First Civilizations: Mesopotamia

• Chapter three discusses the first civilizations
• Lesson Objectives include analyzing historical dates, eras, and timelines, with a focus on the Fertile Crescent and the first empires
• Also, to demonstrate an appreciation for the complexity of cultural developments and the impact of conflict on civilizations
• Lastly, to effectively communicate an understanding of Mesopotamia's contributions to the world

Historical Eras

• The study of the past is divided into historical periods/eras representing important changes in people's lives
• The simplest way to divide the past is into:
  • Ancient Era (3000 BC - 476 AD)
  • Medieval Era (476 - 1500 AD)
  • Modern Era (1500-1945 AD)
  • Postmodern Era (1945 - present)
• The Ancient Era (ca. 3000 BC – 400 AD) focused on the first civilizations and empires in Asia
• The East was the most developed part of the world during this era
• The Medieval Era (Middle Ages, 474 AD – 1500 AD) was the time between the Ancient Era and the Modern Era
• The West expanded in power during the Medieval Era
• The Modern Era (1500 - 1945) was marked by the West dominating the world
• Global wars occurred involving World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945)
• The Postmodern Era (1945 - present) sees the East aspiring for parity with the West's power and wealth
• It also introduced the Fourth Industrial Revolution
• There also were new conflicts involving weapons of mass destruction, global pandemics, and climate change

Historical Dates

• Christian historians use the initials BC and AD for calendar dates
• BC (Before Christ) signifies events before the birth of Jesus Christ
• AD (Anno Domini) signifies events after Jesus' time
• BCE (Before the Common/Current Era) and CE (Common/Current Era) are the latest date-marking methods

Timeline

• A timeline shows the chronological order of dates or events from the earliest to the latest
• Historians, reporters, detectives, etc., use timelines to understand the sequence of events

Civilization

• According to National Geographic, civilization describes a complex way of life that came about as people began to develop networks of urban settlements
• Civilizations have resources and skills, as seen in their religion, government, law, economy, arts, sciences, and military

Culture and Conflict

• Culture and conflict are two significant recurring experiences in a civilization
• Culture consists of intelligent human achievements in a society, including religion, language, customs, laws, institutions, economy, arts and crafts, music, etc
• Conflict arises from disagreements, differences of ideas and interests, rivalry, and challenges within or outside the society
• Civilization begins when crude and barbaric people develop cultural and civil activities, like what happened in Mesopotamia
• Conflicts and natural events (floods, drought, etc.) destroyed civilizations
• The history of the first civilizations showed the pattern of culture in future civilizations

Fertile Crescent

• West Asia (the Middle East) has a crescent-shaped region known in history as the "cradle of the first civilization."
• Tigris and Euphrates are two famous rivers originating in the mountains of Turkiye to the north, ending in the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the Persian Gulf to the south
• The Fertile Crescent is essential for several reasons:
  • It is the first "cradle of civilization," where people made the earliest known writings and cultural achievements
  • Its kings and emperors built the first empires and made the first laws
  • It is home to the earliest people, places, and events mentioned in the Bible
  • It is the birthplace of three major religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
  • The people of this region have an inclination for conflicts that lead to wars
  • This region is part of the Middle East, with the largest number of overseas Filipino workers (OFW)
• Sumerian civilization (ca. 3500 – 5500 BC) developed earlier than the Egyptians
• Some claim that Goebekli Tepe, "Potbelly Hill," in Southeast Turkiye, was earlier (ca. 9500 BC)
• The Fertile Crescent (Mesopotamia) is thought to be the first cradle of civilization because:
  • It has been extensively studied
  • It is conveniently located on the oldest rivers
  • There is an abundant supply of oil in West Asia
• The Sumerians (5500 – 2300 BC) were the first inhabitants of Mesopotamia and invented many first things in the world
• The most important four things were:
  • Cuneiform, the first written language and literature
  • The first farms and houses
  • The first cities and temples
  • The first governments and written law
• The Sumerians (5500 – 2300 BC) had the first written language
• Henry Rawlinson discovered Behistun Rock
• They had first farms and houses, and were the first farmers and city builders
• They built the first cities and temples
• They settled into the first city-states
• They organized the first social classes and governments
• They had the first government and written laws and aristocracy
  • Code of Ur-Nammu (2100 BC)

