New SW Asian Civilizations Mr. Cross World History & Geography

Nomadic Peoples Spread goods, ideas and new technologies Pastoral nomads Domesticated animals and did some farming Relied heavily on herding and gathering foods Occasionally attacked settlements and created their own empires When normal routines were disrupted Exchanged goods between civilizations Use of bronze and iron

Indo-Europeans Term comes from parent language Greek, Latin, Persian, Sanskrit, Germanic Originated near Black Sea Modern-day Ukraine and Turkey Hittite Empire (1600 – 1200 B.C.E.) Challenges Egypt for supremacy in SW Asia One of the first Empires to begin using Iron “Sea Peoples” destroy the Hittite Empire and weaken Egypt Mixture of cultures from Anatolia, Cyprus and other Mediterranean islands This leaves no major power in SW Asia

Phoenicians Modern-day Palestine/Lebanon on the coast Used trade, not military might, as a base to expand their empire Dyes, lumber, glass, finished goods First empire to “control the seas” Set new routes throughout the Mediterranean, Atlantic Sailed to Britain and the west coast of Africa Several colonies throughout the Mediterranean in N. Africa, modern-day Spain, Italy and France (p. 52)

Phoenicians Become international sea traders Use of well-built, sophisticated naval ships Biggest contribution to the world: Written language and alphabet 22 characters represented the sounds of their speech Could spell all words in Phoenician vocabulary Eventually passed to Greeks and onto Romans Distant link to our modern day alphabet

Israelites Lived S. of the Phoenicians in modern-day Israel Created a unified kingdom with many organized “tribes” known as “Israel” Their religion of Judaism is one of the oldest and most widespread religions today History and religion was written down in the Hebrew bible “The Torah” Christians know it as the Old Testament h

Israelites King David (1010 – 970 B.C.E.) Establishes control of Israel Sets Jerusalem as capital King Solomon King David’s son Israel reaches the height of its power under him Renowned for his standards of justice “Baby Story” (p.49) Tribes split, North and South, after Solomon’s death Eventually conquered by the Assyrians Chaldeans defeat Assyrians, completely destroy Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E Persians take control and allow the Israelites to return

Judaism Jewish god is Yahweh First major monotheistic religion Yahweh gives Moses the “Ten Commandments” at the top of Mt. Sinai (p.50) Sends prophets to ensure that people are doing good, not evil They faced serious punishment for evil-doing Live justly, care for the poor, sharing, social justice Allowed every person to have a personal relationship with god