Myths of Babylonia and Assyria eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 560 pages of information about Myths of Babylonia and Assyria.

Myths of Babylonia and Assyria eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 560 pages of information about Myths of Babylonia and Assyria.

The prominent figure of Naram Sin, a later king of Akkad, bulks largely in history and tradition.  According to the Chronicle of Kish, he was a son of Sargon.  Whether he was or not, it is certain that he inherited the military and administrative genius of that famous ex-gardener.  The arts flourished during his reign.  One of the memorable products of the period was an exquisitely sculptured monument celebrating one of Naram Sin’s victories, which was discovered at Susa.  It is one of the most wonderful examples of Babylonian stone work which has come to light.

A successful campaign had been waged against a mountain people.  The stele shows the warrior king leading his army up a steep incline and round the base of a great peak surmounted by stars.  His enemies flee in confusion before him.  One lies on the ground clutching a spear which has penetrated his throat, two are falling over a cliff, while others apparently sue for mercy.  Trees have been depicted to show that part of the conquered territory is wooded.  Naram Sin is armed with battleaxe and bow, and his helmet is decorated with horns.  The whole composition is spirited and finely grouped; and the military bearing of the disciplined troops contrasts sharply with the despairing attitudes of the fleeing remnants of the defending army.

During this period the Semitized mountaineers to the north-east of Babylonia became the most aggressive opponents of the city states.  The two most prominent were the Gutium, or men of Kutu, and the Lulubu.  Naram Sin’s great empire included the whole of Sumer and Akkad, Amurru and northern Palestine, and part of Elam, and the district to the north.  He also penetrated Arabia, probably by way of the Persian Gulf, and caused diorite to be quarried there.  One of his steles, which is now in the Imperial Ottoman Museum at Constantinople, depicts him as a fully bearded man with Semitic characteristics.  During his lifetime he was deified—­a clear indication of the introduction of foreign ideas, for the Sumerians were not worshippers of kings and ancestors.

Naram Sin was the last great king of his line.  Soon after his death the power of Akkad went to pieces, and the Sumerian city of Erech again became the centre of empire.  Its triumph, however, was shortlived.  After a quarter of a century had elapsed, Akkad and Sumer were overswept by the fierce Gutium from the north-eastern mountains.  They sacked and burned many cities, including Babylon, where the memory of the horrors perpetrated by these invaders endured until the Grecian Age.  An obscure period, like the Egyptian Hyksos Age, ensued, but it was of comparatively brief duration.

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Myths of Babylonia and Assyria from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.