First Empires

• Empires differ from city-states because they are wealthier, more significant in area and population, and more militarily assertive
• Traditionally, empires are founded by an ambitious leader who invades and conquers other tribes or kingdoms to fall into his power
• Two ways a person can fall into an empire:
  • A tributary state pays regular tribute to the conqueror but retains some independence, e.g., gold, land, slaves, services, etc
  • A vassal state loses its independence and becomes the slave of the emperor, surrendering everything: independence, people, and land

Akkadia

• Akkadia (2334-2154 BC) was the first regional empire, the largest and most unpopular
• It occupied the largest area in Mesopotamia (800,000 sq. km)
• It had a cruel and religious policy of forcing others to worship their Akkadian gods
• Sargon the Great was the first Akkadian king
• Naram-Sin captured Anatolia, as well as parts of Arabia and Persia
• Akkadian contributions include:
  • It being the first empire in history and the largest regional empire in the Fertile Crescent
  • Setting the pattern for other empires to come: military conquest, dictatorship, and cruel treatment of people
  • Founding the first political dynasty in history
  • Introducing the government system of dictatorship
  • Introducing theocracy, a church and state or government union allowing only one religion
  • The chief female priestess led the state religion; Enheduanna was the first female high priestess
• The fall of Akkadia was caused by the mixture of religion and politics
  • This made Akkadia the most despised empire in Mesopotamia
  • It was the shortest lived empire

Babylonian Empire

• The First Babylonian Empire was the brightest, most popular, and most influential of its time
  • The Amorites of the Bible
  • They defeated the Akkadians and other Mesopotamians
  • Hammurabi made good laws for people
  • The Code of Hammurabi is the world's first written legal code
• Babylonian Contributions include:
  • The first numerical system
  • A calendar that measured 30 days, 12 months, and a year instead of lunar seasons
  • First to track the heavenly bodies (sun, moon, and stars)
  • The first formal schools for boys' basic education had professional full-time teachers
  • Two thousand books of knowledge
  • Emphasized the art of writing Cuneiform
  • Started the best practices in medicine
  • The Code of Hammurabi was the first written law
  • Implemented economic democracy

Assyrians

• The Assyrians were from the fiercest to the first Christians
  • Cruelest, most terrifying, and longest empire in Mesopotamia
  • They invented horse cavalry and chariots, siege towers, and battering rams
  • The first tribal group converted to Christianity in the first century AD
  • Tiglath-Pileser III was their greatest King
• Assyrian Contributions include:
  • The longest empire in Mesopotamia lasted for nearly two millennia
  • They spread the Cuneiform language to a larger area in the ancient world.
  • Extensive road networks outlasting the empire
  • Assyrian tablet library was the first in the ancient world
  • They introduced the first professional army and military technology
  • Assyrians were the first tribal group to convert to Christianity

Second Babylonian Empire

• The Second Babylonian Empire was the Chaldean Empire
  • They were dark-race Semitic people from the marshes of south Mesopotamia
  • They extended the prestige of the first Babylonia by calling themselves the New Babylonian Empire
  • They ruled for the shortest time (86 years)
  • They are remembered for taking the Jews to their 7-year Babylonian captivity (586-516 BC)
  • Conquered by Cyrus the Great of Persia
  • Nebuchadnezzar was the greatest Chaldean king, and developed the Hanging Garden and the capital of Babylon
• Chaldean Contributions include:
  • Nebuchadnezzar's Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
  • Remarkable prediction about the rise and fall of many kingdoms, ending in one last kingdom "that would never end."
  • The handwriting on the wall prophesied the fall of Neo-Babylonia and the rise of the Persian empire
  • The king's dream of a kingdom that would never end, anticipated the coming of Christ

Hittite Empire

• The Hittite Empire: Iron and the First Peace Treaty
  • The last Mesopotamian empire to disappear during the Bronze Age collapse
  • The ancestors of the modern Turks were partly European and partly Asian
  • They discovered how to make iron tools and weapons from their mines and began the Iron Age
  • The Hittites, "the people of Hatti," were named after Hatti, their southwestern Asian homeland
  • They occupied part of Egypt and challenged Pharaoh Ramses II for supremacy in the Battle of Kadesh (1274 BC).
    • This was and the largest chariot battle ever fought
• Hittites Contributions include:
  • The invention and use of iron metal
  • The writing of agreements (treaties) with other groups on important matters, e.g. end of war, etc

