Download The Jews 2000

The Fertile
Crescent
Preview
• What country is this?
• What significant features stand out
to you?
• What cues did you use from the
photograph to determine the name
of the country?
• Is this a place you would consider
visiting? Why or why not.
Processing
• Phocenia wh/ = modern day Lebanon
• What cues did you use from the
photograph to determine the name of
the country?
• Is this a place you would consider
visiting?
• Why or why not Why do you think this
city was and is important?
• The Fertile Crescent
–Israel, Jordan, Syria,
Lebanon, Iraq
–Tigris & Euphrates
•Mesopotamia: Land
between the rivers
Civilization begins
1. Growth of cities
– 3000 BCE approx. 12 cities
– City=center of trade for lg area
2. Specialized labor
– Everyone w/ own job
– Artisan
– Food=$ (how priest were paid)
3. Writing
– Pictographs
– Ideographs
– Cuneiform= “wedge shaped” (pg
21)
4. Advanced Technology
– Wheel, plow, sailboat (3000 BCE)
– Bronze Age 2800 BCE
– Combination of copper & tin
5. Complex Institutions
– Long lasting patterns of organization
– Gov’t marriage, religion, etc.
Geographic Problems & Sumer
(Sumerian)
3000-2000 BCE
1. H20: unknown when the rivers
would flood; dried mud=desert
– Created irrigation system
2. Defense
– Sumer: size of Massachusetts
– Major city; Ur
– Reed huts; not natural barriers
– Built walls wh/ = creation of bricks
3. Resource
– Traded grain for metal
Religion
Polytheistic:
– Anu, Enlil,Ea w/ 3000 subgods
– Gods were immortal: all powerful
w/ human traits
– Ziggurats were built for the priest
– After-life called: land of no return
– Priest: please gods, ran farms,
collected taxes, declared war
4100 BCE in Iraq
Class Divisions
• Priest & nobles
• Merchants
• Workmen (farmers/artisans)
• Slaves
War determined leadership
–Who was the best
fighter=leader
–Leader passes power down to
his oldest son
–Began the concept of
“kingship” wh/ later=monarchy
–War for 1000 years
Sumer defeated by Amorites
2000-1800 BCE
–Hammurabi
–Babylon
–Eventually conquered all
st
of Meso. Wh/ = 1 empire
Hammurabi’s Code ( 1792-1750
BCE)
• Babylon needed law
–Carved on stone columns
(stele)
–3500 cuneiform lines
–282 specific laws
–88 w/ marriage, family, property
Principles of the code
(pg 33)
• Retaliation
• Double standard btwe. rich
& poor; men & women
• Gov’t responsible for
society
• Babylon conquered by
nomadic warriors circa1550
BCE
–Territory controlled by
many little groups for 700
years
• One of those little groups
called the Phoenicians
Phoenicians 1000-700 BCE
• 100 BCE powerful traders &
merchants
• Tyre: snails=purple dye
–60,000 sn. = 1 lb of dye
• Trade due to lack of resources
• Est. colonies in Africa including
Carthage
• Alphabet: reduced the 600 symbols
system to 22 symbols
The Jews 2000-586 BCE
• 2000 BCE group of Jews left
Sumerian st.
• Abraham & Sarah led nomadic
group to Canaan (Palestine)
• Monotheism: Supreme being,
Creator of all things, ruler f the
universe
–God went w/ them
• 1650 BCE famine & drought came
to Canaan
• Many people-including Jewsmigrated to Egypt
• Honor to slaves
• 1300-1200 Jews fled: Moses
–Sinai peninsula; Mt. Sinai = 10
commandments=Covenant=1st
ethical law
Making the Connection
How are the Ten Commandments
different from Hammurabi’s
Code?
Have the Ten Commandments
influenced modern law in the US
and other Western countries?
• Judaism recognized as new
religion: Justice, Morality,
Relationship
• Again to Canaan=Promised Land
– Israel: Jerusalem
– Canaanites not happy
– Kings needed: 1020-922
1.Saul 2. David 3. Solomon
• Solomon
–Ark of the covenant
–Increased taxes
–922: Israel (N) Judah (S)
Iron Age: Bronze out Iron in
• Assyrians 850-612 BCE
–Assurbanipal (Persian Gulf to
Med.)
–Greatest power in SW Asia
–1st trained army
–Tortured, killed, enslaved, removed
–Nineveh; library w/ over 25,000
writings
Asshurbanipal
on a chariot
during a royal
lion hunt.
Chaldeans 612-564 BCE
• Reestablished Babylon
st
• 1 empire
• Nebuchadnezzar II (605-562)
–Hanging gardens (pump
system)
–Dies @ 43 end of Meso.
empires
An engraving
inside an onyxstone-eye in a
Marduk statue
that depicts
Nebuchadnezzar
II
• Stargazers
–Ziggurats over 300 ft. high
–Priest & stars
–Months
–Destiny
–Zodiac: 12 constellations
–Moon: months divided 4 week
Babylonian Captivity
• Jerusalem conquered 586
BCE
• Jews taken as slaves to
Babylon
• Monotheism spread
Making the Connection
Why is the spread of
monotheism an important
event in the development of
civilizations?
Persians 550-350 BCE
• Left local customs alone
• Babylon welcomed Persians and Cyrus
prayed to their gods
• Jews back to Jerusalem
–Torah in print
• 20 provinces w/ multi nationalities
• Satraps = governors in charge of ea.
Province
• Road & Coinage system: standard $
• Zoroaster
–Ahura-Mazda (truth & light)
–Ahriman (evil & darkness)
–Humans knowingly picked
a side
–1st hopeful religion
Zoroaster:
Iranian prophet
and poet