This document provides an overview of several ancient civilizations including Neolithic cave paintings from 15,000-13,000 BCE depicting agricultural and fertility symbols. It then discusses the Sumerian civilization in Mesopotamia from 3200 BCE, noting the dominance of religion and the importance of temples. Next, it covers ancient Egyptian society from around 2700 BCE, including its division into dynastic periods and the central role of religion, with pharaohs considered living gods. It briefly discusses the Amarna period in Egypt under Akhenaten and Nefertiti in the 14th century BCE that shifted religious focus to a single god, as well as the later Persian Empire that ruled a vast region from the 6th century

1. Ancient Civilization

2. Neolithic Cave Paintings
• Visual art appears to have begun
approximately 15,000-13,000 B.C.E.
• The oldest cave paintings have been
discovered in France, Spain, Africa,
Patagonia, Sicily, and others globally.
• Depict agricultural, fertility symbols, and
some incorporate natural rock texture,
shape, and coloring, even movement.

3. 15,000-10,000 B.C.E

5. Death and Fertility

6. Sumer
• Mesopotamia c.3200
B.C.E
• Religion dominated
the culture; priests
were the law,
government officials,
officiating at the
temple
• The temple was the
cultural and spiritual
“heart” of the city

7. The Gods and Religion
• The gods were
responsible for the events
in mortal life.
• The gods
(Shamash/Marduk here)
created the heavens and
earth, gave men law
(“eye for an eye”—lex
talionis), agriculture, and
humans, in turn, serve
the gods, offering
sacrifices of animals and
food, prayer, and
religious taxes.

8. Cuneiform and Gilgamesh
• Gilgamesh ruled c.2700 B.C.E. at Uruk
• Began in the Sumerian oral tradition, revised
and refined by the Babylonians
• Contains many later repeated themes and motifs
and serves a didactic function for Mesopotamia

9. Ancient Egypt
• Like Mesopotamia, geography was pivotal in the development of
Egyptian culture.
• Upper Egypt follows the Nile almost 1,250 miles creating a narrow
strip of fertile soil
• In 280 B.C.E. Manetho wrote The History of Egypt categorizing the
history into four dynastic periods and a Predynastic period:
– Old Kingdom: c. 2700 B.C.E
– Middle Kingdom: c. 1990 B.C.E.
– New Kingdom: c. 1570 B.C.E.
– Late Period: c. 1185 B.C.E.

10. Ancient Egypt
• Also like the Babylonians,
religion dominated Egyptian
culture.
• Astronomy, architecture,
mathematics, literature, art and
medicine were all directly
involved with religious
practices.
• Initially, only the Pharaoh and
royal family were immortal.
Later, immortality after death
would be ‘granted’ to nobles
and commoners, for a price.

11. Ancient Egypt
• Egyptian society valued
tradition above “progress” or
reform; however, women were
given relatively equal rights as
men.
• Egyptian statuary and
depictions are inflexible and
formal, symbolic of the divine
power and majesty contained
in the pharaoh.
• Pharaoh was considered a
“living god”, the incarnation of
Horus, the son of Osiris and
Isis and the god of the morning
sun

12. Akhenaton, Nefertiti, and the
Amarna Revolution
• Amenhotep IV, ruled 1379 to
1362 B.C.E., reformed
Egyptian society and religion.
• Adopting a religion of a single
god, Aton-Ra, the sun god of
creation, he changed his name
to Akhenaton (“servant of
Aton”).
• He moved the capital from
Thebes to Tel el-Amarna to
escape the influence of the
priesthood.
• Nefertiti may have ruled at
Akhenaton’s side as a co-ruler
queen.

13. • The Amarna period shifted the
focus of Egyptian religion from
the polytheistic pantheon to a
single god who rules the
universe, literally personified
by the sun.
• Art, literature, and society were
less rigid, even domestic;
reflecting Akhenaton’s
emphasis on harmony, peace,
and familial and spiritual love.
• However, priests who had a
vested interest in the old
traditions branded Akhenaton
a heretic and destroyed the
new capital at Amarna, killing
both pharaoh and queen and
destroying all images of him
they could find.
• Tutankhamen (Tutankhaton)
inherited his rule young and
ruled 1347-1338 B.C.E., dying
at age eighteen from a rear
headblow. (confirmed by x-ray)

14. Persia
• After 1500 B.C.E. the Near East began a period of empire building.
In late 6th century B.C.E. Persia conquered the land from the Nile
River to Indus River (Egypt to India)
• Unified their extensive territories under a single “empire” broken into
twenty provinces ruled by a divinely appointed king.
• Also in the seventh or six century B.C.E. (or even earlier)
Zarathustra (Zoroaster in Greek) began Zoroastrianism—another
monotheistic faith.
• This faith worships Ahura Mazda, god of light, justice, wisdom,
goodness, and immortality. Zarathustra rejected magic, polytheism,
and blood sacrifices; rather, salvation required the faithful to choose
good over evil, personified by Angra Mainyu (or Ahriman), the
destructive spirit of darkness and the evil and ignorant counterpart
to Ahura Mazda.
• In Zoroastrianism, to serve Mazda, one had to speak truth and be
good to others; the reward was eternal paradise in a realm of light
and goodness. Zarathustra also developed an eschatology when
Ahura Mazda’s purpose for creation would be fulfilled, evil will be
defeated, and good will triumph.

15. • Cyrus the Great allowed
the Hebrews under the
Diaspora to return to
rebuild their temple to
YHWH.
• They incorporated the
architecture and artistry
of all the Near-East in the
Empire, the styles’
different elements
merged.
• Although Persia would
later aggressively
confront the Greek
civilization, Greek
thinkers spoke of
Zoroastrians’ piety,
discipline, and ethical
concerns.