A Brief History of Humanity: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century
Chapter 4 The Art of the Near Eastern Nations
Chapter 4 The Art of the Near Eastern Nations
[-]. The cradle of a great civilization
The reason why we humans are able to transition from the ancient unknown age to the recorded civilization age is that writing plays a vital role.Such a great invention was slowly accumulated and created by the ancients in their daily life.Words are of great significance to the ancients or to us now.The historical period to be described in this chapter is from 3500 BC or earlier until 500 BC.This period includes the entire Bronze Age and Bronze Age until entering the Iron Age.
The Near East remains the focus of our narrative.For whether in the Near East, or in the valley of the Nile, or in the valley of the Euphrates, or in Crete and the islands of the Aegean Sea, we can find the cradles of great civilizations.
Because those ancient Near Eastern civilizations developed together at the same time, they have a lot in common.The ancients in the Near East not only exchanged and bought and sold commodities, but also exchanged ideas and technologies with each other.If the history of all Near Eastern civilizations can be combined and described as a whole, it will be possible to clearly see from a macro perspective how civilizations influence each other so that they are so similar.But this narrative can be messy and difficult to understand.For the convenience of readers, we still tell the history of each country and region separately.But the reader needs to keep in mind at all times that these stories take place at the same time and at the same time.
Nile River Valley For Egypt, the Nile River is like its mother.Even the soil of Egypt was obtained from this great mother.Long, long ago, the plateaus on both sides of the Nile Valley were so full of water that they left narrow valleys.Then, for a long time, Egypt was a strip of sand between limestone and desert, a land long and fertile and ten to thirty miles wide.Thousands of miles in length, the Nile River originates from the plateau in the east of Central Africa. Every year, heavy rains wash away the fertile soil everywhere, and the rapids flow down until the Nile River submerges the flat land on both sides.After the water receded, a thin layer of black soil was left on this large stretch of beach.
Therefore, the ancient Egyptians called their land "black soil", which is very appropriate.The soil here is black, fertile and productive, so agriculture became its main industry.Both the Nile River Basin and the Euphrates River Basin are known as the "granary of the ancient world".As we will learn in the introduction below, these cradles of early humans also made important contributions to other aspects of human historical development.
Egyptian characters The ancient Egyptians originally wrote by drawing pictures, and later replaced some special meanings with some special symbols.Their earliest written records are around 3500 BC, and possibly earlier.The creation of characters should be regarded as the most important event in the history of ancient Egypt. We not only consider its impact on human thought and civilization, but also consider its significant impact on human business and economy.Ledgers and contracts are possible because of writing.Writing is also of great help to the development of government, because legal documents can be recorded in writing, officials can report documents to the king, and the king can also issue orders to his officials.
The Egyptians usually carved their writing in stone, but most of the time, they wrote it in ink on a type of paper.This paper is made from a plant called "papyrus" that likes to live in swamps.Therefore, the word "paper" comes from the word Cyperus papyrus.
Architecture in Egypt The Egyptians were great architects.Like most ancient peoples, the Egyptians also believed that there was an afterlife after death. They not only provided food, weapons, and even ointment for the dead, but also tried their best to preserve the remains intact.For this reason, they also invented a technology to preserve the body and built stone tombs. They believed that the soul was immortal, so they hoped to preserve the body forever.Kings and pharaohs had sufficient financial, material and human resources to enable them to build huge and magnificent tombs.
The construction of the mausoleum reached its peak around 3000 BC, during the period of the fourth pharaoh.The most popular architectural form of the emperor's tomb at that time was a large pyramid built of huge stone blocks.King Khufu or Cheops built the largest pyramid, which remains one of the wonders of the world to this day.It still stands in Egypt, five hundred feet high, with a base of thirteen acres, and is commonly called the Great Pyramid.
The government of Egypt The supreme ruler of the central government is the king.Laws are made by the king, who is the supreme judge when appeals are made to him that cannot be handled by the courts.He commands the army and leads the officials.The local government is managed by about forty Normarks, each Normark is the local governor.The governor needs to collect food and livestock as taxes and send them to the capital Memphis to the king.At the same time, the governor also tried cases, commanded the militia in the state, and presided over the sacrifices to local gods.
Such a great government is the first government in history and is of great significance.It not only did the work of collecting taxes and census taxpayer information, but also maintained the law and order of the country, and supervised the irrigation system that Egypt depends on.This government became known as the "Old Kingdom".But around 2630 BC, the Old Kingdom government, which lasted nearly 1000 years, was dissolved.
Egyptians have been engaged in many industries since the time of the Old Kingdom, such as agriculture, woodworking, carving, masonry, pottery, music, animal husbandry, textiles and other fields.
Euphrates Valley The Euphrates is thousands of miles northeast of the Nile.The Nile River flows from north to south, but the Nile River flows from south to north.However, the Euphrates River Basin is very similar to the Nile River Basin in many respects, so two similar civilizations formed during the same period.
The Netauros Mountains are the birthplace of the Euphrates River, and there is also a great river called the Tigris River flowing from this mountain range.At first the two rivers flowed in opposite directions, then they flowed almost parallel to the south, and finally joined together and flowed together into the Persian Gulf.The fertile plains of Mesopotamia lie between these two great rivers. "Mesopotamia" is a Greek term meaning the area between two rivers.So when we refer to the Euphrates valley, remember that it also includes the Tigris valley or the lower reaches of the Tigris.
The plains of Mesopotamia were a rich and undefended treasure land, so wars continued year after year.Languages merged with each other, and dynasties changed frequently.In such a short text, we can only mention a few famous words and achievements.
Sumerian writing There was a famous early people in Mesopotamia, the Sumerians.Like Egypt, they are agricultural countries, growing grains, raising livestock, weaving cloth, and making pottery on the plains irrigated by rivers.The Sumerians, like the Egyptians, used stone tools, but they were using copper tools by 4000 BC or earlier.The Sumerians also had an ancient writing system, very similar to that of Egypt.
