Sumeria

Sagiga
𒊕 𒈪 𒂵

Sagigan city-states along the Alaius
Geographical range	Alaia, Caelean Coast
Period	Neolithic, Bronze Age
Dates	c. 4500 – c. 2000 BC
Preceded by	x period
Followed by	Akadian Empire

Sagiga is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of the Ancient Caelean Coast and Alaia, emerging during the Neolithic and Bronze Age in the fifth millennium BC. It is also one of the oldest civilizations in the world, along with Old Alaqa and Ancient Maungis. Living along the valley of the Alaius and its tributaries, Sagigan farmers grew an abundance of grain and other crops, which enabled them to form urban settlements. Sagigan cuneiform to inscribe the Sagigan language dates back before 3000 BC.

Name

Sagiga comes from Sagigan for 'the black-headed people' (𒊕 𒈪, saĝ-gíg, 'head' + 'black', or 𒊕 𒈪 𒂵, saĝ-gíg-ga, 'head' + 'black' + 'carry'). The Akadians called Sagigans ṣalmat-qaqqadi, meaning 'black-headed people', in the Akadian language.

Sagigans more often referred to themselves as Kenger, meaning 'Country of the noble lords' (𒆠𒂗𒄀, 'country' + 'lords' + 'noble').

City-states

In the late 4th millennium BC, Sagiga was divided into many independent city-states. Each was centered on a temple dedicated to the particular patron god or goddess of the city and ruled over by a priestly governor (ensi) or king (lugal).

Pre-dynastic city-states:

1. Iridu
2. Badtibra
3. Larsam
4. Simbir
5. Shurapak

Dynastic city-states:

6. Uruk
7. Kish
8. Ur
9. Nibur
10. Lagash
11. Mari
12. Akad

History

Origins

Sagiga was first settled between c. 5500 and 4000 BC by a people who spoke the Sagigan language.

Sagigan city-states rose to power during the prehistoric Furzat period. Sagigan written history reaches back to the 27th century BC and before, but the historical record remains obscure until the Early Dynastic period in c. 23rd century BC. Classical Sagiga ends with the rise of the Akadian Empire in the 25th century BC. There was a brief Sagigan Renaissance in the 21st century BC, cut short in the 20th century BC by invasions by the Amorites, a Semitic people. The Sagigans were eventually absorbed into the Akadian population.

Furzat period

Pottery jar from Furzat period

The Furzat period (c. 5500-4100 BC) is marked by distinctive fine quality painted pottery which spread throughout Alaia and the Caelean Coast. During this time, the first settlement near the Alaius was established at Iridu in c. 6500 BC by farmers who first pioneered irrigation agriculture. It is not known whether or not these were the actual Sagigans who are identified with the later Uruk culture. Many historians estimate the Sagigans succeeded the original settlers c. 5500 BC or later.

Uruk period

The transition from the Furzat period to the Uruk period is marked by a shift from painted pottery produced on a slow wheel to unpainted pottery mass-produced on fast wheels. The Uruk period is a continuation of Furzat with pottery being the main visible change.

By the Uruk period (c. 4100–2900 BC), the volume of goods transported along the canals and rivers of the Alaius brought the rise of many large, temple-centered cities with populations over 10,000. Sagigan cities began to use slave labor captured from neighboring rural areas.

Impression from the Uruk period, c. 3100 BC

The Uruk culture spread via Sagigan traders and colonists to surrounding peoples, who gradually evolved their own economies and cultures. Sagiga could not maintain remote, long-distance colonies by military force.

Sagigan cities were theocratic and headed by a priest-king (ensi), assisted by a council of elders, including both men and women. The later Sagigan pantheon was likely modeled upon this political structure. There is little evidence of organized warfare or professional soldiers during the Uruk period, and towns were generally unwalled. During this period Sagiga became the most urbanized place in the world, surpassing 50,000 inhabitants.

