Civilization and Its Discontents

1. Civilization and Its Discontents HUM 2051: Civilization I Fall 2011 Dr. Perdigao August 24, 2011

2. Framing • B.C./B.C.E. “before the common era” or “before the Christian era” • A.D. Anno Domini (“in the year of the Lord”) • Western culture—classical/pagan world of Greece and Rome and Judeo-Christian world of Europe • How we think of history—as a progressive narrative or as Homer does with The Iliad (gold: silver: bronze: iron) • Ancient Near East and the first civilizations

3. Unearthing • Paleolithic (“Old Stone”) Age: 200,000-100,000 B.C.E. • Neolithic (“New Stone”) Age: 10,000-4000 B.C.E. • Bronze Age: 4000-1000 B.C.E. • Hunting and food-gathering as foundations of society during Paleolithic Age • Toolmaking, control of fire, language—markers of earliest civilizations • Language—development of culture and transmission from one generation to the next (Perry 6) • Mythic-religious ideas to explain the world • Rituals, burial of the dead

4. Neolithic Age • Neolithic Revolution • Discovered farming, domesticated animals, established villages, polished stone tools, made pottery, wove cloth; technological advancements—pottery, potter’s wheel, sail (Perry 7) • Food supply became more reliable, village life expanded, population increased • Religion became more structured • More organized and complex society, beginnings of civilization; cities developing in 3000 B.C.E. in Sumer

5. Civilizing • Civilization: beginnings five thousand years ago in Near East (Mesopotamia and Egypt) and then Far East (India and China) (Perry 8) • Origins of civilization in cities that were larger and more complex in political, economic, and social structure than Neolithic villages (Perry 8) • With food supplied through trade with inhabitants of nearby villages, urban dwellers became merchants, craftsmen, bureaucrats, and priests (Perry 8) • Invention of writing—preservation, organization, and expansion of knowledge • Organized governments developed, created laws and boundary lines • Buildings, monuments • Complex religious structures

6. Mesopotamian Civilization • Mesopotamia (Greek: “land between the rivers”; present-day Iraq) as first civilization (Perry 9) • Sumerians first developed urban civilization • 3000 B.C.E.: 12 independent city-states, with a city and countryside • Development of cuneiform with pictograms and signs for numbers on clay tablets; world’s first dictionary in translation from Sumerian to Akkadian language • Sumerians built brick houses, palaces, and temples; made bronze tools and weapons, irrigation system; developed a monetary system; created a system of trade, religious and political institutions, schools, literature, art, codes of law, medicine, and a lunar calendar (Perry 10) • Mesopotamians’ contributions in mathematics—multiplication and division tables, cubes, cube routes, area of right-angle triangles and rectangles, circle divided into 360 degrees, basis for Pythagorean theorem and quadratic equations; beginnings of astronomy (Perry 14)

7. Mesopotamian Civilization • Centrality of religion to Mesopotamian life • Myths to explain origin of humans: creation stories • Ziggurats constructed for temples; example of Ur • Temple as religious and economic heart of the city (Perry 12) • God as real owner of land and ruler of city • Omnipresence of gods in daily life • Kingship bestowed on man by the gods • Hammurabi (1792-1750 BCE)—Babylon; control of Akkad and Sumer; establishes code of laws unearthed in 1901-1902 by French archaeologists (Perry 13); “eye for an eye” system of justice and retribution • http://faculty.cua.edu/pennington/Law508/CodeHammurabi-1.htm

9. Egyptian Civilization • Western Civilization: Sumer, Mesopotamia (4000-3000 B.C.E.), Egypt, northeastern Africa (3050 B.C.E.) • Egypt in fertile river valley of the Nile; distinction from Mesopotamia in sense of security from the environment (Perry 15) • 2900 B.C.E.: Menes conquers Nile Delta and Lower Egypt, leading to centralized rule, construction of pyramids • 2686-2181 B.C.E.: Pyramid Age, Old Kingdom • Pharaoh as man and god, earthly embodiment of deity Horus (Perry 15) • Decline of Old Kingdom as result of the nobles’ rise in status and challenge to divine king’s authority • 2181-2040 B.C.E.: First Intermediate Period, rival families competing for the throne, civil wars and collapse of central authority (Perry 15)

