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Near East Kingdoms

Ancient Mesopotamia

 

Eresh / Abu Salabikh (City) (Sumer)

FeatureThe city states of Sumer formed one of the first great civilisations in human history (see feature link). This Near Eastern civilisation emerged a little way ahead of that of Africa's ancient Egypt, and up to a millennium before that of the Indus Valley culture. It developed out of the end of the Pottery Neolithic across the Fertile Crescent, a period which had seen Neolithic Farmer practices spread far and wide across the Near East and beyond.

As irrigation improved so the more southerly reaches of the Euphrates could at last be occupied by humans and their animals. Southern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and the western edge of Iran) was subjected to permanent settlement, initially in the form of pastoralists but soon as farmers too. Cultures around the edges of this progression included the Hassuna and Samarra which began this settlement process, and perhaps elements of the Hissar culture in the Iranian highlands were also involved.

FeatureBy the late fourth millennium BC, Sumer was divided into approximately a dozen city states which were independent of one another and which used local canals and boundary stones to mark their borders. Many early historical events in the region are found only in the Sumerian king list, which notates the rulers of the city states (and see feature link), but archaeology has also uncovered a wealth of detail.

The Sumerian name is unknown for the modern archaeological site of Abu Salabikh (or Tell Abū Ṣalābīkh). It was a minor city with an ensi (governor), and was rarely mentioned on cylinder seals or inscriptions. It did however provide a valuable scribal centre, one which recorded many of the events and transactions in the region. Its closeness to Nippur, just twenty-or-so kilometres to its south-east, probably ensured its usefulness and survival.

It was first occupied during the Pottery Neolithic period, albeit lightly. True settlement and building only appears to have began with the onset of the Uruk IV period around 3900 BC. The city remained a hub of activity until the later years of the third millennium BC. Various known ancient names have been proposed for it, including Kesh and Gišgi (a name which so far seems not to have been pinned to any location), but identifying it as Eresh remains the most popular theory.

The modern archaeological site consists of three mounds which have an overall footprint of about nine hundred metres by eight hundred and fifty metres. On the eastern side is the main mound, the 'Early Dynastic' scribal city with its enclosing wall. On the western side are two mounds, both on the far side of the dry bed of an ancient canal or watercourse.

The northern of these is a ten-hectare mound from the Uruk IV and Jemdet Nasr periods (3900-2900 BC), which was then abandoned, while the other is an eight-hectare 'Early Dynastic' palace mound for the city's ensi, or governor. The city's patron god was Nisaba, who was later moved to Nippur from the E-Zagin temple in Eresh.

Abu Salabikh was first excavated in 1963 and 1965 by an expedition from the USA's Oriental Institute of Chicago, under the leadership of Donald P Hansen. His team found the site in a salt bog, with numerous robber holes. Unlike the nearby site of Nippur, Abu Salabikh's 'Early Dynastic' remains were near the surface, indicating abandonment after that period. A year name from nineteenth century Isin indicates a degree of continued settlement up to this period, as the king there built a wall for Eresh.

Some five hundred tablets and fragments were found, some of which contained elements of the earliest ancient literature. Further excavations took place between 1975-1990 under the direction of the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, led by Nicholas Postgate. The First Gulf War interrupted proceedings which had not resumed by 2024.

Texts included school materials, literary extracts, word lists, and administrative archives, and the oldest known copy of the 'Instructions of Shuruppak', a well-known 'wisdom' text. Semitic scribal names became more common as the 'Early Dynastic' period wore on, but the form of Sumerian being used remained archaic (and therefore likely traditional and conservative in nature).

Sumerians

(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from History of the Ancient Near East c.3000-323 BC, Marc van der Mieroop (Blackwell Publishing, 2004, 2007), from The Name Nintinugga with a Note on the Possible Identification of Tell Abu Salābīkh, Mark E Cohen (Journal of Cuneiform Studies, Vol 28, No 2, pp 82-92, 1976), from Early Channels and Landscape Development around Abu Salabikh, a Preliminary Report, T J Wilkinson (Iraq, Vol 52, pp 75-83, 1990), from The Sumerians: Their History, Culture, and Character, Samuel Noah Kramer ('List 1' of Sumerian rulers, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1963), from Historical Atlas of the Ancient World, 4,000,000 to 500 BC, John Heywood (Barnes & Noble, 2000), from Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East, Michael Road (Facts on File, 2000), from The Archaeology of Mesopotamia, S Lloyd (Revised Ed, London, 1984), from Mesopotamia, Chris Scarre (Ed, Past Worlds - The Times Atlas of Archaeology, Guild Publishing, London 1989), from The Semitic Personal Names from Abu Salabikh and the Personal Names from Ebla, Robert D Biggs (Eblaite Personal Names and Semitic Name-Giving, ARES 1, Missione Archeologica Italiana in Siria, 1988), and from External Links: City of Culture 2600 BC - Early Mesopotamian History and Archaeology at Abu Salabikh, John Nicholas Postgate (Archaeopress Archaeology, 2024, and available via Archaeopress), and Ancient History, Anthony Michael Love ('List 3' of Sumerian rulers at Sarissa.org), and Inscriptions from Tell Abū Ṣalābīkh, Robert D Biggs (Oriental Institute Publication No 99, 1974, available as a PDF via University of Chicago Press), and Abu Salabikh (Our Ancient World).)

c.3900 BC

A system of tokens is greatly expanded during the Uruk IV period which begins around 3900 BC (or 3800 BC according to some). The ancient Sumerian religious centre of Eridu - already a millennium old - is gradually surpassed in size by the nearby city of Uruk, with the Eanna mound being its oldest and most continuously inhabited area.

