Mesopotamia
- Sargon of Akkad with founding the first empire
-Thereafter, asuccession of empires rose and fel
-Tried to control water through stuff like irrigation, viewed nature as hostile and were pessimistic about after life
-trade
–city states alternatively allianced, competed, and waged war with each other
-king ship then emerging with dominating multiple city states
-able to know a lot of info about them because of written things left behind in cuneiform
-polytheistic
-build big temples such as ziggurat
-Kings and rulers were very influential while majority of population were farmers - there were other skilled people
-labor specialization resulted in metalworking … produced bronze, stronger than copper
-they had slavery
-cuniform written script back then used by scribes since most people didn’t know how to write
-Akkad turned very wealthy as a capital
-Akkiadian empire falls from neighbor attacks
-Babylonian empire then created by Hammarabi
-stele of hammariabi/hammarabi’s code pillar with laws of justice like “an eye
for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” (attempted to unify people all over the empire along with)
-lots of positives with stuf like encouraging agriculture and postal stuff
-Assyrian empire after was larger than any preceding empire
-used siege warfare
-stands out for size of cities
-appointed officials to look over keeping tabs on allied states for the king because so massive
-too large to control, eventually fell
-With the weakening of the Assyrian Empire, the New Babylonian Empire began to dominate
Mesopotamia. Lasting for less than 100 years, the New Babylonian Empire is best known for
its ruler, Nebuchadnezzar II,
Israelites/ancient israel
-According to Hebrew Tradition, Abraham led his followers from the city of Ur in Mesopotamiaand they eventually settled in the Levant. Several generations later, according to Hebrew Tradition,
the Israelites went to Egypt where they suffered persecution and enslavement, until Moses liberatedthem. Upon their return to Canaan, the Israelites built kingdoms just prior to 1000 BCE. Their
kingdoms formed complex administrations and were unified by powerful kings, such as the well-known King Solomon. Historians also recognize countless other contributions made by the Israelites,especially as regards monotheistic religious traditions and western understandings of justice.
Egypt
-dynastic was where north and south were unified
–Nile river helped facilitate trade between upper and lower Egypt and allowed development of bigger agricultural communities
–art/evidence to date things of their civilization with
-hieroglyphics as written text (old writings just like mesopotamia)
-tax assessment and collection
-invented things like math related things and other
-most people farmers
-relative equality of
women to men
-relatively small amount of slaves
-building of pyramids to connect with divine
-had governors over provinces
-was invaded some
-brief bit of monotheism
-strengthening army through metal technologies
-In contrast to Mesopotamian society, Egyptians conceptualized the afterlife as
pleasant.
-Like ancient Mesopotamians, Egyptians were
polytheistic.
-Amarna Period.:state-sponsored monotheism.
Nubia:
-These kingdoms of kerma and kush prospered
especially due to their productive agriculture and the region’s copious natural resources.
-written script Merotic
-own religions and cultural traditions
-trade with egypt
-most people in smaller villages
-use of archaeological evidence to find things out about them
-farmed, industries
-trade
-large structure for things like religion and rituals
-changed things about their egyptian ways like having smaller pyramids and focusing on different gods, burials,
common elements
food surpluses, higher population densities, social stratification, systems of taxation, labor
specialization, regular trade, and written scripts.
