RC 02 NOV 09

When the story opens, there are two cultures with the skill of writing, next door to each other in the upper reaches of the Persian Gulf:

Sumer, the Biblical 'land of Shin'ar' at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and Elam, across the marshes to the east,

between the Zagros mountains and the sea. Both these cultures seem to have invented their writing systems independently, and

approximately at the same time (around the thirty-first century BC). But Sumer was destined for a much more influential history than Elam.

Elam did retain its language for over three thousand years (it was one of the three official media of the Persian empire in the late first

millennium), yet already around 2400 Elamite is found written in Sumerian-style cuneiform, and its local script died out in the next couple

of centuries. This cultural spread of Sumerian writing was actually occurring all over the Fertile Crescent: likewise by 2400 we find

Sumerian words and cuneiform symbols common in inscriptions in Ebla, 1000 kilometres away, on the Mediterranean coast of modern

Syria. Eblaite was a Semitic language, like Akkadian, with a sound system and a morphological structure that, from a modern standpoint,

makes Sumerian cuneiform really quite awkward as a basis for writing: nevertheless the expressive power of Sumerian symbols was  

irresistible.

Politically, the boot was on the other foot. The Sumerians themselves were dominated a little later (2334-2200) by their Akkadian-speaking

neighbours to the north when King Sargon imposed himself on them. Although this Akkadian empire was overthrown after a few

generations by invaders from Qutium in the north-east, and the Sumerians, spearheaded by the city of Ur, were able eighty years later to

reclaim their independence, southern Mesopotamia was henceforth known to all under the joint name of 'the land of Sumer and Akkad'.

Throughout the second millennium BC, the land of Sumer and Akkad already enjoyed serious cultural prestige. This is clearly reflected in

the spread of its cuneiform writing system to all its neighbours. Besides the script, its language, Akkadian, was in this period the lingua

franca for diplomacy.

But this favourable situation was ultimately upset by outside events that were to affect Mesopotamia, and its linguistic influence,

profoundly. Most significant for the linguistic history of the Middle East are the Aramaeans, desert nomads from northern Syria speaking a

Semitic language. They are first heard of as a particularly persistent enemy in an inscription of the Assyrian ruler Tiglath Pileser I at the

end of the twelfth century BC. By the end of the ninth century there were apparently settlements of them all over the land of Sumer and

Akkad. The Aramaeans had made themselves very much part of the establishment.

This must be part of the explanation for the way in which, beginning in the eighth century, their language came to replace Akkadian as the

universal medium of Mesopotamia, and soon (as Assyria conquered Syria and Palestine) established itself as the lingua franca of the

whole Fertile Crescent. This was not a culture-led expansion, since the Aramaeans are not associated with any distinctive style or

civilization of their own; nevertheless, they were the ones who brought simple alphabetic writing, the invention of their neighbours the

Phoenicians, into the heart of the old empire, where for over two thousand years all culture and administration had been built on skill in the

complicated cuneiform writing. They had thereby revolutionized its communications, and perhaps its social structure as well. Twenty-two

simple signs could now do the work previously requiring over six hundred.

1  What is the passage about 

1) A brief history of Sumer and the influence of its language and writing system

2) The political, cultural and linguistic influence of the land of Sumer and Akkad

3) A linguistic history of Mesopotamia between the thirty-first and eighth centuries BC

4) An overview of the language situation in the Middle East in the second millennium BC

2  Which of the following cannot be inferred about Sumer/the Sumerian language as per this passage

1) The city of Ur was a part of Sumer.

2) The Sumerian language was not a Semitic language.

3) Though the Sumerian writing system was adopted by Sumer's neighbours, Sumer itself was politically dominated by them.

4) In the second millennium BC, the Sumerian language was used as a diplomatic language in the area surrounding Sumer.

3

Choose the pair that is not connected in any way.

1) Sumer – Shin'ar

2) Eblaite – Persian empire

3) Aramaeans – northern Syria

4) Sargon – Akkadians

4

Mark the statement that is neither definitely true nor definitely false, as per this passage

1) The Assyrians and the Aramaeans were enemies.

2) The Phoenicians were the first to use alphabetic writing.

3) Languages usually spread due to their cultural prestige among their neighbours.

4) The Elamite language died out around 2400 BC, due to the greater influence of the Sumerian language