Wikipedia Trails: From Uruk to Enki
I started here while working on some research for a possible project topic, and found a lot of material. More than I bargained for! Uruk, legendary capital city of Gilgamesh, was likely the largest city in the world in its heyday (2900 BC), with an estimated 70,000 occupants and a serious advantage in agriculture. Even the word "uru" in Sumerian translates to town, city, or village. The big expansion happened over about 800 years, beginning in approximately 4000 BC.
The 'Uruk expansion': sites representing the 'center' and 'periphery'. Wikimedia Commons
The Sumerians represented the first known development of a city-state, and are also credited with the invention of true written language (beyond pictograms and symbols), which is what I wanted to really focus on.
Second king in the first Uruk dynasty (Mesh-ki-ang-gasher, aka Cush, son of Noah, is said to be his father), Enmerkar founded the city of Uruk and is said to have ruled for either 420 or 900 years (people apparently lived much longer back then). While his exploits are numerous, the focus on tablets and their use to carry information leads us to the story of...
Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta (composed 21st century BC)
Tributes from neighboring countries are a big deal, and Enmarkar demands a whopper from the Lord of Aratta - gemstones and precious metals, for the construction of Enki's temple in Eridu. The refusal of his request is not taken lightly; messengers traveling across the lands are dispatched back and forth while the rulers argue and prepare for a war (this takes many years). The heralds traveling between countries become frazzled, unable to remember all of the many details, threats, and speeches they need to relay. Enmerkar decides to give them a cheat sheet: he writes down the messages on clay tablets. The creation of written language is ironically tied to a possible origin of the biblical Tower of Babel tale. Enmerkar threatens to recite the nam-shub "Incantation of Nudimmud" as retribution for a lack of tribute, potentially unifying all languages spoken in the surrounding regions (or disrupting them depending on the translation). The deity Enmerkar prays to is....
The most referenced male god in Sumerian history, Enki was said to be the god of a multitude of topics, including (but not limited to) creation, fertility, magic, mischief, and especially knowledge (or intelligence). Me, or mes, plural, are the many gifts of civilization allocated by Enki to the Sumerians. The majority of the known mes offered were conceptual rather than physical in nature, including the ideas of art, music, truth, and many different types of status (kingship, godship, ladyship, etc). Scribeship, the gift of writing, was ostensibly given to King Enmerkar in a time of need from Enki.
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