1. Early Societies in Southwest Asia and the Indo-European Migrations
Chapter 2

2. Chapter Overview (Part 1)
Because of the agricultural transition, societies could sustain larger populations and could become increasingly complex. Thus urban societies emerged in the fourth millennium B.C.E., particularly in the region known as Mesopotamia ("the land between the rivers") along the fertile river valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates. Some of the world's earliest cities developed and prospered in that region. Mesopotamian prosperity and sophisticated culture attracted many migrants and influenced many neighbors, including the Hebrews, the Phoenicians, and the Indo-Europeans. Characteristics of Mesopotamian societies included the following:

3. Chapter Overview (Part 2)
Governmental institutions were established to provide order and stability and to resolve disputes. These institutions evolved into hereditary kingships and, at times, into empires when states sought to expand their dominion to neighboring lands.
Social classes emerged as the result of specialization of labor and accumulation of wealth. The agricultural surplus and the accompanying specialization allowed individuals and groups to produce goods of high quality. The desire for these goods, in turn, helped to stimulate trade with other societies, greatly expanding intercultural contact.
Distinctive cultural traditions developed, including a system of writing that would endure for thousands of years, and more elaborate religious institutions than had previously existed.

4. Defining “Civilization”
Urban
Political/military system
Social classes
Economic specialization
Religion
Communication
“Higher Culture”

5. Civilization & Means of Production
Concentration of Wealth
Agriculture
Control over natural resources
Development of ancient civilization
not hunter-gatherer economics

6. Mesopotamia “Between the Rivers” Contemporary Iran, Iraq
Tigris and Euphrates
Contemporary Iran, Iraq
Cultural continuum of “fertile crescent”

7. The Wealth of the Rivers
Fertile Soil
Irrigation
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
Required support of large groups
Led to creation of local government
Rather than large “Countries”, City-states develop
Wealth, land = attracts settlers, influences/creates culture

8. Development of City-States
Cities appear around 4000 BCE
Controlled Sumerian region from BCE
Ziggurat (temple) = the god’s home
Divine mandate to Kings
Kings rule by will of the gods
Regulated trade between cities
Provided for common defense from nomadic bandits

9. Sumer Faces Political Fall
Semitic groups from the north overwhelm Sumer
Sargon of Akkad ( BCE)
Systematic destruction of Sumerian city-states, created own empire
Faced similar defensive concerns, continuous rebellion
Hammurabi - Babylon ( BCE)
Improved tax policies, legislated code of laws
Used government officials to maintain control of city-states from within

10. The Code of Hammurabi The Code of Hammurabi (18th c. BCE)
282 ‘laws’
Based on social status, offered punishments
women were considered property
but held some basic rights
“If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out.”

11. Later Mesopotamian Empires
Weakening of central rule an invitation to foreign invaders
Assyrians use new iron weaponry
Beginning 1300 BCE, by 8th-7th centuries BCE control Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, most of Egypt
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (r ) takes advantage of internal dissent to create Chaldean (New Babylonian) Empire
Famously luxurious capital
The Hanging Gardens
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
Nebuchadnezzar by William Blake

13. Mesopotamian Empires - 1800-600 BCE

14. Technology in Mesopotamia
Use of bronze  ~4000 BCE
Copper and tin
Weapons, farming implements
Iron, ~1000 BCE
Cheap to produce
Wheel = chariot/ships, c BCE
Shipbuilding increases range of influence, (Diffusion = more trade opportunities)

16. Social Classes Upper class based on military success and/or religion
May have been elected, or passed down (hereditary)
Believed to be descendants of gods
Religious classes
Role: intervention with gods to ensure fertility, safety
Wealth through land ownership, trade, etc.
Free commoners
Farmers
City workers
Slaves
Criminals, POWs, debtors

17. Patriarchal Society
Patriarchy – A system of society and/or government in which men hold the power, and women are largely excluded (but not completely, usually).
Double standard of sexual morality (Hammurabi’s Code)
Some opportunities for women
Court advisers, priestess, economic activity
Introduction of the veil at least c BCE

18. Development of Writing
Sumerian writing develops ~3500 BCE
Pictographs
Cuneiform: “wedge-shaped”
Used clay as medium
Greek alphabet eventually replaces ~400 BCE
Writing was used for:
Trade
Mathematics
Time
Astronomy

19. Mesopotamian Literature
Epic of Gilgamesh, c. ~2100 BCE
The earliest surviving important work of literature
Epic Poem
Search for meaning of life
esp. afterlife
What does the existence of this work tell us about life in Mesopotamia?

20. The Hebrews Began as pastoral nomads, settled ~1850 BCE
Patriarch - Abraham
Similarity between biblical text, Hammurabi
Retaliation as punishment
Early settlement of Canaan (Israel), c BCE
Biblical text: slavery in Egypt, divine redemption
Continuous conflict with others in Palestine
King David ( BCE)
Solomon ( BCE)

21. Moses and Monotheism
Hebrews shared polytheistic beliefs of other Mesopotamian civilizations
Introduces monotheism: belief in one god
Denies existence of competing parallel deities
Personal god: reward and punishment for conformity with revealed law
The Torah (“the teaching”)

22. Foreign conquests of Israel
Civil war
Northern tribes: Israel
Southern: Judah
Assyrian conquest, 722 BCE
Exiles Israel: ten lost tribes
Babylonian conquest, 586 BCE
Additional exile of many residents of Judah
Returned later than century

23. Israel and Phoenicia, 1500-600 BCE

24. The Phoenicians City-states along Mediterranean coast after 3000 BCE
Extensive maritime trade
Dominated Mediterranean trade, BCE
Development of alphabet symbols
Simpler alternative to cuneiform
Spread of literacy

26. Indo-European Migrations
Common roots of many languages of Europe, southwest Asia, India
Suggests influence of one Indo-European people
Probable original homeland: contemporary Ukraine and Russia, BCE
Domesticates horses, uses of Sumerian weapons
allowed great expansion

27. The Indo-European Migrations

28. Results of Indo-European Migration
Hittites migrate to central Anatolia (Turkey) ~1900 BCE
Eventually conquer Babylonia
Influence on technology/trade (Diffusion)
Horses, ‘war’ chariots, use of Iron
Migrations to western China, Greece, Italy
Influence on language and culture
Aryo, “noble, lord”
Aryan, Iranian, Irish
Caste system in India (hereditary class system)