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SOUTHWEST ASIA AND EGYPT

SOUTHWEST ASIA AND EGYPT. The Ancient and Classical Period. CYCLE OF CIVILIZATION. Nomadic group overruns sedentary area Nomadic group settles down Nomadic group adopts sedentary culture New culture rises to greater heights Culture weakens Culture overrun by new nomadic group

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SOUTHWEST ASIA AND EGYPT

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  1. SOUTHWEST ASIA AND EGYPT The Ancient and Classical Period

  2. CYCLE OF CIVILIZATION • Nomadic group overruns sedentary area • Nomadic group settles down • Nomadic group adopts sedentary culture • New culture rises to greater heights • Culture weakens • Culture overrun by new nomadic group • Common civilization preserved • Typical for all river valley civilizations

  3. 1st STATE STRUCTURES • Sumerian City-states • Small, independent but not totally autonomous • Local differences but much similarity • Run originally by priests, then warrior-kings • Aristocratic nobles assisted kings • Akkadian Empire • Conquest state • Tribute state • Cuneiform culture of Sumer but Semitic

  4. 2nd STATE STRUCTURES • Ever larger conquest empires • Egypt • Three periods called Kingdoms • First two periods, Old and Middle are ancient • New Kingdom is an empire • Pharaoh became increasingly “human” • Priests had enormous power in government • Babylonian and Assyrian Empires • Conquest, tribute empires • Old Babylonian Empire: Hammurabi’s Code • Assyrian Empire used terror, regular army

  5. SOCIAL STRUCTURES • Ruling Classes • Aristocracy • Royalty • Nobility • Priestly and Military • Other Classes • “Free” classes • Merchants • Artisans • Intellectuals • Peasants and slaves

  6. GENDER STRUCTURES • Patriarchal • Patrilocal • Polygamous • Male Roles • Female Roles: Public vs. Private

  7. CULTURAL • Religious • Polytheist, anthropomorphism of nature • Priests hold great power, own land, temples • Divine Right vs. Theocracy • Intellectual • Cuneiform and Hieroglyphics: Scribes • Literatures: Gilgamesh, Book of the Dead • Arts and Architecture • Public Architecture, public art • Art Conventions very rigid

  8. TECHNOLOGY • Man is a tool maker and user • The ability to make and use tools • Man innovates to meet needs, deficiencies • Sumer is major source of first inventions • Metallurgy: Iron Age • Maths and Sciences • Tools

  9. DEMOGRAPHY/ENVIRONMENT • Man alters his environment • More pronounced in Mesopotamia • Environment is unpredictable, harsher • Irrigation, dikes, dams, sluices • Agriculture alters environment • All societies were overwhelmingly agrarian • Heavy agriculture increases human population • Some crops really deplete soil • Cities are artificial and alter environment • Extreme concentration of humans in small space • Wastes, diseases concentrated

  10. INTERACTIONS • Movement • Human migration: pastoralists, mass migration • Semites: Arabs, Jews, Hyksos, Nubians, Phoenicians • Indo-Europeans, Indo-Iranians: Hittites, Medes/Persians • Culture, social blending • Disruptions • War • Interaction increases as resources become rare • As technology improves, so does war • Diplomacy arises as conflicts increase • Exchanges such as Trade, Diseases • Goods and skills exchanged • Ideas, diseases exchanged

  11. TWO EXCEPTIONS • Hebrews • Abraham: Origins – nomadic pastorialist • Ethical Monotheism • Yahweh, Moses, Covenant, Commandments • Phoenicians • Traders throughout Mediterranean • Artisans: Cloth, Dye, Metallurgy • Alphabet: Aleph and Beth

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