Matthew 1

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The city of Ur 4)
Ur-Nammu & Shulgi: The Sumerian Renaissance
Ur-Nammu wrote down the first codified law system of the land, the Code of Ur-Nammu, some three hundred years before Hammurabi of Babylon would write his, and governed his realm in accordance with a patriarchal hierarchy in which he was the father guiding his children to prosperity and continued health. Under Ur-Nammu the great ziggurat was built and trade flourished. The arts and technology for which the Sumerians are most famous were all encouraged in Ur during this time.
The scholar Paul Kriwaczek observes that, in order for such a patriarchal system of government to succeed, the people must believe that their ruler is greater, more powerful, than they are in the same way that children regard their father. To this end, it seems, Ur-Nammu presented himself to his subjects in line with the hero-kings Sargon and Naram-Sin in order to encourage the populace to follow him in the pursuit of excellence. He was killed in battle with the Gutians and immortalized in the poem The Death of Ur-Nammu which imagines him in the underworld realm of Ereshkigal, Queen of the Dead.
His son Shulgi, in an effort to surpass the achievements of his father, went even further. One example of this is his famous run when, to impress his people and distinguish himself from his father, Shulgi ran 200 miles (321.8 km) between the religious centre of Nippur and the capital city of Ur and back again – in one day – in order to officiate at the festivals in both cities. His feat was celebrated in A Praise Poem of Shulgi which was read throughout his realm. Shulgi continued his father's policies, bettering them when he saw fit, and is considered the greatest king of the Third Dynasty of Ur for the heights civilization reached under his reign, including making literacy a priority.
Shulgi improved the roads, created roadside inns with gardens and running water, and commissioned the renovation and rebuilding of many structures throughout his territories. Among his many building projects was a wall which ran 155 miles (250 km) along the border of the region of Sumer to keep out the barbarian tribes known as the Martu (also given as the Tidnum) who are most recognizable to modern readers from their biblical designation as Amorites. Shulgi's wall was maintained by his son, grandson, and great grandson but could not hold back the tribes on the borders.
The wall was too long to be properly manned and, since it was not anchored at either end, invaders could by-pass the obstacle simply by marching around it. In 1750 BCE the neighboring kingdom of Elam breached the wall, sacked Ur and carried away the last king as a prisoner. The Amorites, who had already found their way around the wall, merged with the Sumerian populace and, in this way, Sumerian culture came to an end with the fall of Ur.

 

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The city of Ur 5)
The Decline of Ur & Excavation
In the Old Babylonian Period (c. 2000-1600 BCE) Ur remained a city of importance and was considered a centre of learning and culture. According to scholar Gwendolyn Leick, “The `heirs' of Ur, the kings of Isin and Larsa, were keen to show their respect to the gods of Ur by repairing the devastated temples” (180) and the Kassite kings, who later conquered the region, did the same as would the Assyrian rulers who followed them.
The city continued to be inhabited through the early part of the Achaemenid Period (c. 550-330 BCE) but, due to climate change and an overuse of the land, more and more people migrated to the northern regions of Mesopotamia or south toward the land of Canaan (the patriarch Abraham, some claim, among them, as previously noted). Ur slowly dwindled in importance as the Persian Gulf receded further and further south from the city and eventually fell into ruin around 450 BCE.
The area was buried under the sands until it was visited by Pietro della Valle in 1625 who noted strange inscriptions on bricks (later identified as cuneiform script) and images on artifacts which were later recognized as cylinder seals used to identify property or sign letters. In 1853 -1854 the first excavation of the site was made by John George Taylor in the interests of the British Museum who noted multiple grave complexes and concluded the site may have been a Babylonian necropolis.
- Many people migrated because of climate change and an overuse of the land!
- It may remind us of something!
- The big difference with today is that we are a lot more inhabitants!
- That’s why the problems will increase a lot more!
- Men will never understand!
- Men always commit suicide!