The Sumerians also carved characters on stones at first, but because of the scarcity of stones in the Mesopotamian Plain and the lack of papyrus for making paper, they came up with a way to carve characters on soft clay. on the plate, and then dry the clay plate.Their writing instrument was a pointed stylus, much like a pencil or point drill, with which they wrote cuneiform.Because this kind of writing is "cuneiform", it is called cuneiform, just as the Egyptian writing of the same period is called hieroglyphic (the original meaning of hieroglyphs is "holy picture", and Egyptian writing is very similar to pictures).The word cuneiform is derived from the Latin word, while the word hieroglyphic is derived from the Greek word.The pictorial writing of ancient Egypt is often considered sacred because many of the people who wrote it were priests.
If all letters, contracts, documents, and records were written on clay tablets or bricks, it must be very cumbersome to carry, but they also have the advantage that they are easy to preserve.Very fortunate for those of us who study history.Much of the history of Mesopotamia has been discovered from these clay tablets.
The Semites in Sumer For a long time, many cities in Sumer were ruled by Semites, invaders from the west.Sargon was their greatest king, and his empire was vast.Around 2870 BC, he founded the capital city of Akkad above Mesopotamia, near the present-day city of Baghdad.Therefore, he is known in history as Sargon of Akkad, also known as Sargon I.
Code of Hammurabi For a long time, some of the lower Euphrates valley was called Akkad.At the same time, these places were also called Babylonia, named after the city of Babylon.Babylon was one of the famous cities of the ancient world.Around 4000 BC, in Babylon lived a king named Hammurabi, the most famous ruler of ancient Mesopotamia.He conquered all of Akkad and Sumer, drove the Ilamites to the mountains to their east, and extended his dominion far north from the Persian Gulf along the Euphrates and Tigris.Although he was very successful in military affairs, what Hammurabi was proud of was the dredging of the Grand Canal for irrigation and the magnificent temples he built.
But what we know most about Hammurabi is the code he compiled.Not so long ago we found a code of laws carved in a black stone, 40 centuries old!Although we can be sure that there were older legal codes between the Sumerians and the Egyptians, the Code of Hammurabi was the first important set of laws, and all of its original texts have survived to this day.The code, 282 statutes in all, was short compared with modern law, but it dealt with the usual concerns—business, marriage, wages, murder, theft, and debt.
Under the protection of Hammurabi’s laws, Babylon’s business gradually prospered, which can be verified from thousands of clay tablets.Grain, oil, dates, hides, and clay pots were all transported to neighboring countries in caravans formed by donkeys bearing the heavy load.Babylon traded for gold, silver, copper, stone, wood, salt, slaves, and many other goods.Hammurabi's successors still built temples, offered rich sacrifices to the gods, founded cities, and dug canals to irrigate their fields.The last king fell to the warlike Hittites in 1926 BC.We will learn more about the Hittites below.
[-]. Barbarians, horses and empires
A Brief Review The previous sections have described the rise of the two great civilized kingdoms of Egypt and Babylonia.In both places, the fertile soil of the riverside depressions favored a densely populated agricultural population, which banded together into a well-organized kingdom.At about the same time, civilization was gradually developing in other places in the Near East, especially Crete and the islands of the Aegean Sea.More on these places will be mentioned later.
In the 18th century BC, both Egypt and Babylonia were invaded by barbarians.Babylonia was invaded by the Kassites—a hardy wandering people from the mountains east of the Tigris, who came to Babylonia first as harvest workers, then as robbers and raiders, and finally became a conqueror.This is the story of barbarians plundering the wealth of civilized plains that has been repeated again and again.The Kassites adopted the gods and customs of the conquered peoples, intending to learn the Babylonian language that was used as the language of commerce and government.They also tried to learn the ancient Sumerian script, which was only used by priests and some learned people at that time.
For about six centuries, the Kassite conquerors struggled to maintain control over the cities of Babylon, Akkad, and Sumer.The immediate consequences of their conquest of these lands were internal chaos, disputes among local chiefs, and the decline of civilization.
The Hyksos in Egypt About the same time as the Kassites attacked Babylon (about 1800 BC), Egypt also suffered from barbarian invasions.The terrified Egyptians dubbed them the Hyksos, or "Princes of the Desert," from Syria across the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt.The Hyksos came on horseback.One can imagine the panic of the Egyptian infantry. When the Hyksos soldiers driving the chariots slashed left and right with curved swords made of bronze and rushed towards them, all they held were weak bows and arrows, copper axes, bronze short swords and broad-brimmed spears.Shamed and defeated, the proud people of the Nile soon found themselves enslaved, their properties plundered, their lands seized, their temples defiled, their ancestral graves looted, and their magnificent palaces destroyed.This left the Egyptians with centuries of resentment and grief.
When the Hyksos kings ruled Egypt, a native Egyptian prince declared independence at Thebes on the upper reaches of the Nile, calling on patriotic Egyptians to gather under his banner and attack foreign kings.At this time, perhaps the Egyptians had already started fighting the Hyksos with horses.After a long bloody battle, around 1580 BC, the Hyksos were finally expelled from Egypt, across the Sinai Peninsula, and fled to Palestine and Syria.
