Basic Features of Civilization

• P

• E

• R

• S

• I

• A

• Political Organization

• Economy

• Religion

• Society [Social Classes]

• Innovations [Technology]

• Art and Architecture

MesopotamiaLand Between Two Rivers

Crossroads of Three Continents

MesopotamiaThe Fertile Crescent

Sumerians3000 BCE

Sumerian Political Organization

• Priests with religious and power– Success of crops– irrigation

• Warrior kings – Defense– Dynasties

• City-states—Ur• Laws• Taxes• Public Works

– Ziggurats – Walled cities

Royal Standard of Ur

Depicts scenes of war and peace

Economy

• Agriculture– Catastrophic floods

• Irrigation • Canals

– Date Palms, grains such as barley and wheat

• Trade– Traded—grain, cloth,

crafted tools– Received—stone, wood,

metal

Mesopotamian Trade

Sumerian Cylinder Seals

Religion

• Polytheistic

• Goddesses

• Afterlife

• Pessimistic

Society

• Social Hierarchy• Kings, ruling family and Priests• Merchants, scribes, lesser priests• Peasant farmers• Slaves

– Captured in war– Sold self into slavery to pay off

debts

Sumerian Scribes

Innovations

• Cuneiform• Canals, dams, irrigation• Mud bricked walls• Wheeled vehicles, sail, plow??• Number system based on 60• Arches, columns, ramps• Ziggurat

CuneiformWedge Shaped Writing on Clay Tablets

Deciphering Cuneiform

Metallurgy Skills

Art and Architecture

Ziggurats

Gilgamesh

The World’s First EmpireAkkadians

Sargon

• Babylonian– Hammurabi

• Law Code

Hammurabi’s Code

STELE

Hammurabi the Judge

“Eye for an eye”

Why are written laws important?

HittitesBeginning of Iron Ageorigin in present day Turkey

1900 BCE-1193 BCE

Spoke wheeled chariots

Iron Weapons

• Assyrians– Fierce– One of first world’s libraries

• Babylonian– Nebuchadnezzar

• Ishtar Gate• Hanging Gardens of Babylon

                                                                                                                       

Cyrus the Great580-529 BCE

• Tolerant ruler—allowed those within his empire to keep their own institutions

• Greeks called him “Law Giver”

• 537 BCE allowed over 40,000 Jews to return to Palestine

Darius the Great526-485 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

Persepolis

Royal Road

Zoroaster“Zarathustra”

570 BCE

Good vs. Evil

Ahura Mazda vs. Ahriman

“Good thoughts, good words, good deeds”

Extent of Zoroastrianism

Trading Peoples

Aramaeans

Phoenicians

• Phoenicians– Colonies– Alphabet– Purple Dye

Carthage: Phoenicia’s Mightiest ColonyCarthage: Phoenicia’s Mightiest Colony

Muryx Shell and

Purple Dye

Byblos—Home of the Alphabet

Lydians

Israelites

• Information comes from archaeological digs, Egyptian and Assyrian royal annals, and the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament– not written down until 5th century BCE– Point of view of priests of the Temple of

Jerusalem– Disagreement by historians as to the degree

of accuracy

1900 BCE

Israelites and Abraham

Moses and the Exodus

1200’s BCE

•Moses leads Israelites out of Egypt

•Renews covenant with God

Route of the Exodus

Temple Mount in Jerusalem Today

Solomon’s Temple Wall—Wailing Wall

Israelites in Captivity

Israelites

Torah—first five books of the Hebrew Bible

approx. 400’s BCE