The Puzzling Origins Of Ancient Sumer
By Vera Stark
This amazing group of ancient city-states turns out to be a
missing link among the great early civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia and the
Indus.
The Sumerians had seemingly a very joyful society.
The arts were well developed. The cuneiform writing is a combination of
pictograms: a fish, a bird, a leaf for instance (which can be understood in any
language or dialect spoken), and phonetic signs. L.A. Waddell shows that many
other writing systems have developed out of the Sumerian one.
Among these systems are: Akkadian, Egyptian,
Phoenician, Phrygian, Carian, Lydian, Persian, Indo-Asoka, Simbel, Hindi,
Greek, Etruscan, Iberian, Brito-Phoenic, Runic, Ogamic, Welsh Bar dic and
Lantwit, and British/Gothic.
Besides writing, the calendar and a surprising
wealth of literature, we are indebted to the Sumerians for their “sexagesimal”
mathematical system, which gave us the division of the day into 24 hours, that
of the minutes and seconds into 60 units each and that of the circle into 360
degrees.
The Sumerians had a developed mythology; they saw
the world as having been created by a god. Moreover, this god had established
the standards by which people must live. We will come across the “law” and “law
givers” several times in this article.
Their beliefs passed into the tradition of
following generations and peoples in Mesopotamia; similar beliefs have also
existed since ancient times in other parts of the world.
We shall now expound on Waddell’s findings, going
back to shortened portions of his preface:
“Picking up the neglected records of India’s great
epic of the Ancient (Aryan) Heroes, the Paranas, this writer found that the
leading kings bore substantially the same names with the same achievements and
occupied the same relative chronological position as leading kings of the
ancient Sumerians in Mesopotamia.
“Further comparative scrutiny disclosed that all
the kings’ names and their chronological order were identical in both . . .
[the] Indo-Aryan and [the] Sumerian [lists].
“In former works I have demonstrated with full
scientific proofs the identity of the Sumerians with the Aryans— ancient and
modern—in Europe, Asia Minor, Syrio-Phoenicia, Indo-Persia and also as regards
the ruling race in ancient Egypt—in physical type, language and writing, art
and science, traditions, religion, mythology and symbolism.
“After publication of my first work announcing and
establishing the Sumerian origin of the Indo-Aryans and their civilization, and
of the Indian language and writing, this was confirmed some four months later
by unearthing the ruins of two Sumerian cities in the Indus Valley in
northwestern India. There were several sacred seals and burial amulets
inscribed with the old Sumerian cursive writing, which were chiefly those of
ancient Sumerian government officials and priests of this Sumerian colony of
about 3100 to 2300 B.C.”1
Egyptian hieroglyphic writing was derived from the
Sumerian picture writing and possessed essentially the same forms, phonetic
values and meanings. The radical [root—Ed.] elements in the ancient Egyptian
language were discovered to be Sumerian and Aryan.
This disclosed the unity of these three oldest
civilizations and their authors: the Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Indian, each of
which had hitherto been supposed to have originated wholly independently, in
separate, isolated centers.
This should be enough introduction as to how
Waddell reached his conclusions. Now discover with us highlights of the most
famous of the ancient rulers of Mesopotamia.
The first “Sumerian” king, a sun worshipper, traditionally
pictured in Goth dress, was the historical original of the later deified
legendary culture hero, known and recorded under his different titles and
personal names: Dur, Ar-Thur, In-Dur, Indra, Sagg (or Sig), Zeus, Pro-Metheus,
Odinn, Ad, Adamus or “Adam.” In the Copper Age this “Arthur” built in Asia
Minor the first city, used “Sumerian” writing, established agriculture,
monogamous marriage and brought with him a ready-made “first civilization.”
His reign (3378 to 3349 B.C.) is de rived from the
date for the foundation of the first Babylonian dynasty (2023) plus other data
by “dead reckoning” backwards. The connecting link between the first Babylonian
dynasty and the Sumerian mainline list was the capture of the city of Isin by
“Sin Muballit” (father of Khammu-Rabi or Hammurabi who reigned 2023 to 2004
B.C.2).
In the Kish Chronicle, which has been fully
translated, we find for the first king, Ukusi, of Ukhu (Eagle or Sun-Hawk city)
also the names Udin, In duru, Pur Sakh, Adar and others, some appearing in the
Indian list with slightly different spelling. Interesting confirmation is found
in the bilingual Sumer ian and Babylonian glossary tablets, where the Hawk-Lord
is called Ukuzu’i, deified as the Lord (God) Sakh. And in Egyptian records it
is Atmu (Atum), the deified sun as Father God of early dynastic Egypt and
tutelary of Heliopolis.
His personality and achievements are preserved in
Sumerian literature, in the Indian chronicles and Vedas and in the great epics
of the Norsemen, the Eddas.
These records celebrate him as a supremely gifted,
tall, fair and bearded hero chief of Nordic or Gothic racial type; an
invincible warrior and wise statesman, who, with great creative gen ius,
improved the culture of his time.
