1. The Mediterranean and Middle East, 2000 – 500 BCE

2. COSMOPOLITAN MIDDLE EAST
Hittites
1600 to 717 B.C.E.
Upper Mesopotamia/
Anatolia
Primarily a trading society
Polytheistic- Hattia, Battle god
Indo-European language family
IRON, 1300 B.C.E.
Iron metallurgy arises separately in Africa ~900 BCE

3. Why Cosmopolitan? Relationship to Babylon
Same religion- Gods and goddesses of Babylon and Sumer
Changed Hammurabi’s law codes around- made them far less severe
Also had city-states
Hittites invade Babylon 1595 BCE
Relationship to Egypt
First peace treaty in the world, 1285 BCE
Forged alliances with Egyptian Kings
Traded a lot
Very tolerant of others religions (carried over to Assyrians)
Allowed captured people to continue to worship their beliefs

4. New Kingdom Egypt 1532 - 1070 BCE Overthrew Hyksos (Bronze) 4M people
Bureaucracy that separated gov’t
Akhenaton – monotheism
Rameses II - expansion
Aggressive
Conquered by Kushites then Assyrians (Iron)
Separated into religion, court, military, treasury, conquered territories
Lots of trade during this period- need resources! Aswan means TRADE

5. What factors led to Egypt losing its isolationist perspective in the Near East?

7. Aegean World Mycenaean Greece
Minoan Crete
MINOANS: c B.C.E. (very approximate) to about 1450/1400 B.C.E.
Europe’s first advanced civilization- CRETE
Very advanced culture, peaceful
Strong commercial ties (especially with Egypt and Sumer)
Mycenaean Greece
Migration to southern Greece c. 2,000 BCE of Indo-Europeans
Lots of contact with Minoans- traded, adapted parts of their culture
Attacked Crete (Knossus) c. 1,450 BCE
Very prosperous

8. What are the similarities and differences between the rise of civilization in the Aegean Sea area with the rise of earlier world civilizations?
What are the benefits and limitations of oral histories?

10. Assyrian Empire 911 to 612 BCE BIGGEST EMPIRE WE’VE SEEN SO FAR
Would DESTROY those who opposed them/take into slavery
Transplant across empire BUT opportunities for conquered to rise within the military/government
Military
All powerful kings
Libraries

11. Why have historians called the Assyrian Empire of the first millennium BCE the first true empire?
How were the Assyrians able to conquer and control such a large and diverse empire?
How should the Assyrian Empire be judged?

13. Israel
Existence CONFIRMED by outside sources (Egyptian steles) in second millennium
Pastoral nomads from Mesopotamia
Monotheistic
Many connections to other Middle Eastern civilizations
Monarchs BCE- Saul, David, Solomon
TEMPLE
Role of prophets
North kingdom conquered by 722 BCE
Judea conquered 586 BCE

14. How reliable are religious documents as records of history? (Bible)
What were the causes and consequences of the migrations of the people ultimately known as the Israelites?

16. PHOENICIANS Rowers on two different levels Steering oars
Square sails, only really good for going one way

17. PHOENICIANS 1200-800 BCE (Dominated trade) Present-day Lebanon
Established the “Phoenician Triangle”
Similar in many ways to Mesopotamia
Carthage (monopoly/navy)
Trade trade trade: Purple dye, glass, lumber, high-quality metal goods, pottery, art, textiles
Traveled all over the place- esp. in search of raw materials, also because the assyrians were pushing them out of lebanon
Not much literature, culture mostly destroyed by romans, but Alphabet- 22 letters
Same religion and political structure as in mesopotamia- also reformed cuneiform
We get bible from “paper coming from byblos”
Founded carthage- huge city- 814 BCE- military superpower until rome destroys in the punic wars
Got food from israel

18. How would you describe the nature and extent of Phoenician expansion in the Mediterranean?
What is meant by the description of Carthage as a commercial “empire”?
Some civs still obviously very closely linked to rivers, but why are others not so directly centered on rivers?