Chapter 6, The Ancient Near East, 02 — Transcript

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1. 0:00Along with the development of agriculture, specialization of labor, and development of
2. 0:06writing, there are a few other ingredients-and products-of civilization.
3. 0:13One is the creation of large-scale architecture and one is the stratification of social classes.
4. 0:21Both of these are possible because of a well-fed society, staying in one place.
5. 0:28You might think that the people growing the food that enabled the society to thrive might
6. 0:33be at the top of the social hierarchy, but sadly then, as now, they tend to remain at
7. 0:40the bottom, along with those doing the actual labor of creating large-scale buildings and
8. 0:47monuments.
9. 0:48At the top, as society stratifies, are the rulers and religious leaders-in Mesopotamia,
10. 0:55often indistinguishable.
11. 0:57Sumeria is the name for southern Mesopotamia, and it brought us two great inventions: the
12. 1:04city-state and writing.
13. 1:07City-states, which in Sumer included the powerful Ur and Uruk, were urban societies whose loyalty
14. 1:14lay not only with their family group, but with their fellow citizens.
15. 1:19They worked together to feed and protect their inhabitants, as well as to celebrate the religious
16. 1:26practices that also emerged along with civilization.
17. 1:29They were ruled by individuals or councils who served as the representatives of the gods
18. 1:30on earth.
19. 1:31Writing didn't emerge from religion, however, or even from literature-although it was the
20. 1:38Sumerians who created the Epic of Gilgamesh, which was written as early as about 2100 BCE,
21. 1:47and is considered the oldest surviving work of great literature.
22. 1:52Writing actually emerged from the necessity of tracking agricultural products and trade.
23. 1:59The writing system born in Sumeria was called cuneiform, which is Latin for "wedge-shaped."
24. 2:07That wedge shape comes from the way the writing was recorded: by pressing a reed stylus into
25. 2:13soft clay.
26. 2:15The resulting marks have the distinctive shapes you see here.
27. 2:19We have lots of these clay tablets, which kept records, facilitated trade, and in this
28. 2:25case, formed a private letter.
29. 2:28Cuneiform could also be combined, as we see in this tablet, with the impression of a cylinder
30. 2:34seal, which we'll look at momentarily.
31. 2:38The development of writing means that we're now in the realm of history, rather than prehistory,
32. 2:45and know much more about these and other ancient societies.
33. 2:51History is not *only* recorded in writing, though, but also in works of art, like this
34. 2:57large and impressive vase, carved from alabaster.
35. 3:02Mesopotamia is not a region that has local stone resources, and so the material, which
36. 3:09would have had to be imported, along with the size-more than three feet tall-and elaborate
37. 3:17decoration, let us know that this is a very important ritual object.
38. 3:22It was found in the temple of Inanna in ancient Uruk, which is today Warka in Iraq.
39. 3:29Take a moment to look carefully at these images of the Warka vase.
40. 3:34Make your own observations first, and then include additional observations from the textbook.
41. 3:41What do you notice as you study this object?