With the aid of his hardy sons and men of the same
Gothic breed, he raised it up in one generation and established it firmly on a
higher plane as a “civilization,” which the tides of time can never wash away.
The second Sumerian king, the son and successor of
the first, was the historical original of the culture hero Azam, Bakus
(Bacchus), Nimrod, Mar duk, Mukhla (Michael), Gan or Conn, Sir Gawain or
“Cain,” or Enoch (connected with the city of Erech—Ed.).
In 3335 B.C., Azam descended from Cappadocia into
Mesopotamia and founded his new capital Kish on the Euphrates. Except for the
slight discrepancy in the dates, this confirms the tradition cited by Strabo
that the god Bacchus reigned from 3373 to 3348 B.C. (approximately 74 years),
an exceptionally long time, which is in agreement with his title “Ayus” in the
Indian records, meaning “the Aged [One].”
Greatly extending agriculture, Bacchus, named also
Lord of the Grain, vastly increased the food supply of the ancient world.
He built Nippur and Unuk or Erech and many other
cities and settlements, whereby he made industrious town life possible.
In those ancient times of high cultural
developments, city-states were established, complementing as well as competing
with each other in moral and living standards, trade, arts and expansion.
It appears logical—and is proven to some
extent—that more primitive people of scattered, nomadic tribes were originally
living there.
But
the ruling caste of the successive dynasties evolved from the racial new
comers, the “Sumerians,” who ascended to kingship by family ties and marriages,
yet occasionally decided their predominance in battle. The first dynasty, as
seen by Waddell, was founded in 3378 B.C. by Ukusi of the city of Ukhu
(“Adam”), which his son and heir Azaf Ama Basum (“Cain”) continued until 3337.
Then this kingdom became part of the second dynasty which was founded by that
same Azaf-Azag Bakus in Kish and lasted 300 years.
The last king of that line was Gishax or Issax of
Uruk or Erech (Enoch), with the title of Gamesh, “Lord of Oxen,” the fifth king
of the great gap in the Kish Chronicle, who reigned c. 3120 B.C.
(Gilgamesh—Ed.).3
He is celebrated as an invincible hero of
tremendous strength, slaying lions and wild bulls with his bare hands or taming
them under his will. By victoriously overcoming trials and perils, he has set
the stage and may well be the original of the half-god Herakles (Her cu les) of
later cultures. (Scholars say the Flood story of the Bible is derived from the
Epic of Gilgamesh.—Ed.)
Preserved parts of the Epic of Gil gamesh are
still telling his story. So are innumerable Sumerian seals from around 2500
B.C., depicting him in combat with wild beasts or watering his buffaloes.
Haryashwa was the founder of the great dynasty of
sea kings, the ancestors of the “Phoenicians,” well explained by Waddell, which
is spoken of in the Indian Chronicles as “the able or excellent Panch
(Panch-åla), who mustered ships of a hundred oars” and built the seaport of
Lagash on the Persian Gulf.
Haryashwa and his descendants held the titles of
king of Lagash and king of Kish, the recognized title at that time for Emperor
of Mesopotamia. He also maintained the official title of Gut or Goth, expressed
by the bull or head of an ox in their seals, standing for “warrior” or
“restorer” (of order).
Under his reign were built granaries as insurance
against famine, embankments, canals for irrigation and other outstanding
improvements. He and his oldest son Magdal founded the great over seas colony
of Edin in the Indus Valley. Cultivation, fruits, orchards, flocks and herds of
cattle and horses as well as gold and other metals gave it the name of Su-bati
(“the Good Abode”) by the Sumerians and Su-vata (“Full of Pleasure”) in
Sanskrit.
The Uruash or “Panch” dynasty lasted c. 350 years,
until 2751 B.C., the last king of that line being Bara-Gina or Puru-Gin, or
Uruka-Gina, the father of “Sargon,” as we will see shortly.
Bara-Gina was a great and enlightened statesman
and reformer. Several de tailed copies of his law codes have been unearthed
from the ruins of Lagash. In one of his edicts he describes rampant aggression
and corruption which had befallen the state. As a remedy he abolished a great
number of tax-inspectors and cut down the fees of the extortionate priests and
lay officials. All who had taken money (shekels) in place of tribute, and who
had used bribery, were dismissed. He successfully sought to protect the poorer
classes of his subjects against the oppression of their richer and more
powerful neighbors.
This last king of the Great Gap of the Kish
Chronicle was dethroned by Zaggisi, who had been local governor and priest-king
at the city of Umma, to the north of Lagash, and was the son of the former
governor there by the name of Ukush.
Zaggisi, who was evidently considered a usurper by
the Indian annalists, as they do not mention him in the Indian main-line lists,
became emperor and transferred his capital to Erech. From his votive
inscriptions at Nippur we learn that he claimed to have conquered the land
“from the rising of the Hargis to its setting.” This was presumably the same
extent of empire over which Sargon’s father ruled. Like the latter also he
claimed to be “King of Uri.” He also claims to have rebuilt during his 25 years
of reign the chief temples in the land and that “he caused the lands to dwell
in security, he watered the lands with the waters of joy.” (2750 to 2726 B.C.)3
Zaggisi forms by himself the so-called “Third
Dynasty” in the Kish Chronicle. The term “dynasty” is used by modern writers
for a change of capital. Zaggisi was dethroned by “Sargon,” and the fourth
dynasty then follows as “Sargon’s” dynasty.
