The Other Ancient Civilisations: Decoding… by Raven Todd DaSilva · Audiobook preview

Tantor Audio, a division of Recorded Books, presents The Other Ancient Civilizations, Decoding Archaeology's Less Celebrated Cultures, by Raven Todd Da Silva. Narrated by Raven Todd Da Silva. In memory of Gilbert Constantine Todd, the greatest storyteller I will ever know. Introduction The Lonely Bipeds with the Giant Dreams Diane Ackerman The title of this book may be The Other Ancient Civilizations, but it is by no means meant to be an act of othering. Rather, this book is a celebration. An invitation, if you will, to look beyond the popular ancient civilizations and cultures that dominate books, films, and television. That is not to say that the ancient Romans, Egyptians, Inca, and Maya are any less deserving of the spotlight that they have received. It is more to say that for them to shine, others have been ignored or only briefly mentioned by mainstream media and education. Oftentimes, it is only small groups of archaeologists, historians, and scientists who have the privilege and opportunity to discover the hundreds of other groups of people the world over who lived hundreds and thousands of years ago. This book then serves as a starting point for anyone wanting to venture through the mists of to explore lesser-known ancient civilizations and cultures that have long been overlooked or marginalized. With each chapter, we will explore a new group of ancient peoples. We will traverse both continents and millennia. From the fertile river valleys of Mesopotamia to the remote islands of the Pacific. From the frozen tundra of North America to the windswept plains of Central Asia. Like today, each culture is as distinct as the next, but with similarities that I hope will remind us all that no one was ever isolated from the rest of the world. All cultures are enhanced through connection, sharing, borrowing, and transforming bits and pieces from their predecessors and contemporaries. A large reason that so many groups of ancient peoples are less well-known and recognized publicly is that they are usually overshadowed by more powerful, longer-lasting groups that have left behind stunning collections of material culture, monumental cities, or robust written records. For lack of a better term, ancient civilizations and cultures like these are more popular because they are simply easier to access. But even with the ancient cultures that have left so much behind and had so much scholarly work devoted to them, there is still so much we don't know. Archaeologists are left with fragments of stories written on parchment or clay, looted tombs, remnants of poor excavation techniques from early expeditions, and a skewed historical bias from the antiquarian desire to look only for treasure. Preservation bias also affects what is found and known about ancient cultures. Organic materials like textiles, wooden structures, and food remains are the first to decompose if not in arid or frozen environments. Acidic soils eat away at bone and metal, farmers plow fields, and houses are built without knowing what might lie in the soil beneath. What we have determined as important and worth saving also shapes how we choose to understand history throughout time. It can be considered a small miracle that we have anything from the past that we can weave into a coherent story. Much of the archaeological record that remains is composed of monumental buildings and complexes for the dead, usually for the elite, a population that is remembered and studied much more than everyday people. What is left to tell the story of women and other marginalized groups is even less. In many ways, the study of the past is like trying to complete a puzzle that only has a portion of its pieces and no reference picture. These pieces usually fit together in multiple ways so we can never truly confirm that a connected portion has no other interpretation. Imagine then how few puzzle pieces we have for ancient cultures that didn't produce writing, live in an environment well-suited for preservation, or use the ever-enduring pottery that shapes so much of what we know about the past. This makes reconstructing their past and communicating it to the public even harder. There are no documents with pertinent quotes or grand frescoes on walls to display in museums. While some of the ancient groups discussed in this book had writing and rich visual culture, they are still not as popularly known as the powerhouses that bring droves of visitors to museums around the world. No matter how much physical evidence we have for an ancient culture or civilization, we will never fully understand the people who lived before us. We will never know their hopes, dreams, or fears, their quarrels, their music, or how they danced. Their reasoning for their actions or architectural or artistic choices will always be a matter of speculation. But because humans are storytellers by nature, we are desperate to use the physical remains of what is left behind to construct a narrative to help us understand them and bring us closer to our past. These narratives are generic and lump the many into one, especially when they are about the everyday people who lived in these early societies. Thousands of people lived lives just as rich as yours and mine, but we will never get to know them on an individual level. As Garth Bodden stated so eloquently, it is always easier to interpret the archaeological record of domestic life in terms of the tastes represented then of the families that performed them. The humans involved in these tasks often become a singular entity, an anomalous