Mesopotamia
Means the land between the rivers
Euphrates
Tigris
Rivers of life and death
Inundation
Drought
Planting cycle
City-states
12 in Mesopotamia
Each is like its own monarchy
Continually competing for control of the area
Sargon (the Great)
King of Sumer
Builds 1st empire – unites city-states
Establishes a standing army
Endorses plundering to feed his men
Dies in 2279 B.C.E.
Period of chaos
Social Classes in Mesopotamia
Kings/priests
Scribes/merchants
Skilled workers
(scribes- people who can read and write)
unskilled workers
Slaves
May be POW’s or enslaved to pay off a debt or for a crime
Ziggurat Temples built in the city-states to honor the main god of that city-state Each city-state would have one Ceremonies and religious celebrations would take place there
Religion in Mesopotamia
Ancient Mesopotamians attributed the forces of nature to the workings of divine forces. Since there are many forces of nature, so there were many gods and goddesses, including four creator gods.
The highest of the four creator gods was the sky-god An, the over-arching bowl of heaven.
Next came Enlil who could either produce raging storms or act to help man.
Nin-khursag was the earth goddess.
The fourth god was Enki, the water god and patron of wisdom.
How the Gods Helped Mankind
The gods bound people together in their social groups and were believed to have provided what they needed to survive. The Sumerians developed stories and festivals to explain and harness help for their physical environment. Once a year came the new year and with it, the Sumerians thought the gods decided what would happen to mankind for the coming year.
The priests were responsible for the sacrifices and rituals that were essential for the help of the gods. In addition, property belonged to the gods, so priests administered it. This made the priests valuable and important figures in their communities. And so, the priestly class developed.
Cuneiform
Mesopotamian writing system
Cuneiform script is one of the earliest known systems of writing, distinguished by its wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets, made by means of a blunt reed for a stylus. The name cuneiform itself simply means "wedge shaped.”
550 Characters
Pictures and symbols
Sumerian Technology/Art/ science and Culture
First wheeled vehicles
Chariots and wagons
Potters wheel
Focus on astrology
Math
percent's, exponents, multiplication
Literature – the Epic of Gilgamesh
Babylon
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Hammurabi
1792 B.C.E. 6th King of Babylon
From the Amorite people, assimilated into Mesopotamia, developed area of Babylon
built empire by
capturing several city-states
adopting parts of Sumerian culture
becoming the center of trade
repairing temples, improving irrigation, and creating a well organized army.
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Code of Hammurabi
First major written collection of laws
282 laws dealing with trade, labor, property and family.
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Code of Hammurabi reveals:
1. A stern sense of justice –
An “eye for an eye”
Severe punishments for crimes such as bribery, theft, dishonest weights and measures, or damage to another's property.
Law - 2. If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.
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2. A sharp division of classes
Punishment was based on class
A harsher punishment would be given for a crime against a noble or a priest and a more lenient punishment would be given for a crime against a common person – artisan, merchant, farmer, or slave
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195 If a son strike his father, his hands shall be hewn off. 196 If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out. [ An eye for an eye ] 197 If he break another man's bone, his bone shall be broken. 198 If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina. 199 If he put out the eye of a man's slave, or break the bone of a man's slave, he shall pay one-half of its value.
200 If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out. [ A tooth for a tooth ] 201 If he knock out the teeth of a freed man, he shall pay one-third of a gold mina. 202 If any one strike the body of a man higher in rank than he, he shall receive sixty blows with an ox-whip in public. 203 If a free-born man strike the body of another free-born man or equal rank, he shall pay one gold mina. 204 If a freed man strike the body of another freed man, he shall pay ten shekels in money.
3. Fair Treatment of Women
They could own property, engage in business
Husband had legal duty to support wife
Wife should live with husband and be dependent on him
Fathers had unlimited authority over children – stable households make stable empires
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4. An advanced Business Society
Established regulations for protecting property and business contracts
Limited interest on loans
Set wages for workers
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Assyria
Assyria was between the Tigris River and the Zagros Mts. in northern Mesopotamia
lived in cities, surrounded by small farming villages.
