Sumer: Man and Space

As Sumer, and it's mysteries and enigmas had been on my mind for the past couple of years, when i saw an opportunity to dig deeper i didn't hesitate and choose Sumerian texts as the theme of my research work for the subject of "Anthropology of Cities" by Professor Marta Llorente in the Architecture School of Barcelona, UPC. 
Now that I've handed in my work i though of sharing it with you here. For those who are not familiar with Sumer, a fast introduction would do some good. 


                                                                               Click on the images for better resolution               

Mesopotamian Cities

Man and Space

Ziggurat of Uurk

Sumerian Space

Sumer was a a group of Mesopotamian City-Estates where for the first time human settlements, first cities and first alphabets and numbers were founded and invented, therefore it's considered as the cradle of human civilization and much of today can be traced right back to 5000 B.C. when they first started to form what later was known as Mesopotamia. 

But Sumer more than a geographical location is a place in the time, ancient times that is, where space left it's impressions on the mind of the man, manifested in whatever he created. Though we don't know much about their time more than it has reached ours, the ruins and the texts. 
But when you read the texts, they don't quite match up what one finds where they supposed to be in the past for the earth and man alike constantly change. 




So i tried in this research to create a cartography of Sumerian mind,  a navigating map for those who venture in the misty waters of Mesopotamia. Reading the ancient texts i tried to separate the concepts that the author mentioned and then recreate the connections he made between them, also determining the importance he gave to them by number of times it's mentioned it has bigger circle and a bigger font. To be able to see the world trough his eyes and interpret things as he did.



 

Concepts of the tablet

My intention is and was to create a document equivalent to the text itself and pure as the text itself, staying loyal to the original source. so i did not any other words and only used words mention in the text. I added only some concepts from my part to fill in and be able to create the connection i saw necessary but always these word are underlined so one would be able to distinguish them from the originals. Once all the connections made and all concepts we would have the DNA of Sumerian mind, but being the super-positioning of various subgroups of concepts if found it would be more easy to study them i you would try to recognize the families of concept exited what would be the sub-diagrams of Elam, Family, Sumer and etc. The covered The text used here for the diagrams I've added are from the tablet found in library archives of Nippur and Ur (Today's Iraq)  called "The Lament for Sumer and Ur" which narrates about the Elamite invasion of Sumer around 2000 B.C..  
Beyond creating such documents i did not want to venture for that part is up to each one, to draw his own conclusions and try to match the pieces, all i intended was to create the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. I will keep digging in this research more, applying the same process to other texts and comparing them, so tune in for more in near future!  








                            Here you have the full diagram and the different families of sub-diagrams.
                                               Click on the images for full-screen view

Cartography of Sumerian Mind

Diagram of Sumer

Diagram of Elam

Diagram of Family

Diagram of Agriculture 

Diagram of Destruction