Some Ancient Egyptian History - 19
Willie Martin
PEOPLE COME FROM?
For information on where all these various ethnic groups of
people were coming from, we will quote short excerpts from a
book entitled "The First Great Civilizations," by Jacquetta
Hawkes. We will be using the information from this book as a
critical review, and will be checking information from other
sources to verify whether or not the following is correct:
Page 61: "We are concerned with the peoples of a vast river
system over some TWO THOUSAND YEARS OF THEIR HISTORY.
Changes in political power between one area and another,
FREQUENT FOREIGN INFILTRATIONS, the SEIZURE OF SOVEREIGNTY
BY INVADERS, even the rise and fall of dynasties, DEEPLY
AFFECTED SOCIAL and CULTURAL LIFE. THIS WAS EVEN TRUER FOR
MESOPOTAMIA THAN FOR THE MORE SECURE AND ISOLATED EGYPT...it
would be impossible to understand the experience and outlook
of the population without some knowledge of the often
violent political events in which their states were involved
and which were a matter of life and death to countless
families."
Page 65: "The two written sources ('Sumerian King List' &
'Vulture Stele' of Eanatum) taken together have made it
possible to reconstruct a considerable part of the dynastic
UMMA, LAGASH, URUK and KISH. The KING LIST also assigns one
dynasty to MARI, and here again excavation has confirmed
that this SEMITIC CITY AWAY TO THE NORTH ON THE MIDDLE
EUPHRATES was INDEED AN OUTPOST OF SUMERIAN CULTURAL
INFLUENCE IN EARLY DYNASTIC TIMES."
Page 66: "Another element in a repeating pattern beginning
in Early Dynastic times was, as we have seen, fighting the
Elamites, a people who owed much of their culture to Summer,
emulated he and yet were often to be her enemies. Yet
another, and one far more important for the future, was the
first major penetration of Summer by Semites, the outcome of
one of the most persistent features in all history: THE
DRIFT OF TRIBES FROM THE WESTERN DESERTS INTO THE SETTLED
LAND OF MESOPOTAMIA." (About 2700 B.C.)
Pages 71-72: (About 2260 B.C.) "It is said that greatness
often misses a generation. Sargon's grandson, Naram-Sin, the
fourth in the dynasty, must have inherited much of his
grandfather's drive an ambition. He came to the throne in
about 2260 B.C., and was to rule for thirty-seven years...It
may also refer to his northern frontiers, for he went up
into Zagos to subdue A MOUNTAIN PEOPLE, the Lulubum
(neighbors of the Gutians)...
"...The king of Akkad (Shar-kali-sharri's modest title)
claimed a victory over them, but a letter of the time
addressed apparently to a provincial governor, gives a very
revealing picture of the true condition of the land 'You
shall plough the fields and look after the cattle. It is no
good saying 'yes, but there are GUTIANS ABUT and so I cannot
plough my field.' Set up patrols of watchmen every half mile
and then plough your field. If armed bands advance there
will be local mobilization and you must then have the cattle
driven into the city.' ...According to literary tradition,
the luckless Shar-kali-sharri, LAST OF SARGON'S LINE, was
murdered in a palace intrigue. Among the four contenders for
his throne, one was a Gutian king... The Gutians were now
ruling over a considerable part of Mesopotamia, including
the northern Plain. They adopted the cuneiform script and
Akkadian language for their official inscriptions, but these
'MOUNTAIN DRAGONS' appear to have remained essentially
barbarous. They are known to have DESTROYED much, including
the city of Assur, and to have CREATED NOTHING. No temple,
OR palace, no style of art, no valuable innovation of any
kind HAS BEEN ATTRIBUTED TO THEM."
Page 73: "Yet it was NOT to be GIVEN TO LAGASH either to
FREE THE NORTH FROM THE GATIANS or to preside over the last
flare of Sumerian greatness before the center of power
shifted irrevocably to the north. Within a decade of Gudea's
death his city seems to have been losing ground, and a place
in history as the liberator of the land from the MOUNTAIN
DRAGONS went instead to Utuhengal of Uruk. After having
seized Ur, THIS KING MARCHED AGAINST THE GUTIANS and gave
them battle in the extreme north of Summer, near the limits
of their own territory. His victory must have been complete,
for the Gutians were thrown out of Mesopotamia AND NEVER
AGAIN PLAYED ANY SIGNIFICANT PART IN HER HISTORY."
Page 74: (about 2200 B.C.) "The campaigns (by Ur-Nammu) were
not altogether aggressive. The lands of the east of the
Tigris were suffering A DANGEROUS INFLUX OF FOREIGNERS.
These were the HURRIANS FROM THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS. They
had been entering peacefully for A CENTURY AND MORE (there
was even an enclave of them in Nippur as early as 2200 B.C.)
BUT NOW THEY CAME IN LARGER NUMBERS. It was probably due to
the strong military policy of Ur that they did not penetrate
the Plain and repeat the success of the Gutians.
"For eighty years the empire of Ur maintained its inward
stability, and its downfall when it came was largely due to
attack from without. The Hurrians had been held in check,
BUT NOW THE PENDULUM OF INVASION WAS TO SWING BACK to the
west; from MOUNTAIN enemies to desert enemies."