Enheduana of Sumer

Enheduana, is the earliest known female author and poet in the world that history knows by name. She is also dubbed as the Shakespeare of Sumerian literature. Living around 2334 to 2279 B.C. not only was she a prized daughter, but the priestess of Inanna, the moon god. She was the daughter of one of the greatest Akkadian kings, Sargon. Enheduana learned how to write at a very young age she had a special talent when writing. As the years progressed she wrote many poems and hymns.

1.       What did books look like during the time that Enhedunana was writing? How were these books written?

Books back then were written on clay tablets. Clay compared to paper was a lot more long-lasting. Archaeologists have found over fifty tablets with the same poem on them. This means that Enheduana was a very good writer and sold a lot of copies. These books were written by only few, many people were illiterate, sometimes including wealthy people like the king. The books were written by engraving into the wet clay. Over the years archaeologists have been able to slowly decipher the Sumerian language.

2.       Where did Enheduana and her family live? What did her father do?

Enheduana’s father was a great king; he ruled the city-state of Akkad and expanded his rule over Kish making them both important cities of Sumer. Since her father was a king, I would think they would live in some sort of fancy home, since they weren’t the common people.

3.       What was Enheduana’s job? List three of her duties. How did she lose her job?

·         Priestess of Nanna

·         Poet

·         Hymn writer

She had to leave her home town, and move to the city-state of Ur. She had to work hard so the higher powers would smile on the land and keep the crops, animals, and people well and prosperous. She also burned incense and other perfumed resins, so the Gods would smell good. Most important ritual duty was the annual New Year celebration each spring. She played the part of Inanna, she would reenact the marriage of a goddess and a human each year. Her nephew took her father’s position and her nephew’s daughter took her place.

4.       The author says that Enheduana’s poems were so close popular that they were like bestsellers today. What evidence does she use to support this claim?

Vicki Leon makes the comparison between Enheduana’s work and bestsellers because archaeologists found many clay tablets of the same writing piece.

5.       Enheduana’s writings are hymns of praise, but they also tell us about the times she lived in. Describe one “current event” that Enheduana wrote about.

She wrote about how she was dressed in jewels, and how she was the first lady of the throne. She writes about her experiences about how she was living in the place and writing hymns to Inanna

From earliest times, people have changed their environments. How have people today changed their environment? Discuss both the good and the bad.

From earliest times, people have changed their environments. How have people
    today changed their environment? Discuss both the good and the bad.

In the earliest times people have changed their environments by controlling fire. About a quarter of a million years ago humans harvested the fire from a possible wild fire and eventually controlled it with a hearth. This is a very big change to the environment because the burning of grass and wood puts nutrients into the soil which makes even more grass grows causing animals to come and eat the grass which makes a good meal for the humans.

When the hunters and gatherers started the very slow change of settling and then farming, they cleared away patches of forest and began to grow crops. This is a very interesting change for the environment because it is both good and bad. The good thing about it is that the hunter and gatherers were surviving off the crops, and farming was a tiny beginning of what could be a huge civilization. The bad thing happens in the long run; nowadays we have the problem of too much forest being chopped down because of farming and the demand of trees.

The discoveries of science and technology have made our lives a whole lot easier, now we are able to access information almost wherever we go! On the other hand science and technology have created consumption, a need for more. Altogether we have changed the environment to fit our needs in both good and bad ways. The bad way we have been changing the earth is our need to consume. When we were so caught up in our achievements in our world we forgot to control what we have been doing. The outcome of this was polluting our precious earth. With our need to consume, the rise of damaging our earth went higher than ever before.

The good thing is because of science and technology we have figured out what we have done wrong and now we are in the process of changing it. We have put up hundreds of campaigns that tell us about our earth and how we are negatively affecting it, and how it is our job to change it. Now the good ways that we are changing the environment is cleaning up our mess.

Throughout the years of man we have been building up our achievements and when we reached that goal, we should have drawn the line, but because of the need to consume and grow we kept on going. Now we are taking action and changing and clean up our mess one speck at a time.

Why is Catal Hoyuk an important archaeological find?

Why is Çatalhöyük an important archaeological find?

In a place located in the city of Konya, buried in the earth there stood a very important village. Çatalhöyük was a Neolithic Village built about 9,000 years ago. Now archaeologists are very slowly unearthing Çatalhöyük to find the remains of lifestyles, farming and beliefs of the people who lived many years ago. Archaeologists are studying this site to learn more about the new Stone Age and the Neolithic period, they also trying to find out when early people started to domesticate the animals and plants. But why is this site so important? In my opinion this site is important because it shows a direct view of how agriculture and civilization started. Without these findings of Çatalhöyük, archaeologists now would have a very hard time trying to decide when farming and permanent settlements began, and how cities, villages and communities have become a huge part in the development of humans.

Archaeologists have found that Çatalhöyük is about 32 acres, holding about 5,000 to 6,000 people. That’s a lot of people for a small amount of land, also a lot of mouths to feed. How could a large civilization survive in a small amount of land? Agriculture and domestication was the answer. Daily life 9,000 years ago included a lot of farming and raising and domesticating animals. Farming and agricultural was important to the Çatalhöyük community because it made them self-sufficient. With their fertile land producing various plants and the live stalk slowly growing, Çatalhöyük became a very important city. This city was not just important because of the agriculture, but the trading.

Back then it was logic to the Çatalhöyük to trade, it was something they had to do in order to get what they didn’t have. If they had some resource that another community didn’t have, and the other community had something that they didn’t have. The simple solution that they came up with was trading. A an apple for an orange it’s simple and fair. This was very important to the Çatalhöyük society because it made their economy boom even more! Archaeologists have found some traded items 600 miles away from Çatalhöyük. When things are traded between people along comes new ideas, traditions and viewpoints. Trade helps one great idea develop into an even bigger and better idea.

The question comes up again, how did 5,000 people live in just 32 acres of land? In their minds it was simple; they just live on top of each other. Out of learning and observing there environment the Çatalhöyük people began to build two roomed houses on top of each other. In Colorado, my family has a cabin close to the New Mexican border. Every time we go to our cabin we make sure to have a short stop in Taos, a city close to the border of Colorado and New Mexico. I remember one time that we went there; we did some touring around, and saw the Taos Pueblo. When I read the section on the Çatalhöyük houses I immediately thought of the Taos Pueblo! I did some research and found that the Taos Pueblo was built around 1000 and 1450 A.D.; Çatalhöyük was built around 7500 B.C. This means that Çatalhöyük was built way before Taos Pueblo was built. The question is, do great minds think alike or was it not a coincidence?

 

Çatalhöyük represents how much we have changed in the thousands of years we have been alive. This community also shows how much we have learned about the environment we are living in, it also shows how much more there is to be learned. Without the findings of Çatalhöyük we probably wouldn’t have the knowledge of how are great civilizations started and survived.