Transcript The Hittites & the Beginning of the Bronze Age

Chapter 3
The Mediterranean and
Middle East 2000-500
B.C.E
Hittite Empire
Capital - Hattusha
Another view of Hattusha - near present
day Ankara - central Turkey
Hattusha – Lion’s Gate
Hittite Chariots & Warriors
Hittite Writing
A Balance of Power:
1200 B. C. E.
Hittite legacy
• Employed fearsome new technology of
horse-drawn chariots
• Historians believe they were first to
develop technique for making tools and
weapons of iron.
• Challenged Egyptian dominance with
significant battle at Kadesh
End of the Hittite Empire
• Their knowledge of metalwork soon traveled
throughout the area with the Hittite traders
and through their conquests.
• Although the Hittites were superior in war,
their empire came to a very abrupt end
around 1190 BC. Invaders from the north
attacked and burned the Hittite cities.
The Battle of Kadesh
Ramses II at Kadesh
Treaty of Kadesh
New Kingdom Egypt
• The Middle Kingdom ended with the invasion
of the Hyksos in 1650 BCE.
• The Hyksos controlled the Nile River Delta –
Lower Egypt – for about 70 years.
• By 1500 BCE the Hyksos were expelled, the
Hebrews were enslaved, and Egypt was
again unified by a pharaoh of the 18th
dynasty.
• This marks the beginning of the New
Kingdom.
• The New Kingdom is dated 1550 BCE to
1075 BCE (1550-700 BCE in AP text).
• This was the period when Egyptian armies
conquered extensive areas of land out side
Egypt.
• Some famous New Kingdom pharaohs
include:
• Ahmose – He expelled the Hyksos.
• Thutmose I – (1512 BCE – 1500 BCE) – He
conquered Nubia to the South. He pushed
Egypt’s border further South than it had ever
been.
Hatshepsut – the best known
female pharaoh (ca. 1500
BCE – 1482 BCE).
• Akhnaton (1367-1350 BCE) and his wife
Nefertiti.
• Akhnaton attempted to found a (mostly)
monotheistic religion dedicated to Aton – a
god signifying the sun’s disc.
• This effort was bitterly opposed by the
priesthoods.
• Akhnaton’s faith died with him.
• One of the most important pharaohs of
the New Kingdom was Rameses II.
• He ruled from about ca. 1304 BCE to
ca. 1237 BCE. This was the longest
reign of any pharaoh.
• He outlived most of his children and
grandchildren.
• Rameses II fought the Hittites at Kadesh
around 1300 BCE and concluded a peace
treaty with them after the two armies fought to
a standstill.
• Rameses II’s monuments claimed Kadesh
was a great victory!
• Rameses II was perhaps the most prolific
builders of any of Egypt’s pharaohs.
Minoans of Crete
Ø On the island of Crete
ØBy 2000 B.C.E. the Island of Crete had
first European civilization to have
complex political and social structures
and advanced technologies.
ØThey had a centralized government,
monumental building, bronze
metallurgy, writing and record keeping
ØArchaelogists named after King Minos
who ruled a vast naval empire
ØWorshipped one goddess with many
faces, most likely, or multiple goddesses
End of Minoans
• All the Cretan palaces except Cnossus
were deliberately destroyed around
1450 B.C.E.
• Since Mycenaen Greeks took over at
Cnossus, most historians regard them
as the likely destroyers of Minoans
Phoenician Sea Routes
A Phoenician Bireme Ship
The “Royal Purple” Dye
Phoenician City of Byblos:
“Home of the Alphabet”
Phoenician Alphabet
Carthage: Phoenicia’s Mightiest
Colony
The Assyrian Empire
Assyrian Military Power
Assyrian soldiers
carrying away the
enemy’s gods.
Jewish Captives:
c
8
BCE
Babylon under the Chaldeans
Nebuchadnezzar II’s Babylon
Ishtar
Gate
Hanging Gardens
of Babylon?
Israelites in Captivity
Alexander the Great & the
Hellenization of the Near East
The Great Library at Alexandria.
Egypt