Would conquer neighbors to control fertile land and trade routes
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Old Assyria
2025 BCE – 1393 BCE
Capital Assur or Ashur
King was seen as a high priest
They were a warrior society
All males had to serve in military
Horse breeding was extensive
Executions, whippings, and forced
Labor were common
Ashurbanipal
was an Assyrian king
last strong king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
He is famed for amassing a significant collection of cuneiform documents for his royal palace at Nineveh. This collection, known as the Library of Ashurbanipal
He was ruthless to those he conquered, would have people flayed and have pillars of skulls built
Middle Assyria 1392 BCE – 934 BCE Great power – overthrew 25th dynasty of Egypt. Drove Ethiopians, Kushites, and Nubians from the area.
At its height, the Empire encompassed the whole of the modern nations of Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Palestine and Cyprus, together with large swathes of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Sudan, Libya, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
Most warlike people
Iron weapons, moveable towers, cavalry, chariots, infantry would dig tunnels
Cruel and violent – ruthless treatment of conquered people
Deport rebellious people from their homelands
Boasted of their brutality
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Nineveh
Assyrian capital
Desire for order – laws regulating life
Wealthy from trade and looting – splendid palaces
King Assurbanipal
Cultured ruler, could read and write
founded 1 of the first libraries, 20,000 items
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The Assyrian Empire was severely crippled following the death of Ashurbanipal in 627 BC—the nation and its empire descending into a prolonged and brutal series of civil wars involving three rival kings.
Others took advantage of the bitter fighting among the Assyrians to raid Assyrian colonies, ravaging parts of the empire, including Levant, Israel and Judah and all the way into Egypt whose coasts were ravaged and looted with impunity.
This led to a coalition of forces to unite and launch a massive combined attack in 612 BC, finally besieging and entering Nineveh in late 612 BC
Babylon
Nebuchadnezzar II
Babylonian King
Revives power of Babylon and creates new Babylonian empire
Attacks Jerusalem, capital of Judah in 598 B.C.E., because they refuse to pay tribute
Exiles thousands of Jews to Babylon
Destroys temple of Solomon
Was suppose to house the Ark of the Covenant
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Nebuchadnezzar
Rebuilt:
Canals, temples, palaces
Created the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
A wonder of the ancient world
Gardens built by planting trees and flowers on and around the steps of a huge Ziggurat
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Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar
Nebuchadnezzar
Under his reign – new areas of learning
Astrology – the superstition that the movement of stars, planets, and other heavenly bodies directly affect the lives of human beings
Through study they learned to identify planets and to foretell eclipses
539 B.C. Babylon will fall to Persia, Cyrus the Great
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Later Assyria as well as Mesopotamia
Will fall under the Persians
The Greeks
The Romans
680-780 Islam will enter the area
It will fall under Mongol rule in 1258 when Hulago Khan takes over Baghdad.
Later will be the Ottoman influence
The Persians
Cyrus the Great
will conquer Babylonian territory
will allow the exiled Jews to return to their lands
will be seen as a liberator
will control area until Alexander the Great conquers the territory
Persian Empire
Alexander the Greats Empire
Roman Empire
Ottoman Empire
Prehistory – Early Man
Understanding Date Classifications
B.C. - Before Christ
B.C.E. – Before Common Era
Numbers go in reverse – larger # to smaller # - to zero
A.D. – Anno Domini – In the year of our Lord
Develops during Roman era to offset Pagan traditions
C.E. –Common Era
1
Archeologists use artifacts and fossils to understand early societies that did not write
2
Hominids are the first upright beings (walk on 2 feet)
Hominids, were found in Africa
Locations of early hominids
Hominids come from the great ape population separated into 3 groups
1- present day gorillas
1-chimpanzees
1- modern humans, after a long and complicated evolutionary process
3
LUCY
a full female skeleton of a early hominid being
that could stand up and had opposable thumbs
(Age about 3 million yrs.)
Height about 3feet
Walked upright
Ape size brain
Jaw and teeth human like
Arms were long, they hung to the midpoint between hips and knees
What are the advantages of walking upright?
Homo Hablis
First True Humans
Use stone tools – have skills
Taller – larger brains
Increased use of hands
Longer arms than modern humans
2 million B.C
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Homo Erectus
The upright man
First to create and use fire (500,000-250,000 yrs ago)
Cooked Food – (gives more energy than raw food and the cooked food gives the brain more energy needed for growth).
Traveled over land bridge from Africa throughout Eurasia and Americas (earliest to migrate for extended periods)
Primitive Hunters
Family Dynamics
May have used a language
1 million to 375,000 B.C.
