Transcript Mediterranean Civilizations

Mediterranean Civilizations
• Mediterranean Sea:
the sea that is
surrounded by
Europe to the north,
Africa to the south,
Asia to the east,
Straits of Gibraltar to
west (opening to the
Atlantic)
Phoenician Sea Power
• Phoenicia:
Mediterranean seafaring civilization
• Created an empire
throughout
Mediterranean
• Tyre was their major
city
Phoenician Sea Power
• Made profit from
trading sea snails that
made purple/blue dye
• Thrived from about
1100 – 800 BCE
• Kept other people
from sailing
Mediterranean by
telling tales of sea
monsters
Phoenician Sea Power
• Brought items from
throughout the
Mediterranean to their
cities.
• Exotic items sold in
bazaars
• Alphabet: set of symbols
meant to represent
sounds
• Phoenicians used
alphabet of 22 letters to
conduct trade; earliest
alphabet
Rise of the Israelites
• Polytheism: Belief in
many gods
• Monotheism: Belief in
one god
• Israelites were
monotheistic
• Early Israelites were
shepherds &
merchants
Rise of the Israelites
• South of Phoenicia a
group called the
Hebrews settled in
the Jordan Valley
• Later called Israelites
• Israelites=Jews=Hebrews
• Much of their history
is told through the
Hebrew Bible, the
Torah
Rise of the Israelites
• Abraham was an early
leader
• Abraham took Israelites
from Mesopotamia to the
land of Canaan
• He convinced them to
believe in ONE god.
• Famine: a time where
there is not enough to
eat, and people starve
• Famine forced Israelites
to leave Canaan and
move to Egypt
Rise of the Israelites
• Israelites stayed in
Egypt for a few
hundred years
• Pharaoh: “King” of
Egypt
• Pharaoh forced them
into slave labor
• Prophet: a religious
leader or teacher
Rise of the Israelites
• Israelite
leader/prophet,
Moses led them out of
Egypt in the EXODUS
(Israelite “retreat”
from Egypt)
• They wandered the
Sinai Peninsula for 40
years
• Torah says that God
gave Moses the Ten
Commandments, a
set of laws
Canaan
Sinai
Peninsula
Egypt
Rise of the Israelites
• After Exodus, they
returned to Canaan
• Began farming and
built cities
• King David
established capital in
Jerusalem
• Jerusalem will
become a holy city for
Jews (Israelites),
Christians, and
Rise of the Israelites
• The Israelites’ faith
becomes known as
Judaism (Jewish
faith)
• They believed in one
true god who was
present everywhere,
knew everything, and
had complete power
• Believed that all
people (even kings)
were equal in before
God
Rise of the Israelites
• Kingdom later split
into two parts
• Northern area was
called Israel
• Southern was called
Judah
• Assyrians invaded
and took over Judah
Rise of the Israelites
• Exile: to force people to
live in another place or
country
• Israelites resisted
Assyrian control;
thousands were exiled to
other places in empire
• 612 BCE, Chaldean
Babylonians conquered
Assyria and Judah
Rise of the Israelites
• 587 BCE, king of Judah
rebelled against the
Babylonians
• Babylonian king,
Nebuchadnezzar
punished the Israelites by
destroying Jerusalem and
exile many to Babylonia
• The Romans took over
region later; they drove
Israelites out between
100 – 300 AD
Rise of the Israelites
• The Roman exile forced
the Jews to resettle
throughout the world
• In the 1940s AD modern
Israelites came back to
the Eastern
Mediterranean and
created the modern
country of Israel
• Judaism had a strong
influence on two modern
monotheistic religions:
Christianity and Islam