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105-459: The great commercial and trading connections between Mesopotamia and Dilmun were strong and profound to the point where Dilmun was a central figure to the Sumerian creation myth. Dilmun was described in the saga of Enki and Ninhursag as pre-existing in paradisiacal state, where predators do not kill, pain and diseases are absent, and people do not get old. Dilmun was an important trading centre. At

210-746: A Hurrian minority, found that the inhabitants of Alalakh were a mixture of Copper age Levantines and Mesopotamians, and were genetically similar to contemporaneous Levantines. The view that Amorites were fierce and tall nomads led to an anachronistic theory among some racialist writers in the 19th century that they were a tribe of " Aryan " warriors, who at one point dominated the Israelites. This belief, which originated with Felix von Luschan , fit models of Indo-European migrations posited during his time, but Luschan later abandoned that theory. Houston Stewart Chamberlain claims that King David and Jesus were both Aryans of Amorite extraction. The argument

315-540: A "Sumerian renaissance" in the past. Already, the region was becoming more Semitic than Sumerian, with the resurgence of the Akkadian-speaking Semites in Assyria and elsewhere, and the influx of waves of Semitic Martu ( Amorites ), who founded several competing local powers in the south, including Isin , Larsa , Eshnunna and later, Babylonia. The last of these eventually came to briefly dominate

420-744: A 270-kilometre (170 mi) wall from the Tigris to the Euphrates to hold them off. The Amorites are depicted in contemporary records as nomadic tribes under chiefs, who forced themselves into lands they needed to graze their herds. Some of the Akkadian literature of this era speaks disparagingly of the Amorites and implies that the Akkadian- and Sumerian-speakers of Mesopotamia viewed their nomadic and primitive way of life with disgust and contempt. In

525-595: A century in the Third Dynasty of Ur at approximately 2100–2000 BC, but the Akkadian language also remained in use for some time. The Sumerians were entirely unknown during the early period of modern archeology. Jules Oppert was the first scholar to publish the word Sumer in a lecture on 17 January 1869. The first major excavations of Sumerian cities were in 1877 at Girsu by the French archeologist Ernest de Sarzec , in 1889 at Nippur by John Punnett Peters from

630-598: A difficult environment. Others have suggested a continuity of Sumerians, from the indigenous hunter-fisherfolk traditions, associated with the bifacial assemblages found on the Arabian littoral. Juris Zarins believes the Sumerians may have been the people living in the Persian Gulf region before it flooded at the end of the last Ice Age. In the early Sumerian period, the primitive pictograms suggest that There

735-602: A king's name. The short text reads, [La]'ù-la Panipa, daughter of Sumu-lěl , the servant of Inzak of Akarum . Sumu-lěl was evidently a third king of Dilmun from around this period. Servant of Inzak of Akarum was the king's title in Dilmun. The names of these later rulers are Amoritic . It seems that from at least 1500 BC, Dilmun was under the rule of the Akkadian-speaking Mesopotamian Sealand dynasty . The Sealand dynasty King Ea-gamil

840-685: A provincial official named Ilī-ippašra , in Dilmun, to his friend, Enlil-kidinni, the governor of Nippur. The names referred to are Akkadian . These letters, and other documents, suggest an administrative relationship between Dilmun and Babylon at that time. Following the collapse of the Kassite dynasty, in 1595 BC, Mesopotamian documents make no mention of Dilmun until Assyrian inscriptions (dated from 1250 BC to 1050 BC) proclaimed Assyrian kings to be rulers of Dilmun and Meluhha , as well as Lower Sea and Upper Sea. Assyrian inscriptions recorded tribute from Dilmun. There are other Assyrian inscriptions during

945-459: A royal inscription defeating a coalition of Sumerian cities and Amorites near Jebel Bishri in northern Syria c.  2240 BC. His successor, Shar-Kali-Sharri , recorded in one of his year names "In the year in which Szarkaliszarri was victorious over Amurru in the [Jebel Bishri]". By the time of the last days of the Third Dynasty of Ur , the immigrating Amorites had become such a force that kings such as Shu-Sin were obliged to construct

1050-465: A surplus which enabled them to form urban settlements. The world's earliest known texts come from the Sumerian cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr , and date to between c.  3350  – c.  2500 BC , following a period of proto-writing c.  4000  – c.  2500 BC . The term "Sumer" ( Akkadian : 𒋗𒈨𒊒 , romanized:  šumeru ) comes from the Akkadian name for

1155-727: Is also speculated that Gilgamesh had to pass through Mount Mashu to reach Dilmun in the Epic of Gilgamesh , which is usually identified with the whole of the parallel Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges, with the narrow gap between these mountains constituting the tunnel. In 1987, Theresa Howard-Carter proposed that Dilmun of this era might be a still unidentified tell near the Arvand Rud (Shatt al-Arab in Arabic) between modern-day Quanah and Basra in modern-day Iraq. In favor of Howard-Carter's proposal, it has been noted that this area does lie to

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1260-411: Is clothed in sack-leather ... , lives in a tent, exposed to wind and rain, and cannot properly recite prayers. He lives in the mountains and ignores the places of gods, digs up truffles in the foothills, does not know how to bend the knee (in prayer), and eats raw flesh. He has no house during his life, and when he dies he will not be carried to a burial-place. My girlfriend, why would you marry Martu? As

