Ancient Mesopotamia and the Beginnings of Science

Author(s): E. A. Speiser
Source: The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 55, No. 2 (Aug., 1942), pp. 159-165
Published by: American Association for the Advancement of Science
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 ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA AND THE
BEGINNINGS OF SCIENCE
By Dr. E. A. SPEISER
PROFESSOR OF SEMITICS,
LATEST advances in the study of com-
parative archeology bring out with
added emphasisthetraditionalview that
the oldest historic civilizations evolved
in Egypt and Mesopotamia. We know
also that intellectualand social progress
in thesetwocenterskept pace withmate-
rial developments. The questionof rela-
tivepriorityis often injectedinto discus-
sions on this subject. For the present,
at least, such a question is not capable
of a satisfactorysolution. It is doubt-
ful, moreover,-whether an answercan be
expected at all, in view of the dynamic
character of both civilizationsand the
consequent rapid diffusionof vital in-
novations and inventions. There are,
however, certain characteristicaspects
of progressin the two respectivecenters
whichstand out by contrast,and it is to
one particular group of such contrasted
characteristicsthat I wish to address
myselfhere. I am referringto progress
in science.
The following remarks will embody
four main propositions: (1) Available
evidence points to Mesopotamia as the
oldest known center of scientificobser-
vation permanently recorded. (2)
Whatever its im:mediateobjectives,this
activity comes to include such widely
separated fields as education and lan-
guage study, jurisprudence and the
mathematicaland natural sciences. (3)
The numerouselementsin thisbroad ad-
vance are basically interrelated. The
commonunderlyingfactorto which the
initial impetuscan be traced is a concept
of society whereby the powers of the
state are restrictedand the rightsof the
individual receive a correspondingem-
phasis. (4) It is significantthat under
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UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
the opposed social systemof totalitarian
Egypt early scientificdevelopmentdif-
feredin scope as well as in degree; while
notable in some special fields,such as
medicineand engineering,it lacked the
breadth and balance manifestedin con-
temporaryMesopotamia.
It should be pointed out at the outset
that the specificallyscientificcontentof
this account is negligible; furthermore,
it is but incidental and wholly deriva-
tive. My main objective is to demon-
strate that there were elementsin the
social structure of early Mesopotamia
whichtended to promotescientificprog-
ress. The results happen to constitute
the firstrecorded evidence of scientific
performanceknownato us to-day. To
this extent we are justifiedin touching
here upon the beginningsof science,in-
cluding the natural sciences. But it
should be stressedthat this presentation
is concernednot so muchwiththe results
as with the background: a combination
of circumstancesconduciveto concerted
scientificactivity,rather than the sub-
jects affected by that activity. The
backgroundgives us iirlthis instancethe
essentialstartingpoint. It is thus more
significantthan the immediateachieve-
ment.
Our interest,then, will center on a
particular cultural stage at which there
were at workforcesthat led to extensive
scientific developments; forces which
provided the predisposition,so to speak,
to thesedevelopments. Accordingly,we
shall ignore such sporadic achievements
of a still more remoteage as the inven-
tion of the wheel, the introductionof
the brick-mold,and perhaps the use of
instrumentsin effectingaccirate eo-
159
160 THE SCIENTIFIC
metric designs on very early forms of
painted pottery. We may have here
Mesopotamianinventionswhich were to
play important parts in the eventual
progress of engineering, architecture
and perhaps geometry. But theseinven-
tions representisolated contributionsof
discontinuous cultures which scarcely
had any immediatebearing on scientific
progress. We shall confineourselvesto
subjects whichhad a commonoriginin a
well-definedperiod and area; which in-
volve from the start habits of observa-
tion, classificationand analysis; and
which enterthen and thereupon a con-
tinuouscourseof development.
