Chapter 2-Western Asia and Egypt, 3500-500 B.C.

1. Chapter 2-Western Asia and Egypt, 3500-500 B.C. Section 3-New Centers of Civilization

2. New Centers of Civilization Main Ideas • The decline of the Hittites and Egyptians allowed a number of small kingdoms and city-states to emerge.  • The Israelites did not create an empire, but they left a world religion, Judaism, that influenced the later religions of Christianity and Islam.  Key Terms pastoral nomad  monotheistic Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.

3. New Centers of Civilization People to Identify • Indo-Europeans  • Israelites  • King Solomon  • Isaiah  • Hittites  • Phoenicians  Places to Locate • Palestine  • Jerusalem Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.

4. New Centers of Civilization Preview Questions • How did nomadic peoples affect the centers of civilization?  • What factors caused the decline of the Hittite kingdom? Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.

5. New Centers of Civilization Preview of Events

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7. To this day, more than 2,400 years after it was written, strict rules govern the production and treatment of the Torah. Every copy of the Torah is written in Hebrew by a calligrapher on vellum or parchment. When reading from the Torah, Jews use a pointer called a yad; no one is allowed to touch the scrolls.

8. The Role of Nomadic Peoples • Another ancient civilization flourished in central Asia around 4,000 years ago in what are now Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.  • These people built mud-brick buildings, used bronze tools, built irrigation works, and probably had writing. (pages 54–55) Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.

9. The Role of Nomadic Peoples (cont.) • Pastoral nomadslived on the fringes of these civilizations.  • These groups hunted and gathered, did small farming, and domesticated animals.  • They moved along regular routes to pasture their animals.  • Sometimes they overran settled communities and established states. (pages 54–55)

10. The Role of Nomadic Peoples (cont.) • One of the most important groups of pastoral nomads was the Indo-Europeans. • The term Indo-European refers to peoples who spoke languages derived from the same parent language.  • Indo-European languages include Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, and the Germanic languages.  • One Indo-European group melded with natives in Anatolia–modern-day Turkey–to form the Hittite kingdom. (pages 54–55) Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.

11. The Role of Nomadic Peoples (cont.) • Between 1600 and 1200 B.C., the Hittitescreatedan empire in western Asia.  • Its capital was Hattusha, in modern Turkey.  • They were the first Indo-Europeans to use iron.  • When the Hittite Empire was destroyed, smaller city-states and kingdoms emerged in the area of Syria and Palestine. (pages 54–55) Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.

12. The Phoenicians • The Phoenicians were an important new group in the area of Palestine.  • The Phoenicians lived on a narrow band of the Mediterranean coast only 120 miles long.  • After the downfall of the Hittites and the Egyptians, the Phoenicians began to assert their power.  • That power was based on trade.  • The Phoenicians were such prominent traders because of their ships and seafaring skill (pages 55–56) Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.

13. The Phoenicians (cont.) • Trading took the Phoenicians as far as Britain and Africa’s west coast.  • The Phoenicians set up colonies.  • Carthage in North Africa is the most famous Phoenician colony. (pages 55–56) Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.

14. The Phoenicians (cont.) • The Phoenicians are most known for their alphabet of 22 characters, or letters.  • They could spell out all the words in the Phoenician language.  • This alphabet was passed on to the Greeks.  • The Roman alphabet we use is based on Greek. (pages 55–56) Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.

15. The “Children of Israel” • The Israelites were a Semitic people living in Palestine along the eastern Mediterranean Sea.  • Some interpretations of archaeological evidence indicate they emerged as a distinct group between 1200 and 1000 B.C.  • The Israelites soon established a kingdom known as Israel. (pages 56–60) Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.

16. The “Children of Israel” (cont.) • The Israelites were not particularly important politically.  • The Israelites’ main contribution to history was their religion, Judaism.  • Judaism still flourishes as a major religion, and it influenced both Christianity and Islam. (pages 56–60) Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.

17. The “Children of Israel” (cont.) • The Israelites ruled Palestine. Their capital was Jerusalem. • King Solomon,who ruled from 970 to 930 B.C., was Israel’s first great king.  • Solomon was known for his wisdom.  • Most importantly, he built the temple in Jerusalem.  • The Israelites viewed this temple as the symbolic center of Israel and Judaism. (pages 56–60) Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.

18. The “Children of Israel” (cont.) • After Solomon, the kingdom divided into two parts.  • The Kingdom of Israel was made up of ten tribes.  • The Kingdom of Judah to the south was made up of two tribes.  • In 772 B.C., the Assyrians conquered and scattered the ten northern tribes of Israel.  • These “ten lost tribes” lost their Hebrew identity. (pages 56–60) Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.

19. The “Children of Israel” (cont.) • The Chaldeans conquered Assyria and the Kingdom of Judah, destroying Jerusalem in 586 B.C. • Many upper-class captives were sent to Babylonia.  • After the Persians conquered the Chaldeans, the people of Judah were permitted to return to Jerusalem.  • The Kingdom of Judah was reborn and the temple rebuilt. (pages 56–60) Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.

20. The “Children of Israel” (cont.) • The people of Judah survived even conquest by Alexander the Great, eventually becoming known as the Jews and giving their name to Judaism.  • Jewish belief says there is one God, Yahweh.  • The belief in only one God is called monotheism. • Yahweh created and ruled the world.  • God, however, was not in nature; natural phenomena were not divine. (pages 56–60) Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.

21. The “Children of Israel” (cont.) • All people were Yahweh’s servants, not just a certain tribe or nation.  • Three important aspects of the Jewish religion were the covenant, the law, and the prophets.  • The covenant was the agreement between God and his people.  • The Jews could fulfill the covenant by obeying the law of God, stated in the Ten Commandments. (pages 56–60) Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.

22. The “Children of Israel” (cont.) • The Jews believed that religious teachers, called prophets, were sent by God.  • The prophets believed that unjust actions would bring God’s punishment.  • The prophets also added a new element to the Jewish tradition.  • Prophets like Isaiah expressed concern for all humanity and the hope that someday all people would follow the law of the God of Israel in a time of peace. (pages 56–60) Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.

23. The “Children of Israel” (cont.) • People would show compassion to one another.  • They also would care for social justice and the condition of the poor and unfortunate.  • The religion of Israel was unique among the religions of western Asia and Egypt.  • Its most distinctive feature was its monotheism. (pages 56–60) Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.

24. The “Children of Israel” (cont.) • Further, the ideas of Judaism were written down, so people besides priests and rulers could have religious knowledge and know God’s will.  • The Jews also would not accept the gods or goddesses of their neighbors. (pages 56–60) Click the mouse button or press theSpace Bar to display the information.