Sima Hasan
7-27-12
Period 4
Chapter 2: Early Societies in Southwest Asia and the Indo-European Migrations pg.33-58
Thesis: Productive agrarian economies helped develop some of the world’s first complex societies that many people lived in and extended their influence over large areas.

The Quest for Order
Over time, Mesopotamia developed methods of organizing their society. Because of this, they were able to build large empires and gain control of neighboring territories.

• Human population increased rapidly in Mesopotamia
• Through experimentation, eventually controlled their society
• Built regional empires and extended their authority to neighboring peoples

Mesopotamia: “The Land between the Rivers”

• Mesopotamia: “the land between the rivers”
• Has Tigris and Euphrates rivers
• Small-scale irrigation after 6000 B.C.E.
• Artificial irrigation increases food supplies
• Migrants attracted from other regions
• Humans increased in Sumer
• 5000 B.C.E. Sumerians constructed elaborate irrigation networks
• Population of Sumer reaches 100,000
• Sumerians become dominant people of Mesopotamia
• Wealth of Sumer attracts migrants, many Semitic people
• Sumerians built world’s first cities
• Sumerian cities center of political and military authority
• Marketplaces attracted buyers and sellers
• Cities were cultural centers where religion and education occurred
• Sumerian city-states dominated public affairs
• Government authorities organized work on projects as well as help keep the peace
• Palaces, temples, etc. were built
• Ziggurat= distinct stepped pyramids that housed temples and altars to local deity
• Citizens helped expand and repair irrigation system
• Many attacked Sumerian city-states because of their wealth
• Cities built walls and organized military
• By 3000 B.C.E all Sumerian city-states had kings

             The Course of Empire

• Once states organized, conflicts began to occur between states
• After 2350 B.C.E Mesopotamians began to build regional empires
• Regional empires emerged as Semitic peoples overshadowed Sumerians
• Sargon(minister to King of Kish) organized coup against king, recruited army, and conquered city-states
• Also seized control of trade routes and supplies
• Transformed his capital into wealthiest and most powerful city in the world
• His empire eventually controlled all of Mesopotamia
• His empire maintained for decades until rebellion occurred
• 2000 B.C.E his empire collapses
• Hammurabi dominated Mesopotamia until 1600 B.C.E.
• Improved on Sargon’s techniques by relying on central bureaucratic rule and regular taxation
• Ruled from Babylon
• Developed a more efficient and predictable government than predecessors
• Sought to maintain empire with set of laws
• Hammurabi’s laws established high standards of behavior and stern punishments for violators
• Relied on “eye for an eye” style punishments
• Rich people could get away from punishment by paying in silver
• Hammurabi’s laws established set of common standard that unified empire
• Wealth of empire attracted invaders, especially Hittites

The Later Mesopotamian Empires

• Imperial rule returns to Mesopotamia with Assyrians
• Assyrians built flourishing cities along trade routes
• Built powerful army based on merit rather than social standing
• After collapse of Babylonians. Assyrians among those wrestling for power
• After 1300 B.C.E gradually extended authority to southwest Asia
• Used recently invented iron weapons
• Assyrian empire at 8-7th  centuries B.C.E. had Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Anatolia, and Egypt
• Followed laws similar to Hammurabi’s code
• Assyrian rule largely unpopular
• Empire brought down 612 B.C.E.
• 600-550 B.C.E.-Babylonians dominate Mesopotamia during New Babylonian empire.
• King Nebuchadnezzar lavished wealth and resources on his capital city
• By this time, peoples beyond Mesopotamia acquire weapons and techniques
• Foreign conquerors take over

The Formation of a Complex Society and Sophisticated Cultural Traditions
The Mesopotamian people began building a complex society with clearly defined social classes, cultural traditions, and a writing system.

