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77-594: By the mid 1st millennium BC, usage of the name Gutium, by the peoples of lowland Mesopotamia , had expanded to include all of northwestern Iran , between the Zagros Mountains and the Tigris River . Various tribes and places to the east and northeast, regardless of ethnicity, were often referred to as Gutians or Gutium . For example, Assyrian royal annals use the term Gutians in relation to populations known to have been Medes or Mannaeans . As late as

154-573: A capital at the Early Dynastic city of Adab. The Gutians eventually overran Akkad, and as the King List tells us, their army also subdued Uruk for hegemony of Sumer, in about 2147–2050 BC. However, it seems that autonomous rulers soon arose again in a number of city-states, notably Gudea of Lagash . The Gutians seem also to have briefly overrun Elam at around the same time, towards the close of Kutik-Inshushinak 's reign (c. 2100 BC). On

231-475: A cloth (blindfold) over his eyes. Utuḫegal before Utu made him lie at his (Utu’s) feet, and on his neck he set his foot. Gutium, the fanged snake of the mountain ranges, he made drink from the cracks in the earth." A copper-alloy vase, now in the British Museum (BM 1999,0731.1), has an inscription by Utu-hengal: [This is] Utu-hegal, Powerful male, King of Uruk, King of the four quarters. Whoever erases

308-426: A complicated and extensive syllabary. A considerable amount of Babylonian literature was translated from Sumerian originals, and the language of religion and law long continued to be the old agglutinative language of Sumer. Vocabularies, grammars, and interlinear translations were compiled for the use of students, as well as commentaries on the older texts and explanations of obscure words and phrases. The characters of

385-635: A language of the Zagros possibly related to the Hurro-Urartuan language family , is attested in personal names, rivers and mountains and in various crafts. Akkadian came to be the dominant language during the Akkadian Empire and the Assyrian empires, but Sumerian was retained for administrative, religious, literary and scientific purposes. Different varieties of Akkadian were used until

462-488: A patient could not be cured physically, the Babylonian physicians often relied on exorcism to cleanse the patient from any curses . Esagil-kin-apli's Diagnostic Handbook was based on a logical set of axioms and assumptions, including the modern view that through the examination and inspection of the symptoms of a patient, it is possible to determine the patient's disease , its aetiology, its future development, and

539-440: A people who acted violently against the gods, people who the kingship of Sumer to the mountains took away, who Sumer with wickedness filled, who from one with a wife his wife took away from him, who from one with a child his child took away from him, who wickedness and violence produced within the country..." Following this, Ur-Nammu of Ur ordered the destruction of Gutium. The year 11 of king Ur-Nammu also mentions "Year Gutium

616-554: A precursor to the Socratic method . The Ionian philosopher Thales was influenced by Babylonian cosmological ideas. Ancient Mesopotamians had ceremonies each month. The theme of the rituals and festivals for each month was determined by at least six important factors: Some songs were written for the gods but many were written to describe important events. Although music and songs amused kings , they were also enjoyed by ordinary people who liked to sing and dance in their homes or in

693-761: A recent hypothesis, the Archimedes' screw may have been used by Sennacherib, King of Assyria, for the water systems at the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and Nineveh in the 7th century BC, although mainstream scholarship holds it to be a Greek invention of later times. Later, during the Parthian or Sasanian periods, the Baghdad Battery , which may have been the world's first battery, was created in Mesopotamia. The Ancient Mesopotamian religion

770-567: A sacred, ceremonial, literary, and scientific language in Mesopotamia until the 1st century AD. Libraries were extant in towns and temples during the Babylonian Empire. An old Sumerian proverb averred that "he who would excel in the school of the scribes must rise with the dawn." Women as well as men learned to read and write, and for the Semitic Babylonians, this involved knowledge of the extinct Sumerian language, and