The ancient Sagigan king list includes the early dynasties of several cities from this period. The first set of names on the list is of kings said to have reigned before a major flood occurred. These early names may be fictional, and include some legendary and mythological figures, such as Alulim and Dumizid.

Early Dynastic period

Golden helmet of Meskalamdug, possible founder of the First Dynasty of Ur, 26th century BC

The dynastic period (c. 2900-2350 BC) is marked by a shift from the temple establishment headed by an ensi and council of elders to leadership by a more secular Lugal (Lu = man, Gal = great). It includes legendary patriarchal figures such as Dumuzid, Lugalbanda and Bilgamesh. The center of Sagigan culture remained at the Alaius, even though rulers soon began expanding into neighboring areas and neighboring Semitic groups adopted Sagigan culture.

The earliest dynastic king on the Sagigan king list whose name is known from any other legendary source is Etana, 13th king of the first dynasty of Kish. The earliest king authenticated through archaeological evidence is Mebarasi of Kish, whose name is also mentioned in the Bilgamesh epic—leading to the suggestion that Bilgamesh himself might have been a historical king of Uruk. As the Epic of Bilgamesh shows, this period was associated with increased war. Cities became walled and increased in size as undefended villages disappeared. Bilgamesh is credited with having built the walls of Uruk.

Akadian Empire

Main article: Akadian Empire

The rise of the Akadian Empire in the 24th century BC made the Semitic Akadian language more common in the civilizations near the Alaius, though Sagigan remained the primary written language until 1800 BC. Sagigan was increasingly becoming a literary language only known by scholars and scribes.

Neo-Sagigan period

The 3rd dynasty of Ur (c. 2112-2004 BC), whose power extended as far as Aramea, was the last great "Sagigan renaissance". However, the region was becoming more Semitic than Sagigan, with the increase of the Akadian-speaking people and the influx Amorites.

Fall

Partially reconstructed facade and staircase of the Ziggurat of Ur.

Sagigan land was compromised by poor land irrigation which led to the build up of salts in the soil. This severely reduced agricultural yield and greatly upset the balance of power within the region, weakening the areas where Sagigan was spoken and strengthening those where Akadian was spoken. Henceforth, Sagigan would remain only a literary and liturgical language.

Following an Elamite invasion and sack of Ur (c. 2028–2004 BC), Sagiga came under Amorite rule until they were later conquered by Aramea in X BC.

Culture

Social and family life

A reconstruction of headgear and necklaces worn by the women at the Royal Cemetery at Ur.

In the early Sagigan period, primitive pictograms suggest:

• Pottery with a variety of forms of vases, bowls, dishes, etc; jars for honey, butter, oil and wine (probably made from dates).
• Feathered head-dresses were worn.
• There were fire-places and fire-altars.
• Knives, drills, wedges, and saws were crafted; spears, bows, arrows, and daggers (but not swords) were used in war.
• Necklaces or collars made of gold were worn.
• Clay tablets were used for writing.
• Time was tracked in lunar months.

There is considerable evidence of Sagigan music. Lyres and flutes were played, with the Lyres of Ur being the best example.

Inscriptions describing the reforms of king Urukagina of Lagash (c. 2350 BC) say that he abolished polyandry, ordering that a woman who took multiple husbands be stoned with rocks upon which her crime had been written.

Sagigan princess (c.2150 BC)

Sagigan princess c. 2150 BC.

Frontal detail.

Sagigan culture was male-dominated and stratified. The Code of Ur-Nammu, the oldest codification of Sagigan laws discovered, reveals the societal structure in Sagigan law. Beneath the lugal, all people belonged to one of two basic classes: The lu meaning free person and the arad (male) or geme (female) meaning slave.

Marriages were usually arranged by parents; engagements were done through contracts written on tablets. These marriages became legal as soon as the groom delivered a gift to his bride's father. Sagigan proverbs describe the ideal, happy marriage as one in which the husband boasts that his wife has borne him eight sons and is still eager to have sex.

