CCP QUIZ SEPTEMBER 9th

What is History?

History is the record of events resulting from man’s relationships with his beliefs, institutions, and technology (culture).

Earliest Man: Pleistocene Era

Ended about $12,000$ years ago, marking the Last Major Ice Age. This era saw the first appearance of man as we know it, with continents in their current positions. Over/undersized animals (mega fauna) like giant pigs, camels (mammoths, mastodons), and small horses existed.

Hominids

Man-like creatures, first discovered in Africa in the Olduvai Gorge in $1959$ by Mary Leakey, believed to be $1.8$ million years old. Africa is considered the birthplace of all humankind.

Oldest Man-like Creatures:

• Australopithecus: First discovered by Donald Johanson in Ethiopia in $1974$. Her name was Lucy.

  • Forms of Australopithecus include:

    • A. robostus - plant eater

    • B. africanus - used tools to kill animals

• Homo Habilis = “handy man”: Used simple stone tools.

• Homo Erectus = “upright man”: Could use fire if found in nature, made and used tools. More than one species of hominid was alive at one time. Believed to be the first hominid to leave Africa.

• Homo Sapiens = “thinking man”: Man-like creatures with large brains (thinkers).

Neanderthal Man

An early form of Homo Erectus, lived in Europe and adjacent Asia & Africa. They lived in caves, created tools, wore clothes, and practiced religion, introducing burial practices. They worshipped “mother earth” and believed in rebirth.

Cro-magnon

Later man, replaced Neanderthal. Found in Europe and considered the forerunner to modern man. They left paintings on cave walls.

Cultural Ages of Man

1. Old Stone Age (Paleolithic)

   • A. Characterized by the use of chipped stone implements.

   • B. Time: from c. $3.5$ million years to about c. $9000$ BC.

   • C. Man was a nomadic hunter and food gatherer.

   • D. Man made crude tools of stone, wood, bone, and horn, and controlled fire.

   • E. Religion involved belief in magic and in an afterlife: animism, the belief that everything on earth, living or non-living, has a soul.

2. New Stone Age (Neolithic)

   • A. Time: from c. $9000$ BC to about $4000$ BC in the Near East, much later in Europe.

   • B. Characterized by the use of polished stone implements.

   • C. Village life substituted for nomadic existence.

   • D. Domestication of plants led to agriculture, with new food production leading to rapid population growth. (More food = more people; excess population requires excess food).

   • E. Developed spinning, weaving, house construction, pottery, and impressed tools.

   • F. Invention of the wheel.

   • G. Domestication of animals – the dog first.

Metal Ages

Copper/Bronze Age: Characterized by the general use of copper and bronze implements.

1. Copper Age: Early period when pure copper and bronze (an alloy of copper and tin) were used at random (c. $4000$ - $3500$ BC).

2. Bronze Age: c. $3500$ BC to $1500$ BC.

3. Iron Age: c. $1300$ BC.

Seven Characteristics of a Civilization

1. Writing: Started as pictograms and ideograms.

2. Development of cities: Urban areas.

3. Specialization of labor.

4. Social classes.

5. Organized centralized government.

6. Complex organized religion.

7. Monumental construction: First irrigation projects. (Quiz Hint: Know all $7$ characteristics and give an example for each. Monumental Construction = long/large building project, e.g., irrigation, pyramids).

Birthplaces/Cradles of Civilization

Four River Valleys:

• Mesopotamia - Tigris and Euphrates

• Egypt - Nile

• India - Indus

• China - Yellow River

Why rivers?

1. Transportation

2. Milder climate

3. Protection

4. Food production

Mesopotamia Notes

LOCATION: Mesopotamia = “land between the rivers”. It developed along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in the Fertile Crescent. A powerful city-state in Sumeria was Ur.

ORIGINS: The origin of the Sumerian people and their language is unknown. Theories include movement from the Indus River Valley. The Sumerian language is not related to Semitic or Indo-European languages.

• Semitic language: Related language group containing Akkadian, Aramaen, Hebrew, Arabic. Formed on the Arabian Peninsula, migrants to Mesopotamia, Nile River Delta, and the Mediterranean coast.

• Indo-European language group: Family of languages descended from a single unrecorded language. Began in the Caucasus Mountains $5,000$ years ago, migrated to Europe, becoming the basis of modern European languages.

SUMERIAN DEVELOPMENTS:

A. Sedentary agriculture (planting and harvesting).

B. Special occupations (specific jobs such as priests, farmers, builders, etc.).

C. Original religion: introduction of polytheism and worship of multiple gods.

D. Organized government: a theocracy (ruled by religious leaders).

1. Lugals: “Great/Important man who own land.” They became the noble class of the Sumerians. Some became monarchs or kings, changing the definition.

2. Ensi: High priest and governor.

E. Other new technology, such as the wheel.

F. Monumental construction: Ziggurat = a structure composed of step-like terraces, literally a flat-topped temple, which was the center of Sumerian culture and represented everything to them.

