Mesopotamia

1
Mesopotamia

• Theocracy ruled by a god or his representatives
• Mesopotamia modern Iraq
• 1st place to change from a village into a city
  was in Sumer in Southern Mesopotamia in 3000 B.C.
• Mesopotamian gods were believed to own cities and
  live in the temple in their cities.
• Temple complex was not only the gods home. It
  also included farmland, schools and the multitude
  of animals required for sacrifice
• Other civilizations who built plaza type
  structures Inca, Maya

2
Mesopotamia

• importance of irrigation
• a change in lifestyle. nomadic-gtsettled and
  hunter-gatherer -gtfarmer
• roles of women and men
• disparity between different classes

3
Mesopotamia

• Definition of city-state
• Differences between citizens of a city-state and
  people in hunter-gatherer societies
• Responsibilities of the city-state
• Careers

4
Mesopotamia

• Writing 1st appears around 8000 B.C.
• 2350 B.C Sargon builds the worlds 1st empire
  from Syria-Persian Gulf, unifies cities by means
  of religion
• Enheduanna, daughter of Sargon high priestess
  and worlds 1st author circa 2350 B.C.

5
Mesopotamia

• Religion Polytheistic culture worship of many
  gods vs. monotheistic culture like Christianity
  worship of 1 god
• Temples local onesplain, impt ones constructed
  on Ziggurats, the high mud-brick tower which
  served as the base for a temple

6
Mesopotamia

• Palacesmany modern conveniences
• Social classes even slaves women had some
  rights
• Daily lifefood, school
• Moral values authority is necessary to prevent
  chaos
• Afterlife gloomy

7
Gilgamesh Epic

• Gilgamesh historical figure in Iraq
• Gilgamesh Epic written on clay tablets between
  2150-2000 B.C.
• Theme of close friendship between 2 young men.

8
Egypt

• Pharaoh was a human king who was god on Earth.
  Instead of being a god of a particular city as in
  Mesopotamia, he was the high priest of the entire
  land and responsible for maintaining justice and
  order.

9
Egypt vs. Mesopotamia

• fewer irrigation problems in Egypt
• Not difficult to defend
• Unified very early 3100 B.C, had system of trade
  and irrigation. No large cities like Mesopotamia.
• Pharaoh central figure required to keep order.
• Order main theme in religion, irrigation,
  cosmos. Some similarities to Mesopotamian rel.

10
Pharaohs

• Role of pharaohs
• Great pyramids built circa 2600-2200 B.C
• Religious practices Pharaohs were worshipped as
  well as other gods
• Afterlife

11
The Egyptian Empire

• Akhenaten came to the throne in 1363 B.C.
• His wife was Nefertiti
• He attempts to impose monotheistic religion in
  Egypt.
• Akhenaten chooses Aton/Aten to be main god
  instead of Amen
• Tutankhamen comes to the throne 1347 B.C.
  reverses Akhenatens changes

12
Society and Family

• Egyptians viewed themselves as a nation
• Careers available
• Calm lives, few wars, easy irrigation, steady
  supply of food
• Interest in ancestors, no interest in politics or
  military life
• High degree of freedom for women

13
Israel

• The Israelites had 2 difft kinds of religious
  experience, intensely personal encounters with
  God such as the experiences of Abraham and Moses
  and sacrifices performed on behalf of the people
  by the priests
• The God of Abraham and Moses was called Yahweh
• Hebrews were a nomadic people.
• Took the name Israelites later when they settled
  down and became a nation

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Flood myths 1

• Gilgamesh Epic about 2 friends Gilgamesh and
  Enkidu
• Human life is precarious and the gods may allow
  it to lapse into chaos yet again.
• Gods sent a flood because humans were too noisy!
  Utnapishtim built a boat, escaped flood and was
  granted immortality.
• Gods are shown to be capricious and uncaring.

15
Flood myths 2

• Similarities between flood in the Gilgamesh Epic
  of 2150 B.C. and the Noah story in Genesis
• boat
• some people and animals survive
• dove
• Differences between flood in the Gilgamesh Epic
  and the story in Genesis
• flood sent because men were too noisy Gil flood
  sent because men were wicked Genesis
• gods may flood Earth again Gil, God promises
  never to flood earth again Gen
• similarity to Greek mythology

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Flood myths 3

• Deucalion and wife Pyrrha survive flood in an
  ark. Later, an oracle told them to cast behind
  them the bones of their mother (i.e., the stones
  of the earth). From these stones sprang men and
  women who repopulated the world.
• Also similar to other Gk myths and to Gilgamesh
  Epic in that Utnapishtim and his wife were
  mortals who became immortal because of their
  deeds.

17
Reminder slide for previously-discussed material
on Greek myth in the Archaic Period and 1 new item

• You should know these people/things
• Homers Iliad and Odyssey
• epic
• Heinrich Schliemann in Troy and Mycenae
• Sir Arthur Evans at Knossos, Crete
• Hesiods Theogony, Works and Days
• New item Homeric Hymns

18
Know these items from the late Archaic Era,
Classical Era and Hellenistic Era

• Pindar 518-438 B.C.lyric poet (late Archaic
  period)
• Tragedy performed at several festivals of
  Dionysus (Classical era)
• Tragedians Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides
  (Classical era)
• Apollonius of Rhodes Argonautica (Hellenistic
  era)