Tues/WedPick up your chart at frontVideo notes on Indus & ChinaDiscuss Bronze Age – have out

your outline, a pen, and a piece of paper.

Finish map (or next class after test)

TEST Thursday/Friday over prehistory, river valleys, bronze age

Bronze Age CivsLate Bronze Age in Eastern Hemisphere, 2200–500 B.C.E. & New Civs in the Americas & W. Eurasia, 1200-250 B.C.E.

I. Cosmopolitan Middle East

◦A. Western Asia i. Assyrians:from northern Tigris region.

Trade in tin & silver. ii. Hittites: capital in Anatolia; horse-

drawn chariots; access to copper, silver, & iron deposits.

◦B. New Kingdom Egypt i. Middle Kingdom declined; ruled by non-

Egyptian Hyksos. Hyksos overthrown; New Kingdom. Expansion into Syria-Palestine and Nubia.

ii. Innovations: Hatshepsut: attempts at direct trade w/Punt. Akhenaten: capital @ Amarna/attempt at monotheism.

◦C. Commerce & diplomacy i. Syria-Palestine important metal trade

crossroads. Egyptians & Hittites fought & negotiated for control.

ii. Access to metal vital; often from far away. Demand spurred development for copper trade from Anatolia & Cyprus, tin from Afghanistan & Cornwall, silver from Anatolia, gold from Nubia.

iii. New modes of transportation: horses, chariots, camels.

III. Aegean World◦A. Minoan civ of Crete

i. Known through legends of King Minos, labyrinth, & Minotaur. Archaeological evidence: sites at Cnossus, Phaistos, & Mallia, widely distributed pottery & artifacts. Probably influenced by Egypt, Syria, & Mesopotamia. Linear A writing undeciphered.

ii. Destroyed ~1450 B.C.E. (probably by Mycenaean Greeks).

◦B. Rise of Mycenaean civ i. Descended from indigenous people & Indo-

European invaders? Suddenly developed ~1600 B.C.E.

ii. 1st known from Iliad & Odyssey; excavations by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 @ Mycenaea & Troy discovered shaft graves, gold & silver jewelry, palace complex…

iii. Legend explains civ as Phoenician immigration or Greek liberation from Minoans. No archaeological evidence. Evidence does show Minoan influences on civ & Mycenaean rise on profits from trade & piracy.

iv. Hilltop citadels w/thick walls enclosing palaces & admin buildings. Luxurious tombs for rulers, houses for aristocracy, Linear B writing (early Greek; mostly economic records).

v. State controlled economy, grain agriculture & wool production. Little known of political system, religion, society, or historical events. Uniformity due to political unity or extensive contacts & trade.

◦C. Overseas commerce, settlement, & aggression i. Evidence: wall paintings of ships in

Egypt & Thera & excavated ships. Wide dispersal of Cretan & Mycenaean pottery & goods in Aegean & Middle East. Cretan traders first; joined/replaced by Mycenaeans.

ii. Crete & Greece exported wine & olive oil, weapons, crafts, slaves, & mercenaries. Imported amber, ivory, grain, & metals. Fine line between trade & piracy seen in strain between Mycenaeans & Hittites and siege of Troy.

IV. Fall of Late Bronze Age Civ

◦ A. Destruction of old centers of civ in Middle East i. Unknown invaders destroyed Hittites.

Syria fell to invasions. ii. Egyptians invaded by “Sea Peoples”

from N & lost Nubia in S.

◦B. Fall of Mycenaeans i. Due to combo of internal decline &

external aggression. Annihilation of E Med trading routes undermined Mycenaean elites & let to internal unrest/collapse.

ii. Collapse illustrates Bronze Age interdependence: prosperity & existence relied on trade networks that linked them & gave access to natural resources (especially metals). When cosmopolitan world collapsed, Med & Middle East entered “Dark Age” – period of poverty, isolation, & loss of knowledge.

V. Summary◦A. Bronze metallurgy was vital to success

of all elite leadership groups. Access to copper & tin vital. Bronze weapons allowed elites to dominate peasants.

 ◦ B. Interdependence of civs was a source

of wealth AND of weakness. When invasion disrupted trading networks, societies collapsed. Exception that proves rule: China. China not part of network, so civ survived in spite of collapse of Shang political system.

VII. Celtic Europe◦A. Spread of Celts

i. ~500 B.C.E., Indo-European-speaking Celts migrated from central Europe toward west and south. Never formed a unified state.

ii. Enemies’ description: physically imposing, wearing pants & twisted gold collars, fighting in nude.

◦B. Celtic society i. 3 basic groups: elite warriors, priests

(Druids) & bards, and commoners. Druids: priestly fraternity with religious, judiciary, & educational functions.

ii. Economy: agriculture, metallurgy, river & ocean shipping.

iii. Women: childbearing/rearing, food production, crafts. Status inferior to men but superior to Middle East/Greece/Rome. Marriage = partnership; women could inherit property.

