New Civilizations in the Americas and Western Eurasia 1200

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New Civilizations in the Americas and Western
Eurasia1200 250 B.C.E.

• First Civilizations of the Americas
• A. The Mesoamerican Olmecs, 1200-400 B.C.E.
• 1. The Western Hemisphere was populated
  through a series of migrations from the Asian
  mainland.
• 2. Some scholars place this migration
  between 35,000 to 25,000 years ago.
• 3. Others speculate for an earlier date
  between 20,000 to 13,000 years ago.

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Bering Strait
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Satellite Image
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• 3. Two of the hemispheres most
  impressive cultural traditions developed in
  Mesoamerica and in the Andean region of South
  America.
• 4. Mesoamerica is a region of great
  geographic and climatic diversity.
• 5. The most influential early
  Mesoamerican civilization were the Olmecs.

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Mesoamerica
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• 6. The cultural core of early Olmec
  civilization was located in San Lorenzo (1200
  900 B.C.E.)
• 7. After the decline of San Lorenzo came
  La Venta (900 B.C.E.)
• 8. The staples of the Mesoamerican diet
  included corn, beans, and squash which was
  domesticated by 3500 B.C.E.

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• 9. It is believed that Olmec political
  structure was the combination of religious and
  secular roles.
• 10. The Olmec were polytheistic and most
  of their deities had dual natures (male and
  female).
• 11. The best-known monuments of Olmec
  culture are colossal carved stone heads as large
  as 11 feet high and weighing many tons. (It is
  believed to be representations of various rulers.)

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Olmec Heads
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• B. Early South American Civilization Chavín,
  900-250 B.C.E.
• 1. Geography played an essential role in
  the development of human society in the Andes.
• 2. The regions diverse environment
  includes a mountainous core, arid coastal plains,
  and a dense interior jungle.

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Chavín
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• 3. The Chavín were the first major urban
  civilization in South America.
• 4. Its capital, Chavín de Huántar, was
  located appx. 10,300 feet in the eastern range of
  the Andes mountains.
• 5. Their cultural influence existed
  roughly about the same time as the Olmecs between
  900 to 250 B.C.E.

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• 6. Chavíns assertion as the center of
  religious and commercial life was largely
  dependent on earlier developments in agriculture
  and trade.
• 7. The abundance of fish and mollusks
  along the coast gave the society a ready food
  supply.
• 8. The introduction of maize from the
  north and the development of potatoes and quinoa
  allowed for the emergence of a merchant and
  artisan class.

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• 9. Unlike other indigenous populations,
  the Andean societies had the benefit of the llama
  to move goods from one place to the other.
• 10. Llamas were the only domesticated
  beasts of burden in the Americas.

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Llama
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• 11. It is believed that metallurgy was
  first developed in the Andean region.
• 12. Archaeologists have discovered
  three-dimensional gold and gold alloy ornaments.
• 13. There is also strong evidence that
  there was a clear class distinction between the
  rulers and the ruled.

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• Celtic Europe
• A. The Spread of the Celts
• 1. It is important to understand that
  people have lived in Europe for at least 30,000
  years.
• 2. However, because of the lack of
  writing little is known about these early
  Europeans.

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• 3. The term Celtic is a linguistic
  designation referring to a branch of
  Indo-European family of languages.
• 4. The designation of this language
  implies that they are mainly a cultural group
  that began in Central Europe.
• 5. The early Celts lived in or near
  hill-fortslofty natural locations made by
  earthwork fortifications.

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Celtic Hill-Fort
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• 6. Moving to the west, their cultural
  expansion included France, Britain, Ireland, and
  northern Spain.
• 7. By the 5th century B.C.E., they moved
  into northern Italy.
• 8. They made destructive raids into
  central Greece, and one group the Galatians
  settled in central Anatolia.

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Celtic Expansion
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• 9. Greeks and Romans were struck by
  their physical appearance burly in size, long
  red hair, shaggy mustaches, and loud, deep
  voices.
• 10. Mediterranean neighbors of the Celts
  characterized them as wildy fond of war,
  courageous, impulsive, overly-fond of boasting,
  yet quick-witted and eager to learn.

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• 11. Our greatest source of knowledge
  about the Celts comes from Gaius Julius Caesar.
• 12. Their social structure was divided
  as follows Warriors, priests/bards, and
  commoners.
• 13. Their priests were called Druids who
  also served as judges between feuding clans.
• 14. Religiously, the Celts were
  polytheistic with at least 400 gods and goddesses.

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• The Assyrian Empire
• A. God and King
• 1. Western Asia experienced significant
  change with the rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
  1st millennium B.C.E.
• 2. It is important to realize that even
  though the word empire can be applied loosely,
  the Assyrians are believed to have the 1st empire
  in recorded history.

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Neo-Assyrian Empire
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• 3. The Assyrians started out just
  defending their realm but eventually they
  defeated all the great kingdoms of the day
  Elam, Urartu, Babylon, and Egypt.
• 4. The Assyrian king was both literally
  and symbolically at the center of the Assyrian
  universe.
• 5. They believed that the gods chose the
  king to rule as their earthly representative and
  instrument.

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• 6. The revered ancient city of Ashur was
  the place the king was anointed the new king by
  the high priest.
• 7. The duties of the king was enormous
  including receiving information from messengers,
  appointing officials, hearing complaints,
  receiving foreign envoys, and making military
  decisions.
• 8. One such duty that took a lot of time
  was managing the state religion.

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Assyrian High Priest and King
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• B. Conquest and Control
• 1. An important factor to Assyrian
  domination was their superior military
  organization and technology.
• 2. Their army consisted of men from two
  groups (1) men obligated to give military
  service due to land grants, and (2) peasants and
  slaves whose service was contributed by large
  landowners.
• 3. At its peak, they were able to
  mobilize a half-million troops.

