Questions tagged [sumer]
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Are the dimensions of bricks used in Sumerian monuments like the great Ziggurat of Ur the same as in the Indus Valley Civilization?
We know there were extensive trade ties between the ancient Indus Valley Civilization and that of ancient Sumer.
I'm curious if there were cultural transmissions of engineering ideas too. The Indus ...
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Did people from the cities of Uruk, Ur and Sumer have knowledge/recollection of how old their cities were (say, recollection after 2000 BCE)?
I am asking this question as I remember reading somewhere that there was knowledge among the people living in one of those cities or the cities in vicinity which accurately traces back 6500 years ago. ...
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What is the difference between OBV & SBV, in Babylonian texts translated to English?
What is the difference between OBV (Old Babylonian Version) and SBV (Standard Babylonian Version), in Babylonian texts translated to English ?
Is SVB a standardized translation or standardized form of ...
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What was the most historically accurate part of Zecharia Sitchin's account of Sumeria?
As a trained economist / logistics guy, it's little wonder that Zecharia Sitchin's Sumerology has many holes. His cuneiform was apparently self-taught and this led to major distortions of the original ...
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What murals and decor might have been present in the earliest Sumerian temples?
So, for the sake of a production I'm working on a lot of digital artwork meant to represent a slightly-fantastic, but based in fact, representation of ancient Sumeria. Think 5000 years+ ago; dawn-of-...
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Who was responsible for the correct production of a Mesopotamian 'cubit rod' and whose fingers where used as the standard?
Who was responsible for the correct production of a Mesopotamian 'cubit rod' and whose fingers where used as the standard?
Wikipedia notes that the standards changed but gives no source of these ...
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Was marriage a religious institution in its beginings or not? [closed]
According to this
The origins of marriage
The first recorded evidence of marriage ceremonies uniting one woman
and one man dates from about 2350 B.C., in Mesopotamia. Over the next
several hundred ...
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What was the exact nature, extent and use of Near Eastern clay tokens? [closed]
My current knowledge of Near Eastern clay tokens is:
They were developed and used in the Fertile Crescent and Anatolia from 8000 BC
They were an accounting system with a one to one correspondence ...
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Where to find a comprehensive list of proto-cuneiform Sumerian glyphs?
I'm looking for representations and meanings of the logographs of the Uruk period (3500–3000 BC), such as those on the Kish tablet. I've only been able to find a few examples, but over 1000 are known. ...
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What is known about the Ubaid lizard-people figurines?
I find the Ubaid lizard-people figurines visually captivating. But for obvious reasons it's difficult to search for information about them online without wading chest deep through pages of ancient ...
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Was early Mari Sumerian or multicultural?
Mari was a multicultural Semitic and Sumerian city in central Mesopotamia. Despite its rich history during the historical period, I have found almost no discussion of the earliest period. This was ...
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How would ancient Sumerian astronomers predict length of the next lunar month?
I know we can do these predictions with extreme degree of precision now, using our extensive knowledge of celestial orbiting patterns and principles.
With Sumerian civilization being one of the ...
user33228
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Are images of the original tablets for the Epic of Gilgamesh available online?
It seems the Epic of Gilgamesh isn't available online in in Akkadian, that is, in Cuneiform script.
There is a transliterated version, but I can't connect it to the tablet (not sure if that's the ...
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is Ubaid 0 actually related to Eridu and Ubaid I-IV?
Most sources state 5400 B.C. as the beginning of the Ubaid period. The Ubaid period is further divided by them into Ubaid I-IV. Wikipedia lists Tel El Oueili (6500 B.C.) as "Ubaid 0", thus placing the ...
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Is David Graeber correct to assert that patriarchy did not exist in Sumeria?
In Debt: The First 5000 Years, David Graeber incisively claims that
As we’ll see, there is reason to believe that it is in such moral
crises that we can find the origin not only of our current ...
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What colors were used as paint in the construction of the ziggurats in early Sumer?
I remember many years ago going through a book about ancient civilizations in Mesopotamia. In the passages where the ziggurats were described there was a mention that each level of the pyramid was ...
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How did/do Sumerian numbers sound?
I cannot find anywhere that has a phonetic definition of the numbers.
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Is Sumer considered by historians as a part of Western Civilization? [closed]
Well is it?It seems to me that a continuing cultural thread runs from Mesopotamia passing through Europe and finally arriving in North America.Or Greece and Rome are a breaking point with "Oriental" ...
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Incentive to ban women having more than one husband?
I'm currently reading "The Cartoon History of the universe" by Larry Gonick. When talking about Sumer, the author says that "around 2400 B.C., the reformer Urukagina banned the practice [women ...
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Sumerian cuneiform dictionary? [closed]
Is there a single, unified place where one can look up cuneiform signs for Sumerian words? Unicode now supports cuneiform, but every source I've found has only transliterations, not actual cuneiform.
...
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What kind of incense was used by the Sumerians?
Today, there are many different kinds of aromatic substances used for incense. What kind of incense was used by the ancient Sumerians?
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How many hours per day did a Sumerian farmer sleep?
I wonder about the life-styles of the inhabitants of ancient civilizations. As a particular case, if we consider the era of Sumer, what are the significant diversities compared to rural life today?
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Was early Sumerian civilization wiped out by a flood?
Sumerian texts speak of a worldwide flood that wiped out most of mankind's achievements on earth. I had always suspected such a flood -- even if only covering all of Sumer -- was mythical, but then I ...
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How is Bad-Tibira written in Sumerian?
Bad-Tibira is one of the oldest recorded cities in the world. The Sumerians believed it was the second city to exercise kingship (after the more famous Eridu). I can't find the Sumerian spelling of ...
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