Chapter 2

Chapter 2 First Civilizations: Egypt and Civilizations of the Fertile Crescent Valley




Egypt

Hunter-gathers move into the Nile River Valley by 12,000 BCE forming farming settlements. The geography of Egypt 12,000 years ago was swampland, desert and the Nile River, the longest river in the world. Neolithic villages developed by about 6,000 BCE in the fertile valley provided by the Nile. The Nile’s sources are the White Nile beginning in Lake Victoria in Eastern Africa and the Blue Nile in Ethiopian Highlands. The Nile runs south to North emptying into the Mediterranean Sea. Most of the Nile’s smooth, steady flow provided a natural route for transportation.

Ancient Egyptians built their civilization along a 750 mile stretch of the Nile roughly between the first great cataract and the delta. It annually flooded. Heavey summer rains at the Niles source causes the summer floods. They harvested crops before the floods and when the waters receded fertile soul was left behind. Digging canals allowed farmers to expand their farming land and grow several crops.

The climate allowed for growing a variety of crops and the wind from the Mediterranean allowed ships to travel upstream with the wind or row downstream with the current. The Nile valley contained minerals deposits of granite, sandstone, and limestone which were used as building material. The desert and sea provided a natural protection against invaders. The Isthmus of Suez formed a land bridge between Africa and Asia allowing for a trade route of goods and ideas.

About 3800 BCE they mined copper, they discovered that mixing copper and tin makes a stronger element, bronze. By 3,000 BCE they developed hieroglyphics a form of writing using more than 600 signs, pictures, or symbols to represent words or sounds. From carving in stone to papyrus and ink. In 1798 the Rosetta Stone (containing Greek, hieroglyphics, and demistic) was discovered and became the key to unlocking the forgotten language of hieroglyphics. 23 years later a language expert using Greek text decoded hieroglyphics. He also figured out rules for understanding all other forms of hierology.



Ancient Egypt’s Development

Over centuries two distinct cultures developed and formed two kingdoms: Lower Egypt (north in the Nile Delta) and Upper Egypt (south). About 3,200 BCE Menes, a king of Upper Egypt united all of Egypt into one kingdom. Menes founded a dynasty, or family of rulers where the right to rule was inherited. Rulers took the title of Pharaoh and held absolute power. They ruled the government, served as judges, high priests, and generals of armies. A theocracy is when the civil leader is also the religious leader.

From 3,200 to 300 BCE Egypt is divided into Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms; separated by two other periods called the First and Second intermediate periods. Roughly the three kingdoms are periods of success or at least of consolidated government; the two intermediate states are interludes of weakness and disruption from external causes.



The Old Kingdom 2680 – 2180 BCE (III – VIII Dynasties)

During this time the Great Sphinx and the largest pyramids were built. A two class system evolved: lower class (peasants and farmers) and Upper class (pharaoh, royal family, priests, scribes, and government officials). Over time government officials gradually become small but powerful hereditary groups of nobles. Pharaohs grew weaker and nobles grew stronger. The capital city was at Memphis.



First Intermediate Period 2180 – 2050 BCE (IX – XI Dynasties)

People fought each other for land and power this is called the First Intermediate Period before a new line of pharaohs came to power.



The Middle Kingdom 2050 – 1780 BCE (XII Dynasties)

This is the “golden age” for Egyptians marked by stability and prosperity by 1700s BCE a people called Hyksos, a Semitic people, arrived in Egypt from Asia introducing new tools such as the chariot and compound bow.



Second Intermediate Period 1780 – 1570 BCE (XIII – XVII Dynasties)

With the fall of the Middle Kingdom the Hyksos become powerful and rule Egypt during the 2nd Intermediate Period before Egyptians rise to power again. Historians disagree on the Hyksos role in Egypt, but they were in Egypt and ruled for more than a hundred years.