847-517: A statue of the Gutian king Erridupizir at Nippur , an inscription imitates his Akkadian predecessors, styling him "King of Gutium, King of the Four Quarters". The Weidner Chronicle (written c. 500 BC), portrays the Gutian kings as uncultured and uncouth: Naram-Sin destroyed the people of Babylon , so twice Marduk summoned the forces of Gutium against him. Marduk gave his kingship to

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924-415: A table of Pythagorean triples and represents some of the most advanced mathematics prior to Greek mathematics. From Sumerian times, temple priesthoods had attempted to associate current events with certain positions of the planets and stars. This continued to Assyrian times, when Limmu lists were created as a year by year association of events with planetary positions, which, when they have survived to

1001-519: A vast mountainous region. Overland routes in Mesopotamia usually follow the Euphrates because the banks of the Tigris are frequently steep and difficult. The climate of the region is semi-arid with a vast desert expanse in the north which gives way to a 15,000-square-kilometre (5,800 sq mi) region of marshes, lagoons, mudflats, and reed banks in the south. In the extreme south, the Euphrates and

1078-595: Is an-ki , which refers to the god An and the goddess Ki . Their son was Enlil, the air god. They believed that Enlil was the most powerful god. He was the chief god of the pantheon . The numerous civilizations of the area influenced the Abrahamic religions , especially the Hebrew Bible . Its cultural values and literary influence are especially evident in the Book of Genesis . Giorgio Buccellati believes that

1155-684: Is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system , in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent . Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq . In the broader sense, the historical region of Mesopotamia also includes parts of present-day Iran , Turkey , Syria and Kuwait . Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. It has been identified as having "inspired some of

1232-414: Is a composite product, although it is probable that some of the stories are artificially attached to the central figure. Mesopotamian mathematics and science was based on a sexagesimal (base 60) numeral system . This is the source of the 60-minute hour, the 24-hour day, and the 360- degree circle. The Sumerian calendar was lunisolar, with three seven-day weeks of a lunar month. This form of mathematics

1309-469: Is accurate to about six decimal digits, and is the closest possible three-place sexagesimal representation of √ 2 : The Babylonians were not interested in exact solutions, but rather approximations, and so they would commonly use linear interpolation to approximate intermediate values. One of the most famous tablets is the Plimpton 322 tablet , created around 1900–1600 BC, which gives

1386-597: Is compatible with ergodic axioms. Logic was employed to some extent in Babylonian astronomy and medicine. Babylonian thought had a considerable influence on early Ancient Greek and Hellenistic philosophy . In particular, the Babylonian text Dialogue of Pessimism contains similarities to the agonistic thought of the Sophists , the Heraclitean doctrine of dialectic , and the dialogs of Plato , as well as

1463-421: Is uncertain. The Babylonian development of methods for predicting the motions of the planets is considered to be a major episode in the history of astronomy . The only Greek-Babylonian astronomer known to have supported a heliocentric model of planetary motion was Seleucus of Seleucia (b. 190 BC). Seleucus is known from the writings of Plutarch . He supported Aristarchus of Samos' heliocentric theory where

1540-674: The Earth rotated around its own axis which in turn revolved around the Sun . According to Plutarch , Seleucus even proved the heliocentric system, but it is not known what arguments he used, except that he correctly theorized on tides as a result of the Moon's attraction. Babylonian astronomy served as the basis for much of Greek , classical Indian , Sassanian, Byzantine , Syrian , medieval Islamic , Central Asian , and Western European astronomy. The oldest Babylonian texts on medicine date back to

1617-613: The Jazira , is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad . Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf and includes Kuwait and parts of western Iran. In modern academic usage, the term Mesopotamia often also has a chronological connotation. It is usually used to designate the area until the Muslim conquests , with names like Syria , Jazira , and Iraq being used to describe

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1694-684: The Neo-Assyrian Empire asserted control over much of the ancient Near East. Subsequently, the Babylonians, who had long been overshadowed by Assyria, seized power , dominating the region for a century as the final independent Mesopotamian realm until the modern era. In 539 BC, Mesopotamia was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire . The area was next conquered by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. After his death, it became part of