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Migrations in and out of Africa
For 120,000 years people migrated throughout Africa, about 80,000 – 50,000 years ago people began to migrate out of Africa
Land Bridge Migration
Homo Sapiens
Known as Neanderthals
Very muscular
Used hand axes
Hunters and gathers
Lived in warm caves and painted them
Buried their dead
375,000 -40,000 years ago.
Migrate out of Africa around
100,000 and 50,000 years ago
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Altamira Cave - Spain
Cave paintings show that people had a cultural awareness. It is symbolic expression that transmits group identity just as using feathers or painting ones face does.
Caves in Africa show people in the Sahara about 100,000 years ago swimming and animals grazing.
Modern Homo Sapiens
Called Cro-Magnons
Bodies like modern humans
Used more advanced tools – sickles, stone axes, bows and arrows
Created stone houses
First to become herders and farmers
Worked together on large scale hunts
In 1997 a modern Homo Sapiens skull was
found in Africa and has been dated as
160,000 years old.
20,000 – 3000 B.C. (ice age ends 10,000 B.C.E.)
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Drawbacks of Species
Unusually aggressive
Human babies are dependent for a long time
Back problems
Awareness of one’s mortality- humans know they will die
Distinctive Features
Opposable thumbs
Regular sex- high sex drive
Omnivores
Distinctive brain
Ability for elaborate speech
Needs of man
Food
Shelter
Clothing
Community
Skills
Companionship
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Nomadic Life
People move
For food
What does migration do for those migrating and for the areas they go to?
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Development of Agriculture
Results from the ending of the Ice Age
About 10,000 years ago
Warmer climates –
results in population increases, which spur search for more reliable sources of food
Planting/harvesting
Big game animals (Mastodons) retreat so need to hunt smaller animals.
domesticate new animals – sheep, pigs, goats, cattle – use for meat, skins, and diary
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Middle East
Where farming initially developed
The Fertile Crescent – from present day Turkey to Iraq and Israel
Spread of Agriculture
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Agricultural Life
Farming allows people to settle down
Create villages
Domesticate – to control plants and animals or control your food sources
Around 9000 B.C.E. new domesticated animals- pigs, sheep, goats, cattle
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Domestication or control of food sources
Creates a division of labor between
food producing groups and non food producing groups
Allows for specialization – art, religions, carpentry
With Division of Labor comes Social Classes
What could be the advantages of staying in 1 place?
More permanent houses of stone, mud brick, timber frameworks, some with windows and painted walls
Wells could be built
Irrigation systems developed
Help in chores and defense
Disadvantages-
Deforestation, erosion, flooding
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Catal Huyuk- example of agricultural town
Town – 7000-5500 BCE
Farming
Trading
Skills develop
Start to rule over other communities
Some families specialize in politics
Military forces are organized
Some towns become small cities
Ruled by kings- divine status
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Agricultural Societies
Some practice slash and burn and do continue to move
Burn trees
Farm intensively for several years until soil is depleted
Agricultural Societies
1. A kind of week – interruption in it with a religious significance
2. Weeks ended or began on market days
3. Rituals around planting and harvesting
4. Importance of science and math
5. Patriarchal system – dominance of men over women
6. Women are seen as property
7. Women’s sexual faithfulness is of high importance (WHY??)
8. Encourage high birth rates (WHY ??)
9. Men grew the staple crop
10. Have greater liability of disease (WHY ??)
11. Have greater inequality (WHY??)
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Advanced civilizations
Writing
ability to pass on and share information
Technology
new tools – plows, hoes
Irrigation – move water for farming/drinking
grow more crops,
people live farther from water
Boats and carts
travel faster and easier
Creates exchange of ideas
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7 features of a Civilization
1. advanced cities – many people – centers of trade
2. specialized workers
3. government
4. organized religion
5. an economy
6. record keeping – writing
7. advanced technology – tools and problem solving
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Egypt
Isis and Osiris - gods brother and sister/ husband and wife
Son – Horus
Osiris brother is Seth or Set
Set kills Osiris/ Cuts up his body
Isis finds all the pieces and reassembles him
Osiris moves to the underworld with the god of the underworld Anubis
Egypt – many gods - polytheistic
Nile
The giver of life
Used for crops
Fresh water source
Transportation
trade
Rosetta Stone
Was an Egyptian decree in 3 languages
Hieroglyphs
Demotic
Greek
- this language allowed for translation of the hieroglyphics
Demotic script
During the 26th Dynasty it became the preferred script at court, however during the 4th century it was gradually replaced by a the Greek alphabet.
