Re: Curse of Akkad - What happened to Sumer
Timo Niroma (timo.niroma@tilmari.pp.fi)
7 Aug 1996 19:59:43 GMT
In article <4u5s88$ds2@portal.gmu.edu>, herwin@osf1.gmu.edu (HARRY R. ERWIN) says:
>(snips)
>
>2. Sumer had a serious (eventually overwhelming) problem maintaining its
>urban centers.
This is news to me. Or do you mean wars? Or what kind of serious problem did they
have before 2200 BC? If an urban center (Ur and Uruk for instance) last over
thousand years and offer unheard-of welfare to their citizens, what problem do you
have in mind? The famines came only after the Akkadian period.
>These were sinks for population in almost all cultures
>prior to modern medicine, and Sumerians castrated their male slaves, which
>aggravated the problem.
According to legends from the Akkadian period there was rather overpopulation. There
are no signs of any great epidemics from the period 2900-2200 BC. Even the medieval
Europe was in a more bad shape.
>The Akkadians were based in the countryside, not
>the urban centers.
>
>Harry Erwin, Internet: herwin@gmu.edu
Do you mean that the southern Sumerian cities were more cities than northern
Akkadian cities? If so, in what way?
Timo Niroma
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