The plant of eternal youth

The plant of eternal youth

Utnapishtim then confided the secret of immortality to Gilgamesh, telling him that it resided in  Plant at the bottom of the water. Gilgamesh eventually procured the plant, planning to take it back to Uruk for old men to eat in order to regain their youth and vigour. Resuming his journey in company with the ferryman, Gilgamesh stopped to bathe in a well where a serpent stole the youth-restoring plant, sloughed its skin and disappeared into the water. At this point the tale breaks off, leaving Gilgamesh weeping with frustration: it is will of the gods that man shall age die.

Early Sumerian schools were run by the temple priests, but in time education become separated from religion. A small private school dating from about 1800BC excavated at Ur, had accommodation for about 25 pupils. The curriculum of the school seems to have centred mainly on the ‘three r’s’- reading, writing and arithmetic – but the teachers treated these subjects fairly broadly. The ruined class-rooms contained, when excavated, multiplication tables and tables for working out square roots and cubic capacities. Education was of a practical nature, suitable for future scribes, traders, surveyors and businessmen.

Sumerian picture-writing developed until it
could express abstract ideas. A star first meant
just 'star' ; later, 'god' or 'heaven' ; later still, 'high'. 

North of the Sumerian city – states lay the territory of the Semitic Akkadians, united some time before 2300BC by Sargon, a warrior chieftain who ruled Akkad for about 55 years. Many legends and mysteries surround the origins of Sargon and his rise to power. One account says that he was born of a temple prostitute, another that he was found exposed in a basket of reeds (centuries before Moses was said to be found in similar circumstances). Having mastered Akkad, Sargon marched southwards against the divided Sumerians, conquering them city by city. But the Sumerians settling down under Akkadian rule, civilized their conquerors, who quickly absorbed Sumerian culture. Sargon, King of Akkad and Sumerian, extended his empire from present – day Iran to the Mediterranean. The Akkadian Empire disintegrated after the death of Sargon, under pressure of invasion by other Semitic peoples. About 600 years later, Hammurabi, King of Babylonia, incorporated the old Sumerian – Akkadian territories in his empire.