Sumer & the First City States
Last
time we considered the shaman as the original keeper of knowledge and
seeker of wisdom. As human societies began to leave nomadic life and
settle down by building the first city states, they acquired systems of
writing that allowed them to communicate knowledge beyond the limits of
oral traditions. The earliest scholars in Sumer and Babylon of the
Tigris Euphrates valley began collecting knowledge of the world and the
histories of its peoples. The early city states were gathering sites
for many tribes and peoples, so city life was multicultural from the
beginning.
While
the shaman of a tribe could know the great deal of a tribe’s oral
tradition, in the early city states knowledge grew to the point that
specialists were required. Often, centers of knowledge were temples and
the texts and study maintained by priests and priestesses ordained in
the traditions. Cosmology, remember, was religion, physics, medicine
and psychology together, even as it began to specialize. Today, we sit
at the result of this process that began almost six thousand years ago.
As
we consider the origins of civilization and leave nomadic tribes
behind, it is important to remember that the last two powerful
civilizations, the Muslims and then Europeans, were themselves quite
primitive and nomadic just before gaining power as well as the knowledge
and technology of previous civilizations. While European history is
often traced to the ancient Greeks, the Germanic and Celtic Europeans
(like my ancestors, my father’s side German and my mother’s side Celtic
British Isles mixture), were considered barbarians by the ancient Greeks
and Romans. They were not thought capable of rational thought and were
traded as slaves to Babylon, Egypt, Persia and India for commodities
that were the highest valuables of the ancient world. The Romans traded
slaves, including blond women, for Indian steel, known as wootz, which
was the toughest metal of the ancient world and good for swords and
spears.
Later,
after the Renaissance as Europeans retold the story of history with the
Catholic tradition at the center, the Greeks and Romans became the
origin of civilization for the role they played in the texts and
philosophy of the Bible’s New Testament. While Renaissance philosophers
in Italy still included the Persians and Indians in their timeline of
history, the Catholics, and then Protestants, and now modern “Western”
scholarship has progressively forgotten even the Romans as they focus on
singular events in ancient Greece and then flash forward to Europe in
the 1500s and 1600s, just as the tide of trade, gold and silver began to
turn along the silk road from most going Eastward to most going
Westward. It was only in the early 1700s that Europe had power and
wealth beyond what previous civilizations had achieved. The roots of
European civilization are in fact bound up with the rise of the Germanic
and Celtic peoples, as well as the Arabs, nomadic traders across the
Arabian peninsula (modern day Saudi Arabia occupies most of this land
today) who ran camel caravans across the desert of goods between African
civilizations such as Egypt and Nubia and Middle Eastern civilizations
such as Sumer, Babylon, Assyria, Persia and India.
An
excellent book for appreciating the earliest city state civilizations
is History Begins at Sumer by Kramer. Note that the title basically
says, “Hey, remember that Sumer happened”. Sumer was not necessarily
the first city state (a walled city that ruled the land surrounding it
as a single city empire) but because writing was first developed there
it is the first civilization on the written record. Sumer was a city
state at the mouth of the Tigris Euphrates which was then taken over and
incorporated into Babylon, which then was taken over by Assyria, which
was then taken over by Persia. At each stage, a city upriver on the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers took over a city downriver that had become
prosperous through trade with various peoples across the land and sea.
These
were progressively multicultural societies in which citizenship did not
belong exclusively to one ethnicity. This allowed for diverse
marketplaces where goods, cultures and ideas could be exchanged. Cities
were centers of trade, such that not only was the city a site for many
groups to converge and form a new culture but this culture also traded
with other convergent cultures. Many are surprised to learn that ancient
Sumer and Egypt traded with India hundreds of years before the Greeks
and Israel arose, but archeologists have found stone Buddhas in
Alexandria Egypt as early as 300 BCE, likely owned by small communities
of Indian merchants living in Egypt. From the earliest times, culture,
trade and thought have been international.
Consider
the Assyrians. “Assyrian” did not name one ethnicity but rather a
citizen of Assyria. Many people of different ethnicities called
themselves Assyrians just as many people call themselves Americans.