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• 4. Some of the technologies employed by
  the Assyrians included Iron weapons, effective
  use of cavalry, mobile towers to position
  archers, and rams to batter weak points.
• 5. The Assyrian also used mass
  deportation the forcible uprooting of large
  numbers of people as a means to accomplish a
  number of objectives.
• 6. The Assyrians controlled a large
  region, which composed of many different ethnic
  groups. This posed a problem for them.

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Israeli Mass-Deporation
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• C. Assyrian Society and Culture
• 1. Assyrian society contained three
  basic classes (1) Free, landowning citizens (2)
  farmers and artisans (3) slaves.
• 2. The Assyrian government normally did
  not distinguish between natives and an increasing
  numbers of subjects and deportees.

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• 3. The vast majority of people in the
  Assyrian empire worked on the land.
• 4. They produced so much food that there
  was an increasing number of specialized jobs.
• 5. They used a basic medium of exchange,
  silver, which was weighed out for the purposes of
  transaction.

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• Israel
• A. Origins, Exodus, and Settlement
• 1. During the time period of which we
  speak, Israel would probably seem to be quite
  unimportant.
• 2. But they were destined to play an
  important role in world history.
• 3. The people that inhabited the land
  known as Israel have gone by many names Canaan,
  Israel, Palestine, Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews.

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Ancient Israel
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• 4. The history of ancient Israel comes
  from archaeological excavations, references from
  Egyptian and Assyrian documents, and the
  problematic collection of the Hebrew Bible.
  (called the Old Testament by Christians)
• 5. Historical Israel can be traced from
  about 2000 B.C.E. to 500 B.C.E.
• 6. The Hebrew language is Semitic and
  closely related to Phoenician and Aramaic. More
  distantly related to Akkadian and Arabic.

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• 7. The early male leaders of the Hebrew
  Bible include the figures of Abraham, Isaac, and
  Jacob (Israel).
• 8. Abraham was born in the southern
  Mesopotamia in the city of Ur and was disgusted
  by the idol worship practiced in his homeland.
• 9. According to Biblical accounts, he
  travels west through the desert until arriving in
  the promised land given to him as part of a
  covenant with the Israelite god, Yahweh.

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Promised Land
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• B. Rise of Monarchy
• 1. Around 1200 B.C.E., troubles began to
  arise around the eastern Mediterranean.
• 2. Philistines, who are possible
  connected with the pre-Greek populations of the
  Aegean Sea, occupied the coastal plain of Israel.
• 2. Because of the constant war, a
  religious leader named Samuel recognized the need
  for a strong central authority.

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• 3. Samuel anointed Saul as the first
  king of Israel in 1020 B.C.E.
• 4. Saul had mix success, and when he
  died in battle, he was succeeded by David.
• 5. Davids most enduring legacy was to
  complete Israels transition from tribal
  confederacy to unified monarchy.

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• C. Fragmentation and Dispersal
• 1. After the death of Davids son
  Solomon (920 B.C.E.), the monarchy divided into
  two kingdoms Israel in the north and Judah in
  the south.
• 2. This period saw the crystallization
  of Monotheism (the belief in one god).
• 3. Many Israelites were attracted to the
  ecstatic religion of the storm-god Baal and the
  fertility god Astarte, while Judah remained loyal
  the belief in the all-powerful god Yahweh.

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• 4. The Neo-Assyrian empire destroyed
  Israel in 721 B.C.E. deporting many of its
  population east.
• 5. The Neo-Babylonian kingdom captured
  Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, in 527 B.C.E.
  destroying the first temple.
• 6. The deportation of both peoples from
  their homeland became the origin of the Jewish
  Diaspora a Greek word meaning dispersal or
  scattering.

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• Phoenicia and the Mediterranean
• A. The Phoenician City-States
• 1. The ancient inhabitants of
  present-day Syria, Lebanon, and Israel are
  commonly designated Phoenicians.
• 2. They probably referred to themselves
  as Canani Canaanites.

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Ancient Phoenicia
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• 3. Due to a series of invasions by both
  Israelites and Philistines, the land of the
  Canaanites was no more than a narrow strip of
  land.
• 4. The Greek term Phoinikes may mean
  red men which either refers to their skin or
  the purple pigment they used to make expensive
  garments.

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• 5. The most important city-states of
  Phoenicia was Aradus, Byblos, Berytus, Sidon,
  Sarepta, and Tyre.
• 6. The had the first alphabetical system
  of writing which was considerably more advanced
  than that of Cuneiform and hieroglyphics.
• 7. Byblos was the most important
  city-state during the 2nd Millennium B.C.E.
  because it was a major distribution center for
  cedar timber. (the Greek word biblion, meaning
  book written on papyrus from Byblos, comes down
  as our word bible)

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• B. Expansion into the Mediterranean
• 1. In the 9th century B.C.E., Tyre began
  to colonize west.
• 2. Phoenician merchants sailing the
  Aegean Sea are mentioned in Homers Iliad and
  Odyssey.
• 3. The Phoenician triangle composed of
  (1) North Africa (2) Spain, and (3) major
  Mediterranean islands.

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Phoenician Colonies
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• 4. Eventually, the most important colony
  of the Phoenicians was Carthage.
• 5. It was established at a strategic
  location where the sea crossing from Europe to
  Africa was the narrowest.
• 6. With a population of roughly 400,000,
  Carthage was one of the largest cities in the
  world in the 1st millennium B.C.E.

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• 7. The most important arm of
  Carthaginian power was the navy.
• 8. Foreign policy was intimately linked
  to its economic interests.
• 9. The Carthaginians were polytheistic
  the chief deities including Baal and Tanit and
  the elites sacrificed their own male children at
  times of crisis.