G. System of counting: the Mesopotamian sexagesimal system (base $60$).

H. Cuneiform: Development began in $3200$ BC. One of the earliest forms of writing, it was wedge-shaped and a system of pictographs where symbols represented complicated thoughts. This period is known as protoliterate, the time period when writing began, thus leading to an explosion of technology and knowledge.

I. The Epic of Gilgamesh: Written in cuneiform, considered the first epic writing around $2700$ BCE. Gilgamesh was a ruler of Uruk; the story centers on his search for eternal life. One chapter is similar to the story of Noah (Utnapishtim).

OTHER EARLY CIVILIZATIONS (After the Sumerians, other civilizations began to emerge in the Fertile Crescent region.)

• Akkadians: Sargon the Great (c. $2300$ BCE), ruler of Akkad. Invaded and captured Sumer, conquering the last Sumerian king Lugal-zagesi, and created the first empire known to history. An empire is when an individual or group seizes land or territory they have no legal right to and controls it. Empire reached its height under his grandson Naram-Sin, but declined and fell after his death. Various legends surround Sargon's origins, including one where he was the previous king’s cupbearer and son of a gardener who usurped the throne, and another that his mother was a priestess who secretly gave birth and floated him downriver in a reed basket until he was found and raised by a goddess.

• Babylonians: King Hammurabi (Babylon c. $1790$ to c. $1752$ BCE) developed Hammurabi’s Code, the first written code of law, based on the “eye for an eye” principle. Other accomplishments included improved irrigation, an improved army, and repaired temples. The empire collapsed almost immediately after his death.

The Late Bronze Age: New Civilizations

New people arose in the Fertile Crescent area: Hittites, Mittanians, Kassites, and Elamites. All were Indo-European speaking.

• Mittanians and Kassites were influenced by Mesopotamian culture, writing the Akkadian language in cuneiform.

• The Elamites and Hittites wrote their own languages in cuneiform.

• All three civilizations were connected through the introduction of horses, ushering in the age of chariot warfare.

Hittites:

Based in Anatolia (Asia Minor). In the $16^{th}$ century BCE, they invaded Syria and then moved into Babylon, killing the last of Hammurabi's successors. They were heavily influenced by Mesopotamian culture, preserving Sumerian and Mesopotamian literature and honoring Mesopotamian gods with temples. They borrowed heavily from Hammurabi's Code but applied more humane punishments. Hattusilus I is considered one of the founders of the Hittite empire, establishing his capital at Hattusas around $1650$ BCE. They were militarily successful by mastering chariot warfare and using mass attacks by archers with long-range bows. The Hittites were the first people to use iron, developing and smelting it to create weapons as early as $1400$ BCE. They fiercely guarded this technological secret until the fall of their empire around $1100$ BC, when the use of iron spread throughout the eastern Mediterranean.

Mittanians:

Built a hegemonic (dominant politically) empire. They came to power in the northern Fertile Crescent area after the fall of Amorite Babylon and lasted from c. $1500$ to c. $1300$ BCE, eventually overrun by the Hittites and then the Assyrians.

Kassites:

Originated in the Zagros Mountains and moved into the Babylonian area around $1800$ BCE. They united the Babylonians and ensured their survival by repopulating the area. Kurigalzu I (c. $1400$ to c. $1375$ BCE) built a new capital at Dur-Kurigalzu and invented the kudurru, a boundary stone that recorded the king's land grants to favored people. Their empire lasted until c. $1155$ BCE.

Phoenicians:

Semitic people who settled in what is today Syria and Lebanon. Living along the coast, they became the Mediterranean’s greatest traders. They were a confederation of city-states, with Byblos, Tyre, and Ugarit being the most famous.

• Byblos: Traded paper and papyrus with the Egyptians, becoming the basis of our words: book, Bible, and library.

• Tyre: Responsible for the creation of the colony of Carthage, which would be a major force in the Mediterranean before losing to the Romans.

• Ugarit: Their adaptation of cuneiform writing led to the development of the Phoenician alphabet, later adopted by the Greeks.

The Phoenicians also traded in purple dye and cedar trees, amassing great wealth. Because they never united to form a strong state, they were eventually overrun by the Chaldeans in $571$ BCE.

Hebrews/Israelites:

Semitic people related to the Aramaeans. The first known historical record of them is on Pharaoh Merneptah's victory stele (an inscribed territorial marker of wood or stone), which mentions him suppressing a revolt in Palestine and Syria. Some biblical records suggest they are the same as the Hapirus, a nomadic group that raided Assyrian territories, though archaeological evidence is not as conclusive.

• Yahweh: The name for the Hebrew God; they were monotheistic, considering Him the one true God.

• Mosaic Covenant: The contract between God and the Israelites that if they followed the Ten Commandments, He would provide for and protect them.

• Promised Land: Land promised by God to the Israelites, but already settled by six other groups who had to be defeated for the Israelites to take control.

