GROUP ONE: Sumerians
From the mountains of present day Turkey, two rivers flow through Syria and Iraq
to the Persian Gulf. The land between the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers is part of an
area called the Fertile Crescent. The first civilization, called Sumer, was found here. The
rich soils allowed the Sumerians to farm items such as grain, and grow dates. They
created intricate irrigation methods to farm along with draining swamps and building
dikes and canals to control the flooding. They improved their farming techniques by
inventing the plow. By 3500 B.C., the most successful farming settlements had grown into
powerful city states. Each was like its own country having its own gods or goddesses, laws
and army. Unfortunately, these powerful city-states were often at war with one another;
this would soon be their downfall.
Religion played a major role in the life of the Sumerians. They believed that the
gods were all powerful; they controlled all aspects of a Sumerian’s life. If the gods were
angry, they sent floods and diseases. Due to the strong religious presence, priest took on a
very important role in society. They were the only members of the culture who knew the
prayers, hymns and rituals that were needed to make the gods happy. Because the people
put such trust in the priest, they controlled many aspects of the Sumerian’s life.
The Sumerians seem to have developed one of the world's first systems of
monarchy; the early states they formed needed a new form of government in order to
govern larger areas and diverse peoples. The very first states in human history were run
by a type of priest-king. Among their duties were leading the military, administering
trade, judging disputes, and engaging in the most important religious ceremonies. The
priest-king ruled through a series of bureaucrats, many of them priests that carefully
surveyed land, assigned fields, and distributed crops after harvest.
Each city-state had one main building, a ziggurat. A ziggurat is a large, many
tiered temple. From the ziggurat, the priest collected taxes in the form of crops. Grain was
also used in religious ceremonies as a way to please the gods and ask for a good harvest.
The principal character of Sumerian government was bureaucracy; the monarchy was able
to hold power of such a large are by employing men to work in "middle management." This
middle management, which consisted largely of priests, bore all the responsibility of
surveying and distributing land as well as distributing crops. Those who grew food needed
to feed those who did not. This requires some sort of distribution mechanism. To make
sure this worked; Sumerians needed some sort of record keeping system. At temple
schools, young men were taught to read and write. They then became scribes, someone
who writes copies of manuscripts and documents, and kept important temple records. The
Sumerians have created the oldest form of written language in the world. They began
using pictographs to communicate and then with time they added phonetic symbols to
represent sound. The Sumerians soon began to write on clay tablets. They used a stylus,
or sharpened reed, to cut wedged shaped symbols into wet clay. The clay was then
hardened by baking. This was called cuneiform. They used these tablets to collect and
record data, inscribe prayers, treaties and medical knowledge for future generations.
Through their schooling and innovative thinkers, the Sumerians did some amazing
things. Scholars used arithmetic and geometry to survey fields. They used their
knowledge to create an accurate calendar. The Sumerians also set up a measurement
system based on the number 60. We have the Sumerians to thank for the 60 second
minute, the 60 minute hour and the 360 degree circle. The Sumerians were also the first
people to use a wheel and invented the sail. Through their inventions of a wheeled cart
and sails for ships, trade flourished in their empire.
Information taken from http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/MESO/SUMER.HTM
GROUP TWO: Fertile Crescent, Hittites and Phoenicians
Nomadic people from the highlands were attracted to the fertile river valleys and rich
cities of the plains. They conquered the settled lands. Over time, they adopted the
advanced civilization of the peoples they defeated, adding their own ideas and beliefs to
those they found. Despite the frequent turmoil of the region, trade flourished across wide
areas. Over thousands of years, warfare and trade created a rich blend of cultures in the
Middle East.
In about 1700 B.C., the Babylonians, under King Hammurabi, conquered much of the
Fertile Crescent. To provide justice throughout his large empire, Hammurabi drew up a
single code of law, replacing the many law codes of earlier peoples. Hammurabi’s Code
included 282 laws. The code regulated economic, social and morals and distinguished
between major and minor crimes. The basic principle of the code was “an eye for an eye.”
Hammurabi had these laws carved in stone and placed where everyone could see them.
His law code became an example for later peoples and served as a foundation for future
codes of law.
In about 1500 BC, the Hittites marched into the Fertile
Crescent from their homelands in Asia Minor. After they
conquered the region, they adopted cuneiform (first known
writing system) and absorbed other ideas from the
Babylonians. The Hittites carried Mesopotamian culture
back to Asia Minor, where it later influenced the Greeks. The Hittites were also famous
for their skill in building and using chariots. The Hittites were pioneers of the Iron Age,
demonstrating great skills in the manufacture of iron artifacts from as early as the 14th
century BC, when letters to foreign rulers reveal the demand for their iron goods. The
Hittites were not, however, the first to work iron, and iron remained a precious metal
throughout the history of their empire. The Hittites passed much knowledge and lore from
the Ancient Near East to the newly arrived Greeks in Europe.