◦C. Celtic belief & knowledge i. Worshiped over 400 deities @ natural

sites. Buried dead; believed in afterlife. Gods & heroes passed between natural & supernatural worlds. Reincarnation.

ii. Culture declined w/ assimilation 1st by Romans, then Germanic tribes. Culture persisted in peripheral areas (Brittany, Wales, Scotland, Ireland).

VIII. The Assyrian Empire (Neo-Assyrian Empire: 911-6132 B.C.E.)

◦A. Background & location i. Homeland: N. Mesopotamia. More

rain/temperate climate than Sumer & Akkad, but exposed to raiders.

ii. Power revived 9th cen. B.C.E.; empire expanded along trade routes.

◦B. God & king i. King = center of universe, chosen by

gods as earthly surrogate. Secular & religious duties.

ii. Secular duties: receiving info, hearing/deciding complaints, diplomacy & military leadership. Religious duties: supervising state religion, public & private rituals, consulting/gaining approval of gods.

iii. Kings celebrated in propaganda (art/inscriptions) designed to produce feelings of awe & fear in subjects.

◦C. Conquest & control i. @ peak, armies = ½ million troops divided into

specialized units. Tech: iron weapons, cavalry, couriers, signal fires, spy networks.

ii. Conquest techniques: terror tactics & mass deportations (both destroy enemy’s morale and transfer laborers to core of empire).

iii. Difficult to control vast, diverse territory. Control more effective @ core, less @ periphery.

iv. Officials to collect tribute & taxes, maintain law & order, raise/provision troops, construct/maintain public works. Central gov’t = high-ranking officials & professionals.

v. Central gov’t exploited wealth & resources of empire for benefit of center, but also invested in provincial infrastructure.

◦D. Assyrian culture & society i. 3 major social strata: free, land-owning

citizens; farmers & artisans; slaves. Economy based on agriculture; included artisans & merchants.

ii. Knowledge & learning: preserved older Mesopotamian knowledge; original contributions to math & astronomy. Libraries attached to temples (Library of Ashurbanipal @ Nineveh).

IV. Israel◦A. Background & Location

i. Nomadic herders/caravan drivers who developed a complex sedentary agricultural civ. Cult of desert god evolved into influential monotheistic religion.

ii. Location makes it a trade crossroad. Few natural resources.

◦B. Origins, Exodus, & Settlement i. Sources include Hebrew Bible, based in

part on oral traditions compiled in 5th cen. BCE, and archaeological excavations.

ii. Biblical accounts include stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Stories may be compressed accounts of experiences of generations of nomads. Stories of Cain/Abel and Sodom/Gomorrah reflect tensions between Israelite nomads and settled agriculturalists.

iii. No accounts of Egyptian captivity in Egyptian sources; may be linked to Hyksos. Period of slavery in Bible corresponds w/building projects of Sethos I/Ramesses II; Exodus may reflect memories of migration from Egypt & nomadism in Sinai.

iv. Monotheistic cult of Yahweh developed during Sinai period. 10 Commandments provided guidelines for moral/ethical behavior.

v. Biblical account of settling Canaan says Joshua led & destroyed Jericho/other cities. Archaeological evidence suggests nomadic Israelites settled in hills and were joined by other nomads & Canaanite refugees.

◦C. The rise of the monarchy i. Wars w/Philistines brought need for

central gov’t. Saul established monarchy. David completed transition.

ii. Monarchy reached height under Solomon. Alliances, trade, expanded bureaucracy & army, built 1st Temple. Priesthood sacrificed to Yahweh, collected taxes, & got rich.

◦D. Israelite society i. Wealth & prestige of priesthood

demonstrates gap between rich/poor, rural /urban.

ii. Extended families, arranged marriages. Monogamy expected (especially for women).

iii. Early, women relatively equal to husbands socially, but had legal disadvantages: no inheritance, no divorce. Occupations: bear/raise kids, maintain household, agriculture, herding. W/urbanization, some worked outside home.

iv. Some women had political influence; Deborah, “wise women.” Generally, status declined during monarchy.

◦E. Fragmentation and dispersal i. After Solomon, Israel divided: Israel in

north (capital Samaria), Judah in south (capital Jerusalem). Sometimes @ peace, sometimes fought.

ii. Significant religious developments: Monotheism sharpened, but some attracted to Canaanite gods.

iii. Politically: Assyria destroyed Israel in 721 BCE; Judah fell to Chaldean/Neo-Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BCE. Many Jewish elites/craftsmen deported to Babylon; beginning of diaspora.

iv. During diaspora, institutions developed to preserve Jewish religion & culture. Some continued even after return from Babylon. Developments included stronger commitment to monotheism, strict dietary rules, veneration of Sabbath, no intermarriages. Synagogues established.

IX. Phoenicia & Mediterranean

◦A. Phoenician city-states i. Descendants of peoples of Syria,

Lebanon, & Israel; pushed into narrow coastal strip by ~1100 B.C.E. Small city-states involved in commerce. 1st alphabetical writing system.

ii. Major city-states: Byblos and Tyre. (Byblos: papyrus trade. Tyre: purple dye.)

◦B. Expansion into Med i. Carried out by Tyre ~ 9th cen. B.C.E.

