Mesopotamia

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Mesopotamia

• A Case Study in Civilization

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Requirements for Civilization

1. Urban revolution
2. New Political and Military Structures
3. Social Structure based on economic power
4. The development of complex technology
5. Development of Writing
6. Distinct religious structure
7. New forms of artistic and cultural activity

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The Geography

• The land between the rivers.
• Arid yet, fertile.
• Silt, irrigation, and civilization.

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The Mesopotamian City

• City states, large population groups ruled by all
  powerful kings grew in the place of the town.
  Famous sites such as Ur, Uruk, and Eridu are
  examples.

• Towns gradually outgrew themselves and became
  walled cities.

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The City Center The Ziggurat

• While the walls provided protection from without,
  the temple protected the people within.

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Ziggurat
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Religion

• Gods and Goddesses owned the cities and as a
  result much wealth was devoted to temple
  construction. The temples played a significant
  role in the daily life of Mesopotamians.

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Significant Deities

• Anu God of the Sky
• Enlil God of the Wind
• Enki God of the Earth
• Ninhursaga God of Soil and Vegetation

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Mesopotamian Outlook

• Many felt helpless with Anthromophorbic gods
  who meddled in the lives of people.
• Life filled with strife, discomfort, and war.

• The rampant flood which no man can oppose, which
  shakes the heavens and casuses the earth to
  tremble, In an appalling blanket folds mother and
  child, beats down the meadows full luxuriant
  greenery, and drowns the harvest in time of
  ripeness. Epic of Gilgamesh

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Relationships with the divine

• Mesopotamians believed they were placed on earth
  to serve.
• They felt they could never be secure of the gods
  actions.

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Economy

• Largely agricultural
• Small industries pottery, metallurgy, textiles,
  and crafts brought them fame and foreign trade.

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Innovation

• Foreign trade led to, and facilitated cultural
  diffusion.
• As economies grew in scale, innovations such as
  writing and the wheel facilitated these
  innovations.

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Copper
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Mass production
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Social Class in Sumeria

• The Elite Nobles
• The Labor Commoners
• The Slaves

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Empires in Ancient Mesopotamia

• A kingdom to which rulers have added areas
  belonging to other rulers.
• Warfare nearly constantas men like Senacharib of
  Assyria sought conquest

• Ur is destroyed bitter in its lament. The
  countrys blood now fills its holes like hot
  bronze in a mold. Bodies dissolve like fat in
  the sun. Our temple is destroyed,d the gods have
  abandoned us, like migrating birds. Smoke lies
  on our city like a shroud.

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Akkadians

• Led by the legendary Sargon.
• Semitic language speaking peoples.
• Overran the Sumerian city states and established
  an empire.

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Hammurabi

• Organized the Amorites (Old Babylonians) into an
  empire, built the legendary city of Babylon.
• Known for incredible military discipline.
• The Sun of Babylon.

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The Great Lawgiver

• An Eye For An Eye
• Complex societies required codified legal
  systems.
• Examples

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The Cultivation of New Arts and Sciences

• Cuneiform
• Schools for the elite, scribes.
• The Epic of Gilgamesh
• Time, calendar, mathematics, etc

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The Standard of Ur
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The Royal Game of Ur
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Akkadians 2340-2125 BC
Amorites 1800-1530 BC
Sumeria 3500-1800 BC
Hittites 1600-717 BC
Mesopotamian Civilization
Chaldeans 612-539 BC
Kassites 1530-1170 BC
Assyrians 1170-612 BC
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The Worlds Oldest Story?

• The Meaning of Life and the Epic of Gilgamesh

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The Epic

• The Epic of Gilgamesh is probably the oldest
  written story in the world. The story was written
  down on 12 clay tablets somewhere in ancient
  Sumer. It is the first heroic epos that we know
  of, predating the Greek by at least 1500 years.

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Piecing Together History?

• Problems?
• Epic incomplete, as you can see portions of the
  original are in tatters.
• Persia destroyed the great library of Nineveh in
  612 BCE.
• However, we do have it in multiple ancient
  languages.

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Gilgamesh?

• Fabled king of Uruk, the true, legendary city in
  Sumer.

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The Story

• The King Gilgamesh is a flawed figure, the
  worlds first tragic hero. In his story we find
  bits and pieces of all that makes us human. The
  desire for compassion, greatness, sympathy, and
  friendshipwhile displaying ignorance, greed, and
  intolerance.

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Elements of an Epic

• Within Gilgamesh we find
• Flood myth
• Eden
• Discussion of life and death
• Cornerstone philosophies of modern religion.

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Assyria
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Assyria by theme

• Signature characteristic military prowess and
  strength.
• Library of Nineveh
• Geography located on upper Tigris River
• Controlled Asia Minor, Iran, Syria, Palestine
  and northern Egypt.
• Language Semitic speaking peoples

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• Signature leaders Senacherib, Asurbanipal
• Problems? Overextension of empire, anger of
  constituents, internal strife, harsh rule
• Fall fell to Chaldean and Median coalition in
  612 BCE
• Politics Assyrian kings had absolute, despotic
  power.

