Lecture 3- The Urban Revolution

Question 1

Urban Revolution

Answer 1

• Happened in S. Meso. first by the Sumerians
• GRADUALLY over 1000 years
• change in tech, demo, social, econ ideologies
• creates a need to structure the society differently leading to urbanisation

Question 2

Changes of the urban revolution

Answer 2

• Settlement patterns
• Agricultural innovations
• Specialisation of jobs
• Monumental architecture

Question 3

Late Uruk Period

Answer 3

• 3400/3300- 3100
• Uruk was first city
  
  • dramatic increase in pop density
  • increase in settlement size (250 hectares for Uruk)
  • settlement size according to hierarchal system
  • central area that reached out to surrounding towns,
    villages
  • so many people that there must have been
    migration from N. Meso and W. Iran

Question 4

Agricultural innovations

Answer 4

• Most important factor creating pop growth and food
  surplus
• N. Meso had rain agriculture/ S. Meso needed irrigation but could produce more food
  • sloping canals with irrigation canals
  • seed plough
  • long field system

** S. Meso could produce more- 1 to 30 ratio instead of the 1 to 5 in N. Meso

Question 5

Specialisation of jobs

Answer 5

• Surplus allows for a diverse range of people who don’t have to grow their own food
  
  • workmen and admin
  • they establish the social, polit, and econo elites of
    the state
  • they live in the city center

Question 6

Creation of elites

Answer 6

• 2 reasons: Surplus and Creation of Institutions
  
  • 2 institutions were the palace and the temple
  • served as collection and redistribution centers
• Land distribution
  
  • 1 part divided and given to the institutions
  • 1 part divided and given to the individuals of the org (specialised services in exchange for the land)

Question 7

Creation of villages

Answer 7

• Villages are income sources for the center
  • Community of free land owners – had to pay
  percentage of produce to central institution
  • ACCUMULATION OF THE FOOD - then gets
  redistributed as rations to specialists and everyone
  else sometimes
  • Development of “villages” = areas further from
  centre developed, places growing produce that
  was like tax for the centre
  o These goods given to centre = form of income

 Seasonal tasks that need a big work force = an obligation of these villagers like a corvee system

Question 8

Evidence of distribution system

Answer 8

• Uruk 4 level
  • proto- cuneiform tablets
    
    • compared to 3rd mill. we can read that they were
      ration lists
  • Bevelled rim bowls used for distribution
    
    • standard shape and sizes- utilitarian and mass
      produced
    • 4th mil.
  • cylinder seals- admin tool w/ carved scenes and
    work of specialists

Question 9

Social prerequisites to the urban rev

Answer 9

• Vertical - Pre-Uruk period (Ubaid) = show potential
for there to be social distinction / diff ranks of
families
o Some social elements already there – help
explain why changes happen in URUK & NOT
in everywhere could handle that much surplus
• Ubaid period – had egalitarian society BUT was
different
o Powerful conceptual tool = diff b/w horizontal
& vertical egalitarian societies
• Main difference b/w NOW & BEFORE
o Systematic separation b/w primary production
& secondary specialization
o food processors (in countryside) & specialists
in the palaces (at centres) = relation became
hierarchical
 Food > crafts people & goods > food
producers
- the country work and centre work
created a natural hierarchy and social
difference/economic inequality was set
up

Question 10

Monumental architecture

Answer 10

• differentiated country for center
• 1st time we see monuments by specialists
  • Heart of the city dedicated to economic activities
  • Practical needs = admin, craft, storage buildings
  • Ideological “propaganda”

Question 11

Temples in Uruk

Answer 11

• Temple of Anu
• Temple of Eanna “House of Heaven”
  
  • series of monumental buildings
  • rebuilt several times in Uruk 4
  • featured cone mosaics in geometric patterns in clay
    and stone- stone must have been imported
    -buildings needed 15,000 workers, 10hrs a day, 5 yrs

Question 12

Temple/ administrators role

Answer 12

• this came from a need for a new specialist as collection and redistribution became more complex
• WRITING came from a need to keep to count goods from the complex economy
• Priest- king- the top of the society
  
  • men who were at the top bc of their temple roles
    (scholar/priests)

Question 13

Ideology of Uruk society

Answer 13

• make people contribute food in exchange for a future service
  -RELIGION was the basis
  
  • the god of the city received the goods nd
    redistributed it to the society
• each city had its own god

Question 14

Uruk expansion early 4th mil

Answer 14

o Suza (southwest Iran) = large settlement emerged
due to local factors
 But later in the millennium, their material
culture was entirely influenced by S Meso
(Uruk)
o Diff. situation in Upper Meso - SE Turkey, Syria, N
Iraq
 Already had monumental archi. influenced by
Uruk
 Uruk culture clearly seen in mid 4th mill.
 BUT growth in these places slowed in mid 4th
mill.