Jesus spoke Aramaic because it was one of the dominant languages of
Assyria and the lands they had conquered. Assyria invented all of the
siege weapons that were used in feudal Europe (including the battering
ram and the siege tower), but the Assyrians conquered others mostly by
trade and diplomacy. Princes would be sent to be educated in Assyria,
the center of knowledge in its day, and then the Assyrians would make
contracts with the prince’s people to put them on the throne to maintain
political control. Just like today the primary method of conquest is
economic and military solutions are called for only when the economic
methods have failed.
In
modern times, John Perkin’s famous book Confessions of an Economic
Hitman (he came to speak at BCC a few years ago) gives an excellent
account of the same strategy of dominance through economics in modern
times as it is used by America today. Perkins says that he was a
businessman who traveled the world helping other countries get into debt
with America such that American corporations could come in and take
over. If this fails, Perkins says that the second level is the “CIA
Jackals” (his words, not mine) who make a move here and there to smooth
things over for the business interests if a politician or people’s
movement threatens this. If they fail, Perkins says the third level is
“Here come the marines”, and that Iraq is a result of a failure of the
first and second stage of this process. The poverty of the third world
is, in part, due to this and similar economic strategies by other
wealthy countries.
Sumer
had some of the first schools, textbooks (in science and the
humanities), medical texts, tax reduction, wisdom proverbs, and laments.
One excellent proverb is, “You go and carry off the enemy’s land, the
enemy comes and carries off your land”. My favorite Sumerian lament is
recorded about 3000 BCE, in which an elderly Sumerian complains that in
his time, unlike in the glorified past, politicians are corrupt,
teenagers are running around and breaking tradition and having sex, and
concludes that the world will certainly end soon at the hands of the
gods. The prophet laments of the Bible’s Old Testament (the Jewish
Torah) are based on this and other laments from the Tigris-Euphrates
civilizations.
Often
it is stated that the ancient Greeks invented politics and specifically
Athenian democracy, but in Sumer we find the first democratic bicameral
congress. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the first recorded myths in
human history, we read that Gilgamesh wants to go to war so he appeals
to the elders of the senate. The elders do not want war because they
have fragile investments in the situation, so Gilgamesh appeals to the
larger and lower house and they enthusiastically accept his proposal,
probably because as new money they are seeking new opportunities, unlike
the senate who have already secured their investments. Gilgamesh, the
king, must seek approval from the community as a whole to go to war with
the necessary support and needs the house to override the smaller but
higher senate.
As
human beings progressed and traded devices and thinking between groups,
they gathered into larger groups and settled into cities. The great
ancient empires of Egypt and Persia were made of several of these
earlier city state empires gathered into larger empires with many
powerful cities. Consider that the United States is composed of many
states, many of which have only one massive central city. We can see
that as many tribes joined together to create city states the number of
experts and types of experts multiplied and specialized. The shamans of
the tribe became many types of priests and scribes in many temples. We
can see that this pattern continued up through the present time. Some
priests would specialize in types of math used to chart the stars,
others would specialize in healing people and animals. The many hats (or
masks, rather) of the shaman became the many types of priests and
scribes who recorded knowledge and made new discoveries.
Egyptian Wisdom
Before considering passages of the Egyptian wisdom texts, I want to address two common misconceptions about the Egyptians.
First,
the Egyptians are rarely portrayed as an African people but rather
museums and text books portray them as a semi-European/Asian people who
are quite light in skin color. When we consider that the Egyptians
painted all of their statues and carvings (as did the Greeks), and they
always painted men as dark red and women as yellow, as well as having
black braided hair (Herodotus the Greek historian describes the “wooly”
hair of the Egyptians) it seems that the Egyptians were an African
people and we are only slowly growing to recognize this. It is a big
debate between Eurocentric and Afrocentric scholars today, but the
debate is held largely outside of official academia and universities as
Afrocentric scholars are perceived as biased, un-academic and
unprofessional in their opinions.
Two
good books from the Afrocentric side are Martin Bernal’s Black Athena
and Cheikh Anta Diop’s The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or
Reality. While these works are well up to academic standards, because
some Afrocentric work was done outside academic institutions in
unjustifiable ways (one scholar claimed that the ancient Egyptians had
batteries and hang gliders), this was used to tarnish all Afrocentric
scholarship as dangerously unprofessional. Thus, the universities and
academics retain a Eurocentric bias while calling it objectivity in
contrast to the Afrocentric bias. I have read one work that called for
“Acentrism”, recognizing that the origins of civilization do not come
from a single geographic location but rather from a network of the
earliest settlements. Hopefully, this perspective can move us beyond
the narrow constraints of both Eurocentrism and Afrocentrism, though in
my opinion it is Eurocentrism that is quite established and this goes
unrecognized.
