Transcript The first Civilizations in Mesopotamia

西方文明史
第二講： 兩河與埃及
劉 慧
教授
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The first Civilizations in Mesopotamia
• Some geographic names: Sumer, Uruk; Akkad, Babylon; Assyria, Nineveh
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• The Uruk period, 4300-2900 BCE
– The Sumerians built half a dozen cities
– Development of cuneiform writing
• 3300 inscription on flat clay tablets;
• 3100 reed stylus leaving wedge-shaped impression
– making abstract and standardized signs
• Pictographs, abstract notion, phonetic sounds,
auxiliary marks
• 2600/2500: cuneiform script fully evolved
• Cuneiform script was in use for over 3,000 years.
• Sumerian remained the dominant written language
until about 1900 BCE;
Akkadian was written with the script from 2800
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• Proto-cuneiform: 85% of the documents from Sumer ca 3300-2900 are
inventories & other economic records
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• 90 ° turn
– From hand held to being propped up on table
• New shape
– Easier to write
• More signs; each sign serving more purposes
– Semantic extension
• From concrete to abstract notion
– Phonetic extension
• Acrophony
– Over 1000 signs
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Morphograms
Phonograms (syllabogram)
Determinatives
Egyptian writing system. Stimulus diffusion
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1.
The Uruk period: 4300-2900 BCE
– Highly theocratic society; each city had one patron god from the Sumerian pantheon
2.
Early Dynastic Period 2900-2350
– Intense competition between city-states – rise of successful war leaders, e.g. Gilgamesh
• Royal tombs of Ur
– Each king strove to establish supremacy; could then exact tribute. Conquered cities revolted,
warfare began again
3.
Akkadian Period 2350-2160: the first empire
– Systematic conquest of Sargon. Direct rule: appointed governors, pulled down fortifications,
collected taxes
4.
Ur Dynasty 2100-2000
– Ur-Nammu’s ziggurat
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Babylonian king Hammurabi (1792-1750)
unified Sumer and Akkadia
– The law code: kings as protectors of
the weak and arbiters of justice
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6. The Kassite and Hittite Interlude
1600-1300 BCE
– 1595 the Hittites destroyed Babylon;
1600-1185 empire comprising Anatolia and Syria
• Light-chariot warfare
• Manufacture and trade of iron
– 1600-1300 the Kassites ruled most of Mesopotamia
• No noteworthy contributions to later civilizations
– New Kingdom Egypt 1500-1075
and the Hittite empire 1600-1185
• The ‘international system’ 1500-1200
and the Amarna Letters
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7. The Assyrians 1300-612; empire 859-612
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1250 BCE united northern Mesopotamia
Indirect overlordship in Akkad and Sumer until early 7th c BCE
9th c: conquered Syria, southern Anatolia
7th c: conquered all western Asia
Splendid capital Nineveh
– built by Sennacherib 701-681 BCE
– water supply; library
• Constant uprisings
– Centered at Babylon
– 614-614 alliance with the Medes in Iran
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• Military-religious ethos; Assur
• ‘calculated frightfulness’
– ‘Frightfulness’: brutality in art and policy
• Starting in Sennacherib’s reign
• Sculptured reliefs
• Inscriptions celebrating military victories
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• Assyrian winged bulls
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8. The Chaldeans/New Babylonian Empire, 612-539
• The Chaldeans
– Negative image: Nebuchadnezzar (604-562) conquered
Jerusalem. The Babylonian Captivity 586-539
• The city of Babylon
– The wall covered with glazed bricks and the
Hanging Gardens, built by Nebuchadnezzar
• Astronomy/astrology:
to measure and interpret the universe
– First 5 planets linked with the powers of 5 gods
– Motions of the planets and stars
suggested cosmic events such as
floods and famines, and fortunes
of nations
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Kohler History
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