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The Beginnings of Civilization, 10,000-1150 B.C.E. Defining Civilization, Defining Western Civilization Mesopotamia: Kingdoms, Empires, and Conquests Egypt: The Empire of the Nile. Defining Civilization, Defining Western Civilization. The Food-Producing Revolution
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The Beginnings of Civilization, 10,000-1150 B.C.E. • Defining Civilization, Defining Western Civilization • Mesopotamia: Kingdoms, Empires, and Conquests • Egypt: The Empire of the Nile
Defining Civilization, Defining Western Civilization • The Food-Producing Revolution • Paleolithic Age, 200,000-100,000 years ago • Homo sapiens • Cave art • Hunter-gatherers • Domestication
Defining Civilization, Defining Western Civilization • First food-Producing Communities • Levantine Corridor (Fertile Crescent) • Abu Hureya • Zagros Mountains • Anatolia • Çatal Hüyük • Obsidian trade
Defining Civilization, Defining Western Civilization • Transformations in Europe • Agricultural communities – 6000 B.C.E. • Farming communities – 2500 B.C.E. • Technological shifts • Metallurgy and Plow • Megaliths
Mesopotamia: Kingdoms, Empires, and Conquests • Sumerian Kingdoms • 13-35 major cities by 2500 B.C.E. • Uruk • 50,000 people/redistributive economies • Religion and political life intertwined • End of Sumerian city-states 2340 B.C.E.
Mesopotamia: Kingdoms, Empires, and Conquests • Akkadian Empire of Sargon the Great • Sargon, 2340-2305 B.C.E. • Standing army • Composite bow • Anarchy – 2250 B.C.E.
Mesopotamia: Kingdoms, Empires, and Conquests • Ur III Dynasty and Rise of Assyria • Ur-Nammu, 2112-2095 B.C.E. • Administrative bureaucracy
Mesopotamia: Kingdoms, Empires, and Conquests • Assyria and Babylonia • Assyria • Ashur • Trading network • Babylon • Hammurabi, 1792-1750 B.C.E.
Mesopotamia: Kingdoms, Empires, and Conquests • Cultural Continuities: Transmission of Mesopotamian Cultures • Mesopotamian World View • Religion - Polytheistic/Ziggurat • Science - Divination/Deduction • Development of Writing - Cuneiform • “Epic of Gilgamesh” • “Law Code of Hammurabi”
Egypt – The Empire of the Nile • Egypt’s Rise to Empire • The Old Kingdom • Unification, 3500-3000 B.C.E. • Kings • Pyramids • Hieroglyphics
Egypt – The Empire of the Nile • The Middle Kingdom, 2040-1720 B.C.E. • Mentuhotep II, r. 2060-2010 B.C.E.
Egypt – The Empire of the Nile • Encounters with Other Civilizations • Nubia (Sudan) • Gold and ivory • Canaan • Hyksos dynasty, 1650-1540 B.C.E.
Egypt – The Empire of the Nile • The New Kingdom: The Egyptian Empire in the Bronze Age • King Ahmose I, r. 1550-1525 B.C.E. • Pharaoh • Thutmose I, r. 1504-1492 B.C.E. • Thutmose II, r. 1491-1479 B.C.E. • “God’s Wife of Amun” • Hatshepsut
Mesopotamian & Egyptian Epic/Myths • Gilgamesh (Mesopotamia) & Isis & Osiris: As Leaders/Exemplars • Role of Gods, humans, semi-divine beings (see introduction, pp. xxxvii and after) • Gilgamesh--1/3rd man, 2/3rds god--father Lugalbanda, mother--Ninsun, goddess • Gender roles: men and women, divine/mortal beings • Humans and nature: • Relationship of gods to nature: nature functions to feed/sustain the gods • Relationship of humans to nature: humans work, produce food and goods to sustain gods • Role of magic, supernatural: to interpret dreams, omens, through which the gods speak • Humans and gods: gods control forces which determine human fate • Central role of immortality in stories • Role in History and Literature: • Gilgamesh -cuneiform tablets, found in ruins of royal library of Ninevah (near Mosul, Iraq), from Assyrian Empire ruled by King Ashurbanipal • Written in Akkadian—Babylonian • Gradual transformation of story: “Surpassing All Kings…” to “He Who Saw the Deep” • Isis and Osiris: earliest versions dates from 2500 BCE, • inscriptions on Palermo Stone, Pyramid texts (also inscribed on sarcophagi & pyramids for use of pharaoh only) • Central importance of Isis/Osiris festivals in Egypt, rituals • Connection to Greek & Roman mythology, cults
Egypt – The Empire of the Nile • The New Kingdom: The Egyptian Empire in the Bronze Age • Amarna Period • Monotheism • 1150 B.C.E. collapse