Bronze Age CivilizationsPeriodization based on tools

3000B.C.E. – 1200B.C.E.

Bronze Age Civilizations

Mesopotamia• Sumerians 2750• Akkadians 2340-2125• Neo-Sumerians 2100-2000• Old Babylonian Period 1900-1600• Staggered Hittite Conquest 1600-1100• Old Assyrian Period 1200-612• Neo Babylonian Period 612-539• Persian Conquest 539

Iron AgeIron Age

Extent of the Old Babylonian Empire

Mesopotamian Civilizations

Sumerians and the rise of City-states

• A language unlike any we have seen since• UrbanizationUrbanization• Monarchy:Monarchy: a priest king and his bureaucrats

– bureaucrats acted as “middle management” • responsibilities included land distribution, food

distribution, and record keeping• records, which kept track of distribution and trade, were records, which kept track of distribution and trade, were

the first writings in the worldthe first writings in the world– Soon the writing was made simpler from pictographic

to cuneiform (“wedge-shaped”)

Akkadians 2340-2125

• Semitic peoples who spoke a language related to Hebrew and Arabic

• A people from Arabia who expanded into Mesopotamia

• Sargon’s empire based in Akkad (which will later become Babylon)– Maintained and even adopted Sumerian religion,

culture and traditions

• Semitic peoples will control Mesopotamia for centuries

Amorites: The Old Babylonian Empire

• Capitol City: Babylon• All powerful monarch who was believed to be a godAll powerful monarch who was believed to be a god• Centralization:Centralization: While the Sumerian civilization consisted

of independent and autonomous city-states, the Old Babylonian state was a behemoth of dozens of cities. – Monarchy/emperor– as a result, an entirely new set of laws were invented

by the Old Babylonians: laws which dealt with crimes against the state

• Code of Hammurabi Code of Hammurabi

Hittites and the Beginning of the

Iron Age

• Indo-Europeans who expanded from AnatoliaAnatolia in 1600 BCE

• Adopted customs and traditions of the Mesopotamians

• First civilization to smelt ironsmelt iron, which gradually spread, probably along the trade routes, to other Mediterranean civilizations.

Northern and Eastern Africa

Egypt and Nubia

NubiaNubia

Nubia 3100-350• “Land of the Bow”• Rich in natural resources, including the Egyptian favorite:

GoldGold• (upper) Nile River:(upper) Nile River: irrigation essential in a rocky, severely hot

area that lacked rainfall.• Trade was mutually beneficialmutually beneficial for Egypt and Nubia, and

continued even during times of hostility – Trade corridor to riches of sub-Saharan Africasub-Saharan Africa

• Back and forthBack and forth: Kingdom of Kush, based in Kerma 1750 BCE– Egyptians conquer Kush in 1500Egyptians conquer Kush in 1500– Kush gains strength with its capital of Napata and takesof Kush gains strength with its capital of Napata and takesof

EgyptEgypt

Egypt• ““Gift of the NileGift of the Nile””• Upper Egypt (south) and Lower Egypt (north)• Infatuation with afterlifeInfatuation with afterlife• Black Land and Red Land• Lack of urbanization, instead pharaoh and his court• Ease of living• North/SouthNorth/South diffusion?diffusion?

China’s Yellow River Valley

Shang and Zhou

Shang PeriodShang Period

The Shang period 1750-1027 BCE• Started using Bronze in 2000, approx. 1000

years later than the Middle East.• Earliest written records (pictograms) anywhere in

China.• Warrior Aristocracy• Ancestor Worship with king as mediator• Slave labor• Early feng shui orientation of buildings to

maintain the order established by the gods• Early Trade: as far away as Mesopotamia

(chariot?)• Silk!Silk!

Zhou Period

Zhou Period 1027-221BCE• The Zhou ruler, Wu defeated the last Shang king

in 1027– Preserved the essentials of Shang culture and added

new elements of ideology and technology– Est. the “Mandate of Heaven” Chief deity was

“Heaven” and the king was called “Son of Heaven”– “Spring and Autumn Period” 771-481 and “Warring

States Period” 480- unification of China in 221

• 600BCE iron metallurgy first to forge steel by removing carbon during the iron-smelting process

• Legalism: men are evil and need strict rules to behave in an orderly fashion.

Europe

Celtic Europe

1000-50 BCE

Celts• Warrior AristocracyWarrior Aristocracy

– Disunity: not one empire, Disunity: not one empire, rather many separate tribesrather many separate tribes

– Same, similar linguistic Same, similar linguistic groupgroup

• SocietySociety– WomenWomen may have been given

more rights in Celtic society…but lets not get carried away

– DruidsDruids– Head Cult?Head Cult?

• Celtic Migrations• Rome conquered in 390BCE…

Aegean Civilizations

Minoan and Mycenaean

Aegean: Minoans and Mycenaeans

Minoans• the islands of the Aegean• rulers of the sea and controlled trade in the area• palaces and apartments had sewer systems, flush

toilets and beautiful frescos. • very wealthy society• capitol at Knossos, was no match for the eruption of

Thera and the devastation

that followed

Mycenaeans

• Early Greeks 1600 BCE• Began to rise in strength as the Minoans were strength as the Minoans were

beginning to disappearbeginning to disappear• Greeks conquered the Aegean and may have Greeks conquered the Aegean and may have

attacked Troy, a city along the Hellespont, in attacked Troy, a city along the Hellespont, in the 13the 13thth C. BCE C. BCE

• CollapseCollapse into a Dark Age in approx 1100 and vanish for 300 years. But why?But why?

• Then, out of the Dark Age the Greeks establish city-states, such as Sparta, Athens and Corinth