The region to which our inquiry will
take us is Lower Mesopotamia,the land
of Ancient Sumer. More specifically,it
is an area extendingsouthwestfromthe
environs of Babylon, past Uruk-the
biblical Erech-and on along the Eu-
phrates to the metropolisof Ur. The
time is the middle of the fourthmillen-
nium B.C. This is not just a convenient
round figure. It will allow a margin of
scarcelymorethan a centuryor two,and
in a total of well overfivethousandyears
this is not a disproportionatemargin of
error. We are in a positionto establish
the time with such accuracy because it
falls within a well-stratifiedcultural
period markedoffsharplyby distinctive
materialremains. Soon thereafterthere
begin to appear inscribedrecordswhich
tie up before long with concreteregnal
years and provide thus a basis for abso-
lute chronology.
We get our firstinscribeddocuments
froma level dated to about 3500 B.C., one
of a long series of strata recoveredfrom
the remains of ancient Uruk., It is
amongthesedocuments,writtenon clay,
that we find a few which representthe
earliest known scientificrecords. That
similar recordsof still greaterantiquity
will ever turn up outside Mesopotamia
is highlyimprobable. All available evi-
dence points to the conclusionthat the
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MONTHLY
scientificnotations with which we are
concernedwere compiled in close asso-
ciation with the introductionof writing
itself. To be sure, this evidenceapplies
only to the script of Mesopotamia. But
writingin all the other ancient centers
of civilizationis demonstrablylater. In
Egypt it was introducedsome centuries
after it had been evolved in Mesopo-
tamia, and its firstappearance in India
was later still. As for the script of
China, there is nothingto indicate that
it was earlierthanthesecondmillennium
B.C. It follows,therefore, that the scien-
tific notations on our earliest Mesopo-
tamian tablets constitutenot only the
first evidence of scientificactivity in
Sumer, but representalso the oldest re-
corded effortof this kind known from
anywherein the world. With this sig-
nificantfact in mind we shall now turn
brieflyto the recordsthemselves.
What is it that would justify the use
of the term"scientific" as applied to a
few of the oldest inscribed documents
from Mesopotamia? The answer is
bound up with the character and pur-
pose of thesespecial texts. Each of them
contains lists of related entries. But
theselists have nothingin commonwith
the customaryinventoriesof a strictly
economicnature. They serve an intel-
lectual rather than a material purpose.
And yet, they are to enjoy a continuity
and distributionwhich will set themoff
sharply fromthe usual run of business
documentswhose significanceis at once
temporaryand local. The lists in ques-
tion are destined to be copied and re-
copied for-manycenturiesand in more
than one city and country. Actual
examples of such copies, oftenmodified
and expanded, but still in a clear line
of descent from the oldest prototypes,
have been discovered in Mesopotamian
sites of much later age, and even in for-
eign capitals like Elamite Susa. We
have thus beforeus the beginningof a
familyof documentsof a scholarlychar-
 ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA
acter which are notable for their con-
tinuity,distributionand purposefulad-
herenceto an establishedtradition.'
In this recordingof accumulatingex-
perience and the manifestapplicability
of such recordsto the needs of cultural
centersseparated by political,linguistic
and chronologicalbarriers we have the
essential ingredients of scientificper-
formance. Now what science or sciences
did this activityembrace? We shall see
presentlythat the primary purpose of
the lists under discussionwas to aid in
the preservation of the knowledge of
writing. Before long, philologicalstud-
ies become an added objective, owing
largely to the compositeethnic and lin-
guistic background of early historic
Mesopotamia. But natural sciences,too,
soon comein fortheirshare of attention.
For regardlessof the primarypurpose
of our lists,theyhappen to include quite
early in theirhistorygroupingsof birds,
fish,domestic animals, plants, and the
like. It is worth stressing that these
compilationspresuppose careful obser-
vation and imply organization and
analysis of the accumulated data.2 As
an elementin thecumulativetraditionof
theland thelistsare subject to steadyex-
pansion and inmprovement.What is
more, although these texts were calcu-
lated originallyto serve purposes unre-
lated to their subject-matter,they led
in course of time to the independent
study of the subject-matterinvolved.
The fields affected are zoology and
botany,and later on geologyand chem-
istry. The first recognition of all
thesesubjects as so many separate fields
of study may be traced back, there-
fore, to the earliest inscribed docu-
1 These facts are brought out clearly by A.
Falkenstein, whose " Archaisehe Texte aus
Uruk" (Berlin, 1936) is the basic work on the
earliest documentsfrom Mesopotamia; cf. espe-
cially pp. 43 if.