Continuing conflict with these six groups led to a call for unifying under one king. Saul was the first king of Israel, followed by David and then his son Solomon. After Solomon's death, Judah and Israel divided into two separate kingdoms due to a conflict over succession. Both were weakened and soon conquered. Israel fell to the Assyrians in $722$ BCE, and Judah was first plundered by the Egyptians and then overrun by the Chaldeans in $586$ BCE.

Shoshenq I of Egypt plundered the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem around $926$ BCE, possibly when the Ark of the Covenant (holding the Ten Commandments) disappeared, though the Bible does not explicitly mention it being taken at this time. There is no mention of the Ark after the reign of Josiah.

• King Josiah of Judah: (c. $640$ to $609$ BC) A godly king and one of the world’s youngest, he began his reign at age $8$ after his father was assassinated. A highlight of his reign was the rediscovery of the Law of the Lord in his eighteenth year when the high priest Hilkiah found the Book of the Law. Under his reign, monotheism was reinforced; he ordered the destruction of all altars to other deities. He was the last righteous king of the Hebrews/Israelites.

Aramaeans:

Closely related to the Hebrews, these people lived in Syria and dominated the camel trade between Egypt and the northern Mediterranean coast. They lived in a series of small city-states, including Damascus (one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world). Their language became the most common along the Mediterranean coast, spoken by Jesus and his disciples.

Assyrians:

Moved into northern Mesopotamia around $1800$ BCE, becoming the dominant power in that area by $1200$ BCE and reaching their height around $700$ BCE through a series of strong kings and cultural advances.

Prominent Assyrian Kings:

• Tukulti-Ninurta I: (c. $1243$ BCE to $1207$ BCE) Defeated the Hittites and Kassites. Captured and destroyed Babylon, stealing the statue of Marduk, their chief god. His treatment of captured temples caused Mesopotamians to revolt. He built a new capital city and was murdered by his son after a siege on the city.

• Tiglath-Pilieser I: (c. $1115$ BCE to $1076$ BCE) Established Assyria as a major power, expanding the empire into Syria and south into Babylonia. Records indicate he carefully cultivated fear of himself among his people and enemies.

• Ashurnasirpal II: (c. $884$ – $859$ BCE) Ruled by terror and fear, beheading enemies. Smaller kingdoms paid tribute to avoid war. Wealth from conquest and tribute allowed for a new palace at Kalhu (a previously prosperous trade city). Great kings were buried at Ashur, but their queens at Kalhu.

• Shalmaneser III: Replaced Ashurnasirpal II, continuing to collect tribute and instill fear. A failed revolt by $12$ different kings meant continued tribute payments.

• Tiglath-pileser III: (c. $745$ - $727$ BCE)

  • Known for:

    • Expansion of the empire by annexing nearby kingdoms.

    • Siege warfare, including scaling walls and impaling the defeated on spikes.

    • Resettling conquered people in new areas to prevent uprisings (e.g., Israelites).

    • Capture of Babylon at the end of his reign.

• Sargon II: (c. $722$ – $705$ BCE) Son of Tiglath-pileser III. Defeated the Israelites and put down several Chaldean revolts in Babylon. Celebrated achievements by building a new capital, Dur-Sharrukin, which was quickly abandoned after his death but later became a valuable archaeological find.

• Sennacherib: (c. $705$ to $681$ BCE) Son of Sargon II, known for his temper and violent punishment of those who spoke against him, particularly rebellious Babylonians. When Babylonians and Elamites rebelled, he destroyed cities, buildings, temples, and sowed fields with salt. Under Sennacherib, the Assyrian capital moved to Nineveh. Vain and ambitious, he attempted to defeat the Hebrews under Hezekiah in the kingdom of Judah, who eventually bribed him to leave. Sennacherib was later killed by his own sons, as recorded in the Bible.

• Esarhaddon: (c. $681$ – $669$ BCE) Tried a different ruling approach, not annexing neighboring areas but letting vassal kings rule with rare interference. He rebuilt destroyed Babylonian cities and was one of the few Assyrian kings whom the Babylonians did not rebel against. After defeating the Kushite king of Egypt (Taharka), he proclaimed himself a liberator and ruler of Egypt, though he held little actual influence there.

• Ashurbanipal: (c. $669$ – $631$ BCE) Replaced his father Esarhaddon, returning to terrorizing enemies. He eliminated the Elamites (who aided Babylonian uprisings) and defeated an Egyptian uprising. Often depicted in Assyrian art living the “good life” – hunting lions, throwing lavish parties (with heads of slain rivals as decor), and enjoying music and reading. He created the largest library of his time, with over $22,000$ clay tablets. He allowed one brother to be a puppet king of Babylon, who then plotted a rebellion. After defeating the rebellion and laying siege to Babylon for four years, Ashurbanipal recounts the slaughter of survivors and feeding their bodies to animals. His brother burned himself alive rather than surrender. After Ashurbanipal’s death, Assyria rapidly declined.

Revolts against Assyria's terror and tribute policy were inevitable. The Chaldeans led a revolt in $626$ BCE, joined by the Medes from the north. Nineveh was destroyed in $612$ BCE, ending the Assyrian reign of terror.