While the Hittites ruled the Fertile Crescent, the Phoenicians moved into what is now
Lebanon. They set up small city-states along the eastern Mediterranean coast and earned
a living though commerce and trade. The Phoenician alphabet is more precisely referred to
as the Phoenician script, as the Phoenicians used no vowels in their writing. However,
some transformations of the Phoenician script, such as Greek, are true alphabets.
Phoenician became one of the most widely used writing systems, spread by Phoenician
merchants across the Mediterranean world, where it was assimilated by many other
cultures and evolved. Many modern writing systems thought to have descended from
Phoenician cover much of the world. The Aramaic alphabet, a modified form of Phoenician,
was the ancestor of the modern Arabic and Hebrew scripts, as well as the Brāhmī script,
the parent writing system of most modern languages in India, Southeast Asia, Tibet, and
Mongolia. The Greek alphabet (and by extension its descendants such as the Latin, the
Cyrillic and the Coptic), was a direct successor of Phoenician, though certain letter values
were changed to represent vowels.
GROUP THREE: Persian Empire
By 500 BC, the Persians had conquered a vast empire that stretched from Asia
Minor to the Indus Valley. Cyrus (580-529 BC) was the first Achaemenian Emperor. He
founded Persia by uniting the two original Iranian Tribes- the Medes and the Persians.
Although he was known to be a great conqueror, he is best remembered for his
unprecedented tolerance and magnanimous attitude towards those he defeated. He
showed great forbearance and respect towards the religious beliefs and cultural traditions
of other races. These qualities earned him the respect and homage of all the people over
whom he ruled. Cyrus had no thought of forcing conquered people into a single mold, and
had the wisdom to leave unchanged the institution of each kingdom he attached to the
Persian Crown. His policy was to bring peace to Mankind. A new wind was blowing from
the east, carrying away the cries and humility of defeated and murdered victims,
extinguishing the fires of sacked cities, and liberating nations from slavery that had
existed with the struggle for power in ancient times.
The Persian Empire is known for their pottery. It was very simple but each piece
served a purpose at the dinner table. He created a system of weights and measures based
upon gold and silver. Coins were made and then given a specific value or weight. This
enabled the Persians to set up an extensive system of trading and business within their
own lands, but around the world. Coinage systems combined with the Persian’s leaders
respect for others differences allowed for the growth of trade. With such a large empire, he
created an advanced system of roads. These roads extended for over 1,700 miles! Cyrus is
also reputed to have devised the first postal system, with an empire so large, it was
important to figure out an efficient way to get messages to one another. In order to do
this, he first calculated the distance a horse could go in one day without being too
exhausted. Then he had a series of posting stations, built distances of one horse-day
apart, to ensure efficient flow of information between the king and provincial governors.
Prior to his death, he founded a new capital city and had established a formal
government for his Empire. Soon after his nephew Darius took over and continued his
uncle’s work. In order to keep the empire running efficiently and fairly, he appointed a
Satrap, governor, to represent him in each province. The Satrap’s job description
included the administration, legislation, and cultural activities of each province. He also
had hired men to handle the additional administration of the government. The
administrators kept a list of day to day functions and happenings in the government, they
were the record collectors. Tablets were found explaining their complex record keeping
system. The tablets help us understand the administration of the Persian Empire. We also
know about the issue of passports to citizens, and orders for payments of silver and gold to
the chief treasurer (taxes). The Persian Empire administration consisted of a complex
legal system with judges, accountants, caravans (traders/business men) and teams of
country laborers. This allowed the government of
such a large Empire to function to smoothly.
Information taken from ….
http://www.oznet.net/cyrus/cyrus_g.htm#top
http://www.livius.org/persia.html
http://www.calacademy.org/research/anthropology/rietzcoll/pers.html
Persian Soldiers
GROUP FOUR: Greek (Hellenistic) and Roman Influences
The civilizations of Greece and Rome added to the rich blend of cultures in the ancient
Middle East. In 334 BC., Alexander of Macedonia set out to conquer the world. Macedonia
is a mountainous region north of Greece. Alexander led his armies into Asia Minor, Syria,
Palestine, and Egypt. He defeated the powerful Persian Empire and pushed as far east as
the Indus Valley.
Alexander died in 323 BC, and his empire was divided among his generals. Alexander’s
most lasting achievement, however, was not military but cultural. His conquests paved
the way for the blending of Greek civilization with the cultures of the ancient Middle East.