1771-650: The Old Babylonian period in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC . The most extensive Babylonian medical text, however, is the Diagnostic Handbook written by the ummânū , or chief scholar, Esagil-kin-apli of Borsippa , during the reign of the Babylonian king Adad-apla-iddina (1069–1046 BC). Along with contemporary Egyptian medicine , the Babylonians introduced the concepts of diagnosis , prognosis , physical examination , enemas , and prescriptions . The Diagnostic Handbook introduced

1848-402: The fall of Babylon in 539 BC. The rise of empires, beginning with Sargon of Akkad around 2350 BC, characterized the subsequent 2,000 years of Mesopotamian history, marked by the succession of kingdoms and empires such as the Akkadian Empire . The early second millennium BC saw the polarization of Mesopotamian society into Assyria in the north and Babylonia in the south. From 900 to 612 BC,

1925-438: The marketplaces . Songs were sung to children who passed them on to their children. Thus songs were passed on through many generations as an oral tradition until writing was more universal. These songs provided a means of passing on through the centuries highly important information about historical events. Hunting was popular among Assyrian kings. Boxing and wrestling feature frequently in art, and some form of polo

2002-407: The É , a temple dedicated to the goddess Inanna at Uruk, from a building labeled as Temple C by its excavators. The early logographic system of cuneiform script took many years to master. Thus, only a limited number of individuals were hired as scribes to be trained in its use. It was not until the widespread use of a syllabic script was adopted under Sargon's rule that significant portions of

2079-701: The (two) rivers") comes from the ancient Greek root words μέσος ( mesos , 'middle') and ποταμός ( potamos , 'river') and translates to '(land) between rivers', likely being a calque of the older Aramaic term, with the Aramaic term itself likely being a calque of the Akkadian birit narim . It is used throughout the Greek Septuagint ( c.  250 BC ) to translate the Hebrew and Aramaic equivalent Naharaim . An even earlier Greek usage of

2156-830: The 7th century Muslim conquest of Persia of the Sasanian Empire and the Muslim conquest of the Levant from the Byzantines. A number of primarily neo-Assyrian and Christian native Mesopotamian states existed between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD, including Adiabene , Osroene , and Hatra . The regional toponym Mesopotamia ( / ˌ m ɛ s ə p ə ˈ t eɪ m i ə / , Ancient Greek : Μεσοποταμία '[land] between rivers'; Arabic : بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن Bilād ar-Rāfidayn or بَيْن ٱلنَّهْرَيْن Bayn an-Nahrayn ; Persian : میان‌رودان miyân rudân ; Syriac : ܒܝܬ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ Beth Nahrain "(land) between

2233-540: The 8,000-year-old remains of early farmers found at an ancient graveyard in Germany . They compared the genetic signatures to those of modern populations and found similarities with the DNA of people living in today's Turkey and Iraq . The earliest language written in Mesopotamia was Sumerian , an agglutinative language isolate . Along with Sumerian, Semitic languages were also spoken in early Mesopotamia. Subartuan ,

2310-718: The Elder Siamun Psusennes II Twenty-third Dynasty of Egypt Harsiese A Takelot II Pedubast I Shoshenq VI Osorkon III Takelot III Rudamun Menkheperre Ini Twenty-fourth Dynasty of Egypt Tefnakht Bakenranef ( Sargonid dynasty ) Tiglath-Pileser Shalmaneser Marduk-apla-iddina II Sargon Sennacherib Marduk-zakir-shumi II Marduk-apla-iddina II Bel-ibni Ashur-nadin-shumi Nergal-ushezib Mushezib-Marduk Esarhaddon Ashurbanipal Ashur-etil-ilani Sinsharishkun Sin-shumu-lishir Ashur-uballit II Mesopotamia Mesopotamia

