ANE

Test 1 Prep

People of Mesopotamia

Sumerians - Persian Gulf

Akkadians - Babylonians, Assyrians

People of Anatolia

Hittites

Levantine People (Phoenicians, Bible People)

People of Northern Africa

Egyptians

Nubians (South of Egypt)

Sumerian language written on

clay tablets

Sumerian language starts

4th millennium BCE

Sumerian civilization dies

end of 3rd millennium

Sumerian stopped being studied in

500 BCE

Sumerian was / was not an isolated language

was

isolated language

connected with no other known language or language family

Akkadian language was written on

clay tablets

Akkadian (Semitic) was started in

end of 3rd millennium BCE

Akkadian did/did not gradually replace Sumerian

did

Akkadian became lingua franca in ANE by

1450 BCE

lingua franca

international and diplomatic language

dialects of Akkadian

Babylonian and Assyrian

Aramaic (Semitic) was written on

papyrus scrolls

Aramaic began to replace Akkadian in

late 1st millennium BCE

almost no documentation from earliest periods in Aramaic because

written on papyrus - didn’t preserve well like clay tablets

Ancient Egyptian (Afro-Asiatic, related to Semitic) was written on

carved on stone, painted on papyrus

cuneiform was used

all over Mesopotamia and Hittite land

cuneus

wedge

hieroglyphic (in egypt)

hieros - sacred

gluphe - carving

alphabetic (aramaic)

A - B, alpha - beta

ANE made up of

Anatolia, Levant, Mesopotamia

Meso-potamia means

land between rivers (tigris and euphrates)

rivers meant

• ease of travel

  • close contact, economic and cultural cohesion and communication

• water for agriculture

  • flood around harvest time

  • needed irrigation canals

fertile crescent / cradle of civilization

• name for ANE

• water - agriculture - settlements

  • irrigation systems

  • cities

  • invention of writing

  • development of math

  • invention of wheel

how we learned history of ANE

• stories from neighboring countries

  • classics, bible stories

library of assurbanipal - 7th c BCE

• fall of Nineveh 612 BCE

• set on fire, preserved clay tablets

tablets discovered primarily in

• nineveh

• assur

• babylon

• sippar

• uruk

• akkad still missing

Pre-History timeline

10 000 BCE - 3 000 BCE

• agricultural revolution

ANE History timeline

3 300 BCE - 331 BCE

3 300 BCE - Cuneiform historical documents

331 BCE - Alexander the Great invades Persia

BCE

Before Common Era

BC

Before Christ

Mesopotamian historical unity

• ~3 000 years history

• different people

• some common elements

common elements of Mesopotamian history

• cuneiform script

• continuity of religious practices

• cultural continuity

3 main phases of time

City States - 3 000 to 1 600 BCE

Territorial States - 1 700 to 1 000 BCE

Empires - most of 1st millennium BCE

City States were the main political power during

3 000 to 1 600 BCE

Territorial States were the main political power during

1 700 to 1st millennium BCE

Empires were the main political power during

most of 1st millennium BCE

Sumer and Akkad overview

• 3200 to 2000 BCE

• south west

• independent cities

• sargon the great conquered them ~ 2300 BCE

• cuneiform writing was invented

• world’s earliest literature

the wheel was invented around

3200 BCE

old babylonian overview

• invasion of Semitic language groups

• most important lead by Hammurabi

• about 1600 to 1300 BCE

assyrian empire ruled around

1300 to 612 BCE

neo-babylonian empire ruled around

612 to 539 BCE

persian empire ruled around

539 to 331 BCE

• conquest by alexander the great in 331 BCE

glaciers begin to retreat around

13 000 BCE

• gets hotter

• water rises

nomadic groups become semi-sedentary

• around 11th millennium BCE

• Levant to SE Anatolia

• abundant wild food

semi-sedentary

• storage facilities for food gathering

• begin herding

• basic cart

• possibly some differentiation in social status

semi-sedentary in certain regions

• borders between different ecological areas

  • different resources

  • abundance of food

  • population growth

  • increasingly dependent on area

domestication was a — process

slow

11th - 7th millennium BCE

neolithic period

10 000 - 5 300 BCE

• marked by agricultural revolution/semi-sedentary beginnings

• began domesticating crops and animals

  • artificial selection of wheats

Gobelki Tepe was in

• SE Anatolia

• modern Turkey

Gobelki Tepe is dated to

• 10 000 BCE

• possibly oldest temple

Gobelki Tepe is interesting because

• not much other than stone structure

• no traces of domesticated plants or animals

• little evidence for residential use

  • people were hunter/gatherers

  • work still required large groups of people and organization

7th millennium BCE

• domestication of plants

• herding of animals

• continued hunting/gathering

• geographically:

  • S Syrian-Palestinian area

  • foothills of Zagros Mtns

  • Anatolia

Mesopotamia (7th - 4th mill. BCE)