conglomerate to represent the masses. These everyday stories are just as culturally important as those of great battles and powerful rulers, but they are often taken as a given and therefore not celebrated or highlighted enough, even though these are the puzzle pieces that most of us can relate to. Even though we'll never be able to get a full picture of the past, these glimpses still provide us with the motivation to keep searching with the hope of finding one more piece of the puzzle. Archaeologists and historians, though, must be careful with how they craft these stories of the past. People use them to create connections to history, whether it be with everyday objects still used for the same purpose or philosophical thought from a thousand years ago. Often this is done for good, to gain a connection to one's heritage or to feel a connection to something larger than oneself. Other times, these stories are used to vilify outsiders or the unknown. Just like how some ancient cultures become more popular than others, biased aspects of the past are highlighted to push a narrative or preference that suits our current worldview that differs so much from what theirs would have been. The entire picture is not always presented to the public. More nuanced or negative features of these popular groups are frequently swept under the rug to push one image instead of one that is more balanced, accurate, and human. Just like our societies and communities, there is bad amongst the good and good amongst the bad. Many people like to group some of the cultures and civilizations in this book together, and call them lost. The term lost civilization belittles and is disparaging to the people who created and thrived in these communities. Many times these civilizations were never lost. These past peoples were known for millennia by their descendants. Often, Western people attempting to expand their territories by entering foreign lands were discovering ruins that the locals had always known about. These newcomers then separated the living communities from their past in order to mistreat them by claiming they were in no way related to the complex societies that lived before them. One must only look at the rich ancestral ties and culture of living indigenous populations to see that this couldn't be further from the truth. Calling a civilization lost ensures its separation from modern societies and allows its remains to be sold to the highest bidder and shipped around the world, creating and embedding a narrative of marvel and mystery. The purpose of this book is therefore twofold. To introduce you to these lesser-known ancient civilizations and cultures, and to highlight as much of the magic in the mundane and everyday as possible. Together, we will explore the complexities of their societies, cultures, and legacies, highlighting what makes each culture unique and worth celebrating. By discussing archaeological remains, texts, and scientific investigations, you, the listener, are invited to embark on a journey across continents and epochs, from the rainforests of Mesoamerica to the steppes of Central Asia and beyond. Listen to them in the order in which they are presented, or choose your own adventure as we zigzag around the globe. This book does not solely discuss civilizations as we define them today. The word civilization is problematic and often misunderstood. What we define as civilized or not is often the result of looking through our biased lens based on the values of the period in which we are living. All too often, the word was used to set up a distinction between societies around the world, creating a harmful environment where civilized societies are seen as superior to non-civilized ones. The word civilization was first used in France in the 1700s and by the middle of the century it came to mean the process of being civilized. In the broadest sense, it was used morally to denote a contrast between superior moral and intellectual urban societies that conformed to Eurocentric ideals and more barbaric ones that did not have a hierarchy system, agriculture, literature, art and science, or a division of labor. The word quickly spread throughout Europe, replacing civility in English, and it soon became synonymous with the word culture, though their distinctions were often noted and argued by multiple 19th century authors, with civilization denoting materialistic concerns and culture focusing on the spiritual. By the 19th century, civilization had become plural and had come to mean the characteristics common to the collective life of a period of a group. It no longer denoted a specific level of cultural achievement. Rather, the term could now be used to refer to distinct groups around the world from various periods. Even from the earliest definitions, many ancient societies could be called civilizations, but were often ignored in the early development of this term. Civilization and other associated terms were used to differentiate societies that historians deemed culturally superior and those that they saw as inferior. Until recently, what constituted civilization was defined by white male scholars with European ancestry and came to define Western society as a whole. Because of this prejudice, complex societies from other parts of the world were seen as lacking for one reason or another. For example, Africa has produced many great and powerful kingdoms. They created masterful pieces of art, had complex and hierarchical societies, and developed vast trade networks throughout the continent and beyond. Yet, when European colonists arrived, the people thriving within the lifeways they