1365-587: Is considerable evidence concerning Sumerian music . Lyres and flutes were played, among the best-known examples being the Lyres of Ur . Sumerian culture was male-dominated and stratified. The Code of Ur-Nammu , the oldest such codification yet discovered, dating to the Ur III, reveals a glimpse at societal structure in late Sumerian law. Beneath the lu-gal ("great man" or king), all members of society belonged to one of two basic strata: The " lu " or free person, and

1470-624: Is described as the last "of the remnant of the Rephaim " ( Deut 3:11 ). The terms Amorite and Canaanite seem to be used more or less interchangeably, but sometimes Amorite refers to a specific tribe living in Canaan. The Biblical Amorites seem to have originally occupied the region stretching from the heights west of the Dead Sea ( Gen. 14:7 ) to Hebron ( Gen. 13:8; Deut. 3:8; 4:46–48 ), embracing "all Gilead and all Bashan " ( Deut. 3:10 ), with

1575-513: Is first attested in proper names of the kings of Kish c.  2800 BC , preserved in later king lists. There are texts written entirely in Old Akkadian dating from c.  2500 BC . Use of Old Akkadian was at its peak during the rule of Sargon the Great ( c.  2334 –2279 BC), but even then most administrative tablets continued to be written in Sumerian, the language used by

1680-407: Is little break in historical continuity between the pre- and post-Sargon periods, and that too much emphasis has been placed on the perception of a "Semitic vs. Sumerian" conflict. It is certain that Akkadian was also briefly imposed on neighboring parts of Elam that were previously conquered, by Sargon. c. 2193–2119 BC (middle chronology) c.  2200 –2110 BC (middle chronology) Following

1785-526: Is marked by a distinctive style of fine quality painted pottery which spread throughout Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf . The oldest evidence for occupation comes from Tell el-'Oueili , but, given that environmental conditions in southern Mesopotamia were favourable to human occupation well before the Ubaid period, it is likely that older sites exist but have not yet been found. It appears that this culture

1890-550: Is mentioned in a text found at Qal'at al-Bahrain. Ea-gamil was the last ruler of the Sealand dynasty. After his reign, Dilmun came under the rule of the Babylonian Kassite dynasty, as they took over the land of the Sealand dynasty. Dilmun was mentioned in two letters dated to the reign of Burna-Buriash II ( c.  1370 BC ), recovered from Nippur during the Kassite dynasty of Babylon. These letters were from

1995-568: Is mentioned that in the days of Samuel , there was peace between them and the Israelites ( 1 Sam. 7:14 ). The Gibeonites were said to be their descendants, being an offshoot of the Amorites who made a covenant with the Hebrews ( 2 Samuel 21:2 ). When Saul later broke that vow and killed some of the Gibeonites, God is said to have sent a famine to Israel ( 2 Samuel 21:1 ). In 2017, Philippe Bohstrom of Haaretz observed similarities between

2100-404: Is most clearly seen at Tell el-'Oueili near Larsa , excavated by the French in the 1980s, where eight levels yielded pre-Ubaid pottery resembling Samarran ware. According to this theory, farming peoples spread down into southern Mesopotamia because they had developed a temple-centered social organization for mobilizing labor and technology for water control, enabling them to survive and prosper in

2205-519: Is not thought to represent a full Amorite pantheon, as it does not include important members such as the sun and weather deities. The term Amorites is used in the Bible to refers to certain highlanders who inhabited the land of Canaan , described in Genesis as descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham ( Gen. 10:16 ). This aligns with Akkadian and Babylonian traditions that equate Syro-Palestine with

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2310-688: The Ahlamu during the Late Bronze Age collapse . The Arameans rose to be the prominent group amongst the Ahlamu. From c. 1200 BC onward, the Amorites disappeared from the pages of history, but the name reappeared in the Hebrew Bible . The language was first attested in the 21st–20th centuries BC and was found to be closely related to the Canaanite , Aramaic and Sam'alian languages. In

2415-455: The Amorite state of Mari , in the northern Levant , are attested. Around this time, the largest royal burial mounds were erected. From about 1780 BC came several Akkadian-language inscriptions on stone vessels naming two kings of Dilmun, King Yagli-El (and Amoritic name) and his father, Rimum . The inscriptions were found in huge tumuli, evidently the burial places of these kings. Rimum

2520-635: The Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. Like nearby Elam , it is one of the cradles of civilization , along with Egypt , the Indus Valley , the Erligang culture of the Yellow River valley, Caral-Supe , and Mesoamerica . Living along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Sumerian farmers grew an abundance of grain and other crops,

2625-610: The Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the fragmented era of the Second Intermediate Period in the Nile Delta , which was characterized by rulers bearing Amorite names such as Yakbim Sekhaenre , and were likely part of the later Hyksos . The term Amurru in Akkadian and Sumerian texts refers to the Amorites, their principal deity , and an Amorite kingdom . The Amorites are mentioned in

2730-573: The Garden of Eden story. Dilmun was an important trading center from the late fourth millennium BC to 800 BC. At the height of its power, Dilmun controlled the Persian Gulf trading routes. Dilmun was very prosperous during the first 300 years of the second millennium BC. Dilmun was conquered by the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1050 BC), and its commercial power began to decline between 1000 BC and 800 BC because piracy flourished in