• Trade linked region with distant peoples
• Clearly defined social classes emerged
• Developed into a patriarchal society
• Invented systems of writing

Economic Specialization and Trade

• Expanded stock of human skills
• Techniques improved upon
• Bronze metallurgy: most important development because of specialized labor. Craftsmen discovered copper+tin=bronze. Stronger weapons and tools made.
• Iron metallurgy: techniques of forging iron weapons and tools strengthened and iron metallurgy spread.
• The wheel: wheeled carts allowed people to haul heavy loads over long distances
• Shipbuilding: built watercraft and ventured into Persian Gulf and beyond. Became means of trade.
• Trade networks: people traveled long distances to trade

The Emergence of a Stratified Patriarchal Society

• Agriculture allowed humans to accumulate wealth, social classes began to emerge
• Cities provided even more opportunities to get wealth
• Early Mesopotamia, ruling classes consist of kings and nobles who got positions from success as warriors
• Originally kings elected, but soon became hereditary
• Early kings seen as offspring of gods
• Priests relatives of rulers
• Main role of priests was to intervene with gods to ensure good fortune
• Lived in temple communities and received food, drink, and clothing from city inhabitants
• Temples generated income from land they owned and large workshops
• Temples=comfortable lives
• Less privileged classes: free commoners, dependent clients, and slaves
• Free commoners peasant cultivators, maybe craftsmen or professionals
• Dependent clients less options than commoners, had no personal property, worked as laborers
• Both paid taxes
• Slaves come from three sources: POWs, criminals, and people in debt
• Some laborers, others work in households
• Can be freed after several years
• Built patriarchal society recognizing differences of wealth, rank, and social status
• Vested authority over public and private affairs
• Men decided work within household, marriage arrangements for children, and dominated public life.
• Men have dominance
• Hammurabi’s laws focus on men as head of households
• Some women had high roles, such as being High Priestess or influencing kings.
• Some worked as scribes
• Scribes- literate individuals who prepared administrative and legal documents
• Men progressively tightened control over women
• Women had social and sexual behaviors controlled

            The Development of Written Cultural Traditions

• Earliest known writing came from Mesopotamia
• Sumerians invented system of writing to keep track of monetary transactions
• Was pictographic
• Sumerians later developed flexible system that used symbols for sounds, syllables, and ideas
• Combined pictographs and other symbols
• Stylus on wet clay- cuneiform
• Clay hardened to become permanent message
• Later adapted into other culture’s systems
• Education mostly to train for specific jobs and crafts
• Also established schools to learn cuneiform
• Formal education not common, but eventually literacy became essential to society
• Mesopotamians relied on writing to communicate complex ideas
• Literacy led to expansion of knowledge
• Astronomy and mathematics became studied- important to agriculture
• Writing used to communicate abstract ideas, investigate intellectual problems, and reflect on human beings
• Epic of Gilgamesh

The Broader Influence of Mesopotamian Society
Mesopotamians deeply influence peoples outside of Mesopotamia.

• Mesopotamians influence other peoples, and their ideas are adapted

Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews

• Best known early cases of Mesopotamian influence
• All interacted with Mesopotamians
• Earliest Hebrews pastoral nomads who inhabited lands between Mesopotamia and Egypt
• As Mesopotamia prospers, some Hebrews settle in region’s cities
• According to Hebrew scriptures, Abraham  from Sumerian city of Ur, but migrated to Palestine
• Abraham’s descendents still recognized Mesopotamian beliefs
• Hebrew law borrowed “eye for an eye”
• Some Hebrews migrated from Palestine to Egypt
• Branch of Hebrews under Moses depart and head to Palestine
• Make loose federation of 12 tribes, fight with Palestinians
• Abandon tribal structure in favor of Mesopotamian style monarchy that united tribes
• During reigns of Kind David and King Solomon, Israelites dominate territory between Syria and Sinai peninsula
• Build elaborate city at Jerusalem
• Enter relations with Mesopotamians, Egyptians, and Arabian peoples
• Use iron technology to strengthen military
• After Moses, religion developed distinctively
• Early Hebrews has recognized same gods as Mesopotamians
• Moses embraced monotheism, taught that there was only one god known as Yahweh.
• Yahweh supremely powerful deity, creator and sustainer of world
• All other gods false imposters
• When Israelites established capital at Jerusalem, did not build a ziggurat(associated with false gods) built a lavish temple in honor of Yahweh
• Although omnipotent creator of universe, Yahweh was very personal god. Expected followers to worship only him, and Ten Commandments
• Religious leaders compiled teachings in Torah
• Torah taught that Yahweh would reward followers and punish those who weren’t
• After king Solomon’s reign, community divided into larger Israel and smaller kingdom of Judea
• Assyrians conquer Israel and deport inhabitants to other regions
• Then the Babylonians come and conquered Judea after toppling Assyrians in Israel
• Prophets encourage return to Yahweh’s commandments
• Exiles who returned to Judea after Babylonian conquest organized small Jewish states

