Decorative and applied art of the Sumerians. Relief in Sumerian art

The oldest settlements known to mankind date back to the beginning of the 4th millennium BC. e. and are located in different places of Mesopotamia. One of the Sumerian settlements was discovered under the hill Tell el-Ubaid, after which the entire period was named. (Similar hills, called "telli" in Arabic by the modern local population, were formed from the accumulation of construction remains.)

The Sumerians built houses that were round, and later rectangular in plan, from stems of reeds or reeds, the tops of which were tied together with a bundle. The huts were covered with clay to retain heat. Images of such buildings are found on ceramics and on seals. A number of cult, dedicatory stone vessels are made in the form of huts (Baghdad, Iraqi Museum; London, British Museum; Berlin Museum).

Primitive clay figurines from the same period depict the mother goddess (Baghdad, Iraqi Museum). Clay molded vessels are decorated with geometric paintings in the form of birds, goats, dogs, palm leaves (Baghdad, Iraqi Museum) and have subtle decorations.

The culture of the Sumerians of the second half of the 4th millennium BC. e.

Temple at al-Ubaid

An example of a temple building is the small temple of the fertility goddess Ninhursag in al-Ubaid, a suburb of the city of Ur (2600 BC). It was located on an artificial platform (area 32x25 m) made of tightly compacted clay, to which a staircase led with a canopy on pillars in front the front door. According to the ancient Sumerian tradition, the temple walls and platforms were dissected by shallow vertical niches and projections. The retaining walls of the platform were coated with black bitumen at the bottom and whitewashed at the top and thus were also divided horizontally. This horizontal rhythm was echoed by the frieze ribbons on the walls of the sanctuary. The cornice was decorated with hammered nails made of baked clay with heads in the form of symbols of the goddess of fertility - flowers with red and white petals. In the niches above the cornice there were copper figures of walking bulls 55 cm high. Even higher on the white wall, as already indicated, three friezes were laid out at some distance from each other: a high relief with figures of lying bulls made of copper, and above it two flat ones, inlaid with white mother-of-pearl on a black slate background. On one of them there is a whole scene: priests in long skirts, with shaved heads, milking cows and churning butter (Baghdad, Iraqi Museum). On the upper frieze, on the same black slate background, there are images of white doves and cows facing the entrance to the temple. Thus, the color scheme of the friezes was common with the coloring of the temple platform, making up a single, holistic color scheme.

On the sides of the entrance were placed two statues of lions (Baghdad, Iraqi Museum), made of wood covered with a layer of bitumen with chased copper sheets. The eyes and protruding tongues of the lions were made of colored stones, which greatly enlivened the sculpture and created a colorful saturation.

Above the entrance door was placed a copper high relief (London, British Museum), turning in places into a round sculpture, depicting a fantastic lion-headed eagle Imdugud holding two deer in its claws. The fully established heraldic composition of this relief, repeated with minor changes in a number of monuments of the mid-3rd millennium BC. e. (silver vase of the ruler of the city of Lagash, Entemena - Paris, Louvre; seals, dedicatory reliefs, for example, a palette, Dudu from Lagash - Paris, Louvre), and was, apparently, the emblem of the god Ningirsu.

The columns that supported the canopy over the entrance were also inlaid, some with colored stones, mother-of-pearl and shells, others with metal plates attached to a wooden base with nails with colored heads. The steps of the staircase were made of white limestone, and the sides of the staircase were lined with wood.

What was new in the architecture of the temple at al-Ubaid was the use of round sculpture and relief as decoration for the building, and the use of a column as a load-bearing part. The temple was a small but elegant building.

Temples similar to the one at al-Ubaid were opened in the settlements of Tell Brak and Khafaje.

Ziggurat

A unique type of religious building also developed in Sumer - the ziggurat, which for thousands of years played, like the pyramid in Egypt, a very important role in the architecture of all of Western Asia. This is a stepped tower, rectangular in plan, lined with solid masonry made of raw brick. Sometimes only a small room was built in the front part of the ziggurat. On the upper platform there was a small temple, the so-called “home of God.” A ziggurat was usually built at the temple of the main local deity.

Sculpture

Sculpture in Sumer did not develop as intensively as architecture. Mortuary buildings associated with the need to convey portrait likeness, as in Egypt, did not exist here. Small cult dedicatory statues, not intended for a specific place in a temple or tomb, depicted a person in a praying pose.

The sculptural figures of the southern Mesopotamia are distinguished by barely outlined details and conventional proportions (the head often sits directly on the shoulders without a neck, the entire block of stone is very little dissected). Vivid examples are two small statues: the figure of the head of the granaries of the city of Uruk, named Kurlil, found in al-Ubayd (height - 39 cm; Paris, Louvre) and the figure of an unknown woman originating from Lagash (height - 26.5 cm; Paris, Louvre) . There is no individual portrait resemblance in the faces of these statues. These are typical images of Sumerians with sharply emphasized ethnic features.

In the centers of the northern Mesopotamia, plastic arts developed generally along the same path, but also had its own specific characteristics. Very unique, for example, are the figurines from Eshnunna depicting adorants (prayers), a god and a goddess (Paris, Louvre; Berlin Museum). They are characterized by more elongated proportions, short clothes that leave their legs and often one shoulder exposed, and huge inlaid eyes.

Despite all the conventionality of execution, the dedicatory figurines of ancient Sumer are distinguished by great and original expressiveness. Just as in reliefs, certain rules for conveying figures, poses and gestures have already been established here, which pass from century to century.

Relief

A number of votive pallets and steles have been found in Ur and Lagash. The most important of them, the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e., are the palette of the ruler of Lagash Ur-Nanche (Paris, Louvre) and the so-called “Stele of the Vultures” of the ruler of Lagash Eannatum (Paris, Louvre).

The Ur-Nanshe palette is very primitive in its artistic form. Ur-Nanshe himself is depicted twice, in two registers: on the upper one he goes to the ceremonial foundation of the temple at the head of the procession of his children, and on the lower one he feasts among those close to him. Ur-Nanshe's high social position and his main role in the composition are emphasized by his large stature compared to others.

"The Stele of the Vultures"

The “Stele of the Vultures” was also solved in narrative form, which was created in honor of the victory of the ruler of the city of Lagash, Eannatum (XXV century BC) over the neighboring city of Umma and its ally the city of Kish. The height of the stele is only 75 cm, but it makes a monumental impression due to the peculiarities of the relief covering its sides. On the front side there is a huge figure of the god Ningirsu, the supreme god of the city of Lagash, who holds a net with small figures of defeated enemies and a club. On the other side, in four registers, there are several scenes sequentially telling about the campaigns of Eannatum. The subjects of the reliefs of ancient Sumer, as a rule, are either religious-cult or military.

Artistic craft of Sumer

In the field of artistic craft, during this period of development of the culture of ancient Sumer, significant achievements were observed, developing the traditions of the time of Uruk - Jemdet-Nasr. Sumerian craftsmen already knew how to process not only copper, but also gold and silver, alloyed various metals, minted metal products, inlaid them with colored stones, and knew how to make products with filigree and graining. Remarkable works that give an idea of ​​the high level of development of the artistic craft of this time were revealed by excavations in the city of Ur of the “Royal Tombs” - the burials of the rulers of the city of the 27th-26th centuries BC. e. (I dynasty of the city of Ur).

The tombs are large rectangular pits. Along with the buried nobles in the tombs, there are many killed members of their retinue or slaves, slaves and warriors. A large number of different objects were placed in the graves: helmets, axes, daggers, spears made of gold, silver and copper, decorated with chasing, engraving, and granulation.