2835-724: The Hebrew Bible as inhabitants of Canaan both before and after the conquest of the land under Joshua . It is thought that terms like mar.tu were used to represent what we now call the Amorites: In two Sumerian literary compositions written long afterward in the Old Babylonian period, Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta and Lugalbanda and the Anzu Bird , the Early Dynastic ruler of Uruk Enmerkar (listed in

2940-587: The Indus Valley and Mesopotamia in its early stage and later between China and the Mediterranean. The Dilmun civilization is mentioned first in Sumerian cuneiform clay tablets dated to the late third millennium BC, found in the temple of the goddess Inanna , in the city of Uruk . The adjective Dilmun is used to describe a type of axe and one specific official; in addition there are lists of rations of wool issued to people connected with Dilmun. One of

3045-537: The Jerusalem region, and the Jebusites may have been a subgroup of them ( Ezek. 16:3 ). The southern slopes of the mountains of Judea are called the "mount of the Amorites" ( Deut. 1:7, 19, 20 ). The Book of Joshua states the five kings of the Amorites were first defeated with great slaughter by Joshua ( Josh. 10:5 ). Then, more Amorite kings were defeated at the waters of Merom by Joshua ( Josh. 11:8 ). It

3150-531: The Jordan Valley on the east of the river ( Deut. 4:49 ), the land of the "two kings of the Amorites", Sihon and Og ( Deut. 31:4 and Joshua 2:10; 9:10 ). Sihon and Og were independent kings whose people were displaced from their land in battle with the Israelites ( Numbers 21:21–35 )—though in the case of the war led by Og/Bashan it appears none of them survived, and the land became part of Israel ( Numbers 21:35 ). The Amorites seem to have been linked to

3255-720: The Karun in Iran, and the Pishon River would correspond to the Wadi al-Batin river system that once drained the now dry, but once quite fertile central part of the Arabian Peninsula. Only a few rulers of the Dilmun kingdom are known: Sumer Sumer ( / ˈ s uː m ər / ) is the earliest known civilization , located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq ), emerging during

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3360-635: The Kassite dynasty under the name of Karduniaš around 1595 BC. In far southern Mesopotamia, the native First Sealand dynasty had reigned over the Mesopotamian Marshes region until the Kassites brought the region under their control. In northern Mesopotamia , the power vacuum left by the Amorites brought the rise of the Mitanni (Ḫanigalbat) c. 1600 BC. From the 15th century BC onward,

3465-591: The Levant . Initially appearing in Sumerian records c. 2500 BC, they expanded and ruled most of the Levant, Mesopotamia and parts of Egypt from the 21st century BC to the late 17th century BC. The Amorites established several prominent city-states in various locations, such as Isin , Kurda , Larsa , Mari , and Ebla , and later founded Babylon and the Old Babylonian Empire . They also founded

3570-611: The Mediterranean Sea , the Arabian Peninsula included. The most common view is that the "homeland" of the Amorites was a limited area in central Syria identified with the mountainous region of Jebel Bishri . The Amorites are regarded as one of the ancient Semitic-speaking peoples . Ancient DNA analysis on 28 human remains dating to the Middle and Late Bronze Age from ancient Alalakh , an Amorite city with

3675-585: The Middle East and were responsible for the spread of farming in the Middle East. However, contrary evidence strongly suggests that the first farming originated in the Fertile Crescent . Although not specifically discussing Sumerians, Lazaridis et al. 2016 have suggested a partial North African origin for some pre-Semitic cultures of the Middle East, particularly Natufians , after testing

3780-602: The Sumerian King List ) mentions "the land of the mar.tu ". It is not known to what extent these reflect historical facts. There are also sparse mentions about Amorites (often as MAR-DU ) in tablets from the East Semitic -speaking kingdom of Ebla , dating from 2500 BC to the destruction of the city in c.  2250 BC. From the perspective of the Eblaites, the Amorites were a rural group living in

3885-531: The University of Pennsylvania between 1889 and 1900, and in Shuruppak by German archeologist Robert Koldewey in 1902–1903. Major publications of these finds were " Decouvertes en Chaldée par Ernest de Sarzec " by Léon Heuzey in 1884, " Les Inscriptions de Sumer et d'Akkad " by François Thureau-Dangin in 1905, and " Grundzüge der sumerischen Grammatik " on Sumerian grammar by Arno Poebel in 1923. In

3990-450: The archaeological record shows clear uninterrupted cultural continuity from the time of the early Ubaid period (5300–4700 BC C-14 ) settlements in southern Mesopotamia. The Sumerian people who settled here, farmed the lands in this region that were made fertile by silt deposited by the Tigris and the Euphrates . Some archaeologists have speculated that the original speakers of ancient Sumerian may have been farmers, who moved down from

4095-645: The ziggurats in Uruk and Eridu , are described as taking place at a time "before Dilmun had yet been settled". Dilmun, sometimes described as "the place where the sun rises" and "the Land of the Living", is the scene of some versions of the Eridu Genesis , and the place where the deified Sumerian hero of the flood, Utnapishtim ( Ziusudra ), was taken by the gods to live forever. Thorkild Jacobsen 's translation of

