Lecture 1: The Mesopotanians

In the early bronze age, civilization was born, it took place in the fertile crescent (it was
also the birthplace of the judeo-christian religion) Mesopotamia (Between the Two
rivers, the tigris and Euphrates). The region was filled with the city states of the
Sumerians, with economic, linguasutic, and agriculteral knoweledge/practices,
including such technology as Irrigation, which creates a surplus of food, allowing for a
more complex society, with room for people who are focused on gathering food. A
great unifier of the ancient world was relgion/mythology; they were polytheistic,
believing in AN-the sky god, ANA, which is the qeuen of heaven (she is also sometimes
known as ishtar, named so by the babylonians) A moon god, a sky god, Enlil, the storm
god. Concept: the god control nature, Nature is harsh, so the gods must be harsh. The
temples they built the zigerots, had priests that appeased/placated the gods with rituals
and sacrafices, hopefully bettering their fate the fate of themselves and their people;
however the gods are precocious and whimsical, so bad things sometimes happen.
COMPARE The summerians were overall very pessimistic; Christians and Mussilems
have a far more possitive outlook, believing in Deities that are fundementally good, and
that will someday save the world. Also, interestingly enouph, these pessimists, unlike
many modern pessimists, were not Atheistic, wheras today, Atheistc/scientific outlooks
are responsible for most such outlooks. To the sumerians, the suffering of this world is
due to harsh gods.