2 Careful observation is evidenced also by the
accurate drawings of the early pictographs,par-
ticularlywhereexotic animals and specificplants
were concerned.
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161
mentsfromMesopotamia. Interestingly
enough, that recognitionwas due ulti-
mately to the fact that man had just
discovered in writing a way to arrest
time and was applying all his ingenuity
to the task of keeping this discovery
alive.
The subsequent progress of the indi-
vidual sciencesjust mentionedhas to be
traced by specialists. We are concerned
at presentwiththe initial impetusalone
and the timeand circumstancesin which
that impetus was firstreceived. A few
details, however,may be broughtout in
passing. In the light of the foregoing
remarksbotanistswill not be surprised
to learn that many of the terms which
they use to-day are found in Mesopo-
tamian sources. These terms include
"eassia" (cuneiformkasu.), "chicory"
(kukru), "cumin" (kamu'nu),"crocus,"
(kurkanu2),"hyssop" (zu2pu),"myrrh"
(murru), "nard" (lardu), "saffron"
(azupiranitu), and probably many
others. The zoological compilations
which are accessible in cuneiform
records contains hundreds of names
systematicallyarranged alnd presented
in two columns, the first giving the
Sumerian term and the other its Ak-
kadian equivalent.3 The scholastic tra-
ditionin chemistry4 resultsin suchltexts
as the one which has come down to us
fromthesecondmillenniium B.C., wherein
a formula for glazing pottery is pre-
served in the guise of a cryptogramso
as to remain hidden from the uniniti-
ated.5 The importanceof the natural
sciencesforthe studyof medicineis self-
evident; it was not lost on BabyLonian
and Assyrianmedicine.
So much for the indirect benefits
derived fromthe lists under discussion.
3 See Benno Landsberger (in cooperation with
I. Krumbiegel), " Die Fauna des alten Meso-
potamien" (Leipzig, 1934).
4 On this subject of. R. Campbell Thompson,
" A Dictionary of Assyrian Chemistry and
Geology" (Oxford, 1936).
5 R. Campbell Thompson and C. J. Gadd, in
"Iraq," III (1936), pp. 87 ff.
162 THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY
But the primaryobjective of these com- poses long after its speakershad lost all
pilationswas not allowed to sufferin the political power,even after theyhad dis-
meantime. On the contrary,the direct appeared fromthescene altogether. For
results which were achieved with their the firsttime in historytranslatorsare
aid led to an immenselyfruitfuladvance at work to committheir renderingsto
in anotherfieldof intellectualprogress. writing. This activitycalled forthepro-
It was stated above that our lists were duction of various auxiliary manuals:
intended as a means to preserve the syllabaries giving the phonetic value,
newlyattainedknowledgeof script. By formand name of each given sign; vo-
the very nature of its originin concrete cabularies containingthe Sumerian pro-
pictographsearly writingwas an elabo- nunciation, ideogram and Akkadian
rate medium consistingof thousands of equivalent of each word or group of
items. To each new prospectiveuser it words; lists of synonyms,commentaries
representeda code which could not be on selected ideograms,interlineartrans-
deciphered withouta proper key. The literations with given Sumerian texts,
lists-werecalculated to supply that key. and the like. Nor was this all. The sci-
They were analytical catalogues of signs entific analysis of Sumerian took the
arranged according to form. Inasmuch formof grammaticalworksarranged in
as each sign was at firsta reflectionof paradigms according to the parts of
somethingspecificin the materialworld, speech and explicit down to such minu-
these catalogues were at the same time tiae as the place of the accent. Differ-
systematicgroupingsof related objects; ences Iin the dialects of Sumerian were
hence their incidental value to the nat- carefullynoted. And most of this for-
ural sciences,as we have just seen. The midable apparatus was available and in
immediatepurpose,however,of these ar- use four thousand years ago! It is to
rangementswas pedagogical; they are this apparatus that we owe our present
our oldest manuals for the discipline of knowledgenot only of the various dia-
education. As pictographs and ideo- lects of Sumerian and Akkadian, but
grams gradually took on abstract pho- also of such languages as Elamite, Hit-
netic values, the study of the script be- tite, Hurrian and Urartian. As lin-
came linked perforcewith the study of guistic material these languages may be
language. After the Semitic-speaking of interest only to a small group of
Akkadians had joined the Sumerians in specialists. But as the media forexpres-
building up the civilizationof Mesopo- sing the thoughtof a large portionof the
tamia, linguistic studies rose to excep- ancientworld over a period of threemil-
tional heights against this bilingual lennia-a period one and a half times
background. as long as the whole of the presentera-
The deep-rootedrespect for scholarly they have a deep significancefor the
tradition which comes with a sense of entirecivilizedworld.
