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Western Civilization I page. |
IN THE STUDY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD, THERE ARE IMPORTANT TERMS TO IDENTIFY:
CULTURE - A SHARED WAY IN WHICH PEOPLE LIVE, THINK, AND ACT. (IT INCLUDES RELIGIOUS, POLITICAL, SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, ARTISTIC, SCIENTIFIC AND PHILOSOPHICAL WAYS OF LIFE).
ANTHROPOLOGY - THE STUDY OF THE PHYSICAL ORIGINS AND CULTURE OF MAN.
ARCHAEOLOGY - THE STUDY OF ANCIENT RUINS AND ARTIFACTS (OBJECTS MADE BY MAN). IT IS A BRANCH OF ANTHROPOLOGY.
PHILOLOGY - THE STUDY OF WRITTEN RECORDS TO DETERMINE THEIR AUTHENTICITY AND MEANING.
NUMISMATICS - THE STUDY OF COINS AND MEDALS.
CARBON 14 DATING - THE FIXING OF AN OBJECT'S AGE (PLANT, HUMAN, OR ANIMAL) BY MEASURING ITS RATE OF RADIOACTIVE DECAY.
THE EARTH IS SAID TO BE ABOUT 4-6 BILLION YEARS OLD.
FOR THE SAKE OF STUDY, THE HISTORIC PERIOD IS DIVIDED INTO 3 PARTS:
A) ANCIENT HISTORY - 4000 B.C. TO 500 A.D.
B) MEDIEVAL HISTORY - 500 A.D. TO 1500 A.D.
C) MODERN HISTORY - 1500 A.D. TO THE PRESENT
MAN BECAME CIVILIZED SHORTLY BEFORE 3000 B.C.
- BY THE TERM CIVILIZED IT IS MEANT THAT HE HAD REACHED A HIGH DEGREE OF CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT.
- KEY MARKS OF A CIVILIZED SOCIETY ARE:
WRITING --- LIVING IN CITIES --- A HIGH DEGREE OF DIVISION OF LABOR.
THE WORLD'S OLDEST CIVILIZATIONS BEGAN IN GREAT RIVER VALLEYS:
A) THE SUMERIAN (THE OLDEST) - ALONG THE TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES RIVERS, IN A PLACE CALLED MESOPOTAMIA.
B) THE EGYPTIAN - ALONG THE NILE RIVER.
C) THE INDIAN - ALONG THE INDUS RIVER.
D) THE CHINESE - ALONG THE YELLOW RIVER.
ABOUT 10,000 B.C. A MAJOR EVENT OCCURRED THAT WOULD HAVE CRITICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR ALL OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, i.e., PEOPLE TURNED FROM HUNTING TO PRODUCING FOOD. THIS EVENT, THE RISE OF AGRICULTURE, IS CALLED THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION.
NEOLITHIC AGE IS THE NEW STONE AGE AND LASTED FROM ABOUT 10,000 B.C. TO ABOUT 3,500 B.C.
- THIS REVOLUTION FIRST OCCURRED IN SOUTHERN TURKEY AND NORTHERN IRAQ.
- AGRICULTURAL VILLAGES ESTABLISHED FROM THIS TIME UNTIL APPROXIMATELY 3000 B.C. ARE NOT CLASSIFIED AS CIVILIZATIONS BY HISTORIANS.
IN TIME, A TRADING ECONOMY EMERGED IN THESE AGRICULTURAL VILLAGES THANKS LARGELY TO POTTERY, THE RAFT AND THE WHEEL.
BETWEEN 4000 B.C. AND 3000 B.C., A MORE SOPHISTICATED DIVISION OF LABOR CENTERED AROUND A MORE HIGHLY STRUCTURED SOCIETY EMERGED IN TWO LOCATIONS:
1) MESOPOTAMIA
2) EGYPT
POSSIBLE CAUSES FOR THE RISE OF CIVILIZATION:
- CLIMATE AND GEOGRAPHY
- ECONOMIC RESOURCES
- FOOD SUPPLY
- CONTACT WITH OTHER CIVILIZATIONS
I. MESOPOTAMIA
SUMER
- MESOPOTAMIA ("LAND BETWEEN TWO RIVERS") REFERS TO THE 600 MILE LONG ALLUVIAL VALLEY BETWEEN THE TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES RIVER (IN MODERN DAY IRAQ).
