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#Nasa picture of the day for tablets portable
Since then, archaeologists have recovered numerous pieces of Sumerian art, pottery and sculpture as well as some 500,000 clay tablets, the vast majority of which have still yet to be translated.When you’re in the field, whether shooting on location or just meeting with your next client, gear that’s powerful and portable is a must. Scholars such as Henry Rawlinson, Edward Hincks, Julius Oppert and Paul Haupt later took the lead in deciphering the Sumerian language and cuneiform, providing historians with their first ever glimpse of the long lost history and literature of early Mesopotamia. Their secrets remained buried in the deserts of Iraq until the 19th century, when French and British archaeologists finally stumbled upon Sumerian artifacts while hunting for evidence of the ancient Assyrians. All knowledge of their history, language and technology-even their name-was eventually forgotten. DE GREGORIO/Getty Images)Īfter Mesopotamia was occupied by the Amorites and Babylonians in the early second millennium B.C., the Sumerians gradually lost their cultural identity and ceased to exist as a political force. Historians have also suggested that Sumerian references to two ancient trading lands known as “Magan” and “Meluhha” may refer to Egypt and Ethiopia.ĭetail of the fragment from a steatite vase. The Sumerians were particularly fond of lapis lazuli-a blue-colored precious stone used in art and jewelry-and there is evidence that they may have roamed as far as Afghanistan to get it. Their most important commercial partner may have been the island of Dilmun (present day Bahrain), which held a monopoly on the copper trade, but their merchants also undertook months-long journeys to Anatolia and Lebanon to gather cedar wood and to Oman and the Indus Valley for gold and gemstones. Since their homeland was largely devoid of timber, stone and minerals, the Sumerians were forced to create one of history’s earliest trade networks over both land and sea. (Credit: Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images) This panel shows a banquet, perhaps after a victory and men driving cattle and sheep.
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During the latter stages of their history, they were attacked or conquered by the Elamites, Akkadians and Gutians.Ī detail from the so called Standard of Ur, side B. The infighting led to several military advancements-the Sumerians may have invented the phalanx formation and siege warfare-but it also left them vulnerable to invasions by outside forces. Under Eannatum, Lagash went on to conquer the whole of Sumer, but it was just one of several city-states that held sway over Mesopotamia during its history. To commemorate his victory, Eannatum constructed the so-called “Stele of the Vultures,” a grisly limestone monument that depicts birds feasting on the flesh of his fallen enemies. The first of these conflicts known to history concerns King Eannatum of Lagash, who defeated the rival city-state of Umma in a border dispute sometime around 2450 B.C.
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DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)Įven though they shared a common language and cultural traditions, the Sumerian city-states engaged in near-constant wars that resulted in several different dynasties and kingships. Stele of the Vultures, portraying Eannatum sovereign troops in the conquest of Umma.