4200-415: The " Dynasty of Isin " in the Sumerian king list, ending with the rise of Babylonia under Hammurabi c. 1800 BC. Later rulers who dominated Assyria and Babylonia occasionally assumed the old Sargonic title "King of Sumer and Akkad", such as Tukulti-Ninurta I of Assyria after c. 1225 BC. Uruk, one of Sumer's largest cities, has been estimated to have had a population of 50,000–80,000 at its height. Given

4305-453: The "Sumerians", the ancient non- Semitic -speaking inhabitants of southern Mesopotamia . In their inscriptions, the Sumerians called their land "Kengir", the "Country of the noble lords" ( Sumerian : 𒆠 𒂗 𒄀 , romanized:  ki-en-gi(-r) , lit.   ''country" + "lords" + "noble''), and their language "Emegir" ( Sumerian : 𒅴𒂠 , romanized:  eme-g̃ir or 𒅴𒄀 eme-gi 15 ). The origin of

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4410-617: The "land of the Amorites". They are described as a powerful people of great stature "like the height of the cedars" ( Amos 2:9 ) who had occupied the land east and west of the Jordan . The height and strength mentioned in Amos 2:9 has led some Christian scholars, including Orville J. Nave, who wrote the Nave's Topical Bible , to refer to the Amorites as "giants". In Deuteronomy , the Amorite king Og

4515-640: The 18th century BC at Mari Amorite scribes wrote in an Eshnunna dialect of the East Semitic Akkadian language . Since the texts contain Northwest Semitic forms, words and constructions, the Amorite language is thought to be a Northwest Semitic language. The main sources for the extremely limited extant knowledge of the Amorite language are the proper names and loanwords, not Akkadian in style, that are preserved in such texts. Amorite proper names were found throughout Mesopotamia in

4620-435: The Akkadian and Ur III phases, there was a shift from the cultivation of wheat to the more salt-tolerant barley , but this was insufficient, and during the period from 2100 BC to 1700 BC, it is estimated that the population in this area declined by nearly three-fifths. This greatly upset the balance of power within the region, weakening the areas where Sumerian was spoken, and comparatively strengthening those where Akkadian

4725-526: The Amorites and the Jews, since both historically existed as well-connected diasporic communities. He also believes that Abraham was among the Amorites who migrated to the Levant, around the same time that the Amorites conquered Ur at 1750 BC, due to his north Syrian heritage and shepherding-based lifestyles. Nonetheless, the Biblical authors only applied the Amorite ethnonym to the pre-Israelite inhabitants of

4830-460: The Amorites were also part. Based on temple architecture, Manfred Bietak argues for strong parallels between the religious practices of the Hyksos at Avaris with those of the area around Byblos , Ugarit , Alalakh and Tell Brak and defines the "spiritual home" of the Hyksos as "in northernmost Syria and northern Mesopotamia", areas typically associated with Amorites at the time. In 1650 BC,

4935-742: The Arabian Gulf. In the 8th and 7th centuries BC the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–605 BC) conquered Dilmun, and in the 6th century BC the Neo-Babylonian Empire , and later the Achaemenid Empire , ruled Dilmun. The Dilmun civilization was the centre of commercial activities linking traditional agriculture of the land—then utterly fertile due to artesian wells that have since dried, and due to a much wetter climate—with maritime trade between diverse regions such as

5040-453: The Eridu Genesis calls it "Mount Dilmun" which he locates as a "faraway, half-mythical place" . Dilmun is also described in the epic story of Enki and Ninhursag as the site at which the Creation occurred. The later Babylonian Enuma Elish , speaks of the creation site as the place where the mixture of salt water, personified as Tiamat met and mingled with the fresh water of Abzu . Bahrain in Arabic means "the twin waters", where

5145-420: The Hyksos established the Fifteenth Dynasty of Egypt and ruled most of Lower and Middle Egypt contemporaneously with the Sixteenth and Seventeenth dynasties of Thebes during the chaotic Second Intermediate Period . In the 16th century BC, the Amorite era ended in Mesopotamia with the decline and fall of Babylon and other Amorite-ruled cities. The Kassites occupied Babylon and reconstituted it under

5250-527: The Indus region that are not native to Mesopotamia. Instances of all of these trade goods have been found. The importance of this trade is shown by the fact that the weights and measures used at Dilmun were, identical to those used by the Indus, and were not those used in Southern Mesopotamia. In regards to copper mining and smelting, the Umm al-Nar culture and Dalma ( United Arab Emirates ) and Ibri (Oman) were particularly important. Some Meluhhan vessels may have sailed directly to Mesopotamian ports but, by

5355-415: The Isin ruler Ishbi-Erra , which marked the beginning of the Isin-Larsa period. After the decline of Ur III, Amorite rulers gained power in a number of Mesopotamian city-states beginning in the Isin-Larsa period and peaking in the Old Babylonian period. In the north, the Amorite ruler of Ekallatum , Shamshi-Adad I conquered Assur and formed the large, though short-lived Kingdom of Upper Mesoptamia. In

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5460-424: The Isin-Larsa Period, Dilmun monopolized the trade. The Bahrain National Museum assesses that its "Golden Age" lasted c.  2200–1600 BC . Discoveries of ruins under the Arabian Gulf may be of Dilmun. The population used cuneiform to write in the Akkadian language, and, like the Akkadians , Assyrians , Babylonians and Eblaites of Mesopotamia , are thought to have spoken an East Semitic language that

