Western Civilization
Chapter 2
Assyrians, Neo-Babylonians, & Persians
1200 – 330 B.C.
 9th Century B.C. brings large empires
 Brought diverse people together
 Brought all living in the empire the benefits of higher
civilization
 Single government
 Single religion
 New art and literature
 New technology
 New trade connections
Assyrian Empire
Persian Empire
Assyrians
 First to unify almost entire Near East
 From Arabian Desert
 Settled near Tigris River, an area without natural boundaries
 Influenced by Mesopotamians, Hammurabi, and Sargon I
 Suffered tribal raids 1750 – 1000 B.C.
 As a result, they created a very strong military: new iron
weapons and horse-drawn chariots
 Fought preventive wars with Hebrews, Phoenicians,
Arameans, and Mesopotamians to keep enemies away
 After defeating them, they terrorized them, so many gave up
without a fight
Assyrian Empire
 In 745 B.C., set up by Tiglath-pileser III
 He was succeeded by Sargon II in 721 B.C.
 Both enlarged empire to Syria, Palestine, & Judah
 Other rulers: Sennacherib in705 B.C.
 Esarhaddon in 681 B.C.
 Ashurbanipal in 669 B.C.
 By 650 B.C. almost the entire civilized Near East was under
Assyrian control
 But the empire weakened because of internal discontent
 Hated captors
 Hated their brutal treatment of those conquered
 Constant warfare had killed off many of the Assyrians
 Egypt revolted
 Chaldeans revolted in southern Mesopotamia
 The Medes joined with Chaldeans to destroy the Assyrian
capital of Nineveh in 612 B.C.
Nineveh Palace
Nineveh Library Tablets
Assyrian Contributions
 Attempted to have a centralized monarchy, a single state
 Forced an unsettling peace on the area for 300 years
 Economically:
- encouraged trade
- broke down barriers to trade
- encouraged a common spoken language to help with
trading transactions
 Culturally:
 imitated the achievements of others
 helped spread ideas
 avid builders
 used Mesopotamian style of architecture
 created relief work : battles, stories, hunts
 Collected works of Akkadians & Sumerians and placed them in
library in Nineveh
 Religion
 Resembled the early Mesopotamian religion with Assur as the
state god
 Others tried to take over where the Assyrians left off: the
Egyptians, the Lydians, the Medians, and the Chaldeans
 Chaldeans:
 Their great ruler Nebuchadnezzar conquered Syria-Palestine
 Destroyed the temple in Jerusalem
 Deported Hebrews to Babylon as captives
 Rebuilt the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
 Tried to revive Mesopotamian culture and religion
 Made strides in astronomy
 Lacked economic and military strength
 Fell into hands of Persians in 525 B.C.
Nebuchadnezzar
Phoenicia
Phoenicians
 Were Canaanites and heirs to the civilization of Ugarit
 After attacks from Sea Peoples in 1200B.C., their territory
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was reduced to a small strip where Lebanon is today
Known for purple-dyed cloth
Master shipbuilders
Involved in trade
Had colonies in Mediterranean; ex. Carthage
Carthage
 Phoenicians were influenced by foreigners like Egypt
 In art
 Wigs
 Alphabet
Phoenician state fell to Assyrians in 750 B.C.
Their culture survived
Persian Empire
 Medes and Persians arrived in western Iran about 1500 B.C.
