The Ancient Mediterranean World Midterm

Democracy

Began in Athens.

Neolithic Revolution

Agricultural Revolution (c. 8,000/6,000-3,000 BCE). Shift from hunter-gatherers to settled farmers, beginning of domestication of plants and animals.

Holocene Climate

9,600-2,000 BCE.

Younger Dryas

Period of global cooling and drought. 9,600-10,800 BCE.

Pleistocene

10,800 - 18,000 BCE.

5 Primary characteristics of a civilization

Urbanization, specialized labor, central authority, concentration of surplus production, and social stratification.

5 Secondary characteristics of a civilization

Monumental public works, long distance trade routes, control of symbols, writing, and practical science.

Characteristics of a band

Small scale (less than 100 people), migratory, unranked, family centered, hunter-gatherers, etc.

Characteristics of a tribe

A few thousand, urbanization, ranked societies, specialization of labor, etc.

Temple of Bel at Palmyra

Point of gathering for multiple cultures, destroyed by Islamic state in 2015.

Domestication

A primitive form of genetic engineering of plants and animals by humans. Objectionable characteristics are eliminated and favorable ones are enhanced. Breeding in captivity is the key for animal domestication. This process lasted 1,500 years, beginning around 10,000 BP or 8,000 BCE. Not the same as secondary exploitation (ex: using cows for milk).

Agricultural Revolutions

Occurred independently all over the world, rather than "spreading" from the mediterranean.

Jericho

Earliest evidence of agriculture.

Oasis of Wadi Qelt

Oldest continually inhabited location due to it's natural springs.

Tepe/Tel/Tell/Höyük

Mounds of dirt created by generations of mud-brick buildings being knocked down and built upon.

Strata/Stratum

Levels of a tepe, discreet deposits, indicating different layers of occupation.

Göbekli Tepe

A 22 acre ceremonial site comprising 20 circles made up of carved limestone pillars, built by hunter-gatherers, and located in southeastern Turkey. In use for 1,400 years, between 9,600 and 8,200 BCE, until it was deliberately buried. No signs of domestication. Stelae inscribed with animals and men hunting.

Anthropomorphic

Human-shaped.

Stelae

An upright stone slab or column typically bearing a commemorative inscription.

Balikligol Statue

Oldest free-standing statue, located near Göbekli Tepe.

Çatal Hüyük

Settlement in south central Turkey, lasting from 7,400-5,200 BCE. 15-20 meters of layers of occupation. No real status or hierarchy. East mound and west mound. Homes entered through the roof, children not raised by their parents, bodies buried underneath certain houses. Skulls removed, plastered, used for ceremonial purposes, and sometimes returned to the grave.

Wet farming

Farming based on a system of irrigation canals. Used in southern and central Mesopotamia.

Dry farming

Farming that relied solely on rainfall. Used in northern Mesopotamia.

Black Sea

Used to be called the Black Lake. Was a small body of fresh water until the Laurentide Ice Sheet melted, causing the Mediterranean Sea to break the land barrier and flood it.

8.2 Kiloyear Event

Melting of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and subsequent flooding of the Black Sea. Many civilizations abandoned, spread of population, intensification of agriculture, and further development of what is considered civilization.

Sumerians

Inhabited southern Mesopotamia.

Akkadians

Inhabited north and central Mesopotamia, spoke a Semitic language (like Arabic and Hebrew).

Elamites

Settled east of the Tigris river.

Characteristics of Mesopotamian societies

Multi-ethnic, independent city-states, common culture amongst city-states, pantheon of gods, social structure, at odds with one another.

Irrigation and the plow

Developed during the Ubaid period.

Uruk Period

Many city-states developed in Mesopotamia, including the largest city in the world (Uruk). Temple priests became administrators, large-scale intensive agriculture, complex social stratification, urbanization, and writing was used for administrative purposes.

Uruk

Substantial ceremonial hub by 3,500 BCE. Fortification wall built, city had a population of 50,000 (largest in the world) ca. 2900.

Ziggurat

Mud-brick temples dedicated to the gods. "Stairways to heaven". Surrounded by temple precincts, some with first known stone columns. Served as centers of religious, administrative, and agricultural knowledge. Built by workers paid in bread and beer rations.

Temple of Inanna

Located at Uruk. Oldest remaining ziggurat (ca. 3100).

Lady of Warka/Uruk

Head of a statue of Inanna.