dependence on the contributionsof the The foregoingoutline has had as its
past, implicit in the developmentshere main themethedemonstration thatmany
outlined,had much to do with the un- formsof scientificprogress in Mesopo-
paralleled achievementsof ancientMeso- tamia were influenced and linked to-
potamia in the field of linguisties. For getherby a scholarlytraditionwhichwas
it meant that the Akkadians, Babylon- in turn the by-productof the invention
ians and Assyriansmust fall back upon of writing. Our surveyhas failed,how-
records in the unrelated tongue of ever, thus far to include mathematics
Sumer. The knowledgeof that language and astronomy,two fields for which
had to be maintained for cultural pur- Mesopotamia has long been celebrated,

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 ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA
and is so now miorethan ever owing to
the researchesofCProfessorNeugebauer.
It goes withoutsayingthatthesesubjects
were affectedno less than the otherdis-
ciplines by the same forceswhich made
for a broad cultural advance in general.
But the primary cause of the extraor-
dinarydevelopmentof mathematicaland
related studies in Mesopotamia is to be
sought, I believe, in conditions which
antedatethe introductionof writing. In
fact, I would add, the origin of writing
as well as the interestin mathematicsare
to be traced back, in this case, to a com-
mon source. This source will be found
inherentin the societyand economyof
the prehistoricSnumerians.
We know to-day that the Sumerians
got their idea ofCwritingfromthe cyl-
inder seals which they engraved with
various designsto serve as personal sym-
bols. These symbols came to be em-
ployed as marks of identificationfor
religious and economic purposes, for
example,with temple offerings.In this
representationalfunction the old de-
signs develop into concrete graphs for
humans, animals, plants, and so forth,
and thencefor temples,gods and cities.
The graphs are then associated in each
instance with specificwords. The gap
between picture and word is bridged.
Gradually means are devised to express
not only completewords but also com-
ponent syllables, the advance leading
thus from the concreteto the abstract.
At length writingis perfectedto func-
tion as a flexiblemediumfor the record-
ing of speech and thought.
When we look back now on the succes-
sive interlockingstages in this compli-
cated process, which has been sketched
here in its barest outlines,an interesting
fact will emerge. The early Sumerians
had not set out at all to inventwriting.
They were led to this result by a com-
binationof peculiar circumstances. The
outcome had scarcely been planned or
foreseen. The achievementof the dis-
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163
coverers lay chieflyin their ability to
recognize and seize their opportunity.
This they did with truly remarkablein-
genuity and perseverance. That they
had the opportunityto begin with was
due, however,to the way in which their
societyfunctioned. This systemcan now
be reconstructedfrom a wealth of di-
versifiedevidence. Only a rough sum-
mary can be attempte(dat present.
We have seen that the immediatean-
cestorof Mesopotamianwritingwas the
cylinderseal which was firstand fore-
mostthe Sumerian's mark of ownership.
Impressed on clay or cloth it served to
safeguard in the eyes of god and man
one's title to possessionsor merchandise.
