At the end of the Uruk period in the ancient Near East c. 3100 BC there was a widespread re-alignment and reformulation of power structure in the ancient Near East entering the following Jemdet Nasr period, also called the Uruk III period (c. 3100-2900 BC). Based on recovered "city seals", primarily from Jemdat Nasr, it is thought that a consortium of twenty cities engaged in a trading system built around the primary Uruk female deity. In the Early Dynastic I period (c. 2900-2700 BC) another political re-alignment occurred, though restricted primarily to Mesopotamia. A standard list of cities found on clay sealings led to the proposal that there was a Early Dynastic I period "Kengir League" of cities centered around Nippur which encompassed a joint trading system with an underlying religious basis (centered on the chief god Enlil), similar in nature to the later bala taxation system. Uruk has also been proposed as the central city.[1] While the concept has received support there is debate about how closely and in what way the cities were bound.[2] It has been proposed that the seals were part of a progression, a cultic journey, of the main female deity's cult statue from Uruk through the other cities of Southern Mesopotamia.[3]

Uruk III period

Sealings with "city seals" from the Uruk III period (c. 3100-2900 BC), were found at Jemdet Nasr.[4] Subsequently another, illicitly excavated, tablet was identified as coming from Tell Uqair (ancient Urum) bearing the same seal at those from Jemdet Nasr. A single sealing, used to seal a door, was also found at Uruk.[5] Altogether there are seventeen sealed tablets from Jemdet Nasr and one from Tell Uqair. Thirteen of the Jemdet Nasr tablets were analyzed with portable X-ray fluorescence and should to be from a single archive. All contain similar quantities of "figs, apples,wine (or grapes/raisins), and a certain fish product".[6][7] The seal in question is in two registers and thought to have originally had twenty signs. Of these the only certain identification is for, all on the top register, Ur, Larsa, Zabalam, Urum, and BU.BU.NA2.[6][8] An alternative reading of the known cities is Ur, Larsa, Nippur, Uruk, Keš, Zabala, and, Ku’ara.[3] It has been proposed that these seals were an earlier version centered around Uruk, (which in that period reached a size of 600 hectares versus 21 hectares for Ur), of the Early Dynastic I "Kengir League" city seals.[6] It has been proposed that the system represented by these seals supported the cult of a Uruk III female deity, possible Inanna, similarly to the role of Enlil in the later Kengir League.[9]

On texts from the Uruk III / Jemdet Nasr period there are lexical lists which list cities in a standard order. These cities include Ur, Nippur, Larsa, and Uruk.[10]