Proto-Cuneiform

System of circular and cone-shaped tokens being imprinted into envelops (clay bulla) and sometimes left inside them to track transactions.

Clay Bulla

Hollow ball of clay (envelope).

Pictograms

More complicated system of counting made up of symbols for different numbers and pictures of the item being counted. Came to be denoted in clay with a stylus. Read top to bottom, right to left.

Cylinder Seals

Carved stone beads that would be rolled across clay to create a frieze (pattern). Like a stamp marking ownership (and ensuring that there would be no tampering).

Sumerian Period

Emergence of hereditary kings who ruled city-states (beginning with priests promoted to kings?), temples were significant, literate administration, development of governments, kings divinely ordained, etc.

Warka/Uruk Vase

Alabaster vase depicting a new king being brought offerings. "Bundle of reeds" symbol of Inanna.

Lugal

"Great/Big man" - Cuneiform/Sumerian term for king.

Standard of Ur

Mosaic depicting the "City at War" on one side and the "City at Peace" on the other. Showed the king as commander/chief, made of exotic materials, 2600-2400 BCE, indicates wealth and trade, and buried in a royal cemetery.

Sir Leonard Woolley

Excavated the city of Ur, uncovering hundreds of burials. Determined by banquet cups and skull fractures that when a king died his attendants were killed with him (some willingly).

Early Dynastic Period

City-states struggling for supremacy (Uruk, Ur, Kish, and Lagash). Kingship established early on.

Nippur

Sacred city dedicated to the god Enlil (the king of the gods). Humans were made to do Enlil's work so the gods didn't have to.

King of Kish

He who controlled Kish was essentially the king of Sumer.

Which two city-states were always warring?

Lagash and Umma

Akkadian Empire

First empire to establish one authority with political and military control over formerly independent city-states.

Sargon the Great

King of Akkad, from Kish, who usurped the former king with the power of the gods at his side and went on to conquer many city-states and murder their elites. Built temples and employed nepotism. Myths about him, ex: he was sent down the river in a basket, he had a close relationship with he gods.

Agade

AKA Akkad. Capital established by Sargon the Great.

Enheduanna

Sargon's daughter who became the high priestess in the city-state of Ur. She made offerings to Nanna, the moon god. Oversaw temple property, wrote hymns (now the oldest literature with known author), and was exiled for an unknown reason.

Naram-Sin

Grandson of Sargon, "king of the four quarters", conquered Zagros mountain people and other north territories, artistic innovation, first king to Dei-ify himself. Victory stele.

4.2 kiloyear event

Extreme drought lasting 200-300 years. 2,200-1,900 BCE. Dry farmers forced to move. Euphrates re-settled. Partly responsible for the fall of the old kingdom.

Intermission

Period of instability and decentralization.

King Gudea of Lagash

Post-Akkadian. Maintained long-distance trade, rebuilt temples, dedicated statues of himself to the gods.

Third Dynasty of Ur

Under the rule of Ur-Nammu.

Who was the "Liberator of Cities"?

Ur-Nammu.

Ur-Nammu

Of Uruk, conquered Ur and much more. Built ziggurats and a stele to the moon god, imposed taxes (not money), standardized weights and measures,.

Who was the first king to put laws into writing?

Ur-Nammu, mainly to prevent violence (most punishments were fines).

Old Babylonian Empire

Hammurabi imposed a system of timekeeping, built temples and canals, and created a law code (275 laws). Literacy improved, clay tablets came to be used for more than just palace scribes, and cuneiform was adapted (script vs language).

What was Hammurabi's method of time-keeping?

The years were defined by the present king's name and his most notable accomplishment (and/or his relationship to the gods).

Who invented the first pyramid?

King Djoser's architect/vizier Imhotep designed a step pyramid. It included a surrounding complex the size of a town, which encompassed subsidiary graves for royal staff members.

Jubilee

Egyptian re-inaguration party every 3rd year or so.

Old Kingdom Period

A theocracy under an all-powerful king who was responsible for guarding ma'at. Declined due to increasing instability and poor floods which damaged the people's faith in the king. First documentation of the glory of Egypt. Begins with the ascension of Zanakht.

Sandal Bearer

Important servant of the king...

Memphis

The capital of Old Kingdom Egypt, near the head of the Nile Delta. Location of grain storage and flood records.

Vizier

Head administrator of Egypt/right hand man or the pharaoh (or king, depending on the period).