Colonies on Cyprus, then N. African coast, S/SE Spanish coast, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta.

ii. Expansion a result of a combination of state & private enterprise and a response to Assyrian invasions, shortage of agricultural land, & opportunities for trade/access to resources.

iii. Expansion caused conflict w/Greeks over resources & colonies. Violent struggle for Sicily (Phoenicians won).

◦C. Carthage’s commercial empire i. Established near modern Tunis ~814 B.C.E.

Walled city; 2 judges from upper class, Senate from leading merchant families.

ii. Navy most important military. Citizen rowers & navigators of fast, maneuverable warships.

iii. Foreign policy & military served trade & used to enforce a commercial monopoly in Med & develop new trade opportunities. Merchants active around Med & traded w/sub-Saharan Africa, Atlantic coasts of Spain & France, and w/Cornwall.

◦D. War & religion i. Not a territorial empire; rather, trade

routes & ports. Military subordinate to civilian gov’t: mercenary soldiers w/Carthaginian officers.

ii. Religion: capricious gods must be appeased with sacrifice, including children (tophets). Greeks & Romans described Carthaginians as hard, gloomy, & harsh to subjects. (They were also trade & territory rivals… hmmm…)

X. Failure & Transformation

◦A. Consequences of Assyrian conquest i. Destruction of Israel & deportation of

Jewish population; pressure on Judah. ii. Pressure on Phoenicians: threats &

demands for tribute helped spur Phoenicians to establish colonies in western Med.

iii. Invasion & occupation of Egypt and Assyrian control over Babylonia & western Iran.

◦B. Weakness of Assyrian Empire i. Resources were overextended.

Difficulty ruling large, ethnically complex territory w/subjects and neighbors who hated them.

ii. Major sources of resistance: Neo-Babylonians (Chaldeans) and Iranian Medes. Assyrian Empire destroyed when Medes captured Assyrian homeland and New-Babylonians took most of the rest.

XI. Conclusion◦A. Compared to W. Hem., environment

in E was favorable for earlier rise of powerful civs. Civs in W developed on different technological basis. Sequence of technology development differs in E & W – W had fewer potential domesticates & greater obstacles to spread of ideas/tech.

 ◦B. Population movements in 1st

millennium B.C.E. brought changes to civs of Europe, N. Africa, & W. Asia.

II. Nubia◦A. Early cultures & Egyptian domination

i. Nile Valley, Aswan to Khartoum; links tropical Africa to Mediterranean. Resources gold, semi-precious stones, copper.

ii. Development of civ spurred by need for irrigated agriculture & trade relationship w/Egypt. Nubian & Egyptian culture developed through mutual influence & borrowing.

iii. Early Nubia traded w/Old Kingdom; northern part occupied by Egypt in Middle Kingdom.

iv. In south, Kingdom of Kush developed by 1750 B.C.E. Noted for metalworking & construction.

v. Egypt invaded Kush in New Kingdom: exploitation of Nubian laborers & imposition of Egyptian culture.

◦B. Kingdom of Meroe i. Nubian kingdom rose in 8th cen B.C.E.; ruled

Egypt in 25th Dynasty (712-660 B.C.E.). ii. Driven out by Assyrians; capital at Napata

from 660 – 4th cen. Egyptian cultural influence, including hieroglyphs & pyramids.

iii. 4th cen B.C.E., capital moved to Meroe (better for agriculture & trade). Egyptian cultural influence waned.

iv. Ruling dynasty had matrilineal system & influential queens.

v. Meroe dominated trade routes, caught rain in reservoirs, center for iron smelting. Decline due to shift in trade routes, rise of Aksum, depredations of camel-riding nomads.

VI. First Civs of the Americas (Mother Cultures)

◦A. Meso-American Olmecs i. Civ developed in SE Mexico; influenced extended to

Central America & central Mexico. Geographic & climatic diversity resulted in numerous civs that shared cultural characteristics & exchanged goods between zones.

ii. Early advances in agriculture: domesticated corn, beans, squash. Surpluses supported urban civ. Elites organized labor for irrigation & drainage canals & built sophisticated society.

iii. Relatively small urban elite mobilized rural workers to build artificial platforms for religion & elite residences. Little political info; no evidence for territorial empire.

iv. Religion polytheistic. Deities blended male/female, animal/human. Shamans organized religious life, developed early writing, made calendar. Art: stone heads.

◦B. Chavin i. Andean region; diverse ecological zones,

including mountainous core, dry coastal plain, & interior jungles meant specialized regional production & interregional trade.

ii. Capital: Chavin de Huantar. @ intersection of coastal/mountain trade routes; could dominate through military force and/or cultural influence.

iii. Fish/mollusks supported coastal cities; intro of maize resulted in agricultural surplus. Labor: reciprocal obligation system of clans. Llamas facilitated trade.

iv. Technology: multilevel packed earth platforms; gold & alloy metallurgy; textiles, pottery, crafts. Culture declined around 200 B.C.E. Reasons: increased regional warfare, disruption of trade.