Mes-Egy-Overview

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History of Western Civilization
First Civilizations Africa and Asia (3200
B.C.500 B.C.)
An Introduction to Mesopotamia
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Archeologists estimate that, in ordinary
circumstances, the activity of gathering in
temperate and tropic areas provides 75 to 80 of
the total calories consumed, with hunting
providing the balance. In existing hunting and
gathering cultures, women usually do most of the
gathering, while the men specialize in hunting.
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Domestication can be defined as a primitive
form of genetic engineering in which certain
plants and animals are brought under human
control, their objectionable characteristics
eliminated, their favorable ones enhanced and in
the case of animals, can be induced to reproduce
in captivity.
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In the Near East, many varieties of the wild
cereal grasses, wheat and barley, shown below
were exploited as major food sources.
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In contrast to hunting and gathering as a mode of
life, agriculture means modifying the environment
in order to exploit it more effectively.
Agriculture alters both the animals and plants
it domesticates. Ultimately, it changes the very
landscape itself.
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Domestication of Animals
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Uruk a substantial ceremonial hub by 3500 B.C.
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Uruk
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The State and Urban Revolution In the city-state
(or state), kin and tribal loyalties are, by
definition, subordinated and replaced by
political ties. What makes a city-state
different from an agricultural town is the
synergy created by its people interacting with
each other on the basis of political
relationships rather than traditional blood ties.
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City-States of Ancient Sumer

• How did geographic features influence the
  civilizations of the Fertile Crescent?
• What were the main features of Sumerian
  civilization?
• What advances in learning did the Sumerians make?

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The Fertile Crescent

• The Fertile Crescent is the fertile land between
  the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
• The first civilization in the Fertile Crescent
  was discovered in Mesopotamia, which means land
  between the rivers
• The first Sumerian cities emerged in southern
  Mesopotamia around 3200 B.C.

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Tigris Now
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Tigris Now
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Euphrates now
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Euphrates Now
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Euphrates Now
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Sumerian Civilization
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
RELIGION
GOVERNMENT
Worshiped many gods. Believed gods controlled
every aspect of life. Saw afterlife as a grim
place. Everybody would go into darkness and eat
dust. To keep the gods happy, each city built a
ziggurat, or pyramid temple.
Each state had distinct social hierarchy, or
system of ranks. Most people were peasant
farmers. Women had legal rights some engaged in
trade and owned property.
City-states with hereditary rulers. Ruler led
army in war and enforced laws. Complex
government with scribes to collect taxes and keep
records.
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Ziggurats
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Ziggurats
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Sumerian Advances in Learning

• Developed cuneiform, believed to be the earliest
  form of writing.
• Developed basic algebra and geometry.
• Made accurate calendars, essential to a farming
  society.
• Made the first wheeled vehicles.

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Invaders, Traders, and Empire Builders

• A series of strong rulers united the lands of the
  Fertile Crescent into well organized empires.
• Again and again, nomadic warriors invaded the
  rich cities of the Fertile Crescent. Some looted
  and burned the cities. Others stayed to rule
  them.
• 2300 B.C. Sargon, the ruler of Akkad,
  conquered Sumer and built the first known
  empire.
• 1790 B.C.Hammurabi, King of Babylon, united
  the Babylonian empire.

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Tiglath-Pileser I King of Assyria during Middle
Assyrian period (1114 1076 BCE). Cultivated
fear Ascended the throne at the time when a
people known as the Mushki or Mushku (Meshech of
the Old Testament), probably Phrygians, were
thrusting into Asia Minor (now Turkey). Their
invasion constituted a serious threat to Middle
Eastern civilization because Asia Minor was the
principal source of iron, which was then coming
into general use. Tiglath-pileser defeated
20,000 Mushki in the Assyrian province of Kummukh
(Commagene). He also defeated the Nairi, who
lived west of Lake Van, extending Assyrian
control farther into Asia Minor than any of his
predecessors had done.
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Tiglath-Pileser I First campaign occupied
Assyrian districts-Upper Euphrates 2nd
campaign Assyrian forces penetrated into the
mountains south of Lake Van and then turned
westward to receive the submission of Malatia.
5th year Tiglath-Pileser attacked Comanan
Cappadoci -- placed record of victories
engraved on copper plates in fortress built to
secure his Cilician conquests. Next Aramaeans of
northern Syria. Made way as far as the sources
of the Tigris.
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Tiglath-Pileser I The control of the high road to
the Mediterranean was secured by the possession
of the Hittite town of Pethor at the junction
between the Euphrates and Sajur. Then proceeded
to Gubal (Byblos), Sidon, and finally to Arvad
where he embarked onto a ship to sail the
Mediterranean, on which he killed a nahiru or
"sea-horse" (which translates as a narwhal) in
the sea. Passion for the chase. Great
builder Initiated restoration of temple of gods
Ashur Hadad _at_ Assyrian capital of Assur.
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Tiglath-Pileser I He subdued various seminomadic
Aramaean tribes living along the routes to the
Mediterranean and reached the Syrian coast, where
the Phoenician trading cities paid him tribute.
Egypt, closely linked by trade with the Syrian
coast, made overtures of friendship. After 1100
Tiglath-pileser conquered northern Babylonia. The
latter part of his reign a period of
retrenchment, as Aramaean tribesmen put pressure
on his realm. Died in 1076 BC Succeeded by son
Asharid-apal-Ekur. Later kings Ashur-bel-kala
and Shamshi-Adad IV were also his sons.
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The Code of Hammurabi