The New Kingdom 1570 – 1080 BCE (XIII – XX Dynasties)

Most historians can agree that the Hyksos remained outsiders and were eventually driven out by leaders in Upper Egypt drove the Hyksos out and a line of strong pharaohs begin to rule. The capital is Thebes. Pharaohs kept strict control over the government and adopted the horse drawn chariot. They gained land along eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea south to Nubia building an empire.

Under the 18th dynasty the first female pharaoh Hatshepsut (1503 – 1482 BCE) occupies the throne. Later a successor marries a Mitanni princess and Egyptians rely on her people to protect their lands. This brings Egypt out of isolation which had long protected her.

From 1380 – 1362 BCE Amenhotep IV changes his name and establishes one god and changes his name (provoked by his religious revolution) to Akhnaton The belief in one god is called monotheism, but his reforms found unwilling priests and his people, who had long held beliefs in many gods, polytheism.



Egypt’s decline

Few strong rulers followed in 1279 – 1213 BCE Ramses II known as Ramses the great constructed great monuments and temples but following his death weak pharaohs and a series of invasions from groups called the Sea Peoples weakened Egypt. Nubians and Persians attacked and it was no longer an imperial power.



Black Pharaohs – Nubian rulers

In 730 BCE a Nubian ruler Piye conquered Egypt and reigned until his death in 715 BCE. He was buried in an Egyptian-style pyramid in el-Kurru (Sudan). He was the first of a series of Nubian kings who ruled over all of Egypt as the 25th Dynasty. The black pharaohs reunited a tattered Egypt creating an empire that stretched from southern border at present day Khartoum all the way to the Mediterranean Sea.

By 300 BCE rule in Egypt by Egyptians came to end.



Achievements

Pyramids (one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, still standing)

The pyramid of Giza is the biggest one in Egypt. (13 acres, 480 feet originally, and constructed with more than 2 million blocks weighing 5,000 pounds) Built in the 4th dynasty for Pharaoh Khufu during the Old Kingdom.

Egyptians sculpted statues of rulers and animals, buildings were decorated with paintings.

Invented a calendar based on lunar activity until they realized a star appeared above the horizon before the floods and did not appear again in that spot for another 365 days.

They counted the years of pharaohs’ reigns and kept track of time.

They used a number system based on 10, fractions and whole numbers, used geometry to build pyramids and rebuild fields

Could set splints

Developed education system focusing mainly in an elite group of people called scribes who could read and write.



Beliefs

In early Egyptian civilization people worshipped gods often associated with animals believed to be sacred: cat, bull, crocodile, and scarab beetle. Most important gods: Amon-Re (Sun), Osiris (Nile River) They believed in the after life, where a person was judged. A person’s heart was weighed on a great scale against a sacred feather, the symbol of truth. They believed the body had to be preserved and developed a process called mummification. (embalming)



Society and Economy

Egyptian women were equals of their husband in social and business affairs.

Farming: wheat, barley, flax (woven into linen), and cotton.

Trade: Egyptian food production exceeded the population and they were able to trade with western Asia and deep into Africa using caravans and ships through the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea.



Civilizations of the Fertile Crescent Valley

A crescent-shaped area of fertile land from the Isthmus of Suez through Southwest Asia to the Persian Gulf is known as the Fertile Crescent. Between 5,000 and 4,000 BCE Neolithic farmers began a civilization in the Fertile Crescent.

The Fertile Crescent is dominated by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which both begin in what is now Turkey and flow southeast. Both rivers flood but unlike the Nile the Tigris and Euphrates are not predictable. People built canals and dikes to bring the water to their fields. The Fertile Crescent was surrounded by dry lands and mountains. Tribes of wandering herders often invaded the valley, conquered it, and established empires, they would grow weak and new invaders conquered them. The history of the Fertile Crescent is a pattern of repeated migration and conquest.



Sumer

Neolithic people settled in the lower part of the Tigris – Euphrates Valley called Sumer and grew crops. By 3,000 BCE these Sumerians used metal and developed a kind of writing. The earliest writing was a form of pictograms or simplified pictures on clay tablets which evolved slowly toward cuneiform, a way of arranging impressions stamped on clay by the wedge-like section of a chopped-off reed, called stylus. Signs and groups of signs represented phonetic sounds. There were about 600 cuneiform signs.