Metalwork also appears, marking the beginning of the Chalcolithic (Copper Age) and the fading of the stone age period which had seen Neolithic Farmer practices transform human lives between about 10,000-4000 BC.

The Uruk IV period lasts until about 3100 BC, witnessing this city flourish as the only real urban centre in Sumer. Settlements elsewhere are much smaller, such as at Abu Salabikh which is now built up from a minor settlement.

The archaeological site of Abu Salabikh
The archaeological site of Abu Salabikh - possibly the Sumerian city of Eeresh - has revealed a number of building phases across the city's existance from the Neolithic to the early decades of the second millennium BC

c.2900 BC

The Jemdet Nasr period (with the city of Jemdet Nasr serving as its type site) now fades in favour of a new, outward-looking 'Early Dynastic' period. True writing blossoms as it moves closer to spoken Sumerian, archives explode with mercantile records and administrative acts, and the first kings begin to appear as leading city figures take on more duties and increasing power, ostensibly as deputies of the gods.

Nippur becomes the focus of Sumer's unified cult practices, in favour of Ur. Positioned centrally in Sumer, perhaps this location is more satisfactory for the region's cities. All of them seem to be joined together when it comes to paying homage to the Sumerian pantheon of gods, headed by Enlil who is Nippur's patron (another good reason for making this city the religious centre).

This unique status lasts until the eighteenth century BC (which witnesses the rise of Babylon). Seals mention it frequently, even when they are found in small or obscure Sumerian cities such as Abu Salabikh, Arina, Kesh, Urum, and Zabalam.

As for Abu Salabikh itself, the Uruk IV/Jemdet Nasr mound and early city are abandoned in favour of what will become a larger mound and settlement which houses the third millennium BC scribal school.

c.2500 BC

By this time the scribes of Abu Salabikh bear Semitic names. Sumer is now a multi-lingual region, with at least two major languages being spoken in the form of Sumerian and Semitic (sometimes labelled proto-Akkadian, with that later being a dominant form of non-Sumerian).

Semitic predominates in northern Sumer and in northern Mesopotamia beyond that - such as at Ashur and Nineveh - as this is the route of entry into Sumer itself. Its use is most notable in early Akkadians, while Sumerian still dominates in the south.

c.2254? BC

Kish leads a revolt against the Akkadian empire, rallying the northern Sumerian cities of Apiak (location unknown, but close to the Tigris, to the east of Nippur), Borsippa, Dilbat, Eresh, Kazallu, Kiritab, Kutha, Sippar, and Tiwa, and placing a well-organised army in the field which is then defeated. Presumably this is the period in which Eresh (potentially Abu Slalabikh) has its own king in a fractured Sumerian political landscape.

c.2090s/80s BC

Shulgi of Ur extends his father's empire to include all of the Assyrian city states and their neighbours such as the Lullubi. He also re-conquers Susa from Elam and its Simashki rulers, and may be responsible for completing rebuilding work at Nippur. The vassal kings of Kisurra are removed entirely, while Ur's governors are now in place at Eresh.

fl 2080s? BC

Ea-Bani

Ensi (governor) of Eresh for Shulgi of Ur.

fl 2060s? BC

Ur-Ninmug

Ensi (governor) of Eresh for Shulgi of Ur.

fl 2040s? BC

Ur-Baba

Ensi (governor) of Eresh for Amar-Sin of Ur.

c.2004 BC

The waning Sumerian civilisation which has at its centre the city of Ur now collapses entirely when the Simashki ruler of Elam, Kindattu, together with the people of Susa, sacks the city and captures Ibbi-Sin of Ur. Isin now enjoys a period of dominance in Sumer while the great cities re-emerge as much-reduced entities under Amorite control.

Always largely a scribal city for the duration of the third millennium BC, Abu Salabikh (Eresh?) does not survive this process, or the recent shift of the Euphrates to a point well away from the city.

Initially abandoned, and perhaps by the end of the nineteenth century BC after a defensive wall has been built as part of state refortifications, it remains that way, with much of its scribal population probably emigrating to nearby Nippur.

The city is eventually lost as far as Mesopotamians of the second millennium BC and the initially-dominant Babylonian empire are concerned, although minor use is made of outlying areas until the start of the first millennium AD.

 
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