Fluent Essays

-thought pieces of a minimum of 350 words Using our text and the following websites, discuss the religion and society of Mesopotamia. What type of religion did they have, what gods did they have, what type of personalities did the gods have, and how did the religion impact the development of the society and reinforce the power system? Why do you think this very ancient civilization had the type of beliefs that it did? Of what importance were the priests and the buildings known as ziggurats? What was offered at the ziggurats? What was the relationship of the people to their gods? Why did they believe people were created and what could they expect after death?http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/gods/home_set.htmlhttps://www.thoughtco.com/early-religion-in-ancient-mesopotamia-112341I attached the Power point! I do not have the book so just cite from the websites! chapter2_meso_and_egypt.ppt Unformatted Attachment Preview Chapter 2 Earliest Civilizations: Mesopotamia and Egypt 1 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Civilization Defined ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ Urban Political/military system Social stratification Economic specialization Religion Communications “Higher Culture” 2 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Civilization and the Means of Production ◼ Essential element: concentration of wealth ❑ ❑ ❑ Agriculture Control over natural resources Development of ancient civilization ◼ not hunter-gatherer economics 3 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Origins and Spread of Agriculture 4 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Mesopotamia ◼ “Between the Rivers” ❑ ◼ ◼ Tigris and Euphrates Contemporary Iran, Iraq Cultural continuum of “fertile crescent” 5 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. The Wealth of the Rivers ◼ ◼ Nutrient-rich silt Key: irrigation ❑ ❑ ❑ ◼ ◼ Sumer begins small-scale irrigation 6000 BCE By 5000 BCE, complex irrigation networks ❑ ◼ Necessity of coordinated efforts Promoted development of local governments City-states Population reaches 100,000 by 3000 BCE Attracts Semitic migrants, influences culture 6 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Sumerian City-States ◼ ◼ Cities appear 4000 BCE Dominate region from 3200-2350 BCE ❑ ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ Ur (home of Abraham, see Genesis 11:28), Nineveh (see Jonah) Ziggurat home of the god Divine mandate to Kings Regulation of Trade Defense from nomadic marauders 7 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. The Ziggurat of Ur 8 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Political Decline of Sumer ◼ Semitic peoples from northern Mesopotamia overshadow Sumer ❑ Sargon of Akkad (2370-2315 BCE) ◼ ◼ ◼ Hammurabi of Babylon (1792-1750 BCE) ❑ ❑ ◼ 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 9 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Legal System ◼ The Code of Hammurabi (18th c. BCE) ❑ ❑ ❑ ❑ 282 items lex talionis (item 196: “eye for an eye”) Social status and punishment women as property, but some rights 10 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Later Mesopotamian Empires ◼ ◼ Weakening of central rule an invitation to foreign invaders Assyrians use new iron weaponry ❑ ◼ 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 ❑ Famously luxurious capital 11 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Mesopotamian Empires 1800-600 BCE 12 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Technological Development in Mesopotamia ◼ Bronze (copper with tin), c. 4000 BCE ❑ ◼ Iron, c. 1000 BCE ❑ ◼ ◼ Military, agricultural applications Cheaper than bronze Wheel, boats, c. 3500 BCE Shipbuilding increases trade networks 13 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Social Classes ◼ Ruling classes based often on military prowess ❑ ❑ ◼ Religious classes ❑ ❑ ◼ Role: intervention with gods to ensure fertility, safety Considerable landholdings, other economic activities Free commoners ❑ ❑ ◼ Originally elected, later hereditary Perceived as offspring of gods Peasant cultivators Some urban professionals Slaves ❑ Prisoners of war, convicted criminals, debtors 14 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Patriarchal Society ◼ ◼ Men as landowners, relationship to status Patriarchy: “rule of the father” ❑ ◼ Double standard of sexual morality ❑ ❑ ◼ Women drowned for adultery Relaxed sexual mores for men Yet some possibilities of social mobility for women ❑ ◼ Right to sell wives, children Court advisers, temple priestesses, economic activity Introduction of the veil at least c. 1500 BCE 15 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Development