Nomes

The provinces of Upper and Lower Egypt.

Nomarchs

The "governors" of the provinces/nomes of Egypt.

Ka

The "vital self", the part that stayed in the tomb.

Ba

The individualized self (interior consciousness). Personified as a bird, could leave the tomb but was connected to the ka (what did it get up to?).

Akh

The transfigured spirit, which lives in the afterlife and is not connected to the ka.

Mummification

Took 70 days, all organs except the heart removed (brain through nose) and placed into jars (became decorative after the Old Kingdom), bodies were dried out and wrapped in linen to "preserve the physical form". As they improved they were able to put the organs back in the body and the jars became purely symbolic (false jars).

The Book of the Dead

A collection of spells intended to assist the deceased in navigating the afterlife. Spells written on scrolls and tomb walls alongside depictions of Osiris and protecting guards.

Ritual Cycle

Living king believed to be the god of the living, Horus: son of Re/Ra (the sun god). Dead king believed to be Osiris, the god of the dead.

Which three pyramids did Snefru build?

Oddly shaped limestone one, the bent pyramid, and the Red pyramid. The Red pyramid was is first success in experimenting with architecture.

Spoliation

People taking material from a neglected work.

Who resides in the pyramids at Giza?

Khufu and Khafri.

The Great Pyramid

Burial of Khufu, was the tallest building int eh world for thousands of years. First time the burial chamber was actually inside the pyramid, rather than underneath it. "Air vents" that don't access the open air. Recently discovered empty spaces.

Hieroglyphics

Logographic system of writing (1,500 signs). Comprised of logographs, consonants, and pictograms.

Hieratic

Shorthand of hieroglyphics (700 signs for writing on papyrus with ink).

Demotic

Even shorter shorthand of hieroglyphics.

Tomb at Abydos

Very early hieroglyphics from the predynastic period depicting business purposes.

The Rosetta Stone

Allowed for translation of hieroglyphics in the 19th century.

Hammurabi's Code of Laws

Designed to improve the lives of the people of Mesopotamia. Aimed towards creating a just and righteous utopian society. First region-wide promulgation of laws.

Tower of Babel

Story based off of a ziggurat dedicated to the storm god Marduk (creator of man).

Choga Zanbil

Elamite city with the largest surviving ziggurat.

Why is "the Fertile Crescent" a misleading name?

Mesopotamia was a hostile environment: dry, subtropical, less than 10 inches of rain, and could reach up to 120*F in the summer. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flood too late for summer planting and too early for winter. Extreme salinization in the south, along with flooding concerns. However the region was very fertile when properly irrigated.

What changes were brought about by the Neolithic revolution?

Accumulation of goods (un-materialistic to materialistic, storage facilities), massive population surge (and consequently, expansion), egalitarianism to greed, women became less valuable, patriarchy took control, introduction of slaves.

Urbanization

Brought on by the need for greater productivity, ecological factors, the need for defense, the need for refuge/protection, and population growth. Centers of common worship attracted craftsmen/traders, which attracted landowners/farmers.

City-State

Independent, self-sufficient city with attached rural territory. Encouraged specialization and stimulation of new ideas/technologies/arts.

What characterizes a city-state?

Concentration, diversity, and complexity of populations/organization.

What was brought on by urbanization?

Shift from blood relationships to political relationships, weakened family relations, created stratification of classes, creation a monopoly of power, exclusion of women, new careers introduced, production/storage of weapons, specialized leadership, trade growth, capacity for warfare.

Civil Society

Conglomeration of competing or cooperating public/semi-public/private bodies (business corporations, unions, churches, government agencies, schools, etc). Most citizens have little to do with the public realm and private life is well established.

Ensi

Akkadian "king of the city".

Akkadian creation myth

Enuma Elish (when on high): Apsu (fresh water) and Tiamat (salt water) gave birth to the gods, then tried to kill them. Ea (intelligence and wisdom) killed Apsu and made him the earth, then Marduk (storm) killed Tiamat and made her the sky (then created mankind).

Naditu

Meaning barren or fallow. Other priestesses (under high priestess Enheduanna) who could marry but not have kids.

Palace of Mari

Architectural gem of the Middle East.

Cuneiform

Wedge-shaped script developed by Sumerians. Used by scribes to record tax, tribute, temple yields, possessions, inventory, disbursement of goods, etc. Different professions had different vocabularies.