5565-401: The King of Babylon. The name of Dilmun fell from use after the collapse of Babylon , in 538 BC, with the area henceforth identified as Tylos during the Hellenistic period . The "Arabian Gulf" types of circular, stamped (rather than rolled) seals known from Dilmun—that appear at Lothal , Gujarat , India, and Failaka (as well as in Mesopotamia)—are evidence of long-distance sea trade. What

5670-434: The Old Babylonian period, as well as places as far afield as Alalakh in Turkey and modern day Bahrain ( Dilmun ). They are also found in Egyptian records. Ugaritic is also a Northwest Semitic language and is possibly an Amorite dialect. A bilingual list of the names of ten Amorite deities alongside Akkadian counterparts from the Old Babylonian period was translated in 2022. These deities are as follows: This list

5775-429: The Sumerian king list whose name is known from any other legendary source is Etana , 13th king of the first dynasty of Kish . The earliest king authenticated through archaeological evidence is Enmebaragesi of Kish (Early Dynastic I), whose name is mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh —leading to the suggestion that Gilgamesh himself might have been a historical king of Uruk. As the Epic of Gilgamesh shows, this period

5880-478: The Sumerian myth "Marriage of Martu", written early in the 2nd millennium BC , a goddess considering marriage to the god of the Amorites is warned: Now listen, their hands are destructive and their features are those of monkeys; (An Amorite) is one who eats what (the Moon-god) Nanna forbids and does not show reverence. They never stop roaming about ..., they are an abomination to the gods' dwellings. Their ideas are confused; they cause only disturbance. (The Amorite)

5985-421: The Sumerians is not known, but the people of Sumer referred to themselves as "Black-Headed Ones" or "Black-Headed People" ( Sumerian : 𒊕 𒈪 , romanized:  sag̃-gíg , lit.   ''head" + "black'', or 𒊕 𒈪 𒂵 , sag̃-gíg-ga , phonetically /saŋ ɡi ɡa/ , lit. "head" + "black" + relative marker). For example, the Sumerian king Shulgi described himself as "the king of

6090-528: The Sumerians’ sphere of influence (ordered from south to north): Apart from Mari, which lies full 330 kilometres (205 miles) north-west of Agade, but which is credited in the king list as having exercised kingship in the Early Dynastic II period, and Nagar, an outpost, these cities are all in the Euphrates-Tigris alluvial plain, south of Baghdad in what are now the Bābil , Diyala , Wāsit , Dhi Qar , Basra , Al-Muthannā and Al-Qādisiyyah governorates of Iraq . The Sumerian city-states rose to power during

6195-422: The Ubaid period to the Uruk period is marked by a gradual shift from painted pottery domestically produced on a slow wheel to a great variety of unpainted pottery mass-produced by specialists on fast wheels. The Uruk period is a continuation and an outgrowth of Ubaid with pottery being the main visible change. By the time of the Uruk period, c. 4100–2900 BC calibrated, the volume of trade goods transported along

6300-403: The Uruk period coincided with the Piora oscillation , a dry period from c. 3200–2900 BC that marked the end of a long wetter, warmer climate period from about 9,000 to 5,000 years ago, called the Holocene climatic optimum . The dynastic period begins c. 2900 BC and was associated with a shift from the temple establishment headed by council of elders led by a priestly "En" (a male figure when it

6405-422: The Uruk period were probably theocratic and were most likely headed by a priest-king ( ensi ), assisted by a council of elders, including both men and women. It is quite possible that the later Sumerian pantheon was modeled upon this political structure. There was little evidence of organized warfare or professional soldiers during the Uruk period, and towns were generally unwalled. During this period Uruk became

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6510-430: The canals and rivers of southern Mesopotamia facilitated the rise of many large, stratified , temple-centered cities, with populations of over 10,000 people, where centralized administrations employed specialized workers. It is fairly certain that it was during the Uruk period that Sumerian cities began to make use of slave labour captured from the hill country, and there is ample evidence for captured slaves as workers in

6615-431: The centralized structure of the Third Dynasty of Ur slowly collapsed, the city-states of the south such as Isin, Larsa and Eshnunna, began to reassert their former independence, and the areas in southern Mesopotamia with Amorites were no exception. Elsewhere, the armies of Elam were attacking and weakening the empire, making it vulnerable. Ur was eventually occupied by the Elamites. They remained until they were rejected by

6720-502: The commerce consisted of is less known; timber and precious woods, ivory , lapis lazuli , gold , and luxury goods (such as carnelian and glazed stone beads), pearls from the Arabian Gulf, shell and bone inlays were among the goods sent to Mesopotamia, in-exchange for silver , tin , woolen textiles, olive oil and grains. Copper ingots from Oman and bitumen (which occurred naturally in Mesopotamia) may have been exchanged for cotton textiles and domestic fowl , major products of

6825-535: The downfall of the Akkadian Empire at the hands of Gutians , another native Sumerian ruler, Gudea of Lagash, rose to local prominence and continued the practices of the Sargonic kings ' claims to divinity. The previous Lagash dynasty, Gudea and his descendants also promoted artistic development and left a large number of archaeological artifacts. Later, the Third Dynasty of Ur under Ur-Nammu and Shulgi (c. 2112–2004 BC, middle chronology), whose power extended as far as southern Assyria , has been erroneously called