The Phoenicians

• Phoenicians occupied narrow coastal plain between Mediterranean Sea and Lebanon Mountains.
• Spoke Semitic language, referred to selves as Canaanites and to their land as Canaan
• Ancestors of Phoenicians migrated to Mediterranean coast and built first settlements after 3000 B.C.E.
• Did not establish unified monarchy- organized series of independent city-states ruled by kings
• Major cities had influence over smaller neighbors
• Tyre dominated southern Phoenicia
• Phoenicians often subject to imperial rule from Egypt or Mesopotamia
• Had influence due to maritime trade and communication networks, not due to numbers or power.
• Phoenicians turned to trade and industry because they couldn’t become agrarian
• Engaged in maritime trade
• Excellent sailors, built best ships of their times
• Dominated Mediterranean trade between 1200 and 800 B.C.E.
• Largely adapted Mesopotamian cultural traditions to their own needs
• Used cuneiform at first, but then developed early alphabetic script
• Because of this, more people became literate
• Alphabetic writing spread as Phoenicians traveled and traded

The Indo-European Migrations
Most influential people in second and third millennia were those who spoke various Indo-European languages. They migrated throughout much of Eurasia and influenced historical development.

            Indo-European Origins

• Many languages have remarkable similarities
• Linguists surmised that Indo-European languages were all descendants of ancestors who spoke a common tongue.
• Earliest Indo-European speakers built society in Ukraine and southern Russia about 4500-2500 B.C.E.
• Domesticated horses
• Horses enabled them to develop transportation technologies
• Considered themselves superior to other peoples

            Indo-European Expansion and Its Effects

• Expanded far beyond homelands because of horses
• Expanded region because of population boom
• Not mass migrations
• Hittites most influential migrants
• Migrated to Anatolia, imposed language on inhabitants
• Built powerful kingdom
• Traded with Babylonians and Assyrians
• Adapted cuneiform
• Toppled Babylonian empire of Mesopotamia
• Several centuries thereafter, were dominant power in southwest Asia
• Between 1450 and 1200 B.C.E., authority extended to eastern Anatolia, northern Mesopotamia, and Syria down to Phoenicia
• After 1200 B.C.E., unified Hittite state dissolved as invaders attacked
• Hittite identity survived
• Hittites responsible for war chariots and refinement of iron metallurgy
• Used new spoked wheels, which were more practical
• Chariot warfare became very effective
• Refined technology of iron metallurgy
• Clearly improved on existing technology
• While Hittites were doing their own thing, other Indo-European speakers migrated to different regions
• Some to China, some west
• Some made it to central Europe
• These migrants depended on pastoral and agricultural economy, none built cities or large states
• Another wave of migration went south to Iran and India

           
Summary: Mesopotamians built societies much more powerful than their predecessors. They constructed formal institutions of government, and several different social classes arose. Specialized labor came about, and a writing system developed. Indo-Europeans migrated to many places. The Jews came about with their monotheistic religion.