Sumerians used arches in their buildings allowing them to form domes. They built temples known as ziggurats by layering baked brick, which became the focus of early cities. They are believed to have developed and used the wheel. They used a number system based on 60, divided a circle into 360 degrees each degree into 60 minutes and every minute into 60 seconds. They created a lunar calendar to keep it accurate they added a month every few years. Sumerians developed a form of community called city-states: Ur, Erech, and Kish.

Sumerian city-states rarely united because each competed for land, water, and they believed certain gods owned the lands. Growth led to kings distinct from the first priestly rulers began as warlords appointed by cities to command their forces who did not give up power after the emergency was over. In Sumerian societies kings, high priests, and nobles were at the top followed by lower priests, merchants, and scholars. The lowly were peasant farmers and slaves.



Farming and Trade

Most Sumerians farmed, (dates, grains, vegetables) raised domestic animals, and grew flax for linen. Sumerians grew enough food to allow people to work as artisans and traders. Before 3,000 BCE Sumerians were trading with other people by land and sea.



Education and Religion

Only upper class boys and no girls attended school. Sumerian practiced polytheism associating their gods with forces of nature and heavenly bodies (sun and moon), important gods: An (lord of heaven), Enlil (god of air and storms), and Enki (god of water and wisdom). They buried their dead with food but did not believe in life after death or in rewords or punishments after death. Sacrifices were made to ensure good crops – created labor for the gods



The Akkadians and Babylonians

Sargon I a king of Akkad conquered Sumerian cities in 2334 BCE inaugurating an Akkadian supremacy and a unified empire integrating the cities into a whole. They spoke a Semitic language (Arabic and Hebrew) Sargon ruled from about 2334 BCE to 2279 BCE and built the city of Babylon.

Akkadian rule lasted about 150 years then rule reverts back to Sumerians the center of which is Ur. Sumerians prospered until another group of Semitic speaking people arose known as Babylonians conquered.

In about 1793 BCE a strong ruler named Hammurabi came to power in Babylon conquering most of the Tigris – Euphrates valley. He established the Code of Hammurabi a collection of about 282 laws compiled under his direction. The code demanded the death penalty for murder, theft, fraud, false accusations, sheltering of runaway slaves, failure to obey royal orders, adultery, and incest; while civil laws regulated prices, wages, commercial dealings, marital relationships, and the conditions of slavery. The Code relied on the lex talionis (“law of retaliation” or eye for an eye)

Most Babylonians farmed, kept domestic animals, wore cotton and cloth, and were active traders. Merchants traded with as far as Egypt and India. Babylonian women had some legal and economic rights: they could own property and become a merchant, trade, or scribe.

Babylonians adopted Sumerian beliefs and made sacrifices to gods for favors. They believed priests could foretell the future. Their religion practices were directed toward a successful life on Earth rather than an after life.



Hittites and Sea People

The Hittites a warlike people invaded the Tigris – Euphrates valley from Asia Minor around 1,600s BCE. They were among the first to smelt iron. Under Hittite law only major crimes called for death penalty usually paying a fine was sufficient. Hittite kings were regarded as chief-priests. They conquered Babylon but were unable to control it permanently and withdrew to the western part of the Fertile Crescent remaining a powerful force until about 1,200 BCE when historians believe they were invaded by the Sea Peoples.

Sea Peoples is a term used for a confederacy of seafaring raiders of the 2nd millennium BCE who sailed into the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, caused political unrest, and attempted to enter and control the civilizations in Egypt and the Middle East. Historians do not know the origin and intentions of these people.