Among the grave goods is the so-called “standard” (London, British Museum) - two boards mounted on a shaft. It is believed that it was worn on a march in front of the army, and perhaps over the head of the leader. On this wooden base, using the technique of inlay on a layer of asphalt (shells - figures and lapis lazuli - background), scenes of the battle and feast of the victors are laid out. Here is the same already established line-by-line, narrative style in the arrangement of figures, a certain Sumerian type of faces and many details documenting the life of the Sumerians of that time (clothing, weapons, carts).

Remarkable products of the jewelers are, found in the “Royal Tombs”, a golden dagger with a lapis lazuli handle, in a golden scabbard covered with grain and filigree (Baghdad, Iraqi Museum), a golden helmet forged in the shape of a magnificent hairstyle (London, British Museum), a figurine of a donkey, made of an alloy of gold and silver, and a figurine of a goat pinching flowers (made of gold, lapis lazuli and mother-of-pearl).

The harp (Philadelphia, University Museum), discovered in the burial place of the noble Sumerian woman Shub-Ad, is distinguished by its colorful and highly artistic design. The resonator and other parts of the instrument are decorated with gold and inlaid with mother-of-pearl and lapis lazuli, and the upper part of the resonator is crowned with the head of a bull made of gold and lapis lazuli with eyes made of white shell, giving an unusually lively impression. The inlay on the front side of the resonator consists of several scenes based on the themes of the Mesopotamian folk tale.

Art of the second heyday of Sumer, XXIII-XXI centuries BC. e.

The heyday of Akkadian art ended with the invasion of the Gutians, tribes that conquered the Akkadian state and ruled Mesopotamia for about a hundred years. The invasion affected the southern Mesopotamia to a lesser extent, and some of the ancient cities of this area experienced a new flourishing, based on a widely developed trade exchange. This applies to the cities of Lagash and Uru.

Lagash time Gudea

As evidenced by cuneiform texts, the ruler (the so-called “ensi”) of the city of Lagash, Gudea, carried out extensive construction work and was also involved in the restoration of ancient architectural monuments. But very few traces of this activity have survived to this day. But a clear idea of ​​the level of development and stylistic features of the art of this time is given by quite numerous monuments of sculpture, which often combine features of Sumerian and Akkadian art.

Gudea Time Sculpture

During the excavations, more than a dozen dedicatory statues of Gudea himself were found (most are located in Paris, in the Louvre), standing or sitting, often in a prayer position. They are distinguished by a high level of technical performance and demonstrate knowledge of anatomy. The statues are divided into two types: squat figures, reminiscent of early Sumerian sculpture, and more elongated, regular proportions, clearly executed in the traditions of Akkad. However, all the figures have a softly modeled naked body, and the heads of all the statues are portraits. Moreover, it is interesting to try to convey not only similarities, but also signs of age (some statues depict Gudea as a youth). It is also important that many of the sculptures are quite significant in size, up to 1.5 m in height, and are made of solid diorite brought from afar.

At the end of the 22nd century BC. e. the Gutians were expelled. Mesopotamia was united this time under the leadership of the city of Ur during the reign of the III dynasty, which headed the new Sumerian-Akkadian state. A number of monuments of this time are associated with the name of the ruler of Ur, Ur-Nammu. He created one of the earliest sets of laws of Hammurabi.

Architecture of Ur III Dynasty

During the reign of the III dynasty of Ur, especially under Ur-Nammu, the construction of temples became widespread. The best preserved of all is a large complex consisting of a palace, two large temples and the first large ziggurat in the city of Ur, which was built in the 22nd-21st centuries BC. e. The ziggurat consisted of three ledges with an inclined profile of the walls and was 21 m high. Stairs led from one terrace to another. The rectangular base of the lower terrace had an area of ​​65x43 m. The ledges or terraces of the ziggurat were of different colors: the lower one was painted with black bitumen, the upper one was whitewashed, and the middle one was red with the natural color of burnt brick. Perhaps the terraces were landscaped. There is an assumption that ziggurats were used by priests to observe the heavenly bodies. In its severity, clarity and monumentality of forms, as well as its general outline, the ziggurat is close to the pyramids of ancient Egypt.

The rapid development of temple construction was also reflected in one of the significant monuments of this time - a stele depicting a scene of a procession to the ritual foundation of the temple of the ruler Ur-Nammu (Berlin Museum). This work combines the characteristic features of Sumerian and Akkadian art: line-by-line division comes from monuments such as the Ur-Nanshe palette, and the correct proportions of the figures, subtlety, softness and realistic plastic interpretation are the heritage of Akkad.

Literature

• V. I. Avdiev. History of the Ancient East, ed. II. Gospolitizdat, M., 1953.
• C. Gordon. The Ancient East in the light of new excavations. M., 1956.
• M. V. Dobroklonsky. History of the Arts of Foreign Countries, Volume I, Academy of Arts of the USSR. Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after I. E. Repin., 1961.
• I. M. Loseva. Art of Ancient Mesopotamia. M., 1946.
• N. D. Flittner. Culture and arts of Mesopotamia. L.-M., 1958.

Sumerians and Akkadians - two ancient peoples, who created the unique historical and cultural appearance of Mesopotamia in the 4th-3rd millennium BC. e. There is no exact information about the origin of the Sumerians. It is only known that they appeared in Southern Mesopotamia no later than the 4th millennium BC. e. Having laid a network of canals from the Euphrates River, they irrigated the barren lands and built on them the cities of Ur, Uruk, Nippur, Lagash, etc. Each Sumerian city was a separate state with its own ruler and army.

The Sumerians also created a unique form of writing - cuneiform.

Wedge-shaped signs were pressed out with sharp sticks on damp clay tablets, which were then dried or fired over a fire, The writing of Sumer captured laws, knowledge, religious beliefs and myths.

Very few architectural monuments of the Sumerian era have survived, since in Mesopotamia there was neither wood nor stone suitable for construction; Most buildings were erected from a less durable material - unfired brick. The most significant buildings that have survived to this day (in small fragments) are considered White Temple and Red Building in Uruk(3200-3000 BC). A Sumerian temple was usually built on a compacted clay platform, which protected the building from flooding. Long stairs or ramps (gently inclined platforms) led to it. The walls of the platform, just like the walls of the temple, were painted, decorated with mosaics, and decorated with niches and vertical rectangular projections - blades. Raised above the residential part of the city, the temple reminded people of the indissoluble connection between Heaven and Earth. The temple, a low, thick-walled rectangular building with an inner courtyard, had no windows. On one side of the courtyard there was a statue of a deity, on the other - a table for sacrifices. Light entered the rooms through openings under flat roofs and high arched entrances. The ceilings were usually supported by beams, but vaults and domes were also used. Palaces and ordinary residential buildings were built using the same principle.

Beautiful examples of Sumerian sculpture created at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC have survived to this day. e. The most common type of sculpture was adora"nt (from lat.“adore” - “to worship”), which was a statue of a person praying - a figurine of a person sitting or standing with his arms folded on his chest, which was given to the temple. The huge eyes of the adorants were especially carefully executed; they were often inlaid. Sumerian sculpture, unlike, for example, ancient Egyptian sculpture, was never given a portrait likeness; Its main feature is the conventionality of the image.

