Temple Communities in Sumeria
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The question to be addressed in this brief report is: Why did the Sumerians find it necessary to form temple communities? Walter R. Bodine (22-23) described the Sumerians as a Mesopotamian people concentrated in the lower part of the alluvial plain that comprises southern Mesopotamia, and which is generally referred to as Babylonia. Their major cities - Eridu, Ur, Larsa, Uruk, Bad-Tiibira, Lagash, Nina, Girsu, Ummua, Usub, Shurippak, and Nippur - were home to assemblies of free citizens who came together to create legal codes and mechanisms for maintaining social order and reverence for the pantheon of Sumerian gods. At the center of every city was a temple which served as the home of the chief deity worshipped in the city. In fact, as this essay will demonstrate, the ancient Sumerian cities were developed around the temple as the central focus of social, political and religious life because of the belief held by the Sumerians that the people were essentially little more than servants of the deity and they and their city were the property of the deity (Bodine 23). The ancient Sumerians as described by Homer Smith (71-73) were a people accustomed to warfare and social change. Physically positioned at a crossroads in Mesopotamia, many of the conflicts that shaped the region were undertaken on behalf of both political interests (i.e., the intent of monarchs to expand their territorial holdings) and religious interests (i.e., the drive to aggrandize one deity over oth
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d scribe's quarters as well" (Janson 71). In the middle of this array of structures, located on a raised platform, was the temple of the local god. Over time, these platforms would reach the height of man-made mountains - emphasizing the power and prominence of the god and, by extension, the ruler of the city and the city and its people. Called ziggurats, these platforms functioned as outward and visible signs of the influence of the god over the lives of the people. This influence extended to commerce as well as agricultural cultivation and the maintenance of the relative authority of the city vis-à-vis its neighbors.
Archeological digs at places including Ur reveal the centrality of the temple in Sumerian life. Because these man-made structures towered high above the city streets and even the more elaborate palaces of local rulers, they assumed a prominence reflecting the significance of the relationship between man and god. These structures literally seem to have dwarfed the surrounding buildings of even the most populated and wealthy Sumerian cities. Thus, one must conclude that the temple was the heart of Sumerian culture and society.
Bodine (22-23) makes note of the fact that one explanation for the constructi
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1231
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)
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