6930-491: The earliest inscriptions mentioning Dilmun is that of king Ur-Nanshe of Lagash ( c.  2300 BC ) found in a door-socket: "The ships of Dilmun brought him wood as tribute from foreign lands." From around 2050 BC onward, Dilmun seems to have been at its peak. Qal'at al-Bahrain was most likely the capital of Dilmun. From texts found at Isin , it is believed Dilmun became an independent kingdom, free from Mesopotamian rule; royal gifts to Dilmun are mentioned. Contacts with

7035-569: The earliest texts. Artifacts, and even colonies of this Uruk civilization have been found over a wide area—from the Taurus Mountains in Turkey , to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and as far east as western Iran . The Uruk period civilization, exported by Sumerian traders and colonists, like that found at Tell Brak , had an effect on all surrounding peoples, who gradually evolved their own comparable, competing economies and cultures. The cities of Sumer could not maintain remote, long-distance colonies by military force. Sumerian cities during

7140-425: The east of Sumer ("where the sun rises"), and the riverbank where Dilmun's maidens would have been accosted aligns with the Shat al-Arab which is in the midst of marshes. The "mouth of the rivers" where Dilmun was said to lie is for her the union of the Tigris and Euphrates at Qurnah. A number of scholars have suggested that Dilmun originally designated the eastern province of modern Saudi Arabia , notably linked with

7245-415: The first empires known to history was that of Eannatum of Lagash, who annexed practically all of Sumer, including Kish, Uruk, Ur , and Larsa , and reduced to tribute the city-state of Umma , arch-rival of Lagash. In addition, his realm extended to parts of Elam and along the Persian Gulf . He seems to have used terror as a matter of policy. Eannatum's Stele of the Vultures depicts vultures pecking at

7350-402: The first millennium BC, indicating Assyrian sovereignty over Dilmun. One of the early sites discovered in Bahrain suggests that Sennacherib , King of Assyria (707–681 BC), attacked northeast Arabia and captured the Bahraini islands. The most recent reference to Dilmun came during the Neo-Babylonian Empire ; Neo-Babylonian administrative records, dated 567 BC, stated that Dilmun was controlled by

7455-436: The first state that successfully united larger parts of Mesopotamia in the 23rd century BC. After the Gutian period , the Ur III kingdom similarly united parts of northern and southern Mesopotamia. It ended in the face of Amorite incursions at the beginning of the second millennium BC. The Amorite "dynasty of Isin " persisted until c.  1700 BC , when Mesopotamia was united under Babylonian rule. The Ubaid period

7560-739: The four quarters, the pastor of the black-headed people". The Akkadians also called the Sumerians "black-headed people", or ṣalmat-qaqqadi , in the Semitic Akkadian language. The Akkadians, the East Semitic-speaking people who later conquered the Sumerian city-states , gave Sumer its main historical name, but the phonological development of the term šumerû is uncertain. Hebrew שִׁנְעָר Šinʿar , Egyptian Sngr , and Hittite Šanhar(a) , all referring to southern Mesopotamia, could be western variants of Sumer . Most historians have suggested that Sumer

7665-557: The fresh water of the Arabian aquifer mingles with the salt waters of the Persian Gulf . The promise of Enki to Ninhursag, the Earth Mother: For Dilmun, the land of my lady's heart, I will create long waterways, rivers and canals, whereby water will flow to quench the thirst of all beings and bring abundance to all that lives. Ninlil , the Sumerian goddess of air and south wind had her home in Dilmun. However, it

7770-576: The genomes of Natufian and Pre-Pottery Neolithic culture-bearers. Craniometric analysis has also suggested an affinity between Natufians and ancient North Africans. Some scholars associate the Sumerians with the Hurrians and Urartians , and suggest the Caucasus as their homeland. This is not generally accepted. Based on mentions of Dilmun as the “home city of the land of Sumer” in Sumerian legends and literature, other scholars have suggested

7875-522: The height of its power, it controlled the Persian Gulf trading routes. According to some modern theories, the Sumerians regarded Dilmun as a sacred place, but that is never stated in any known ancient text. Dilmun was mentioned by the Mesopotamians as a trade partner, a source of copper , and a trade entrepôt . The Sumerian tale of the garden paradise of Dilmun may have been an inspiration for

7980-414: The high mountains. Reasons include the polemical need to associate them with the "barbaric raw meat eating" Amorites that the Sumerians imagined them as. The authors also wanted to portray these inhabitants as having an ancient history. There are a wide range of views regarding the Amorite homeland. One extreme is the view that kur mar.tu / māt amurrim covered the whole area between the Euphrates and

8085-471: The idea of a Proto-Euphratean language or one substrate language; they think the Sumerian language may originally have been that of the hunting and fishing peoples who lived in the marshland and the Eastern Arabia littoral region and were part of the Arabian bifacial culture. Juris Zarins believes the Sumerians lived along the coast of Eastern Arabia , today's Persian Gulf region, before it

8190-514: The late 4th millennium BC, Sumer was divided into many independent city-states , which were divided by canals and boundary stones. Each was centered on a temple dedicated to the particular patron god or goddess of the city and ruled over by a priestly governor ( ensi ) or by a king ( lugal ) who was intimately tied to the city's religious rites. An incomplete list of cities that may have been visited, interacted and traded with, invaded, conquered, destroyed, occupied, colonized by and/or otherwise within