The name “Sargon” is merely a Semi tized version (adopted by
Assyriologists) of this great Sumerian emperor’s real name, Sagara. In the
Indian List he is also called Sha-Kuni, in the Sumerian Guni or Shar-Guni (2725
to 2671 B.C.). He is not to be confused with the relatively late Semitic Assyrian
King Sargon (722 to 705 B.C.), who (according to legend) sent the Jews into
captivity. In the Indian Chronicle we are informed that Sagara’s father
Bara-Gina or Bahuka died in exile at the hermitage of the Aryan sage and
priest, where his son and heir was born. There he was tutored by Aurva in the
Vedic religion and in science and the art of war (similar to Alexander the
Great being tutored by Aristotle).
Emerson wrote: “The days were ever divine for the
first Aryans,” and so were Aurva’s ethical teachings based on an enlightened
sun-religion, in which na ture’s god, the lord of the universe, was a
beneficent, vitalizing force resident in the sun. That great luminary light of
the world is still recognized as the ultimate source of all mundane life. It
was the source also of the Aryan ethical code, which was established more than
1,500 years before Moses:
The sun-lord is most pleased with him who does
good to others; who never utters calumny or untruth; who never covets another’s
wife or another’s wealth; who bears ill will to none; who neither beats nor
slays any living thing; who is ever diligent in the service of God; who is ever
desirous of the welfare of all creatures, of his children and his own soul;
whose heart derives no pleasure from the passions of lust or hatred. The man
who conforms to these duties is he who best worships the sun-lord.
On reaching manhood, Sargon wrested back his
patrimonial kingdom and became a “world monarch.”
The extent of Sargon’s empire in the ancient world
has hitherto been greatly underestimated. Now it is seen as having included,
besides Mesopotamia, the greater part of Asia Minor and Syrio-Phoenicia; also
Egypt and the Mediterranean basin, Persia and the Indus Valley with the Arabian
Sea, and (perhaps) extending beyond the Pillars of Hercules to Britain.
In Sumerian “Sa-gar” is the title for “Lord
of Lords.” Under this title Sargon is the father of Asa-Manja or “Manja the
Shooter,” identical with “Manis the Warrior” or Manis-Tusu.
From the Indian Chronicles we deduce that King
Manis-Tusu revolted against his father Sagara in his early manhood, c. 2704,
when he was about 21. As crown prince of the Sumerian em pire, Manis was
governor of the Indus Valley colony. As such he had control of the local
Sumerian army and of the merchant fleet, which presumably also voyaged to Magan
[possibly modern Oman—Ed.] and Egypt via the Arabian coast and the Red Sea. As
all the “Lands of the Lower Sea” were under Sumerian rule, he would not have
encountered much opposition by the local governors. It is recorded that 60,000
of “the fed sons” of the emperor followed the crown prince in his revolt, which
enabled him to unite Upper and Lower Egypt and become the prabhu
(pharaoh) as Menes, the founder of the First Dynasty in Egypt. He may have
entered Upper Egypt by the Red Sea east of Koptos and Abydos, where his “tomb”
with his inscriptions lies. Menes did vastly increase the elements of sporadic
Sumerian civilization, al ready introduced by his father and other predynastic
kings in Egypt, and established it firmly. It can now be seen to be of the same
general kind as the Su merian of the Sargonic period in Meso potamia and in the
Indus Valley.
Disinherited by his father, Manis still became
emperor of Mesopotamia after the death of his brother, (Uru-) Mush, in 2655
B.C. From 2640 to 2585 B.C., the reins of both mighty empires were put into the
hands of his son, the grandson of “Sargon,” with the Sumerian name of
“Naram-Sin” or Naram Enzu and the Egyptian name of Narmer or Narmar. In both combined
empires his emblems are “the wild bull” and “the fish monster.” Manis
reconquered vast areas and defeated King Manum Dan of Magan.
Notice should also be taken of two of the widely
known rulers of Mesopota mia.
King
Gudea or Gudia, Gothic priest-king of Lagash, 2374 to 2368 B.C., was a very
refined priest-king of high standing, the builder of numerous, large and
spacious temples, for which he chose the most exquisite materials by traveling
far and wide for them. Many statues of him were erected in public places and
temples and are now in museums worldwide.
Sumerian art and literature reached its zenith
under Gudea, and he lived in a period of profound peace and prosperity.
The language of Lagash as used by Gudea, whose
voluminous records have been unearthed, is always in pure Sumerian, while
bilingual glossaries were to inform Semitic-speaking subjects of events, edicts
etc.
Khaminu Rabi or Great Lotus is best known as
Hammurabi (Lawgiver). His name Khamu means Lotus and Rabi (dialectic for Sumerian
Raba) means Great. Hammurabi established a great renaissance in Mesopotamia;
exquisite examples survive to this day.
