Cradle of Civilization

ASHUR’S NURSERY - THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION

In Mesopotamia during the Heroic Era (2700 – 2500 BC), the entire River Valley was organized so that every person could find shelter behind the walls of a city. While each city assumed the protection of its people, it also aspired to control the open countryside beyond its walls.  This structure created great rivalries which led to increased militarization and to the concentration of political leadership into the hands of “Warrior-Princes”.  The art of the period illustrates contests between warriors or animals, or often, both.  Grave goods became elaborate and rulers began to build temples as evidence of their increasing power. (Hall & Kirk, 2002) Mesopotamia’s endless cuneiforms, vigor for representational art, fixation with temple structure, and excessive provisions for the dead, provide some of the most striking artifacts in history and help us to re-create its culture. In the Dynastic Age (2500–2300 BC) conflicts grew in frequency and intensity.  Every city required fortification walls and other defensive measures. Enormous monuments were considered a necessity in the increasing efforts to appease the growing pantheon of Gods.  Irrigation became a requirement in the ever larger cities and this demanded huge efforts in collective labor.  Elective leadership ceased and the theology of kingship emerged.  To justify this new structure the kings were given Divine Right by a sacred marriage with the Goddess (or her priestly stand-in). This new political and religious pattern brought grave social and financial consequences to the people of Mesopotamia.  Purchases of agricultural land and previously free citizenship were switched to dependence on palace, temple, or noble estates for rations that were carefully inventoried in the first sizeable corpus of cuneiform texts which were primarily recording cereals, oils, fish, milk, wool, and garments (Hall & Kirk, 2002).

This was the violent cradle into which the city of Ashur was born. For the first thousand years of its existence control of Ashur switched hands repeatedly and though it gained independence several times, these brief periods always ended with war and the loss of freedom.In the 14^th century BC, Asher had once again gained liberation; the Governor declared himself the King of Assyria, a title that had never been used.  This act, and the revolutionary events that followed, changed the course of history for Mesopotamia, Israel, and Egypt.

To learn about the architecture of Ashur, click this link.