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Tigleth-Pilsar II

• Most centralized and efficient state the world
  had seen. (745 BCE)

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Military Might
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Use of terror

• I fixed up a pile of copses in front of the
  citys gate. I flayed the nobles, as many as had
  rebelled and spread their skins out on the
  pilesI flayed many leaders and spread their
  skins on the walls. Ashurbaninapl

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• Political leaders were directly responsible to
  the king. Rarely acted without divine approval
• Developed an efficient administrative system to
  govern more effectively.
• Developed a primitive postal system.
• Military was gifted in all types of fighting and
  was extremely large and well organizaed.
• Technological superiority came from their use of
  Hittite technology of Iron weapons.

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• Economics largely agrarian. Did trade in
  metals,, precious metals, and acted in control of
  regional trade routes.
• Culture despite their violent reputation. They
  acted as guardians of Mesopotamian heritage and
  built the great library to safeguard it.
• Religion patron god of Ashur, the rest were
  previously existing Mesopotamian gods.

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Indo Europeans

• Subfamily Languages
• Indo-Iranian Sanskrit, Persian
• Balto-Slavic Russia, Serbo-Croat, Polish, Czech.
• Italic Latin, Romantic languages
• Celtic Irish, Gaelic
• Germanic Swedish, Danish, German, English

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History

• Based somewhere in black sea region. Substantial
  migration of peoples to diverse areas.
• Empires and groups formed Hittites, Aryan,
  Greeks, Romans, and Persians

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Phoenicians

• Language Semitic
• Geography Palestine along the mediteranean coast
• Signature achievement Phonetic alphabet.
• Identifying trait trade, commerce, and sea
  faring ability, trade in Phoenecian purple and
  the famed Lebanese cedars.

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The Hebrews

• Lived to the south of the Phoenecians.
• Identifying characteristic Judaism.
• Great cultural achievement Old Testament (Torah)
• Nomadic people in earliest times.
• Patriarch-Abraham.
• Drought caused movement to Egypt where they lived
  until enslaved.

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• Exodus in the first half of the 13th millenium
  BCE-wandered in desert for many years until
  resettleing into Palestine.
• Organized into 12 tribesbecame embroiled in
  conflict with Phillistines, living in the same
  region.
• 1000 BCE organized into a league of tribes who
  established the kingdom of Israel.

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Hebrew challenges

• Egyptian enslavement
• Philistine conflicts
• Babylonian captivity (role of Persians)
• Assyrian siege

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United Kingdom

• First kingdom under Saul, later reunified under
  David who united reunited the Israelites and led
  a siege against the Philistines and established
  control over the area. David centralized the
  kingdom into an agrarian culture with an urban
  center.
• Solomon, Davids son is known for his great
  building projects, high taxes and military
  expansion.

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Divided Kingdom

• Tribal tensions emerge between Northern and
  Southern tribes within Israel.
• Two kingdoms created
• 10 Northern tribesIsrael
• 2 Southern tribesJudah capital at Jerusalem
• Each kingdom threatened at brought under the
  control of Assyria by 722 BCE
• Gradually moved and merged with other cultures
  and lost their identity (Ten lost tribes of
  Israel)
• South preserved their culture and heritageuntil

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Babylonian Captivity

• 586 BCE Chaldeans destroy Assyria (what is left)
  conquer Judah and destroy Jerusalem in the
  process deporting thousands to Bablyon for
  captivity.
• Psalm 137
• By the rivers of Bablyon we sat and remembered
  Zion. How can we sing the songs of the Lord in a
  Foreign land.
• Persians destroy Chaldeans and liberate the
  Hebrews even helping the people of Jerusalem
  return and build their temples.

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Liberation

• The Babylonian Captivity lasted exactly 70 years
  as predicted, extending from the burning of the
  Temple to its reconstruction, 586 B.C. - 516 B.C.
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• The Babylonian captivity ended with the decree of
  Cyrus in 537 B.C.
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• Ezra 12-4
• 2 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia All the
  kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has
  given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a
  house at Jerusalem which is in Judah.
• 3 Who is among you of all His people? May his God
  be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which
  is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God
  of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem

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Hittites
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Capital City Hattusa
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Technology
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Hittite legacy

• Controlled Turkey as far back as 1800 BCE
• Part of IE migrations
• Pioneers of Iron usage
• Governed with a despotic king who received advice
  from the first known assembly the Hittite Pankus,
  a council of warriors that acted as a
  cabinet/legislature.
• Treaty of Kadesh-1st international peace treaty
• Destroyed by the Sea Peoples the mystery group
  that also befell Egyptian civilization

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Treaty of Kadesh Egypt and Hittites