We have here a clear indication of a
stronglydevelopedsense of privateprop-
ertyand therebyof individualrightsand
individualinitiative.6 The curiousshape
of the cylinder seal, original with the
Sumerians, is explained by its use as a
markof individual ownership. For such
cylindrical objects are well suited to
cover uneven surfaces with their dis-
tinctivedesign.7
Wholly consistentwith this economic
origin of writing is the fact that the
earliestwrittendocumentsare given over
to temple economy. Later texts branch
out into the field of private business.
Both these uses testifyindependentlyto
the importance attaching to property
rights. Records of a non-economicchar-
acter are the last to appear, except for
the lists discussed above whichserved as
direct aids to writing. The first in-
scribed documents were used, accord-
ingly, for economic ends, precisely as
the cylinderseals themselves. It is easy
to understand why the oldest picto-
graphs were so oftenidentical with the
designs on the seals.
It followsthat Mesopotamianwriting,.
6 Cf. E. A. Speiser, Supplement to the Journal
of the American Oriental Society, No. 4 (Vol.
59, 1939), pp. 17 i. (esp. pp. 25-28).
7 See H. Frankfort, "Cylinder Seals" (Lon-
don, 1939), p. 2.
164 THE SCIENTIFIC MONTHLY
and hence the firstscriptknownto man, speech. Incidentally,it is to the influ-
was the unforeseenoutgrowthof a social ence of Mesopotamia upon the Hittites
order which was founded on a recogni- that we owe to-day our oldest available
tion of personal rights. This basic fea- recordsof any Indo-European language.
ture of Sumeriansocietyis attestedover- The newcomersproceedto copy the laws,
whelminglyin cuneiformlaw, perhaps use the script and enjoy the otherbene-
the most characteristicand the most fitsof the adopted civilization.
abundant expressionof ancient Mesopo- Enough has been said to imply that
tamian civilization. In the last analysis mathematics and time-reckoningwere
this law rests on individual rights. It is bound to prosperagainst this social and
not surprising,therefore,that proof of economicbackground. An obviouscorol-
ownershipbecomesa vital necessityun- lary is preoccupation with metrology,
der this system. Incidentally,the rigid with the result that Mesopotamian
requirementof such proof is the main weightsand measuresspread eventually
reason for the hundreds of thousands beyondthe domainof the parent culture.
of legal documentsrecovered from the But the technical features of these dis-
buried sites of Mesopotamia; the forces ciplinesdo not lie withinthe scope of the
responsiblefor the introductionof writ- presentaccount.8
ing continuedthus as the primaryfactor To sum up, there existed an intimate
in the subsequent popularity of script. relation between scientificprogress in
The law applies to ruler and subjects Mesopotamia and the source of historic
alike. The king is at firstno more than Mesopotamian civilization. Underlying
a "great man," as is shown by the Su- all was a social order resting on the
merian etymologyof the term as well rights of the individual, embodied in a
as the form of the correspondingpicto- competitiveeconomy,and protectedby
graph. He may become the adminis- the supremeauthorityof the law. This
tratorof a vast empire,but even thenhe system brought about the evolution of
is still the servant,not the source of the writing,henceforwarda decisive factor
law, and is responsibleto the gods for its in the advance of civilizationand its dif-
enactment. There is here no encourage- fusion across the chailging ethnic and
ment of absolute power. Law codes are political boundaries. We have here the
the constitutionwhich guides the ruler essentialsof a truly cosmopolitancivili-
and safeguards the subjects. We have zation notable for its assimilatorypower
seen that this systemis capable of pro- and a science broad in scope and bal-
motingculturalprogresson an extensive anced through the inner unity of its
scale. Its inherentvitalityis evidenced manybranches.
by the ease with which this order main- Would this storyof scientificdevelop-
tains itself for thousands of years in ment have differedappreciably under
spite of a successionof political changes anothertypeof civilization? The answer
under the Sumerians, Akkadians, Gu- is hinted in one of history'smost mag-
tians, Babylonians, Kassites and As- nificentexperiments. The one ceilter
syrians. Nor is furtherexpansion hin- possessing a culture of comparable an-
dered by ethnicor linguisticobstaclesin tiquity but dissimilar social and eco-
its path; for distant and heterogeneous nomicbackgroundwas Egypt. Here the
outsidersare attractednot infrequently king was a god and as such the absolute
to the orbit of the Mesopotamiancivili- ruler and titular owner of all that his
zation. Among the newcomerswe find realm eontained. Under this eonceDt of
8 Note the article by V. Gordon Childe, on
the Elamites, the iurrians and the
" The Oriental Background of European Sci-
Hittites, the last-named a people of ence," The Modern Quarterly I, Number 2
European ancestry and Indo-European (1938), pp. 105 if.