The walls of Sumerian temples were decorated with reliefs that narrated both historical events in the life of the city (military campaign, foundation of a temple) and everyday affairs (milking cows, churning butter from milk, etc.). The relief consisted of several tiers. Events unfolded before the viewer sequentially from tier to tier. All the characters were the same height - only the king was always depicted larger than others. An example of a Sumerian relief is the stela (vertical slab) of the ruler of the city of Lagash, Eannatum (circa 2470 BC), which is dedicated to his victory over the city of Umma.

A special place in the Sumerian visual heritage belongs to glyptics - carving on precious or semi-precious stone. Many Sumerian carved seals in the shape of a cylinder have survived to this day. The seals were rolled over a clay surface and received an impression - a miniature relief with a large number of characters and a clear, carefully constructed composition. Most of the subjects depicted on the seals are dedicated to the confrontation between various animals or fantastic creatures. For the inhabitants of Mesopotamia, a seal was not just a sign of ownership, but an object that had magical powers. Seals were kept as talismans, given to temples, and placed in burials.

At the end of the 24th century. BC. conquered the territory of southern Mesopotamia Akkadians. Their ancestors are considered to be Semitic tribes who settled in Central and Northern Mesopotamia in ancient times. The Akkadian king Sargon the Ancient, who was later called the Great, easily subjugated the Sumerian cities weakened by internecine wars and created the first unified state in this region - the kingdom of Sumer and Akkad, which existed until the end of the 3rd millennium BC. e. Sargon and his fellow tribesmen treated Sumerian culture with care. They mastered and adapted Sumerian cuneiform for their language and preserved ancient texts and works of art. Even the religion of the Sumerians was adopted by the Akkadians, only the gods received new names.

Sumerians and Akkadians- two ancient peoples who created the unique historical and cultural appearance of Mesopotamia in the IY-III millennia BC. There is no exact information about the origin of the Sumerians. It is only known that they appeared in Southern Mesopotamia no later than the 4th millennium BC. Having laid a network of canals from the Euphrates River, they irrigated the barren lands and built on them the cities of Ur, Uruk, Nippur, Lagash, etc. Each Sumerian city was a separate state with its own ruler and army.

The Sumerians also created a unique form of writing - cuneiform. The writing of Sumer captured laws, knowledge, religious beliefs and myths.

Very few architectural monuments of the Sumerian era have survived, since in Mesopotamia there was neither wood nor stone suitable for construction. Most buildings were erected from a less durable material - unfired brick. The most significant buildings that have survived to this day (in small fragments) are considered to be the White Temple and the Red Building in Uruk (3200-3000 BC). The Sumerian temple was usually built on a compacted clay platform. Long stairs or ramps led to it. The walls of the platform, just like the walls of the temple, were painted, decorated with mosaics, and decorated with niches and vertical rectangular projections - blades. Usually raised above the residential part of the city, the temple reminded people of the indissoluble connection between Heaven and Earth. The temple is a low, thick-walled building with a courtyard. On one side of the courtyard there was a statue of a deity, on the other - a table for sacrifices. The ceilings were usually supported by beams, but vaults and domes were also used.

Beautiful examples of Sumerian sculpture created at the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC have survived to this day. The most common type of sculpture was adorant, which was a statue of a person praying - a figurine of a person sitting or standing with his hands folded on his chest, which was presented to the temple. The huge eyes were especially carefully executed adorants- they were often inlaid. Sumerian sculpture was never given a portrait likeness; Its main feature is its conventional image.

The walls of Sumerian temples were decorated with reliefs that told both about historical events in the life of the city (military campaign, foundation of temples) and about everyday affairs. The relief consisted of several tiers, the events unfolded before the viewer sequentially from tier to tier. All the characters were the same height - only the king was always depicted larger than the others (stela of the ruler of the city of Lagash Eannatum - around 2470 BC).

A special place in the Sumerian visual heritage belongs to glyptics- carving on precious or semi-precious stone. The seals were rolled over a clay surface and received an impression - a miniature relief with a large number of characters and a carefully constructed composition. Most of the subjects depicted on the seals are dedicated to the confrontation between various animals or fantastic creatures. Seals were considered objects of magical significance; they were kept as talismans, given to temples, and placed in burials.

At the end of the 21st century. BC. The Akkadians conquered the territory of southern Mesopotamia. Their ancestors are considered to be Semitic tribes who settled in Central and Northern Mesopotamia in ancient times. The Akkadian king Sargon the Great subjugated the Sumerian cities weakened by internecine wars and created the first unified state in this region - the kingdom of Sumer and Akkad, which existed until the end of the 3rd millennium BC. The Akkadians treated Sumerian culture with care. They mastered and adapted Sumerian cuneiform for their language and preserved ancient texts and works of art. Even the religion of the Sumerians was adopted by the Akkadians, only the gods received new names.

During the Akkadian period, a new form of temple appeared - ziggurat. This is a stepped pyramid, on top of which there was a small sanctuary. The lower tiers of the ziggurat were painted black, the middle tiers red, and the upper tiers white. The symbolism of the ziggurat shape is “stairway to heaven.” In the 21st century BC. In Ur, a three-tiered ziggurat was built, the height of which was 21 meters. Later it was rebuilt, increasing the number tiers up to seven.

Very few monuments of fine art from the Akkadian period have survived. Cast copper portrait- possibly a portrait of Sargon the Great. The appearance of the king is full of calm, nobility and inner strength. The master strives to embody in sculpture the image of an ideal ruler and warrior. The silhouette is clear, the details are made carefully - everything indicates an excellent mastery of metalworking techniques.

Thus, during the Sumerian and Akkadian periods, the main directions of art were determined in Mesopotamia - architecture and sculpture, which later received their development.

At the beginning of the 3rd millennium BC. the growth of class contradictions led to the formation of the first small slave states in Mesopotamia, in which the vestiges of the primitive communal system were still very strong. Initially, such states became individual cities (with adjacent rural settlements), usually located in the sites of ancient temple centers. There were continuous wars between them for the possession of the main irrigation canals, for the seizure of the best lands, slaves and livestock.

Earlier than others, the Sumerian city-states of Ur, Uruk, Lagash and others arose in the south of Mesopotamia. Subsequently, economic reasons gave rise to a tendency to unite into larger state formations, which was usually accomplished with the help of military force. In the second half of the 3rd millennium, Akkad rose in the north, whose ruler, Sargon I, united most of Mesopotamia under his rule, creating a single and powerful Sumerian-Akkadian kingdom. The royal government, which represented the interests of the slave-owning elite, especially since the time of Akkad, became despotic. The priesthood, which was one of the pillars of ancient Eastern despotism, developed a complex cult of the gods and deified the power of the king. A major role in the religion of the peoples of Mesopotamia was played by the worship of the forces of nature and remnants of the cult of animals. The gods were depicted as people, animals and fantastic creatures of supernatural power: winged lions, bulls, etc.

During this period, the main features characteristic of the art of Mesopotamia of the early slave era were consolidated. The leading role was played by the architecture of palace buildings and temples, decorated with works of sculpture and painting. Due to the military nature of the Sumerian states, the architecture was of a fortress nature, as evidenced by the remains of numerous city buildings and defensive walls equipped with towers and well-fortified gates.

The main building material for buildings in Mesopotamia was raw brick, much less often baked brick. The design feature of monumental architecture was going back to the 4th millennium BC. the use of artificially constructed platforms, which is explained, perhaps, by the need to isolate the building from the dampness of the soil, moistened by spills, and at the same time, probably, by the desire to make the building visible from all sides. Another characteristic feature, based on an equally ancient tradition, was the broken line of the wall formed by the projections. Windows, when they were made, were placed at the top of the wall and looked like narrow slits. The buildings were also illuminated through a doorway and a hole in the roof. The roofs were mostly flat, but there was also a vault. Residential buildings discovered by excavations in the south of Sumer had an internal open courtyard around which covered rooms were grouped. This layout, which corresponded to the climatic conditions of the country, formed the basis for the palace buildings of the southern Mesopotamia. In the northern part of Sumer, houses were discovered that, instead of an open courtyard, had a central room with a ceiling. Residential buildings were sometimes two-story, with blank walls facing the street, as is often the case to this day in eastern cities.