- THE EARLIEST MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATIONS EMERGED IN THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE TIGRIS AND EUPHRATES ALLUVIAL PLAIN CALLED SUMER.
- BY 3000 B.C., SUMER CONTAINED A DOZEN OR MORE CITY-STATES, EACH INDEPENDENT OF THE OTHERS. THERE WAS CONSTANT FIGHTING AMONG THESE CITIES WHICH INCLUDED UR WHICH HAD A POPULATION OF AROUND 40,000. CITIZENS OF EACH CITY WERE DIVIDED INTO THREE CLASSES:
1) NOBLES AND PRIESTS
2) COMMONERS
3) SLAVES
- AT THE CENTER OF EACH SUMERIAN CITY USUALLY STOOD A ZIGGURAT - A TERRACED TOWER OFTEN SIX TO SEVEN STORIES HIGH.
- IT WAS THE HOME OR TEMPLE OF THE GODS.
- SUMERIANS WERE POLYTHEISTIC.
- ONE OF THE SUMERIANS' CHIEF CONTRIBUTIONS TO CIVILIZATION WAS THE ART OF WRITING. THEIR LANGUAGE WAS PICTOGRAPHIC AND TEXTS WERE WRITTEN ON CLAY TABLETS AND THE RESULTING WEDGE-SHAPED MARKS WERE CALLED CUNEIFORM. ONE OF THE GREAT EPICS OF SUMERIAN WRITINGS WAS GILGAMESH WHICH DEALS WITH THE RELATION BETWEEN MAN AND THE GODS.
- SUMERIAN CONSTRUCTION WAS OF SUN-DRIED BRICK.
- BECAUSE OF THIS, VERY LITTLE REMAINS OF THE ANCIENT CIVILIZATION.
- SUMERIANS RELIED HEAVILY ON TRADE AND EXPORTED MANUFACTURED GOODS ESPECIALLY METAL WORKS. TO AID IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRADE, THE SUMERIANS DEVELOPED A PRECISE SYSTEM OF MATHEMATICAL NOTATION WHICH WAS A MAJOR LEGACY GIVEN TO THE MODERN WORLD. THIS WAS THEIR SEXAGESIMAL SYSTEM.
AKKADIANS
- AROUND 2400 B.C., THE FIRST GREAT WARLORD OF WESTERN HISTORY, SARGON, APPEARED. HIS LANGUAGE WAS AKKADIAN WHICH IS OF THE SEMITIC LINGUISTIC FAMILY (TODAY SEMITES INCLUDE JEWS AND ARABS).
- HE ESTABLISHED THE AKKADIAN KINGDOM WHICH CONQUERED ALL OF MESOPOTAMIA AND REPLACED THE SUMERIAN LANGUAGE.
- AROUND 2200 B.C., THE SUMERIANS REGAINED CONTROL OF SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA AND THE AKKADIANS AND SUMERIANS BECAME INDISTINGUISHABLE.
AMORITES (BABYLONIANS)
- AROUND 2000 B.C., THE CITIES OF SOUTHERN MESOPOTAMIA WERE CONQUERED AGAIN BY A SEMITIC PEOPLE.
- THIS TIME THEY WERE THE AMORITES OR BABYLONIANS WHO ESTABLISHED A CAPITAL AT BABYLON IN THE REGION KNOWN AS BABYLONIA.
- BABYLONIA WAS IN TURMOIL FOR ABOUT TWO CENTURIES UNTIL THE APPEARANCE OF HAMMURABI, BABYLONIA'S GREATEST KING (1792 - 1750 B.C.) HIS GREATEST LEGACY WAS THE CODE OF HUMMURABI.
- THE CODE WAS A LONG SERIES OF LEGAL JUDGEMENTS WHICH STRESSED FAIR DEALING AMONG CITIZENS BUT WAS NOT THE SAME FOR COMMONERS OR SLAVERS.
- PENALTIES FOR CRIME WERE SEVERE.
- THE AMORITES BUILT ON SUMERIAN TRADITIONS REGARDING TRADE RECORDINGS. THEY TOO USED THE SEXAGESIMAL SYSTEM.
- THE AMORITES ALSO DEVELOPED COMPLEX SYSTEMS OF ASTRONOMY AND LEARNED HOW TO REGULARIZE THEIR 12 LUNAR MONTH CALENDAR.
- SOMETIME AFTER 2000 B.C., THE PEOPLES OF MESOPOTAMIA DIVIDED THE YEAR INTO TWELVE MONTHS WITH 30 DAYS EACH.