 

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The city of Ur 6)
The definitive excavation of the ruins of Ur was conducted between 1922-1934 by Sir Leonard Wooley, working on behalf of the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania. The famous Tomb of Tutankhamun had been discovered by Howard Carter in November 1922 and Wooley was hoping for an equally impressive find. At Ur he uncovered the graves of sixteen kings and queens, including that of the Queen Puabi (also known as Shub-ad) and her treasures.
The Great Death Pit, as Wooley named it, was the largest of those uncovered and, in it, “Wooley found six armed guards and 68 serving women. They wore ribbons of gold and silver in their hair, except one woman who still held in her hand the coiled-up silver ribbon she was unable to fasten before the sleeping potion took hold that painlessly carried her away to the afterworld with her master” (Bertman, 36).
Wooley also uncovered the Royal Standard of Ur which celebrated the city's triumph over her enemies in war and the festivities which the people enjoyed in peace. In an effort to out-do Carter's triumph in the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, Wooley claimed that he had found evidence at Ur of the biblical Great Flood but notes taken by his assistant, Max Mallowan, later showed that the flood record at the site in no way supported a world-wide deluge and was more in keeping with the regular flooding caused by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Further excavations at Ur since Wooley's time have corroborated Mallowan's notes and, in spite of persistent beliefs to the contrary, no evidence supporting the Great Flood story from the Bible has been found at Ur nor anywhere else in Mesopotamia. Still, as scholar Stephen Bertman notes:
Even if stripped of its biblical claims to fame, Wooley's Ur is still a glittering example of Sumeria's golden age. Though its original lyres no longer sound, with our inner ear we can still hear their melodies. (36)
The ruins of Ur today are a significant archaeological site which continues to yield important artifacts when the troubles of the region allow. The great Ziggurat of Ur rises from the plains above the mud-brick ruins of the once-great city and, as Bertman suggests, in walking among them one relives the past when Ur was a center of commerce and trade, protected by the gods, and flourishing amidst fertile fields.

 

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The city of Larsa

The city of Larsa was an ancient Sumerian city in southern Mesopotamia, known as a prosperous trade center on the Persian Gulf and a key player in the Early Dynastic Period. It was one of the major cities of Sumer, alongside Eridu, Uruk, and Ur. Larsa gained prominence under the rule of kings like Rim-Sin and was the last stronghold opposing Hammurabi of Babylon before its conquest. The city was closely associated with the worship of deities Nanna and Šamaš, and it played a significant role in the political and economic landscape of southern Mesopotamia.

Larsa, one of the ancient capital cities of Babylonia, located about 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Uruk (Erech; Arabic Tall al-Warkāʾ), in southern Iraq. Larsa was probably founded in prehistoric times, but the most prosperous period of the city coincided with an independent dynasty inaugurated by a king named Naplanum (c. 2025–c. 2005 bc); he was a contemporary of Ishbi-Erra, who founded a dynasty at the rival city of Isin. Naplanum was succeeded by a line of 13 kings, many of whom exercised great authority in Babylonia and represented the new hegemony of Semitic Akkadian elements that superseded the Sumerians.

Isin and Larsa seem to have existed in a state of armed neutrality for more than a century during the time when each city was consolidating its rule. Isin was initially recognized as dominant at Ur, but business records on clay tablets found in the latter city show that by the time of the fifth and sixth kings of Larsa, Gungunum (c. 1932–c. 1906 bc) and Abisare (1905–1895), Larsa was already on the road to dominance. The 12th king of the dynasty, Silli-Adad (c. 1835), reigned for only a year and was then deposed by a powerful Elamite, Kutur-Mabuk, who installed his son Warad-Sin (1834–23) as king. This act apparently caused little disruption in the economic life of Larsa, and this was in fact a most prosperous period, as many thousands of business documents attest. Agriculture and stock breeding flourished; much attention was given to irrigation; and long-distance trade connected the Euphrates with the Indus valley through a commerce in hides, wool, vegetable oil, and ivory. Under Warad-Sin’s son Rim-Sin (1822–1763), the arts, especially the old Sumerian scribal schools, received great encouragement. The days of Larsa were numbered, however, for Hammurabi of Babylon, who had long been determined to destroy his most dangerous enemy, defeated Rim-Sin in 1763 bc and substituted his own authority for that of Larsa over southern Mesopotamia.

The brief excavations conducted in Larsa in 1933 by André Parrot revealed a ziggurat, a temple to the sun god, and a palace of Nur-Adad (c. 1865–c. 1850 bc), as well as many tombs and other remains of the Neo-Babylonian and Seleucid periods.

 

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The city of Isin

Isin, ancient Mesopotamian city, probably the origin of a large mound near Ad-Dīwānīyah, in southern Iraq.