had created for themselves were deemed lesser to the point of not even being considered human for centuries to come. Even into the 20th century, impressive societies like the Inca Empire of Peru were not considered to be, quote, civilizations because they did not use the wheel or possess a written language. Luckily, today's archaeologists, anthropologists, and historians are a more diverse group. But even though great progress is being made to deconstruct these outdated definitions of civilization and the classification of societies based on Western ideals, much more work needs to be done. Communities and societies are too complex to fit within a binary of civilized and uncivilized. The sprawling cities hidden below the canopy of the Amazon rainforest and the vast interaction networks among Neolithic societies in Southwest Asia that have come to light in recent years are proof that we cannot simply fit human history into a set of standard definitions. Another term that will often come up in this book is archaeological culture. Without getting too deep into what defines a culture and the heavy theory and debate that has followed this term throughout the decades, an archaeological culture consists of a collection of a variety of materials or artifacts, buildings, and monuments associated with one another that occupy a specific period of time and geographical area. It is a constructed term created to assist archaeologists in making sense of what is pulled out of the ground and help identify possible groups and societies who would have associated with one another or define themselves as belonging together as a people. The assumption that is made with archaeological cultures is that they reflect a wider group of people. It allows archaeologists to interpret and discuss their finds as a group of people and cultural practices rather than a collection of inanimate objects with no meaning. It also allows us to link other forms of evidence and try to determine why cultures change over time. For example, if one type of pottery suddenly replaces another dominant type, it can be interpreted as a completely new group migrating to the area. If the dominant pottery undergoes a change, such as adopting a particular decoration from a neighboring group, then we can determine that these two groups were in contact with each other and probably shared ideas, possibly even material goods. Simply put, an archaeological culture is a classifying device that expresses culture through physical artifacts instead of people. And since archaeology is the only means by which we can learn about the majority of ancient groups, frameworks like this are needed to help solve the puzzle of the past. An archaeological culture gives a group of ordinary objects life. Since we don't know the names of the groups of peoples who belonged to these assemblages, archaeological cultures are usually named after the places where the first evidence of their existence was discovered. For example, the Nok culture was first discovered in a tin mine located in the village of Nok in Nigeria. The Unetica culture got its name from a cemetery that was found in the village of Unetica in Czechia. Other times, archaeological cultures can be named after a type of artifact that is diagnostic of that culture, such as the corded ware and bell beaker cultures. Both have a distinctive form of pottery that sets them apart from other cultures that existed contemporaneously. Archaeological cultures are often just shadows of the actual groups of people who lived in the past. Interpretations of inanimate things usually have no resemblance whatsoever to the rich and complicated lives being lived by the people using them. A culture is also not solely defined by one set of fixed types of decorations. A culture can discard certain traits that no longer suit it or pick up new ones that meet a new need from an evolving population. It is this variability to change and adapt that makes cultures so long-lasting and resilient in an ever-changing world. The same can be said for time periods that have been constructed to add structure to history. Some of these periods encompass hundreds if not thousands of years. Multiple generations are lumped together to define a period in such generic terms that much of the nuance and subtle change that defines brief moments in these periods are lost. Because so much is missing from the archaeological record, we must rely on these larger time periods. But it is so important to remember that much of the human experience that we look for in history is often lumped into generic characteristics to help us cope with the vastness of time. Think about how much has happened in your own lifetime. So much change can occur over a few decades. Imagine then how much we are missing over centuries. Some of the ancient cultures discussed in this book have complicated pasts. The trails of the nomads belonging to the Xiongnu and the Scythians are difficult to trace. Their transient lifestyle means that historians must often rely on the writings of their contemporaries, usually their enemies, to gather information about them and try and fill the gaps in the archaeological record as best they can. Countless ancient cultures and civilizations have been overshadowed by the passage of time and by the majority of attention being placed on familiar narratives such as the towering pyramids of Egypt and the majestic temples of Greece. This book is an attempt to begin illuminating these lesser-known peoples and shed light on parts of the world often overlooked for having a complex ancient past. It is an attempt to uncover a personal story