Question 15

Uruk expansion in mid 4th mil.

Answer 15

URUK CONTINUED GROWING – size & complexity
o Uruk established close links to the North
 Their influence on the North varied
depending on each site & degree they affected
them varied

o 4 types of interactions with other sites:

1. Completely different sites outside S Meso w/
   material culture looks wholey imported from Uruk
   • ie. Jebel Aruda, Habuba Kabira
2. Uruk people established into other settlements –
   they introduced innovations to local pop. there
   • ie. Beveled Rimmed bowls, painted cone mosaics,
   numerical notation tablets = all S stuff
   • BUT they didn’t fully replace the local stuff, just
   added to it
3. Influence were less, came from more restricted
   trade (elites imitating similar practices &
   monumental building)
4. Some places had absolutely no influence from Uruk = fully indigenous

Question 16

Jemdet Nasr

Answer 16

• 3100- 2900, Uruk expansion suddenly stops

• CHANGES IN THE OUTSIDE
o Suddenly Uruk influences disappeared in
outside sites & their indigenous traditions
came back
o Village life became norm again (in N Meso &
Syria)
o People from Zagros Mountains took over
Suza

• CHANGES IN URUK
o Don’t know what happened in Uruk
o Monumental buildings were razed & leveled
-Then built on top of (Level III) – had many
tablets, more elaborate than in Level IV
o The city was still pretty big BUT other cities in
upper Meso developed got bigger
- & the Jemdet Nasr culture seemed to
dominate in influence of nearby sites
-Direct contact w/ Persian Gulf area seen
now

Question 17

Early Dynastic period

Answer 17

• 2900-2350
  
  • Conflict and collapse of a system brings about the
    new system of city-states
  • S. Meso. sees alot of similar sized citites influencing
    the area around them

Main points: 
  - City-states
  -  Development of leaders/kings
  -  No distinction between secular and religious 
     authority
  - Cultural unity through religion
  - Beginning of territorial control
*** By the end, centralised power under 2 city dynasties (Akkad and Ur)

Question 18

City-States (dynastic period)

Answer 18

• Usually urban centre controlled surrounding territory where people lived in villages
o BUT we find centres with larger control
 Lagash controlled other surrounding cities (ie.
Girsu, Telloh, etc.)
 Umma controlled a small state
• Have information about these 2 centres
b/c we have a lot of texts
o They had long conflict b/w each other
o Maybe this was what the general relationship
b/w city-states were like

• Usually cities & villages located near water ways = for irrigation & transport
o Often different political states had settlements
on same water way – advantage for N centres

• Settlements surrounded by agri lands & marshes and pastures (for animals) surrounding agri land
o Marshes / pastures = periphery areas
 Considered buffer zones b/w the diff.
states
 But later – pop. grew & they extended
agri land =
• erasing buffer zones & created more
blurred borders of where city-states
started and ended -conflict of land for
farming (ex. b/w Umma & Lagash ~2500-
2300 BCE)
• these long lasting conflicts linked to the type of ruler during this period
• Temples continued to be really important to distribution of food & centre of city state

Question 19

Leaders (dynastic period)

Answer 19

• Development of leaders/ kings- secular and in charge of the military

•Egal “the great household” = royal household
o docs mention this new central institution, the first
real palaces
• House of the gods (temples) & house of the Lugal (“great man”) (egal) – NOT conflicting (image)
• “God” & “King” = two sides of the same coin
o BUT still diff & not same level of import.
 King = more of a “seal” of the gods’ land, NOT
really independent entity
• Egal did NOT replace the Temple in importance or
role

Question 20

King Urukigina

Answer 20

• Last independent ruler of Lagash
• erased lines between secular and religious authority
  o In his reforms – removed royal agri lands & gave
  to the city’s god, Nigirsu, abolished some taxes
   BUT later he & the queen appear to be
  chief admins, even tho everything
  belonged to the god