The Demotic script was used for writing business, legal, scientific, literary and religious documents. It was written almost exclusively from right to left in horizontal lines and mainly in ink on papyrus. Demotic inscriptions on wood and stone are also known.
Social Classes in Egypt
Pharaoh-royal family
Leading families, priests
Merchants, skilled workers, scribes
Unskilled, farmers
Slaves
(scribes –
people who can read and write)
Life in Egypt
Pharaoh – is a god
Rulers pass down power through the family line and create dynasties
Skilled workers for pyramids and writing
Laborers for big building projects – dams, pyramids, obelisks, temples
Farmers, also labor when they have time
Slaves – may do some labor on pyramids, but they were built by skilled workers for the most part
Egyptian Afterlife
Trial must be endured to reach paradise
Body must also be preserved so your life force or Ka can go on
Need body for the afterlife!!
They see the afterlife as positive
Egyptian Afterlife
Book of the Dead- prepares one for the afterlife. It provides advice and incantations to get the deceased through the trials of the underworld and into paradise.
Mummification
Preserve body for afterworld
Canopic jars
Royal tombs- need to take your possessions with you
Death, Judgement and Eternity
Death
Ka-or life force leaves the body first, Ba- or soul follows after burial. The falcon headed god, Horus, leads Ba, through the doorways of fire and cobras into the hall of judgment
Judgment
The jackal headed god, Anubis, weighs the deceased heart, the site of the conscience, against the feather of ma’at, which refers to things as they should be.
Osiris, king of the underworld and other gods watch as judges. If the heart is too heavy or too light, a monster that is part lion, part crocodile, and part hippopotamus devours it, dooming the deceased to a perpetual coma.
Eternity
If the heart balances, the winged Ba and the Ka reunite to form Akh, or spirit, which emerges in the bright realm ruled by Osiris. The Akh can now re-enter the living world and enjoy its pleasures, including love and attention of servants.
Mummification for regular people
Canopic Jars hold internal organs 4 jars – the 4 sons of Horus – job is to protect the organs Baboon Head – Hapy – protects lungs Human Head – Imsety – protects liver Jackal Head – Duamutef – protects stomach and upper intestines Falcon Head – Qebehsenuef – protects lower intestines
Temples
First Burial Tombs - Mastaba
Made from mud brick
Step pyramid
Djoser – first pharaoh to use stone Also a step pyramid
Red Pyramid and Bent Pyramid Snefru
Pyramids at Giza - Kufu perfect and smooth sided Elaborate substructures under all pyramids
Obelisks
Hatshepsut
Only female pharaoh
Used obelisks to promote
herself as the rightful ruler
King Tut or Tutankhamun
Rules from age 9-18
Dies from a chariot accident
Tomb found undisturbed in 1922 by Howard Carter
He was buried in the Valley of the Kings in an underground tomb which replaced pyramids.
This was done in the hopes of preventing tomb robbing.
King Tut’s Tomb
Valley of the Kings
Valley of the Kings
Compare Egypt and Mesopotamia Both cultures had - noble class, social classes, monuments, afterlife, change comes from outside forces
Egypt
Stable
Decorative art
Strong central authority
Status of women is higher
Positive afterlife
No female infanticide
Mesopotamia
Less stable
Art-less monumental structures
Wide ranging trade contacts
Attention to merchant class and commercial law
Female infanticide
Negative afterlife
Heritage of the River Valleys
Wheel
Alphabets
Writing tools
Square roots
Tame horses
Calendars
Monarchies
Bureaucracies
Divisions of time
Slavery
WILL BE ON THE TEST!!!!!!
Diaspora
the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland ...
Phoenicia present day Lebanon and Syria
Phoenicians
Fringe group – has influence on areas through trade, they preferred opening new markets and ports rather than subduing frontiers. They remained free of Assyrian control by giving Assyrian Kings expensive luxuries.
(Called the Chanani, then called the Canaanites in the bible).
They are known today by the name the Greeks gave them – Phoenicians or Purple People
They were called this because of an expensive purple dye they made.
