The Mediterranean and Middle East, 2000 – 500 BCE

COSMOPOLITAN MIDDLE EAST Hittites 1600 to 717 B.C.E. Upper Mesopotamia/ Anatolia Primarily a trading society Polytheistic- Hattia, Battle god Indo-European language family IRON, 1300 B.C.E. Iron metallurgy arises separately in Africa ~900 BCE

Why Cosmopolitan? Relationship to Babylon Same religion- Gods and goddesses of Babylon and Sumer Changed Hammurabi’s law codes around- made them far less severe Also had city-states Hittites invade Babylon 1595 BCE Relationship to Egypt First peace treaty in the world, 1285 BCE Forged alliances with Egyptian Kings Traded a lot Very tolerant of others religions (carried over to Assyrians) Allowed captured people to continue to worship their beliefs

New Kingdom Egypt 1532 - 1070 BCE Overthrew Hyksos (Bronze) 4M people Bureaucracy that separated gov’t Akhenaton – monotheism Rameses II - expansion Aggressive Conquered by Kushites then Assyrians (Iron) Separated into religion, court, military, treasury, conquered territories Lots of trade during this period- need resources! Aswan means TRADE

What factors led to Egypt losing its isolationist perspective in the Near East?

Aegean World Mycenaean Greece Minoan Crete MINOANS: c. 2200 B.C.E. (very approximate) to about 1450/1400 B.C.E. Europe’s first advanced civilization- CRETE Very advanced culture, peaceful Strong commercial ties (especially with Egypt and Sumer) Mycenaean Greece Migration to southern Greece c. 2,000 BCE of Indo-Europeans Lots of contact with Minoans- traded, adapted parts of their culture Attacked Crete (Knossus) c. 1,450 BCE Very prosperous

What are the similarities and differences between the rise of civilization in the Aegean Sea area with the rise of earlier world civilizations? What are the benefits and limitations of oral histories?

Assyrian Empire 911 to 612 BCE BIGGEST EMPIRE WE’VE SEEN SO FAR Would DESTROY those who opposed them/take into slavery Transplant across empire BUT opportunities for conquered to rise within the military/government Military All powerful kings Libraries

Why have historians called the Assyrian Empire of the first millennium BCE the first true empire? How were the Assyrians able to conquer and control such a large and diverse empire? How should the Assyrian Empire be judged?

Israel Existence CONFIRMED by outside sources (Egyptian steles) in second millennium Pastoral nomads from Mesopotamia Monotheistic Many connections to other Middle Eastern civilizations Monarchs- 1020-930 BCE- Saul, David, Solomon TEMPLE Role of prophets North kingdom conquered by 722 BCE Judea conquered 586 BCE

How reliable are religious documents as records of history? (Bible) What were the causes and consequences of the migrations of the people ultimately known as the Israelites?

PHOENICIANS Rowers on two different levels Steering oars Square sails, only really good for going one way

PHOENICIANS 1200-800 BCE (Dominated trade) Present-day Lebanon Established the “Phoenician Triangle” Similar in many ways to Mesopotamia Carthage (monopoly/navy) Trade trade trade: Purple dye, glass, lumber, high-quality metal goods, pottery, art, textiles Traveled all over the place- esp. in search of raw materials, also because the assyrians were pushing them out of lebanon Not much literature, culture mostly destroyed by romans, but Alphabet- 22 letters Same religion and political structure as in mesopotamia- also reformed cuneiform We get bible from “paper coming from byblos” Founded carthage- huge city- 814 BCE- military superpower until rome destroys in the punic wars Got food from israel

How would you describe the nature and extent of Phoenician expansion in the Mediterranean? What is meant by the description of Carthage as a commercial “empire”? Some civs still obviously very closely linked to rivers, but why are others not so directly centered on rivers?