- THEY ALSO DIVIDED THE WEEK INTO SEVEN DAYS AND THE DAY INTO TWENTY-FOUR HOURS.
- BABYLON FELL APPROXIMATELY IN 1595 B.C. TO THE HITTITES WHO WERE FROM ASIA MINOR (MODERN DAY TURKEY).
ASSYRIANS
- ASSYRIANS DESCENDED FROM SEMITIC NOMADS AND WERE THE NEXT GROUP AFTER THE HITTITES (SECTION #4) TO DOMINATE MESOPOTAMIA.
- ABOUT 900 B.C. THE ASSYRIANS BEGAN THEIR MOST IMPORTANT PERIOD OF CONQUEST AND EXPANSION. BY 700 B.C., THEIR EMPIRE EMBRACED MOST OF THE NEAR EAST.
- THIS SOCIETY WAS HIGHLY MILITARISTIC AND MADE GREAT USE OF IRON WEAPONS.
- THE ASSYRIANS ABSORBED LARGE KINGDOMS INCLUDING THOSE OF BABYLONIA AND EGYPT.
- THE ASSYRIANS USED THE SEMITIC LANGUAGE KNOWN AS ARAMAIC TO UNIFY THEIR EMPIRE.
- THE ASSYRIAN CAPITAL WAS NINEVEH LOCATED ON THE TIGRIS RIVER.
- THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE COLLAPSED BY 612 B.C. WITH THE CAPTURE OF NINEVEH.
- THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE GAVE WAY TO TWO SUCCESSOR STATES:
1) CHALDEAN (NEO-BABYLONIANS)
2) MEDES
CHALDEANS (NEO-BABYLONIANS)
- THE CHALDEANS WERE THE MOST LEARNED ASTRONOMERS OF ANTIQUITY AND THEIR DISCOVERIES WERE PASSED ONTO THE GREEKS AND ROMANS.
- LIKE THE AMORITES, BABYLON WAS THE CAPITAL OF THE CHALDEAN KINGDOM. NEBUCHADNEZZAR WAS THE MOST FAMOUS CHALDEAN KING. UNDER HIM WAS BUILT ONE OF THE SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD - THE HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON.
- IT WAS HE WHO ALSO DESTROYED JERUSALEM AND BROUGHT THE JEWS INTO THE "BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY."
- THE CHALDEAN RULE LASTED LESS THAN ONE HUNDRED YEARS (612 B.C. - 538 B.C.) YET DURING THIS TIME THEY ACCOMPLISHED MUCH IN ASTRONOMY, AGRICULTURE AND IN ELABORATE BUILDINGS.
- THE CHALDEANS WERE SUCCEEDED BY TWO IRANIAN SOCIETIES OF INDO-EUROPEAN ORIGINS, I.E., THE MEDES AND PERSIANS.
MEDES
- THE MEDES FORMED A KINGDOM (MEDIA) AROUND 650 B.C. (EAST OFMESOPOTAMIA) AND WERE NEIGHBORS OF THE PERSIANS WHO EVENTUALLY SUBDUED THEM.
II. PERSIAN EMPIRE
LARGE STATE EAST OF MESOPOTAMIA THAT EMERGED INTO AN EMPIRE UNDER ITS FOUNDER - KING CYRUS (559 - 530 B.C.). IT WAS HE WHO DEFEATED THE MEDES.
- CYRUS NEXT DEFEATED LYDIA UNDER CROESUS WHICH, AS A RESULT, EXTENDED THE PERSIAN EMPIRE WESTWARD TO THE AEGEAN SEA.
- CYRUS NEXT DEFEATED THE CHALDEANS AND CAPTURED BABYLON.
- HIS SUCCESSOR CONQUERED EGYPT IN 525 B.C. AND IT REMAINED UNDER PERSIAN RULE UNTIL ALEXANDER THE GREAT (NO EGYPTIAN RULED INDEPENDENTLY OVER EGYPT UNTIL 1952 A.D.).
- PERSIAN KINGS RULED THEIR IMMENSE EMPIRE FROM SEVERAL CAPITAL CITIES, E.G., SUSA AND PERSEPOLIS.
DARIUS (521-486 B.C.) THE SON-IN-LAW OF CYRUS WAS THE MOST SKILLFUL ADMINISTRATOR OF ALL PERSIAN KINGS.
- DIVIDED HIS EMPIRE INTO 20 PROVINCES EACH RULED BY A SATRAP.