About the ancient temple architecture of Sumerian cities of the 3rd millennium BC. give an idea of ​​the ruins of the temple at El Obeid (2600 BC); dedicated to the goddess of fertility Nin-Khursag. According to the reconstruction (however, not indisputable), the temple stood on a high platform (area 32x25 m), made of tightly compacted clay. The walls of the platform and sanctuary, in accordance with the ancient Sumerian tradition, were dissected by vertical projections, but, in addition, the retaining walls of the platform were coated in the lower part with black bitumen, and whitewashed at the top and thus were also divided horizontally. A rhythm of vertical and horizontal sections was created, which was repeated on the walls of the sanctuary, but in a slightly different interpretation. Here the vertical division of the wall was cut horizontally by ribbons of friezes.

For the first time, round sculpture and relief were used to decorate the building. The lion statues on the sides of the entrance (the oldest gate sculpture) were made, like all other sculptural decorations of El Obeid, from wood covered with a layer of bitumen with hammered copper sheets. Inlaid eyes and protruding tongues made of colored stones gave these sculptures a bright, colorful appearance.

Along the wall, in the niches between the ledges, there were very expressive copper figurines of walking bulls (ill. 16 a). Higher up, the surface of the wall was decorated with three friezes, located at some distance from one another: a high relief with images of lying bulls made of copper and two with a flat mosaic relief laid out of white mother-of-pearl on black slate plates. In this way, a color scheme was created that echoed the colors of the platforms. On one of the friezes, scenes of economic life were quite clearly depicted, possibly having cult significance (ill. 16 b), on the other - sacred birds and animals walking in a line.

The inlay technique was also used when making columns on the facade. Some of them were decorated with colored stones, mother-of-pearl and shells, others with metal plates attached to a wooden base with nails with colored heads.

The copper high relief placed above the entrance to the sanctuary, turning in places into a round sculpture, was executed with undoubted skill; it depicts a lion-headed eagle clawing deer (ill. 17 6). This composition, repeated with minor variations on a number of monuments of the mid-3rd millennium BC. (on a silver vase of the ruler Entemena, votive plates made of stone and bitumen, etc.), was apparently the emblem of the god Nin-Girsu. A feature of the relief is a very clear, symmetrical heraldic composition, which later became one of the characteristic features of the Western Asian relief.

The Sumerians created the ziggurat - a unique type of religious building, which for thousands of years occupied a prominent place in the architecture of the cities of Western Asia. The ziggurat was erected at the temple of the main local deity and was a high stepped tower made of raw brick; at the top of the ziggurat there was a small structure that crowned the building - the so-called “home of god.”

The ziggurat in Uret, erected in the 22nd - 21st centuries BC, has been preserved better than others, rebuilt many times. (reconstruction). It consisted of three massive towers, built one above the other and forming wide, possibly landscaped terraces, connected by stairs. The lower part had a rectangular base 65x43 m, the walls reached 13 m in height. The total height of the building at one time reached 21 m (which is equal to a five-story building today). There was usually no interior space in a ziggurat, or it was reduced to a minimum, to one small room. The towers of the ziggurat of Ur were of different colors: the lower one was black, coated with bitumen, the middle one was red (the natural color of baked brick), the upper one was white. On the upper terrace, where the “home of God” was located, religious mysteries took place; it may also have served as an observatory for the stargazer priests. Monumentality, which was achieved by massiveness, simplicity of shapes and volumes, as well as clarity of proportions, created the impression of grandeur and power and was a distinctive feature of ziggurat architecture. With its monumentality, the ziggurat is reminiscent of the pyramids of Egypt.

Plastic art of the mid-3rd millennium BC. characterized by the predominance of small sculpture, mainly for religious purposes; its execution is still quite primitive.

Despite the rather significant diversity represented by the sculpture monuments of various local centers of Ancient Sumer, two main groups can be distinguished - one associated with the south, the other with the north of the country.

The extreme south of Mesopotamia (the cities of Ur, Lagash, etc.) is characterized by almost complete indivisibility of the stone block and a very summary interpretation of the details. Squat figures with an almost absent neck, a beak-shaped nose and large eyes predominate. The proportions of the body are not observed (ill. 18). The sculptural monuments of the northern part of the southern Mesopotamia (the cities of Ashnunak, Khafaj, etc.) are distinguished by more elongated proportions, greater elaboration of details, and a desire for a naturalistically accurate representation of the external features of the model, albeit with greatly exaggerated eye sockets and excessively large noses.

Sumerian sculpture is expressive in its own way. Especially clearly it conveys the humiliated servility or tender piety, so characteristic mainly of the statues of praying people, which noble Sumerians dedicated to their gods. There were certain postures and gestures that had been established since ancient times, which can always be seen in reliefs and in round sculpture.

Metal-plastic and other types of artistic craft were distinguished by great perfection in Ancient Sumer. This is evidenced by the well-preserved burial goods of the so-called “royal tombs” of the 27th - 26th centuries. BC, discovered in Ur. Finds in the tombs speak of class differentiation in Ur of this time and of a developed cult of the dead, associated with the custom of human sacrifices, which were widespread here. The luxurious utensils of the tombs were skillfully made of precious metals (gold and silver) and various stones (alabaster, lapis lazuli, obsidian, etc.). Among the finds from the “royal tombs”, a golden helmet of the finest work from the tomb of the ruler Meskalamdug, reproducing a wig with the smallest details of an intricate hairstyle, stands out. Very good is a golden dagger with a scabbard of fine filigree work from the same tomb and other objects that amaze with the variety of shapes and elegance of decoration. The art of goldsmiths in depicting animals reaches particular heights, as can be judged by the beautifully executed bull’s head, which apparently adorned the soundboard of the harp (ill. 17 a). Generally, but very faithfully, the artist conveyed the powerful, full of life head of a bull; The swollen, seemingly fluttering nostrils of the animal are well emphasized. The head is inlaid: the eyes, beard and fur on the crown are made of lapis lazuli, the whites of the eyes are made of shells. The image is apparently associated with the cult of animals and with the image of the god Nannar, who was represented, judging by the descriptions of cuneiform texts, in the form of a “strong bull with an azure beard.”

In the tombs of Ur, examples of mosaic art were also found, among which the best is the so-called “standard” (as archaeologists called it): two oblong rectangular plates, fixed in an inclined position like a steep gable roof, made of wood covered with a layer of asphalt with pieces of lapis. azure (background) and shells (figures). This mosaic of lapis lazuli, shell and carnelian forms a colorful design. Divided into tiers according to the tradition already established by this time in Sumerian relief compositions, these plates convey pictures of battles and battles, tell about the triumph of the army of the city of Ur, about captured slaves and tribute, about the rejoicing of the victors. The theme of this “standard”, designed to glorify the military activities of the rulers, reflects the military nature of the state.