Horses and Chariots Before the Hyksos and Kassites invaded, the peasants of Egypt and Babylonia had never used horses, either in war or in peaceful work.However, both the Kassites and the Hyksos belong to the peoples who use horses.There is no doubt that it was because of the use of horses that they were able to sweep the rich plain so successfully.The appearance of the horse is a crucial thing.Both the Egyptians and the Babylonians began to learn to use horses to drive chariots and do other jobs.Thus conquerors were able to gallop quickly to distant provinces and achieve victory.In the past, conquest was often akin to a raiding raid, since conquered territories were able to regain their independence when the conquering armies returned home.But since the use of horses, conquerors can send messengers and soldiers quickly, and rebellions can be eliminated more quickly.As for the impact on civilization, it is even more significant.Because the use of horses became more and more common, the commercial and cultural exchanges between the places in the Near East gradually became closer, and civilization developed accordingly.
The combination of the wheel and the horse was an important overland transporter not only of conquest and law, but also of commerce and art.The wheel and the horse made it possible to create and rule vast empires.
The Hittite Empire One of the earliest and greatest empires founded by horsemen was the Hittite Empire.Some time before the Hyksos attack on Egypt and the Cassite conquest of Babylonia, Hittite horsemen had created a powerful kingdom in Asia Minor.The Hittite kings gradually expanded their territories by means of wars, alliances, and treaties, until they could truly be called an empire.The heyday of this empire was approximately from 1400 BC to 1200 BC, and it was the most powerful country in the Near East at that time.
Until a few years ago, we knew very little about this great country.However, in recent years people have deciphered the Hittite writing system and learned a lot about the well-organized government, laws and history of the Hittite nation.In terms of military and government, the Hittites were comparable to the Egyptians and Babylonians, but their contribution to civilization as a whole was secondary.Around 1200 BC, the Hittites were defeated by invaders called the "Sea Peoples", and the once mighty empire collapsed.
[-]. The Egyptian Empire
War and Conquest The Egyptian prince who led the Egyptians to victory against the Hyksos, proclaimed himself king around 1580 BC and made Thebes his capital.His successors all belonged to the No.18 dynasty, and several of them were outstanding generals and great conquerors.During the long battle against the Hyksos, the Egyptians became fierce and warlike.Their archers learned from the Hyksos the simple method of using a quiver to hold extra arrows as an extra supply.They have gained a reputation for accurate shooting of important targets.The Egyptians also adopted the horse-drawn chariots brought into Egypt by the Hyksos.The most successful warlike pharaohs were Thutmose I and Thutmose III, who used hieroglyphs to inscribe their exploits on ornate monuments and temples.The conquered lands did not really become part of the Egyptian territory, but they were forced to pay tribute and recognize the pharaoh as overlord.Rebellions happen from time to time, Syria, for example, rebels repeatedly and is conquered repeatedly.
These conquests had certain consequences: (1) they spread Egyptian civilization south to Nubia and northeast to Syria; (2) they added wealth to the pharaohs.The pharaohs received many tributes of gold and silver from Syria and Nubia.They also acquired groups of slaves, because all the captives during the war were enslaved; (3) Because of their contacts with other peoples, the Egyptians saw new cultures, followed the customs of other peoples, and learned about other peoples religion.
Art and Architecture In Thebes, the capital, many magnificent temples were built to worship the god Amun.The largest of these is the magnificent building known today as the Temple of Karnak. The roof of the temple is supported by large stone pillars made of granite. The road leading from the temple to the river is lined with statues of monster sphinxes on both sides. .No city in the world can surpass Thebes, the "city of a hundred gates".
Regarding the art and architecture of Egypt during this period, the following points can be noted: (1) Art and architecture were mainly used by prominent pharaohs and gods.The largest and most graceful buildings were the temples to the gods and the palaces to the pharaohs. (2) The architects not only showed extraordinary skills in carving huge stone statues, but also showed amazing strength in handling huge stone blocks.They were able to excavate a 1000-ton block of granite from a remote quarry, transport it to Thebes, and carve it into a colossus 90 feet high. (3) Regarding painting and sculpture, Egyptian artists created according to certain fixed rules, and their works are very similar.They sculpted the faces so lifelike they made the statues look amazing. (4) The four sides of the temple are often covered with various paintings and hieroglyphic engravings.Undoubtedly, the main purpose of engraving at that time was as decoration, but now it has become a valuable historical material. (5) No matter in terms of majestic architecture, stone carving, or painting, the Egyptians are the forerunners.The works of the Egyptians were imitated by many countries, and at the same time promoted the development of art in the entire Near East.
Religion The Egyptians were polytheists - they had many gods.Every place has its own gods.There are thousands of gods and goddesses in total.Some gods are represented by birds, beasts and reptiles, such as the falcon god, jackal god and crocodile god.There are also gods who represent forces of nature, such as Ra, the sun god, and Osiris, the river god.
During the Old Kingdom, the sun god Ra was worshiped as the greatest god, and Pharaoh was regarded as the son of Ra.After the establishment of the empire, the capital of the country was moved from Memphis to Thebes, and the god Amon of Thebes became the supreme god.Ra also became one with Amun, so the two names are often written together: Amun-Ra, as if they were one god.
There are many very interesting stories or myths about god and goddess marriages, quarrels and other events.Judging from the myths and chants that have survived, the educated Egyptians believed in an afterlife, so, as we have seen, they created the technology of preserving corpses and the beautiful construction of tombs.
"Book of the Dead" In order to help an Egyptian to get the pardon of the gods, the judge of the dead, after his death, some good things about him were written on papyrus and placed around him.Here are some examples:
I have never caused starvation
I have not harmed a slave with the master of a slave
I never stole food from the dead
Such words are considered to have the effect of a spell, with the magic power of witchcraft.A collection of such discourses is often called the Book of the Dead.
Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered in 1922.He was a pharaoh who ruled Thebes from 1358 BC to 1352 BC.Along with the discovery of this royal mummy, many gold objects, several exquisite bottles, some ornate robes and some royal treasures were also found.
Egyptian priests, especially after Tutankhamun's time, were men of considerable wealth and power.