An independent dynasty was established at Isin about 2017 bc by Ishbi-Erra, “the man of Mari.” He founded a line of Amorite rulers of whom the first five claimed authority over the city of Ur to the south. The fifth of the rulers of Isin, Lipit-Ishtar (reigned 1934–24 bc), is famous as having published a series of laws in the Sumerian language anticipating the code of Hammurabi by more than a century. About 1794 Isin lost its independence, first to the neighbouring city of Larsa and later to Babylon. The city revived between about 1156 and 1025 under its 2nd dynasty, a number of whose kings exercised authority over Babylonia (southern Iraq).

 

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The city of Adab

The city of Adab was an important Sumerian city-state in ancient Mesopotamia, known from the Early Dynastic Period. It was one of the key cities alongside Eridu, Uruk, and Ur, contributing to early urban development, agriculture, and trade. Adab participated in trade networks extending to Egypt and other Mesopotamian cities. It was under Akkadian control during the Akkadian Period, with local officials managing trade and administration. The city was part of the complex political and economic landscape of Sumer between c. 3600 BCE and the end of Sumerian dominance around 1750 BCE. Adab's temple and administrative structures played vital roles in its civic organization. Its history reflects the broader cultural and political shifts in ancient Mesopotamia.

 

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The city of Kullah

The city of Kullah was one of the important ancient Sumerian cities in southern Mesopotamia, part of the cradle of civilization. It was among key Sumerian cities such as Eridu, Uruk, Ur, Larsa, and Lagash that emerged by around 3600 BCE, known for early developments like writing, the wheel, and irrigation. Kullah was one of several city-states that contributed to the rise of urban civilization in Sumer before its decline around 1750 BCE due to invasions.

 

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The city of Nippur
Nippur is an ancient Sumerian city in southern Mesopotamia, located in modern-day Iraq. It was a major religious center dedicated to the god Enlil, considered the father of the gods. The city held great intellectual importance in Sumer, with extensive educational activities including scribal schools where students mastered languages like Sumerian and Akkadian. Nippur appears prominently in myths, such as the story of Enlil and Ninlil, and served as a cultural and religious hub in Mesopotamian civilization.

 

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The city of Kish

Kish (Tell al-Uhaymir, Iraq) was a major Sumerian city-state, inhabited from the Jemdet Nasr period (3100–2900 BCE) into the Seleucid era, famous as one of the twelve city-states of Sumer and the first to have kings after the great flood; its modern location features reddish-brown mounds and was a military base post-2003. The myth of King Etana, who sought a son, and Queen Kubaba, the only woman on the Sumerian King List, are linked to Kish.

 

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1) Ur

Ur was a major Sumerian city-state located in Mesopotamia, marked today by Tell el-Muqayyar in southern Iraq. It was founded circa 3800 BCE, and was recorded in written history from the 26th century BCE. Its patron god was Nanna, the moon god, and the city's name literally means “the abode of Nanna.”

 

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2) Who was the moon god Nanna?

Nanna is the Sumerian god of the moon. He is referred to as Sin or Suen in later Mesopotamian religious texts. Little is known about the etymology of the names of the moon god. The Sumerians also associated Nanna with their cattle herds and the prosperity of the lower Euphrates reed marshes.

 

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3) What is the symbol of the god Nanna?

The crescent, Nanna's emblem, was sometimes represented by the horns of a great bull. Nanna bestowed fertility and prosperity on the cowherds, governing the rise of the waters, the growth of reeds, the increase of the herd, and therefore the quantity of dairy products produced.

 

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4) What is the story of Nanna?

Nanna is a prominent Sumerian deity, revered as the moon god within the Mesopotamian pantheon. As the son of Enlil, the god of air and kingship, and Ninlil, the grain goddess, Nanna holds significant familial ties, with his wife Ningal and children Inanna, the goddess of love and warfare, and Utu, the sun god.

 

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5) Nanna

Nanna (also known as Nannar, Nanna-Suen, Sin, Asimbabbar, Namrasit, Inbu) is the Mesopotamian god of the moon and wisdom. He is one of the oldest gods in the Mesopotamian pantheon and is first mentioned at the very dawn of writing in Sumer c. 3500 BCE. His worship continued until the 3rd century CE.

- The god of the moon and wisdom!

- His worship continued until the 3rd century CE!

