Chapter One – Egypt: Gods, Rulers, and the Social Order
I. Location, Location, Location!!
A. Banks of the Nile River in Northeastern Africa
1. 4,000 miles to a fan-shaped Delta at the Med. Sea
2. surrounded by sea and desert
B. Stable, Nearly Invulnerable to Foreign Invasion
1. uniform religious, political, cultural life
2. emerged a little later than Mesopotamian civilization
II. The Gods of Ancient Egypt
A. Sun God as Place of Honor
1. Amon, Re(Ra), Aten
2. polytheistic belief system
B. the Nile, World’s Longest River
1. regular deposit of silt
2. 365 day cycle of river’s inundations became basis of the solar calendar
3. primary source of Egypt’s deep sense of order
C. Cosmology
1. sun’s daily cycle
2. Nile River’s annual deluge
3. mountainless topography: the earth as a flat platter
4. floating on the waters of the underworld
5. self-generating sun god
6. pharoah received from Amon the gift of immortality
7. ankh – the hieroglyphic symbol meaning life
8. optimism and security
9. “The Hymn to the Aten”
10. the Nile River and Osiris, ruler of the underworld
11. the Myth:
- Set, Osiris’ evil brother
- Isis, loyal wife, Queen of Heaven, restored Osiris
- son, Horus, avenged father, became ruler of Egypt
III. The Rulers of Ancient Egypt
A. Narmer: union of Upper and Lower Egypt
1. the palette
2. papyrus: the reed-like plants from the Nile
B. Dynasties
1. land as sacred; theocratic socialism → crop surpluses
2. female line through which land passed
3. brother-sister marriages in dynastic history of Egypt
4. female pharoahs: Hatshepsut; the crook and flail
C. Theocracy and Cult of the Dead
1. pharaoh ruled in name of immortal sun god
2. Horus symbolized by the falcon
3. the Great Sphinx: ceremonial complex at Gizeh,[Giza]
4. embalming of the dead
5. the Great Pyramids
6. frescoes
7. ka = life force
8. promise of afterlife
D. Akhenaten’s Reform (ca. 1353 –1336 B.C.E.)
1. elevated Aten to supremacy over all other gods
2. wife, Nefertiti
E. Nubia and Ancient Egypt
1. source of gold, copper, iron, cattle
2. Nubians assimilated into multicultural society of Egypt
F. Law in Ancient Egypt
1. unwritten
2. law of the land is the mouth of the pharaoh
IV. The Social Order
A. Cooperation
B. Flexible movement through society, status
1. usually through education
2. multiracial, multicultural society and population
3. royal bureaucracy: vizier
C. Egyptian Women
1. all property inherited through the female line
2. textile production, shop-keepers, midwives, musicians
V. The Arts in Ancient Egypt
A. Literature: prayers, songs, decrees, letters, lyrics [poetry]
B. The Visual Arts: stylized reality, depth by above, behind
C. New Kingdom Temples
D. Music of Ancient Egypt
VI. Summary
Chapter Two -- Mesopotamia: Gods, Rulers, and the Social Order
A. Southwest Asia
1. Tigris and Euphrates Rivers empty into the Persian Gulf
2. agricultural life
3. development of humankind’s first cities:
Uruk, Ur, Kish, Nippur, Lagash
4. BUT unpredictable rivers
5. PLUS exposed, fertile plains invited nomadic raiders
B. Therefore: Fear and Insecurity
II. The Gods of Mesopotamia
A. Sweet and Bitter Waters Mingled
1. produced Marduk, hero-god
2. Marduk destroys Great Mother; establishes new order
3. founds Babylon
4. The Babylonian Creation
B. The Search for Immortality
1. Gilgamesh and friendship
2. The Epic of Gilgamesh
III. The Rulers of Mesopotamia
A. Technology: iron, bronze tools
B. Sargon I and World’s First Empire
C. Theocracy, Trade, Barter
IV. The Social Order
A. Collective Effort to Produce, Distribute, Irrigage, Store
B. Law and Social Order in Babylon
1. The Code of Hammurabi
2. broad spectrum: personal to professional community
3. multiplication tables; math; windmills for irrigation
V. The Arts in Mesopotamia
A. Ziggurats: shrine, temple, solar observatories
1. shrine rooms stored cuneiform records
2. economic activity, religious customs, rites
3. dread, awe, apprehension
4. similarity to ancient pyramids of Mexico, built later
B. Insecurities of Life
1. figurines
VI. The Hebrews
A. Archeology: offers information
1. originated in Sumer: Abraham of Ur
2. migrated westward to land of Canaan
3. special bond [covenant] between God and the Hebrews as His Chosen People
B. Migration into Egypt
1. rescue under dynamic leader named Moses
2. monotheism: Yahweh = YWHW = Jehovah
3. Hebrew deity transcended natural phenomena
C. Yahweh preceded the physical universe
1. universe is gift given by God to His creation: humans
2. Torah: law, instruction, first five books of Hebrew Bible
3. similarities to pool of traditions from Mesopotamia
4. sacred to three major world religions
5. readings from Genesis and Exodus
6. differences: Hebrews, punishment not levied according to social class
7. Babylonian law prized economic prosperity and political stability
8. Hebrew laws: unity of religious and moral life
1. Canaan as a powerful state
2. Biblical precepts
3. Israel (northern territory) and Judah (southern terr.)
4. warnings of moral laxity: Amos, Hosea, Isaiah
5. fall of Israel (northern) to Assyrians 722 BCE
6. prophets
7. destiny as divinely governed; God rewards, punishes
E. Jeremiah and the Observance of the Covenant
1. disaster for disobedience
2. [return to many gods, altars]
F. The Babylonian Captivity and the Book of Job
1. the issue of suffering, even a good man
2. Job’s unquestioning faith; God’s answer
3. God’s power immense and not rationally understood
4. note comparison of Gilgamesh and Job
5. belief in a single, caring God who intervenes on behalf of a faithful people fundamental to Western thought
VII. The Iron Age
A. Intro: Hittite superiority through iron weapons and war
chariots: Phoenicians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians
A. The Assyrian Empire
1. most militant civilization of Mesopotamia
2. lion as traditional symbol of power, ruler’s invincibility
3. art as visual propoganda, intimidated enemies
B. The Persian Empire
1. last and largest of the empires of Mesopotamia
2. Cyrus the Great
3. monotheistic religion based on Zoraster’s teachings
4. good thoughts, good works, good deeds
5. life a choice between good and evil; human free to choose
C. Summary: Mesopotamia, survival a day-to-day struggle