Kengir League - Early Dynastic I period

It has been proposed that there was a Early Dynastic I period Kengir League (Kengir is proposed for an ancient term for Nippur) of cities centered around Nippur which encompassed a joint trading system with an underlying religious basis (centered on the chief god Enlil), similar in nature to the later bala taxation system. Uruk has also been proposed as the central city as has Ur (due to the majority of the seals being found there) centered on the god Nanna. Also referred to as a City League and a Hexapolis.[11][12][1][13] While the concept has received support there is debate about how closely and in what way the cities were bound.[2][14] Also referred to as the City League. The initial basis for positing a league of cities was a group of clay sealings, mostly from doors but including a few from containers, found at ancient Ur in the 1920s. Thirteen seals were found at Shuruppak.[15] A single exemplar, a door sealing, was found at Konar Sandal South.[16][17] They date to the Early Dynastic I period (c. 2900-2700 BC). Each seal was inscribed with a list of major Sumerian cites.[18] Cities on the seals include the cities Ur, Eridu, Larsa, Uruk, Adab, Nippur, Kesh, and the unidentified cities Ur2 (possibly Der), UB, and Edinnu.[19][20] A similar sealing was found at that time at Uruk.[21] The seals of the cities were combined with the pictograph for pedestal and the sign for the patron god of that city including "B(èš)-utu (sanctuary of (the sun god) Utu/Shamash) for the city of Larsa, AB(èš)-ùri (sanctuary of (the moon god)Nanna) for Ur and AB(èš)-mùš(sanctuary of (the goddess) Ishtar) for Zabalam".[22] Similar to those from the earlier Uruk III period, lexical lists from the Early Dynastic IIIa period, found at Shuruppak, Elba, and Abu Salabikh, contain city lists in the same format as the ED I city seals.[23][24] The list from Abu Salabikh reads "Uruk, Adab, Nippur, Lagash, Shurappak, Gissa" and is broken after that. The Elba tablet reads "Uruk, Adab, Nippur, Lagash, Shurappak, Gissa, Elam, Dilmun, ... a number of yet identified cites". This order is echoed in the list order of militia-men, "gurus of Kengi (ki.en-gi)".[25][26]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Jacobsen, Thorkild, "Early Political Development in Mesopotamia", Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie, vol. 52, no. Jahresband, pp. 91-140, 1957 (reprinted as Jacobsen, Thorkild, "Early political development in Mesopotamia", in Toward an Image of Tammuz, Brill, pp. 132-156, 1970)
  2. ^ a b Yoffee, N., "The Late Great Tradition in Ancient Mesopotamia", M. E. Cohen, D. C. S NELL & D. B. Weisberg (éd.), The Tablet and the Scroll. Near Eastern Studies in Honor of William W. Hallo, Bethesda, CDL, 1993
  3. ^ a b Matthews, Roger, and Amy Richardson, "Cultic resilience and inter-city engagement at the dawn of urban history: protohistoric Mesopotamia and the ‘city seals’, 3200–2750 BC", World Archaeology 50.5, pp. 723-747, 2018
  4. ^ Buchanan, B., "Catalogue of Ancient Near Eastern Seals in the Ashmolean Museum 1", Oxford, 1966
  5. ^ M. W. Green, "Urum and Uqair", Acta Sumerologica, vol. 8, pp.77–83, 1986
  6. ^ a b c Steinkeller, Piotr, "Archaic City Seals and the Question of Early Babylonian Unity", Riches Hidden in Secret Places: Ancient Near Eastern Studies in Memory of Thorkild Jacobsen, edited by Tzvi Abusch, University Park, USA: Penn State University Press, pp. 249-258, 2002
  7. ^ Steinkeller, Piotr, "More on the Archaic City Seals", NABU, 2(30), pp. 30, 2002
  8. ^ Steinkeller, Piotr, "Writing, Kingship and Political Discourse in Early Babylonia: Reflections on the Nature and Function of Third Millennium Historical Sources", History, Texts and Art in Early Babylonia: Three Essays, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 7-81, 2017
  9. ^ Szarzyńska, K., "Offerings for the goddess Inana in archaic Uruk”. Revue d’assyriologie et d’archéologie orientale, 87(1), pp. 7–28, 1993
  10. ^ Englund, R. K.; Nissen, H. J., "Die lexikalischen Listender archaischen Texte aus Uruk (ATU 3). Berlin, 1993
  11. ^ Steinkeller, Piotr, "A Campaign of Southern City-States against Kiš as Documented in the ED IIIa Sources from Šuruppak (Fara)", Journal of Cuneiform Studies 76.1, pp. 3-26, 2024
  12. ^ F. Pomponio, "The Hexapolis of Šuruppak, Political and Economic Relationship Between the Towns of Central and Southern Mesopotamia", in F. Pomponio - G. Visicato, Early Dynastic Administrative Tablets of Suruppak, Napoli, pp. 10-20, 1994
  13. ^ [1] Kelley, Kathryn, Mattia Cartolano, and Silvia Ferrara, "Seals and signs: tracing the origins of writing in ancient South-west Asia", Antiquity, pp. 1-19, 2024
  14. ^ Yoffee, Norman, and Andrew Sherratt, eds., "Archaeological theory: who sets the agenda?", Cambridge University Press, 1993
  15. ^ Martin, H. P., "Fara: A Reconstruction of the Ancient Mesopotamian City of Shuruppak", Birmingham: Chris Martin, 1988
  16. ^ Madjidzadeh, Y., and H. Pittman, "Excavations at Konar Sandal in the Region of Jiroft in the Halil Basin: First Preliminary Report (2002–2008)", Iran 46, pp. 69–103, 2008
  17. ^ Matthews, R. J., "Archaische Siegel” aus Mesopotamien und Iran. Pp. 146–147 in Uruk: 5000 Jahre Megacity, eds. N. Crüsemann, M. van Ess, M. Hilgert, and B. Salje. Petersberg: Michael Imhoff Verlag, pp. 146–147, 2013
  18. ^ [2] E. Burrows, "Archaic Texts", UET 2, London, 1935
  19. ^ [3] Legrain, Leon, "The Archaic Seal Impressions", Ur Excavations, Vol. III. London: Oxford University Press, 1936
  20. ^ Roger J. Matthews, "Cities, Seals and Writing: Archaic Seal Impressions from Jemdet Nasr and Ur", Materialien zu den frühen Schriftzeugnissen des Vorderen Orients, vol. 2, Berlin: Gebr, Mann Verlag, 1993, ISBN 978-3786116868
  21. ^ Schott, E., "Die Siegelbilder Der Uruk-Schicht IV", Edited by Arnold Nöldeke, Ernst Heinrich, and E. Schott. Fünfter Vorläufiger Berichtüber Die von Der Notgemeinschaft Der Deutschen Wissenschaft in Uruk Unternommenen Ausgrabungen, Ernst F. Weidner, 1934
  22. ^ Pongratz-Leisten, Beate, "Some Thoughts on the Origins of the Divine and Interaction with Divinity in the Ancient Near East", What’s in a Divine Name?: Religious Systems and Human Agency in the Ancient Mediterranean, edited by Alaya Palamidis and Corinne Bonnet, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, pp. 829-841, 2024
  23. ^ [4] Biggs, R. D, "Inscriptions from Tell Abū Salābīkh", Oriental Institute Publications 99, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1974 ISBN 0-226-62202-9
  24. ^ Robert D. Biggs, "The Abu Salabikh Tablets. A Preliminary Survey", Journal of Cuneiform Studies, vol. 20, no. 2, pp. 73–88, 1966
  25. ^ Frayne, Douglas, "Introduction", Presargonic Period: Early Periods, Volume 1 (2700-2350 BC), Toronto: University of Toronto Press, pp. 1-16, 2008
  26. ^ [5] Fitzgerald, Madeleine André, "The rulers of Larsa", Yale University, 2002