Second,
another common misconception of the Egyptians is that they were a
slave-driving, brutal people who were all about authority. This is then
contrasted with the Greeks, who are considered to be wise and
questioning and the birth of civilized politics. In fact, the Egyptians
treated foreigners, slaves and women considerably better than the
Greeks, and the pyramids were built not by slaves but by conscripted
labor. Recently tombs for workers have been discovered, confirming what
Egyptologists have thought for several decades. This misconception comes
largely from the Bible and movies like the Ten Commandments.
The
Egyptians had many types of scribes and genres of texts, including
fictional comedies and tragedies, lists of minerals and plants, essays
on medicine, ethics and politics, and important to this class, wisdom
literature. The Egyptian wisdom proverbs we read come from this last
class of Egyptian texts. As many tribes converged to live in city
states, people began to see more of people than they had before.
Suddenly, obvious truths became questionable. Gathering wealth and power
looks good at first, but if one has seen many grab for power over the
years, one gets wiser. Rather than never questioning authority, the
Egyptians had more variety of authorities and questioning of authority
than most cultures before them. They did obey the Pharaoh most of the
time, but there were rebellions and civil wars as well. We can see in
the wisdom proverbs the questioning of authority, nobility, knowledge,
teachers, prediction, wealth, luxury, punishment, and other fundamental
aspects of civilization. The Egyptians were not just great builders and
rulers, but also wisdom seekers and questioners.
One
concept that appears in the texts is the “heart guided individual”. The
heart was thought to be the physical and mental center of the human
individual. As Egyptian society developed, increasingly being “guided by
the king” was replaced with being “guided by the heart”. The heart is
the essence of the human and the intention within the action. Repeatedly
in the text, individuals are called to listen to their heart rather
than build luxury and maintain authority. These are issues that we all
struggle with to this day, and so we can learn much about early human
experience by reading these proverbs.
Let us turn now to the proverbs themselves, considering the wisdom of specific passages.
Let not your heart be puffed up because of what you know, nor boast that you are a wise man.
Consult
with the ignorant as well as with the wise, for there is no limit to
where wisdom can be found. Good speech lies hidden like a precious
stone, yet wisdom is found among maidens at the grindstone.
This
passage of Phah-hotep (Vizier to the Pharaoh, 2500 BCE) is similar to
some we will read in Confucius of ancient China and it is also similar
to Socrates of ancient Greece. We should learn from everyone, and
remember that no one is perfect and no one knows everything when we are
tempted to put ourselves above others. This questions not only human
knowledge, but social inequality. It does not call for getting rid of
social divisions (indeed, the last verse is somewhat sexist) but it does
ask us to look beyond inequality and identify with others.
More acceptable to (the Father/Highest) God is the virtue of a just man than the ox of one who works iniquity.
In
this verse, we see Marikare (a local king offering advice to the crown
prince, 1500 BCE) questioning the value of traditional sacrifice. In
India, Greece and China, we will see similar thoughts questioning the
value of traditional practice over being virtuous. If the wealthy make
sacrifices, but rule with cruelty, those who dare to question will ask
if performing sacrifices truly gains one merit. Jesus chasing the money
changers and sellers of sacrificial animals out of the temple is a
similar move.
Rage destroys itself. It damages its own affairs.
Ani (a scribe of the 18th dynasty, 1550-1300 BCE)
Because
we refuse to imitate the wicked man, we help him, we offer him a
hand…That he may know shame, we fill his belly with bread.
Amen-em-opet
(local king, 1800 BCE) is suggesting that we do the opposite of what we
typically think to do to those we consider evil. Rather than punish
bad with bad, like fighting fire with fire, we can show them the
compassion and consideration they lack even if they do not deserve it.
This is similar to Jesus saying, “Turn the other cheek”.
Never permit yourself to rob a poor man. Do not oppress the down-trodden, nor thrust aside the elderly, denying them speech.
