1. Trade in the eastern part of the Mediterranean

2. The Minoans Dominated trade in the eastern Mediterranean from 2000 BCE- 1400 BCE Produced fine pottery Traded pottery, swords, figurines, and vessels of precious metals Also exported their art and culture including architecture, burial customs, and religious rituals Greatly influenced Greece Crete became a stepping stone for cultural exchange throughout the Mediterranean

3. Bull Leapers at Knossos

4. Depiction of women as Mother Nature goddesses. Priestesses took charge of some of the shrines. Human sacrifices

5. Trading Peoples Aramaeans

6. Phoenicians

7. – Colonies – Alphabet – Purple Dye

9. Carthage: Phoenicia’s Mightiest Colony

10. Muryx Shell and Purple Dye

12. Byblos—Home of the Alphabet

13. Lydians

14. Hebrews Information comes from archaeological digs, Egyptian and Assyrian royal annals, and the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament – not written down until 5 th century BCE – Point of view of priests of the Temple of Jerusalem – Disagreement by historians as to the degree of accuracy

15. Judaism Monotheistic “Do unto others” 10 commandments Yahweh-“I am” Afterlife not the focus of the religion

16. 1900 BCE Israelites and Abraham

17. Moses and the Exodus 1200’s BCE Moses leads Israelites out of Egypt Renews covenant with God

18. Route of the Exodus

19. Temple Mount in Jerusalem Today Solomon’s Temple Wall—Wailing Wall

20. Israelites in Captivity

21. Israelites Torah—first five books of the Hebrew Bible approx. 400’s BCE

24. Cyrus the Great 580-529 BCE 537 BCE allowed over 40,000 Jews to return to Palestine

25. Darius the Great 526-485 BCE Built Persepolis Extended empire to Indus River—2 million square miles Established tax collecting system Divided empire into satrapies Royal road Postal system Network of spies

26. Persepolis

27. Zoroaster “ Zarathustra ” 570 BCE Good vs. Evil Ahura Mazda vs. Ahriman “Good thoughts, good words, good deeds”

28. Extent of Zoroastrianism