from each chapter to help bring them to life. Throughout this exploration of these lesser-known ancient civilizations and archaeological cultures we will encounter societies that thrived in harmony with their natural surroundings such as the Indus Valley in the Indian subcontinent whose urban centers flourished along the banks of the great rivers. We will uncover the Olmec of Mesoamerica whose colossal stone heads stand as silent sentinels of a bygone era and visit the bustling ports of Dilmun in Arabia. We will hunt whales with the Tule Inuit of the Arctic, harpoons poised at the ready, and marvel at the artistic ingenuity of the Moche of South America. If we're lucky we'll even get to race horses through the steppes of Central Asia with the Xiongnu and sail to distant shores with the Lapita. While on this journey the lives of everyday people will be highlighted wherever possible. Questions regarding the rise of these societies, their challenges, successes, connections, and their eventual decline will be tackled in hopes of uncovering as much of the story as we can with the puzzle pieces that remain. The groups discussed each deserve their own book to do them justice and there are many available that I deeply encourage you all to read. There is only so much I could include in a volume of this nature and what I have written is just the tip of the iceberg of what there is to know about each group. My advice is to use this book as a starting point, a reference to the beginning of your journey into the far corners of the ancient world. Though you may have heard of some of these groups before, I hope that you learn something new in each chapter and come away with a better understanding of the richness and diversity of the human experience. Chapter One. Acadians. The World's First Empire. The rumble of the carts and the braying of donkeys in the streets awoke Eneduanna. Though she had already been in Ur for many years, the sounds of the city still felt foreign. There was no rest for the countless merchants outside the temple which she now called home, selling their wares and embarking on great expeditions across the sea. Her father, the former king of the universe, had sent her here to become the high priestess of the god Nana, a position she understood to be more than a simply religious one. In many ways, Eneduanna identified with this city filled with outsiders as she was one herself, married to a foreign god to help unify the religions of this land newly conquered by her father and her homeland in the north. But there was a new tension in this city. The new king of Ur, Lugal-An, was demanding to confirm his position of power over the city, independent of her nephew's ruling of the empire. It was a dynasty Eneduanna had dedicated her life to solidifying through her work at the temple. As the consort of the god of the city, her denial to legitimize his reign meant she was being stripped of her title and exiled from what had become her home. Regardless of the dangers awaiting her in the coming days, there was work to be done in honor of the ruler of the gods. Eneduanna dressed and left her chambers to undertake the first rituals of the day. The air was heavy with incense as she navigated her way through the darkness of the temple complex. The moon was still out, Eneduanna's powerful husband greeting her before his descent and lighting the way to the great ziggurat. Once she and the other priests and priestesses completed their duties, Eneduanna watched as her now satisfied husband gave way to the rise of Utu, ushering in a new day across the four corners of the world. The last of her duties completed before she embarked on her exile to Girsu, Eneduanna went back to her chambers to aid her ladies in waiting and collecting her belongings. She took extra care to personally attend to her writing tablets and stylus reads. Picking up her latest work, Eneduanna read over the previous day's writing. She was impressed with her prose. The tablet was the beginning of the story she was currently experiencing, the rebellion of Lugal-Anne and her exile. It was a holy song dedicated to the goddess Inanna to help protect the dynasty her father created, a call for the judgment and destruction of Ur and its new usurper. This she took care in packing to not damage what had already been written. While this was not her first hymn, Eneduanna felt it would be her most important and the best way to ensure her safe return to her temple and ethereal husband. A new idea of kingship. Before they came to be known as one of the most influential powers of the ancient Near East, the Akkadians were simply one of the many tribes that populated upper Mesopotamia in the third millennium BCE. These tribes would have lived amongst each other alongside the Sumerians who dominated the region for many years. That is, until an Akkadian by the Sargon rose to prominence in the 23rd century BCE. He transformed his people from a tribe to the rulers of the first-ever empire that, at its greatest, extended throughout all of Mesopotamia to the Persian Gulf and stretched to south-central present-day Turkey, the Mediterranean Sea, and Elam in Iran. The Akkadian kingdom became an empire that was considered a turning point in history to future Mesopotamian kings. Generations of Assyrian and Babylonian rulers who came after studied inscriptions of the Semitic Akkadian kings after their demise. Literature was written about them and the site of the ruined capital, Akkad, was excavated in an attempt to claim their legacy as their own. Sargon appears to have been the son of a gardener and former cupbearer who rose to, and