2387-823: The Greek Seleucid Empire . Around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthian Empire . It became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians, with western parts of the region coming under ephemeral Roman control. In 226 AD, the eastern regions of Mesopotamia fell to the Sassanid Persians . The division of the region between the Roman Byzantine Empire from 395 AD and the Sassanid Empire lasted until

Gutian people - Misplaced Pages Continue

2464-584: The Gutian force from the rule of his land and gave it to Utu-hengal. The Sumerian ruler Utu-hengal , Prince of the Sumerian city of Uruk is similarly credited on the King List with defeating the Gutian ruler Tirigan , and removing the Guti from the country in circa 2050 BC ( short chronology ). In his Victory Stele, Utu-hengal wrote about the Gutians: Gutium, the fanged snake of the mountain ranges,

2541-458: The Gutian force. The Gutians were unhappy people unaware how to revere the gods, ignorant of the right cultic practices. Utu-hengal , the fisherman, caught a fish at the edge of the sea for an offering. That fish should not be offered to another god until it had been offered to Marduk, but the Gutians took the boiled fish from his hand before it was offered, so by his august command, Marduk removed

2618-473: The Mesopotamian population became literate. Massive archives of texts were recovered from the archaeological contexts of Old Babylonian scribal schools, through which literacy was disseminated. Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as the spoken language of Mesopotamia somewhere around the turn of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC. The exact dating being a matter of debate. Sumerian continued to be used as

2695-472: The Tigris unite and empty into the Persian Gulf . The arid environment ranges from the northern areas of rain-fed agriculture to the south where irrigation of agriculture is essential. This irrigation is aided by a high water table and by melting snows from the high peaks of the northern Zagros Mountains and from the Armenian Highlands, the source of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that give

2772-556: The ancient history of lower Mesopotamia—commenced in the early-third millennium BC with cuneiform records of early dynastic kings. This entire history ends with either the arrival of the Achaemenid Empire in the late 6th century BC or with the Muslim conquest and the establishment of the Caliphate in the late 7th century AD, from which point the region came to be known as Iraq . In the long span of this period, Mesopotamia housed some of

2849-410: The chances of the patient's recovery. Esagil-kin-apli discovered a variety of illnesses and diseases and described their symptoms in his Diagnostic Handbook . These include the symptoms for many varieties of epilepsy and related ailments along with their diagnosis and prognosis. Some treatments used were likely based off the known characteristics of the ingredients used. The others were based on

2926-400: The cities of Sumer against the last Gutian king Tirigan . After a battle at an unknown location, Utu-Hengal was victorious and forced Tirigan to flee back towards Gutium. Tirigan fled to the city of Dubrum (location unknown) where the people treated him kindly. However, once the people of Dubrum heard that Utu-Hengal was marching towards the city, they took Tirigan and his family prisoner. He

3003-729: The city of Eridu , the Akkadian kingdoms, the Third Dynasty of Ur , and the various Assyrian empires. Some of the important historical Mesopotamian leaders were Ur-Nammu (king of Ur), Sargon of Akkad (who established the Akkadian Empire), Hammurabi (who established the Old Babylonian state), Ashur-uballit I and Tiglath-Pileser I (who established the Assyrian Empire). Scientists analysed DNA from

3080-614: The cultural mix. Periodic breakdowns in the cultural system have occurred for a number of reasons. The demands for labor has from time to time led to population increases that push the limits of the ecological carrying capacity , and should a period of climatic instability ensue, collapsing central government and declining populations can occur. Alternatively, military vulnerability to invasion from marginal hill tribes or nomadic pastoralists has led to periods of trade collapse and neglect of irrigation systems. Equally, centripetal tendencies amongst city-states have meant that central authority over

3157-421: The cycles of the moon. They divided the year into two seasons: summer and winter. The origins of astronomy as well as astrology date from this time. During the 8th and 7th centuries BC, Babylonian astronomers developed a new approach to astronomy. They began studying philosophy dealing with the ideal nature of the early universe and began employing an internal logic within their predictive planetary systems. This

