cyberjosh
Member
I have been reading several books recently that give peeks into what everyday life was like in the Ancient Near East (ANE) from Egypt to Mesopotamia and they are fascinating because many of them are so timeless: children skipping class to go explore or have fun, children arguing with their parents, sibling rivalry, fascination with things never seen before (one young pharaoh in Egypt could hardly contain his excitement at the report of a midget being found in Nubia), complaints of how hard a job is to do, homesickness when stationed in a foreign land, scribes (scholars/elite) and military men looking down upon each other, and many other timeless aspects of human nature. I thought I might make a thread to post quotes in from various sources to illustrate these everyday happenings.
The first one I found is fascinating in many respects, in that it shows military realities among the Amorites as well as sibling rivalry and the proverbial "foolish son". Shamsi-Adad was an Amorite king contemporary with Hamurrabi who had two sons: Ishme-Dagan and Jamsah-Adad. Ishme-Dagan was a strong military leader who fought & won most of the military battles on his father's behalf while Jamsah-Adad (the younger brother) was left at home to "look after the kingdom". The only problem was, he was young and inexperienced, and had even been chastized by his father once for not being like his older brother and rather preferred drinking wine and "reclining among the women".
On one fascinating occasion though Jamsah-Adad over-reacted to a local raid and lit the emergency fire signal beacons to summon the entire army from all throughout the empire. His brother was not happy, but gave him advice about how to get out of the mess. It is fascinating however that there was such a beacon system, which reminds me of the beacon system in The Lord of the Rings to call for assistance. But without further adeu, I will post the quote below and let the incident speak for itself:
Say to Jasmah-Adad: Thus says Ishme-Dagan, your brother. Since you have lit two beacons in the hours of the night, it is possible that the whole land will come to your assistance. Have letters written to the whole land-to the land of Andariq as far as to the districts around the towns of Hasidinum and Nurrugum-and let them be sent to me by your speediest messengers. The following shall be written [in the letters]: 'A heavily armed contingent of enemy troops has marched out for the purpose of plunder: it is for this reason that two beacons have been lit. It is by no means necessary for you to come and assist.'
http://www.aina.org/books/poaa/poaa.htm
There is also another text which mentions beacon lighting which I found two slightly different translations of here and here.
The first one I found is fascinating in many respects, in that it shows military realities among the Amorites as well as sibling rivalry and the proverbial "foolish son". Shamsi-Adad was an Amorite king contemporary with Hamurrabi who had two sons: Ishme-Dagan and Jamsah-Adad. Ishme-Dagan was a strong military leader who fought & won most of the military battles on his father's behalf while Jamsah-Adad (the younger brother) was left at home to "look after the kingdom". The only problem was, he was young and inexperienced, and had even been chastized by his father once for not being like his older brother and rather preferred drinking wine and "reclining among the women".
On one fascinating occasion though Jamsah-Adad over-reacted to a local raid and lit the emergency fire signal beacons to summon the entire army from all throughout the empire. His brother was not happy, but gave him advice about how to get out of the mess. It is fascinating however that there was such a beacon system, which reminds me of the beacon system in The Lord of the Rings to call for assistance. But without further adeu, I will post the quote below and let the incident speak for itself:
Say to Jasmah-Adad: Thus says Ishme-Dagan, your brother. Since you have lit two beacons in the hours of the night, it is possible that the whole land will come to your assistance. Have letters written to the whole land-to the land of Andariq as far as to the districts around the towns of Hasidinum and Nurrugum-and let them be sent to me by your speediest messengers. The following shall be written [in the letters]: 'A heavily armed contingent of enemy troops has marched out for the purpose of plunder: it is for this reason that two beacons have been lit. It is by no means necessary for you to come and assist.'
http://www.aina.org/books/poaa/poaa.htm
There is also another text which mentions beacon lighting which I found two slightly different translations of here and here.