The economy lived in the Nile Valley, where agriculture still held the primacy.As long as the irrigation canals were fixed and the farmers went about their work, Egypt remained a rich country.However, most of the land in the country is occupied by kings, priests and wealthy nobles.Most of the people who worked on the land were slaves, hired labor, shepherds and herdsmen.Fine work and manufacturing have been developed.Stonecutters, masons, potters, carpenters, jewelers, painters, coppersmiths, and goldsmiths numbered in the tens of thousands.
Foreign trade started in the early days, and with the development of trade, exquisite vases, papyrus, linen, jewelry, etc. were mass-produced and exported.As early as 3000 BC, Egypt had acquired gold from European gold mines, bought livestock, fish, wine, incense, and even ships and wheeled vehicles from Syria, and bought them from Nubia in the south. Ivory, gold and ostrich.In the 15th century BC, Queen Hatshepsut, known as the first great woman in history, sent five Egyptian ships heading south across the Red Sea to Punt, which may be present-day Somalia.Even before that, a canal had been dug to allow ships to pass from the Nile to the northern end of the Red Sea.
Decline and Greatness By 1200 BC, the Egyptian Empire was in decline.At that time, most of the soldiers who formed the army were captives with the names of Pharaoh tattooed on their bodies, and there were also some mercenaries from other countries.After that, the rulers of each country competed with each other.In 670 BC, Egypt was conquered by the Assyrians, in 525 BC, Egypt was defeated by the Persians, and later invaded by other peoples.
But whoever thinks that the decline of Egypt's military power or its loss of independence is the end of its importance or influence is very wrong.Its greatness lay not in war, but in agriculture, industry, art, and thought, and Egypt remained great in these long after its conquest.Egyptian pottery influenced pottery styles elsewhere and is still emulated today.Glazing of glass and pottery belongs to its inventions.Colonnades were used in Egypt long before the Greeks, and arches were invented long before the Romans.What it left to the modern world is a calendar with 12 months and 365 days in a year.Its scholars had worked out the elementary foundations of arithmetic and geometry.
[-]. The Aegean Civilization and the Sea King of Crete
The early trade between Crete and Egypt was in the Eastern Mediterranean, south of Greece and northwest of Egypt, there was a long mountainous island, namely Crete.It wasn't until the early 20th century that historians discovered that Crete was the birthplace of an ancient empire.But since then, the buried ruins have gradually been unearthed, telling us a tragic story of a wealthy empire and sudden encounter.
Before the Egyptian pyramids were built, the inhabitants of Crete had begun to use copper artifacts, made clay pots, established villages, and probably even ventured at sea.Whether they went to Egypt, or whether the Egyptians reached Crete, we have no way of knowing, but what is certain is that the two countries were connected, because both had brave sailors.The Cretan makers of pottery, weapons, and various metal utensils learned much from Egypt.Cretan artists imitated and improved Egyptian motifs to refine their skills.Crete became the main conduit for the northward spread of Egyptian culture.
The Minoan Age of Crete During the more than 3400 years from about 1200 BC to about 2000 BC, Crete became one of the most important centers of civilization.This period is often referred to as the Minoan age, because in Greek legend the king of Crete was named Minos.Roughly speaking, the Minoan period in Crete corresponds to Egypt from the beginning of the ancient kingdom to the end of the empire; it also corresponds to Mesopotamia from the period of Sumerian city-states to the end of the Kassites. The end of the reign.
The glory of Knossos From about 2000 BC to 1400 BC, Cretan culture reached its peak.Excavation data show that there were very rich cities in Crete at that time, the largest of which was Knossos.The ruler of Knossos was apparently the king of the island, perhaps with colonies in Greece and elsewhere.The ruins of the Knossos palace show that the king not only had a considerable number of mechanics, jewelers, artists and laborers, but also many officials and clerks who obeyed the command.The storerooms of the palace contained rows of large jars containing olive oil, wine, and grain.Stacks of clay tablets contain government archives and memos.If anyone could read the Cretan script, there is no doubt that these records can tell us many interesting secrets.
Art, Trade, and Sea Power The Cretans were skilled in metalworking and pottery.Using copper from Cyprus and tin quarried as far away as Europe, they forged beautiful daggers, longswords, and other bronze utensils.Their pottery pots were made on potter's wheels and were extremely ornately depicted, and were famous in the Near East.They also handle technical tasks, such as the water and drainage systems in the palace.The Cretans did not build temples as large as Egypt, or carve stone statues as large, but they have shown great artistic talent in murals, pottery painting, and metal work decoration. .
Crete occupies a very important position in sea power and trade.Its ships not only reached Egypt, but also traveled all over the eastern Mediterranean coast, and perhaps even reached the west bank.Colonies of Crete were found in Cyprus, Greece, Sicily and other places.The Cretan navy must have been strong enough to defend distant colonies, guard Cretan maritime trade and protect the palace of Knossos.King Knossos can be described as a real "sea king".
The Cretans spread their culture throughout the area around the Aegean Sea, so the Cretan culture is often referred to as "Aegean Civilization".But most importantly, we must pay attention to Crete's influence on Greece.At that time, the civilization of the Greek peninsula was inferior to that of Crete, because the Cretans had established colonies on the Greek peninsula.Colonial ruins have been found at Mycenae, Tiryns, and elsewhere.We will go into details in the chapter on Greek city-states.
The fall of Knossos Around 1400 BC, Crete experienced a sudden and mysterious tragedy.The great palace of Knossos was looted and burned, and the rest of the cities of Crete met a similarly cruel fate.Is it mutiny?Is it an earthquake?The greatest possibility should be that the foreign enemy defeated or avoided the Cretan navy, suddenly swept across those wealthy cities, and looted a large amount of property.The invaders were probably pirates from the Greek peninsula or Mycenae.