Amen-em-opet shows not only concern with social justice, but giving freedom of speech to the disempowered.
Who
plunders the goods of a poor man takes the very breath of life away
from (herself or himself). Such cheating chokes off justice, but a full
measure increases its flow.
The
Eloquent Peasant or The Complaint of the Peasant is a story about a
peasant who has been robbed by a local official and who gives a series
of nine arguments to the local magistrate appealing for justice which
shows again that the ancient Egyptians were concerned about the poor and
social justice, while also having problems with each as we still do
today. It also shows ancient Egyptian cosmology holds that the world
works like a giant person, and breath and air carry order downward from
the fire of the stars, sun and moon. If we do injustice, we not only
choke the universe but ourselves as well. The Egyptians were the
foremost doctors of the ancient world and were revered by the Romans in
the beginning ages of Roman empire, and only in the empire’s later years
did the Romans begin turning to Greek doctors, who had learned much
from the Egyptians and added to it. Consider that we still practice the
Egyptian custom of wearing the wedding ring (originally just worn by
women) on the ring finger (which is how it got its name) through the
Roman Catholic tradition. There is a large artery running through this
finger, which the Egyptians found by doing anatomy, and because it was
thought to be associated with lust a man puts a wedding ring on his
wife’s finger to serve as a sort of lust collar. We do not practice the
Israelite tradition of wearing the wedding ring on the index finger,
which a man would put on his wife’s finger to prevent her from casting
curses on him.
Honor
men of achievement and the people will prosper, but keep your eyes
open. Too much trust brings affliction…Exalt no man because of birth.
Judge the man by his actions. A man should do that which profits his
soul. Let him perform the services of his temple. Let him share in the
mysteries of his religion.
Merikare
shows great skepticism of authority, not only of political position and
noble birth but of a central singular religious tradition. Notice both
ritual and mystery being included as religion.
Love
the wife who is in your house. Feed her belly, clothe her back.
Provide oil and cosmetics for her limbs. Gladden her heart all the
days of your life, for she is like a field that will prosper its owner,
but do not go into court with her, and never let her get control of your
house.
Ptah-hotep
is being quite sexist, but shows us that women had the power to speak
in court and ruled the home as they often do in Islamic traditional
culture and our own today in spite of the sexism. Ptah-hotep is giving
this advice to his son.
Provide
generously for your mother with double rations, and carry her even as
she once carried you. It was a heavy load that she bore, but she did
not cast it off, and even after you were born, did she not feed you at
the breast for three years? Your dirt was unpleasant, but she did not
say, “Why should I bother with him?” It was she who placed you in
school. It was she who came daily with food and drink for you.
Ani
seems to be giving us the old, “You never call, you never write”
routine of ancient Egyptian mother syndrome. It is hilarious how he is
not only reminding us to take care of the elderly, but of our own
mothers as well.
If
you have grown to some account in greatness, do not forget the time
when you were small. If you have now become a rich man in your city, do
not forget how it was when you were in need.
Ptah-hotep
shows us that there was social mobility in ancient Egypt, and one could
become wealthy or poor depending upon circumstances. Like the passage
that tells us the maidens at the grindstone have wisdom yet no one can
obtain it entirely, it suggests we always keep the view of the poor and
unfortunate in mind to not only appreciate what we have but prevent
ourselves from being unjust.
Boast
not how many jars of beer you can drink! Soon your speech turns to
babbling nonsense, and you tumble down into the gutter…and when people
seek to question you, they find only a helpless child.
Ani shows us that as people gathered into ancient city states, they became critical of human behavior.
Eat
no bread while another waits in want, but stretch out your hand to the
hungry. One man is rich, another is poor. Yesterday’s master is
today’s servant. Don’t be greedy about filling your belly. Where only
last year the river ran, this year the course is dry. Great seas have
turned to desert wastes, and the sandy shore is now an abyss.
Ani again shows us that one could become rich or poor in society, and it is wise to remember it.
Do
not lie down at night being afraid of tomorrow. When day breaks, who
knows what it will be like? Surely, no man knows what tomorrow will
bring.
Amen-em-opet,
like Aztec poets and the Indian Vedas, reminds us that no one can
predict the future, either through prophecy or science.
