1. c. 3700 BC Beginning of development of
urban centres in Mesopotamia
c BC Pictographic writing in use
c BC Start of development of city-states

2. c. 3300-3000 BC Scribes using ideograms for
sounds, credited to Sumerians. Subsequent
stylisation leads to development of
cuneiform writing
c BC Semitic-speakers of Mesopotamia
use system to develop Akkadian
c BC Akkadian develops into Assyrian
and Babylonian dialects
stele (pl. stelae)

3. c. 2500 Kings becoming distinct from priests
as leaders of city-states
Social classes: Kings
Nobility incl. priests and others
Semi-free peasants
Free peasants (50% of population)
Merchants
Slaves

4. ziggurat
extispicy (divination using a ram’s liver)
Sacred Marriage ceremony:
Initially of citizen to city deity
From c BC re-enactment
of union of Dumuzi and Inanna

5. Abzu (Akk. Apsu, subterranean
The Mesopotamian View of the Cosmos
Heavens
Earth
Abzu (Akk. Apsu, subterranean
freshwater ocean)
Underworld

6. Sky god of Uruk, temple at Eanna in city
An (Akk: Anu)
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Sky god of Uruk, temple at Eanna in city
Head of the elder gods (Annunaki)
Father of several gods
Symbol: horned crown, sometimes on a shrine

7. Enki (Akk: Ea, a.k.a. Nudimmud)
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God of subterranean freshwater ocean (Abzu),
wisdom, magic, arts and crafts
Cult based at Eridu

8. Enlil (Akk: Ellil, a.k.a. Illil)
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Uncertain nature and attributes, but father of
some gods and goddesses and in charge of the
earth
Head of the younger gods (Igigi), keeper of
Tablet of Destinies, cult based at Nippur
Symbol: horned cap

9. Goddess of love, fertility, sex (incl. extra-
Inanna (Akk: Ishtar)
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Goddess of love, fertility, sex (incl. extra-
marital), also fond of war. Not esp. mother
goddess or patron of marriage
Patron of Uruk (at Eanna), Nineveh and Erbil

10. God of vegetation and protector of flocks
Dumuzi (Akk: Tammuz)
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God of vegetation and protector of flocks
Lover of Inanna, for whose sake spends
half year in Underworld

11. Storm god and canal-controller, often seen
Ishkur (Akk: Adad)
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Storm god and canal-controller, often seen
with bulls or forked lightning. Lord of omens
and extispicy
Cult based at Aleppo

12. Nin-hursag (a.k.a. Ninmah, Nintu, Mami, Belet-ili, Aruru)
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Great mother goddess, important in early
mythology
Shrine at Kesh in central Mesopotamia