[-]. Syria and the Semites
Migration of peoples During the period following the sacking of Knossos, there was a massive southward migration in the Aegean region.It was a time of migration and invasion.Teams of adventurers looted their homes everywhere, and the people of all nationalities who were expelled from their hometown had to find a place to live in a new place.Some drifted at sea in boats, while others traveled overland across Asia Minor and Syria in cumbersome two-wheeled vehicles.The first few groups encountered an Egyptian army, were defeated and killed.But subsequent groups of migrants settled in Syria and Palestine.
Syria is a mountainous country located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, originating from the Taurus Mountains in the north and extending to the Sinai Peninsula in the south.Palestine is simply the southern part of Syria closest to Egypt.Although the southeastern sides of Syria are bounded by deserts, they are famous for their cattle and sheep, wine, honey and olive oil, as well as copper mines, commerce, and the high-quality timber produced by the cypress forests that cover the slopes of Lebanon. of.
With Egypt to the south, Asia Minor to the north, and the valley of the Euphrates to the northeast, Syria has historically served as a battlefield, a channel of commerce, and a place of gathering and mixing.Syria became the turbulent melting pot of the ancient world, its inhabitants a mixture of all races.The Philistines came from Crete and Asia Minor; the Hittites from Asia Minor; other peoples from elsewhere.Yet the language of this country is more consistent than blood.Many of the languages spoken in Syria belong to a group of languages often called Semitic languages, and the speakers of these languages are collectively known as Semites.Not only the Hebrews, but also the nearby tribes and Arabs belong to the "Semites" in terms of language.Even the Philistines learned to speak a Semitic language.
Hebrews The Hebrews, or the children of Israel, whose sacred writings make up the Holy Book of the Jews and the Old Testament in the Christian Bible.They are nomads, wandering around, looking for pastures for their sheep and cattle. The "Old Testament" tells us how the Hebrews went south to Egypt during the famine, then suffered oppression, fled again, and returned to Palestine after a long wandering.
In Palestine the great kings of the Hebrews were David and Solomon.In the 10th century BC, under the rule of Solomon, wealth was obtained due to commercial prosperity.A fleet on the Red Sea sailed to Russia to mine gold.Horses, twine, and chariots were brought back from Egypt, transit taxes were levied on spice merchants, and ships were sent on long voyages to Spain.But Solomon's greatest glory was that he built a magnificent temple to Yahweh in Jerusalem.Not long after Solomon's death, the kingdom was divided into two parts, which were conquered by the Assyrians and the Babylonians respectively.
Religious Teacher Israel's main contribution to the world was the preaching of the Gospel of the Holy Spirit.To issue a warning to the world, do not worship idols, do not agree with the worship of polytheism (polytheism), and insist on worshiping and worshiping the only and supreme God Jehovah.Some Hebrews believed that Jehovah was the unique God of their tribe or nation, but some great prophets believed that Jehovah was the God of all mankind, the most holy and most impartial.This view of God and the Ten Commandments and other noble teachings gave the world a new standard of religion and morality.If one understands the human sacrifices, evil rituals, and inferior beliefs of other ancient religions, one can understand what the Hebrews did to the world as teachers of religion and morality.The Hebrew prophets had laid the groundwork for Christianity in the hearts of the people.
The Phoenicians lived along the coast of Syria with the Phoenicians.They were neighbors of Semites and Hebrews.Their principal cities included Tyre, Sidon, and Bibles.The Phoenicians mainly did two things, namely commerce and colonization.After the demise of Crete and the decline of Egypt, the Phoenicians began to establish colonies in northern Africa, Sicily, Cyprus, or Greece.The largest of these colonies was Carthage, in what is now Tunisia.The Phoenicians were for a long time a rival to Rome.
The Phoenicians are often credited as the inventors of the English writing system because of their use of the alphabet.Even if the Phoenicians did not create the alphabet, at least they used it and passed it on to other peoples.Perhaps the Greeks received the alphabet from the Phoenicians and spread it throughout Europe.This event is far more important in world history than the wars of a Thutmose pharaoh or the wealth of a King Solomon.
The word Alphabet (letter) is composed of the two letters alpha and beta at the beginning of the Greek word.Each letter originally had a meaning, such as beta, derived from the Semitic word betha, which means a house; such as alpha, also derived from the Semitic word aleph, meaning a cow.Perhaps A (alpha, aleph, etc.) was originally a symbol or picture of a bull's head.It may be that each letter was originally a sign or picture, but later this sign became used only for one syllable, combined with other syllables to form countless words.From the crude drawings of the cave dwellers who pioneered them, to the pictorial writing of the Egyptians and other peoples that led us on the road to modern writing, what a valuable invention the alphabet is!
[-]. Empires in the Iron Age
Iron Age During the long history of the early kingdoms of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Crete, bronze was the metal used to make tools and weapons.But sometime before 1100 B.C., iron ore was melted and molded into the desired shape, and the art of forging the edges into sharp edges was mastered.This had astonishing consequences for the kingdoms and empires of the Near East.People who use iron can conquer other peoples, and iron has become an important commodity. In order to seize iron ore, various countries have triggered many wars.
Early Assyria Assyria was already very important before the Iron Age.Assyria was located northwest of Babylonia, far up the Tigris River.We must clearly distinguish it from Syria.
Assyrians could write on clay tablets, ride horses, drive chariots, and shoot arrows with crossbows.They are famous for their chariots and cavalry.Infantry consisting of spearmen, swordsmen, and archers forms dense formations or phalanxes that are not easily broken during battle.By the 11th century BC, the Assyrians were already fighting with iron weapons.