- SATRAPS HAD A HIGH DEGREE OF INDEPENDENCE WHO DISPENSED JUSTICE AND WERE IN CHARGE OF FINANCE.
- UNDER DARIUS, ROADBUILDING BEGUN BY CYRUS, WAS GREATLY EXPANDED.
- A STANDARD SET OF WEIGHTS AND MEASUREMENTS WERE SET UP UNDER DARIUS.
RELIGION
- PERSIAN FAITH FOUNDED BY ZOROASTER.
- ZOROASTRIANISM BELIEVED IN A SUPREME GOD CALLED AHUNA MAZDA WHO SURROUNDED HIMSELF WITH GOOD DIETES. OPPOSED TO HIM WAS THE EVIL AHRIMAN.
- IN THIS DUALIST RELIGION, A DAY OF JUDGEMENT WILL SEE THE FINAL TRIUMPH OF GOOD OVER EVIL.
- NEITHER ZOROASTER NOR ANY OF THE PERSIAN KINGS WERE CONSIDERED DIVINE IN THIS RELIGION.
III. EGYPTIAN SOCIETY
THE BASIC ELEMENT IN EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION HAS BEEN THE NILE RIVER. THE GREAT GREEK HISTORIAN, HERODOTUS, DESCRIBED EGYPT AS "THE GIFT OF THE NILE."
- THE RIVER IS THE LONGEST IN THE WORLD AND IS MADE UP OF THE WHITE NILE AND BLUE NILE JOINED AT KHARTOUM AND FLOWING NORTH TO THE DELTA ALONG THE MEDITERRANEAN.
- MOST OF EGYPT IS UNINHABITABLE AND ANCIENT EGYPTIANS COULD ONLY INHABIT ALONG THE BANKS OF THE RIVER WHICH RELIABLY OVERFLOWS ITS BANKS EVERY SUMMER DEPOSITING A THICK LAYER OF ALLUVIAL SOIL (SILT) FOR CULTIVATION.
- BECAUSE OF THE NILE, EGYPT WAS ABLE TO SUPPORT EVEN MORE THAN ITS OWN POPULATION WITH FOOD AS TWO CROPS A YEAR COULD BE PLANTED.
- EGYPT HAD OTHER ADVANTAGES OVER MESOPOTAMIA BESIDES A RELIABLE FLOOD PERIOD AND A RICHER SOIL.
- EGYPT WAS PROTECTED BY NATURAL BARRIERS, I.E., DESERTS IN THE EAST AND WEST, EQUATORIAL JUNGLES, A HUGE SWAMP AND NUMEROUS WATERFALLS IN THE SOUTH, AND THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA IN THE NORTH.
- BY 3000 B.C., THERE WERE MORE THAN FORTY LARGE SETTLEMENTS ALONG THE NILE.
THE ANCIENT CIVILIZATION OF EGYPT CAN BE DIVIDED INTO THREE MAJOR KINGDOMS WITH INTERMEDIATE PERIODS. THE THREE MAJOR KINGDOMS ARE:
1) OLD KINGDOM - 2700 - 2000 B.C.
2) MIDDLE KINGDOM - 2050 - 1800 B.C.
3) NEW KINGDOM - 1570 - 1085 B.C.
1) OLD KINGDOM (DYNASTIES 3-6)
- DURING THIS TIME, MENES (NARMER), A KING, UNIFIED UPPER AND LOWER EGYPT AND ESTABLISHED A KINGDOM AT MEMPHIS IN LOWER EGYPT.
- THE KING (HE WAS NOT CALLED PHARAOH UNTIL THE NEW KINGDOM) WAS THE OWNER OF ALL OF EGYPT AND HELD ABSOLUTE POWER AND WAS CONSIDERED A GOD.
- THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORY WAS POLYTHEISTIC.
- IN THE FOURTH DYNASTY, THE THREE IMMENSE PYRAMIDS WERE BUILT AT GIZA (NOW WITHIN THE CITY OF CAIRO).
DURING THE OLD KINGDOM, THE SUN GOD, RE, EMERGED AS THE MOST POWERFUL OF GODS. KINGS BEGAN TO CALL THEMSELVES THE SONS OF RE.
THE OLD KINGDOM COLLAPSED FOR SEVERAL REASONS INCLUDING:
1) EXPENDITURES FOR PROJECTS SUCH AS THE PYRAMIDS EXHAUSTED STATE REVENUES.
