1. The Mediterranean
and Middle East,
B.C.E.

2. Bronze Age Civilizations
Second millennium B.C.E.
bronze tools
“cosmopolitan” Middle East
Increase in long-distance trade

3. Mesopotamia 1500 BCE Assyria (north) Babylonia (south)
Traded with Anatolia
Hittites (Indo-Europeans) came to power in Anatolia
Babylonia (south)
Kassites
intermarried
Mesopotamian culture dominated western Asia: Akkadian became language between governments and cuneiform became the system of writing languages

4. A Balance of Power: B. C. E.

5. Hittite Chariots & Warriors

6. Egypt Reunification – 1532 BCE 7th century BCE – declined
Thebes
Became aggressive and territorial
7th century BCE – declined
1640 BCE – Hyksos – foreign rule

7. Major Pharaohs of Egypt
Menes
Hatshepsut
Amenhotep (later called Akhenaton)
Tut
Ramses II
Cleopatra 7

8. The Aegean World
BCE
Influenced by Mesopotamia & Egypt by trade
Minoan civilization – Crete
Mycenaean civilization - Greece

9. Minoan Crete
King Minos
naval empire
Probably Indo-European
Linear A

10. Mycenaean Greece AKA - Achaeans
Probably Indo-European
Invaded from the north around 2000 BCE
What we know is translated from four thousand baked clay tablets written in Linear B
Evidence of
wealth
Complex building
Long distance trade

11. Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey
Supposedly King Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, brings Greek cities together to defeat Troy in Anatolia, which controlled Mediterranean trade
Composed about 750 BCE - According to Iliad, Paris, a Trojan prince kidnapped Helen, wife of the King of Sparta. The Spartan King and his brother Agamemnon, of Mycenae, involved all of Greece in the effort to rescue Helen. After ten years of war they destroy Troy and drove the Trojans into exile.
Heinrich Schliemann
1800s – most historians believed Homers’ epics completely mythical
He excavated a site in northwestern Asia Minor and graves in Mycenae

12. Mask of Agamemnon?

13. Fall of Bronze Age Civilizations
Around 1200 BCE
Hittite Anatolia destroyed by unknown invaders
Egypt lost Palestine
Mycenaean civilization fell
All led to a “Dark Age” of the area that lasted 100 years

14. Iron Age By early first millennium B.C.E. in eastern hemisphere
Use of iron instead of bronze for tools and weapons

15. The Neo-Assyrians: 900-612 BCE

16. Neo-Assyrians resurgence of old Assyrian Mesopotamia
trade routes - control of silver and IRON
new kind of empire
King controlled all
superior military technology
half a million troops
continued Hammurabi’s classes of society
equal legal protection

17. Fall of Assyria Grew too large; spread resources too thin
Brutal treatment of conquered peoples
Conquered by Neo-Babylonians and Medes (Iranians)

18. Israel: 2000 – 500 BCE
Names: Canaan, Palestine, Hebrews, Israelites, & Jews
Crossroads – Anatolia, Egypt, Arabia, & Mesopotamia
What we know comes from Egypt & Assyria and from Hebrew Bible (Old Testament)
Hebrew language – a Semitic language

19. Abraham
Born in Ur
Rejected idol worship
Migrated to Israel

20. Abraham’s Covenant Binding Agreement (2000 BC -1500 BC)
One True God (Yahweh)
Live by God’s word = Chosen people

21. Yahweh’s “Covenant” With His People
The first 5 books of the Hebrew Bible.
The most sacred text in the Jewish religious tradition.
The Torah

22. Abraham’s Geneaology HAGAR ABRAHAM SARAH Ishmael Isaac
12 Arabian Tribes
Jacob
Esau
12 Tribes of Israel

23. In Egypt
Drought forces Israelites to Egypt
Egyptians “enslave” them

24. The Exodus Israelites led out of captivity by Moses 40 years in desert
10 Commandments
destroyed Jericho
Confirmed by archeological evidence
Divided into 12 Tribes, each in different area

25. Route of the Exodus

26. Israel’s Monarchy & Defeat
capital Jerusalem
Solomon – high point of Israel
After Solomon’s death Israel splits into 2
Israel – north
Judah – south
Israel destroyed by Assyrians 721 BCE
Judah captured by Neo-Babylonian empire in 587 BCE; Temple in Jerusalem destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar (Rebuilt, but destroyed again by Romans)
The Diaspora, or scattering – continues even to this day, though Israel is now a country again

28. The Temple Mount, Jerusalem Today
Solomon’s Temple Wall: The “Wailing” Wall

29. Phoenicians – BCE
Ancient population of Syria & Palestine
“red men” in Greek
Writing - pre-alphabetic system
Byblos – important city-state; origin of term Bible
Phoenician Triangle – trade between North Africa, Spain, and islands off coast of Italy

30. Phoenician Sea Routes

31. A Phoenician Bireme Ship

32. The “Royal Purple” Dye

33. Phoenician City of Byblos: “Home of the Alphabet”

34. Phoenician Alphabet

35. Carthage: Phoenicia’s Mightiest Colony

36. Carthage What we know comes from Greeks
Controlled trade on the middle Mediterranean
evidence of trade with sub-Saharan Africa
Harbor could hold 200+ warships
Population – 400,000
Polytheistic - male child sacrifice in times of crisis

37. Carthage Cont Navy dominated western Mediterranean Protection of trade
Phoenician city-states looked to Carthage for protection
Fought a series of wars with Greece & Rome from 5th-3rd centuries BCE
Used mercenary soldiers: Numidians, Iberians, Gauls, & Italians