Expansion and Empire Since the 11th century BC, a series of warlike kings appeared in Assyria. Almost every year, they gathered their people, threw down the plow, took up the sword, and fought a fierce short-term war of aggression.Kings go to war in person, hardened by carnage.Their tyranny can be listed as long as their names.In the 9th century BC, Sharmanese III forced many small countries in Syria to pay tribute to him, and he also conquered Silesia, which was rich in silver mines.In the 10th century BC, Tiglath-Palasher III and Sargon II captured iron and copper mines from the Armenians in the mountains north of Assyria.In the 7th century BC, Sennacherib crushed the rebellions of Babylonia and Ilam and conquered Syria.His son Asarhaddon also conquered Egypt, which was under Assyrian rule from 670 BC to 651 BC.At this time, Assyria was indeed the most powerful empire in the Near East.
The Romans of the East, the Assyrians, had many similarities to the Romans we are about to talk about.The Assyrians were the Romans of the East.Both were warlike, and both built mighty empires by force.Both used iron fists in the formation and rule of empires, but they showed extraordinary dexterity in management.They built good roads, allowing messengers and armies to move quickly.
At the beginning, Assyrian agriculture was a small farm, but later it suddenly became a large manor controlled by a small number of rich people, and slaves were allowed to farm it.Manufactures and commerce were left in foreign hands.
Assyrian culture In terms of civilization, the Assyrians, like the Romans, relied on other nations and continued to pass on.This is their main cultural contribution.But in some respects, like architecture, the Assyrians were more than just imitators.Every Assyrian king wanted to build a more magnificent palace, intending to surpass his predecessors.King Sennacherib rebuilt the ancient city of Nineveh and made it his capital.Ashurbanipal was a scholar of the king. He collected a large number of books, and with the help of a dictionary to study on his own, he even understood the ancient Sumerian characters.
King Ashurbanipal reigned from 669 BC to 626 BC.After him came disaster: civil war, rebellion, invasion.In 612 BC, proud Nineveh fell to the combined forces of Babylonians, Medes and Scythians.A scholar at the time wrote briefly: "They took from the city in quantities beyond count, after which they reduced the city to a ruined mound."
Babylon once again had the upper hand.King Nebuchadnezzar reigned from 605 BC to 562 BC, during which time Babylonian wars of aggression broke out again.He was very famous, especially when he captured and burned Jerusalem and brought many captives back to Babylon, one of whom was the young prophet Daniel.
Nebuchadnezzar built his own magnificent palace in Babylon and also built the famous "hanging gardens" for his Persian queen.In fact, the sky garden is a large balcony.The queen missed the mountains and rivers of her hometown very much, but there was no such scenery in Babylon, so the king helped her build it artificially.After Nebuchadnezzar's death, Babylon's momentum of prosperity did not last long.In 539 BC, the Persians conquered Babylon.
[-]. The Rise of Persia
In ancient times Persia was part of the mountainous Iranian plateau stretching from the Caspian Sea in the north to the Persian Gulf in the south.The rest of this plateau was Media.The Medes are often associated with the Persians.Their places of residence are adjacent, and they appear in history at the same time, and they may have close relatives, so they all claim to be Iranians.We all call their land the Iranian plateau.
The Medes The Medes regularly lost ground to their warlike neighbors, the Assyrians, until the 7th century BC when the situation was reversed.The king of the Medes, Cheaxale, trained his cavalry better than the Assyrians.The Iranians were skilled riders, they could quickly surround their enemies (as the American Indians once did), and when the horses were galloping, they could hit the target with perfect accuracy.As mentioned earlier, it was Chiaxale who united the Babylonians and the Scythians to destroy the city of Nineveh together.
Persians About half a century later, around 550 BC, Media was conquered by the Persian king Cyrus.In the future, we must remember that the word Persian includes the Medes, and the word Persia also includes Medes.Cyrus knew tactics and was full of ambition. His life's work was conquest, plunder, and war.He conquered all of Asia Minor and, in 539 BC, made Babylon a vassal of Persia.Since then, Cyrus' empire has also included the Syrian territories of Mesopotamia and Babylon.
Persia is the successor of Babylon and Assyria. This young and energetic Persian Empire has seized and inherited excellent culture.Most of the elements of Persian civilization appeared elsewhere.The Persians inherited cuneiform writing from ancient Mesopotamia, and directly or indirectly from the Assyrians the art of architecture, the organization of armies, and the way of governing an empire.
In terms of religion in Zoroaster, the Persians have their own independent religion, which is also one of their contributions to civilization.They had their own prophet named Sarasushtra, which means Zoroaster in Greek and is better known by the latter title.When Zoroaster was young, the god of life and light he believed in, that is, Ahura Mashida, had shown words that increased his wisdom in many visions.These words and various hymns and maxims are recorded in the "Avesta", which may be called the "Bible" of the ancient Persians.
According to Zoroaster, Ahura Mashida and all good people are constantly fighting against the evil god Ahriman and all evil people.In this way, life is a continuous struggle, but in the end it must be Ahura Mashida and the good people who win.Everyone will be judged after death. If good deeds outweigh sins, they will go to heaven; otherwise, they will be handed over to Ahriman.
At first the number of Zoroastrian converts was very small, and then his teachings spread rapidly.Perhaps Zoroastrian died in many wars for the new religion, but Zoroastrianism became the religion of Persia.
(End of this chapter)
[-]. The cradle of a great civilization
The reason why we humans are able to transition from the ancient unknown age to the recorded civilization age is that writing plays a vital role.Such a great invention was slowly accumulated and created by the ancients in their daily life.Words are of great significance to the ancients or to us now.The historical period to be described in this chapter is from 3500 BC or earlier until 500 BC.This period includes the entire Bronze Age and Bronze Age until entering the Iron Age.
The Near East remains the focus of our narrative.For whether in the Near East, or in the valley of the Nile, or in the valley of the Euphrates, or in Crete and the islands of the Aegean Sea, we can find the cradles of great civilizations.
