Transcript Mesopotamia Egypt Middle East

Mesopotamia
Egypt
Middle East
Mesopotamia
• Tigris & Euphrates Rivers
– Fertileflooding
• Sumer1st advanced civilization
– 12 villages develop into City-States
• Independent, self-governing
community, city w/ surrounding
farmlands
• Ziggurat-- of social & economic
life
Sumer
• Wheel & sail
–Take advantage of water systems
–Transportation & trade
• Bazaar—common marketplace;
easier to barter
• Cuneiform
–Wedge-shaped
Sargon the Great
• 2350 BC
• 1st emperor
(Akkad)
• Conquered
several areas—
brought under
control
• Created 1st
EMPIRE
Hammurabi
• Mesopotamian
• Assimilation of
cultures—
elements
continue
• Code of
Hammurabi
– 1st written &
published set of
laws
Mesopotamian Religion & Law
• Polytheism—belief in more than 1
god
– Sumerian city-states believed they were
owned by the gods
– Gods chose rulers & protected citystates
– Much superstition
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Middle East
Mesopotamia
• Tigris & Euphrates Rivers
– Fertileflooding
• Sumer1st advanced civilization
– 12 villages develop into City-States
• Independent, self-governing
community, city w/ surrounding
farmlands
• Ziggurat-- of social & economic
life
Sumer
• Wheel & sail
–Take advantage of water systems
–Transportation & trade
• Bazaar—common marketplace;
easier to barter
• Cuneiform
–Wedge-shaped
Sargon the Great
• 2350 BC
• 1st emperor
(Akkad)
• Conquered
several areas—
brought under
control
• Created 1st
EMPIRE
Mesopotamian Religion & Law
• Polytheism—belief in more than 1
god
– Sumerian city-states believed they were
owned by the gods
– Gods chose rulers & protected citystates
– Much superstition
Mesopotamians & Scholarship
• Mathematics & Astronomy
• Multiplication/division
• Geometry
– System based on 60
– 360 degrees in 
– 60 minutes in an hour
• Based on star observations
• 12 month calendar based on cycles
of the moon
How do we know all this stuff?
• The BEHISTUN
ROCK
• Found in 1840s in
western Iran
• 3 types of writing
– Persian
– Babylonian
– Elamite
• Henry Rawlinson
Egypt
• Hired scribes kept
records
• Hieroglyphics—sacred
carving
• “Learn to write, for this
will be of greater
advantage to you than
all the other trades.”
• How to translate?
Rosetta Stone
• Napoleon’s
Army
Engineers—
1799
• 3 kinds of
writing
– Hieroglyphics
– Greek
Other guys in the Middle East
• Hittites
• Phoenicians
• Hebrews
• Assyrians
• Babylonians
• Lydians
• Persians
Phoenicians
•
•
•
•
•
•
Main contributions:
Sea vessels
Sailors, shipbuilders, merchants
Purple cloth
Clear glass
Writing system based on early
alphabet
Hebrews
• Monotheism
• Hebrew religion—
Judaism
• Torah—1st 5
books of the Old
Testament
• Prophets—
messengers from
God
• Skilled/ruthless
warriors
• Iron weapons
• War chariots
• Battering rams
• Terrorists
• Built library @
Ninevah
• Adopted religion, art,
literature of
Mesopotamia
Assyrians
Babylonians
• Nebuchadnezzar—
enslaved Hebrews
• Conquered much of
Fertile Crescent
• Hanging Gardens of
Babylon
• Rebuilt ziggurat of
Marduk
• Rebuilt Babylon into
fabulous city
Lydians
• Main contribution
• Used coins for trade instead of
direct barter
• Standard weight of gold, silver,
other metals
• Molded into disks
• Create MONEY ECONOMY—
economic system based on the use
of money
• What is money?