Gutian people - Misplaced Pages Continue

3234-478: The end of the Neo-Babylonian period. Old Aramaic , which had already become common in Mesopotamia, then became the official provincial administration language of first the Neo-Assyrian Empire , and then the Achaemenid Empire : the official lect is called Imperial Aramaic . Akkadian fell into disuse, but both it and Sumerian were still used in temples for some centuries. The last Akkadian texts date from

3311-417: The fanged snake of the mountain ranges, a people who acted violently against the gods, people who the kingship of Sumer to the mountains took away, who Sumer with wickedness filled, who from one with a wife his wife took away from him, who from one with a child his child took away from him, who wickedness and violence produced within the country— Enlil, the king of all the lands, to obliterate its name, Utuḫegal,

3388-399: The foundation of the Third Dynasty of Ur by his son-in-law Ur-Nammu . He was officially "King of Uruk" in his inscriptions, and is therefore considered as the founder, and only member, of the "Fifth dynasty of Uruk" (Uruk V). There are several theories regarding his background. The most common is that he was a governor of Uruk who revolted against the Gutian kings in c. 2050 BC. He led

3465-1557: The four quarters of the world". ( Shamshi-Adad dynasty 1808–1736 BCE) (Amorites) Shamshi-Adad I Ishme-Dagan I Mut-Ashkur Rimush Asinum Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi (Non-dynastic usurpers 1735–1701 BCE) Puzur-Sin Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi ( Adaside dynasty 1700–722 BCE) Bel-bani Libaya Sharma-Adad I Iptar-Sin Bazaya Lullaya Shu-Ninua Sharma-Adad II Erishum III Shamshi-Adad II Ishme-Dagan II Shamshi-Adad III Ashur-nirari I Puzur-Ashur III Enlil-nasir I Nur-ili Ashur-shaduni Ashur-rabi I Ashur-nadin-ahhe I Enlil-Nasir II Ashur-nirari II Ashur-bel-nisheshu Ashur-rim-nisheshu Ashur-nadin-ahhe II Second Intermediate Period Sixteenth Dynasty Abydos Dynasty Seventeenth Dynasty (1500–1100 BCE) Kidinuid dynasty Igehalkid dynasty Untash-Napirisha Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt Smendes Amenemnisu Psusennes I Amenemope Osorkon

3542-594: The great man, King of Uruk, King of the four quarters of the world " Utu-hengal is known through numerous inscriptions. A victory stele was erected in Uruk by Utu-Hengal, a copy of which was made during the Dynasty of Isin , now in the Louvre Museum (AO 6018). The stele described the victory of Utu-Hengal over the Gutians, particularly their king Tirigan . The beginning of the inscription reads: "Enlil! Gutium,

3619-419: The inscription and writes his own name instead or who, on account of this curse, has someone else take hold of it and remove it, may his reign be cut short! May his progeny be wiped out! May An, king of the gods, And Inanna, lady of Uruk, ... curse him! Another fragmentary inscription of Utu-hengal, also in the British Museum, only mentions his name and titulature: "Utu-hengal, the great man, King of Uruk, King of

3696-541: The land everywhere. Tirigan , the king of Gutium, opened its (canal?) mouths, but no one came out against him. Both banks of the Tigris he had seized. To the south, in Sumer, the cultivated land he tied up, to the north, the roads he tied up. On the highways of the country he made tall grasses grow (....) By the envoys of Utuḫegal Tirigan and his wife and children in Dabrum were captured. They placed fetters on his hands and put

3773-467: The lands raided by Annubanini of Lulubum during the reign of Naram-Sin (c. 2254–2218 BC). Contemporary year-names for Shar-kali-sharri of Akkad indicate that in one unknown year of his reign, Shar-kali-sharri captured Sharlag king of Gutium, while in another year, "the yoke was imposed on Gutium". During the Akkadian Empire period the Gutians slowly grew in strength and then established