2) CLIMATIC DISASTERS REDUCED GRAIN AND WEAKENED THE STATE.
3) NOBILITY GREW TOO INDEPENDENT.
4) INVASION INTO THE DELTA BY FOREIGNERS.
2) MIDDLE KINGDOM (DYNASTIES 11 AND 12)
- DURING THE 11TH DYNASTY, THE CAPITAL OF EGYPT BECAME THEBES IN UPPER EGYPT.
- THE GOD AMEN REACHED PROMINENCE DURING THIS KINGDOM AND WAS MERGED WITH RE AS AMEN-RE AND BECAME THE NATIONAL GOD. THE GOD OSIRIS BECAME POPULAR DURING THE MIDDLE KINGDOM. HE WAS ASSOCIATED WITH THE NILE RIVER AND FERTILITY AND RULED OVER THE DEAD.
- HIS SISTER/WIFE WAS ISIS AND THEIR SON WAS HORUS.
- EGYPTIANS LONG BELIEVED IN A PLEASANT LIFE AFTER DEATH AND MADE CAREFUL PREPARATIONS FOR THE PHYSICAL NEEDS OF THE AFTERLIFE. TO PRESERVE THEIR BODIES AFTER DEATH, THEY PERFECTED THE ART OF EMBALMING (MUMMIFICATION).
- THE EGYPTIANS STRIVED FOR "MAAT" - RIGHT ORDER WHICH THE GODS ORDAINED.
- LOWER-CLASS EGYPTIANS GAINED THE RIGHT TO HAVE THEIR BODIES MUMMIFIED.
- THE MIDDLE KINGDOM ALSO WAS TO WITNESS A MASSIVE LAND RECLAMATION PROJECT AT AN OASIS WEST OF THE NILE WHICH INCLUDED THE CONSTRUCTION OF DAMS AND RESERVOIRS.
- DURING THE SECOND INTERMEDIATE PERIOD (DYNASTIES 13-17), EGYPT SAW AN INVASION OF PEOPLE CALLED THE HYKSOS AROUND 1720 B.C. THEY ARE BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN FROM SYRIA AND PALESTINE AND THEY CONTROLLED MAINLY THE REGION OF THE DELTA.
3) NEW KINGDOM (DYNASTIES 18-20)
- HYKSOS WERE DRIVEN OUT OF EGYPT AT BEGINNING OF NEW KINGDOM.
- DURING THE 18TH DYNASTY, RULERS NOW BECAME KNOWN AS "PHARAOHS."
- BECAUSE THE HYKSOS INVASION HAD SHATTERED THE SENSE OF SECURITY THAT EGYPT ONCE HAD, THIS NEW KINGDOM FOLLOWED A POLICY MUCH MORE MILITARISTIC THAN THE FORMER TWO KINGDOMS AND FOCUSED ON EMPIRE BUILDING.
- TWO NEW CLASSES CAME INTO BEING:
A) PROFESSIONAL SOLDIERS
B) SLAVES
- IT WAS DURING THIS KINGDOM THAT EGYPT AND THE HITTITES (FROM ASIA MINOR) WERE THE STRONGEST KINGDOMS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD AND EGYPT ENTERED A PERIOD OF EXPANSION.
- IT WAS DURING THIS PERIOD ALSO THAT JEWS FELL UNDER EGYPT'S DOMINATION.
- DURING THE 18TH DYNASTY, THE GREATEST FEMALE RULER OF ANCIENT TIMES REIGNED - HATSHEPSUT.
- IN 1503 B.C., SHE WAS CROWNED KING OF EGYPT.
- SHE UNDERTOOK SOME MILITARY CAMPAIGNS BUT WAS KNOWN ABOVE ALL AS A BUILDER, E.G., HER GREAT TEMPLE TOMB IN THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS.
- SHE WAS SUCCEEDED BY THUTMOSE III WHO BECAME EGYPT'S MOST DYNAMIC MILITARY STATESMAN.
- HE ESTABLISHED THE EMPIRE AS FAR AS THE EUPHRATES RIVER.
- UNDER THE NEW KINGDOM, A REVOLUTION IN RELIGIOUS PRACTICE OCCURRED UNDER KING AMENHOTEP IV (1379 - 1362 B.C.).
- THIS KING OPPOSED AMEN-RE AND OTHER GODS THAT HAD BEEN FOR CENTURIES THE TRADITIONAL GODS OF THEBES AND PROMOTED THE CONCEPT OF A SINGLE GOD - ATON - THE PHYSICAL DISK OR CIRCLE OF THE SUN.