Further reading

  • Bowden, Brandon L. James, "Early Dynastic or Hegemonic? An Argument for Re-Periodization in Mesopotamian Studies", The Saber and Scroll Journal 3.1, pp. 6–26, 2014
  • [6] Eric L. Cripps, "Messengers from Šuruppak", Cuneiform Digital Library Journal, vol. 2013, iss. 3, 2013
  • Charvát, Petr, "Signs from Silence: Ur of the First Sumerians (Late Uruk Through ED I)", Ur in the Twenty-First Century CE: Proceedings of the 62nd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Philadelphia, July 11–15, 2016, pp. 195–204, 2021
  • Robert K. Englund and Roger J. Matthews, "Proto-Cuneiform Texts from Diverse Collections", Materialien zu den frühen Schriftzeugnissen des Vorderen Orients Bd. 4. (MSVO 4) Berlin: Gebr. Mann, 1996 ISBN 978-3786118756
  • I. J. Gelb, P. Steinkeller, and R. M. Whiting Jr, "OIP 104. Earliest Land Tenure Systems in the Near East: Ancient Kudurrus", Oriental Institute Publications 104 Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 1989, 1991 ISBN 978-0-91-898656-6 Text Plates
  • Hockmann, D., "Die Warka-Vase: Eine neue Interpretation", AoF 35, pp. 326–36, 2008
  • [7] Matthews, Roger, "Uruk and Ur in the city seal impressions, 3100-2750 BC: new evidence, new approaches", in Sommerfeld, W. (ed.) Dealing with Antiquity: Past, Present & Future. AOAT (460). Ugarit Verlag, pp 285–293, 2020 ISBN 9783868352856
  • Michalowski, P, "On the Early Toponymy of Sumer: A Contribution to the Study of Early Mesopotamian Writing", in kinattaitu sa darati: Raphael Kutscher Memorial Volume, ed. A. F Rainey. Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University, pp. 119–33, 1993
  • Moorey, P. R. S., "The Late Prehistoric Administrative Building at Jamdat Nasr", Iraq, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 95–106, 1976
  • Postgate, John Nicholas, "Cities and States: Recognition and Rivalry", City of Culture 2600 BC: Early Mesopotamian History and Archaeology at Abu Salabikh, Archaeopress, pp. 183–92, 2024
  • Scott, Sarah Jarmer, "Figure, symbol, and sign: Semiotics and function of Early Dynastic I cylinder seal imagery from Ur", Disertation, University of Pennsylvania, 2005
  • Selz, Gebhard J., "Enlil und Nippur nach präsargonischen Quellen", in Maria deJong Ellis (ed.) Nippur at the Centennial – Papers Read at the 35 e Rencontre Assyriologique Nippur: City of Enlil and Ninurta 761 Internationale, Philadelphia, 1988 (Occasional Publications of the Samuel Noah Kramer Fund 14), Philadelphia, pp. 189–225, 1992
  • Steinkeller, Piotr, "Early political development in Mesopotamia and the origins of the Sargonic empire", in Akkad, the First World Empire:Structure, Ideology, Traditions, ed. M. Liverani, pp. 107–129, Padova, 1993
  • Yoffee, N., "Political Economy in Early Mesopotamian States", Annual Review of Anthropology, 24(1), pp. 281–311, 1995
  • Wright, H. T., "The Administration of Rural Production in an Early Mesopotamian Town", Anthropological Papers 38. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1969
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_City_Seals
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