Assyrians

About 2,000 BCE Assyrians, a Semitic-speaking people from northern Mesopotamia, established the city of Ashur, seized Babylon destroyed Israel, invaded Egypt and annexed the delta. Assyrian empire had a brutal foundation of conquest and intimidation. It was made possible by the creation of the best army seen until that time. They were fierce and effective warriors armed with iron weapons, using chariots in battle and cavalry. They had siege artillery able to breach walls until this time impregnable. At its height the empire included all of Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and the Nile Valley. They used terror to control their enemy. Enslaved the people they conquered and killed captured enemy soldiers. Assyrian kings had absolute power answerable only to the god Ashur.

They made Nineveh their capital city constructing a double wall 70 feet high and 7.5 miles around the city. The city contained a great library in which Assyrian scholars kept clay tablets filled with literature and other works collected from all over the empire. It contained among its works the Epic of Gilgamesh one of the oldest works of literature known.

Civil war weakened Assyria to outside invasions by 612 BCE a group led by the Chaldeans and Medes captured and destroyed Nineveh.



Chaldeans

The Chaldeans took control of much of the territory the Assyrians had ruled. Under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar the Chaldeans conquered most of the Fertile Crescent. He ruled in the rebuilt city of Babylon from 605 BCE to 562 BCE.

Under Nebuchadnezzar Babylon has an Indian Sumer of grandeur. (Indian Sumer refers to a late blooming of something, often unexpectedly, or after it has lost relevance, and is usually temporary). The king’s palace included beautiful terraced gardens known as the Hanging Gardens and one the 7 wonders of the Ancient World. Their astronomers kept careful records of the stellar and planetary movement and could predict solar and lunar eclipses.

After the death of Nebuchadnezzar quarrels between his successors and the priests led to betrayal and the Chaldean empire fell within 30 years.



Persians

Persians conquered Babylon in 539 BCE (spoke an Indo-European language). Persians and Medes migrated to what is now Iran by 850 BC. The region became known as Persia and Media. The Medes ruled over Persian by around 550 BCE a Persian ruler Cyrus the Great rebelled against the Medes then captured Babylon and took over the rest of the Fertile Crescent and Asia Minor.

Cyrus and later rulers Darius I and his son Xerxes I expanded the Persian Empire from the Indus River to the south Eastern Europe. Both Darius and Xerxes tried to invade Greece in 400 BCE but failed.

The Persian government collected taxes and administered the law fairly. They allowed the people they conquered to keep their religious beliefs and laws. The king had agents “king’s Eyes and Ears” who kept officials in check.

Persians built roads to connect the cities in their empire. The royal road stretched 1,250 miles. Another contribution is that Persians believed in many gods then in about 600 BCE the teachings of a great prophet named Zoroaster or Zarathushtra changed their outlook. Zoroaster taught that people receive training for a future life. There are both good and evil forces and people must choose between them. Those who chose good would be rewarded with eternal blessings; those who chose evil would be punished. The forces of good would triumph and earth would disappear. Zoroastrianism is one of the first monotheistic religions.

Persian kings after Xerxes lacking leadership abilities weakened the empire. In 331 BCE Persia suffered a final defeat at the hands of the Greeks led by Alexander the Great.



Centuries later in 226 CE Persian power revived under a dynasty founded by Ardashir who tried to rid Persia of Greek influence and brought back Zoroastrianism.



The Phoenicians

The people in the western end of the Fertile Crescent (modern day Israel, Lebanon, and Syria) were called Phoenicians. Phoenicia consisted of a loose union of city-states, each governed by a different king. This area had little fertile land and so they turned to trading on the sea. The important port cities were Tyre and Sidon.

Phoenician sailors were highly skilled and believed to have reached as far north as Britain and West Africa. Phoenicia reached its peak as a great sea trading power centuries after 1000 BCE. Phoenician colonies were established throughout the Mediterranean, Carthage in North Africa, islands of Sicily, Sardinia, Malta, and Spain.

Phoenicia had cedar forests and other trees – lumber – with which to build, became skilled metal workers (gold and silver), invented the art of glass blowing. They gathered a shell fish called murex, which allowed them to dye cloth purple which became prized and known as royal purple because the rich and royal would wear it. They exported dried fish, linen, olive oil, and wine.