- HE WAS SUPPORTED BY HIS WIFE NEFERTITI AS HE TRIED TO OVERCOME THE INFLUENCE OF PRIESTS AND BUREAUCRATS IN THEBES.
- HE CHANGED HIS NAME TO AKHNATON.
- HE MOVED HIS CAPITAL FROM THEBES.
- THE NEW KINGDOM BECAME WEAK EXTERNALLY BECAUSE OF AKHNATON'S RELIGIOUS ZEAL WHICH RESULTED IN NEGLECTING THE OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES OF HIS KINGDOM.
- HITTITES WERE ABLE TO CONQUER THE REGION OF NORTHERN SYRIA FROM THE EGYPTIANS BECAUSE OF AKHNATON'S PREOCCUPATION WITH RELIGION.
- THE NEXT PHARAOH, TUTANKHAMEN, CHANGED HIS NAME FROM TUTANKHATON THUS INDICATING THAT RELIGION HAD REVERTED TO WORSHIPPING AMEN-RE.
- THE ROYAL COURT ALSO MOVED BACK TO THEBES AND THE POWER OF THE THEBAN PRIESTS WAS RESTORED.
- THE NEW KINGDOM REGAINED ITS STRENGTH AND FOUGHT AN EPIC YET INDECISIVE BATTLE AT KADESH IN PALESTINE AGAINST THE HITTITES IN 1300 UNDER THE PHARAOH RAMES II.
- HIS TEMPORARY PEACE WITH THE HITTITES ALLOWED HIM TO SPEND MONEY ON BUILDING PROJECTS INCLUDING WORK AT THE TEMPLE OF KARNAK AND THE TEMPLE CARVED OUT OF ROCKY CLIFFS ALONG THE NILE AT ABU SIMBEL.
MILITARY
- THE ARMY OF THE NEW KINGDOM WAS LARGE AND WELL TRAINED.
- EACH DIVISION OF THE EGYPTIAN ARMY CONSISTED OF ABOUT 5,000 MEN.
- 4,000 OF THESE WERE INFANTRY TROOPS.
- 1,000 OF THESE FORMED CHARIOT WINGS.
- CHARIOTS PLAYED AN IMPORTANT PART IN THE TACTICS OF THE NEW KINGDOM ARMY.
EDUCATION
- SCHOOLS, FOR BOYS ONLY, BEGAN AT AGE 7.
- GIRLS WERE TAUGHT AT HOME.
- DISCIPLINE WAS VERY STRICT.
- THROUGH EDUCATION, ONE POSSIBILITY WAS TO BECOME A SCRIBE.
- THIS VOCATION ENSURED A GOOD JOB.
- SCRIBES KEPT THE GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY ORGANIZED.
ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CONTRIBUTIONS
- EGYPTIANS DEVELOPED A FORM OF WRITING KNOWN AS HIEROGLYPHICS ON THE FIRST FORM OF PAPER CALLED PAPYRUS WHICH IS A PLANT THAT GREW IN ABUNDANCE ALONG THE NILE. THE ROSETTA STONE, DISCOVERED WHEN NAPOLEON WAS IN EGYPT, UNLOCKED THE KEY TO TRANSLATING HIEROGLYPHICS.
- LIKE SUMERIAN CUNEIFORM, THEY ARE A COMBINATION OF PICTOGRAMS AND PHONETIC SIGNS.
- EGYPTIANS DEVISED A MORE ACCURATE CALENDAR THAN THE BABYLONIANS.
- EGYPTIANS PROVIDED A RICH VARIETY OF LITERATURE FOCUSING ON MYTHOLOGY AND THE AFTERLIFE.
- EGYPTIANS BECAME MASTERS OF THE ART OF SURVEYING FOR ESTABLISHING BOUNDARIES BETWEEN PLOTS THAT NEEDED CULTIVATION.
- EGYPTIANS APPLIED SCIENTIFIC RATIONALE IN THE AREA OF MEDICINE.
- EGYPTIANS WERE AMONG THE GREATEST BUILDERS OF ALL ANTIQUITY, e.g., THE PYRAMIDS AND GREAT TEMPLES.
- EGYPTIAN SOCIETY MADE IT POSSIBLE TO RISE IN STATURE THROUGH EDUCATION AND IT WAS LIBERAL IN SCOPE TO WOMEN, i.e., MUCH MORE SO THAN ANCIENT GREECE OR ROME.