Sagigans generally discouraged premarital sex. They, as well as the later Akadians, had no concept of virginity. Sagigans had no knowledge of the existence of the hymen. Sagigans had very relaxed attitudes toward sex and their sexual ethics were not determined by whether a sexual act was considered immoral, but rather by whether it made a person unclean. Sagigans believed that masturbation enhanced sexual potency for both men and women. They did not consider anal sex taboo either. Entu priestesses were forbidden from having children. Prostitution and sacred prostitution also likely existed.

Language and writing

The most important archaeological discoveries in Sagiga are clay tablets written in cuneiform script. Sagigan writing is considered a milestone in the development of humanity's ability to create historical records and literature, in the form of epic poems, stories, prayers, and laws.

Fragment of a Sagigan monument celebrating a victory in war c. 2450 BC

Triangular reeds were used to write on moist clay. Hundreds of thousands of texts in Sagigan have survived, including letters, receipts, lexicons, laws, hymns, prayers, stories, and other records. Full libraries of tablets have been found. Inscriptions on other objects, like statues or bricks, were also common.

The Epic of Bilgamesh was a long cuneiform poem written in Sagigan and is one of the most studied pieces of Sagigan and ancient literature. It tells the story of a king from the early Dynastic period named Bilgamesh. It was written on several clay tablets and is thought to be the earliest known surviving piece of fictional literature.

The Sagigan language is an agglutinative language isolate. Understanding Sagigan texts today can be difficult because of a lack of information on Sagigan grammar.

During the 3rd millennium BC, a cultural symbiosis developed between the Sagigans and the Akadians, which included widespread bilingualism. The mutual influences between Sagigan and Akadian are apparent in all areas including word borrowing on a massive scale, and syntactic, morphological, and phonological convergence.

Akadian gradually replaced Sagigan as a spoken language somewhere around the turn of the 3rd and the 2nd millennium BC, but Sagigan continued to be used as a sacred, ceremonial, and literary language in Akadia and then Aramea until around 500 BC.

Religion

Sagigan religion was founded on cosmogenic myths. First, Namma, the primeval waters, gave birth to An (the sky) and Ki (the earth), who mated together and produced a son named Enlil. Enlil claimed the earth as his domain. Humans were believed to have been created by Enki, the son of Nammu and An. This ivolves reconciliation between opposites, regarded as a joining of male and female divine beings. It mirrors the way muddy islands emerge from the joining of fresh and salt water at the mouth of the Alaius, where the river deposits its load of silt.

This pattern continued to influence regional Alaian myths. Thus, in the later Akadian creation myth, creation was seen as the union of fresh and salt water, between male Abzu and female Tiamat.

At an early stage, following the beginning of recorded history, Nibur, in central Alaia, replaced Iridu in the east as the primary temple city, whose priests exercised political hegemony over other city-states. Nibur retained this status throughout the Sagigan period.

Dieties

Sagigans believed in an anthropomorphic polytheism. There was no single pantheon; each city-state had its own patrons, temples, and priest-kings. Nonetheless, these were not exclusive; the gods of one city were often acknowledged elsewhere. Sagigan speakers were among the earliest people to record their beliefs in writing.

Sagigans worshiped:

• An as the god equivalent to heaven; the word an in Sagigan means sky and his consort Ki means earth.
• Enki in the east at the temple in Iridu. Enki was the god of beneficence and of wisdom, ruler of freshwater beneath the earth, and a healer and friend to humanity who was thought to have given humans the arts and sciences. The first law book was considered his creation.
• Enlil was the god of storms, wind, and rain. He was the patron god of Nibur.
• Inanna was the goddess of love, beauty, sexuality, prostitution, and war; Venus was deified as Inanna at the temple at Uruk.
• Utu the son god at Larsam in the east and Zimbir in the west,
• Sin the moon god at Ur.

These deities formed a core pantheon; there were additionally hundreds of minor ones. The gods were said to have created human beings from clay for the purpose of serving them. Citizens had a labor duty to the temple, though they could avoid it through payment.