• Hammurabis code was the first attempt by a ruler
  to codify, or arrange and set down in writing,
  all of the laws that would govern a state.

One section codified criminal law, the branch of
law that deals with offenses against others, such
as robbery and murder. Another section codified
civil law, the branch that deals with private
rights and matters, such as business contracts,
taxes, and property inheritance.
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Warfare and the Spread of Ideas

• Conquerors brought ideas and technologies to the
  conquered region.
• For example, when the Hittites
  conquered Mesopotamia, they brought the skill of
  ironworking to that region.
• When the conquerors were in turn conquered, they
  moved elsewhere, spreading their ideas and
  technologies.
• For example, when the Hittite empire
  was itself conquered, Hittite ironworkers
  migrated to other regions and spread the secret
  of iron making across Asia, Africa, and Europe.

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The Beginnings of Writing Farmers needed to keep
records. The Sumerians were very good farmers.
They raised animals such as goats and cows
(called livestock). Because they needed to keep
records of their livestock, food, and other
things, officials began using tokens.
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The Beginnings of Writing Tokens were used for
trade.Clay tokens came in different shapes and
sizes. Represented different
objects.
For example, a cone shape could have
represented a bag of wheat.

Tokens were placed
inside clay balls that were sealed.

If you
were sending five goats to someone, then you
would put five tokens in the clay ball.
When the
goat arrived, the person would open the clay
ball and count the tokens to make sure the
correct number of goats had arrived.

The number of tokens began to be
pressed on the outside of the clay balls.