The best example of a sculptural relief from Sumer is the stele of Eannatum, called the “Stele of the Vultures” (ill. 19 a, 6). The monument was made in honor of the victory of Eannatum, the ruler of the city of Lagash (25th century BC) over the neighboring city of Umma. The stela is preserved in fragments, but they make it possible to determine the basic principles of the ancient Sumerian monumental relief. The image is divided by horizontal lines into belts, along which the composition is built. Separate, often multi-temporal episodes unfold in these zones and create a visual narrative of events. Usually the heads of all those depicted are at the same level. The exception is the images of the king and god, whose figures were always made on a much larger scale. This technique emphasized the difference in the social status of those depicted and highlighted the leading figure of the composition. The human figures are all exactly the same, they are static, their turn on the plane is conventional: the head and legs are turned in profile, while the eyes and shoulders are shown in front. It is possible that this interpretation is explained (as in Egyptian images) by the desire to show the human figure in such a way that it is perceived especially clearly. On the front side of the “Stela of the Vultures” a large figure of the supreme god of the city of Lagash is depicted, holding a net in which the enemies of Eannatum are caught. On the back of the stele, Eannatum is depicted at the head of his formidable army, walking over the corpses of defeated enemies. On one of the fragments of the stele, flying kites carry away the severed heads of enemy warriors. The inscription on the stele reveals the content of the images, describing the victory of the Lagash army and reporting that the defeated inhabitants of Umma pledged to pay tribute to the gods of Lagash.

Glyptic monuments, that is, carved stones - seals and amulets, are of great value for the history of art of the peoples of Western Asia. They often fill the gaps caused by the lack of monuments of monumental art, and allow us to more fully imagine the artistic development of the art of Mesopotamia. Images on cylinder seals of Western Asia (I class="comment"> The usual form of seals of Western Asia is cylindrical, on the round surface of which artists easily placed multi-figure compositions.). They are often distinguished by great skill in execution. Made from various types of stones, softer for the first half of the 3rd millennium BC. and harder ones (chalcedony, carnelian, hematite, etc.) for the end of the 3rd, as well as the 2nd and 1st millennia BC. extremely primitive instruments, these small works of art are sometimes true masterpieces.

Cylinder seals dating back to the time of Sumer are very diverse. Favorite subjects are mythological, most often associated with the very popular epic in Western Asia about Gilgamesh - a hero of invincible strength and unsurpassed courage. There are seals with images on the themes of the myth of the flood, the flight of the hero Etana on an eagle to the sky for the “grass of birth”, etc. Sumerian cylinder seals are characterized by a conventional, schematic representation of the figures of people and animals, an ornamental composition and the desire to fill the entire surface of the cylinder with an image . As in monumental reliefs, artists strictly adhere to the arrangement of figures, in which all heads are placed at the same level, which is why animals are often represented standing on their hind legs. The motif of Gilgamesh’s fight against predatory animals that harmed livestock, often found on cylinders, reflects the vital interests of the ancient cattle breeders of Mesopotamia. The theme of the hero fighting with animals was very common in the glyptics of Western Asia and in subsequent times.

1. RELIGIOUS WORLDVIEW AND ART OF THE POPULATION OF LOWER MESOPOTAMIA

The human consciousness of the early Eneolithic (Copper-Stone Age) had already advanced far in the emotional and mental perception of the world. At the same time, however, the main method of generalization remained an emotionally charged comparison of phenomena on the principle of metaphor, that is, by combining and conditionally identifying two or more phenomena with some common typical feature (the sun is a bird, since both it and the bird soar above us ; earth is mother). This is how myths arose, which were not only a metaphorical interpretation of phenomena, but also an emotional experience. In circumstances where verification by socially recognized experience was impossible or insufficient (for example, outside the technical methods of production), “sympathetic magic” was obviously at work, by which here is meant the indiscriminateness (in judgment or in practical action) of the degree of importance of logical connections.

At the same time, people began to realize the existence of certain patterns that affected their life and work and determined the “behavior” of nature, animals and objects. But they could not yet find any other explanation for these patterns, except that they are supported by the intelligent actions of some powerful beings, in which the existence of the world order was metaphorically generalized. These powerful living principles themselves were presented not as an ideal “something”, not as a spirit, but as materially active, and therefore materially existing; therefore, it was assumed that it was possible to influence their will, for example, to appease them. It is important to note that logically justified actions and magically justified actions were then perceived as equally reasonable and useful for human life, including production. The difference was that the logical action had a practical, empirically visual explanation, and the magical (ritual, cult) action had a mythical explanation; it represented in the eyes of an ancient man a repetition of a certain action performed by a deity or an ancestor at the beginning of the world and performed in the same circumstances to this day, because historical changes in those times of slow development were not really felt and the stability of the world was determined by the rule: do as they did gods or ancestors at the beginning of time. The criterion of practical logic was not applicable to such actions and concepts.

Magical activity - attempts to influence the personified patterns of nature with emotional, rhythmic, “divine” words, sacrifices, ritual movements - seemed as necessary for the life of the community as any socially useful work.

In the Neolithic era (New Stone Age), apparently, there was already a feeling of the presence of certain abstract connections and patterns in the surrounding reality. Perhaps this was reflected, for example, in the predominance of geometric abstractions in the pictorial representation of the world - humans, animals, plants, movements. The place of a chaotic heap of magical drawings of animals and people (even if very accurately and observantly reproduced) was taken by an abstract ornament. At the same time, the image did not yet lose its magical purpose and at the same time was not isolated from everyday human activity: artistic creativity accompanied the home production of things needed in every household, be it dishes or colored beads, figurines of deities or ancestors, but especially, of course, the production objects intended, for example, for cult-magical holidays or for burial (so that the deceased could use them in the afterlife).

The creation of objects for both domestic and religious purposes was a creative process in which the ancient master was guided by artistic flair (whether he was aware of it or not), which in turn developed during his work.

Neolithic and early Chalcolithic ceramics show us one of the important stages of artistic generalization, the main indicator of which is rhythm. The sense of rhythm is probably organically inherent in man, but, apparently, man did not immediately discover it in himself and was far from immediately able to embody it figuratively. In Paleolithic images we feel little rhythm. It appears only in the Neolithic as a desire to streamline and organize space. From the painted dishes of different eras, one can observe how a person learned to generalize his impressions of nature, grouping and stylizing the objects and phenomena that were revealed to his eyes in such a way that they turned into a slender, geometrized plant, animal or abstract ornament, strictly subordinated to rhythm. Starting from the simplest dot and line patterns on early ceramics to complex symmetrical, as if moving images on vessels of the 5th millennium BC. e., all compositions are organically rhythmic. It seems that the rhythm of colors, lines and forms embodied a motor rhythm - the rhythm of the hand slowly rotating the vessel during sculpting (up to the potter's wheel), and perhaps the rhythm of the accompanying chant. The art of ceramics also created the opportunity to capture thought in conventional images, for even the most abstract pattern carried information supported by oral tradition.

We encounter an even more complex form of generalization (but not only of an artistic nature) when studying Neolithic and early Eneolithic sculpture. Figurines sculpted from clay mixed with grain, found in places where grain was stored and in hearths, with emphasized female and especially maternal forms, phalluses and figurines of bulls, very often found next to human figurines, syncretically embodied the concept of earthly fertility. The Lower Mesopotamian male and female figurines of the early 4th millennium BC seem to us to be the most complex form of expression of this concept. e. with an animal-like muzzle and inserts for material samples of vegetation (grains, seeds) on the shoulders and in the eyes. These figures cannot yet be called fertility deities - rather, they are a step preceding the creation of the image of the patron deity of the community, the existence of which we can assume at a slightly later time, exploring the development of architectural structures, where evolution follows the line: open-air altar - temple.

