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Chapter 2
Early Societies in Southwest Asia
and the Indo-European
Migrations
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved.
No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
1
The Quest for Order
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Growth of urban societies
Political/military systems
Social stratification
Economic specialization
Religion
Communications
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Mesopotamia
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“The land between the rivers”
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Modern-day Iraq
Reservoirs, canals, and irrigation
Sumer begins small-scale irrigation 6000 B.C.E.
By 5000 B.C.E., complex irrigation networks
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Tigris and Euphrates
Population reaches 100,000 by 3000 B.C.E.
Attracts Semitic migrants, influences culture
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Early Mesopotamia, 3000–2000 B.C.E.
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4
Sumerian City-States
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Cities began to appear 4000 B.C.E.
Dominated region from 3200 to 2350 B.C.E.
Ziggurats: temples and altars to local deities
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Uruk
Irrigation systems
Defense from nomadic marauders
Absolute monarchies
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The Course of Empire
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Regional empires emerged as Semitic peoples
from northern Mesopotamia began to overshadow
Sumer
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Sargon of Akkad (2370–2315 B.C.E.)
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Destroyed Sumerian city-states one by one, creating empire
based in Akkad
Military juggernaut to maintain control
Hammurabi of Babylon (1792–1750 B.C.E.)
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Improved taxation, legislation
Used local governors to maintain control of city-states
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6
Hammurabi’s Laws
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Established high standards of behavior and stern
punishment for violators
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Lex talionis—“law of retaliation”
Social status and punishment
Babylonian empire later destroyed by Hittites
from Anatolia, ca. 1595 B.C.E.
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7
The Later Mesopotamian Empires
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Weakening of central rule invited foreign invaders
Assyrians’ use of new iron weaponry
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During eighth and seventh centuries B.C.E., controlled
Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Anatolia, most of Egypt
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (r. 605–562)
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Took advantage of internal dissent to create Chaldean
(New Babylonian) empire
Famously luxurious capital
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8
Mesopotamian Empires, 1800–600 B.C.E.
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9
Economic Specialization and Trade
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Bronze (copper with tin), ca. 4000 B.C.E.
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Iron, ca. 1000 B.C.E.
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Military, agricultural applications
Cheaper than bronze
Wheel, boats, ca. 3500 B.C.E.
Shipbuilding increased trade networks
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10
Social Classes
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Ruling classes based often on military prowess
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Priestly elites
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Role: intervention with gods to ensure good fortune
Considerable landholdings, other economic activities
Free commoners
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Perceived as offspring of gods
Peasant cultivators, some urban professionals
Slaves
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Prisoners of war, convicted criminals, debtors
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11
Patriarchal Society
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Men as landowners, relationship to status
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Double standard of sexual morality
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Women drowned for adultery
Relaxed sexual mores for men
Yet some possibilities for social mobility
for women
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Power to sell wives, children
Court advisers, temple priestesses, economic activity
Introduction of the veil by ca. 1500 B.C.E.
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12
The Development of Writing
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Sumerians first experimented with pictographs
About 2900 B.C.E., Sumerians developed more
flexible writing system
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Cuneiform: “wedge-shaped”
Preservation of documents on clay
Declined in fourth century B.C.E. with spread of
Greek alphabetic script
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Education and Science
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With cuneiform writing, formal schools
established
Literacy led to rapid expansion of knowledge
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Astronomy
Mathematics
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Agricultural applications
Mesopotamian conventions:
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Twelve months in a year
Sixty-minute hours, sixty-second minutes
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The Epic of Gilgamesh
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Writing also used to reflect on religious and
intellectual problems
Epic of Gilgamesh compiled after 2000 B.C.E.
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Heroic saga
Themes of friendship, relations with gods,
meaning of life and inevitability of death
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The Early Hebrews
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According to Hebrew scripture, Abraham
migrated to northern Mesopotamia ca. 1850 B.C.E.
Parallels between early biblical texts, code of
Hammurabi
Branch of Hebrews under Moses traveled to
Palestine ca. 1300 B.C.E.
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On-going conflict with indigenous populations
King David (1000–970 B.C.E.) and King Solomon
(970–930 B.C.E.)
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Moses and Monotheism
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Hebrews shared polytheistic beliefs of other
Mesopotamian civilizations
Moses taught monotheism, belief in single god
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Denied existence of competing parallel deities
Personal god: reward and punishment for conformity
with revealed law
The Torah (“doctrine” or “teaching”)
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Conquests of Israel
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Assyrian conquest, 722 B.C.E.
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Conquered the northern kingdom
Deported many inhabitants to other regions
Many exiles assimilated and lost their identity
Babylonian conquest, 586 B.C.E.
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Destroyed Jerusalem
Forced many into exile
Israelites maintained their religious identity;
many returned to Judea
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Israel and Phoenicia, 1500–600 B.C.E.
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The Phoenicians
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City-states along Mediterranean coast after
3000 B.C.E.
Extensive maritime trade
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Dominated Mediterranean trade, 1200–800 B.C.E.
Development of alphabetic script
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Simpler alternative to cuneiform
Spread of literacy
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The Indo-European Migrations
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Common roots of many languages of Europe,
southwest Asia, India
Implies influence of a single Indo-European
people
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Probable original homeland: modern-day Ukraine
and Russia, 4500–2500 B.C.E.
Domestication of horses, Sumerian knowledge
of metallurgy and wheels allowed them to spread
widely
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21
Indo-European Migrations 3000–1000 B.C.E.
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22
Similarities in Vocabulary Indicating Close
Relationships between Select Indo-European
Languages
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23
Effects of Indo-European Expansion
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Hittites migrated to central Anatolia ca. 1900
B.C.E., later dominated Babylonia
War chariots with spoked wheels
Refinement of iron metallurgy
Significant migrations to western China, Greece,
Italy, Iran, India
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