• most NE societies now sedentary

  • use fired pots

  • different material cultures

N Mesopotamia (7th - 4th mill. BCE)

• rain fed agriculture

• Hassuna - early 6th mill

• Samarra - 6th to 5th mill

• Halaf - 6th mill

S Mesopotamia (7th - 4th mill. BCE)

• hot, very little rain

• Ubaid - 5900 to 3700 BCE

  • near marshes

    • ecological diversity

    • difficult environmental conditions

ecological diversity means

• diversity of resources

• ex: reeds for building

• ex: different animals for food

material culture (mostly pottery) allowed for

a relative chronology

difficulties of life in southern mesopotamia

• unpredictable flood

  • flood before harvest in spring

  • water low in late summer when needed to sow seeds

• flat area

  • sediment deposits raise riverbeds

  • need to control levees

  • clean canals to prevent overflows

• required sophisticated irrigation system

land was demanding but provided — results

abundant

• required planning and organization

• meant centralization of power and functions

• led to rise of hierarchy

agricultural revolution time

11th - 7th millennium BCE

urban revolution time

mid 4th millennium BCE

Uruk was

the first city, ~3500 BCE

what makes a city

size

• rapid growth of settlements in early 4th mill

• central babylonia - 3 main centers, 30 - 50 hectares

• southern babylonia, 1 center, 70 hectares

  • Uruk

Uruk growth

• early 4th mill - 70 hectares

• mid 4th mill - 250 hectares

• estimated population growth from 10k to 40 or 50k people

• uruk was biggest city

why did Uruk grow

possible attraction of semi-nomadic people from outskirts

a city and its surroundings are

interdependent

• resources and services

3 markers of a city

1. size

2. interdependence

3. societal change

beveled-rim bowls

• increased demand led to mass production

• evidence of standardized weight system and redistributive economy

specialization of labor

• evidence of urban society

• different areas of production and ecological niches

  • agriculture near Euphrates

  • animal husbandry and hunting

  • fishing in marshes

  • non-agricultural tasks

    • arts and crafts

    • trade and exchange

animal husbandry

breeding and caring for animals

steps of specialization of labor

1. demand for higher productivity

2. technology improves (ex: seed plow)

3. labor becomes more complex

4. need experts (ex: cylinder seals)

need to exchange and redistribute - who should be in charge?

the god of the city

goods produced were brought to — and redistributed to the community

house of the god

need someone to track goods coming in and out

• need administration

• creation of hierarchy, social stratification

the Uruk vase

• bigger man presenting goods to goddess Inanna

• priest? leader?

List of professions

• late uruk period

• in hierarchical order

monumental architecture

• evidence of urban society

• required large labor force

• needed organization and leadership

social differentiation due to development of hierarchy

• king/priest/leader

• functionary/priest

• superintendents

• workers

bureaucracy led to

proto-cuneiform writing

idea of a city

originally built as residence of a god

temple (E)

household of the god

• central, dominant institution

• received and redistributed gifts

• bureaucracy needed to keep track of movement of goods

writing

• evidence of societal change

• bureaucracy needs to keep track of transactions and guarantee their contents

• writing initially for administrative purposes

stamp seals

• 7th mill BCE

• worked as officials’ signatures

• cylinder seals were more complex

tokens

• initially used to guarantee contents

• since ~7th mill BCE

• everywhere in central Mesopotamia

• sort of replaced by bullae in 4th mill BCE

token system

• simple and complex tokens

• one token represented one of an item

• different tokens meant different items

bullae (balls)

• 4th mill BCE

• clay balls containing tokens

• cylinder seal impression on outside to guarantee contents

bullae and writing

• conceptual jump from physical objects inside to impressions on outside to drawings on outside

• earliest cuneiform signs (proto-cuneiform)

• drawings like pictograms

proto-cuneiform

• ~60 signs for numbers

• ~900 signs for objects

• Uruk IV - III

• 3300 - 3100 BCE

pictograms

drawings of things

phonetism

• ~2600 - 2500 BCE

• 1 sign = 1 sound/syllable

• signs combined to create new words

• everything can be expressed

  • real writing system

• fewer signs

• historical texts begin to appear

• solves problem that if each thing or idea has its own sign, there are thousands of signs

end of 4th mill - SE Uruk

• western Iran

• other cities growing (ex: Susa)

• similar material cultures

  • bullae

  • tablets

  • beveled-rim bowls

end of 4th mill - Northern Mesopotamia

• Syria

• some influence of Uruk culture

  • beveled-rim bowls

end of 4th mill - southern egypt

• possibly influenced by Uruk culture

• mud-brick houses

• stone buildings

• same pottery/decorations

• cylinder seals

Late Uruk influence - end of 4th mill

• SE (W Iran)

• N Mesopotamia

• S Egypt

End of Uruk Period

• 3100 - 3000 BCE

• collapse of Uruk system

end Uruk period - N Mesopotamia

• back to village life

• no more writing to record transactions