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Cradles of Civilization

Cradles of Civilization. The Near and Middle-Eastern Origins of Human Society. Myth & history. The Epic of Gilgamesh 2100 BCE Gilgamesh Enkidu mythopoeic. I. Neolithic Era 10,000 – 3300 BCE. A. The Fertile Crescent. Nutritious plants - cereal grains Cooperative animals - “big four”

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Cradles of Civilization

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  1. Cradles of Civilization The Near and Middle-Eastern Origins of Human Society

  2. Myth & history The Epic of Gilgamesh 2100 BCE Gilgamesh Enkidu mythopoeic

  3. I. Neolithic Era10,000 – 3300 BCE

  4. A. The Fertile Crescent Nutritious plants- cereal grains Cooperative animals- “big four” Geographical determinism?

  5. B. Prelude to Civilization • Division of labor - spare time - fired-pottery - copper Jericho, 8400 BCECatalhöyük, 7400 BCE communal, subsistence oriented

  6. 2. “Eden”- alluvial plain Physical, metaphoricalplace of transition

  7. 3. Hydraulic SocietiesKarl Wittfogel

  8. 4. Flood culture - Flood Myth – “divine right” (3000 BCE)- historicism – cycles, determinism- pessimism – the gods must be crazy

  9. Terms (from notes and text) • Epic of Gilgamesh • Fertile Crescent • Hydraulic Society • Mesopotamia • Sumer • Bronze/Iron Ages • Cuneiform writing • Indo-European “sky gods” • Code of Hammurabi • Sargon the Akkadian • Old Babylonians • Old/Middle/New Kingdoms • Narmer Palette • Imhotep • Maat (ma’at) • Hatshepsut • Upper / Lower Egypt • The Nile River • Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV) • Osiris

  10. II. MesopotamiaThe Land Between the Rivers

  11. A. Hot in the city • Sumer3200-2360 BCEUr, Uruk, Eridu • Good neighbors- household rule↓ kings↓dynasties

  12. B. Tools 1. Bronze Age(3300BC – 1300BC)

  13. 2. Cuneiform Writing (Sumerians, 3500 BCE) “Whoever has walked with Truth generates life” Evolved Hieroglyphs – separate meaning from symbolAlphabets (Phoenicians) 1600 BCE

  14. C. Religion • Gods and goddesses- bound to “cycles” - impersonal - “un” ethical See Hammurabi’s Code Inanna

  15. 2. Indo-Europeansca. 2200-2000 BCE “Sky gods” exs. Enlil & Anu, Ra or Amon-Re, El, Zeus, Yahweh - external morality/social order

  16. D. Consolidation and fall • Akkadian Empire 2300-2200 BCE standing army nepotism soil salinity Sargon the Akkadian “basket case”

  17. 2. Old Babylonian Empire Hammurabi’s Code (1700s BCE) “If…then…”

  18. III. Egypt

  19. A. Land of the Nile • Ecological stability • Semi-isolation • Early Dynasties3100-2700 BCEgod-kingsless innovative

  20. B. Old Kingdom 2700-2200 BCE • Old PharaohMaat(ma’at) - optimism / eternity 2. Bureaucracy

  21. 3. Life and death - Nation-building “out of many, one”- orderly universeDjoser / Imhotep 2650 BCE

  22. C. Middle Kingdom 2025-1630 BCE • Economic expansion • Literature 3. Resurrection cults- Osiris / Isis- funeral cultureHyksos ca. 1600 BCE

  23. D. Imperial Egypt 1550-1075 • Beyond the Nile- Hittites- Phoenicians- Hebrews- Assyrians- Greeks Thutmose I 1504-1492 BCE

  24. 2. Power and purpose- Hatshepsut 1478-1458 BCE She is one girl, there is no one like her.She is more beautiful than any other.Look, she is like a star goddess arisingat the beginning of a happy new year.

  25. 3. Limits to power - Amenhotep IV / Nefertiti (ca. 1350s BCE) - Aten Cult “Sky god”? King Tutcultural lethargy

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