The Fertile Crescent (Near East river
valleys with rainfall & drainage)
Valleys & Cities
cities arose only where conditions
existed for raising food in river
valleys
The Old Stone Age (Pelo)
25,000 BCE
nomads used stone and
wood put to fire for tools
(bow & arrow)
The New Stone Age (Neo)
8000 BCE
farming in small
villages/advances in science
and technology
The Bronze Age
3000 BCE
tools made from copper and tin
Writing
Used mainly for
business transactions
History & Prehistory
History began with writing (legends)
Mesopotamia
(Land between the
rivers)
Sumer (3200 BCE)
became small states that
governed areas of 10 miles
Akkadians
King Sargon - conquered
sumer cities and built empires (2371-2316 BCE)
3rd Dynasty of Ur
(Sumerian City)
took back control from
Akkadians but around
2000-1900 BCE, no one
controlled the region
Amorites (Old
babylonians)
Hammurabi (The Greast King)
1792-1750 BCE - famous for law code
(collection of old and new legal
judgments)
Hittites, Kassites, & Hurricans
The Hittites plundered the Amorites and went
home w/the spoils but the Kassites established
themselves there for 300 yrs. (1600 BCE)
Mesopotamian
Culture
Cuniform (3000 BCE)
tokens (8000 BCE) were replaced clay tablets
that had wedge-shaped strokes with a combo
of pictographs and ideograms
Mathmatics
sexagismal/base 60 system -
what we use today for keeping
time ex. 60min/hr, 60sec/min
Engineering
most important invention was
the wheel (3500-3000 BCE)
Literature
Gilgamesh (2000 BCE) - about
Gilgamesh (King of Urk) on the search
for immortality. Enuma Elish (epic
poem) - describes the pagan creation
story and the great flood.
Egypt & The Nile
Egyptian Dynasties - 31 families
ruled the first 3,000 yrs of Egypt
history divided into 6 periods
1. Archaic
(Early
Dynasty)
3100-2700
BCE - they
unified the
Nile Valley
that flowed
regularly &
gentle
2. Old Kingdom
2700-2200 BCE - This
period Pharaohs
were regarded as
gods and not merely
representatives of
the gods. The
greatest pyramids
were constructed at
this time
3. First
Intermediate
2200-2050
BCE -
Nomads took
the Pharaohs
control of
government;
this led to
civil wars.
4. Middle
Kingdom 2050
-1700 BCE - the
period of
stability.
everything went
back to normal
until the people
know as the
Hysksos invaded
5. Second
Intermediate
1700-1550 BCE - The
Hysksos ruled but
were eventually
expelled by
Ahmose who
founded the 18th
dynasty and
launched the era of
the New Kingdom
6. New Kingdom
1550-1100 BCE -
Egyptians regained
power and came into
conflict with the
Hittites and fought
many battles but the
most famous one was
fought at Megiddo
1457 BCE (the battle
field of Armageddon)
Egyptian Culture
Religion
polytheist; worshiped the god of the dead (Anubis - human
body, jackal head) , the sun god (ra - human body, hawk head),
pharaohs were regarded as a god. They also practiced
syncretism -two gods join as one. During NK only pharaohs
and fam and nobles were mummies
The Book of the Dead (a collection
of prayers and spells concerned
w/the afterlife) - the god Osiris
would cast judgement and weigh the
soul in the afterlife
The Amarna period -
religious phase
The Pharaoh of the 18th
dynasty turned his attention
away from wars to the inner
world of the spirit
Amenhotep IV
adopted the name
Akhenaton (devoted
to Aton) 1375-1358
BCE. He was
monotheistic and
worshiped Aton (the
disk of the sun). He
changed Egypt's
national god.
Architecture,
Hieroglyphics,
the Calendar
Pyramids - tombs for divine royalty. Subterranean
tombs - valley of the kings of Thebes where King
tut's tomb was discovered
Hieroglyphics - religious, office and
archival purposes written on papyrus
Calendar - used a 12m solar calendar,
30d/m, 5 days added after 12m