How Civilization Spreads

• Civilization Spreads through direct contacts:
  • The Mesopotamian peoples directly transferred their culture to others through marriage, colonization, imitation, trade, migration, and adoption
  • Archaeological discoveries show that there were numerous connections between the three most ancient cradles of civilization in Asia: Mesopotamia, India, and China
  • Ancient Mesopotamians and Indians shared the same gods, staple food (bread), town design, walled cities, houses, writing system, wheels, use of bronze tools and weapons, pottery, prayers, hymns and rituals, irrigated farms, and similar boats
  • They planted the same cereals, figs, dates, and vegetables
  • In north-central China they grew wheat (instead of rice), like the Mesopotamians
  • Artifacts excavated in the Indus Valley are Sumerian in their antiquity and amazing form
• Civilization Spreads through indirect contacts or special networks:
  • Social networks existed in past historical eras, like we socialize today
  • The Phoenicians are an example of an ancient social network that spread trade, information, and the skill of writing
  • Civilizations and culture may also spread by cultural fusion, when two or more cultures mingle and produces a third, or a new hybrid cultural phenomenon
  • The Philippines was formed from the cultures of settlers or colonizers from Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America

How Civilization Ends

• Around 1200 BC, the first civilizations in West Asia experienced a sudden, unexpected, and total collapse
  • The troubles led to famine and great mass migrations
  • The collapse was due to climate change, earthquakes, drought, famine, economic depression, and invasion by an unspecified people from the sea (possibly the Greeks)
  • The decline paved the way for the rise of the West, beginning with the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome in the Middle Ages
• Bronze Age collapse saw the Bible, history, and science confirmed the collapse of Bronze Age civilizations
  • According to the Bible in Genesis 10, everyone spoke the same language and made great advances.
    • This convinced them to build the Tower of Babel
  • Their plans were frustrated and scattered to other places
  • Bible scholars note that the catastrophe happened because humans had fallen away from God
  • Ancient Mesopotamia experienced social and natural conflicts, "invasions by the sea people," natural calamities, and internal conflicts and rivalries
• Bronze Age collapse: scientists have found evidence of natural calamities that rocked the Mediterranean region around 1200 BC
  • The first calamity was severe climate change in the Mediterranean, and reduced rainfall by 30 to 50 percent
  • Other calamities were earthquakes, climate change, drought, famine, and plagues
  • The drought lasted for an amazing 300 years, and people could not return to their homeland for long
  • The collapse of the Bronze Age affected Mesopotamia, but also Egypt, nearby Greek islands, and South Asia
• Human beings have survived conflicts and catastrophes when they come one at a time, though civilizations and cultures would find survival impossible if these conflicts and calamities occurred simultaneously or quickly

Mesopotamia's Contributions to the World

• The people of ancient Mesopotamians made these contributions to civilization:
  • The first political organization of people into class, sex, age, wealth, and functions (rulers, priests, warriors, farmers, slaves, etc)
  • The first cities or walled, organized colonies of families, clans, and tribes, with planned houses, streets, public buildings, and water systems
  • The first plow and wheel, domesticated animals, cultivated crops, and irrigated agricultural farms
  • The first written language
  • The first written literature (Epic of Gilgamesh), historical records, poetry, tales, proverbs, and romantic stories
  • The earliest written laws, like the Code of Ur-Nammu (ca. 2050 BC) and the Hammurabi Code (ea. 1750 BC)
  • The first number system that measured distance, area, space, and time
  • The first calendar to record times and seasons
  • The first system of astronomy and astrology to study the heavens
  • The first metal tools, pottery, waterwheel, milling machines, the first houses, schools, libraries, sailboats, hanging gardens, palaces, and scriptures
• The first permanent religious temples (ziggurats)
  • The first polytheistic gods, system of religion, priests, and priestesses
  • The first system of medicine used diagnosis, bandages, creams, and pills
  • The first economic systems used debt, barter, trade, stores, and accounting records
  • The first governments with kings and emperors, laws, and international treaties
  • The first absolute rule of tyrants or dictators
  • The customary cruel treatment of opponents and prisoners
  • The first written treaty to end the war
  • The prophecy on the rise and fall of empires and God's everlasting kingdom