3850-474: The language was not closely related to any languages of the region, including Sumerian , Akkadian , Hurrian , Hittite , and Elamite . Most scholars reject the attempt to link Gutian king names to Indo-European languages. The Guti appear in texts from Old Babylonian copies of inscriptions ascribed to Lugal-Anne-Mundu ( fl. circa 25th century BC ) of Adab as among the nations providing his empire tribute. These inscriptions locate them between Subartu in

3927-409: The late 1st century AD. Early in Mesopotamia's history, around the mid-4th millennium BC, cuneiform was invented for the Sumerian language. Cuneiform literally means "wedge-shaped", due to the triangular tip of the stylus used for impressing signs on wet clay. The standardized form of each cuneiform sign appears to have been developed from pictograms . The earliest texts, 7 archaic tablets, come from

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4004-472: The methods of therapy and aetiology and the use of empiricism , logic , and rationality in diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. The text contains a list of medical symptoms and often detailed empirical observations along with logical rules used in combining observed symptoms on the body of a patient with its diagnosis and prognosis. The symptoms and diseases of a patient were treated through therapeutic means such as bandages , creams and pills . If

4081-444: The mighty man, the king of Uruk, the king of the four world quarters, the king whose utterances cannot be countermanded, Enlil, the king of all the lands, issued to him a command about this. To Inanna his lady he went and prayed to her, (saying) “My lady, lioness of battle, who the foreign lands batters, Enlil, the kingship of Sumer to return to its own control he commanded me. May you be my ally.” An army of many foreigners bore down upon

4158-462: The most important developments in human history, including the invention of the wheel , the planting of the first cereal crops , the development of cursive script, mathematics , astronomy , and agriculture ". It is recognised as the cradle of some of the world's earliest civilizations. The Sumerians and Akkadians , each originating from different areas, dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of recorded history ( c.  3100 BC ) to

4235-530: The name Mesopotamia is evident from The Anabasis of Alexander , which was written in the late 2nd century AD but specifically refers to sources from the time of Alexander the Great . In the Anabasis , Mesopotamia was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria . The Akkadian term biritum/birit narim corresponded to a similar geographical concept. Later, the term Mesopotamia

4312-454: The north, and Marhashe and Elam in the south. Sargon the Great (r. circa 2340 – 2284 BC) also mentions them among his subject lands, listing them between Lullubi , Armanum and Akkad to the north; Nikku and Der to the south. According to one stele, Naram-Sin of Akkad 's army of 360,000 soldiers defeated the Gutian king Gula'an, despite having 90,000 slain by the Gutians. The epic Cuthean Legend of Naram-Sin claims Gutium among

4389-561: The only king of the fifth dynasty of Uruk . In fact Sumerian people have always treated Utu-hengal's kingship and the Ur III dynasty together as a single continuous dynasty, with Utu-hengal as the founder. Utu-hengal has been praised as one of the greatest historical figures and heroes of Sumerian people. In his Victory Stele, Utu-hengal describes himself as: 𒀭𒌓𒃶𒅅 / 𒍑𒆗𒂵 / 𒈗𒀕𒆠𒂵 / 𒈗𒀭𒌒𒁕 𒐉𒁀 utu-he2-gal2 / nita kal-ga / lugal unu -ga / lugal an-ub-da limmu5-ba "Utu-hengal,

4466-420: The origins of philosophy can be traced back to early Mesopotamian wisdom , which embodied certain philosophies of life, particularly ethics , in the forms of dialectic , dialogues , epic poetry , folklore , hymns , lyrics , prose works, and proverbs . Babylonian reason and rationality developed beyond empirical observation. Babylonian thought was also based on an open-systems ontology which