possibly usurped, power in the city of Kish. He then set out on a mission to defeat Lugalzagesi, the king of Uruk, around 2292 BCE. Through this defeat and subsequent battles with 50 other governors, Sargon unified southern Mesopotamia into a single state for the first time. This laid the foundations for his kingdom and dynasty to dominate a vast area of the Near East for over 100 years. Sargon gave himself the title King of Kish, meaning King of the Universe, and established his capital city in Akkad. This city and region of the same title is where the name of the kingdom and their famous language that spread throughout all of Mesopotamia for centuries after gets its name. The city of Akkad is still undiscovered, but it was most likely located near where the Tigris and the Diyala rivers converge. Some scholars believe it could be located underneath modern Baghdad in Iraq. The unknown location of this ancient capital city makes the study of the Akkadians, their daily life, culture, and societal organization difficult. Because the Akkadian tribe was already established in the area and thriving alongside the Sumerians and other local cultures, the rise of the Akkadian dynasty didn't leave much evidence of a significant demographic or economic change. That means we can imagine that the people who inhabited these areas under Akkadian control probably went about life as they always had, prospering off of their highly organized agricultural system, worshiping their gods, living in walled cities, and sending their children to the first public schools in history. Of course, not every newly defeated city, state, and region was happy with their new overlords, and revolts against the Akkadians were a near constant throughout their century of dominance and rule. By Might and Militia The Akkadians owe much of their success and domination to their military might. Evidence from written sources at the time claimed that Sargon had 5,400 men eating in his presence every day, which could possibly refer to a standing army. This group of soldiers was one of the first professional military forces in history. The composite bow was already common and in use during Sargon's time, allowing armies to take down their enemies from further distances. But his improvements to the Akkadian military allowed this weapon to be used to its full potential. By creating compact rows of archers, showers of arrows could rain upon the approaching donkey-drawn chariots that often led the first attack. This led to the widespread use of the composite bow throughout Mesopotamia. The armies of Sargon and his successors, his grandson Naram-Sin in particular, were the first to campaign consistently throughout their dynasty and reached corners of the world as far away as the Indus Valley, Arabia, Egypt, and Cyprus. Much of this military action would have been to secure access to trade routes in order to guarantee the supply of precious materials such as wood, hard stones, and silver. Sargon claims that ships from Dilmun in Arabia, Magan, present-day Oman, and Melua, the present Indus Valley, had all moored at the Key of Akkad. This would have inserted the Akkadians into a rich trading network that would have provided everything needed for their empire. Out with the old, in with the centralized. As the Akkadians took control over more territory, the system of city-states that had defined Babylonia had to be reconfigured to work together under one central ruler and ruling city. With Sargon claiming power over a vast area of land, a new system of government had to be developed. Former Sumerian city-states were integrated into a larger entity that encompassed political, economic, and ideological ways of life. Original rulers remained in their positions but now acted as governors who focused on administration, reporting to one central ruler for support and approval. The Akkadians then focused their attention on instituting policies that encouraged the centralization of all other goings-on. One of the major changes that occurred under this process of centralization was the widespread adoption of the Akkadian language, born from the Sumerian cuneiform script. While Sumerian had been the most widespread language for over a millennium, it was geographically isolated. Akkadian, on the other hand, was a Semitic language, meaning it belonged to the same linguistic groups as languages spoken throughout the Near East and Arabia. As a result, it was much easier for these new territories to assimilate and integrate within the empire. Akkadian became so widespread and vital to Mesopotamian society that it was the official native language of future Mesopotamian empires throughout the Bronze Age and was used until the 8th century BCE. Sumerian professors even created the oldest known dictionaries to aid in the widespread adoption and understanding of Akkadian. In addition to a unified language, the Akkadians also developed a new system of taxation, where a portion of the income from each region was sent to Akkad or used to support the local state bureaucracy. This system of government became the standard throughout Mesopotamia. Administration was also centralized through the introduction of an annual dating system used throughout the empire. Each year was named after a major event, either from the year prior or earlier in the year. These years were usually given names referring to military campaigns, building projects, donations to temples, or appointments of high priests and priestesses. This naming system was used in Babylonia until around 1500 BCE and gives us invaluable insight into what the rulers themselves found important