SOUTHWEST ASIA AND EGYPT The Ancient and Classical Period

1 st STATE STRUCTURES  Sumerian City-states  Small, independent but not totally autonomous  Local differences but much similarity  Run originally by priests, then warrior-kings  Aristocratic nobles assisted kings  Akkadian Empire  Conquest state  Tribute state  Cuneiform culture of Sumer but Semitic

2 nd STATE STRUCTURES  Ever larger conquest empires  Egypt  Three periods called Kingdoms  First two periods, Old and Middle are ancient  New Kingdom is an empire  Pharaoh became increasingly “human”  Priests had enormous power in government  Babylonian and Assyrian Empires  Conquest, tribute empires  Old Babylonian Empire: Hammurabi’s Code  Assyrian Empire used terror, regular army

SOCIAL STRUCTURES  Ruling Classes  Aristocracy  Royalty  Nobility  Priestly and Military  Other Classes  “Free” classes  Merchants  Artisans  Intellectuals  Peasants and slaves

GENDER STRUCTURES  Patriarchal  Patrilocal  Polygamous  Male Roles  Female Roles: Public vs. Private

CULTURAL  Religious  Polytheist, anthropomorphism of nature  Priests hold great power, own land, temples  Divine Right vs. Theocracy  Intellectual  Cuneiform and Hieroglyphics: Scribes  Literatures: Gilgamesh, Book of the Dead  Arts and Architecture  Public Architecture, public art  Art Conventions very rigid

TECHNOLOGY  Man is a tool maker and user  The ability to make and use tools  Man innovates to meet needs, deficiencies  Sumer is major source of first inventions  Metallurgy: Iron Age  Maths and Sciences  Tools

DEMOGRAPHY/ENVIRONMENT  Man alters his environment  More pronounced in Mesopotamia  Environment is unpredictable, harsher  Irrigation, dikes, dams, sluices  Agriculture alters environment  All societies were overwhelmingly agrarian  Heavy agriculture increases human population  Some crops really deplete soil  Cities are artificial and alter environment  Extreme concentration of humans in small space  Wastes, diseases concentrated

INTERACTIONS  Movement  Human migration: pastoralists, mass migration  Semites: Arabs, Jews, Hyksos, Nubians, Phoenicians  Indo-Europeans, Indo-Iranians: Hittites, Medes/Persians  Culture, social blending  Disruptions  War  Interaction increases as resources become rare  As technology improves, so does war  Diplomacy arises as conflicts increase  Exchanges such as Trade, Diseases  Goods and skills exchanged  Ideas, diseases exchanged

TWO EXCEPTIONS  Hebrews  Abraham: Origins – nomadic pastorialist  Ethical Monotheism  Yahweh, Moses, Covenant, Commandments  Phoenicians  Traders throughout Mediterranean  Artisans: Cloth, Dye, Metallurgy  Alphabet: Aleph and Beth