1. Chapter 2
Early Societies in Southeast
Asia and the Indo-European
Migrations
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2. Civilization Defined
 Urban
 Political/military system
 Social stratification
 Economic specialization
 Religion
 Communications
 “Higher Culture”
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3. Civilization and
the Means of Production
 Essential element: concentration of wealth
 Agriculture
 Control over natural resources
 Development of ancient civilization
 not hunter-gatherer economics
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4. Origins and Spread of Agriculture
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5. Mesopotamia
 “Between the Rivers”
 Tigris and Euphrates
 Contemporary Iran, Iraq
 Cultural continuum of
“fertile crescent”
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6. The Wealth of the Rivers
 Nutrient-rich silt
 Key: irrigation
 Necessity of coordinated efforts
 Promoted development of local governments
 City-states
 Sumer begins small-scale irrigation 6000 BCE
 By 5000 BCE, complex irrigation networks
 Population reaches 100,000 by 3000 BCE
 Attracts Semitic migrants, influences culture
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7. Sumerian City-States
 Cities appear 4000 BCE
 Dominate region from 3200-2350 BCE
 Ur (home of Abraham, see Genesis 11:28), Nineveh
(see Jonah)
 Ziggurat home of the god
 Divine mandate to Kings
 Regulation of Trade
 Defence from nomadic marauders
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8. The Ziggurat of Ur
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9. Political Decline of Sumer
 Semitic peoples from northern Mesopotamia overshadow
Sumer
 Sargon of Akkad (2370-2315 BCE)
 Destroyed Sumerian city-states one by one, created empire based in
Akkad
 Empire unable to maintain chronic rebellions
 Hammurabi of Babylon (1792-1750 BCE)
 Improved taxation, legislation
 Used local governors to maintain control of city-states
 Babylonian Empire later destroyed by Hittites from
Anatolia, c. 1595 BCE
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10. Legal System
 The Code of Hammurabi (18th c. BCE)
 282 items
 lex talionis (item 196: “eye for an eye”)
 Social status and punishment
 women as property, but some rights
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11. Later Mesopotamian Empires
 Weakening of central rule an invitation to foreign
invaders
 Assyrians use new iron weaponry
 Beginning 1300 BCE, by 8th-7th centuries BCE control
Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, most of Egypt
 Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (r. 605-562) takes advantage
of internal dissent to create Chaldean (New Babylonian)
Empire
 Famously luxurious capital
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12. Mesopotamian Empires
1800-600 BCE
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13. Technological Development in
Mesopotamia
 Bronze (copper with tin), c. 4000 BCE
 Military, agricultural applications
 Iron, c. 1000 BCE
 Cheaper than bronze
 Wheel, boats, c. 3500 BCE
 Shipbuilding increases trade networks
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14. Social Classes
 Ruling classes based often on military prowess
 Originally elected, later hereditary
 Perceived as offspring of gods
 Religious classes
 Role: intervention with gods to ensure fertility, safety
 Considerable landholdings, other economic activities
 Free commoners
 Peasant cultivators
 Some urban professionals
 Slaves
 Prisoners of war, convicted criminals, debtors
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15. Patriarchal Society
 Men as landowners, relationship to status
 Patriarchy: “rule of the father”
 Right to sell wives, children
 Double standard of sexual morality
 Women drowned for adultery
 Relaxed sexual mores for men
 Yet some possibilities of social mobility for women
 Court advisers, temple priestesses, economic activity
 Introduction of the veil at least c. 1500 BCE
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16. Development of Writing
 Sumerian writing systems form 3500 BCE
 Pictographs
 Cuneiform: “wedge-shaped”
 Preservation of documents on clay
 Declines from 400 BCE with spread of Greek
alphabetic script
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17. Uses for Writing
 Trade
 Astronomy
 Mathematics
 Agricultural applications
 Calculation of time
 12-month year
 24-hour day, 60-minute hour
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18. Mesopotamian Literature
 Epic of Gilgamesh, compiled after 2000 BCE
 Heroic saga
 Search for meaning, esp. afterlife
 This-worldly emphasis
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19. The Early Hebrews
 Patriarchs and Matriarchs from Babylon, c. 1850
BCE
 Parallels between early biblical texts, Code of
Hammurabi
 Early settlement of Canaan (Israel), c. 1300 BCE
 Biblical text: slavery in Egypt, divine redemption
 On-going conflict with indigenous populations
under King David (1000-970 BCE) and Solomon
(970-930 BCE)
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20. Moses and Monotheism
 Hebrews shared polytheistic beliefs of other
Mesopotamian civilizations
 Moses introduces monotheism, belief in single
god
 Denies existence of competing parallel deities
 Personal god: reward and punishment for conformity
with revealed law
 The Torah (“the teaching”)
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21. Foreign conquests of Israel
 Civil war
 Northern tribes: Israel
 Southern: Judah
 Assyrian conquest, 722 BCE
 Exiles Israel: ten lost tribes
 Babylonian conquest, 586 BCE
 Additional exile of many residents of Judah
 Returned later than century
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22. Israel and Phoenicia, 1500-600 BCE
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23. The Phoenicians
 City-states along Mediterranean coast after 3000
BCE
 Extensive maritime trade
 Dominated Mediterranean trade, 1200-800 BCE
 Development of alphabet symbols
 Simpler alternative to cuneiform
 Spread of literacy
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24. Indo-European Migrations
 Common roots of many languages of Europe,
southwest Asia, India
 Implies influence of a single Indo-European
people
 Probable original homeland: contemporary Ukraine
and Russia, 4500-2500 BCE
 Domestication of horses, use of Sumerian
weaponry allowed them to spread widely
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25. The Indo-European Migrations
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26. Implications of Indo-European Migration
 Hittities migrate to central Anatolia, c. 1900 BCE, later
dominate Babylonia
 Influence on trade
 Horses, chariots with spoked wheels, use of Iron
 Iron
 Migrations to western China, Greece, Italy also significant
 Influence on language and culture
 Aryo, “noble, lord”
 Aryan, Iranian, Irish
 Caste system in India
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