4543-402: The present day, allow accurate associations of relative with absolute dating for establishing the history of Mesopotamia. The Babylonian astronomers were very adept at mathematics and could predict eclipses and solstices . Scholars thought that everything had some purpose in astronomy. Most of these related to religion and omens. Mesopotamian astronomers worked out a 12-month calendar based on

4620-425: The region after that date. It has been argued that these later euphemisms are Eurocentric terms attributed to the region in the midst of various 19th-century Western encroachments. Mesopotamia encompasses the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, both of which have their headwaters in the neighboring Armenian highlands . Both rivers are fed by numerous tributaries, and the entire river system drains

4697-441: The region its name. The usefulness of irrigation depends upon the ability to mobilize sufficient labor for the construction and maintenance of canals, and this, from the earliest period, has assisted the development of urban settlements and centralized systems of political authority. Agriculture throughout the region has been supplemented by nomadic pastoralism, where tent-dwelling nomads herded sheep and goats (and later camels) from

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4774-523: The reign of Cyrus the Great of Persia, the famous general Gubaru (Gobryas) was described as the "governor of Gutium". Little is known of the origins, material culture or language of the Guti, as contemporary sources provide few details and no artifacts have been positively identified. As the Gutian language lacks a text corpus , apart from some proper names, its similarities to other languages are impossible to verify. The names of Gutian kings suggest that

4851-461: The river pastures in the dry summer months, out into seasonal grazing lands on the desert fringe in the wet winter season. The area is generally lacking in building stone, precious metals, and timber, and so historically has relied upon long-distance trade of agricultural products to secure these items from outlying areas. In the marshlands to the south of the area, a complex water-borne fishing culture has existed since prehistoric times and has added to

4928-538: The syllabary were all arranged and named, and elaborate lists were drawn up. Many Babylonian literary works are still studied today. One of the most famous of these was the Epic of Gilgamesh , in twelve books, translated from the original Sumerian by a certain Sîn-lēqi-unninni , and arranged upon an astronomical principle. Each division contains the story of a single adventure in the career of Gilgamesh . The whole story

5005-550: The symbolic qualities. Mesopotamian people invented many technologies including metal and copper-working, glass and lamp making, textile weaving, flood control , water storage, and irrigation. They were also one of the first Bronze Age societies in the world. They developed from copper, bronze, and gold on to iron. Palaces were decorated with hundreds of kilograms of these very expensive metals. Also, copper, bronze, and iron were used for armor as well as for different weapons such as swords, daggers, spears, and maces . According to

5082-418: The volume of the frustum of a cone or a square pyramid was incorrectly taken as the product of the height and half the sum of the bases. Also, there was a recent discovery in which a tablet used π as 25/8 (3.125 instead of 3.14159~). The Babylonians are also known for the Babylonian mile, which was a measure of distance equal to about seven modern miles (11 km). This measurement for distances eventually

5159-704: The whole region, when imposed, has tended to be ephemeral, and localism has fragmented power into tribal or smaller regional units. These trends have continued to the present day in Iraq. The prehistory of the Ancient Near East begins in the Lower Paleolithic period. Therein, writing emerged with a pictographic script, Proto-cuneiform , in the Uruk IV period ( c.  late 4th millennium BC ). The documented record of actual historical events—and

5236-812: The world's most ancient highly developed, and socially complex states. The region was one of the four riverine civilizations where writing was invented, along with the Nile valley in Ancient Egypt , the Indus Valley civilization in the Indian subcontinent , and the Yellow River in Ancient China . Mesopotamia housed historically important cities such as Uruk , Nippur , Nineveh , Assur and Babylon , as well as major territorial states such as

5313-482: Was an important contribution to astronomy and the philosophy of science and some scholars have thus referred to this new approach as the first scientific revolution. This new approach to astronomy was adopted and further developed in Greek and Hellenistic astronomy. In Seleucid and Parthian times, the astronomical reports were thoroughly scientific. How much earlier their advanced knowledge and methods were developed