10. Egyptian Civilization • 2040-1786 B.C.E.: Middle Kingdom, reassertion of power of the kings • 1786-1570 B.C.E.: Second Intermediate Period, nobles regain power and weaken central authority; Hyksos invade Europe, rule for 100 years • 1570-1085 B.C.E.: New Kingdom, Egyptians drive out Hyksos invaders and rebuild empire • Led to expansion of bureaucracy, creation of a professional army and increased power of priests, acquisition of slaves • Egyptian polytheism, belief in afterlife • Egyptian Ma’at (justice, law, right, and truth, the “right order of nature” (Perry 18)); Re (sun god); Isis (goddess of love and fertility); Thoth (god of wisdom and inventor of writing); Nut (sky goddess) • Egyptians demonstrated engineering skills in building pyramids; created system of mathematics, geometry for measurement, Egyptian calendar based on the sun (more accurate than the Babylonian lunar calendar); identified illnesses

11. Egyptian Civilization • Move toward monotheism by Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (c. 1369-1353 B.C.E.) who took the name Akhenaton (“Servant of Aton”) and moved to holy city Akhetaten (“Horizon of Aton”) (Perry 19-20) • Wife Nefertiti • Successor Tutankhamen (1352-1344 B.C.E.) returned to Thebes • Question if he helped to push religious thought into new direction and if his actions had an influence on Moses who led the Israelites out of Egypt (Perry 20)

12. Empire Builders • International empires, intermingling of traditions and cultures • Migration of Indo-Europeans: Hurrians; Kassites; Hittites • Small nations asserting sovereignty: Phoenicians (descendents of Canaanites, devised first alphabet which was later added to by the Greeks and became the phonetic alphabet), Aramaeans, Hebrews • Assyria, 9th century B.C.E., empire building, but spread culture of past, Mesopotamia’s literature, religion, art, maintained a library; “copied and edited the literary works of Babylonia, adopted the old Sumerian gods, and used Mesopotamian art forms” (Perry 23) • Destruction of Assyrian power, rise of Chaldean, Neo-Babylonian Empire; under Nebuchadnezzar (ruled 604-562 BCE) who rebuilt Babylon • After Nebuchadnezzar’s death, civil war, Persia gains power under Cyrus the Great and his son Cambyses (Perry 25) • Aramaic emerges as uniform language, letters based on Phoenician alphabet (Perry 26)

13. Empire Builders • Persian empire—effective systems of communication, transportation, money; preservation of cultural traditions of the Near East (Perry 26) • Persia “unified the nations of the Near East into a world-state, headed by a divinely appointed king, and synthesized the region’s cultural traditions” (Perry 26).

14. Connecting Civilizations • Centrality of religion present throughout the ancient Near East • Mesopotamian kings—not gods but selected by gods, difference from Egyptian pharaohs as both man and god • Mythopoeic (mythmaking) view of the world, shared by Mesopotamians and Egyptians (Perry 26-27) • Writing: 3500 B.C.E.—Sumer: cuneiform; Egypt: hieroglyphics (perhaps learned from Sumerians) • Built irrigation works and cities, organized governments, began work in astronomy, mathematics, architecture, engineering, conducted international trade, established institutions (Perry 28)

15. Gilgamesh • Epic of Gilgamesh (ca. 2500-1500 B.C.E.) • One of the earliest works of literature, first great heroic narrative • Written in cuneiform • Found in 1844, deciphered in 1857, then discovered from British Museum in 1872 and introduced • Sumerian legend, poems, later Akkadian version • Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, historical figure (2700 B.C.E.), written versions 2100 B.C.E. but oral versions precede them, put into single work by a Babylonian author around 1600 B. C. E. • 12 clay tablets • Book XI, story of the Flood • Other stories: Enkidu, friend who later dies, leads Gilgamesh to contemplate life and quest for immortality; prologue shows lessons learned

16. Contextualizing • Encounters Utanapishtim • Story of the Flood • Ea’s warning, associations with magic and wisdom • Ship like ziggurat • Six days, seven nights • Dove • Belet-ili’s necklace as rainbow • Serpent • Transformation from oppressive ruler to one changed by experience of loss of friend and knowledge of death (Lawall 17) • Questioning of heroic ideal, connection to Achilles

17. Casting • Anu: sky, supreme god • Enlil: earth, enemy of humanity • Ninurta: agriculture and war, son of Enlil • Ennugi: water courses • Ea: wisdom and magic, fresh water, friend to humanity • Ishtar: sex, love, warfare, chief goddess of Mesopotamian rgion • Belet-ili: goddess of birth; created human race with Enki • Ur-Shanabi: boatman • Shamash: sun god and god of oracles, Gilgamesh’s guide

18. Translating • Work of translation, first version as literal translation by Benjamin R. Foster (2001); modern poetry in second version by Stephen Mitchell (2004) • Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf • John Gardner’s translation