Western Civilization

Human beings’ relationship with their gods was

based on subservience; according to Sumerian myth,

human beings were created to do the manual labor the

gods were unwilling to do for themselves. Moreover,

humans were insecure because they could never be sure

what the gods would do. But humans did try to circum-

vent or relieve their anxiety by discovering the inten-

tions of the gods; if they could decipher the signs that

foretold events, the events would be predictable, and

they could act wisely.

These efforts gave rise to the arts ofdivination,

which took a variety of forms. A common form, at least

for kings and priests who could afford it, involved

killing animals, such as sheep or goats, and examining

their livers or other organs. Supposedly, features seen

in the organs of the sacrificed animals foretold events

to come. One handbook predicted that if the animal

organ had shapex, the outcome of the military cam-

paign would bey. Private individuals relied on cheaper

divinatory techniques. These included interpreting pat-

terns of smoke from burning incense or the pattern

formed when oil was poured into water.

THE CULTIVATION OF NEW ARTS AND SCIENCES The real-

ization of writing’s great potential was another aspect

of Mesopotamian culture. The oldest Mesopotamian

Cuneiform sign

ca. 700 B.C.E.

(turned through 90°)

Phonetic value*

Cuneiform sign,

ca. 2400 B.C.E.

Pictographic sign,

ca. 3100 B.C.E.

Interpretation

Meaning

*Some signs have more than one phonetic value and some sounds are represented by more than one sign; for example, u 4 means the fourth sign with the phonetic value u.

star ?sun overhorizon ?stream ear ofbarley bull’s head bowl head + bowl lower leg ?shroudedbody

dingir, an u 4 , ud a se gu 4 nig 2 , ninda ku 2 du, gin, gub lu 2

ˆ

god, sky day, sun seed, sonwater, barley ox food, bread to eat to standto walk, man

The Development of Cuneiform Writing.Pictured here is

the cone of Urukagina (oo-ROOK-uh-gee-nuh), an example

of cuneiform writing from an early Sumerian dynasty. The

inscription announces reductions in taxes. The table shows

the development of writing from pictographic signs to

cuneiform characters.

Louvre (Herv

e Lewandowski), Paris//

ª

RMN-Grand Palais/Art Resource, NY

From the

Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia & the Ancient Near East

by Michael

Roaf/Courtesy of Andromeda Oxford Limited, Oxford, England

Civilization in Mesopotamia 13

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