8295-462: The major Dilmunite settlements of Umm an-Nussi and Umm ar-Ramadh in the interior and Tarout on the coast. As of 2022, archaeologists have failed to find a site in existence from 3300 BC (Uruk IV) to 556 BC (Neo-Babylonian Era), when Dilmun appears in texts. According to Hojlund, no settlements exist in the Gulf littoral dating to 3300–2000 BC. In 1922, Eduard Glaser proposed that the Garden of Eden

8400-554: The marshlands, who may have been the ancestors of the Sumerians. Reliable historical records begin with Enmebaragesi ( Early Dynastic I ). The Sumerians progressively lost control to Semitic states from the northwest. Sumer was conquered by the Semitic-speaking kings of the Akkadian Empire around 2270 BC ( short chronology ), but Sumerian continued as a sacred language . Native Sumerian rule re-emerged for about

8505-429: The most urbanized city in the world, surpassing for the first time 50,000 inhabitants. The ancient Sumerian king list includes the early dynasties of several prominent cities from this period. The first set of names on the list is of kings said to have reigned before a major flood occurred. These early names may be fictional, and include some legendary and mythological figures, such as Alulim and Dumizid . The end of

8610-495: The narrow basin of the middle and upper Euphrates in northern Syria. The Eblaites used the term MAR.TU in an early time for a state and people east to Ebla (around Emar and Tuttul ), which means the name Amurru for the west is later than the name for the state or the people. For the Akkadian emperors of central Mesopotamia, mar.tu was one of the "Four Quarters" surrounding Akkad, along with Subartu (north), Sumer (south), and Elam (east). Naram-Sin of Akkad records in

8715-467: The north of Mesopotamia after perfecting irrigation agriculture there. The Ubaid period pottery of southern Mesopotamia has been connected via Choga Mami transitional ware, to the pottery of the Samarra period culture ( c.  5700 –4900 BC C-14 ) in the north, who were the first to practice a primitive form of irrigation agriculture along the middle Tigris River and its tributaries. The connection

8820-402: The north. Ecologically, the agricultural productivity of the Sumerian lands was being compromised as a result of rising salinity. Soil salinity in this region had been long recognized as a major problem. Poorly drained irrigated soils, in an arid climate with high levels of evaporation, led to the buildup of dissolved salts in the soil, eventually reducing agricultural yields severely. During

8925-551: The other cities in Sumer, and the large agricultural population, a rough estimate for Sumer's population might be 0.8 million to 1.5 million. The world population at this time has been estimated at 27 million. The Sumerians spoke a language isolate . A number of linguists have claimed to be able to detect a substrate language of unknown classification beneath Sumerian, because names of some of Sumer's major cities are not Sumerian, revealing influences of earlier inhabitants. However,

9030-575: The possibility that the Sumerians originated from Dilmun, which was theorized to be the island of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf. In Sumerian mythology, Dilmun was also mentioned as the home of deities such as Enki . The status of Dilmun as the Sumerians’ ancestral homeland has not been established, but archaeologists have found evidence of civilization in Bahrain, namely the existence of Mesopotamian-style round disks. A prehistoric people who lived in

9135-469: The prehistoric Ubaid and Uruk periods. Sumerian written history reaches back to the 27th century BC and before, but the historical record remains obscure until the Early Dynastic III period, c.  23rd century BC , when the language of the written records becomes easier to decipher, which has allowed archaeologists to read contemporary records and inscriptions. The Akkadian Empire was

9240-524: The region before the Sumerians have been termed the " Proto-Euphrateans " or " Ubaidians ", and are theorized to have evolved from the Samarra culture of northern Mesopotamia. The Ubaidians, though never mentioned by the Sumerians themselves, are assumed by modern-day scholars to have been the first civilizing force in Sumer. They drained the marshes for agriculture , developed trade, and established industries, including weaving , leatherwork , metalwork , masonry , and pottery . Some scholars contest

9345-433: The scribes. Gelb and Westenholz differentiate three stages of Old Akkadian: that of the pre-Sargonic era, that of the Akkadian empire, and that of the Ur III period that followed it. Akkadian and Sumerian coexisted as vernacular languages for about one thousand years, but by around 1800 BC, Sumerian was becoming more of a literary language familiar mainly only to scholars and scribes. Thorkild Jacobsen has argued that there

9450-602: The severed heads and other body parts of his enemies. His empire collapsed shortly after his death. Later, Lugal-zage-si , the priest-king of Umma, overthrew the primacy of the Lagash dynasty in the area, then conquered Uruk, making it his capital, and claimed an empire extending from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. He was the last ethnically Sumerian king before Sargon of Akkad . The Akkadian Empire dates to c.  2234 –2154 BC ( middle chronology ), founded by Sargon of Akkad . The Eastern Semitic Akkadian language

9555-445: The slave (male, arad ; female geme ). The son of a lu was called a dumu-nita until he married. A woman ( munus ) went from being a daughter ( dumu-mi ), to a wife ( dam ), then if she outlived her husband, a widow ( numasu ) and she could then remarry another man who was from the same tribe. Amorites The Amorites ( / ˈ æ m ə ˌ r aɪ t s / ) were an ancient Northwest Semitic -speaking Bronze Age people from