 Medes were at first the rulers of the Persians
 That changed in 550 B.C. when Cyrus the Great captured the
Medes
 Cyrus ( r. 559 – 530 B.C.) conquered most of western and
central Asia
 His son, Cambyses ( r. 530 – 525 B.C.) added Libya and
Egypt to the empire
 Darius succeeded Cambyses ( r. 521 – 486 B.C.) and added
Thrace and N.W. India to the empire
 Xerxes ( r. 486 – 465 B.C.) came next and tried to add
Greece to the realm but failed
 Persia was then known as the Achaemenid Persian Empire
and lasted 200 years
 In the end it fell to Alexander the Great
Successes
 Had military strength: 300,000 men in army who excelled as
cavalrymen with bows
 Had a great navy as well
 Were generous and tolerant to those conquered
 Had effective government
 Provinces were called Satrapies
 Governors were called Satraps
 King’s inspectors traveled the empire to make sure the king’s
edicts were carried out
 Had unifying language: Aramaic
 Had open trade
Weaknesses
 Not all ventures succeeded: Greece and the Ukraine –
expensive losses
 Even though Persians felt they were tolerant, their captured
people resented them
 There was intrigue at court as people tried to compete for
power
Persian Religion
 Zoroastrianism founded by Zarathustra (Zoroaster in Greek)
 Zoroastrianism may have influenced Judaism, Christianity,
Buddhism, & Roman Paganism
 Holy Book was the Avesta
 Emphasized the power of one god over all people: Ahura
Mazda
 Zoroastrians believed in good and evil, free will, and a last
judgment
 Priests were known as Magi
Era of Small Nations, 1200 – 800 B.C.
 Hebrews
 Founded Western tradition of religion
 Bible helps us know their history (corroborated by archeology)
 Began as Semitic nomads moving from the Arabian Desert to
Mesopotamia to Syria-Palestine led by Abraham
 Lived in semi-arid areas in small tribes with patriarchal leaders
 Some moved to Egypt where during the 18th Dynasty they were
mistreated and the Hebrews left – Exodus – shortly before
1200 B.C.
 Exodus laid the foundation for the Hebrew nation
 Fugitives wandering the desert with Moses
 Felt they had a special relationship with Yahweh (god)
 Yahweh promised to care for his people if they, in return, would
worship only Yahweh
 Received the Ten Commandments
 The nation became known as the Israelites and introduced
Judaism
 They searched for the promised land
 Found Palestine
 Were united under King Saul
 Then King David
 And Solomon
 1020 – 930 B.C. was the height of their power
 Patronized the arts and letters
 Developed a system of law to unite people and to shape daily
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life
During the reign of Solomon, discontents threatened their
unity
After Solomon’s death their unity fell apart
Judah was the southern part that followed the descendents of
King David and survived until586 B.C.
As the political life faded, their religion got deeper and
sustained that feeling of nationhood among Hebrews
 Judaism
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Monotheism practiced -- Yahweh
Yahweh was the creator existing outside of time and space
No graven images of Yahweh
Yahweh was God of justice, omnipotent, righteous, and caring
Humans were created to become god-like, achieved only through
moral perfection
Individual conduct should be righteous and just
Code of law written in the Torah
Hebrews saw themselves as God’s chosen people
Yahweh would send a Messiah to lead Hebrews to victory over other
peoples
Influenced Christianity and Islam
Early Greece
Greece
 Mountainous
 Only 10% of land is flat
 Rocky
 Much of land is infertile
 Includes many islands in Aegean and Ionian Seas where they
farmed for survival
 Weather is usually too arid or too cool
 Did not have large settlements or a central bureaucracy
 Overcrowding and lack of food were constant problems
3 Characteristics Developed
 First, they turned toward the sea
 To colonize, so population could spread out
 To get needed food
 To become involved in trade, so they developed industries in
pottery and olive oil to trade for food
 Second, they became masters of resourcefulness
 Nothing was wasted, neither energy nor material
 This helped them bring balance, order, and refinement to their
lives
 They did not like excess
 Third, they had a strong desire for independence
 They needed to be self-sustaining because mountains divided
cities
So we have the sea, trade, resourcefulness, and independence as
major elements of the Greek spirit.
Islands
 Between 2500 – 1200 B.C., the Late Bronze Age, there were
3 distinct Greek cultures:
 1. The Cycladic (3000 – 1550 B.C.)
 2. The Minoan (2500 – 1375 B.C.)
 3. The Mycenaean (1600 – 1200 B.C.)
The Cycladic
 Rugged islands near the bottom of the Aegean Sea
 Small settlements of craftsmen who worked with lead and
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silver
Small figurines of men and women found in graves indicating
religion
Society arranged in towns
Weren’t warlike -- settlements unfortified
Had fertility goddesses
Influenced Crete to the south
Minoan
 Found on the island of Crete
 Sophisticated society
 Surge of creativity 2000 – 1400 B.C.
