Lorenzo Verderame. От болот до моря. Водный пейзаж древнего Шумера.

Lorenzo Verderame - Sapienza University of Rome FROM THE MARSHES TO THE SEA: THE WATERSCAPE OF ANCIENT SUMER The urbanized landscape of ancient Mesopotamia, which is the only one that the texts describe in detail, is dominated by the water element. Canals and rivers cross and connect the Southern Mesopotamian cities. What’s more, these cities lie on the seacoast or in the midst of lagoons and marshes. In my paper, I discuss passages from Sumerian literary texts and royal inscriptions dealing with this unique waterscape. I analyze the evidence from different points of view, from economy to ecology, from politics to religion, to illustrate that the trinomial marsh - lagoon - sea constitutes a continuum where the elements follow each other without interruption