9660-691: The south of Mesopotamia as the Babylonian Empire , just as the Old Assyrian Empire had already done in the north from the late 21st century BC. The Sumerian language continued as a sacerdotal language taught in schools in Babylonia and Assyria, much as Latin was used in the Medieval period, for as long as cuneiform was used. This period is generally taken to coincide with a major shift in population from southern Mesopotamia toward

9765-594: The south, Babylon became the major power under the Amorite ruler Sumu-la-El and his successors, including the notable Hammurabi . Higher up the Euphrates, to the northwest, the Amorite kingdom of Mari arose, later to be destroyed by Hammurabi. Babylon itself would later be sacked by the Hittites, with its empire assumed by the Kassites . West of Mari, Yamhad ruled from its capital Halab, today's Aleppo, until it

9870-546: The term Amurru is usually applied to the region extending north of Canaan as far as Kadesh on the Orontes River in northern Syria. After the mid-2nd millennium BC, Syrian Amorites came under the domination of first the Hittites and, from the 14th century BC, the Middle Assyrian Empire . They then appear to have been displaced or absorbed by other semi-nomadic West Semitic -speaking peoples, known collectively as

9975-610: Was a temple for a goddess, or a female figure when headed by a male god) towards a more secular Lugal (Lu = man, Gal = great) and includes such legendary patriarchal figures as Dumuzid , Lugalbanda and Gilgamesh —who reigned shortly before the historic record opens c. 2900 BC, when the now deciphered syllabic writing started to develop from the early pictograms. The center of Sumerian culture remained in southern Mesopotamia, even though rulers soon began expanding into neighboring areas, and neighboring Semitic groups adopted much of Sumerian culture for their own. The earliest dynastic king on

10080-509: Was already known to archaeology from the Durand Stone , discovered in 1879. A decline is visible from around 1720 BC. Many settlements were no longer used, and the building of royal mounds ceased. The Barbar Temple fell into ruins. A 'recovering' period is noted from around 1650 BC. New royal burial mounds were built; at Qal'at al-Bahrain, there is evidence for increased building activity. A seal from this period found at Failaka preserved

10185-410: Was associated with increased war. Cities became walled, and increased in size as undefended villages in southern Mesopotamia disappeared. Both Enmerkar and Gilgamesh are credited with having built the walls of Uruk. The dynasty of Lagash (c. 2500–2270 BC), though omitted from the king list, is well attested through several important monuments and many archaeological finds. Although short-lived, one of

10290-479: Was derived from the Samarran culture from northern Mesopotamia. It is not known whether or not these were the actual Sumerians who are identified with the later Uruk culture. The story of the passing of the gifts of civilization ( me ) to Inanna , goddess of Uruk and of love and war, by Enki , god of wisdom and chief god of Eridu, may reflect the transition from Eridu to Uruk. The archaeological transition from

10395-526: Was destroyed by the Hittites in 16th century BC. The city of Ebla , under the control of Yamhad in this period, also had Amorite rulership. There is thought to have been an Amorite presence in Egypt from the 19th century BC. The Fourteenth Dynasty of Egypt , centred in the Nile Delta , had rulers bearing Amorite names such as Yakbim . Furthermore, increasing evidence suggests that the succeeding Hyksos of Egypt were an amalgam of peoples from Syria of which

10500-418: Was either an Akkadian dialect or one close to it, rather than a Central Semitic language, and most of its known rulers had East Semitic names. Dilmun's main deity was named Inzak and his spouse was Panipa. However, there is no indication of population replacement having happened in the region. In the early epic Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta , the main events, which center on Enmerkar 's construction of

10605-477: Was first permanently settled between c.  5500  – c.  3300 BC by a West Asian people who spoke the Sumerian language (pointing to the names of cities, rivers, basic occupations, etc., as evidence), a non-Semitic and non- Indo-European agglutinative language isolate . Others have suggested that the Sumerians were a North African people who migrated from the Green Sahara into

10710-700: Was flooded at the end of the Ice Age . Sumerian civilization took form in the Uruk period (4th millennium BC), continuing into the Jemdet Nasr and Early Dynastic periods. The Sumerian city of Eridu , on the coast of the Persian Gulf, is considered to have been one of the oldest cities , where three separate cultures may have fused: that of peasant Ubaidian farmers, living in mud-brick huts and practicing irrigation; that of mobile nomadic Semitic pastoralists living in black tents and following herds of sheep and goats; and that of fisher folk, living in reed huts in

10815-654: Was located in Eastern Arabia within the Dilmun civilization. Scholar Juris Zarins also believes that the Garden of Eden was situated in Dilmun at the head of the Persian Gulf (present-day Kuwait ), where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers run into the sea, from his research on this area using information from many different sources, including Landsat images from space. In this theory, the Bible's Gihon would correspond with

10920-1774: Was repeated by the Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg . In the Levant: In Mesopotamia: In Egypt: ( 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

11025-483: Was the major language. Henceforth, Sumerian remained only a literary and liturgical language, similar to the position occupied by Latin in medieval Europe. Following an Elamite invasion and sack of Ur during the rule of Ibbi-Sin (c. 2028–2004 BC), Sumer came under Amorite rule (taken to introduce the Middle Bronze Age ). The independent Amorite states of the 20th to 18th centuries are summarized as

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