The Mediterranean & The Middle East, 2000-500 B.C.E . Part I

1. The Mediterranean & The Middle East, 2000-500 B.C.E.Part I John Ermer World History AP Miami Beach Senior High School

2. The Iron Age • The Mediterranean Sea provides vehicle for cultural ex. • New cultures and civilizations emerge in Middle East • Interactions b/w civilizations increases • 2000s B.C.E.: Many civilizations begin using Iron • Easier to make than bronze, one metal rather than an alloy • Harder and sharper than bronze • Must be heated to higher temperature than bronze • With the Iron Age also came large scale use of horses • Horses allow for quicker and farther travel—empire building

3. The Cosmopolitan Middle East • The Late Bronze Age • Egypt and Mesopotamia conquered by outsiders • Outsiders either cast out or assimilated into dominant culture • New, large territorial states emerge to dominate Mid. East • Egypt, Babylon (Mesopotamia), Hittite Empire, Phoenicia, Palestine • Cosmopolitan • A time of widely shared cultures and lifestyles • High level of trade and diplomatic relations • High standard of living for elite groups • Conflict between centers of power for control of resources

5. Western Asia • Akkadian becomes language of trade & diplomacy in W. Asia • Cuneiform writing system adopted across region • Eventually simplified into an alphabet by Pheonicians • Mesopotamia divided b/w Babylonia (S) & Assyria (N) • Babylonia • Attracts non-Semite Kassites from Zargos mountains, assimilated • Kassite kings of Babylon did not seek empire • Assyrians begin conquering neighbors for empire • Controlled important trade routes in northern Mesopotamia • The Hittite Empire • Spoke an Indo-European language • Exported copper, silver, tin • First to develop iron weapons

6. New Kingdom Egypt • Hyksos among the many SW Asians who migrate to Egypt • Hyksos means “foreigners” • Egyptians expel the Hyksos, pharaohs expand empire • Trade exposes Egyptians to new cultures and technologies

7. New Kingdom Egyptian Influence

8. The Aegean World • Geography • Greece and the islands of the Aegean & Ionian seas • Mountainous, mostly rocky, arid climate • Limited arable land, in plains between mountain ranges • Grains, grapevines, olive trees • Food, lumber, metals must be imported by ancient Greeks • Sea travel is easier than overland, trade is paramount

10. Minoan Crete, 2000-1450 B.C.E. • Crete = home of first European civilization • Bronze work, writing, monumental building, extensive trade • Minoans named for mythical “King Minos” • Unfortified cities/palace complexes • Indoor plumbing and frescoes = sophistication • 1450 B.C.E.: Minoan cities/palaces destroyed • Capital city of Cnossus (Knossos) survives under Mycenaeans

11. Mycenaean Greece, 1600-1150 B.C.E. • 2000 B.C.E.: Indo-Europeans migrate into Greece • Homer’s poems the Illiad & Odyssey tell of Mycenae • Schliemann finds the shaft graves • Adopt Minoan style and architecture • Cities built on hilltops, thick fortifications • 4,000 clay tablets of Linear B • Government regulated and controlled production • Metal work reserved for elite class • Trade and communication by small sailboats • Mycenaeans were warlike and acquisitive • Conflict with the Hittites

12. Moving & Shaking • 1200 B.C.E.: Mass migrations across the Mediterranean • c. 1200: Hittite kingdom collapses, Ugarit destroyed • 1190: Ramesses III of Egypt battles “Sea People” • Egypt loses control of Palestine, Syria, and Nubia • Egypt falls to possible Mycenaean invasion • c. 1175: Mycenaean civilization collapses • Mediterranean & Middle East enter a Dark Age • Economic and political collapse leads to long, deep decline • War brings limited trade, much poorer societies • Loss of artistic & technical skills, writing/education declines • Loss of writing, artistic & technical skills

13. The Sea Peoples & the Fall of Late Bronze Age Empires