Chapter 2

Early Societies in Southeast Asia and the Indo-European

Migrations

Civilization Defined

• Cities/Urban• Political/Military system• Social Hierarchy• Economic/Job Specialization• Complex Religion• Written language• “Higher Culture” – Art & Architecture• Public Works

Early Mesopotamia 3000-2000 B.C.E.

• “Between the Rivers”– Tigris and Euphrates

• Modern-day Iraq• Cultural continuum of “fertile crescent”• Sumerians the dominant people

Sumerians

The Wealth of the Rivers• Nutrient-rich silt• Key: irrigation

– Necessity of coordinated efforts (reservoirs, canals, dikes, dams)

– Promoted development of local governments – City-states

• Sumer begins small-scale irrigation 6000 BCE• By 5000 BCE, complex irrigation networks

– Population reaches 100,000 by 3000 BCE• Attracts Semitic migrants, influences culture

Sumerian City-States

• Cities appear 4000 BCE• Dominate region from 3200-2350 BCE

– Ur (home of Abraham, see Genesis 11:28), Nineveh

• Ziggurat - home of the city god• Divine mandate to Kings• Regulation of Trade• Defense from nomadic marauders

The Ziggurat of Ur

Ziggurat at Ur Temple “Mountain of the Gods”

Example of Defensive Walls

Sumerian Religion - Polytheistic

Enki

Innana

Anthropomorphic Gods

Political Decline of Sumer• Semitic peoples from northern Mesopotamia

overshadow Sumer– Sargon of Akkad (2370-2315 BCE)

• Destroyed Sumerian city-states one by one, created empire based in Akkad

• Empire unable to maintain chronic rebellions

• Hammurabi of Babylon (1792-1750 BCE)– Improved taxation, legislation– Used local governors to maintain control of city-states

• Babylonian Empire later destroyed by Hittites from Anatolia, c. 1595 BCE

Akkadian Empire

Hammurabi

The upper part of the stele of Hammurabi’s code of

laws

Legal System

• The Code of Hammurabi • Established high standards of behavior

and stern punishment for violators– lex talionis – “law of retaliation”– Social status and punishment– women as property, but some rights

Hittite Chariot and Soldiers

Later Mesopotamian Empires• Weakening of central rule an invitation to

foreign invaders• Assyrians use new iron weaponry

– Beginning 1300 BCE, by 8th-7th centuries BCE control Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, most of Egypt

• Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (r. 605-562) takes advantage of internal dissent to create Chaldean (New Babylonian) Empire– Famously luxurious capital

The Hanging Gardens by Martin Heemskerc, 16th C.

Mesopotamian Empires, 1800-600 BCE

Technological Development in Mesopotamia

• Bronze (copper with tin), c. 4000 BCE– Military, agricultural applications

• Iron, c. 1000 BCE– Cheaper than bronze

• Wheel, boats, c. 3500 BCE• Shipbuilding increases trade networks

Sophisticated Metallurgy Skills at Ur

Social Classes• Ruling classes based often on military prowess

– Originally elected, later hereditary– Perceived as offspring of gods

• Religious classes– Role: intervention with gods to ensure fertility, safety– Considerable landholdings, other economic activities

• Free commoners– Peasant cultivators– Some urban professionals

• Slaves– Prisoners of war, convicted criminals, debtors

Patriarchal Society

• Men as landowners, relationship to status• Patriarchy: “rule of the father”

– Right to sell wives, children• Double standard of sexual morality

– Women drowned for adultery– Relaxed sexual mores for men

• Yet some possibilities of social mobility for women– Court advisers, temple priestesses, economic activity

• Introduction of the veil at least c. 1500 BCE

Development of Writing

• Sumerian writing systems form 3500 BCE• Pictographs• Cuneiform: “wedge-shaped”

– Preservation of documents on clay– Declines from 400 BCE with spread of Greek

alphabetic script

Cuneiform: “Wedge-Shaped” Writing

Cuneiform Writing

Deciphering Cuneiform

Sumerian Scribes

“Tablet House”

Uses for Writing

• Trade• Astronomy• Mathematics

– Agricultural applications• Calculation of time

– 12-month year– 24-hour day, 60-minute hour

Mesopotamian Literature

• Epic of Gilgamesh, compiled after 2000 BCE

• Heroic saga• Search for meaning, esp. afterlife• This-worldly emphasis

Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh Epic Tablet:Flood Story

The Early Hebrews• Patriarchs and Matriarchs from Babylon, c. 1850

BCE• Parallels between early biblical texts, Code of

Hammurabi• Early settlement of Canaan (Israel), c. 1300 BCE

– Biblical text: slavery in Egypt, divine redemption• On-going conflict with indigenous populations

under King David (1000-970 BCE) and Solomon (970-930 BCE)

Egypt's king, Ramses II, written about in the Old

Testament, is now thought to have reigned between 1290-1224 B.C.E.

This Egyptian wall art depicts Ramses

holding what is suspected to be

three slaves. One is black, one appears to be East Asian,

and the third, in the foreground, appears

to be Semitic. The blacks and Semite

came from close by. The East Asian

leaves us wondering.

David and Goliath by Caravaggio, 1600

Michelangelo's David

David with the Head of Goliath, c. 1450/1455, Andrea del Castagno

Model of Solomon’s Temple

Moses and Monotheism

• Hebrews shared polytheistic beliefs of other Mesopotamian civilizations

• Moses introduces monotheism, belief in single god– Denies existence of competing parallel deities– Personal god: reward and punishment for

conformity with revealed law– The Torah (“doctrine or teaching”)

Foreign conquests of Israel

• Assyrian conquest, 722 BCE– Conquered the northern kingdom– Deported many inhabitants to other regions– Many exiles assimilated and lost their identity

• Babylonian conquest, 586 BCE– Destroyed Jerusalem– Forced many into exile– Israelites maintained their religious identity and

many returned to Judea

The Phoenicians

• City-states along Mediterranean coast after 3000 BCE

• Extensive maritime trade– Dominated Mediterranean trade, 1200-800

BCE• Development of alphabet symbols

– Simpler alternative to cuneiform– Spread of literacy

Israel and Phoenicia , 1500-600 BCE

Indo-European Migrations

• Common roots of many languages of Europe, southwest Asia, India

• Implies influence of a single Indo-European people– Probable original homeland: modern-day

Ukraine and Russia, 4500-2500 BCE• Domestication of horses, use of Sumerian

weaponry allowed them to spread widely

Indo-European Migrations 3000-1000 BCE

Implications of Indo-European Migration

• Hittites migrate to central Anatolia, c. 1900 BCE, later dominate Babylonia

• Influence on trade– Horses, chariots with spoked wheels– Iron – Migrations to western China, Greece, Italy

also significant