In the 4th millennium BC. e. Painted ceramics are replaced by unpainted red, gray or yellowish-gray dishes covered with glassy glaze. Unlike ceramics of previous times, which were made exclusively by hand or on a slowly rotating pottery wheel, it is made on a rapidly rotating wheel and very soon completely replaces hand-made dishes.

The culture of the Proto-Literary Period can already be confidently called Sumerian, or at least Proto-Sumerian, at its core. Its monuments are spread throughout Lower Mesopotamia, covering Upper Mesopotamia and the region along the river. Tiger. The highest achievements of this period include: the flourishing of temple building, the flourishing of the art of glyptics (seal carving), new forms of plastic arts, new principles of representation and the invention of writing.

All the art of that time, like the worldview, was colored by cult. Let us note, however, that when speaking about the communal cults of ancient Mesopotamia, it is difficult to draw conclusions about the Sumerian religion as a system. True, common cosmic deities were revered everywhere: “Heaven” An (Akkadian Anu); “Lord of the Earth,” the deity of the World Ocean on which the earth floats, Enki (Akkadian Eya); "Lord of the Breath", the deity of ground forces, Enlil (Akkadian Ellil), also the god of the Sumerian tribal union centered in Nippur; numerous “mother goddesses”, gods of the Sun and Moon. But of greater importance were the local patron gods of each community, usually each with his wife and son, with many associates. There were countless small good and evil deities associated with grain and livestock, with the hearth and grain barn, with diseases and misfortunes. They were for the most part different in each of the communities, different myths were told about them, contradictory to each other.

Temples were not built to all gods, but only to the most important ones, mainly to the god or goddess - the patrons of a given community. The outer walls of the temple and the platform were decorated with projections evenly spaced from each other (this technique was repeated with each successive rebuilding). The temple itself consisted of three parts: a central one in the form of a long courtyard, in the depths of which there was an image of the deity, and symmetrical side chapels on both sides of the courtyard. At one end of the courtyard there was an altar, at the other end there was a table for sacrifices. The temples of that time in Upper Mesopotamia had approximately the same layout.

Thus, in the north and south of Mesopotamia, a certain type of religious building was formed, where some building principles were consolidated and became traditional for almost all later Mesopotamian architecture. The main ones are: 1) construction of the sanctuary in one place (all later reconstructions include the previous ones, and the building is thus never moved); 2) a high artificial platform on which the central temple stands and to which stairs lead on both sides (subsequently, perhaps precisely as a result of the custom of building a temple in one place instead of one platform, we already encounter three, five and, finally, seven platforms, one above the other with a temple at the very top - the so-called ziggurat). The desire to build high temples emphasized the antiquity and originality of the origin of the community, as well as the connection of the sanctuary with the heavenly abode of God; 3) a three-part temple with a central room, which is an open courtyard on top, around which side extensions are grouped (in the north of Lower Mesopotamia such a courtyard could be covered); 4) dividing the outer walls of the temple, as well as the platform (or platforms), with alternating projections and niches.

From ancient Uruk we know a special structure, the so-called “Red Building” with a stage and pillars decorated with mosaic patterns - presumably a courtyard for public gatherings and council.

With the beginning of urban culture (even the most primitive), a new stage opens in the development of the fine arts of Lower Mesopotamia. The culture of the new period becomes richer and more diverse. Instead of stamp seals, a new form of seals appears - cylindrical.

Sumerian cylinder seal. Saint Petersburg. Hermitage

The plastic art of early Sumer is closely related to glyptics. Amulet seals in the form of animals or animal heads, which were so common in the Protoliterate Period, can be considered a form combining glyptics, relief and circular sculpture. Functionally, all these items are seals. But if this is a figurine of an animal, then one side of it will be cut flat and additional images will be cut out on it in deep relief, intended for imprinting on clay, usually associated with the main figure, for example, on the back side of the lion’s head, executed in rather high relief , small lions are carved, on the back there are figures of a ram - horned animals or a person (apparently a shepherd).

The desire to convey the depicted nature as accurately as possible, especially when it comes to representatives of the animal world, is characteristic of the art of Lower Mesopotamia of this period. Small figurines of domestic animals - bulls, rams, goats, made in soft stone, various scenes from the life of domestic and wild animals on reliefs, cult vessels, seals amaze, first of all, with an accurate reproduction of the body structure, so that not only the species, but also the breed is easily determined animal, as well as poses and movements, conveyed vividly and expressively, and often surprisingly laconically. However, there is still almost no real round sculpture.

Another characteristic feature of early Sumerian art is its narrative nature. Each frieze on the cylinder seal, each relief image is a story that can be read in order. A story about nature, about the animal world, but most importantly - a story about yourself, about a person. For only in the Protoliterate period does man, his theme, appear in art.

Stamp seals. Mesopotamia. End of IV - beginning of III millennium BC. Saint Petersburg. Hermitage

Images of man are found even in the Paleolithic, but they cannot be considered an image of man in art: man is present in Neolithic and Eneolithic art as a part of nature, he has not yet isolated himself from it in his consciousness. Early art is often characterized by a syncretic image - human-animal-vegetal (such as, say, frog-like figurines with dimples for grains and seeds on the shoulders or an image of a woman feeding a baby animal) or human-phallic (i.e. a human phallus, or just a phallus, as a symbol of reproduction).

In the Sumerian art of the Protoliterate Period, we already see how man began to separate himself from nature. The art of Lower Mesopotamia of this period appears before us, therefore, as a qualitatively new stage in man’s relationship to the world around him. It is no coincidence that the cultural monuments of the Protoliterate period leave the impression of the awakening of human energy, a person’s awareness of his new capabilities, an attempt to express himself in the world around him, which he is mastering more and more.

Monuments of the Early Dynastic period are represented by a significant number of archaeological finds, which allow us to speak more boldly about some general trends in art.

In architecture, the type of temple on a high platform was finally taking shape, which was sometimes (and even usually the entire temple site) surrounded by a high wall. By this time, the temple was taking on more laconic forms - the auxiliary rooms were clearly separated from the central religious premises, their number was decreasing. Columns and half-columns disappear, and with them the mosaic cladding. The main method of artistic design of temple architectural monuments remains the division of external walls with protrusions. It is possible that during this period the multi-stage ziggurat of the main city deity was established, which would gradually displace the temple on the platform. At the same time, there were also temples of minor deities, which were smaller in size, built without a platform, but usually also within the temple site.

A unique architectural monument was discovered in Kish - a secular building, which represents the first example of a combination of a palace and a fortress in Sumerian construction.

Sculpture monuments are mostly small (25-40 cm) figures made of local alabaster and softer types of stone (limestone, sandstone, etc.). They were usually placed in cult niches of temples. The northern cities of Lower Mesopotamia are characterized by exaggeratedly elongated, and the southern, on the contrary, exaggeratedly shortened proportions of figurines. All of them are characterized by a strong distortion of the proportions of the human body and facial features, with a sharp emphasis on one or two features, especially often the nose and ears. Such figures were placed in temples so that they would represent there and pray for the one who placed them. They did not require a specific resemblance to the original, as, say, in Egypt, where the early brilliant development of portrait sculpture was due to the requirements of magic: otherwise the soul-double could confuse the owner; here a short inscription on the figurine was quite enough. Magical goals were apparently reflected in the emphasized facial features: large ears (for the Sumerians - receptacles of wisdom), wide-open eyes, in which a pleading expression is combined with the surprise of magical insight, hands folded in a prayer gesture. All this often turns awkward and angular figures into lively and expressive ones. The transfer of the internal state turns out to be much more important than the transfer of the external bodily form; the latter is developed only to the extent that it meets the internal task of sculpture - to create an image endowed with supernatural properties (“all-seeing”, “all-hearing”). Therefore, in the official art of the Early Dynastic period we no longer encounter that original, sometimes free interpretation that marked the best works of art of the Protoliterate period. The sculptural figures of the Early Dynastic period, even if they depicted fertility deities, are completely devoid of sensuality; their ideal is the desire for the superhuman and even inhuman.