of Writing ◼ ◼ ◼ Sumerian writing systems form 3500 BCE Pictographs Cuneiform: “wedge-shaped” ❑ ❑ Preservation of documents on clay Declines from 400 BCE with spread of Greek alphabetic script 16 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Uses for Writing ◼ ◼ ◼ Trade Astronomy Mathematics ❑ ◼ Agricultural applications Calculation of time ❑ ❑ 12-month year 24-hour day, 60-minute hour 17 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Mesopotamian Literature ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ Epic of Gilgamesh, compiled after 2000 BCE Heroic saga Search for meaning, esp. afterlife This-worldly emphasis 18 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. The Early Hebrews ◼ ◼ ◼ Patriarchs and Matriarchs from Babylon, c. 1850 BCE Parallels between early biblical texts, Code of Hammurabi Early settlement of Canaan (Israel), c. 1300 BCE ❑ ◼ Biblical text: slavery in Egypt, divine redemption On-going conflict with indigenous populations under King David (1000-970 BCE) and Solomon (970-930 BCE) 19 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Moses and Monotheism ◼ ◼ Hebrews shared polytheistic beliefs of other Mesopotamian civilizations Moses introduces monotheism, belief in single god ❑ ❑ ❑ Denies existence of competing parallel deities Personal god: reward and punishment for conformity with revealed law The Torah (“the teaching”) 20 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Foreign conquests of Israel ◼ Civil war ❑ ❑ ◼ Assyrian conquest, 722 BCE ❑ ◼ Northern tribes: Israel Southern: Judah Exiles Israel: ten lost tribes Babylonian conquest, 586 BCE ❑ ❑ Additional exile of many residents of Judah Returned later than century 21 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Israel and Phoenicia, 1500-600 BCE 22 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. The Phoenicians ◼ ◼ City-states along Mediterranean coast after 3000 BCE Extensive maritime trade ❑ ◼ Dominated Mediterranean trade, 1200-800 BCE Development of alphabet symbols ❑ ❑ Simpler alternative to cuneiform Spread of literacy 23 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Indo-European Migrations ◼ ◼ Common roots of many languages of Europe, southwest Asia, India Implies influence of a single Indo-European people ❑ ◼ Probable original homeland: contemporary Ukraine and Russia, 4500-2500 BCE Domestication of horses, use of Sumerian weaponry allowed them to spread widely 24 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. The Indo-European Migrations 25 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Implications of Indo-European Migration ◼ ◼ Hittities migrate to central Anatolia, c. 1900 BCE, later dominate Babylonia Influence on trade ❑ ❑ ❑ ◼ Horses, chariots with spoked wheels, use of Iron Iron Migrations to western China, Greece, Italy also significant Influence on language and culture ❑ Aryo, “noble, lord” ◼ ◼ Aryan, Iranian, Irish Caste system in India 26 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Africa: Geography ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ 5,000 miles north-south, east-west North: ❑ mountainous coastline Sahara desert West: ❑ interior grasslands, tropical jungle on coast East (on Indian ocean): ❑ snowy mountains, upland plateaus Central: Jungles South: hills, plateaus, deserts 27 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Development of African Agriculture ◼ ◼ Sahara desert originally highly fertile region Western Sudan region nomadic herders, c. 9000 BCE ❑ ❑ ◼ Domestication of cattle c. 7500 BCE Later, cultivation of sorghum, yams, increasingly diverse Widespread dessication of the Sahara c. 5000 BCE 28 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. The Gift of the Nile ◼ Gradual, predictable flooding ❑ ❑ ❑ ◼ Inundation (July-October) Sprouting Summer Communication: ❑ Nubia-Egypt ◼ ◼ ❑ ◼ Current: north Winds: south Sub-Saharan AfricaMesopotamia Increased in importance w/dessication of Sahara 29 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Early Agriculture in Nile Valley ◼ 10,000 BCE migrants from Red Sea hills (northern Ethiopia) ❑ ◼ ◼ Introduce collection of wild grains, language roots of Coptic 5000 BCE Sudanese cultivators, herders migrate to Nile river valley Adaption to seasonal flooding of Nile through construction of dikes, waterways ❑ Villages dot Nile by 4000 BCE 30 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Impact on Political Organization ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ Mesopotamia: grand public works to control flash floods Egypt: simple, local irrigation projects Rural rather than heavily urban development Trade networks develop 31 