Phoenicia
Maritime culture
Ship builders – had access to a forest of massive cedars. Also traded the wood.
Excellent sailors
Good metal skills- tools, weapons, jewelry
Produce glass
Purple dye from sea mollusks – connected with Royalty
Alphabet-
22 letters
Distinct sounds
(allowed educated people to communicate with one another and reduced the need for professional scribes).
Phoenician Alphabet
Lydians
1st to introduce coined money
Changes barter system
Barter – exchange of a good for a good a good for a service, a service for a service
Jews (originally the Hebrews, also known as the Israelites)
Area south of Lebanon around 1200-1000 BCE
Develops into kingdom in Jerusalem under David around 1000-960 BCE
David was succeeded by Solomon
Kingdom fragments after Solomon
Forming Israel in the North and
Judah in the South.
Reign of David and Solomon
Educated people focused on one God – YHWH (Yahweh) over other regional deities
This was referred to as henotheism – which means recognition of the power of 1 god over other spirits and deities that still exist.
Gradually they moved to monotheism.
Monotheism
The acceptance of only 1 God to the exclusion of all others.
The transition to monotheism was helped by prophets who threatened divine annihilation for groups that opposed the idea of 1 temple, 1 god, and 1 moral system.
Transition was completed by 600’s BCE
Jews
Were distinct in their belief in 1 God – monotheism
They believed God guided their destinies and the basis of this guidance was the Hebrew Bible or the Torah.
The Torah became the contract between the Jews and their one God. It regulated all aspects of their lives.
Torah was written by Moses. Torah is the 1st 5 books of the Bible
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Deuteronomy
Numbers
Jewish people saw themselves as God’s chosen people
Converting non-Jews was not important
Jews concept of God – less humanlike, more abstract
God was linked to ethical behavior
Religion for the Jews was a way of life, not just rituals or ceremonies
From the power point on the 5 themes of Geography please answer the following.
1. Explain the difference between relative and absolute location.
2. What is meant by the term Human-Environmental Interaction and give an example of this?
3. What moves and what is the larger effect or impact of this movement?
4. What is a region?
From the Early Man power point define the following.
Archeologist
Artifact- give an example
Domestication
Hunter/Gatherer
Nomad
Hominids- read all the info I provided for this.
Irrigation- be very specific
Division of Labor
From the Early Man Power Point.
Who is Lucy?
What were the characteristics of Homo Hablis?
of Neandrthrals?
of Homo Erectus?
From the Early Man Power Point
1. Discuss why civilizations began.
2. Where did civilizations first develop?
3. What are 6 of the characteristics of a civilization.
4. What is meant by the term division of labor?
5. What are 4 characteristics of an advanced civilization or society.
From the Mesopotamia Power Points. Answer the following.
1. What was the Fertile Crescent?
2. What were the two main rivers the Fertile Crescent developed on?
3. Who was Sargon?
4. What city state was Hammurabi king of?
5. What did Hammurabi create?
6. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked which group of people?
7. What did Nebuchadnezzar destroy that is important to these people?
8. What does Nebuchadnezzar build in Babylon?
9. What were the Assyrians like?
10. Give 3 examples of Assyrian behavior?
11. What was the name of the Assyrian capital?
The Jews.
1. What was the name of their Holy Book?
2. What part of the Bible is this book located in?
3. What do the Jews believe about themselves?
4. What is different about their beliefs as compared to the other civilizations discussed so far?
5. How do the Jews view God?
6. What is meant by diaspora?
From the Egypt notes:
1. What was the Rosetta Stone?
2. What languages were on the stone?
3. Which language helped decode the hieroglyphics?
4. What are hieroglyphics, be very specific?
5. What are Mastabas?
6. What did Djoser make his pyramid out of?
7. Why were Pyramids built?
8. What did Pharaohs take with them to the afterlife?
9. Which pyramids are seen as the most perfect and the ones most of us recognize today? Think location, the Pyramids of ____.
The Phoenicians.
1. Name two products they produced?
2. Why were they able to produce those products?
3. Explain their alphabet and the significance of it over cuneiform in Sumeria and Babylon.
In this answer be sure to discuss exactly what the Phoenician alphabet was like, exactly what cuneiform was like and why cuneiform would not be desirable in a trading area such as Phoenicia.
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