In the nome-states that were constantly at war with each other, there were different pantheons, different rituals, there was no uniformity in mythology (except for the preservation of the common main function of all deities of the 3rd millennium BC: these are primarily communal gods of fertility). Accordingly, despite the unity of the general character of the sculpture, the images are very different in detail. Cylinder seals with images of heroes and rearing animals begin to dominate in glyptics.

Jewelry of the Early Dynastic period, known mainly from materials from excavations of Ur tombs, can rightfully be classified as masterpieces of jewelry creativity.

The art of Akkadian times is perhaps most characterized by the central idea of ​​a deified king, who appears first in historical reality, and then in ideology and art. If in history and legends he appears as a man not from the royal family, who managed to achieve power, gathered a huge army and, for the first time in the entire existence of nome states in Lower Mesopotamia, subjugated all of Sumer and Akkad, then in art he is a courageous man with emphatically energetic features of a lean face: regular, clearly defined lips, a small nose with a hump - an idealized portrait, perhaps generalized, but quite accurately conveying the ethnic type; this portrait fully corresponds to the idea of ​​the victorious hero Sargon of Akkad, which has developed from historical and legendary data (such, for example, is a copper portrait head from Nineveh - the alleged image of Sargon). In other cases, the deified king is depicted making a victorious campaign at the head of his army. He climbs the steep slopes ahead of the warriors, his figure is larger than the others, the symbols and signs of his divinity shine above his head - the Sun and the Moon (the stele of Naram-Suen in honor of his victory over the highlanders). He also appears as a mighty hero with curls and a curly beard. The hero fights with a lion, his muscles tense, with one hand he restrains the rearing lion, whose claws scratch the air in impotent rage, and with the other he plunges a dagger into the predator’s scruff (a favorite motif of Akkadian glyptics). To some extent, changes in the art of the Akkadian period are associated with the traditions of the northern centers of the country. There is sometimes talk of "realism" in the art of the Akkadian period. Of course, there can be no talk of realism in the sense as we now understand this term: it is not the truly visible (even typical) features that are recorded, but the features that are essential for the concept of a given subject. Nevertheless, the impression of the life-likeness of the person depicted is very acute.

Found in Susa. Victory of the king over the Lullubeys. OK. 2250 BC

Paris. Louvre

The events of the Akkadian dynasty shook the established Sumerian priestly traditions; Accordingly, the processes taking place in art for the first time reflected interest in the individual. The influence of Akkadian art lasted for centuries. It can also be found in the monuments of the last period of Sumerian history - the III dynasty of Ur and the Issin dynasty. But in general, the monuments of this later time leave an impression of monotony and stereotyping. This corresponds to reality: for example, the masters-gurushas of the huge royal craft workshops of the III dynasty of Ur worked on the seals, having cut their teeth on the clear reproduction of the same prescribed theme - the worship of the deity.

2. SUMERIAN LITERATURE

In total, we currently know about one hundred and fifty monuments of Sumerian literature (many of them have been preserved in the form of fragments). Among them are poetic records of myths, epic tales, psalms, wedding and love songs associated with the sacred marriage of a deified king with a priestess, funeral laments, laments about social disasters, hymns in honor of kings (starting from the III dynasty of Ur), literary imitations of royal inscriptions; Didactics are very widely represented - teachings, edifications, debates, dialogues, collections of fables, anecdotes, sayings and proverbs.

Of all the genres of Sumerian literature, hymns are the most fully represented. Their earliest records date back to the middle of the Early Dynastic period. Of course, the hymn is one of the most ancient ways of collectively addressing the deity. The recording of such a work had to be done with special pedantry and punctuality; not a single word could be changed arbitrarily, since not a single image of the hymn was accidental, each had a mythological content. Hymns are designed to be read aloud - by an individual priest or choir, and the emotions that arose during the performance of such a work are collective emotions. The enormous importance of rhythmic speech, perceived emotionally and magically, comes to the fore in such works. Usually the hymn praises the deity and lists the deeds, names and epithets of the god. Most of the hymns that have come down to us are preserved in the school canon of the city of Nippur and are most often dedicated to Enlil, the patron god of this city, and other deities of his circle. But there are also hymns to kings and temples. However, hymns could only be dedicated to deified kings, and not all kings in Sumer were deified.

Along with hymns, liturgical texts are laments, which are very common in Sumerian literature (especially laments about public disasters). But the oldest monument of this kind known to us is not liturgical. This is a “cry” for the destruction of Lagash by the king of Umma, Lugalzagesi. It lists the destruction caused in Lagash and curses the culprit. The rest of the laments that have come down to us - the lament about the death of Sumer and Akkad, the lament “Curse on the city of Akkad”, the lament about the death of Ur, the lament about the death of King Ibbi-Suen, etc. - are certainly of a ritual nature; they are addressed to the gods and are close to spells.

Among the cult texts is a remarkable series of poems (or chants), starting with Inapa's Walk into the Underworld and ending with the Death of Dumuzi, reflecting the myth of dying and resurrecting deities and associated with the corresponding rituals. The goddess of carnal love and animal fertility Innin (Inana) fell in love with the god (or hero) shepherd Dumuzi and took him as her husband. However, she then descended into the underworld, apparently to challenge the power of the queen of the underworld. Killed, but brought back to life by the cunning of the gods, Inana can return to earth (where, meanwhile, all living things have ceased to reproduce) only by giving a living ransom for herself to the underworld. Inana is revered in different cities of Sumer and in each has a spouse or son; all these deities bow before her and beg for mercy; only Dumuzi proudly refuses. Dumuzi is betrayed to the evil messengers of the underworld; in vain his sister Geshtinana (“Vine of Heaven”) three times turns him into an animal and hides him; Dumuzi is killed and taken to the underworld. However, Geshtinana, sacrificing herself, ensures that Dumuzi is released to the living for six months, during which time she herself goes into the world of the dead in return for him. While the shepherd god reigns on earth, the plant goddess dies. The structure of the myth turns out to be much more complex than the simplified mythological plot of the dying and resurrection of the fertility deity, as it is usually presented in popular literature.

The Nippur canon also includes nine tales about the exploits of heroes attributed by the “Royal List” to the semi-legendary First Dynasty of Uruk - Enmerkar, Lugalbanda and Gilgamesh. The Nippur canon apparently began to be created during the III dynasty of Ur, and the kings of this dynasty were closely connected with Uruk: its founder traced his family back to Gilgamesh. The inclusion of Uruk legends in the canon most likely occurred because Nippur was a cult center that was always associated with the dominant city of the time. During the III dynasty of Ur and the I dynasty of Issin, a uniform Nippurian canon was introduced in the e-dubs (schools) of other cities of the state.

