:

Climate and geography of ancient Mesopotamia?

• CLIMATE: cool rainy winters buthot dry summers

- fast growing season- no rain in the summer

irrigation is essential to support agriculture

Climate and geography of ancient Mesopotamia?

• GEOGRAPHY:

Climate and geography of ancient Mesopotamia?

• GEOGRAPHY:– Some variety: grasslands, marshes, foothills,

desert, but mostly flat open terrain with few trees• No substantial natural barriers frequent

invasions by people from elsewhere– Settlements are centered on river valleys• Need for irrigation led to organization, growth

of cities around temples, and eventually to civilization

Natural resources?

Natural resources?

• Water • Mud / clay• Wheat, barley and other cereal grains grow easily• Reeds grow in marshlands • In or near rivers – abundant fish, birds, etc.• Animals that are easy to domesticate:

sheep, goats, pigs, etc.

Natural resources Livelihood?

• Agriculture is very successful• Surplus grain and food is used to trade for things that

are not abundant: precious metals, wood, stone• People are forced to be very resourceful:– Making mud/straw bricks to build with – Small houses and boats out of bundles of reeds– Using clay tablets and reeds to write – Figuring out how to capture and retain water, and to use it

wisely throughout the growing season

Common ways of making a living?

Common ways of making a living?

- Farmers and farm workers- Traders and merchants- Skilled craftspeople: potters, blacksmiths,

weavers, etc.- Soldiers, guards, scribes, day laborers- Nomadic herders

Polytheistic?

How religious beliefs developed?

• People observed forces at work in the natural world (storms, water, sun, moon, etc.) and attributed them to gods

• In recognizing important parts of life in society (love, justice, war, etc.) they also associated them with gods

• People invoked gods to explain good and bad events in their lives

Important religious beliefs?

• There were multiple gods, and each controlled some part of the universe (natural or human).

• The gods were very present: their spirits lived in nature and in the temples.

realm Sumerian name: Akkadian name:

Leader of the gods Enlil EllilSun, justice Utu ShamashWater Enki EaStorm, war Ishkur Adad

Important religious beliefs?

• The gods in some ways acted like humans: they treated each other kindly or not, talked, fought, fell in or out of love, schemed with each other. They got hungry, tired, angry, jealous.

• Initially, the gods had to work for the most powerful god, Enlil, but they hated working so much, they created human beings to do the work for them.

Important religious beliefs?

• The purpose of human beings was to feed, bathe, clothe and shelter the gods, and they did so by caring for and serving the idols or cult statues which lived in the temples.

• If humans did not care for the gods, then the gods would neglect them and humans would suffer.

Given these beliefs, how did people in ancient Mesopotamia

practice their faith?

Religious practices?• Priests and priestesses had many roles:

- they would serve a specific god by taking care of its cult statue (bathing, clothing, feeding, etc.), singing hymns and saying prayers to it,

making sure that the temple was pure (free of dirt and of evil).

- they would organize visits of the cult statue to public spaces during festivals, to allow common

people to worship the city’s god.- they would take the cult statue on official visits to other cities, to strengthen relationships between the cities.

• Priests and priestesses also oversaw the temple, the lands that belonged to the god who resided there, and all of the work that went on in and around the temple: making bread, beer, cloth, mats, carving objects used in worship; cleaning temple; keeping records, guarding surplus; taking care of irrigation system, fields and herds that belonged to the god; doling out help to residents as needed.

• Some priests and priestesses were specialists in divination:

- they would also try to figure out the will of the gods by reading omens (unexpected natural events like a shooting star, the birth of a three-legged calf, or cutting open the organs of a sacrificed animal and looking for clues in the patterns observed).

What happened in a temple?

• Worship and care of god in sacred space

• Divination (by priests and priestesses)

• Work done in other areas of the temple (by temple workers)

Temples were not a space for public worship

So how did people who didn’t have access to temples put their beliefs into practice?

Religious practices of others?

• Wealthy people would have a statue made of themselves in prayerful stance, and request that it be placed in the temple near the cult statue of the god – to remind the god to look out for that person.

devotional statues of wealthy people

What if you couldn’t afford a fancy devotional statue?

• Less wealthy people tried to attend religious festivals and visits of the god’s cult statue to public spaces.

• Created shrines to personal gods, with very simple cult statues, in their homes.

• Said prayers and sang hymns to them.• Endeavored to serve and care for their personal

gods as they could, in hopes that they would intervene with more powerful gods.

Religious practices

• Everyone made offerings to the principal gods through the temple, according to their means.

• They tried to avoid doing anything that would anger the gods.

• They taught children and servants to respect and fear the gods.