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Announcements

Announcements. Can Joseph Johnson please go and talk with Rahuldeep as soon as this lecture is over? Also, there are a couple of hard copies of the syllabus for those who need it: come and get one at the end of class. From last time…. Egyptian religion is polytheistic, like the Mesopotamian

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Announcements

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  1. Announcements • Can Joseph Johnson please go and talk with Rahuldeep as soon as this lecture is over? • Also, there are a couple of hard copies of the syllabus for those who need it: come and get one at the end of class

  2. From last time… • Egyptian religion is polytheistic, like the Mesopotamian • Relationship with nature: Mesopotamia=troubled landscape=chaos • Relationship with nature: • Egypt=‘mellow’ landscape=ma’at • Egypt has a relatively comfortable afterlife, Mesopotamian afterlife is not that pleasant • Direct link between Gods, Kings, humans: indeed, the Pharaoh IS a god!

  3. Persia and Israel: monotheism and God’s mistakes

  4. Where is the Persian Empire?

  5. Persia: geography & history • The Persian empire is composed of two people, Medes and Persians • In 550 BCE Cyrus (the Great), king of Persians, conquered the kingdom of Media and unified the empire • In 539 BCE Cyrus conquers the Greek cities and Babylon

  6. Cyrus the Great

  7. Persia: history II • When Cyrus died, his son, Cambyses, succeeded to the throne in 529 BCE and conquered Egypt • On Cambyses’ death, Darius (the Great) became emperor • Darius brought the empire to its greater extent: from India to the Black See to Greece • Darius died in 486 BCE

  8. Darius the Great

  9. The Persian Empire after Darius

  10. Religion: a crucial difference…

  11. From polytheism to monotheism: Zarathushtra (1000 BCE-600 BCE)

  12. Ahura Mazda & Ahriman • Ahura Mazda: the principal God, creator of everything, representing goodness • Ahriman: the demon, representing evil, constantly fighting with Ahura Mazda • Monotheism or dualism?

  13. God, King & People

  14. Politics and religion • The emperor is a direct descendant from Ahura Mazda • His authority is not to be questioned • Highly sophisticated organization of the empire: 29 satrapies, for each there was a satrap and several inspectors

  15. Israel

  16. Palestine: history • Before the Israelites, the Canaanites, a Semitic people descending from the Phoenicians, inhabited Palestine • The Canaanites’ and the Phoenicians’ religion was polytheist • They invented two things important for us:

  17. The ancestor of our alphabet, and

  18. …. • The Phoenicians invented a system to obtain purple dye from sea-shells

  19. The Israelites: ‘once upon a time’ the patriarch Abraham…

  20. By the 13th century BCE Moses…

  21. 10th century: the peak with Kings David and Solomon

  22. The end…. • In 586 BCE the Babylonian King Nabuchadnezzar II defeats the Israelites and destroys Solomon’s temple • When the Persians conquer Babylon, they free the Jews, but • Palestine was conquered by different foreign kings, until…

  23. In 1948 the State of Israel was created

  24. The religion of the Israelites • MONOTHEISM! The Israelites developed a fully MONOTHEISTIC religion, that is to say, one and only God • This God does not look like a human, nor does he look like anything: in fact, He cannot be pictured in any form • The notion of the covenant is extremely important: why?

  25. God, kings and people • God talks to his people through the head (Abraham, Moses, David, Salomon) • God is righteous, or better, He is the source of the law • But….LOOK AT YOUR HANDOUT!

  26. What do you notice? • Ecclesiastes: God only knows what is right, He only knows when to punish weakness • Job: There is a lot of injustice on earth! What does God do about that?

  27. In other words.. • Jewish religion is the FIRST when one can see many things appearing, that is • 1) first MONOTHEISTIC religion • 2) first time in which we see a contrast: the authority can be questioned! • This questioning has a moral rather than political value (think about Moses) • Right and wrong become complex concepts, that humans can DISCUSS with God!

  28. Have a good week-end, and I will see you on Monday!

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