All heroic tales that have come down to us are at the stage of forming cycles, which is usually characteristic of epic (grouping heroes by place of their birth is one of the stages of this cyclization). But these monuments are so heterogeneous that they can hardly be united under the general concept of “epic”. These are compositions from different periods, some of which are more perfect and complete (like the wonderful poem about the hero Lugalbanda and the monstrous eagle), others less so. However, it is impossible to form even an approximate idea of ​​the time of their creation - various motifs could be included in them at different stages of their development, and the legends could be modified over the centuries. One thing is clear: before us is an early genre from which the epic will subsequently develop. Therefore, the hero of such a work is not yet an epic hero-hero, a monumental and often tragic personality; he is rather a lucky fellow from a fairy tale, a relative of the gods (but not a god), a mighty king with the features of a god.

Very often in literary criticism, the heroic epic (or primordial epic) is contrasted with the so-called mythological epic (in the first, people act, in the second, gods). Such a division is hardly appropriate in relation to Sumerian literature: the image of a god-hero is much less characteristic of it than the image of a mortal hero. In addition to those mentioned, two epic or proto-epic tales are known, where the hero is a deity. One of them is a legend about the struggle of the goddess Innin (Inana) with the personification of the underworld, called “Mount Ebeh” in the text, the other is a story about the war of the god Ninurta with the evil demon Asak, also an inhabitant of the underworld. Ninurta simultaneously acts as a hero-ancestor: he builds a dam-embankment from a pile of stones to isolate Sumer from the waters of the primordial ocean, which overflowed as a result of the death of Asak, and diverts the flooded fields into the Tigris.

More common in Sumerian literature are works devoted to descriptions of the creative acts of deities, the so-called etiological (i.e., explanatory) myths; at the same time, they give an idea of ​​the creation of the world as it was seen by the Sumerians. It is possible that there were no complete cosmogonic legends in Sumer (or they were not written down). It is difficult to say why this is so: it is hardly possible that the idea of ​​the struggle between the titanic forces of nature (gods and titans, elder and younger gods, etc.) was not reflected in the Sumerian worldview, especially since the theme of the dying and resurrection of nature (with the passing deities into the underworld) in Sumerian mythography is developed in detail - not only in the stories about Innin-Inan and Dumuzi, but also about other gods, for example about Enlil.

The structure of life on earth, the establishment of order and prosperity on it is perhaps the favorite topic of Sumerian literature: it is filled with stories about the creation of deities who should monitor the earthly order, take care of the distribution of divine responsibilities, the establishment of a divine hierarchy, and the settlement of the earth with living beings and even about the creation of individual agricultural implements. The main active creator gods are usually Enki and Enlil.

Many etiological myths are composed in the form of debate - the dispute is waged either by representatives of one or another area of ​​the economy, or by the economic objects themselves, who are trying to prove their superiority to each other. The Sumerian e-duba played a major role in the spread of this genre, typical of many literatures of the ancient East. Very little is known about what this school was like in its early stages, but it existed in some form (as evidenced by the presence of textbooks from the very beginning of writing). Apparently, the special institution of e-oak took shape no later than the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. e. Initially, the goals of training were purely practical - the school trained scribes, surveyors, etc. As the school developed, training became more and more universal, and at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. e-duba becomes something like an “academic center” of that time - all branches of knowledge that existed then are taught there: mathematics, grammar, singing, music, law, they study lists of legal, medical, botanical, geographical and pharmacological terms, lists of literary essays, etc.

Most of the works discussed above were preserved in the form of school or teacher records, through the school canon. But there are also special groups of monuments, which are usually called “e-duba texts”: these are works telling about the structure of the school and school life, didactic works (teachings, teachings, instructions), specially addressed to students, very often compiled in the form of dialogues and disputes , and, finally, monuments of folk wisdom: aphorisms, proverbs, anecdotes, fables and sayings. Through e-duba, the only example of a prose fairy tale in the Sumerian language has reached us.

Even from this incomplete review one can judge how rich and varied the monuments of Sumerian literature are. This heterogeneous and multi-temporal material, most of which was recorded only at the very end of the 3rd (if not at the beginning of the 2nd) millennium BC. e., apparently, has hardly yet been subjected to special “literary” processing and has largely retained the techniques characteristic of oral verbal creativity. The main stylistic device of most mythological and pre-epic stories is multiple repetitions, for example, repetition of the same dialogues in the same expressions (but between different successive interlocutors). This is not only an artistic device of threefold, so characteristic of epics and fairy tales (in Sumerian monuments it sometimes reaches ninefold), but also a mnemonic device that promotes better memorization of a work - a legacy of the oral transmission of myth, epic, a specific feature of rhythmic, magical speech, according to form reminiscent of shamanic rituals. Compositions composed mainly of such monologues and dialogue-repetitions, among which the undeveloped action is almost lost, seem to us loose, unprocessed and therefore imperfect (although in ancient times they could hardly be perceived this way), the story on the tablet looks like just a summary, where the records of individual the lines served as memorable milestones for the narrator. However, why then was it pedantic, up to nine times, to write out the same phrases? This is all the more strange since the recording was made on heavy clay and, it would seem, the material itself should have suggested the need for conciseness and economy of phrases, a more concise composition (this only happens in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC, already in Akkadian literature). The above facts suggest that Sumerian literature is nothing more than a written record of oral literature. Unable, and not even trying, to break away from the living word, she fixed it on clay, preserving all the stylistic devices and features of oral poetic speech.

It is important, however, to note that the Sumerian “literary” scribes did not set themselves the task of recording all oral literature or all its genres. The selection was determined by the interests of the school and partly the cult. But along with this written protoliterature, the life of oral works that remained unrecorded continued, perhaps much richer.

It would be wrong to represent this Sumerian written literature, taking its first steps, as being of little artistic value or almost devoid of artistic, emotional impact. The metaphorical way of thinking itself contributed to the figurativeness of language and the development of such a characteristic device of ancient Eastern poetry as parallelism. Sumerian verses are rhythmic speech, but they do not fit into a strict meter, since it is not possible to detect either a count of stress, or a count of longitudes, or a count of syllables. Therefore, the most important means of emphasizing the rhythm here are repetitions, rhythmic enumeration, epithets of the gods, repetition of initial words in several lines in a row, etc. All these, strictly speaking, are attributes of oral poetry, but nevertheless retain their emotional impact in written literature.

Written Sumerian literature also reflected the process of collision between primitive ideology and the new ideology of class society. When getting acquainted with the ancient Sumerian monuments, especially mythological ones, what is striking is the lack of poeticization of images. The Sumerian gods are not just earthly creatures, the world of their feelings is not just the world of human feelings and actions; The baseness and rudeness of the nature of the gods and the unattractiveness of their appearance are constantly emphasized. Primitive thinking, suppressed by the unlimited power of the elements and the feeling of one’s own helplessness, was apparently close to the images of gods creating a living creature from the dirt from under their fingernails, in a drunken state, capable of destroying the humanity they had created out of one whim, causing a Flood. What about the Sumerian underworld? According to the surviving descriptions, it seems extremely chaotic and hopeless: there is no judge of the dead, no scales on which people’s actions are weighed, there are almost no illusions of “posthumous justice.”

Ideology, which was supposed to do something to counteract this elemental feeling of horror and hopelessness, at first itself was very helpless, which was expressed in written monuments, repeating the motifs and forms of ancient oral poetry. Gradually, however, as the ideology of class society strengthens and becomes dominant in the states of Lower Mesopotamia, the content of literature also changes, which begins to develop in new forms and genres. The process of separating written literature from oral literature is speeding up and becoming obvious. The emergence of didactic genres of literature in the later stages of the development of Sumerian society, the cyclization of mythological plots, etc., mark the increasing independence acquired by the written word and its different direction. However, this new stage in the development of Western Asian literature was essentially continued not by the Sumerians, but by their cultural heirs - the Babylonians or Akkadians.