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Western Civ Day 2

Course Logistics and Context

  • Assignment structure: one assignment due every Thursday in Canvas; the first three assignments are inside the Tesla module.
  • Due date/time: Thursday by 11:59 PM; you are responsible for turning in the assignment.
  • Materials: you will need your ebook; check the bookshelf to ensure you can access the book and that everything works before Thursday.
  • This week’s focus: getting bearings on what history and Western Civilization cover, with a focus on Mesopotamia as the starting point.

Geography and Foundations of Civilizations

  • Key geographic idea: civilizations tend to form around river valleys because water supports animal domestication, irrigation for crops, and reliable food sources.
  • Mesopotamia location: the land between two rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates. ext{The Tigris and Euphrates}
  • Why rivers drive civilization formation (as discussed):
    • Water source for animals
    • Irrigation for crops
    • Proximity leads to shared culture and eventual differentiation by skill, wealth, and status
    • Proximity also leads to the development of political structures for protection
  • Four civilizations around Mesopotamia (the region around the Tigris–Euphrates):
    • Sumerians / Old Babylonians (Samaritans in the lecturer’s phrasing): the earliest river valley culture
    • Assyrians
    • Neo-Babylonians (Chaldeans)
    • Persians (the largest empire in the region historically discussed in this sequence)

Hammurabi and the Old Babylonian Code

  • Hammurabi: famed as a great lawgiver who compiled and codified laws rather than writing them from scratch.
  • The Code of Hammurabi: a written stone law code common to Babylonian towns.
  • Two major characteristics:
    1) Inequality in the law: penalties varied by the social status of the offender (e.g., wealth/noble status could affect penalties).
    2) Punishment fit the crime: the principle of retributive justice (often summarized as eye for an eye).
  • Practical examples (illustrative scenarios from the lecture):
    • A bartender waters down alcohol, commits burglary; consequences included severe punishment in the law code.
    • A contractor building shoddy houses could cause the death of the inhabitants; the contractor could be killed along with his family.
    • An administrator who fails to prevent burglaries could be killed for incompetence.
  • Anthropological lens: the law code reflects the priorities of the time—law and order as foundational for governance.
  • Governmental purpose (as framed in lecture): the base reason for government is to keep people from hurting one another; law and order as the core function of governance.

From Bronze Age to Iron Age: Military Innovation and Warfare

  • The fall of the Old Babylonian/Sumerian states came as a result of the Hittites around 1700 ext{ BCE}, who introduced iron and horse-drawn chariots.
  • Transition noted: Bronze Age → Iron Age; warfare becomes more expansive and organized as a result of iron weapons and improved mobility.
  • Military logic emphasized in the lecture: control of land and resources is central to power; wars are driven by the need to secure supplies and power bases.
  • The geography of Mesopotamia creates a persistent climate of conflict, with nearby powers vying for dominance.

The Assyrians: War, Terror, and Empire Building

  • Geopolitical context: the Assyrians emerge as a Semitic-speaking group with Nineveh as their capital.
  • Military profile: highly organized army, effective siege warfare, iron weapons, iron chariots, and siege technology (battering rams, siege towers, sappers).
  • Warfare style: brutal tactics and terror as a strategic tool (aimed at coercion and surrender).
  • Key concepts:
    • Siege warfare: breaking into cities by breaching walls and eliminating defenders.
    • Scorched earth policy: destroying surrounding resources to starve out besieged populations.
    • Deportation and assimilation: relocating conquered peoples to break local resistance and integrate populations into the empire.
    • Home vs. away dynamics: dispersing conquered peoples to dilute local cohesion (a form of “home field disadvantage”).
  • Terror tactics: cup bearers speaking local languages outside walls to intimidate and threaten the local population; popular violence and intimidation as political tools.
  • Culture and media: Assyrian walls decorated with violent, king-centered reliefs; wall art emphasizes warfare and kingship (e.g., the Assyrian winged bull as a representative motif).
  • Ashurbanipal: notable king for building a massive library with ~22{,}000 clay tablets, a key archaeological source for knowledge about these civilizations (many tablets were taken from conquered peoples).
  • Decline: despite military prowess, internal and external pressures lead to the fall of the Assyrian empire around the late first millennium BCE, in part because their violence provoked coalitions against them.
  • Hebrew Bible references: Assyrians are frequently mentioned in biblical texts; corroborated by external sources and later references.

Neo-Babylonians (Chaldeans) and Nebuchadnezzar

  • Nebuchadnezzar II: the most famous king of the Neo-B