Chapter 2
Early Societies in Southeast
Asia and the Indo-European
Migrations
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Civilization Defined
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Urban
Political/military system
Social stratification
Economic specialization
Religion
Communications
“Higher Culture”
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Mesopotamia
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Early Mesopotamia,
3000-2000 B.C.E.
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“Between the Rivers”
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Tigris and Euphrates
Modern-day Iraq
Cultural continuum of
“fertile crescent”
Sumerians the dominant
people
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The Wealth of the Rivers
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Nutrient-rich silt
Key: irrigation
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Sumer begins small-scale irrigation 6000 BCE
By 5000 BCE, complex irrigation networks
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Necessity of coordinated efforts
Promoted development of local governments
City-states
Population reaches 100,000 by 3000 BCE
Attracts Semitic migrants, influences culture
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Sumerian City-States
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Cities appear 4000 BCE
Dominate region from 3200-2350 BCE
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Ur (home of Abraham, see Genesis 11:28), Nineveh
(see Jonah)
Ziggurat home of the god
Divine mandate to Kings
Regulation of Trade
Defence from nomadic marauders
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The Ziggurat of Ur
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Political Decline of Sumer
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Semitic peoples from northern Mesopotamia overshadow
Sumer
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Sargon of Akkad (2370-2315 BCE)
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Hammurabi of Babylon (1792-1750 BCE)
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Destroyed Sumerian city-states one by one, created empire based in
Akkad
Empire unable to maintain chronic rebellions
Improved taxation, legislation
Used local governors to maintain control of city-states
Babylonian Empire later destroyed by Hittites from
Anatolia, c. 1595 BCE
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Legal System
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The Code of Hammurabi
Established high standards of behavior and stern
punishment for violators
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lex talionis – “law of retaliation”
Social status and punishment
women as property, but some rights
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Later Mesopotamian Empires
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Weakening of central rule an invitation to foreign
invaders
Assyrians use new iron weaponry
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Beginning 1300 BCE, by 8th-7th centuries BCE control
Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, most of Egypt
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (r. 605-562) takes
advantage of internal dissent to create Chaldean
(New Babylonian) Empire
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Famously luxurious capital
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Mesopotamian Empires, 1800-600 BCE
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Technological Development in
Mesopotamia
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Bronze (copper with tin), c. 4000 BCE
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Iron, c. 1000 BCE
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Military, agricultural applications
Cheaper than bronze
Wheel, boats, c. 3500 BCE
Shipbuilding increases trade networks
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Social Classes
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Ruling classes based often on military prowess
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Religious classes
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Role: intervention with gods to ensure fertility, safety
Considerable landholdings, other economic activities
Free commoners
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Originally elected, later hereditary
Perceived as offspring of gods
Peasant cultivators
Some urban professionals
Slaves
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Prisoners of war, convicted criminals, debtors
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Patriarchal Society
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Men as landowners, relationship to status
Patriarchy: “rule of the father”
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Double standard of sexual morality
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Women drowned for adultery
Relaxed sexual mores for men
Yet some possibilities of social mobility for women
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Right to sell wives, children
Court advisers, temple priestesses, economic activity
Introduction of the veil at least c. 1500 BCE
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Development of Writing
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Sumerian writing systems form 3500 BCE
Pictographs
Cuneiform: “wedge-shaped”
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Preservation of documents on clay
Declines from 400 BCE with spread of Greek
alphabetic script
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Uses for Writing
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Trade
Astronomy
Mathematics
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Agricultural applications
Calculation of time
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12-month year
24-hour day, 60-minute hour
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Mesopotamian Literature
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Epic of Gilgamesh, compiled after 2000 BCE
Heroic saga
Search for meaning, esp. afterlife
This-worldly emphasis
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The Early Hebrews
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Patriarchs and Matriarchs from Babylon, c. 1850
BCE
Parallels between early biblical texts, Code of
Hammurabi
Early settlement of Canaan (Israel), c. 1300 BCE
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Biblical text: slavery in Egypt, divine redemption
On-going conflict with indigenous populations
under King David (1000-970 BCE) and Solomon
(970-930 BCE)
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Moses and Monotheism
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Hebrews shared polytheistic beliefs of other
Mesopotamian civilizations
Moses introduces monotheism, belief in single
god
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Denies existence of competing parallel deities
Personal god: reward and punishment for conformity
with revealed law
The Torah (“doctrine or teaching”)
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Foreign conquests of Israel
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Assyrian conquest, 722 BCE
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Conquered the northern kingdom
Deported many inhabitants to other regions
Many exiles assimilated and lost their identity
Babylonian conquest, 586 BCE
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Destroyed Jerusalem
Forced many into exile
Israelites maintained their religious identity and many
returned to Judea
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Israel and Phoenicia , 1500-600 BCE
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The Phoenicians
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City-states along Mediterranean coast after 3000
BCE
Extensive maritime trade
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Dominated Mediterranean trade, 1200-800 BCE
Development of alphabet symbols
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Simpler alternative to cuneiform
Spread of literacy
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Indo-European Migrations
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Common roots of many languages of Europe,
southwest Asia, India
Implies influence of a single Indo-European
people
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Probable original homeland: modern-day Ukraine and
Russia, 4500-2500 BCE
Domestication of horses, use of Sumerian
weaponry allowed them to spread widely
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Indo-European migrations 3000-1000
BCE
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Implications of Indo-European Migration
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Hittites migrate to central Anatolia, c. 1900 BCE,
later dominate Babylonia
Influence on trade
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Horses, chariots with spoked wheels
Iron
Migrations to western China, Greece, Italy also
significant
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