Temps, espace, mémoire dans la culture mésopotamienne

Abstract

Time and space were the core of the Mesopotamian civilization. They were the principles by which the Mesopotamians guided themselves, be they kings or simple citizens of the Empire. Time was considered to be a primordial element, being treated with the utmost respect, and, was perceived in a counter-intuitive way, as if the past was the future, and vice-versa. Time allowed the Mesopotamians to be one of the first history-oriented civilization, as they always used the events in the past to avoid mistakes in the present, and in the same time to pay respect to their ancestors. For them, time was not linear, but cyclic, and everything that had a beginning had to have an ending. Since time in the beginning was at its purest condition, we can assume that the end of time should also bring this purity and serenity back. Space was also a very important concept that created the Mesopotamian civilization, being the instrument par excellence of the royal ideology, as the Mesopotamians always defined themselves in opposition with the enemies, by an interior-exterior/good-bad discourse. Space was also important as it allowed self-knowledge, and self-improvement by means of voyages, that very often transgressed the limits of the known world.