Page 33 - The Art & Architecture of the Ancient Orient_Neat

PART ONE: MESOPOTAMIA

Figure 3. Temple VII, Abu Shahrcin

chamber in the deep’). And since water is beneficial, since, moreover, it ‘avoids rather
than surmounts obstacles, goes round, and yet gets to its goal’;10 Ea was worshipped as
the god of wisdom, of helpful magic and medicine; a friend to man. Now, at Eridu the
offering-table and the floor of the shrine were at one stage found to be covered with a
thick layer of fishbones. This suggests that even in the Al ‘Ubaid Period the god was
revered of whom it was said:

When Ea rose, the fishes rose and adored him,
He stood, a marvel unto the deep ...
To the sea it seemed that awe was upon him;
To the Great River terror seemed to hover around him
While the south wind stirred the depth of the Euphrates.11

The lay-out of the shrine would not disclose whether or not it was dedicated to Ea. The
same type of structure served all the gods, and there is no doubt that this type was
evolved from that found at Tepe Gawra and Eridu. The subsequent development begins
with die transformation of the prehistoric peasant society to one of a more complex
order, a change to which we have referred in the Introduction. The new epoch is called
the Protolitcratc Period, because the invention of writing was one of its most momen­
tous innovations. Another was the founding of cities and, with it, the formation of the
political entity characteristic of Mesopotamia - namely, the city-state. The social life of

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