Through trade Phoenicians spread Egyptian and Babylonian culture throughout the Mediterranean.

Phoenicians believed in an after-life but the desire to please the gods led them to sacrifice even their own children. Eventually their cities were conquered by the Assyrians. Major contributions: Phoenician alphabet (became the model for later western alphabets), Phoenicians drew up contracts and kept records. The Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet later the Etruscans and Romans copied the alphabet from Greeks and the Romans developed the alphabet we use now.



Lydians

Western part of Asia Minor (Turkey) was called Lydia. They were the first to use coined money. They began using small kidney beans shaped pieces of money made out of a mixture of gold and silver. Before the invention of coins about 600 BCE traders relied on barter the exchange of one good or service for another; goods that have value are called commodities. The use of money allowed traders to set prices for goods and services. Lydian traders developed a money economy based on the use of money as measure of value and a unit of account. Through trade Lydians passed this concept to Greeks and Persians who in turn spread it to other parts of the world.



Hebrews

South of Phoenicia lay a small strip of land known as Canaan. At different times the Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians, Syrians and other groups all conquered Canaan. One group the Hebrews – the ancestors of Jews who lived in Canaan had a great influence on the area and subsequently the world.

According to the bible the founder of the Hebrew people was Abraham (who lived in Sumer), who led his people to northern Canaan. Abraham’s grandson Jacob (Israel) had 12 sons each of which established a tribe known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The descendants of Abraham traveled west into Egypt probably escaping drought and famine. They are believed to have entered when the Hyksos were expelled. Hebrews were enslaved for 400 years until they were led out of slavery by a leader Moses (Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy tell the story of Moses) according to the bible. They fled into the Sinai Peninsula, where Moses was given the 10 commandments, moral laws, on Mount Sinai.  The laws came from the Hebrew God,Yahweh.

When the Hebrews agreed to follow these commandments, they entered into a covenant, or solemn agreement with Yahweh. Moses announced that Canaan was a land promised to them and after 40 years wandering in the desert they arrived. Hebrews remain a loose confederation of tribes bound together. Leaders known as Judges ruled the various tribes enforcing god’s law and settling disputes among the tribes. Hebrews also acknowledged the authority of prophets who warned people not to stray from the terms of the covenant.

The Canaanites in the northern Jordan Valley and the Philistines along the southern coast resisted the Hebrews and defined their land in a struggle lasting more than 200 years. Hebrews conquered Canaanites but never succeeded in conquering Philistine.

The first king to rule over the 12 united tribes (Israel) was Saul succeeded by David. David conquered Jerusalem making it the capital and religious center. Under Solomon, his son, Israel reached the height of wealth and power. Solomon built peaceful cooperative relations with surrounding regions. Following his death struggle for political power weakened the Israelite kingdom.

In late 900 BCE the 10 northern tribes revolted splitting the kingdom in two. Northern part remained Israel with the capital in Samaria and the southern part became the kingdom of Judah with its capital at Jerusalem.

By 722 BCE Assyrians conquered Israel. In 587 BCE the Chaldeans conquered Judah and destroyed Jerusalem. They destroyed Solomon’s temple and enslaved the people. When Cyrus the Persian King conquered the Chaldeans he allowed Hebrews to return and rebuild Jerusalem.



Development of Judaism

The first five books of the Old Testament are known as the Torah and included the Hebrew code of laws.

Prophets were messengers sent to reveal the will of Yahweh and formed the basis for Jewish moral and ethical behavior. This ethical system carried over to the founding of Christianity. These values first established by Hebrews is sometimes referred to as Judeo-Christian ethics one of the most influential ideologies in western civilization

Early Hebrews worshiped Yahweh as their only god, making it one of the first monotheistic religions. They believed that Yahweh protected them from enemies and those who sinned would suffer.

Hebrews however came to believe that people could chose between good and evil and Yahweh held them responsible for their choices. Humans service Yahweh out of love, but he should be feared. Earthly political rulers have no claims to divinity.