- DURING THE NEW KINGDOM, WOMEN HAD THE RIGHT TO BUY AND SELL PROPERTY AND TO TESTIFY IN COURT.
- WOMEN HAD THE RIGHTS TO SEEK DIVORCE (RARELY OCCURRED).
- PROPERTY WAS INHERITED THROUGH THE FEMALE LINE.
SIMILARITIES OF MESOPOTAMIAN AND EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATIONS:
- BOTH WERE DEPENDENT ON RIVERS AND RICH SOIL DEPOSITED BY PERIODIC FLOODS.
- BOTH DEVELOPED AND ORGANIZED SYSTEMS OF IRRIGATION AND FLOOD CONTROL.
- BOTH EVENTUALLY HAD POWERFUL KINGS AND A PRIESTLY CASTE.
- BOTH BELIEVED IN POLYTHEISM AND ALL POWERFUL GODS.
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MESOPOTAMIAN AND EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION:
- MESOPOTAMIA WAS NOT AS WELL PROTECTED GEOGRAPHICALLY.
- MESOPOTAMIAN RIVERS WERE NOT AS NAVIGABLE.
- MESOPOTAMIAN RIVER FLOODS WERE NOT AS RELIABLE.
- MESOPOTAMIAN CULTURE AND RELIGION REFLECTED A SENSE OF INSTABILITY AND PESSIMISM.
BETWEEN THESE TWO AREAS AROSE A NUMBER OF SMALLER AND POLITICALLY LESS SIGNIFICANT STATES - THE MOST IMPORTANT ONES WERE:
- PHOENICIA
- HEBREW STATE
IV. EARLY INDO-EUROPEANS
NEW FAMILY OF PEOPLES BEGAN TO APPEAR DURING THE NEW KINGDOM OF EGYPT.
- LANGUAGES SPOKEN WOULD BE THE BASIS OF LANGUAGES OF MODERN EUROPE, i.e., ENGLISH, FRENCH, SPANISH, RUSSIAN AS WELL AS INDIA, PAKISTAN AND IRAN.
- NO PRESERVED WRITINGS IN INDO-EUROPEAN EXIST.
- SPEAKERS OF INDO-EUROPEAN WERE FIRST CLUSTERED IN SOUTHERN RUSSIA.
- AROUND 5,000 B.C., THEY BEGAN A SLOW DISPERSION ACROSS EUROPE AND PARTS OF SOUTHERN ASIA.
HITTITES
- AN INDO-EUROPEAN GROUP THAT CAME TO ASIA MINOR (MODERN TURKEY) AND SHATTERED THE AMORITES (BABYLONIANS) IN 1595 B.C.
- THE HITTITES ESTABLISHED A LARGE KINGDOM IN MODERN TURKEY WHICH CAME INTO CONFLICT WITH EGYPT. IT REACHED ITS GREATEST HEIGHT BETWEEN 1400 B.C. AND 1200 B.C. THE EGYPTIANS AND HITTITES WERE THE TWO MOST POWERFUL KINGDOMS OF THE BRONZE AGE WHICH ENDED IN APPROXIMATELY 1000 B.C. THE BRONZE AGE (3,000-1,000 B.C.) WOULD BE REPLACED BY THE IRON AGE.
- THE INTRODUCTION OF IRON HAD PROFOUND SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CIVILIZATION.
- IRON WAS MORE READILY AVAILABLE AND CHEAPER THAN BRONZE AND WAS INCORPORATED INTO WEAPONS.
- IRON AGE STATES GREW MORE FORMIDABLE MILITARILY AND BETTER WEAPONS BECAME MORE AVAILABLE.
- THE HITTITE KING WAS GENERAL, CHIEF JUDGE AND HIGH PRIEST.
- POWER AMONG THE HITTITES WAS LIMITED TO A SMALL NUMBER OF FAMILIES.
V. PHOENICIA AND PALESTINE
IN ADDITION TO MESOPOTAMIA AND EGYPT, A THIRD AREA OF CIVILIZATION IN THE NEAR EAST DEVELOPED IN THE REGION KNOWN AS PHOENICIA AND PALESTINE.
