The Grave of Meskalamdug
Sumerian Civilization
"The city state in earliest Mesopotamia was organized economically and
religiously into temple communities headed by a priestly representative
of the patron deity or deities of the city. A political assembly of
citizens or elders also ruled. Later this [primitive] combination of
theocracy and democracy in the cities gave way to rule by a Lugal a
title meaning King, used by sovereigns claiming wider domination."
Sumerian deities were closely bound to natural phenomena, the powers
of creativity, fertility, and forces confronted in the cosmos. Even at
the dawn of history, however, these gods were conceived for the most part
in human form and were organized in a cosmic state reflecting the social
forms of pre-monarchical Sumer. The world of the gods was a macrocosm of
Sumer where earthly temples, counterparts of cosmic abodes of the gods,
forged links between the two realms. The assembly; Enlil, young 'Lord
Storm,' the violent as well as life-giving air; Ninkhursag or Ninmakh,
the great mother, personification of the fertility of the earth; and
Enki, god of underground waters, the source of the "masculine" powers of
creativity in the earth. Another important triad consisted of Nanna
(moon), Itu (Sun), and Inanna (Venus). The chief cult-dramas included the
cosmogonic battle enacted in the New Year's festival, in which Enlil,
later Marduk of Babylon, established order by defeating the powers of
chaos, and assumed kingship. Another important cycle of rites had to do
with Dumuzi (Tammuz), with laments over death, celebration of the return
to life of the young god and his union with Inanna which assured spring's
resurgent life." (Encyclopedia of World History, Ancient, Medieval, and
Modern: Chronologically Arranged. Compiled and Edited by William L.
Langer. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1972. p29.)
Sacrificial practices
Who were the victims of sacrificial burial? What purpose did their
death serve? Some debate exists over the reason behind Sumerian human
sacrifice, a practice unique to this time period in Mesopotamia, although
we know that other concurrent cultures performed similar practices.
Perhaps, as discussed in Moorey's article "What do we know about the
people buried in the Royal Cemetery ?" the victims fulfilled a
sacrificial rite based on their social status in the society. Hypotheses
propose that the dead served as substitute kings and queens/ priests or
priestesses (depending on the theory to which you subscribe). As with
the buried jewelry, vehicles and other costly items, the sacrificial
humans might have served as possessions for the dead in the afterlife, or
gifts for the deities of the Underworld whom the patrons of the tombs
(according to Woolley) hoped to encounter.
Click on the illustration of Meskalamdug's Grave for additional views
of a golden "wig" excavated by Wooley.