to their rule. The Akkadians also implemented royal units of measurement, which standardized the previous system where each city, state, or guild had their own measurement system. Alongside the administrative changes, the Akkadians changed how kingship was viewed and established their power through religion. The style in which Akkadian kings wrote about their wars and military expeditions became more focused on their heroic feats rather than a conflict between city gods as they had previously been viewed. Monuments created during Akkadian rule were transformed from depicting a ruler worshipping a god to focusing on celebrating the king's achievements. The inscription from the kings on these monuments put themselves at the center of the action. Akkadian kings made themselves the initiators of military conflicts by depicting themselves as strong, unchallenged rulers, similar to how Mesopotamian heroes of myth such as Gilgamesh were described. This caused ideological and religious problems for the Sumerian cities in southern Mesopotamia who viewed this self-representation as impious, although the criticism didn't seem to affect the Akkadians. Around 2230 BCE, Naram-Sin, who brought the Akkadian empire to its height of power by defeating a coalition of rebellious kings known as the Great Revolt and conquering lands to bring the empire to its greatest extent, took the title King of the Four Corners, King of the Universe. He even went as far as deifying himself, giving himself the title God of Akkad, which he claimed was a request from the citizens of the city. While some acts by the Akkadians were seen as going against the religious norm, they by no means disrespected the Mesopotamian pantheon. In fact, the Akkadian dynasty used religion to try and unite the north and south by connecting the cult system of Mesopotamia to the royal family. Sargon appointed his daughter Anadwana as the high priestess of the moon god Nana, and she became the god's wife in the city of Ur. It has been debated whether Sargon was the first one to have done this, but nevertheless, it was a political move to gain control over the clergy. This was a vital move for the Akkadian rulers, as temples served both a religious and administrative function. This appointment of Anadwana as high priestess set a precedent for future kings to cement their right to rule. Anadwana was more than a political pawn. She understood her roles both as the daughter of the founder of the Akkadian empire and high priestess, and wrote multiple religious documents. The Sumerian temple hymns are believed to have been written by her. These hymns describe the kingdom of Akkad as a unified north and south, indivisible and strong. Writings like this that religiously sanctioned Akkadian rule made it easier for the multiple cultures living under it to integrate, connect, and develop a collective identity. Clay tablets of Anadwana's hymns have been found in 35 cities around Babylonia, showing just how widespread her influence was. Another composition that she is thought to have written whilst in exile after the rebellion of Lugal-an against Naram-sin is the Exaltation of Inanna. This hymn is semi-autobiographical and discusses the rebellion and her exile. She then calls to the goddess Inanna to intervene and destroy Lugal-an and protect her family dynasty. These compositions credited to be written by Anadwana make her the first identifiable author in the world. Dust to dust. The Akkadian empire reached its greatest extent under Sargon's grandson, Naram-sin. After his death, Akkadian power began to quickly disintegrate and the ceased to exist after the reign of his son, Shar-kali-shari. The near-constant revolt against their rule and the efforts required to suppress them would have created a lot of internal pressure. This could very well have been the main source and trigger of their demise. While ambitious, Akkadian kings didn't have the resources or organizational capabilities to maintain their control. This left them open to an array of external and natural threats, and soon after Shar-kali-shari came to power, both of those threats would arrive on their doorstep. The developing political instability within the Akkadian empire attracted the attention of outside forces and was coupled with what appears to have been a devastating drought. Scientists have taken sediment cores from the bottom of the gulf near Oman, as well as soil samples from a major Akkadian city, Tel Leilan, that both show evidence for the worst dry spell of the past 10,000 years, occurring just as the city was being abandoned. The soil samples show fine, windblown dust and very little sign of earthworm presence or rainfall. This drought lasted 300 years and was devastating to the Akkadians in northern Mesopotamia, who relied on irrigation for their agriculture. With their crops withering, the Akkadians lost their main source of economic wealth and livelihood. They would have had to migrate south to survive. Archaeologists have found evidence of a massive migration in southern Mesopotamia, which caused urban chaos as droves of people had no choice but to leave their homes. Written documents from the royal court of the third dynasty of Ur, the dynasty that succeeded the Akkadians, tells us of an influx of people from the north and the construction of a wall to keep them at bay. The south was not impervious to the drought though, and these immigrants would have put a huge strain on the already suffering socio-political system. This resulted in a total collapse, with even the third dynasty of Ur collapsing around 50 years later. The final blow for the Akkadian empire