 Had palace at Knossos
 With storerooms, workrooms, living quarters, public rooms,
and a throne room, all around a central square
 Decorated with frescoes of everyday life
Interior of Knossos
Fresco at Knossos
 Stratified society
 System of writing – Linear A
 Planned agriculture
 Well-organized streets
 Drainage system, indoor toilets, and piped water
 Had luxury items from trade
 Had religion with animal sacrifice, gift-giving, dancing, and
bull-leaping
 Cretans were fairly primitive until 2000 B.C.
 Had primitive farming, pottery, and used metals
 They learned refinement from other cultures encountered
through trade
 Culture reached its peak around 1700 – 1450 B.C.
 Between 1500 and 1450 most Minoan cities, but not
Knossos, were destroyed
 Some say from volcanic eruption and tidal wave from There
(Santorini)
 Others say from attack
Knossos was destroyed around 1200 B.C.
Volcano at Thera
Volcano at Santorini
Mycenae 1600 – 1150 B.C.
Mycenae
 Warrior civilization on Peloponnesian Peninsula of Greece
 A principality centered around a fortress-palace
 Had well-ordered bureaucracy dealing with taxes, tribute,
and controlled metal production
 Had strong economic and political control
 Had written language – Linear B – for record keeping
Lion’s Gate at Mycenae
 Mycenae reached its peak about 1300B.C.
 They were influenced by other civilizations of the Near East
 These influences can be seen in their art, technology, and
religion. Example: architectural style from Hittites and
Minoans
 About 1150, their culture collapsed, causes unknown
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Economic collapse?
Overpopulation?
Drought?
Attack?
Rivalries with other cities?
Mycenaean Weapons
Dark Age
1150 – 800 B.C.
 Marked by poverty and some backwardness
 Palaces, wealth, trade, writing, art declined or disappeared
 Had :
 Simple farm life
 Some organized activities
 Large movements of people
 Politically fragmented
 No trade
 Learned to work with iron since tin and bronze were
unavailable
 After 1100 B.C.:
 Developed a common basic language
 Some beginnings of writing
 Common pattern of religion ( practiced cremation )
 Advanced skills in pottery ( geometric decoration :
meandering)
 Had some trading activity
 Homer’s stories of the Iliad and the Odyssey ( 725 B.C.)
Greek Religion
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Permeated the daily lives of Greeks
Polytheistic
Saw deities as having human form
Gods were immortal
Gods were more powerful than humans family of deities living on
Mt. Olympus:
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Zeus – the father
Hera - his wife
Athena – goddess of women
Apollo – bringer of light & patron of the arts
Ares – god of war
Poseidon – god of the seas
Hermes – protector of merchants & thieves
Greek Gods
 Greeks believed deities controlled all human affairs
 They had to live their lives in accordance with the gods will
 Gods could inspire fear
 They could also be benevolent, approachable, and concerned
with the well-being of humans
 Gods had human foibles; example, Bacchus was a drunk
 People worked to please the gods
 They built temples
 Greeks also held festivals to honor gods : Olympic Games
from 776 B.C. onward
 They had no elaborate priesthood
 They relied on Oracles, gods would speak through these
gifted people
 The most famous place for the oracles was at Delphi, a place
with special priestesses
Delphi
The Oracles
Mystery Religions
 These were begun to respond to emotional needs not fulfilled
by other gods
 These were cults centered on a specific god or goddess
 Religion provided the framework and spark for intellectual
and artistic growth
 People tried to understand and please their gods through art,
literature, and philosophy
 Literature
 Greek literature dealt with religious themes and heroic deeds
 Iliad tells of feats of heroism during Trojan War
 Odyssey is an adventure story about Odysseus’ 10 year ordeal
to get home from war
 Hesiod, a poet, wroteWorks and Days in 700 B.C. about
injustice in the world