That new culture is known today as Hellenistic civilization.
One center of Hellenistic civilization was Alexandria, Egypt. There, merchants and
scholars gathered from all over Mediterranean world as well as from distant parts of the
Middle East. In Alexandria’s great library, scholars pursued research in science,
mathematics, medicine, and philosophy that continues to influence the world today.
From its base in Italy, the powerful Roman Empire expanded eastward. By A.D. 115, it
ruled much of the Middle East, including Asia Minor, the Nile Valley, and the Fertile
Crescent. Under Roman rule, trade flourished across a huge area that stretched from the
Persian Gulf to the Atlantic. The movement of people and goods that resulted increased
the spread of ideas and technologies. The Romans carried their ideas about law and
government as well as their engineering and building skills eastward. At the same time,
Egyptian and Persian styles, beliefs, and traditions flowed westward. Christianity also
spread their beliefs across the vast Roman Empire.
By 395 A.D. the Roman Empire had split into two parts. The eastern half, which became
known as the Byzantine Empire, included Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt, and the eastern
Fertile Crescent. From their capital at Constantinople, Byzantine emperors ruled much of
the Middle East for the next 1,000 years. Their rich civilization blended Middle Eastern,
Roman, Greek and Christian ideas.
GROUP FIVE: The Arab Empire (Umayyad and Abbasid Dynasties)
As Islam expanded, the Arabs had to organize their vast empire. Under the Umayyads
and later the Abbassids, the Arab Empire enjoyed periods of stable, orderly governments.
The Umayyads (661 – 750) made Damascus, Syria the capital of their empire. Even
though the Umayyads adapted ideas from the Byzantines and Persians, they emphasized
Arab culture. Arabic was the language of the empire. Also, the highest jobs in government
and the army went to Arabs. Non-Arab Muslims, such as the Persians, resented this
discrimination. They insisted that being a Muslim was more important than being an
Arab. In 750, Shiites and other discontented groups overthrew the Umayyads and set up
the Abbassid dynasty.
The Abbassid built a magnificent new capital city at Baghdad, on the banks of the Tigris
River. Bagdad, which means “God-given,”
flourished. At its height, the city was home to
more than 1 million people. The Abbassids
supported many building projects, including
mosques, irrigation systems, libraries,
hospitals, pubic baths, and schools. Under
their rule, not only Arabs but Persians,
Syrians, Egyptians, Turks, and Indians held
high jobs in government and became religious
leaders. Although the Abbassid dynasty
lasted for 500 years, many kingdoms broke
away. Despite political division, religion and
culture united the peoples of the Muslim world.
Entry to the prayer hall of the Great Mosque of Damascus, built by
caliph Al-Walid I.
GROUP SIX: Golden Age of Muslim Civilization
Through trade and conquest, Muslim civilization spread across a large area. It blended
Greek, Persian, and Indian influences and also built on the heritage of ancient Egypt and
Mesopotamia. Over time, it adapted all of these traditions to its own needs.
Wealth from trade and commerce helped make Muslims’ golden age possible. Muslim
fleets controlled the Mediterranean and sailed the Indian Ocean. Caravans carried
textiles, steel, and glazed tiles from Baghdad to China. They returned with silk, paper and
porcelain. From India and Southeast Asia, they brought spices. In the markets of
Baghdad, Cairo and Cordoba, buyers could purchase rubies from Central Asia, honey and
furs from Scandinavia and Russia, and ivory and gold from East Africa.
As trade grew, Muslim merchants developed new business practices. They set up banks at
different trading centers. They issued letters of credit, which were easier and safer to
carry than coins. They wrote receipts for payment and used bills that listed all of the goods
included all of the goods included in a shipment. Europeans later adopted man of these
practices, which are still used by businesses today.
Respect for learning led to a flowering of Islamic civilization. Islamic scholars translated
ancient works from Persian, Sanskrit and Greek into Arabic. In 830, the caliph Al-Mamun
set up the House of Wisdom in Baghdad. It served as a library, university, and translation
center. At centers like this, Muslim scholars preserved the learning of earlier civilizations.
They also made many contributions of their own.
Brilliant Muslim scholars boasted accomplishments in many
fields. The astronomer Al-Khwarizimi, for example, made
advances in astronomer Omar Khayyam developed an accurate
calendar, but he is best known for the western world as the
author of the poem The Rubáiyát (means four). The physician Ibn
Sina – known in the West as Avicenna – wrote more than 100
books on subjects ranging from astronomy, music, and philosophy to medicine and poetry.
His medical textbook influenced Europeans for hundreds of years.