PHOENICIANS AROSE ALONG A NARROW STRIP OF THE MEDITERRANEAN (PRESENT DAY LEBANON). THEY HAD BEEN DOMINATED BY EGYPTIANS, BABYLONIANS AND HITTITES. THEY GAINED THEIR INDEPENDENCE AROUND 1200 B.C. WHICH LASTED UNTIL ABOUT 800 B.C.
- THEY FOUND LITTLE OPPORTUNITIES FOR AGRICULTURE IN THEIR NARROW MOUNTAINOUS STRIP OF LAND BUT THEY BECAME THE FOREMOST NAVIGATORS OF THEIR TIME.
- THEY ESTABLISHED TRADING ROUTES WITH AREAS AS FAR AWAY AS GUAL AND BRITAIN.
- THEY FOUNDED COLONIES IN SPAIN AND IN NORTH AFRICA THEY FOUNDED THE FAMOUS COLONY OF CARTHAGE.
A GROUP OF SEMITIC TRIBES, THE CANAANITES, ORIGINALLY INHABITED THE AREA OF PALESTINE ABOUT THE TIME OF THE OLD KINGDOM IN EGYPT.
- THE CANAANITES' OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION WAS A SIMPLIFIED ALPHABET WHICH THEY CREATED AFTER THEIR FORCED MIGRATION TO PHOENICIA THAT WAS LATER ADOPTED BY THE GREEKS AND BECAME THE ANCESTOR OF WESTERN ALPHABETS.
- WERE FORCED INTO PHOENICIA AROUND 1200 B.C.
EARLY HEBREWS:
- VARIOUS TRIBES BEGAN WANDERING INTO PALESTINE FROM THE EAST AROUND 1900 B.C. LED BY PATRIARCHS.
- THE MOST FAMOUS WAS ABRAHAM WHO ALSO CAME FROM MESOPOTAMIA. ABRAHAM'S SON, JACOB, ORGANIZED THESE NOMADIC PEOPLE INTO 12 TRIBES UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF HIS SONS.
- THE PEOPLE CALLED THEMSELVES ISRAEL - "GOD STROVE" OR "GOD RULED." THOSE TRIBES THAT HAD MIGRATED TO EGYPT LEFT DURING THE NEW KINGDOM (RAMES II) UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF MOSES.
- MOSES ORGANIZED THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL AND SOME NEIGHBORING CANAANITES INTO A CONFEDERATION BOUND BY A COVENANT TO A SINGLE GOD (MONOTHEISTIC) WRITTEN IN HEBREW SCRIPT AS YHWH (YAHWEH).
ACCORDING TO THE BOOK OF EXODUS, MOSES RECEIVED INSTRUCTIONS DIRECTLY FROM YAHWEH INCLUDING THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.
- THE OLD TESTAMENT STATES THAT JOSHUA, THE SUCCESSOR OF MOSES, LED THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL INTO THE PROMISED LAND.
- ABOUT 1020 B.C., SAUL BECAME KING AND LED ISRAEL AGAINST A GROUP OF PEOPLE KNOWN AS THE PHILISTINES.
- SAUL'S SUCCESSOR WAS DAVID WHO MADE JERUSALEM THE CAPITAL OF ISRAEL AND IT WAS HE WHO EXTENDED ISRAEL TO ITS FARTHEST BOUNDARIES. DAVID'S SON, SOLOMON WAS A SKILLFUL ADMINISTRATOR AND BUILDER. IT WAS SOLOMON WHO BUILT THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM.
- AFTER SOLOMON'S DEATH, ISRAEL SPLIT INTO TWO:
1) NORTHERN HALF - ISRAEL
2) SOUTHERN HALF - JUDEA
- IN 722 B.C., THE ASSYRIANS CONQUERED ISRAEL. JUDEA WAS NOW THE ONLY ISRAELITE KINGDOM, AND FROM THIS POINT ON THE REMAINING ISRAELITES ARE KNOWN AS JEWS.
- IN 586 B.C., JUDEA FELL TO THE CHALDEANS (NEO-BABYLONIANS) AND THIS BEGAN THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY.
- AFTER THIS PERIOD, THE JEWS IN GENERAL BECAME POLITICAL PAWNS OF VARIOUS FORCES THAT RULED PALESTINE.
- THE JEWS ARE THE ONLY SOCIETY ORIGINATING IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST WHOSE TRADITIONS REMAIN VITAL IN MODERN TIMES ESPECIALLY THOSE CENTERING ON THEIR MONOTHEISTIC RELIGION. THEY THUS POSSESS THE MOST INFLUENTIAL CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST.