Chapter 2

Learning Objectives

Discuss the principal characteristics and contributions of early West Asian societies.
Analyze the ways in which early Northeast African societies adapted to their environment and developed complex civilizations.
Describe and explain the main Phoenician contributions and connections.
Discuss the evolution of the Jewish concept of monotheism.

Early West Asian Societies

2.1 Discuss the principal characteristics and contributions of early West Asian societies.

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Agriculture, as we saw in Chapter 1, first arose in West Asia around 9000 b.c.e. In the following millennia, it was practiced extensively in the plains around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers (now part of modern Iraq), where periodic floods deposited silt that kept the soil fertile.

By the fourth millennium b.c.e., as farming flourished in this region, its population seems to have grown considerably. Shielded from outsiders by mountains and deserts and fed by ample food from fertile farmlands, people there formed increasingly complex societies. Farming villages merged into towns, and some towns grew into cities, with central governments, organized religions, and extensive commerce. Thus emerged one of the world’s earliest civilizations, in a region later called Mesopotamia (MESS-uh-puh-TĀ -mē-uh), meaning “between the rivers.” So impressive was it that later conquerors, including Sargon of Akkad, adopted and imposed its ways throughout West Asia and beyond.

Early Mesopotamia: The City-States of Sumer

What were the principal cultural and technical contributions of the early Sumerians?

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By 3500 b.c.e. a number of cities, including Ur and Uruk, had emerged in a region called Sumer, near where the Tigris and Euphrates rivers connect (Map 2.1). By 3000 b.c.e. some of these cities, surrounded by protective walls, were more than a mile in diameter and home to more than 30,000 people. Most residents were farmers, living in huts made of sun-baked mud bricks, who tended their crops by day in nearby fields. But other city-dwellers, supported by the farmers’ surplus food, specialized in other occupations. Their numbers included artisans, merchants, laborers, priests and priestesses, soldiers, and government officials.

In the fourth millennium b.c.e., complex societies emerged in Mesopotamia and Egypt. Note that the lands along the eastern Mediterranean, later called Phoenicia and Palestine, connected them and were influenced by both. How did these connections develop, and how did each culture influence the other?

Conflict was common among Sumerian city-states, independent urban political domains that controlled the surrounding countryside. Eager to enhance their power and wealth, larger city-states sometimes sought to swallow up others, provoking periodic wars. Leaders who emerged in combat often became kings and officials.

Over time the kings amassed power to command armies, levy tribute and taxes, dispense justice, and organize the building of roads, canals, and dikes. In many places kingship became hereditary, as rulers passed on power to their sons, reflecting the patriarchal structure of Sumerian society and families. Officials helped the kings govern, while priests and priestesses exalted them as descendants of the gods. Royal authority was thus reinforced by religion.

Sumerian Religion and Worldview

The most famous Sumerian ruler was King Gilgamesh (GIL-guh-mesh) of Uruk, hero of the Epic of Gilgamesh, a magnificent narrative poem from the third millennium b.c.e. In this epic the handsome young king, described as part god and part man, is confronted by Enkidu(EN-kih-doo), a former wild man who was tamed by a prostitute. The two men battle ferociously but emerge as friends. Together they embark on many adventures. When fertility goddess Ishtar becomes infatuated with Gilgamesh, he brazenly spurns her advances, so in a rage she has her father the sky god send a wild bull to destroy him. Together, Gilgamesh and Enkidu slay the beast. But the gods respond by taking the life of Enkidu, who describes to Gilgamesh the dismal underworld awaiting people after death. Hoping to avoid this fate, Gilgamesh searches for immortality, only to learn that eternal life is beyond his grasp.

The epic exhibits fundamental features of Mesopotamian religion. Like many ancient belief systems, it was polytheistic (PAH-lē-thē-ISS-tik), meaning that people worshipped more than one god. Gods and goddesses personified forces central to agricultural society, such as earth, sun, water, sky, fertility, and storms. Deities such as Ishtar and her father were temperamental figures, portrayed in human form and believed to affect every aspect of life. People who pleased the gods by rituals and sacrifices could hope for assistance and good fortune, but those who (like Enkidu) displeased them could expect retribution. The overall outlook was gloomy: humans had to serve unpredictable and spiteful gods in this life, with little hope for better fate in the next life.

Religion nonetheless played a central role in early societies. It supplied an explanation for the forces of nature, and a way for people to try to influence those forces. It provided a focus for festivals, such as new year holidays in spring, celebrating life’s natural cycles with rituals, dances, and songs. It exalted rulers as divine agents, enhancing their authority and helping them maintain order. Priests and priestesses, often family members or devoted followers of rulers, heralded the rulers as godlike beings descended from divinities and performed rituals intended to bring divine favor on the realm.

To further enhance their status and prestige, rulers built splendid temples to the gods and palaces for themselves. Some Sumerian cities constructed ziggurats (ZIG-uh-rahtz), massive brick towers ascending upward in tiers, typically topped by shrines for religious rituals. Dominating urban landscapes, ziggurats also served as symbols of power and as lookout towers for defense. Governance and religion were thus intertwined, each supporting the other.

Commerce, Innovation, and Cuneiform Writing

Secured by this support and sustained by surplus food, Sumerians made great strides in other endeavors. They promoted regional commerce, pioneered the use of wheels, fashioned metals into tools and weapons, devised ways to keep track of time, performed architectural and engineering feats, and invented writing.

Although Sumer’s farms produced abundant wheat and barley, and its sheep supplied ample wool, woods and metals there were scarce. So Sumerians traded with other lands, exchanging their textiles and grains for cedar wood and copper from the eastern Mediterranean, gold from Egypt, and gems from what is now Iran. To carry these goods, Sumerians fashioned wooden boats for rivers, cargo ships for seas, and wheeled carts to be pulled overland by animals.

Overland connections were vastly enhanced by the wheel, an innovation associated with Sumer but probably developed by nomads to its north. By 3000 b.c.e. Sumerians were transporting goods in carts with wooden wheels, and introducing wheels to other regions as they traveled. One of history’s most useful inventions, wheels were later attached to chariots for war, thereby intensifying conflicts as well as connections among cultures.

Sumerians also made advances in metalwork. In the late Neolithic period, hoping to improve on their wood and stone implements, some West Asians started fashioning tools out of copper ore. At first they simply pounded copper into useful shapes; later they learned to heat it until it melted and pour it into clay molds to cool. However, although copper worked well for small tools and ornaments, it was too soft for larger tools and weapons. In the fourth millennium b.c.e., therefore, metalworkers began to mix molten copper with tin, thereby producing a sturdier metal called bronze, which was used to make swords and shields for soldiers and sometimes knives and axes for farmers.

Other innovations, too, are credited to Sumerians. They created a calendar based on cycles of the moon and a double-entry bookkeeping method. They devised a computation system based on segments of 12 and 60, still used now for dividing time into hours, minutes, and seconds. And they developed architectural and engineering skills to build palaces, temples, fortifications, and irrigation systems.

Furthermore, as trade and tribute expanded and society grew more complex, Sumerians devised symbols to record financial and administrative transactions. As this system improved, they also used it to record rituals, laws, and legendary exploits of rulers such as Gilgamesh. This momentous invention, which we call writing, facilitated governance, enhanced commercial connections, and vastly aided the preservation and transmission of knowledge.

Sumerians wrote by inscribing figures in wet clay, which hardened into tablets, some of which still exist today. They etched symbols from right to left, using wedge-like characters that scholars now call cuneiform (KYOO-nē-ih-form) writing, which means “wedge-shaped.” At first these were merely stylized pictures (pictographs) of people, animals, and objects such as carts, houses, baskets, and bowls. Eventually, however, as characters were added to express ideas (ideographs) and sounds (phonetics), writing became very complex, so schools were set up in palaces and temples to train writing specialists, or scribes. To enter this prestigious profession, relied on by rulers to help manage their realms, students in these schools endured memorization, recitation, copy work, harsh discipline by teachers, and harassment by older classmates.

Few Sumerians learned to write, but those who did played a key role in spreading and preserving their culture. So useful, indeed, was their writing system that it was adopted by outside conquerors seeking to unite and rule all Mesopotamia.

Akkadian Connections and the Spread of Sumerian Culture

What connections developed between and among Sumer, Akkad, and Babylon?

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Conquest was crucial in spreading Sumerian culture. Beginning around 2350 b.c.e., Sumer’s city-states were conquered by King Sargon of Akkad, the ambitious ruler depicted at the start of this chapter. Sargon went on to conquer most of Mesopotamia, connecting the region under his rule and creating one of history’s first empires (Map 2.2).

King Sargon of Akkad created the Akkadian Empire in the 24th century b.c.e. Note that it embraced all of Mesopotamia and some of the surrounding regions. What steps did Sargon take to connect and unify his realm?

Sargon also established a pattern repeated throughout history: conquerors learned from societies they conquered and helped spread their culture. The Akkadians (ah-KĀ-dē-inz), for example, adopted the Sumerian calendar, writing system, and computation methods, introducing them to other regions as the Akkadian Empire expanded. Akkadian conquests and connections thus spread Sumerian ideas across Mesopotamia and into lands along the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

The Akkadian Empire, which declined after Sargon’s death, was overrun around 2230 b.c.e. by nomadic warriors from mountains to the northeast. The Sumerians later regained power, led by the city-state of Ur, which extended its rule over southern Mesopotamia until around 2000 b.c.e. The region then came under control of outsiders called the Amorites (AM-uh-rītz), who established their own empire.

Babylonian Society and Hammurabi’s Code

How did Hammurabi’s Code reflect the nature of Mesopotamian society?

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The Amorites, warlike pastoral nomads from Arabia, came to Mesopotamia around 2000 b.c.e. possibly seeking grazing lands for their herds. Through a series of conquests, they extended control over most of Mesopotamia, which they ruled until about 1600 b.c.e. Like the Akkadians they embraced many aspects of Sumerian society, adapting the ruling and writing systems to their needs, and even settling in cities supported by farming. Since their capital city was Babylon (BAB-ul-ahn) on the Euphrates, their empire and culture are often called Babylonian (bab-uh-LŌ-nē-in).

Babylon’s most notable ruler was Hammurabi (hah-moo-RAH-bē), who reigned from 1792 to 1750 b.c.e. and issued the famous law code bearing his name. Hammurabi’s Code, a compilation of earlier Mesopotamian laws (such as the Code of Lipit-Ishtar), was carved on a black stone pillar and placed in a temple to promote public knowledge of the law. It sought to regulate matters such as trade and contracts, marriage and adultery, debts and estates, and relations among social classes. It assigned penalties based on retribution—the famous principle of “an eye for an eye”—attempting not only to deter crimes but also to limit retaliation by ensuring that punishments did not exceed the damage done.

The code provides many insights into Mesopotamian society. It reveals, for example, that society was hierarchical, divided into nobles, commoners, and slaves, with different penalties depending on social status. A noble who knocked out another noble’s tooth, for example, would have his own tooth knocked out (“a tooth for a tooth”), but a noble who knocked out a commoner’s tooth only had to pay a fine. A noble who hit a commoner likewise had to pay a fine, but a commoner who hit a noble would be whipped and a slave who hit a noble would lose an ear.

Property rights, as reflected in the code, were valued highly. Theft and robbery, for example, were punishable by death. Merchants and artisans were penalized for providing shoddy goods, but the principle in commercial transactions was “let the buyer beware.” Tenant farmers were expected to give the landowner a portion of their crops. Slaves, who were most likely debtors, criminals, or prisoners of war, had limited rights but could own property, marry nonslaves, and even purchase their freedom (see “Excerpts from Hammurabi’s Code”).

Document 2.1

Excerpts from Hammurabi’s Code

Hammurabi’s Code had 282 articles, mostly assigning punishments for crimes or compensations for commercial and marital infractions. What insights do these articles provide about Mesopotamian culture, society, values, and gender roles?

6.If any one steal the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death.
22.If any one is committing a robbery and is caught, then he shall be put to death.
104.If a merchant give an agent corn, wool, oil, or any other goods . . ., the agent shall give a receipt for the amount, and compensate the merchant . . . Then he shall obtain a receipt from the merchant for the money that he gives the merchant.
105.If the agent is careless, and does not take a receipt for the money . . ., he can not consider the . . . money as his own.
106.If the agent accept money from the merchant, but . . . quarrel with the merchant (denying the receipt), then shall the merchant swear before God and witnesses that he has given this money to the agent, and the agent shall pay him three times the sum.
108.If a tavern-keeper (feminine) does not accept corn . . . in payment of drink, but takes money, and the price of the drink is less than that of the corn, she shall be convicted and thrown into the water.
109.If conspirators meet in the house of a tavern-keeper, and these conspirators are not captured and delivered to the court, the tavern-keeper shall be put to death.
129.If a man’s wife be [caught having intercourse] with another man, both shall be tied and thrown into the water, but the husband may pardon his wife and the king his slaves.
132.If the “finger is pointed” at a man’s wife about another man, but she is not caught sleeping with the other man, she shall jump into the river for her husband.
142.If a woman quarrel with her husband, and say: “You are not congenial to me,” the reasons for her prejudice must be presented. If she is guiltless . . ., but he leaves and neglects her, she shall take her dowry and go back to her father’s house.
143.If she is not innocent, but leaves her husband, and ruins her house, neglecting her husband, this woman shall be cast into the water.
195.If a son strikes his father, his hand shall be hewn off.
196.If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.
199.If he put out the eye of a man’s slave, or break the bone of a man’s slave, he shall pay one-half of its value.
200.If a man knock out the teeth of his equal, his teeth shall be knocked out.

SOURCE: Hammurabi’s Code of Laws. Translated by L. W. King.http://eawc.evansville.edu/anthology/hammurabi.htm

The code also shows that society was patriarchal, with men having greater rights and status than women. Marriages were contractual, arranged by the parents of the bride and groom and sealed with a dowry—an endowment of money or property supplied by the bride’s family (preserved today in a custom whereby the bride’s family pays for her wedding). A husband could legally have a mistress, or even a second wife if his first one had no children. But a woman who cheated or ran off on her husband could be cast in the water to drown.

Women did have some rights: they could buy and sell goods and own property, which they were allowed to inherit and pass on to descendants. Records indicate that some women owned shops or taverns, worked as brewers or bakers, and even served as priestesses or scribes. But records also show that men sometimes sold their wives into slavery, and that women often died before age 40, victimized by infections from childbirth or worn out by ceaseless labor.

The code was not Hammurabi’s only achievement. He built fortifications, temples, irrigation channels, and dams that could cut off water to potential enemies downstream—a potent military tool in a region that survived on river water. He also centralized state administration, appointing officials to control and collect regular taxes from the regions of his realm. This practice was more efficient and less disruptive than the old Sumerian tribute system, in which cities sent out armies to surrounding regions to collect tribute by force.

For all his accomplishments, Hammurabi failed to establish an enduring regime. Following his death in 1750 b.c.e., the Babylonian kingdom declined and was eventually overrun by warlike pastoral nomads using horse-drawn chariots.

Indo-European Migrations

How did the Indo-European migrations create connections between and among European and Asian societies?

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The warriors who challenged Babylon, beginning around 1600 b.c.e., spoke languages now classified as Indo-European. Since numerous languages in India, Iran, and Europe share many common features, modern linguists group them into a language family called Indo-European, divided into subfamilies such as Indo-Iranian, Balto-Slavic, Hellenic (Greek), Italic, Celtic, and Germanic (the branch to which English belongs). The ancient tongues from which they evolved differed greatly from Sumerian languages, which form their own language group, and from those spoken by Akkadians and Babylonians, which scholars place in the Semitic language family with Arabic and Hebrew.

The peoples who spoke ancient Indo-European tongues are also called Indo-Europeans. Although their origin is unclear, many scholars think they descended from pastoral nomads who had herded sheep, goats, and cattle since before 4000 b.c.e. on the grassy plains northeast of the Black Sea called steppes (stepz). Early Indo-European achievements include domestication of horses, which were immensely useful for transport and warfare. When hitched to carts, horses hauled tents and supplies, helping people move more easily and travel longer distances. When attached to war chariots, developed in Central Asia by 2000 b.c.e., horses enabled warriors to maneuver with great speed, providing a huge advantage over foot soldiers. When harnessed to supply wagons, horses conveyed the provisions needed to support an army on the move. Indeed, horses ultimately became the main form of military transport, remaining so until the Second World War in the twentieth century c.e. Long before that, however, horses aided some of history’s greatest migrations.

In the third millennium b.c.e., perhaps as population growth outpaced the availability of good pastureland in the steppes, nomads apparently migrated great distances seeking fresh pastures for their herds. Aided by their horses, some went southwest to Anatolia (an-uh-TŌ-lē-uh), the site of modern Turkey, while others moved south to the Iranian plateau. Later some went farther west, dispersing throughout Europe, while others migrated east toward northern India and western China. Both the widespread use of horses and the wide distribution of Indo-European languages can be attributed to these nomadic migrations.

The Hittite Connection

What were the principal Hittite contributions and connections?

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Among the Indo-European migrants were the Hittites (HIT-tītz), who settled in Anatolia around 2000 b.c.e. In the 1590s b.c.e., aided by horse-drawn chariots and attracted by Babylon’s wealth, Hittite armies swept into Mesopotamia, conquering Babylon and ravaging the remnants of Hammurabi’s realm. But unrest in Anatolia soon prompted Hittite armies to return. After 1400 b.c.e., however, the Hittites again expanded into Syria and northern Mesopotamia, clashing eventually with Egyptians expanding from Northeast Africa. In these instances, as in many others, conflicts aided cultural connections, as Hittites adopted aspects of societies they encountered.

But the Hittites did not simply copy; instead, they took features of cultures they conquered and blended them into their own. They used cuneiform writing, for example, but modified it to fit their Indo-European language. They worshiped many Mesopotamian gods but absorbed them into their own polytheistic religion, in which the God of Storms was the main divinity. They established law codes like Hammurabi’s but based them on their own pastoral customs, prescribing fines for the killing or theft of livestock—and death for men who had sex with cows or pigs. They adopted farming but adjusted it to their climate and soil, supplementing grain crops with grapes for making wines and olives for making oil.

Hittites also developed ironworking techniques that proved historically momentous. At first they cast weapons and farm tools of bronze, as other West Asians had done. But copper and tin, the components of bronze, were relatively scarce in Hittite lands. Artisans long had tried making items of iron, a metal abundant in Anatolia and elsewhere, by melting and molding it as they did with bronze, but resulting cast iron goods proved brittle. By the thirteenth century b.c.e., however, Hittites learned to sear iron until red-hot, and then to shape it with hammer strokes before it cooled. Using this process, Hittites forged sturdy iron daggers, swords, spears, and shields, as well as hoes and other tools. Within several centuries, despite Hittite efforts to keep iron forging a military secret, it spread to other lands in Europe, West Asia, and North Africa and was developed independently in East Africa. By vastly increasing the availability of inexpensive tools and weapons, the use of iron greatly advanced both agriculture and warfare, enabling far more people to engage in such pursuits.

Ancient West Asian bronze and iron weapons.

The Hittite kingdom, like most societies centered on agriculture and warfare, was hierarchical and patriarchal. Its farming villages were united under a warrior king, who was aided by an aristocracy in supervising soldiers, merchants, artisans, and slaves. Women were subordinate to men, but not entirely subservient: a man could have only one wife, a woman could sometimes reject the husband chosen by her parents, and queens could play key roles as diplomats and priestesses.

Although internal strife at times challenged its political unity, by 1300 b.c.e. the Hittite Empire stretched across Anatolia from the Aegean (ih-JĒ-in) Sea to upper Mesopotamia, and south along the Mediterranean coast toward Egypt. During the next century, the Hittites clashed and connected with the Egyptians (see below). But after 1200 b.c.e, the Hittites succumbed to new invaders, including the Sea Peoples, assorted marauders of uncertain origins who ravaged eastern Mediterranean lands, perhaps after being driven by famine from Aegean islands, western Anatolia, and the Black Sea region.

Later Mesopotamia: Assyrians and Chaldeans

What were the principal cultural contributions of the Assyrians and Chaldeans?

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Several centuries later, from the ninth through seventh centuries b.c.e., rugged warriors called Assyrians (uh-SEER-ē-inz) from the hill country near the northern Tigris amassed a new empire covering much of West Asia and Northeast Africa (Map 2.5). Noted for their brutality and well-organized chariot assaults, they used siege towers with battering rams and archers to breach enemy walls, then tortured, slaughtered, and exiled conquered peoples to prevent rebellions.

Map 2.5

The Assyrian and Chaldean (New Babylonian) Empires, 9th Through 6th Centuries b.c.e.

From the 9th through 7th centuries b.c.e., the Assyrians conquered a vast empire that connected Mesopotamia, Egypt, and surrounding regions. Notice that the Chaldeans, who helped destroy the Assyrian realm in 614–612 b.c.e., created a smaller “New Babylonian” empire. What were the key contributions of the Assyrians and Chaldeans?

But Assyrians also made important cultural contributions. Their magnificent city of Nineveh (NIN-uh-vuh), built near the northern Tigris, boasted gardens and zoos, a system conducting fresh water from outlying mountains, and artworks displaying brutal realism. Nineveh’s palace, for example, was adorned with sculptured reliefs depicting scenes from bloody battles and lion hunts, arranged so observers could follow the story of the conflict or hunt. And its library, unearthed in the nineteenth century c.e., housed more than 20,000 cuneiform tablets, brought from Babylon and elsewhere, preserving centuries of Mesopotamian writings, including the Gilgamesh epic.

Sculptured relief from Nineveh’s palace.

But Assyria’s cruelty provoked fierce hatred that finally proved its undoing. In 614 b.c.e. the Chaldeans (kal-DĒ-inz) from southern Mesopotamia, smarting from Assyrian brutality, allied with the Medes from east of Assyria to stage a massive assault. The empire that had tyrannized West Asia was shattered, and in 612 b.c.e. Nineveh was mostly destroyed.

The Chaldeans, also called New Babylonians, became Mesopotamia’s new masters. Under King Nebuchadnezzar (NEB-oo-kud-NEZ-ur), who reigned from 604 to 562 b.c.e., Babylon again rose to greatness, surpassing even Nineveh’s size and splendor. Its magnificent city wall, including the splendid Ishtar gate (named for the fertility goddess), was adorned with paintings of yellow and white animals against a bright blue background. And its remarkable Hanging Gardens, a set of stone terraces covered with plants and trees, were counted among the wonders of the ancient world.

But Babylon’s new glory did not last. In 539 b.c.e. it was conquered by the Persians (discussed in Chapter 6), who eventually overran all West Asia and moved into Northeast Africa. There, along a river running through a desert, they encountered cultures as ancient and impressive as those of Mesopotamia.

Early Northeast African Societies

2.2 Analyze the ways in which early Northeast African societies adapted to their environment and developed complex civilizations.

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North Africa is dominated by the Sahara Desert, a hot, dry wasteland as large as modern China. Only the Nile River, flowing north through the desert from sub-Saharan Africa (Africa south of the Sahara), interrupts the arid expanse. According to scientists, however, between 10,000 and 5000 b.c.e. much of this region was grassland, with enough water to support herding and farming. During this era, as seen in Chapter 1, people there herded cattle and grew sorghum, while Nile Valley residents learned to raise wheat, barley, sheep, and goats. By 5000 b.c.e., farming and herding were practiced across northern Africa (Map2.6).

Map 2.6

African Environment and the Spread of Farming and Herding, Second Millennium b.c.e. Through First Millennium c.e.

Africa’s widely varied environment supported farming and herding in grasslands and river valleys, as noted by labels on this map. Observe that people speaking Bantu languages, as indicated by arrows, migrated throughout sub-Saharan Africa over several millennia. What factors facilitated these migrations, and what ideas and techniques did they spread?

After 5000 b.c.e., however, as the climate grew steadily drier, the grasslands receded and desert expanded, forcing farmers and herders to settle where there was still water. Some settled near the Mediterranean coast, with its mild climate and seasonal rains, where they mainly herded cattle until after 1000 b.c.e., when coastal ports and colonies emerged with an expanding sea trade. Others settled in grasslands south of the Sahara, especially around Lake Chad and the Niger River, where they grouped into villages and clans, herded cattle, and raised sorghum and yams (a starchy root crop). Eventually, perhaps compelled by a shortage of farmland as the population grew, many of these people migrated south and southeast, bringing their agricultural ways to lands whose inhabitants had lived by foraging. Over several millennia the migrants, speaking languages now called Bantu (meaning “people”), may have helped to spread farming and herding across sub-Saharan Africa.

Most North Africans, however, settled near the Nile River, where they clustered in farming villages along its fertile floodplains. These villages eventually formed the foundations of large, complex, dynamic societies later called Egypt and Nubia.

Egyptian Culture and Society

What were the main features of Egyptian culture and society, and how did they differ from the cultures and societies of Mesopotamia? Listen to the Audio

In the fourth millennium b.c.e., as the Nile Valley population grew, towns and villages along the river united into small kingdoms. These early states organized irrigation works bringing river water to farm fields; they also traded and sometimes fought with one another. By 3100 b.c.e., through various conflicts and conquests, the northern realms combined into a Kingdom of Egypt, which became one of the ancient world’s most powerful and prosperous realms.In some ways, developments in Egypt paralleled those in Mesopotamia. As in Mesopotamia, smaller states combined by conquest into larger domains, with powerful rulers, polytheistic religions, writing systems, and extensive commerce. As in Mesopotamia, trade and conquest created connections, with Egyptians adapting ideas from West Asians and from other Africans.In other ways, however, Egypt differed markedly from Mesopotamia. Separated by seas and deserts from potential foes, and blessed by a river whose annual, soil-enriching floods helped farmers produce ample crops year after year, ancient Egypt was bountiful, powerful, extensive, and predictable, much like the wondrous waterway that ran through it. Egyptian society seemed more stable, and its rhythms of life more regular, than those in West Asia. Egypt’s worldview was less gloomy, its religion was more optimistic, and its women played more prominent roles than those in Mesopotamia.

Religion and Worldview

Religion was as integral to life in Egypt as it was in Mesopotamia. Egyptians, too, worshipped many gods, including Egypt’s rulers. An elaborate system of priests and priestesses perpetuated traditional beliefs, maintained numerous temples, performed sacred rituals, and sought to instill obedience to the rulers. In time, belief in the prospect of life after death prompted efforts to preserve and house the remains of rulers and other prominent people.Central to Egypt’s worldview was the concept of ma’at (mah-AHT), the universe’s elemental order, which encompassed truth, justice, harmony, and balance. The rulers, eventually called pharaohs (FARE-ōz), were powerful, godlike figures whose main duty was to maintain ma’at, without which there would be chaos. They were seen as descendants of Re (RĀ), also known as Amon (AH-muhn) or Amon-Re, the sun god and chief divinity, who ruled the heavens much as pharaohs ruled the earth. Religion and governance in Egypt were one and the same.Despite Amon-Re’s preeminence, the two most popular deities came to be Osiris (ō-SĪ-ris), god of vegetation and the Nile, and Isis (Ī-sis), goddess of the earth, who was his sister and wife. According to legend, Osiris, a divine early ruler who taught Egyptians to farm, was slain and cut to pieces by his evil brother Seth, but Isis put Osiris back together and restored him to life. Isis and Osiris thus became symbols of fertility, devotion, and the victory of life over death, inspiring an outlook far more hopeful than that of early Mesopotamian religion.Sustained by such myths and the cycles of the Nile, whose annual soil-renewing floods were more regular and predictable than floods in Mesopotamia, Egyptians concluded that life was renewable and cyclical. They came to believe that death was not the end of life, that Osiris judged the dead by weighing their hearts, and that those whose hearts were light from honorable living would merit eternal life. Religion thus reinforced morality, as the prospect of attaining life after death promoted honorable behavior.The prospect of life after death also promoted mummification, an elaborate process for preserving the bodies of prominent people after death. First the innards and brains were removed, and then the bodies were cleansed, packed in a special mineral for months, tightly wrapped with linen strips, coated with gum, and sealed in a wooden case. Anticipating immortality, the wealthy often had splendid tombs built while they were alive, to house their remains and possessions after death. No other culture has lavished such care on the bodies of the dead.

Source: Pearson Education.

Hieroglyphic Writing and Other Innovations

Like the early Mesopotamians, ancient Egyptians made momentous contributions to culture, knowledge, and communication. They produced impressive artworks, decorating temples and tombs with splendid paintings and sculptures. They charted constellations, created a calendar, and practiced medicine based on natural remedies. They even invented an accounting system and developed mathematics to advance their architectural and engineering skills.Egyptians also devised a form of record keeping now called hieroglyphic writing (HĪ-ruh-GLIF-ik). Like Sumerian cuneiform, it began in the fourth millennium b.c.e. with pictographs, to which were added symbols for ideas and sounds. Like the Sumerians, Egyptians trained scribes to master and use their writing system. Unlike the Sumerians, however, Egyptian scribes wrote with ink-dipped reeds on papyrus (puh-PĪ-russ), a paper-like material made from plants that grew along the Nile, and rolled it into scrolls for easy storage or transport. Far less cumbersome than Sumerian clay tablets, the scrolls helped Egyptians readily record their legends, laws, rituals, and exploits.

Later, however, after Egypt abandoned early hieroglyphs for other writing systems, no one could read the early records. For many centuries, historians relied on accounts of ancient Egypt written in Greek after 300 b.c.e. But in 1799 c.e., archeologists with French armies in Egypt discovered the Rosetta Stone, a large black slab on which a ruler’s deeds in the second century b.c.e. were inscribed in early hieroglyphs, a later Egyptian writing system, and Greek. Working from the Greek, which they knew, linguists learned to read the others and decipher ancient Egypt’s records.

Society, Family, Gender Roles, and Work

The records thus deciphered, combined with archeological evidence, reveal that Egypt had a high degree of political and social stratification. They also show that life focused mainly on family, farming, and the Nile.Egyptian society was structured by status and wealth. Upper classes of priests and state officials lived in luxury; middle classes of merchants, scribes, and artisans enjoyed some prosperity; and lower classes of peasants and laborers worked hard to barely survive. Most Egyptians were peasants: humble farmers and herders raising wheat, barley, cotton, sheep, and cattle.Marriage and family were central to Egypt’s society. Some men practiced polygyny, meaning they had more than one wife, but marriages were mostly monogamous. As in West Asia, husbands provided the homestead while wives brought a dowry and furnishings into the marriage.Gender roles were well defined but not rigid. In lower-class households men mostly worked the fields, but they also might be hunters, miners, craftsmen, or construction workers. Women mainly did household tasks, such as cooking and making clothes. But women in Egypt seem to have had higher status than those in West Asia. Egyptian women could own and inherit property, seek and obtain a divorce, and pursue trades such as entertaining, nursing, and brewing beer. Furthermore, in contrast to West Asian households, Egyptian families often were matrilineal, with property descending through the female line, and wives in Egypt were recognized as dominant in the home. Egyptian priestesses played key roles in religion, and a few women even served as rulers. But governance and warfare were, as elsewhere, mainly the work of men.

The rhythm of work in Egypt followed the ebb and flow of the Nile, which typically flooded between July and September. In October, once the waters receded, the growing season began. Aided by oxen and other farm animals, peasants plowed fields and planted crops, then tended them, bringing buckets of water from irrigation canals. The harvest usually started in February, with women and children helping the men gather crops and thresh grain. The main crops were wheat and barley, but Egyptians also grew dates, grapes, and other fruits and vegetables. In years when food was abundant, the government stored some of the grain for use in times of scarcity. Large projects needing many workers, including construction and repair of palaces, temples, and irrigation systems, normally started once the harvest was over.

The Kingdoms of Egypt

What were the principal features and accomplishments of Egypt’s kingdoms and empire?

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For almost three millennia, with some interruptions, Egypt was ruled by kings, who came to be called pharaohs in the fifteenth century c.e. They governed through agents and officials who enforced royal edicts, collected taxes, dispensed justice, commanded soldiers, and supervised laborers in constructing buildings, monuments, and water control projects.

Although they disagree on precise dates, historians divide ancient Egypt into three great kingdoms and surrounding periods, whose approximate durations and main achievements are noted in the sections that follow. Scholars also have identified 31 dynasties throughout the whole era—each a succession of rulers from one royal family.

Early Kingdoms and Hyksos Rule

The Archaic Period (roughly 3100–2700 b.c.e.) began when the legendary King Narmer, also known as Menes (MĀ-nāz), united Upper and Lower Egypt into a single state stretching hundreds of miles along the Nile (Map 2.7). Divine kingship and dynastic rule developed during this period.

It was followed by the Old Kingdom (roughly 2700–2200 b.c.e.), during which Egypt’s kings ruled a mostly peaceful and stable society. Internally they created a centralized state with an effective bureaucracy and tax collection system. Externally they established connections and traded with other societies, while largely avoiding warfare. Their most enduring achievements were the pyramids, monumental structures with triangular sides sloping upward toward a point. Used as burial chambers for departed rulers, the pyramids were built mostly between 2700 and 2500 b.c.e. The first one, erected as a tomb for King Zoser (ZŌ-sur), was composed of steps ascending toward a 200-foot peak. Not to be outdone, his successors commissioned ever more grandiose tombs, the largest of which was the Great Pyramid built for the monarch Khufu (KOO-foo). Standing almost 500 feet high, it was assembled by tens of thousands of workers using millions of tons of limestone blocks, carefully raised and fitted into place with a series of temporary ramps. It would later be acclaimed as the ancient world’s foremost wonder.

The Old Kingdom ended with ruinous droughts, followed by an era of civil war and chaos known as the First Intermediate Period (roughly 2200–2050 b.c.e.). As central authority weakened, individual nobles carved out domains and battled among themselves, while bandits and marauders ravaged the land.

Unity was eventually restored by a ruler named Mentuhotep (men-too-HŌ-tep), from Thebes in southern Egypt, beginning the Middle Kingdom (2050–1700 b.c.e.). This era brought an increase in trade with other regions, including Mesopotamia, and a growing belief in life after death. Rather than build great pyramids, its kings undertook vast irrigation and land reclamation projects to expand farmland and enhance the realm’s prosperity.

Around 1700 b.c.e. a warlike people called Hyksos (HICK-sōs), using horse-drawn chariots and bronze weapons that they brought from West Asia, conquered all of Egypt, beginning what is now called the Second Intermediate Period (roughly 1700–1570 b.c.e.). The conquest spawned cultural connections, as Egyptians learned to cast bronze tools and use chariots from the Hyksos, who in turn embraced Egypt’s complex customs and religion. Egyptians nonetheless resented the Hyksos, deeming them culturally inferior, and ultimately united to expel them.

The Egyptian Empire

The Hyksos were expelled by Ahmose (AH-mōs), another great Egyptian unifier from the south, initiating the New Kingdom (1570–1075 b.c.e.). Born of military insurrection, it was warlike and expansionist. Within a century, employing an army equipped with weapons and techniques derived from the Hyksos, its rulers established an Egyptian Empire stretching from Nubia in the south to Syria in the north. In the process emerged two new classes: one of professional soldiers who made up the standing army, and another of slaves who were captured as prisoners of war. The New Kingdom had some remarkable rulers. One was Hatshepsut (hat-SHEP-soot), who became regent for her 6-year-old stepson around 1479 b.c.e. and later had the priests proclaim her king. Sidestepping Egypt’s long tradition of male rule, she claimed that her father had made her his heir, dressed in men’s clothing, was portrayed on monuments wearing a beard, and often wore one in public. But above all she ruled with vigor and determination, providing two decades of stability and commercial expansion.

Statue at the entrance to the mortuary temple of the Queen Hatsheput.

After Hatshepsut died around 1458 b.c.e., her stepson Thutmosis (thoot-MŌ-sis) III, raised in the army during her rule, emerged as a great military leader. He extended his dominion north to the upper Euphrates, vanquishing various West Asian realms, and south up the Nile, conquering the people known as Nubians (Map 2.7). He was the first Egyptian monarch to use the title pharaoh (“great house”), which hitherto meant the king’s palace, and the first known ruler to emphasize sea power, amassing a navy that made Egypt master of the eastern Mediterranean.

In the next century, however, Egyptian power waned when pharaoh Amenhotep (ah-mun-HŌ-tep) IV, along with his wife Nefertiti (nef-ur-TĒ-tē), attempted a religious revolution. Promoting the worship of a universal deity called Aton (AH-tun), the pharaoh changed his own name to Akhenaton (AH-ken-AH-tun), meaning “Aton is pleased.” He also degraded traditional gods and expelled their temple priests, provoking vast resistance—especially among the priests, whose status was thus threatened, and the people accustomed to worshiping their favorite divinities. Obsessed with his religious reform, seen by some as an early attempt at monotheism (belief in a single god), Akhenaton failed to dispatch soldiers to protect Egypt’s Syrian provinces from the Hittites, who were then expanding their West Asian empire. The results for Egypt were loss of territory, decline of tribute income, and revolts in the provinces against the pharaoh.

For most of his reign, Akhenaton seems to have ruled jointly with his wife Nefertiti, portrayed in the era’s artwork as her husband’s equal partner and a woman of great beauty. But late in his reign she disappeared from public life; perhaps she died or fell from favor. Then, when the pharaoh himself died a few years later, the religious revolution ended. The old religion and traditional gods were restored under Tutankhamon (toot-ahn-KAH-mun), Akhenaton’s youthful successor, today best known as the famed “King Tut” whose fabulous tomb was discovered intact by British archeologist Howard Carter in 1922 c.e.

In the 1200s b.c.e., Egypt’s foremost pharaoh was Ramses (RAM-sēz) II, the Great, who reigned more than 60 years. Early on, seeking to regain lands lost under Akhenaton, he fought the Hittites in an epic battle at Kadesh (KĀ-desh) in Syria. Although Ramses later claimed victory, his armies neither destroyed the Hittites’ power nor drove them from Syria. So he turned to diplomacy, forming an alliance with his former foes and marrying a Hittite princess. To glorify his kingdom and himself, he ordered construction of colossal monuments and temples, using an abundance of slave labor.

Statues of Ramses II at Abu Simbel.

Under Ramses’ successors, however, Egypt was diminished by attacks from the Sea Peoples, the same raiders who ravaged the Hittites around 1200 b.c.e. A century later, the high priests of Amon-Re seized control of southern Egypt, dividing the realm and ushering in the Post-Imperial Period (1075–332 b.c.e.). Faced with new commercial and military challenges, Egypt’s dominance waned, and power in northeastern Africa shifted to the south.

Nubian Culture and the Kingdoms of Kush

Why was the Kingdom of Kush important in Egyptian history?

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South of Egypt was the region known as Nubia, a name said to mean either “gold” (its most precious product) or “black” (the color of its people). Since before 7000 b.c.e, Nubians had raised cattle and grain along the upper Nile, forming a series of kingdoms in the fourth millennium b.c.e. Rich in gold and copper, Nubia also provided a link through the desert with lands to the south that produced precious ebony and ivory (Map 2.8). As Egypt grew wealthy and powerful, it sent caravans and armies to procure these valuable goods, trading and often clashing with the Nubians. During the Old and Middle Kingdoms, Egypt dominated northern Nubia; in southern Nubia a kingdom called Kush endured until the fifteenth century b.c.e., when it was conquered and then ruled by Egypt for the next four centuries.

Map 2.8

Egypt, Kush, and Meroë, Second and First Millennia b.c.e.

The Nubian Kingdom of Kush, which flourished up the Nile south of Egypt, had numerous connections with Egypt, which it conquered and ruled in the 8th and 7th centuries b.c.e. Note, however, that Meroë, which emerged somewhat later, was closer to sub-Saharan Africa, providing commercial and cultural connections between it and the Mediterranean world. How did these connections influence Meroë?

Nubia and Egypt were thus closely connected for two millennia, during which Nubians combined various aspects of Egypt’s culture with their own Nubian cultures. They adapted hieroglyphic writing to fit their various languages and blended Egyptian deities, such as Amon-Re and Isis, into the Nubian religion, which featured such divinities as Dedwen, the god of prosperity, and Apedemak (ah-PEH-deh-mak), the lion-headed god of war. In some crafts, such as ceramics and metalwork, Nubians were even more skilled than their northern neighbors.

Nubians bringing gifts to Egypt.

With the demise of the Egyptian Empire in the eleventh century b.c.e., the Nubians regained their independence, eventually forming a new Kingdom of Kush. Effectively imitating the Egyptian pharaohs, the rulers of Kush expanded their dominion commercially and militarily, and in the eighth century b.c.e. they brought all of Egypt under their control. But they came less as conquerors than as restorers, reunifying the realm and assuming all the titles and traditions of Egyptian pharaohs. The Kushites returned the Nile Valley to peace and prosperity and helped revive art and architecture in Egypt. But in the seventh century b.c.e, they were driven back south by the expanding Assyrians, who briefly controlled the northern Nile. Egypt subsequently regained its independence, only to be swallowed up in the next century by the Persian Empire.

The Kingdom and Culture of Meroë

How did Meroë connect Sub-Saharan and Northeast African societies?

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Up the Nile, as Egypt’s influence waned, Nubia continued to flourish, but its cultural and commercial focus gradually shifted southward. In the sixth century b.c.e., its rulers moved south to Meroë (MER-ō-ē), a city with close connections to sub-Saharan Africa. Forsaking hieroglyphs, the Nubians devised their own writing system and emphasized new cultural and economic themes. These included increased worship of distinctive Nubian deities, an enhanced political role for women (as indicated by a growing number of female rulers), and increased reliance on camels for transport (rather than horses or donkeys). Iron smelting, developed independently in West Asia and East Africa, spread to Meroë and became a key feature of its economy.

Egyptian influence, although diminished, persisted in Meroë. Its people, for example, continued to entomb departed rulers beneath sandstone pyramids and to conduct regular commerce with Egypt. Lasting from the sixth century b.c.e. to the fourth century c.e., the Kingdom of Meroë provided the main link between sub-Saharan Africa and the Mediterranean world.

West Asia and North Africa: The Phoenician Connection

2.3 Describe and explain the main Phoenician contributions and connections.

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The Mediterranean world, meanwhile, was connected into a commercial network with the help of the Phoenicians (fih-NĒ-shinz), Semitic-speaking people who lived in what is now Lebanon on the eastern Mediterranean coast. Dwelling by the sea, without large armies or extensive farmlands, Phoenicians turned to sea trade and established commercial cities and seaports. By the twelfth century b.c.e., following the attacks on Egypt by the Sea Peoples, who may have been Phoenician allies, the Phoenicians gained sway over Mediterranean trade from the waning Egyptian Empire. Using hardy wood from the cedar trees of Lebanon, they built state-of-the-art ships with two decks of oarsmen to propel the vessel, a top deck of soldiers to protect cargo, and battering rams to smash enemy craft. Adept at both commerce and warfare, they formed a Phoenician trading empire, founding city-states and colonies in North Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, and what is now Spain. The Phoenicians thus connected West Asia with North Africa and the western Mediterranean (Map 2.9).

The Phoenicians conducted commerce and established colonies around the Mediterranean. Note their substantial connections in the western Mediterranean, where their colony, Carthage, grew into a great commercial and naval power. How and why did Phoenicians acquire such extensive influence?

A simplified writing system, developed by Phoenicians, further enhanced connections by expediting communications. Employing only 22 symbols, or letters, each for a consonant sound, this system represented spoken words and phrases simply by combining these symbols. Far easier to learn and use than cuneiform or hieroglyphs, whose numerous symbols each represented a word, the Phoenician alphabet greatly aided the spread of writing and reading. As later modified by Greeks (who added vowels) and Romans, it provided a basis for phonetic alphabets eventually adopted throughout the Western world—including the one used in writing English today.

Of the colonies founded by Phoenicia, the greatest was Carthage on the North African coast, established around 800 b.c.e. In the following centuries, as Phoenician power waned, Carthage became independent. Building its own commercial empire in the western Mediterranean, Carthage grew into one of the world’s largest cities, with a bustling harbor, a metropolitan population of perhaps 400,000, and a city wall more than 20 miles around. An urban republic ruled by its prominent merchants, Carthage dominated its region for centuries and even sent vessels into the Atlantic to explore the African and British coasts.

The Israelites and Their God

2.4 Discuss the evolution of the Jewish concept of monotheism.

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In terms of religious legacy, the most influential early West Asians were the Hebrews, a small group of tribes who spoke a Semitic tongue, herded sheep and goats, and were often conquered and controlled by others. In recording their exploits, first in oral and later in written form, some of them produced the Hebrew Bible, one of history’s foremost religious and literary works. In the process, they developed a monotheistic faith that would serve as a basis for some of the world’s most influential religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

The Children of Israel

What role did the Bible play in defining the identity of the Hebrews?

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The Bible provides a striking story of the early Hebrews. According to its narrative, at the urging of his God, the patriarch Abraham left the realm of Ur in Mesopotamia to settle in the land of Canaan (KĀ-nin), later called Palestine. After several generations, the sons of his grandson Jacob, who was also called Israel, went to Egypt during a famine to find pastureland for their sheep. There these Hebrews, later called “Israelites” or “children of Israel,” were eventually enslaved and spent years in bondage before being led by Moses, a prominent Egyptian born of Hebrew stock, in a flight to freedom called the Exodus . On their way back to Canaan, the Bible asserts, the God of Israel embraced the children of Israel with his covenant, a binding agreement to protect them as his “Chosen People.” He instructed them to worship him alone and keep the Ten Commandments, religious and moral laws he revealed to Moses. After wandering 40 years in the desert, the story goes on, the children of Israel finally returned to Canaan (see “Excerpts from the Hebrew Bible”).

Document 2.2: Excerpts from the Hebrew Bible

The Bible contains compelling stories of the Hebrews and their God. In what ways did their God differ from other ancient divinities? How did the Commandments compare with Hammurabi’s Code?

Crossing of the Red Sea

When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled . . ., Pharaoh . . . made ready his chariot and took his army with him . . ., and he pursued the people of Israel . . . When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them; and they were in great fear . . . And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD . . .” The LORD said to Moses, “. . . Lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go on dry ground through the sea.” . . . Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. The Egyptians pursued, and went in after them into the midst of the sea . . . Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” So Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea . . . The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not so much as one of them remained. But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea . . .

The Ten Commandments

And the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai . . .; and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up . . . And God spoke all these words, saying,

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt . . . You shall have no other gods before me . . .
“You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above . . .
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain . . .
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor . . ., but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work . . .
“Honor your father and your mother . . .
“You shall not kill.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife . . ., or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

SOURCE: Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 (2nd edition, 1971) by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Bible reflects Hebrew cultural connections with Mesopotamia and Egypt, based on oral traditions written down centuries after the events portrayed. It contains Hebrew versions of stories found in other narratives, telling for example of a great flood like one described in the Epic of Gilgamesh. And its account of the infant Moses, placed by his mother in the river in a basket and later found by the pharaoh’s daughter, is similar to the Sargon story at the start of this chapter. But the Bible’s depiction of the Exodus, in which the pharaoh’s army drowns in the Red Sea pursuing Israelites who had passed safely through it, is not found in existing Egyptian records. Scholars thus have difficulty determining exactly what took place, and there is much dispute about how much the Bible represents historical fact .

The first non-Biblical reports of the Israelites locate them around 1200 b.c.e. in Canaan, henceforth called Palestine, where they settled in tribes and fought sporadic wars against other local peoples. Among these foes were the Philistines (FIL-ih-stēnz), from whom the name Palestine derives, possibly one of the Sea Peoples that attacked the Hittites and the Egyptians. Within a few centuries, the military challenge posed by the Philistines compelled the tribes of Israel to combine forces under a warrior king.

The Kingdoms of Israel

How did the kingdoms of Israel evolve under David and Solomon?

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The first such king, named Saul, united the Israelites under his rule but failed to defeat the Philistines decisively before his death around 1000 b.c.e. This task was thus left to his successor David, who won many battles, making his kingdom a prominent power in Palestine. King David also collected taxes, created a standing army, consolidated his realm, and established as its capital the city of Jerusalem. As a result, he is often revered as Israel’s greatest ruler.

Israelite prominence reached its peak in the reign of David’s son Solomon, lasting from about 960 to 920 b.c.e. Building on his father’s foundations, Solomon transformed Jerusalem into a cosmopolitan city. His lavish construction projects included a city wall, a royal palace, and an elaborate temple to Israel’s God. He also dispensed justice, gaining great renown for his wisdom and fairness. And he forged connections with other realms, often through marital alliances: according to the Bible his 700 wives included women from Arabia, Phoenicia, and Anatolia, as well as an Egyptian princess.

Artist’s depiction of Solomon’s temple.

But Solomon’s splendor caused problems. His massive projects, supported by harsh taxes and forced labor, offended the proud people whose ancestors reportedly fled such servitude in Egypt. The resulting dissent, after Solomon’s death, helped split the realm into two kingdoms (Map 2.10). The northern one, called Israel, was later conquered by Assyrians who dispersed its people, hence called the “ten lost tribes.” The southern one, called Judaea or Judah (after one of Jacob’s sons), had a more lasting impact: its people, called Jews (a term derived from Judah), managed despite numerous hardships to preserve their unique religious heritage.

Map 2.10: Israelites and Their Neighbors, 12th Through 8th Centuries b.c.e.

After fleeing Egypt across the Sinai, as related in their Bible, the Israelites settled in Palestine, emerging as a united kingdom by the 10th century b.c.e. Notice, however, that their realm later split into two kingdoms: Israel, whose people were later defeated and dispersed, and Judah, whose people, called Jews, survived later conquest and exile. How and why did they have such an enduring historical impact?

In the early sixth century b.c.e., Judah was conquered by Chaldeans (New Babylonians), who demolished the temple in Jerusalem and exiled the Jews to Babylonia. After Persia conquered Babylon in 539 b.c.e., the Jews were allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. But they remained part of the Persian Empire, free to practice their religion but lacking political autonomy. Later, as they were incorporated into other foreign empires, some Jews expected their God to send them a liberator or Messiah, who like Moses who would free them from oppression.

The God of Israel

Why was Jewish monotheism so important in world history?

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Throughout their ordeals the Israelites developed their distinctive faith. Their deliverance from slavery and covenant with their God helped form their identity as a Chosen People. The unity imposed by their kings and reinforced by Jerusalem as their center of worship helped consolidate this identity. Through division, defeat, and Babylonian captivity, they struggled to maintain this identity. During times of trouble, prophets arose to speak for their God and remind them of the covenant and laws that bound them to him and each other, as passed on by word of mouth and later recorded in their Bible.

As a result, the Jews saw their God as unique. While other West Asian and Egyptian gods could be vengeful and fickle, theirs was forgiving and faithful, true to his covenant even when his Chosen People turned away. While other gods were portrayed in human forms or graven images, theirs was considered a spirit: immortal, invisible, all-powerful, and transcendent. While other gods could be unjust and unfair, theirs was perceived as just, proclaiming laws based on love of God and neighbor. Above all, Jews came to believe that their God stood alone: he was the one and only God, and all other gods were false.

This concept of a single divinity had vast potential significance, for it implied that the God of Israel was really the God of all. Centuries later, offshoot monotheistic religions such as Christianity and Islam extended this claim still further, proclaiming that the God of Israel was a universal God whose covenant and laws applied to all humanity. The Hebrew heritage has hence been central to many subsequent societies.

Summary: Early Societies of West Asia and North Africa, to 500 b.c.e.

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Chapter Review

Consequences and Connections

After their emergence in fertile river valleys in the fourth millennium b.c.e., the early societies of West Asia and North Africa developed their cultures and expanded their influence by forging connections. Watch this video for a summary of those connections, and the consequences that arose from the legacies of early West Asian and North African societies.

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Consequences and Connections

Reviewing Key Concepts

Sumerian City-States
Epic of Gilgamesh
Cuneiform Writing
Akkadian Empire
Hammurabi’s Code
Indo-European
Ironworking Techniques
Hieroglyphic Writing
Egyptian Empire
Nubian Cultures
Phoenician Trading Empire
Phoenician Alphabet
Hebrew Bible
God of Israel

Ask Yourself

What roles did religion and patriarchy play in ancient societies? Why did rulers portray themselves as descendants and agents of the gods?
How did the invention of writing contribute to governance, commerce, religion, law, and the recording of history?
How did Hebrew religious beliefs compare with those of others? How did these beliefs help the Jews preserve their identity? What were the main implications of monotheism?
How did connections forged by conquest, culture, and commerce contribute to early civilizations?