Many experts believe that
this is how writing on clay tablets began.
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The Beginnings of Writing A system of writing
develops. The earliest form of writing dates
back to 3300 B.C. People back then would draw
"word-pictures" on clay tablets using a pointed
instrument called a stylus. These
"word-pictures" then developed into wedge-shaped
signs. This type of script was called cuneiform
(from the Latin word cuneus which means wedge).
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The Beginnings of Writing Who used
cuneiform?Not everyone learned to read and
write. The ones that were picked by the gods
were called scribes. Boys chosen to become
scribes (professional writers) began study at age
of 8. They finished when they were 20 years old.
Scribes wrote on clay tablets and used a
triangular shaped reed called a stylus to make
marks in the clay. Marks represented the tens
of thousands of words in their language.
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THE ORIGINS OF WRITING Tokens are small
geometric clay objects (cylinders, cones,
spheres, etc.) found all over the Near East from
about 8000 B.C. until the development of writing.
The earliest tokens were simple shapes and were
comparatively unadorned they stood for basic
agricultural commodities such as grain and sheep.
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THE ORIGINS OF WRITING A specific shape of
token always represented a specific quantity of a
particular item. For example, "the cone ...
stood for a small measure of grain, the sphere
represented a large measure of grain, the ovoid
stood for a jar of oil." (Before Writing 161).
Two jars of oil would be represented by two
ovoids, three jars by three ovoids, and so on.
Thus, the tokens presented an
abstraction of
the things being
counted, but also a system
of
great specificity and precision.
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With the development of cities came a more
complex economy and more complex social
structures. This cultural evolution is reflected
in the tokens, which begin to appear in a much
greater diversity of shapes and are given more
complicated designs of incisions and holes.
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THE DEVELOPMENT OF CUNEIFORM The Sumerian
writing system during the early periods was
constantly in flux. The original direction of
writing was from top to bottom, but for reasons
unknown, it changed to left-to-right very early
on (perhaps around 3000 BCE). This also affected
the orientation of the signs by rotating all of
them 90 counterclockwise. Another change in
this early system involved the "style" of the
signs. The early signs were more "linear" in
that the strokes making up the signs were lines
and curves. But starting after 3000 BC, these
strokes started to evolve into wedges, thus
changing the visual style of the signs from
linear to "cuneiform".
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Cuneiform
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Cuneiform
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Cuneiform
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CODE OF HAMMURABI
Collection of the laws and edicts of the
Babylonian King Hammurabi, and the earliest legal
code known in its entirety. A copy of the code,
engraved on a block of black diorite nearly 2.4 m
(8 ft) high, was unearthed by a team of French
archaeologists at Susa, Iraq, formerly ancient
Elam, during the winter of 19012. The block,
broken in three pieces, has been restored and is
now in the Louvre in Paris.
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CODE OF HAMMURABI
Composition of the Code The divine origin of the
written law is emphasized by a bas-relief in
which the king is depicted receiving the code
from the sun god, Shamash. The quality most
usually associated with this god is justice. The
code is set down in horizontal columns of
cuneiform writing 16 columns of text on the
obverse side and 28 on the reverse. The text
begins with a prologue that explains the
extensive restoration of the temples and
religious cults of Babylonia and Assyria.
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CODE OF HAMMURABI
Composition of the Code The code itself, composed
of 28 paragraphs, seems to be a series of
amendments to the common law of Babylonia, rather
than a strict legal code. It begins with
direction for legal procedure and the statement
of penalties for unjust accusations, false
testimony, and injustice done by judges then
follow laws concerning property rights, loans,
deposits, debts, domestic property, and family
rights.
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CODE OF HAMMURABI
Composition of the Code The sections covering
personal injury indicate that penalties were
imposed for injuries sustained through
unsuccessful operations by physicians and for
damages caused by neglect in various trades.
Rates are fixed in the code for various forms of
service in most branches of trade and commerce.
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CODE OF HAMMURABI
A Humane Civil Law The Code of Hammurabi contains
no laws having to do with religion. The basis of
criminal law is that of equal retaliation,
comparable to the Semitic law of an eye for an
eye. The law offers protection to all classes
of Babylonian society it seeks to protect the
weak and the poor, including women, children, and
slaves, against injustice at the hands of the
rich and powerful.
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CODE OF HAMMURABI
A Humane Civil Law The code is particularly
humane for the time in which it was promulgated
it attests to the law and justice of Hammurabi's
rule. It ends with an epilogue glorifying the
mighty works of peace executed by Hammurabi and
explicitly states that he had been called by the
gods to cause justice to prevail in the land, to
destroy the wicked and the evil.
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CODE OF HAMMURABI
A Humane Civil Law He describes the laws in his
compilation as enabling the land to enjoy stable
government and good rule And, he states that
he had inscribed his words on a pillar in order
that the strong may not oppress the weak, that
justice may be dealt the orphan and the widow.
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CODE OF HAMMURABI
A Humane Civil Law Hammurabi counsels the
downtrodden in these ringing words Let any
oppressed man who has a cause come into the
presence of my statue as king of justice, and
have the inscription on my stele read out, and
hear my precious words, that my stele may make
the case clear to him may he understand his
cause, and may his heart be set at ease!
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The Persian Empire

• Cyrus the Great and his successors conquered the
  largest empire yet seen, from Asia Minor to
  India.
• Emperor Darius unified the Persian empire.
• Drew up single code of laws for empire.
• Had hundreds of miles of roads built or repaired
  to aid communication and encourage unity.
• Introduced a uniform system of coinage and
  encouraged a money economy.
• Before it was a Barter economy-exchanging one
  set of goods or services for another.

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The Phoenicians

• Occupied string of cities along the eastern
  Mediterranean coast.
• Made glass from sand andpurple dye from a tiny
  seasnail.
• Called carriers of civilization because they
  spread Middle Eastern civilization around the
  Mediterranean.
• Most important contribution
• Invented the alphabet. An alphabet contains
  letters that represent spoken sounds.

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The Phoenicians
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UNIT EXAM
Based on PowerPoint Online Readings lt1gt
Readings Gilgamesh Tiglathpiliser
I lt2gt PPT Agricultural Fertile
Crescent Sumerians Development Of
Writing Hammurabi Code Persians
Phoenicians lt3gt Map Segments