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. The Span of Egyptian History ◼ ◼ Early Nubian domination Manetho, Egyptian priest/historian ❑ ❑ Archaic Period: 3100-2660 BCE Old Kingdom, 2660-2160 BCE ◼ ❑ Middle Kingdom, 2160-1640 BCE ◼ ❑ pyramids Hyksos invasion New Kingdom, 1550-1075 BCE (see map, c. 1400 BCE) 32 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Unification of Egypt ◼ Legendary conqueror Menes, c. 3100 unifies Egyptian kingdom ❑ ❑ ❑ Sometimes identified with Narmer Tradition: founder of Memphis, cultural and political center of ancient Egypt Instituted the rule of the Pharaoh ◼ ◼ ◼ Claimed descent from the gods Absolute rulers, had slaves buried with them from 2600 BCE Most powerful during Archaic Period (3100-2660 BCE) and Old Kingdom (2660-2160 BCE) 33 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. The Pyramids ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ Early architecture from Old Kingdom Tallest buildings in the world until 19th century 2M Blocks, some 60 tons each Role: burial chambers for Pharaohs 34 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Relations with Nubia ◼ ◼ ◼ Competition over Nile trade Military conflict between 3100-2600 BCE Drives Nubians to the south ❑ ◼ Established Kingdom of Kush, c. 2500 BCE Trade, cultural influences continue despite military conflict 35 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Turmoil and Empire ◼ ◼ ◼ Increasing agricultural productivity at end of Old Kingdom leads to rise of regional powers and decline of central state (2160-2040 BCE) Beginning of Middle Kingom (2040-1640 BCE) Invasion of Hyksos from southwest Asia, c. 1674 BCE ❑ ◼ Semitic people, horse riders with bronze weaponry Driven out by local military efforts, creation of New Kingdom (1550-1070 BCE) 36 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. The New Kingdom ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ ◼ Few pyramids, but major monumental architectural projects Engaged in empire-building to protect against foreign invasion Local resistance drives Egypt out of Nubia Kingdom of Kush revives c. 1100 BCE Invasions of Kushites, Assyrians destroy Egypt mid 6th century BCE 37 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Egyptian Urban Culture ◼ Major cities along Nile river, especially at delta ❑ ◼ Nubian cities include Kerma, Napata, Meroë ❑ ◼ Memphis c. 3100 BCE, Heliopolis c. 2900 BCE Located at cataracts of the Nile Well-defined social classes ❑ ❑ ❑ Pharaohs to slaves Archaeological discoveries in Nubia also support classbased society Patriarchal societies, notable exceptions: female Pharaoh Hatshepsut (r. 1473-1458 BCE) 38 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Economic Specialization ◼ ◼ ◼ Bronze metallurgy introduced late, with Hyksos invasion Development of iron early, c. 900 BCE Trade along Nile river ❑ ❑ More difficult in Nubia due to cataracts Sea trade in Mediterranean 39 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Hieroglyphs ◼ “Sacred Writings” ❑ ❑ ◼ Rosetta Stone, discovered 1799 ❑ ❑ ❑ ◼ ◼ Preserved on papyrus, made from reeds Simplified form: hieratic script, 2600 BCE-600 CE Hieroglyphs Demotic (“popular”) Greek Pictographs Meroitic language recorded in alphabet after 5th century BCE 40 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Development of Organized Religious Traditions ◼ ◼ Principal gods Amon and Re Religious tumult under Amenhotep (Akhenaton) (r. 1364-1347 BCE) ❑ ◼ Introduces sole worship of sun god Aton Tutankhamon restores old system 41 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Mummification and the Afterlife ◼ ◼ Inspiration of the cycles of the Nile Belief in the revival of the dead ❑ ◼ Cult of Osiris ❑ ❑ ◼ First: ruling classes only, later expanded to include lower classes Originally, afterlife only for wealthy Later, role of Osiris as Judge of Morality Nubian worship of Apedemak and Sebiumeker 42 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Bantu Migrations, 3000-1000 BCE ◼ ◼ Bantu: “people” Migration throughout sub-Saharan regions ❑ ◼ Over 500 variations of original Bantu language ❑ ◼ Population pressures 90 million speakers By 1000 BCE, occupied most of Africa south of the equator 43 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. The Bantu Migrations, 2000 B.C.E-1000 C.E. 44 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. Bantu Religions ◼ ◼ Evidence of early monotheism Deistic views as well ❑ ◼ Prayers to intercessors, e.g. ancestor spirits Great variations among populations 45 Copyright © 2006 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. Permission Required for Reproduction or Display. ... Purchase answer to see full attachment