The Ancient Near East

1
The Ancient Near East

• Another big chunk of history in a short amount of
  time!

2
Mesopotamia

• The land between the rivers- provided irrigation
  for surplus food supplies and Sumerians and
  Babylonians built cities along these two rivers.
• These cities became independent political states
  that shared a common civilization.
• By 3000 BC the communities of Mesopotamia were
  consolidated under one rule
• This government was dominated by Sumer
• Big cities like Ur, Akkad, and Lagash retained
  relative independence
• Remained in the hands of local kings or priests
• Some were actually elected by popular assemblies
• Nomadic Semites began to immigrate to the area
  and number became large enough that their
  language was imposed on the area

3
Invention of Writing in Sumer

• Writing appears to have begun at Sumer. The
  Sumerian pictographic form evolved by the fourth
  millennium into cuneiform (wedge-shaped)
  writing.
• The signs in the cuneiform system later became
  ideograms and evolved into an intricate system of
  communication. The writing system was so
  complicated that only professional scribes
  mastered it.
• Scribal schools flourished throughout Sumer.
  Although practical, scribal schools were also
  centers of culture and learning. These schools
  set the standard for all of Mesopotamia.
• Studied math, astronomy, medicine and metallurgy
  (made alloys like bronze out of tin and copper)
• Around 3000 BC they invented the wheel
• Developed a number system and an accurate calendar

4
Thought and Religion

• Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic
• The gods were much like human beings, only with
  supernatural powers.
• In Mesopotamian religion, we find attempts to
  explain the origins of mankind.
• There are numerous myths woven into the
  Mesopotamian religious tapestry.
• Sumerian epic of creation, The Epic of Gilgamesh.
  
• Its hero, Gilgamesh, is a wandering king who
  seeks immortality.

5
Sumerian Society

• The arid and harsh environment fostered a
  religion based on placating a pantheon of harsh
  gods and goddesses.
• The temple, or ziggurat, was the center of
  Sumerian life and religion.
• The temple priests oversaw the agricultural work
  and the distribution of the agricultural yield.
• The lugal (king) exercised political power over
  the landowning populace.
• Sumerian society was organized into four classes
  of people
• nobles, free clients of the nobility, commoners,
  and slaves.

6
Commerce

• Sumerians were less self sufficient that the
  Egyptians and were in a tremendous location or
  trade
• They exported fine jewelry, clothes, tools and
  slaves
• They imported metals
• They used a barter system
• Some historians believe that they traded as far
  as South America
• The majority of the population was agrarian
  peasantry but a feudal society existed

7
The Spread of Mesopotamian Culture

• The third millennium witnessed the growth and
  spread of Sumerian culture, by the Sumerians
  themselves and by the Semitic peoples who
  conquered them.
• The Triumph of BabylonOne of the Semitic groups
  to conquer Mesopotamia was the Babylonians.
• Babylons best-known king, Hammurabi (ca.
  17921750 b.c.), forged a vibrant
  Sumero-Babylonian culture through conquest and
  assimilation.
• Life under Hammurabi- one of the worlds earliest
  comprehensive law codes, which today provides
  much useful information on daily life in ancient
  Mesopotamia

8
Egypt

• The Early Kingdom
• Begins with the First Dynasty founded by Menes
  around 3000 BC
• The kingdom reached a climax during the fourth
  dynasty and the pharaoh Cheops or Khufu in 2650
  BC
• By the 6th dynasty, the reign of Pepi II (2300
  BC) the kingdom was disintegrating
• Society was mainly agrarian and did not rely
  heavily on trade
• Eventually they had to import lumber from Syria
  using the barter system

9
Government Structure

• Pharaoh was a deity
• He was originally associated with the
  falcon-headed god Horus and later the god Ra
• Had ultimate control over all the districts or
  nomes in his kingdom
• Started off egalitarian agrarian society but a
  nobility emerged
• Women seem to have shared equality with men
• Monogamy was the general rule

10
Egyptian Learning

• Dense population, especially in Memphis the
  capital
• Artisanship and scholarship were both encouraged
• Students learned writing, reading, algebra,
  geometry, and astronomy
• Writing system used hieroglyphs on papyrus
• Eventually a phonetic system developed

11
Religion

• Egyptians had a sophisticated spirituality
• Tombs, mummification, the book of the dead
• Priests became aristocrats with political power
• Supreme Deities were Horus, Ra and Amen-
  idenified with the sun
• Osiris was god of the Nile and the judge of the
  dead
• Isis was the wife and sister of Osiris and was
  the godess of motherhood and fertility

