Chapter 1 The Ancient Near East: The First Civilizations

Built as royal tombs, the pyramids at Giza are among the wonders of the ancient world. © Yann Arthus-Bertrand/Corbis.

The first civilizations emerged in river valleys: Mesopotamia in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Egypt in the Nile Valley. MESOPOTAMIAN AND EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATIONS

This ziggurat of the moon god, Nanna, which included an impressive temple, dominated the Sumerian city of Ur. SUMERIAN ZIGGURAT © Charles and Joselle Lenars/Corbis.

AKHENATON A bas-relief found in Tell el-Amarna shows Akhenaton and his family sacrificing to Aton, the sun god. Erich Lessing/Art Resource.

PHARAOH MYCERINUS AND HIS QUEEN, C B.C. Swelling chests and hips idealize the royal couple’s humanity, but the cubic feeling of the sculpture and rigid confidence of the pose proclaim their unques tioned divinity. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/ Harvard University—Museum of Fine Arts Exhi bi tion,

Hatchepsut Hatchepsut, daughter of Thutmose I (1493– 1482 B.C.), was an exceptional figure in Egyp tian history—a female pharaoh. As the wife of her half brother, Thutmose II, she did not produce a male heir. When Thutmose II died after a threeyear reign, his infant son by a secondary wife inherited the throne. But because of his tender years, Hatchepsut served as regent. By the seventh year of the regency, Hatchepsut had assumed the royal title of king of Egypt. Although females were not officially barred from becoming pharaohs, it was an unchallenged tradition that this revered position was reserved for men. To legitimize her rule, Hatchepsut had a sequence of pictures carved on the porch of her mortuary temple that told the story of her divine birth. She was conceived when the god Amon-Re, disguised as Thutmose I, visited her mother’s boudoir. Amon indicated that he intended to father a female, who one day would Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY.

In addition to the Sumerians and Egyptians, founders of the first civilizations, other peoples contributed to the development of civilization in the Near East. The Hebrews conceived the idea of the one God, the Phoenicians invented the alphabet, and the Hittites developed a substantial iron industry. KINGDOMS AND PEOPLES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD

In the last part of the sixth century b.c., the Persians established the greatest empire of the ancient Near East, conquering all the lands between the Nile in Egypt and the Indus River in India. THE ASSYRIAN AND PERSIAN EMPIRES

The Persian ruler Darius (522–486 b.c.) constructed a thirty-acre earthen terrace almost fifty feet above the plain and built there a complex of palaces, reception halls, a treasury, and barracks for his royal guards. Persepolis became the ceremonial center of the vast Persian empire until it was destroyed by Alexander the Great’s soldiers. PERSEPOLIS, IRAN, C. 500 B.C. © George Holton/Photo Researchers.