 

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6) Nanna

Nanna was his Sumerian name while he was known as Sin, Nanna-Sin, Nanna-Suen and other names by the Akkadians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and others. His cult center was the great temple and ziggurat at the Sumerian city of Ur, and he is frequently mentioned in hymns and inscriptions from the Ur III Period (2047-1750 BCE) as the chief god of the pantheon with the epithet Enzu, lord of wisdom. His importance is evident in the number of inscriptions which refer to or praise him and the stories in which he features.

- Nanna was his Sumerian name!

- He was known as Sin, Nanna-Sin, Nanna-Suen and other names by the Akkadians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and others!

- He was the god of Ur!

- He was the chief god of the pantheon with the epithet Enzu, lord of wisdom!

 

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7) Nanna

He was the son of Enlil and Ninlil and is their first-born after Enlil seduces Ninlil by the riverbank in the myth Enlil and Ninlil. His wife was Ningal (also Nikkal, the 'Great Lady'), a fertility goddess, and their children were Utu-Shamash (the sun god) and, in some stories, his twin sister Inanna/Ishtar (goddess of love and sexuality), Ereshkigal (Queen of the Dead), and Ishkur (also known as Adad, god of storms).

- he was the son of Enlil and Ninlil!

- His wife was ningal, a fertility goddess!

- Their children were:

- Utu-Shamash (the sun god) and, in some stories,

- his twin sister Inanna/Ishtar (goddess of love and sexuality),

- Ereshkigal (Queen of the Dead),

- and Ishkur (also known as Adad, god of storms).

 

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8) Nanna

An interesting aspect of this family tree is that the moon (Nanna) is the father of the sun (Utu/Shamash). It is thought this belief originated in the early days of a hunter-gatherer social structure when the moon was more important to a community for traveling by night and telling the time of the month; the sun only became more important once the people settled down and began to practice agriculture. The religious belief, then, mirrored the cultural development. Scholar Stephen Bertman writes:
The Mesopotamians thus conceived of day, illuminated by the sun, as emanating from the darkness of night and the lesser light of the moon. As the time of lovemaking, the night and the moon were linked to the goddess of the erotic. As a source of light, the moon was also viewed as humanity's protector against acts of criminality undertaken under the cover of darkness even as the illuminating and all-seeing sun was looked upon as a guardian of justice. (122)
- An interesting aspect of this family tree is that the moon (Nanna) is the father of the sun (Utu/Shamash)!
- It is thought this belief originated in the early days of a hunter-gatherer social structure when the moon was more important to a community for traveling by night and telling the time of the month!
- the sun only became more important once the people settled down and began to practice agriculture!

 

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9) Nanna
Nanna is represented as a recumbent moon and associated with the bull and lion-dragon. He is further depicted as a seated man with a long beard of lapis lazuli, a crescent moon above him, or riding on the back of a winged bull. In many inscriptions he is represented simply by the number 30, referring to the number of days in a lunar month, and the crescent moon was regarded as his barge in which he sailed through the night sky.
- Nanna is represented as a recumbent moon!
- He is associated with the bull and lion-dragon!
- He is depicted as a seated man with a long beard of lapis lazuli, a crescent moon above him, or riding on the back of a winged bull!
- In many inscriptions he is represented simply by the number 30, referring to the number of days in a lunar month, and the crescent moon was regarded as his barge in which he sailed through the night sky!

 

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10) Nanna
He was an immensely popular god, one of the original Sumerian pantheon. His cult center was at Ur and his most famous high priestess was Enheduanna (l. 2285-2250 BCE), although he also had an important temple at Harran in modern-day Syria where his son was Nusku, god of fire and light. Nanna, Ningal, and Nusku were worshiped as a triad, though this veneration mainly focused on the father and son.
- Nanna (The father), Ningal (the mother), and Nusku (the son) were worshiped as a TRIAD,
- Though this veneration mainly focused on the FATHER and SON!

 

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11) Nanna

Under the reign of Nabonidus (c. 556-539 BCE) the king's mother served as high priestess at Harran while his daughter held the same position at Nanna's temple in Ur. This arrangement consolidated Nabonidus' power in the same way that Sargon of Akkad (r. 2334-2279 BCE) had earlier placed his daughter Enheduanna in her position at Ur. Nanna is repeatedly seen in ancient texts as a god who provides and unifies, and some of the most successful Mesopotamian rulers capitalized on this belief.