Persians
• 547 BC
• Cyrus the Great
• Largest empire in
the ancient world
• Released Hebrews
from captivity
• Conquered rest of
Fertile Crescent
• Conquered Asia
Minor
Persia
• Darius the Great
• Extended Persia into
North Africa
• Failed in conquest of
Greece 490 BC
• However: Egypt,
Babylon, Assyria,
Judea, Phoenicia,
Hittites, & Lydians
under 1 rule
• BIG AREA—how to
•
•
•
•
•
Persia
Main contributions
Improved/extended roads
Unified use of coins
Unified weights & measures
Government officials spoke same language—
Aramaic
• Postal system (pony express)
• Zoroastrianism—humans have choice
between doing good & doing evil; good will
triumph at the end of the world (destroyed by
fire)
Mesopotamians & Scholarship
• Mathematics & Astronomy
• Multiplication/division
• Geometry
– System based on 60
– 360 degrees in 
– 60 minutes in an hour
• Based on star observations
• 12 month calendar based on cycles
of the moon
How do we know all this stuff?
• The BEHISTUN
ROCK
• Found in 1840s in
western Iran
• 3 types of writing
– Persian
– Babylonian
– Elamite
• Henry Rawlinson
Egypt
• Society based on
Nile River—3
seasons
– Flood
– Drying out to preflood levels
– Rainless time before
flood
• Transportation
• Adjacent deserts
protects Egypt from
enemies
• Religion
Egypt
–Polytheistic
–Amon-Re
–Life after death (mummification &
belongings)
• 3100 BC Menes formed 1 kingdom
• Memphis—capital
• Established 1st dynasty—family of
rulers
Important!!
Pharaohs individual power
weakened from time to time, but
the empire always continued.
This changed when Alexander
the Great invaded in 300BC.
Constants to remember:
Empire starts, empire builds
and increases, empire
decays from within (corrupt
rulers, natural disasters,
etc.), empire dies.
The culture remains!
Egypt
• Hired scribes kept
records
• Hieroglyphics—sacred
carving
• “Learn to write, for this
will be of greater
advantage to you than
all the other trades.”
• How to translate?
Rosetta Stone
• Napoleon’s
Army
Engineers—
1799
• 3 kinds of
writing
– Hieroglyphics
– Greek
Other guys in the Middle East
• Hittites
• Phoenicians
• Hebrews
• Assyrians
• Babylonians
• Lydians
• Persians
Hittites
• Main contribution
• Iron weapons
–Kept secret about 200 years
–Empire decline
• IRON AGEtoday
Phoenicians
•
•
•
•
•
•
Main contributions:
Sea vessels
Sailors, shipbuilders, merchants
Purple cloth
Clear glass
Writing system based on early
alphabet
Hebrews
• Monotheism
• Hebrew religion—
Judaism
• Torah—1st 5
books of the Old
Testament
• Prophets—
messengers from
God
• Skilled/ruthless
warriors
• Iron weapons
• War chariots
• Battering rams
• Terrorists
• Built library @
Ninevah
• Adopted religion, art,
literature of
Mesopotamia
Assyrians
Babylonians
• Nebuchadnezzar—
enslaved Hebrews
• Conquered much of
Fertile Crescent
• Hanging Gardens of
Babylon
• Rebuilt ziggurat of
Marduk
• Rebuilt Babylon into
fabulous city
Lydians
• Main contribution
• Used coins for trade instead of
direct barter
• Standard weight of gold, silver,
other metals
• Molded into disks
• Create MONEY ECONOMY—
economic system based on the use
of money
• What is money?
Persians
• 547 BC
• Cyrus the Great
• Largest empire in
the ancient world
• Released Hebrews
from captivity
• Conquered rest of
Fertile Crescent
• Conquered Asia
Minor
Persia
• Darius the Great
• Extended Persia into
North Africa
• Failed in conquest of
Greece 490 BC
• However: Egypt,
Babylon, Assyria,
Judea, Phoenicia,
Hittites, & Lydians
under 1 rule
• BIG AREA—how to
•
•
•
•
•
Persia
Main contributions
Improved/extended roads
Unified use of coins
Unified weights & measures
Government officials spoke same language—
Aramaic
• Postal system (pony express)
• Zoroastrianism—humans have choice
between doing good & doing evil; good will
triumph at the end of the world (destroyed by
fire)