Because those ancient Near Eastern civilizations developed together at the same time, they have a lot in common.The ancients in the Near East not only exchanged and bought and sold commodities, but also exchanged ideas and technologies with each other.If the history of all Near Eastern civilizations can be combined and described as a whole, it will be possible to clearly see from a macro perspective how civilizations influence each other so that they are so similar.But this narrative can be messy and difficult to understand.For the convenience of readers, we still tell the history of each country and region separately.But the reader needs to keep in mind at all times that these stories take place at the same time and at the same time.
Nile River Valley For Egypt, the Nile River is like its mother.Even the soil of Egypt was obtained from this great mother.Long, long ago, the plateaus on both sides of the Nile Valley were so full of water that they left narrow valleys.Then, for a long time, Egypt was a strip of sand between limestone and desert, a land long and fertile and ten to thirty miles wide.Thousands of miles in length, the Nile River originates from the plateau in the east of Central Africa. Every year, heavy rains wash away the fertile soil everywhere, and the rapids flow down until the Nile River submerges the flat land on both sides.After the water receded, a thin layer of black soil was left on this large stretch of beach.
Therefore, the ancient Egyptians called their land "black soil", which is very appropriate.The soil here is black, fertile and productive, so agriculture became its main industry.Both the Nile River Basin and the Euphrates River Basin are known as the "granary of the ancient world".As we will learn in the introduction below, these cradles of early humans also made important contributions to other aspects of human historical development.
Egyptian characters The ancient Egyptians originally wrote by drawing pictures, and later replaced some special meanings with some special symbols.Their earliest written records are around 3500 BC, and possibly earlier.The creation of characters should be regarded as the most important event in the history of ancient Egypt. We not only consider its impact on human thought and civilization, but also consider its significant impact on human business and economy.Ledgers and contracts are possible because of writing.Writing is also of great help to the development of government, because legal documents can be recorded in writing, officials can report documents to the king, and the king can also issue orders to his officials.
The Egyptians usually carved their writing in stone, but most of the time, they wrote it in ink on a type of paper.This paper is made from a plant called "papyrus" that likes to live in swamps.Therefore, the word "paper" comes from the word Cyperus papyrus.
Architecture in Egypt The Egyptians were great architects.Like most ancient peoples, the Egyptians also believed that there was an afterlife after death. They not only provided food, weapons, and even ointment for the dead, but also tried their best to preserve the remains intact.For this reason, they also invented a technology to preserve the body and built stone tombs. They believed that the soul was immortal, so they hoped to preserve the body forever.Kings and pharaohs had sufficient financial, material and human resources to enable them to build huge and magnificent tombs.
The construction of the mausoleum reached its peak around 3000 BC, during the period of the fourth pharaoh.The most popular architectural form of the emperor's tomb at that time was a large pyramid built of huge stone blocks.King Khufu or Cheops built the largest pyramid, which remains one of the wonders of the world to this day.It still stands in Egypt, five hundred feet high, with a base of thirteen acres, and is commonly called the Great Pyramid.
The government of Egypt The supreme ruler of the central government is the king.Laws are made by the king, who is the supreme judge when appeals are made to him that cannot be handled by the courts.He commands the army and leads the officials.The local government is managed by about forty Normarks, each Normark is the local governor.The governor needs to collect food and livestock as taxes and send them to the capital Memphis to the king.At the same time, the governor also tried cases, commanded the militia in the state, and presided over the sacrifices to local gods.
Such a great government is the first government in history and is of great significance.It not only did the work of collecting taxes and census taxpayer information, but also maintained the law and order of the country, and supervised the irrigation system that Egypt depends on.This government became known as the "Old Kingdom".But around 2630 BC, the Old Kingdom government, which lasted nearly 1000 years, was dissolved.
Egyptians have been engaged in many industries since the time of the Old Kingdom, such as agriculture, woodworking, carving, masonry, pottery, music, animal husbandry, textiles and other fields.
Euphrates Valley The Euphrates is thousands of miles northeast of the Nile.The Nile River flows from north to south, but the Nile River flows from south to north.However, the Euphrates River Basin is very similar to the Nile River Basin in many respects, so two similar civilizations formed during the same period.
The Netauros Mountains are the birthplace of the Euphrates River, and there is also a great river called the Tigris River flowing from this mountain range.At first the two rivers flowed in opposite directions, then they flowed almost parallel to the south, and finally joined together and flowed together into the Persian Gulf.The fertile plains of Mesopotamia lie between these two great rivers. "Mesopotamia" is a Greek term meaning the area between two rivers.So when we refer to the Euphrates valley, remember that it also includes the Tigris valley or the lower reaches of the Tigris.
The plains of Mesopotamia were a rich and undefended treasure land, so wars continued year after year.Languages merged with each other, and dynasties changed frequently.In such a short text, we can only mention a few famous words and achievements.
Sumerian writing There was a famous early people in Mesopotamia, the Sumerians.Like Egypt, they are agricultural countries, growing grains, raising livestock, weaving cloth, and making pottery on the plains irrigated by rivers.The Sumerians, like the Egyptians, used stone tools, but they were using copper tools by 4000 BC or earlier.The Sumerians also had an ancient writing system, very similar to that of Egypt.
The Sumerians also carved characters on stones at first, but because of the scarcity of stones in the Mesopotamian Plain and the lack of papyrus for making paper, they came up with a way to carve characters on soft clay. on the plate, and then dry the clay plate.Their writing instrument was a pointed stylus, much like a pencil or point drill, with which they wrote cuneiform.Because this kind of writing is "cuneiform", it is called cuneiform, just as the Egyptian writing of the same period is called hieroglyphic (the original meaning of hieroglyphs is "holy picture", and Egyptian writing is very similar to pictures).The word cuneiform is derived from the Latin word, while the word hieroglyphic is derived from the Greek word.The pictorial writing of ancient Egypt is often considered sacred because many of the people who wrote it were priests.
