A History of Sumer and Akkad. L. W. King
of the cult of Nergal, but the mound of 'Akarkûf, which may be seen from so great a distance on the road between Baghdad and Falûja, probably covers a temple and city of the Kassite period. Both the cities of Kish and Opis, which figure so prominently in the early history of the relations between Sumer and Akkad, were, until quite recently, thought to be situated close to one another on the Tigris. That Opis lay on that river and not on the Euphrates is clear from the account which Nebuchadnezzar II. has left us of his famous fortifications of Babylon,[29] which are referred to by Greek writers as "the Median Wall" and "the Fortification of Semiramis."
The outermost ring of Nebuchadnezzar's triple line of defence consisted of an earthen rampart and a ditch, which he tells us extended from the bank of the Tigris above Opis to a point on the Euphrates within the city of Sippar, proving that Opis is to be sought upon the former river. His second line of defence was a similar ditch and rampart which stretched from the causeway on the bank of the Euphrates up to the city of Kish. It was assumed that this rampart also extended to the Tigris, although this is not stated in the text, and, since the ideogram for Opis is once rendered as Kesh in a bilingual incantation,[30] it seemed probable that Kish and Opis were twin cities, both situated on the Tigris at no great distance from each other. This view appeared to find corroboration in the close association of the two places during the wars of Eannatum, and in the fact that at the time of Enbi-Ishtar they seem to have formed a single state. But it has recently been shown that Kish lay upon the Euphrates,[31] and we may thus accept its former identification with the mound of El-Ohêmir where bricks were found by Ker Porter recording the building of E-meteursagga, the temple of Zamama, the patron deity of Kish.[32] Whether Opis is to be identified with the extensive mounds of Tell Manjûr, situated on the right bank of the Tigris in the great bend made by the river between Samarra and Baghdad, or whether, as appears more probable, it is to be sought further down stream in the neighbourhood of Seleucia, are questions which future excavation may decide.[33]
The brief outline that has been given of our knowledge concerning the early cities of Sumer and Akkad, and of the results obtained by the partial excavation of their sites, will have served to show how much still remains to be done in this field of archaeological research. Not only do the majority of the sites still await systematic excavation, but a large part of the material already obtained has not yet been published. Up to the present time, for instance, only the briefest notes have been given of the important finds at Fâra and Abû Hatab. In contrast to this rather leisurely method of publication, the plan followed by M. de Morgan in making available without delay the results of his work in Persia is strongly to be commended. In this connection mention should in any case be made of the excavations at Susa, since they have brought to light some of the most remarkable monuments of the early Semitic kings of Akkad. It is true the majority of these had been carried as spoil from Babylonia to Elam, but they are none the less precious as examples of early Semitic art. Such monuments as the recently discovered stele of Sharru-Gi, the statues of Manishtusu, and Narâm-Sin's stele of victory afford valuable evidence concerning the racial characteristics of the early inhabitants of Northern Babylonia, and enable us to trace some of the stages in their artistic development. But in Akkad itself the excavations have not thrown much light upon these subjects, nor have they contributed to the solution of the problems as to the period at which Sumerians and Semites first came in contact, or which race was first in possession of the land. For the study of these questions our material is mainly furnished from the Sumerian side, more particularly by the sculptures and inscriptions discovered during the French excavations at Tello.
It is now generally recognized that the two races which inhabited Sumer and Akkad during the early historical periods were sharply divided from one another not only by their speech but also in their physical characteristics.[34] One of the principal traits by which they may be distinguished consists in the treatment of the hair. While the Sumerians invariably shaved the head and face, the Semites retained the hair of the head and wore long beards. A slight modification in the dressing of the hair was introduced by the Western Semites of the First Babylonian Dynasty, who brought with them from Syria the Canaanite Bedouin custom of shaving the lips and allowing the beard to fall only from the chin; while they also appear to have cut the hair short in the manner of the Arabs or Nabateans of the Sinai peninsula.[35] The Semites who were settled in Babylonia during the earlier period, retained the moustache as well as the beard, and wore their hair long. While recognizing the slight change of custom, introduced for a time during the West Semitic domination, the practice of wearing hair and beard was a Semitic characteristic during all periods of history. The phrase "the black-headed ones," which is of frequent occurrence in the later texts, clearly originated as a description of the Semites, in contradistinction to the Sumerians with their shaven heads.
LIMESTONE FIGURE OF AN EARLY SUMERIAN PATESI, OR HIGH OFFICIAL.—Brit. Mus., No. 90929; photo. by Messrs. Mansell & Co.
Another distinctive characteristic, almost equally striking, may be seen in the features of the face as represented in the outline engraving and in the sculpture of the earlier periods. It is true that the Sumerian had a prominent nose, which forms, indeed, his most striking feature, but both nose and lips are never full and fleshy as with the Semites. It is sometimes claimed that such primitive representations as occur upon Ur-Ninâ's bas-reliefs, or in Fig. 1 in the accompanying block, are too rude to be regarded as representing accurately an ethnological type. But it will be noted that the same general characteristics are also found in the later and more finished sculptures of Gudea's period. This fact is illustrated by the two black diorite heads of statuettes figured on the following page. In both examples certain archaic conventions are retained, such as the exaggerated line of the eyebrows, and the unfinished ear; but nose and lips are obviously not Semitic, and they accurately reproduce the same racial type which is found upon the earlier reliefs.
Fig. 1.—Fig. 2. Figures of early Sumerians, engraved upon fragments of shell, which were probably employed for inlaying boxes, or for ornamenting furniture. Earliest period: from Tello.—Déc., pl. 46, Nos. 2 and 1.
A third characteristic consists of the different forms of dress worn by Sumerians and Semites, as represented on the monuments. The earliest Sumerians wore only a thick woollen garment, in the form of a petticoat, fastened round the waist by a band or girdle. The garment is sometimes represented as quite plain, in other cases it has a scolloped fringe or border, while in its most elaborate form it consists of three, four, or five horizontal flounces, each lined vertically and scolloped at the edge to represent thick locks of wool.[36] With the later Sumerian patesis this rough garment has been given up in favour of a great shawl or mantle, decorated with a border, which was worn over the left shoulder, and, falling in straight folds, draped the body with its opening in front.[37] Both these Sumerian forms of garment are of quite different types from the Semitic loin-cloth worn by Narâm-Sin on his stele of victory, and the Semitic plaid in which he is represented on his stele from Pir Hussein.[38] The latter garment is a long, narrow plaid which is wrapped round the body in parallel bands, with the end thrown over the left shoulder. It has no slit, or opening, in front like the later Sumerian mantle, and, on the other hand, was not a shaped garment like the earlier Sumerian flounced petticoat, though both were doubtless made of wool and were probably dyed in bright colours.
Fig.