5390-406: Was brought before Utu-Hengal, and agreed to leave Sumer and retreat back to Gutium. After defeating the Gutians, Utu-hengal established himself as the king of Sumer. In the seventh year of the kingship he tragically died in an accident when inspecting a dam (leading some to suspect foul play), and was succeeded by his son-in-law, the governor of Ur , Ur-Nammu , as the king of Sumer. He was thus

5467-451: Was converted to a time-mile used for measuring the travel of the Sun, therefore, representing time. The roots of algebra can be traced to the ancient Babylonia who developed an advanced arithmetical system with which they were able to do calculations in an algorithmic fashion. The Babylonian clay tablet YBC 7289 ( c.  1800 –1600 BC) gives an approximation of √ 2 in four sexagesimal figures, 1 24 51 10 , which

5544-576: Was destroyed". However, according to a Sumerian epic, Ur-Nammu died in battle with the Gutians, after having been abandoned by his own army. A Babylonian text from the early 2nd millennium refers to the Guti as having a "human face, dogs’ cunning, [and] monkey's build". Some biblical scholars believe that the Guti may be the Qoa , named with the Shoa and Pekod as enemies of Jerusalem in Ezekiel 23:23, which

5621-412: Was instrumental in early map-making . The Babylonians also had theorems on how to measure the area of several shapes and solids. They measured the circumference of a circle as three times the diameter and the area as one-twelfth the square of the circumference, which would be correct if π were fixed at 3. The volume of a cylinder was taken as the product of the area of the base and the height; however,

5698-564: Was more generally applied to all the lands between the Euphrates and the Tigris , thereby incorporating not only parts of Syria but also almost all of Iraq and southeastern Turkey . The neighbouring steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the western part of the Zagros Mountains are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia . A further distinction is usually made between Northern or Upper Mesopotamia and Southern or Lower Mesopotamia . Upper Mesopotamia, also known as

5775-412: Was probably popular, with men sitting on the shoulders of other men rather than on horses. Utu-hengal Utu-hengal ( Sumerian : 𒀭𒌓𒃶𒅅 , utu-ḫe₂-g̃al₂ ), also written Utu-heg̃al , Utu-heĝal , and sometimes transcribed as Utu-hegal , Utu-hejal , Utu-Khengal , was one of the first native kings of Sumer after two hundred years of Akkadian and Gutian rule, and was at the origin of

5852-1134: Was probably written in the 6th century BC. ( Shamshi-Adad dynasty 1808–1736 BCE) (Amorites) Shamshi-Adad I Ishme-Dagan I Mut-Ashkur Rimush Asinum Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi (Non-dynastic usurpers 1735–1701 BCE) Puzur-Sin Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi ( Adaside dynasty 1700–722 BCE) Bel-bani Libaya Sharma-Adad I Iptar-Sin Bazaya Lullaya Shu-Ninua Sharma-Adad II Erishum III Shamshi-Adad II Ishme-Dagan II Shamshi-Adad III Ashur-nirari I Puzur-Ashur III Enlil-nasir I Nur-ili Ashur-shaduni Ashur-rabi I Ashur-nadin-ahhe I Enlil-Nasir II Ashur-nirari II Ashur-bel-nisheshu Ashur-rim-nisheshu Ashur-nadin-ahhe II Second Intermediate Period Sixteenth Dynasty Abydos Dynasty Seventeenth Dynasty (1500–1100 BCE) Kidinuid dynasty Igehalkid dynasty Untash-Napirisha Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt Smendes Amenemnisu Psusennes I Amenemope Osorkon

5929-450: Was the first recorded. Mesopotamians believed that the world was a flat disc, surrounded by a huge, holed space, and above that, heaven . They believed that water was everywhere, the top, bottom and sides, and that the universe was born from this enormous sea. Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic . Although the beliefs described above were held in common among Mesopotamians, there were regional variations. The Sumerian word for universe

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