Transcript Ancient Civilizations

Ancient Civilizations
3500B.C.E. to B.C.E.500
• A piece of land stretching from eastern
Mediterranean sea to the Persian Gulf
• Between Tigris & Euphrates Rivers
• Soil is rich, great for farming.
• Area is shaped like a crescent.
• Mesopotamia (Land between the rivers)
to the east
• Mediterranean section to the west
Sumer (3500 B.C.E.)
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First People in the Fertile Crescent
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Skilled Builders & Artists
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Army is supplied with weapons
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Metals, stones, & wood were obtained by trading
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Kings were treated as gods
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Developed cuneiform(writing)
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Studied math & science ( a year has 360 days)
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First to use a wheel in farming, trade, and warfare
Egypt (3000 B.C.E.)
• Only civilization to continue to today
• 2700-2100 Old Kingdom:Great Pyramids &
Sphinx are built
• 2100-1800 Middle Kingdom: Irrigation &
canals built; conquered by invaders
• 1600-1100 New Kingdom: conquered many
lands, became a great empire, begins to
decline
Egypt
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Made paper from papyrus
Invented the calendar
Built Great Pyramids
Invented shadoof ( a crane-like device)
Used a loom to weave cloth
Invented hieroglyphics
Babylonia (2000 B.C.E.)
• First to build temples to honor their gods
• Hammurabi’s Code (law)
• Nebuchadrezzar II (mentioned in the Bible for the
first time)
• Astrology, movement of planets & stars effects
human life
• Astrology lead to the
discovery of Astronomy
This Code of Hammurabi reveals:
1. A stern sense of justice - proclaiming the principle of "an eye for an
eye" and demanding severe punishment for crimes - bribery, theft,
dishonest weights and measures, and damage to another's property.
2. A sharp division of classes - providing harsher punishment for an
offense against a noble or priest than for the same offense against a
common person - an artisan, merchant, farmer, or slave
3. A fair treatment of women - permitting them to own property and
engage in business. However, the code strictly regulated the behavior of
women. It expected a woman to remain in her husband's home and be
dependent on him. A husband, however, had a legal duty to support his
wife. The code also gave a father nearly unlimited authority over his
children. The Babylonians believed that an orderly household headed by
a strong father was necessary for a stable empire.
4. An advanced business society- establishing regulations for protecting
property and business contracts, limiting interest on loans, and setting
wages for workers.
Hebrew (1800 B.C.E.)
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Monotheistic
Exodus
Ten commandments
Recorded the Bible
High moral behaviors, set new
standards
• Prophets fought for justice of the
weak & poor
Hittite Empire ( 1750 B.C.E.)
• Among the first
to use iron for
weapons & tools
• Signed the first
treaties
Assyria (1350 B.C.E.)
• Bilt first sistem of roads
• Began provintial
goverments
• Established first libary
Bibliography
•Akurgal, Ekrem - The Hattian and Hittite Civilizations; Publications of the Republic of Turkey; Ministry of Culture;
2001; 300 pages; ISBN 975-17-2756-1
•Trevor R. Bryce, "Life and Society in the Hittite World," Oxford (2002).
•Trevor R. Bryce, The Kingdom of the Hittites, Oxford (1999).
•C. W. Ceram, The Secret of the Hittites: The Discovery of an Ancient Empire. Phoenix Press (2001), ISBN 1-84212295-9.
•Hans Gustav Güterbock, Hittite Historiography: A Survey, in H. Tadmor and M. Weinfeld eds. History,
Historiography and Interpretation: Studies in Biblical and Cuneiform Literatures, Magnes Press, Hebrew University
(1983) pp. 21-35.
•J. G. Macqueen, The Hittites, and Their Contemporaries in Asia Minor, revised and enlarged, Ancient Peoples and
Places series (ed. G. Daniel), Thames and Hudson (1986), ISBN 0-500-02108-2.
•George E. Mendenhall, The Tenth Generation: The Origins of the Biblical Tradition, The Johns Hopkins University
Press (1973), ISBN 0-8018-1654-8.
•Erich Neu, Der Anitta Text, (StBoT 18), Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden (1974).
•Louis L. Orlin, Assyrian Colonies in Cappadocia, Mouton, The Hague (1970).
•The Hittites and Hurrians in D. J. Wiseman Peoples of the Old Testament Times, Clarendon Press, Oxford (1973).
O.R. Gurney, The Hittites, Penguin (1952), ISBN 0-14-020259-5