was the invasion of the Gutians from the Zagros mountains. Seeing the depletion of their wealth and resources and their string of weaker kings, the Gutians were able to take control of the region and claim that they were the heirs to the throne. The entire Near East transitioned back to a system of powerful independent city-states, but the kings of Akkad were never forgotten. Sargon and Naram-Sin became models for later rulers, and the cultural and political influences of their short-lived dynasty permeated through the rest of Mesopotamia's history. Even though the Akkadian empire didn't survive to see a second century in power, their rule and influence over the ancient Near East happened at a scale never before seen in history. Through their consistent military campaigns, the Akkadians were the first to incorporate multiple ethnicities, cultures, and societies into a single centralized state. They set the precedent for kingship and empire in the ancient world, and much like Latin after the fall of Rome, Akkadian became the language of diplomacy across the entirety of the Near East for over a thousand years. Except with the Akkadians, they didn't require a millennium of rule and conquest to leave a legacy. Chapter 2 Dilmun The Lost Trading Port of Arabia The smith was met with a wall of heat as he approached his furnace, an invisible barrier between him and the red glow of the stone crucible inside. The sun had been cruel today, and although the heat of midday had broken, his apprentice, who was stoking the flames, had received no respite from the warmth. Thankfully, the smith's apprentice understood the importance of today's work for the temple and never faltered in his position. The smith looked at him gratefully. His last apprentice would have abandoned him hours ago. Complaining of exhaustion, the smith's previous employee had regularly escaped to the harbor to watch the flurry of excitement as goods were loaded on and off ships and the bustle of people from faraway places with their exotic cloaks and headpieces bartered their wares with each other. The smith grabbed the heavy wooden tongs, their ends charred and blackened from years of service, soaked them in water to prevent them from burning in the flames, expertly pinched the lip of the crucible, and lifted it out of the furnace. His expert hands remained steady as he quickly brought the crucible towards the clay mold he had prepared earlier. The apprentice watched his master in awe. He had watched this dance of careful footing and expert handling hundreds of times before, but it amazed him every time. With a flick of the smith's wrists, molten copper poured out of the crucible and into the small opening of the mold. The red-hot liquid quickly filled the cavity and overflowed onto the wet sand in which the mold was nestled. The smith straightened his arms and returned the crucible beside the cooling furnace. Once the overflown copper faded from molten red to its natural color, the smith motioned for his apprentice to remove the mold. Carefully removing the wire holding the two sides together, he began chipping away at it to free the newly cast sculpture, taking care not to damage the copper horn emerging from the clay. Once it was free, the smith grabbed the piece with his wooden tongs and dunked it in a bucket of water. Finally cool enough to touch, the smith examined their work. Picking up this new piece and its other half that was made earlier that day, the smith held them together and raised his arms toward the horizon. The late afternoon sun shone through the hollow eyes of the bull. Its intricate horns faintly glistened in the light, hinting at the shine these pieces would exude after their edges were joined and smoothed and their surface polished. The smith was satisfied with the outcome of these casts and sent his apprentice home for the day. The rest could be finished tomorrow. Loved then Lost. Even though the name Dilmun appears on some of the earliest written documents in the world dating to the 4th millennium BCE, the civilization disappeared from memory for almost two and a half millennia. It was, in the most literal sense, a lost civilization. Yet for over 2,000 years before it was lost to history, it was a household name, a trading emporium considered to be a sacred place by the Sumerians where gods and heroes lavished in their immortality. Throughout its existence, Dilmun was internationally known as a major trading port in the trading network that connected the ancient Near East, Arabia, and the Indian subcontinent. Stops like Dilmun were generally small kingdoms located on the coast and functioned as a marketplace, a rest area, and a source of supplies for restocking on longer journeys in the early 2nd millennium BCE. Dilmun was able to set itself apart from regular port stops and become a legitimate trading power in the Persian Gulf. For trading vessels traveling between Mesopotamia, Magan, modern-day Oman, and Malua, the Mesopotamian word for the Indus Valley civilization, Dilmun was the only easily accessible source of fresh water. Ships would offload at Dilmun, creating a profitable opportunity for trade and exchange between merchants, and Dilmun would collect its share of transit income. By the end of the Ur III period in Mesopotamia, circa 2000 BCE, Dilmun had become a trading monopoly, a middle point for Mesopotamia in the north and Magan and Malua in the southeast to meet, trade, and partake in cultural interaction. Even though it remained a prominent trading center past its decline until circa 800 BCE, Dilmun remained lost to history for thousands of years. Unlike other