Question 21

Lugal

Answer 21

King ruled by gods favour, BUT he controlled god’s earthly things
 No distinction b/w secular & reli
 Both merged into single role – a stronger
military figure (prob b/c of all the conflict)
 This figure replaced the early priest-kings

Question 22

Religion (dynastic period)

Answer 22

o since ~3000 BCE – when multiple cities deved &
Uruk had a prominent role in the common religion
 Common Babylonian pantheon
o E.D.P. = focus of this cult shifted to Nippur (central
Babylonia)
• Enlil = the head god, power over divine world
& other gods
• Nippur got status that lasted until 18th c. BCE

Question 23

Diplomacy (dynastic period)

Answer 23

• City-state were the main thing, BUT territorial control of larger regions started
o Through diplomatic relations b/w states =
 gifting presents (image)
 creation of alliances in wartimes  docs
from Shuruppak (2502A0)
• See an alliance b/w Lagash, Umma,
& Adab
o War b/w nations  one state occupies another
 end of E.D.P. = culmination of process of
conquering and unifying
 King of Umma – conquered Ur & Uruk,
defeated King of Lagash = got S
Babylonia
 Idea of universal kingship making its
mark

Question 24

Akkadians

Answer 24

• 2nd largest ethnic group in N. Babylonia
• No ethnic homogenity in the 3rd mil.- everyone just lived together
• They participated in Sumerian culture
  
  • evidence is scribes using Sumerian not E. Semitic
• Dynasty started by someone in the N and incorporatd Sumerian culture

Question 25

Akkadian Dynasty and Empire

Answer 25

• 2350-2100
  • Sargon (a King of Kish) moved capital to Akkad
  o He and grandson, Naram Sin  Military
  expeditions outside of Babylonian – in N Syria
  & west Iran
   In N – Destroyed Mari & Ebla
   In Syria – they set up posts in existing
  centres w/ military garrison/reps
  • Aim = secure trade routes
   In Babylonia – NEW SYS OF
  GOVERNMENT
  • Rulers of former independent states mostly
  remained > became Akkadian governors = Ensi
  o Maybe alt. term for lugal – a local variant
  • This system shows = conquered states were just
  annexed & put in subordinate relationship to the
  centre

Question 26

Ensi

Answer 26

• Akkadian governors

- sometimes former rulers of independent states

Question 27

Akkadian Empire characteristics

Answer 27

• Akkadian empire = sum of everywhere they
conquered
o NOT a centralized, unified state, politically
o STILL In Lower Meso 
 Centralized admin introduced for
economy
 New system of tax – part of income of
each region sent to capital
 Scribes had standardized measurement
unites & dating system
 Akkadian = official royal admin language
 Sumerian = used for local affairs in South

Question 28

Ideology and Legacy of Akkadian Empire

Answer 28

Ideologies = universal kingship
• b/c of Sargon  King of Kish = “King of the world”
• Naram Sin introduced new title= “King of the 4
quart. of the uni.”

The internal & external conflict
• Met resistance from the political entities that still existed under their rule & pressures from mountain people outside
 Led to quick collapse of Akkad rule

Legacy of Akkadian Empire
• The memory & deeds lasted centuries after
o An Assyrian king from 1st mill. named himself
“Sargon”
• After fall = whole of NE reverted into independent
states – some governed by new populations
o In Babylonia = Gushens took over
several city-states (maybe one of the
strongest in region)
 Ex. Lagash – Gudae of Lagash
portraits - presents himself as
promoter of holy architectural works
& bringer of prosperity
 NOT really emphasising war

Question 29

The Third Dynasty of Ur

Answer 29

• 2000 BCE
  New phase of unification in S Meso
  • By a Sumerian dynasty  moving capital to Ur
  • Called “Third Dynasty” – b/c of the Sumerian Kings
  List
  • Sumerian = official language of state again
  • Last Sumerian dynasty in Meso history

Question 30

Difference between Ur III and Akkadian

Answer 30

• Ur 3 never reach extent of Akkadian
o BUT achieved better cohesion of city-states in
South & standardized admin
• Admin doc production was HUGE in this period  so we have a lot of info about admin

Question 31

Urnammu

Answer 31

one of the most important kings of Ur III
- Founder of dynasty
& son, Shulgi who reigned 48 years
- Est. basis of admin system for Ur 3 emp.