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

2. Civilization Defined Cities/Urban Political/Military system
Social Hierarchy
Economic/Job Specialization
Complex Religion
Written language
“Higher Culture” – Art & Architecture
Public Works

4. Early Mesopotamia 3000-2000 B.C.E.
Sumerians
Early Mesopotamia B.C.E.
“Between the Rivers”
Tigris and Euphrates
Modern-day Iraq
Cultural continuum of “fertile crescent”
Sumerians the dominant people

5. The Wealth of the Rivers
Nutrient-rich silt
Key: irrigation
Necessity of coordinated efforts (reservoirs, canals, dikes, dams)
Promoted development of local governments
City-states
Sumer begins small-scale irrigation 6000 BCE
By 5000 BCE, complex irrigation networks
Population reaches 100,000 by 3000 BCE
Attracts Semitic migrants, influences culture

6. Sumerian City-States Cities appear 4000 BCE
Dominate region from BCE
Ur (home of Abraham, see Genesis 11:28), Nineveh
Ziggurat - home of the city god
Divine mandate to Kings
Regulation of Trade
Defense from nomadic marauders

7. The Ziggurat of Ur

8. Ziggurat at Ur
Temple
“Mountain of the Gods”

9. Example of Defensive Walls

10. Sumerian Religion - Polytheistic
Enki
Innana
Anthropomorphic Gods

11. Political Decline of Sumer
Semitic peoples from northern Mesopotamia overshadow Sumer
Sargon of Akkad ( BCE)
Destroyed Sumerian city-states one by one, created empire based in Akkad
Empire unable to maintain chronic rebellions
Hammurabi of Babylon ( BCE)
Improved taxation, legislation
Used local governors to maintain control of city-states
Babylonian Empire later destroyed by Hittites from Anatolia, c BCE

12. Akkadian Empire

14. The upper part of the stele of Hammurabi’s code of laws

15. Legal System The Code of Hammurabi
Established high standards of behavior and stern punishment for violators
lex talionis – “law of retaliation”
Social status and punishment
women as property, but some rights

17. Hittite Chariot and Soldiers

18. 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
Nebuchadnezzar by William Blake

19. The Hanging Gardens by Martin Heemskerc, 16th C.

21. Mesopotamian Empires, 1800-600 BCE

22. Technological Development in Mesopotamia
Bronze (copper with tin), c BCE
Military, agricultural applications
Iron, c BCE
Cheaper than bronze
Wheel, boats, c BCE
Shipbuilding increases trade networks

23. Sophisticated Metallurgy Skills at Ur

24. Social Classes Ruling classes based often on military prowess
Originally elected, later hereditary
Perceived as offspring of gods
Religious classes
Role: intervention with gods to ensure fertility, safety
Considerable landholdings, other economic activities
Free commoners
Peasant cultivators
Some urban professionals
Slaves
Prisoners of war, convicted criminals, debtors

25. Patriarchal Society Men as landowners, relationship to status
Patriarchy: “rule of the father”
Right to sell wives, children
Double standard of sexual morality
Women drowned for adultery
Relaxed sexual mores for men
Yet some possibilities of social mobility for women
Court advisers, temple priestesses, economic activity
Introduction of the veil at least c BCE

26. Development of Writing
Sumerian writing systems form 3500 BCE
Pictographs
Cuneiform: “wedge-shaped”
Preservation of documents on clay
Declines from 400 BCE with spread of Greek alphabetic script

27. Cuneiform: “Wedge-Shaped” Writing

28. Cuneiform Writing

29. Deciphering Cuneiform

30. Sumerian Scribes
“Tablet House”

31. Uses for Writing Trade Astronomy Mathematics Calculation of time
Agricultural applications
Calculation of time
12-month year
24-hour day, 60-minute hour

32. Mesopotamian Literature
Epic of Gilgamesh, compiled after 2000 BCE
Heroic saga
Search for meaning, esp. afterlife
This-worldly emphasis

33. Gilgamesh

34. Gilgamesh

35. Gilgamesh Epic Tablet: Flood Story

36. The Early Hebrews Patriarchs and Matriarchs from Babylon, c. 1850 BCE
Parallels between early biblical texts, Code of Hammurabi
Early settlement of Canaan (Israel), c BCE
Biblical text: slavery in Egypt, divine redemption
On-going conflict with indigenous populations under King David ( BCE) and Solomon ( BCE)

37. Egypt's king, Ramses II, written about in the Old Testament, is now thought to have reigned between B.C.E. This Egyptian wall art depicts Ramses holding what is suspected to be three slaves. One is black, one appears to be East Asian, and the third, in the foreground, appears to be Semitic. The blacks and Semite came from close by. The East Asian leaves us wondering.

38. David and Goliath by Caravaggio, 1600

39. Michelangelo's David

40. David with the Head of Goliath, c. 1450/1455, Andrea del Castagno

41. Model of Solomon’s Temple

42. Moses and Monotheism
Hebrews shared polytheistic beliefs of other Mesopotamian civilizations
Moses introduces monotheism, belief in single god
Denies existence of competing parallel deities
Personal god: reward and punishment for conformity with revealed law
The Torah (“doctrine or teaching”)

43. Foreign conquests of Israel
Assyrian conquest, 722 BCE
Conquered the northern kingdom
Deported many inhabitants to other regions
Many exiles assimilated and lost their identity
Babylonian conquest, 586 BCE
Destroyed Jerusalem
Forced many into exile
Israelites maintained their religious identity and many returned to Judea

44. 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

45. Israel and Phoenicia , 1500-600 BCE

49. Indo-European Migrations
Common roots of many languages of Europe, southwest Asia, India
Implies influence of a single Indo-European people
Probable original homeland: modern-day Ukraine and Russia, BCE
Domestication of horses, use of Sumerian weaponry allowed them to spread widely

50. Indo-European Migrations 3000-1000 BCE

51. Implications of Indo-European Migration
Hittites migrate to central Anatolia, c BCE, later dominate Babylonia
Influence on trade
Horses, chariots with spoked wheels
Iron
Migrations to western China, Greece, Italy also significant