Download The Ancient Near East

The Ancient Near East
The Ancient Near East
Common themes?
 Differences?

Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia
– “Between the rivers”
– Within Fertile Crescent
– Accomplished through irrigation, canals  agriculture
Mesopotamia

The Sumerians
(ca. 3800-2400 BC)
– First great
Mesopotamians
– Settled in Fertile
Crescent
– Sumer
 30 city-states
 Common culture, trade
 City-states often at war
Mesopotamia

Accomplishments
– Inventions: wheel,
plow
– Agriculture
– Writing: CUNEIFORM
Tablets with cuneiform
Mesopotamia

Government
– MONARCHY, by
2700 BC
– Almost always kings
– Functions




King Sargon II (r. 722-705 BC)
Representatives of gods
Legislators
Justice
Patrons
Mesopotamia

King Hammurabi
(r. 1792-1750 BC)
– Ruler of Amorites
– Conquered all
Mesopotamia
– Capital: Babylon
– Great legislator
Mesopotamia

The Code of Hammurabi
– 282 legal rulings
– Violent punishments!
– Hammurabi and Shamash
depicted
– “When the god Marduk
commanded me to provide
just ways for the people of
the land in order to attain
appropriate behavior, I
established truth and
justice as the declaration of
the land, I enhanced the
well-being of the people.”
Mesopotamia

The Code of Hammurabi
– “196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his
eye shall be put out.
– 197. If he break the other 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.”
Mesopotamia

Religion
– POLYTHEISTIC
– The gods
 ANTHROPOMORPHIC
 Immortal, powerful
 Feared
– Afterlife
Hammurabi and Shamash
Mesopotamia
Statuettes of worshipers from the Square Temple at Eshnunna (ca. 2700 BC)
Mesopotamia

Ziggurat
– “Towering” structures
– Temple on top
– Nucleus of city
Mesopotamia
Nanna Ziggurat, Ur (Muqaiyir, Iraq), ca. 2100 – ca. 2050 BC
Mesopotamia

Literature
– Epic of Gilgamesh
(ca. 2500 BC)
 About semi-divine king
of Uruk, friend Enkidu
 Enkidu’s death 
Gilgamesh’s pursuit of
immortality
– Enuma Elish
(ca. 11th-cent. BC)
 Origins
 Cosmic battle between
gods  creation
Enkidu and Gilgamesh
Mesopotamia

Questions?
Egypt

Ancient Egypt
– The Nile
 Flowed from Nubia to
Delta
 Flooded annually 
fertility, prosperity
 Symbol of life
– Upper Egypt, Lower
Egypt  unified state
(ca. 3100 BC)
Egypt

The Pharaoh
– Egypt’s monarch
– Divine offspring of sun
god
– Ruled through
bureaucracy
– Worshiped after death
Pharaoh Tutankhamun (r. 1333-1324 BC)
Egypt

Religion
– Very spiritual people
– Polytheistic
Egypt

The Afterlife
– Ka lives on after death
– Judgment before divine tribunal
– Mummification
Egypt
Mummies, British Museum, London
Egypt
Egypt
Mummy with amulets, Vatican Museum
Egypt
Egypt

Writing
– Papyrus
– HIEROGLYPHICS
Egypt
The Rosetta Stone at
the British Museum
Egypt

The Pyramids
– Purpose: pharaohs’
glory, tombs
– Great Pyramids, Gizeh
(ca. 2500 BC)
 Near Cairo
 Gold once visible
 Aligned with stars?
Great Pyramids, Gizeh, Egypt
Tombs of Menkaure, Khafre, Khufu (ca. 2500 BC)
Egypt

The Great Sphinx
(ca. 2500 BC)
– Lion, human head
– Guardian
Egypt

The Egyptian Empire
(ca. 1550-1075 BC)
– Borders: Euphrates to
Nubia
– Capital: Thebes
Egypt

Hatshepsut
(r. 1479-1457 BC)
– Widow of Thutmose II,
regent to Thutmose III
– Declared herself
pharaoh!
– Peaceful reign
– Thutmose sought to
destroy memory of her
Egypt

Decline of Egypt (ca. 1076 BC)
– Pharaohs lost power to priests
– Empire disintegrated
– Prominent international role lost
– Suffered invasions, occupations
Egypt

Questions?
Israel

Israel
– “The Hebrews”
– First recorded national
history
– Founders of “Western
religious tradition”:
MONOTHEISM
Israel

The Patriarchs
(ca. 2000-1500 BC)
–
–
–
–
Abraham
Isaac
Jacob
Twelve tribes, *Joseph
Abraham and Isaac
Israel

The Exodus
(ca. 1300 BC)
– Israelites oppressed in
Egypt
– Moses led them out
– Journey through
wilderness 
“Promised Land”
– THE TEN
COMMANDMENTS
Moses and the Ten Commandments
Israel

The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17)
– “And God spoke all these words: ‘I am the Lord your God, who
brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall
have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself
an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the
earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to
them or worship them…You shall not misuse the name of the
Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who
misuses his name. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it
holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the
seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall
not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your
male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner
residing in your towns…’”
Israel

The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17)
– “‘Honor your father and your mother, so that you may
live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony
against your neighbor. You shall not covet your
neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s
wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey,
or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’”
Israel
Israel
Israel

Religion
– Hebrew God: YHWH
 Creator, redeemer
 No images!
– Cult
 Male priesthood
 Tabernacle, altars
 Holy days
– Sacred text: TORAH
Israel
Israel

Government
– Confederation of
tribes, at first
– United monarchy
(ca. 1020-928 BC)
– Hebrew kingship
 Not divine
 YHWH’s servant, vassal
 Bound by Law
Israel

The United Monarchy
– KING DAVID
(r. 1004-965 BC)
 Origins: shepherd,
mercenary
 Expansion, conquest
– KING SOLOMON
(r. 965-928 BC)
 Israel at its zenith
 Temple
David
Israel
Edward Poynter, The Queen of Sheba before Solomon (1890)
Israel
Solomon’s Temple, Jerusalem
Israel

The Divided Kingdom
(928-722 BC)
– Northern tribes broke away
 Kingdom of Israel
 Idols
 Conquered by Assyria
(722 BC)
– Kingdom of Judah
 Monotheism, idols too
 Conquered by Babylon
(598-586 BC)
Israel

Questions?
Persia

The Persian Empire
(559-331 BC)
– Iran: home of Medes
and Persians
– The Empire
King Cyrus the Great
 Initiated by Cyrus the
Great (r. 559-530 BC)
 Conquered Medes,
Babylon, beyond
 Largest empire yet
Persia
Persia

The Military
– Ruled by warrior
aristocracy
– 300,000 soldiers!
– Cavalry
– First great navy
Persia

The King
–
–
–
–
“King of kings”
Had khvarna
Brilliant in appearance!
Bound by rule of law,
nobility
King Darius I
(r. 521-486 BC)
Persia
Royal Road

Ruling the Empire
–
–
–
–
Strategy: tolerance, humane rule
Divided into 20 satrapies
Systems of roads
Main language: Aramaic
Persia

Religion
– Initially polytheism
– Zoroastrianism
 Prophet: Zarathustra
(ca. 1000-550 BC)
 Ethical, inward-looking
 Dualistic: Light vs.
Darkness
 Magi
Open-air fire altar
dedicated to Supreme Creator
Persia

Questions?
The Ancient Near East
Common themes?
 Differences?