12
The Middle Kingdom

• After the death of Pepi II, central government
  broke down
• Nobility gained tremendous authority and began to
  bicker among themselves
• Plague and Famine forced the re-establishment of
  a strong central government
• The 12th dynasty under Amenemhet III established
  an absolutist rule moving the capital to Thebes
• Seen as a mature stage of development art was
  less important and attention shifted to science
• Math, construction, and mining flourished
• Amenemhets successors were incompetent and the
  kingdom was overrun by the Hyksos

13
The New Kingdom

• After 200 years Ahmose I overthrew the Hyksos
• Restructured the army with indigenous soldiers
• He was succeeded both excellent leaders who
  strengthened the kingdom Thutmose III, Amenhotep
  III, Ikhnaton, and Ramses II
• By 1150 BC, under Ramses III, Egypt became
  dependent on mercenary troops again
• They begin to decline and the kingdom falls in
  1085 BC

14
A Shattered Egypt and a Rising Phoenicia

• Invaders from Africa and the Near East shattered
  the power of Egypt and the Hittites.Long wars
  weakened Egypt, causing political and economic
  chaos.
• Nubians extended power northward.
• Kingdom of Kush grew up in the area of modern
  Sudan.
• Egyptian ideas and beliefs made their way,
  through Palestine and Syria, to Europe.
• Cluster of smaller kingdoms evolved Phoenicians,
  Syrians, Hebrews.
• The Phoenicians were traders, experts in
  metalworking, textile manufacturers, and
  inventors of the phonetic alphabet from which our
  own is derived.

15
Israel

• In terms of Religion, The Hebrews have had the
  biggest influence on western civilization
• From a nomadic tribe called the Hapiru from the
  line of Abraham who migrated into Egypt
• The mass migrated out of Egypt and settled in
  Palestine in the 13th BC
• Saul, David, and Solomon
• Solomon created a unified nation and built a
  temple
• When he died the kingdom was split in two north
  (Israel) and south (Judah)
• Israel began to build sanctuaries to other gods
• Israel was eventually wiped out by the Assyrians
• Judah was crushed by the Babylonians

16
The Children of Israel

• South of Phoenicia arose the small kingdom of the
  ancient Jews.
• Origin is uncertain.
• came to Palestine through the Sinai Peninsula
  from Egypt.
• stability was established by the kings Saul,
  David, and Solomon.
• Saul warred against the Philistines and
  established a monarchy over the twelve tribes.
• David carried on Sauls work.
• Captured and fortified the city of Jerusalem.
• Made Jerusalem the political and religious
  center.
• Solomon organized the collective tribes into
  twelve territorial districts.
• Temple at Jerusalem was part of his overall
  building program.
• Dedicated temple and made it the home of the Ark
  of the Covenant.
• Hebrews broke into two political halves on
  Solomons death.
• Northern kingdom (Israel) destroyed by Assyrians
  (8th century b.c.).
• Southern kingdom defeated by Babylonians in 587
  b.c.
• Cyrus the Great of Persia permitted exiles to
  return to Jerusalem.

17
Jewish Religion

• Old Testament was the key sacred writing.
• The Covenant was a kind of contract between
  Yahweh and the Hebrews.
• Yahweh was the Jews only god (monotheism).
• Ten Commandments
• The Torah, or Mosaic Law, was very harsh.
• Later custom and law were more humanitarian

18
The Empire of the Persian Kings

• Persians (or Iranians) were Indo-European nomads,
  like the Aryans who conquered India in the second
  millennium b.c. They arrived in present-day Iran
  around 1000 b.c.
• The Persian ruler Cyrus the Great (r. 559?530
  b.c.) created the largest empire yet to exist in
  the Near East.
• Cyrus had an enlightened view of empire,
  practiced religious tolerance, and allowed the
  subject peoples of his empire great autonomy.
• Emperor Darius (r. 521?486 b.c.) adopted the
  Zoroastrian religion.
• Zoroaster preached a new concept of divinity and
  human life.
• He described the cosmos as a battle between
  opposing forces of good and evil, represented by
  the gods Ahuramazda and Ahriman.
• taught that individuals must decide whether to
  choose Ahuramazda or Ahriman.
• Zoroaster preached a Last Judgment.
• Zoroastrian thought influenced Judaism,
  Christianity, and Islam.