ancient cultures that were mentioned in classical and biblical texts or in epic poetry, Dilmun seems to have been forgotten beneath the sands of its once-bustling shores. Because of this, the location of this powerful trading emporium has been difficult for archaeologists to find. Searching for Dilmun The rediscovery of Dilmun began in 1861 with a cuneiform inscription from Khorsabad. The inscription describes the Akkadian king Sargon's military campaign against the rebel king of Babylon. Sargon then continues to mention all other foreign lands he, quote, brought under sway, as far as the border of Dilmun. Dilmun is mentioned multiple times alongside the names of other unknown lands, and like them, it was dismissed for many years due to its obscurity. But unlike many of these other unknown lands, Sargon gave directions to Dilmun. He states that Euphari, the king of Dilmun, resides 30 double hours away, in the midst of the Sea of the Rising Sun. Cryptic though it may be, this provided archaeologists with enough of a starting point to determine the geographical area of Dilmun and led them to the island of Bahrain. Only in recent decades have researchers been able to piece together archaeological, historic, literary, and economic evidence to pinpoint the most probable location for Dilmun. Ancient texts dating from the 3rd and 2nd millennium BCE speak of the copper, timber, pearls, and dates all brought by boat to Mesopotamia from Dilmun. They also state that Dilmun was located in the middle of the sea and at the mouth of the great rivers, associating it with Magan and Melua, but placing it closer to Mesopotamia. Another text from the Neo-Assyrian king Ashurbanipal says it was in the midst of the By taking these descriptions, archaeologists pinpointed Bahrain as the most likely candidate for the location of Dilmun. Bahrain is an island, quote, in the middle of the sea, known for its freshwater springs and until recently was renowned for its dates and pearls. Although the exact extent of the area that belonged to Dilmun has been the subject of debate the core of this trading civilization is now agreed to constitute Bahrain in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia, with evidence of it extending onto the island of Falaika in Kuwait. A clean and pure land. While Dilmun was a real place that facilitated trade with Mesopotamia and the known worlds of the southeast, the Sumerians also believed it to be a sacred land. According to the Mesopotamians, this far-off land was a paradise of sweet water and lush gardens inhabited by immortal beings and the setting for mythical events. A Sumerian creation myth describes Dilmun as a pure, clean, and holy place where the god Enki impregnated the goddess Ninhursag. The land of Dilmun also appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest epic poem to have survived. Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk, traveled to Dilmun on his quest for immortality. There he met Ziusudra, the survivor of the great flood who was given immortality by the gods and sent to Dilmun to live out eternity in paradise. Others may know him by his Babylonian name Utnapishtim. The poem declares that Enki created Dilmun's freshwater springs. The Sumerians also believed the earth floated atop two oceans, a freshwater ocean beneath a salty one. Their belief in two oceans further aids in the probability that Bahrain, with its freshwater springs under the saltwater sea, is the original location of Dilmun. To add further fuel to the fire, Bahrain in Arabic translates to two seas. These fantastical attributions to have led some to think that the descriptions of Dilmun were the inspiration for the Garden of Eden, the pearls in planned cities. In addition to its strong literary legacy, Dilmun was also a force to be reckoned with in the real world. The kingdom of Dilmun rose to prominence circa 2050 to 2000 BCE, trading in copper from Magan and other sources, as well as in the export of local commodities, dates and freshwater pearls. Bahrain's underwater springs provided the optimal environment for these valuable pearls to grow, with its natural mixing zone of fresh and salt water. Pearl divers would also bring watertight bags made from goatskin to collect fresh water from these springs, which provided another trading commodity for merchants spending weeks at sea. As Dilmun grew to a major trading port with extensive contacts between Mesopotamia, Magan and Malua, it would have required a sophisticated level of administration to coordinate the collection and shipment of the raw materials and other specialized goods passing through their harbors. The first evidence of this rise in administration is the appearance of stamp seals. These seals are a defining object of Dilmun's culture, both economically and artistically. The presence of these seals shows their response to their new status in the international trading world, but the iconography also attests to their international context and economic success as they appear to be strongly influenced by the Indus Valley. Dilmun also adopted a standard weights and measures system that corresponded exactly with the Indus Valley civilization. Further evidence of the close socioeconomic relationship between the two and the influence of this culture on Dilmun. This development of political and social organization began around 2050 B.C.E., with Dilmun coming to its full power around 1850 B.C.E. This allowed for the rise of wealthy merchants, a ruling elite class... We hope you enjoyed this preview. To continue listening to this audiobook on Google Play Books, use the link in the video description.