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 ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA
governmentthere was no room for the
recognitionof privateownershipofprop-
ertyand the all-embracingpower of the
law. The pharaoh was dictator of a
state genuinely and thoroughlytotali-
tarian. The pyramidsbear lasting and
eloquent testimonyto his enormousau-
thority.
We are not concernedhere with the
respective merits of two contracting
forms of government. Our interest is
confinedfor the present to the effectof
coexistentcivilizationsupon the progress
of science in the two centersunder com-
parison. The perspectiveof more than
five thousand years can not but deepen
our appreciationof the debt whichmod-
ern life owes to both Egypt and Mesopo-
tamia. By the same token,however,we
are able now to view objectivelysome of
the differencesbetween their respective
achievements.
The establishedsuperiorityof Mesopo-
tamian mathematicsmay be attributed,
in part at least, to the stimulus of the
local economy, so differentfrom the
Egyptian. Opposed concepts of prop-
erty ownership and the fundamental
rightsof the in(lividualwere responsible
for the intensivepursuit of legal studies
in the one instanceand their subsidiary
role in the other. The astounding ac-
complishmentof Mesopotamia in the
fieldof linguisticshad no adequate coun-
terpart in Egypt. Now we have seen
that in Mesopotamia progress in lin-
guistic studies, not to cite now other
branches of science, was linked inti-
matelywith the developmentof writing.
But was not Egyptian writinga corre-
spondinglypotentfactor?
If this question can not be answered
with completeconfidenceit is largelybe-
cause the origin of the Egyptian form
of script is still open to conjecture.
Some details, however,are certain and
beyond dispute. The earliest inscribed
recordsof Egypt are somecenturieslater
than thefirstwrittendocumentsof Meso-
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165
potamia. In Sumer we can follow the
successive paleographic stages step by
step, whereas in Egypt the formative
period of writingseemsto have been very
shortindeed,to judge fromthe available
material. Moreover, writing left in
Sumer a clearlymarkedtrail whichleads
back to a specific social and economic
set-up; in Egypt thereis no such demon-
strablerelationship. Because of all these
facts,and in view also of commercialand
cultural links known to have connected
Egypt and Mesopotamia at the very
period under discussion,it is logical to
assume that Egypt importedthe idea of
writingfromMesopotamia. Differences
in the formand use of the signs would
correspond,then, to the existingdiffer-
ences in the art and languages of the two
cultural centers. On present evidence,
any otherassumptionwould leave far too
muchto coincidence.9In thefinalanaly-
sis it is not so much a question of the
mere use of script as of the conditions
responsibleforthe originalemergenceof
writing.
At all events, Egyptian writing,re-
gardless of its origin,inevitablyplayed
its part in the notableprogressof Egyp-
tian science. What we miss here, how-
ever, is the scope and inner unity of
scientificadvance which we found to be
so characteristicof Mesopotamia. That
unity was the produet of a tradition
which is traceable ultimatelyto a par-
ticular concept of life. In totalitarian
Egypt a different set of values attached
to life and governmentand tradition. Is
this the reason for an effortthat seems
more sporadic, greater perhaps in its
power of concentrationon specific ob-
j ectives,but also moreconspicuousforits
omissions? Over a period of millennia
this appears to be a justifiablecompara-
tive appraisal of the results achieved in
the field of science by the two oldest
lisitorie eivilizations,
9 Cf. Speiser, op. cit. 22, note 12, and Sieg-
fried Schott, in Kurt Sethe 's "Vom Bilde zum
Buchstaben" (1939) pp. 81 ff.