WE started talking in the previous article about the two civili¬sations: the Pharaonic and the Mesopotamian that started simultaneously 5000 years ago in what we called «A Tale of Two Civilisations”. Now we are going to concentrate on the first millennium of that period, which is the third millennium BC. The main feature of this millennium is the presence of the Sumerians followed by the Akkadian civilisation in Mesopotamia, while Egypt witnessed the presence of the, Old Kingdom. Surprisingly, the two civilisations started with strong notions of the presence of super power and universal order.
Talking first about the Sumerian civilisation, the Sumerians were of uncertain origins, although historians estimate that they came, most likely from the valley of the Indus River, now in Pakistan. The Sumerian civilisation started by forming strong concentrations of societies in different cities in the southern part of Iraq near modern day Basra. There were about twelve cities such as Uruk, Larsa. Eridu. Nippur and Lagash.
The Sumerian Civilisation is known for its contribution to human evolution by introducing writing in the form of the cuneiform script on clay tablets as well as the sexagesimal numbering system which is based on the number 60. This was the base of measuring angles and measuring time. It seems that the merit of the value 60 is that it is divisible by many values like 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12 … etc.
The most famous legendary personality of the Sumerian period is Gilgamesh, who left behind an epic, which is consid¬ered to be the oldest written story on earth. It was originally written on 12 clay tablets in cuneiform script. Gilgamesh is supposed to be the king of Uruk who’ reigned sometime between 2750 and 2500. The Gilgamesh Epic, although hap¬pening during the Sumerian period, the tablets were found at Nineveh in the library of the Assyrian Icing Ashurbanipal, who reigned from 668 to 627 BC.
Gilgamesh was in search of eternal life. For that reason, he made a journey in search of Utnapishtim, the survivor of the great flood, in order to learn from him how to escape death. Utnapishtim told him the details of the story of the flood and told him about a plant that would give rebirth and renew youth. Gilgamesh found the plant but that the plant was swallowed by a snake and that’s why they believed that the snake has the ability to renew itself by changing its skin every now and then. In some interpretations, the plant is replaced by the sea pearl, especially a certain type that is found in Dilmun; an Ancient location that is now Bahrain Island.
In the middle of the third millennium BC, the city of Akkad, 19Cated north of Sumeria, was inhabited by Semitic people, it gained power and rose against the Sumerians and formed the Akkadian Empire.
The Sumerians are also accredited with the invention of the wheel – at the beginning as potters’ wheel which developed into vehicle wheel and mill wheel. They were among the first astronomers; the Sumerians formulated the first sky constella¬tions and defined some of the zodiac signs and the five planets that are visible to the naked eye. Moreover, they are known for building temples erected on rising terraces, which were expanded into ziggurats. The ziggurat consists of several storeys connected by stairs. The temple at the top formed the ‘temple tower’.
