Egyptian Influence On Sumerian Culture

During the third millennium the Mesopotamian region, know in the later times as Babylonia, Was divided into Sumer and Akkad, the former located in the extreme south of the alluvium and the later in the more northerly area. In Sumer a number of city-states emerged as territories consisting of one or more major cities surrounded by smaller outlying towns and villages. The territories limits of such states as UK, Uruk, Umma, and Lagash were often insecure, bringing the ruler, or ensi, of one city into conflict with the leader of another, and skirmishes and open war sometimes ensued. Control of the northern part of the city of Kish, whose rulers may at times have also exerted a degree of authority in the south. Akshak, located on the Tigris; Mari, …show more content…
A great deal has been learned about early Sumerians from these excavations, yet we still lack adequate knowledge for an understanding of many aspects of Sumerian culture. We are aided somewhat by comprehensible textual materials dating to the last quarter of the third millennium, but these scarcely provide us with enough information to fathom the real nature of Sumerian lore and concerns we see reflected in the world of their visual arts. Based on these approaches and speaking in very general terms, its it possible to posit that during the third millennium in Sumer much of life was focused on the temples of the gods. Individual deities owned their own cites and territories. For example, Inanna, a complex goddess of many aspects including both love and war owned Uruk; Nanna, the moon god, possessed Ur. The Temple in which the gods were worshiped, called e, or house, was more than a single building that contained the main shrine. It was actually composed of a number of buildings that served various cultic functions and included orchards and agricultural fields as well as herds of animals that provided sustenance for the gods and for the personnel needed to maintain the huge divine estates or