If all letters, contracts, documents, and records were written on clay tablets or bricks, it must be very cumbersome to carry, but they also have the advantage that they are easy to preserve.Very fortunate for those of us who study history.Much of the history of Mesopotamia has been discovered from these clay tablets.
The Semites in Sumer For a long time, many cities in Sumer were ruled by Semites, invaders from the west.Sargon was their greatest king, and his empire was vast.Around 2870 BC, he founded the capital city of Akkad above Mesopotamia, near the present-day city of Baghdad.Therefore, he is known in history as Sargon of Akkad, also known as Sargon I.
Code of Hammurabi For a long time, some of the lower Euphrates valley was called Akkad.At the same time, these places were also called Babylonia, named after the city of Babylon.Babylon was one of the famous cities of the ancient world.Around 4000 BC, in Babylon lived a king named Hammurabi, the most famous ruler of ancient Mesopotamia.He conquered all of Akkad and Sumer, drove the Ilamites to the mountains to their east, and extended his dominion far north from the Persian Gulf along the Euphrates and Tigris.Although he was very successful in military affairs, what Hammurabi was proud of was the dredging of the Grand Canal for irrigation and the magnificent temples he built.
But what we know most about Hammurabi is the code he compiled.Not so long ago we found a code of laws carved in a black stone, 40 centuries old!Although we can be sure that there were older legal codes between the Sumerians and the Egyptians, the Code of Hammurabi was the first important set of laws, and all of its original texts have survived to this day.The code, 282 statutes in all, was short compared with modern law, but it dealt with the usual concerns—business, marriage, wages, murder, theft, and debt.
Under the protection of Hammurabi’s laws, Babylon’s business gradually prospered, which can be verified from thousands of clay tablets.Grain, oil, dates, hides, and clay pots were all transported to neighboring countries in caravans formed by donkeys bearing the heavy load.Babylon traded for gold, silver, copper, stone, wood, salt, slaves, and many other goods.Hammurabi's successors still built temples, offered rich sacrifices to the gods, founded cities, and dug canals to irrigate their fields.The last king fell to the warlike Hittites in 1926 BC.We will learn more about the Hittites below.
[-]. Barbarians, horses and empires
A Brief Review The previous sections have described the rise of the two great civilized kingdoms of Egypt and Babylonia.In both places, the fertile soil of the riverside depressions favored a densely populated agricultural population, which banded together into a well-organized kingdom.At about the same time, civilization was gradually developing in other places in the Near East, especially Crete and the islands of the Aegean Sea.More on these places will be mentioned later.
In the 18th century BC, both Egypt and Babylonia were invaded by barbarians.Babylonia was invaded by the Kassites—a hardy wandering people from the mountains east of the Tigris, who came to Babylonia first as harvest workers, then as robbers and raiders, and finally became a conqueror.This is the story of barbarians plundering the wealth of civilized plains that has been repeated again and again.The Kassites adopted the gods and customs of the conquered peoples, intending to learn the Babylonian language that was used as the language of commerce and government.They also tried to learn the ancient Sumerian script, which was only used by priests and some learned people at that time.
For about six centuries, the Kassite conquerors struggled to maintain control over the cities of Babylon, Akkad, and Sumer.The immediate consequences of their conquest of these lands were internal chaos, disputes among local chiefs, and the decline of civilization.
The Hyksos in Egypt About the same time as the Kassites attacked Babylon (about 1800 BC), Egypt also suffered from barbarian invasions.The terrified Egyptians dubbed them the Hyksos, or "Princes of the Desert," from Syria across the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt.The Hyksos came on horseback.One can imagine the panic of the Egyptian infantry. When the Hyksos soldiers driving the chariots slashed left and right with curved swords made of bronze and rushed towards them, all they held were weak bows and arrows, copper axes, bronze short swords and broad-brimmed spears.Shamed and defeated, the proud people of the Nile soon found themselves enslaved, their properties plundered, their lands seized, their temples defiled, their ancestral graves looted, and their magnificent palaces destroyed.This left the Egyptians with centuries of resentment and grief.
When the Hyksos kings ruled Egypt, a native Egyptian prince declared independence at Thebes on the upper reaches of the Nile, calling on patriotic Egyptians to gather under his banner and attack foreign kings.At this time, perhaps the Egyptians had already started fighting the Hyksos with horses.After a long bloody battle, around 1580 BC, the Hyksos were finally expelled from Egypt, across the Sinai Peninsula, and fled to Palestine and Syria.
Horses and Chariots Before the Hyksos and Kassites invaded, the peasants of Egypt and Babylonia had never used horses, either in war or in peaceful work.However, both the Kassites and the Hyksos belong to the peoples who use horses.There is no doubt that it was because of the use of horses that they were able to sweep the rich plain so successfully.The appearance of the horse is a crucial thing.Both the Egyptians and the Babylonians began to learn to use horses to drive chariots and do other jobs.Thus conquerors were able to gallop quickly to distant provinces and achieve victory.In the past, conquest was often akin to a raiding raid, since conquered territories were able to regain their independence when the conquering armies returned home.But since the use of horses, conquerors can send messengers and soldiers quickly, and rebellions can be eliminated more quickly.As for the impact on civilization, it is even more significant.Because the use of horses became more and more common, the commercial and cultural exchanges between the places in the Near East gradually became closer, and civilization developed accordingly.
The combination of the wheel and the horse was an important overland transporter not only of conquest and law, but also of commerce and art.The wheel and the horse made it possible to create and rule vast empires.
The Hittite Empire One of the earliest and greatest empires founded by horsemen was the Hittite Empire.Some time before the Hyksos attack on Egypt and the Cassite conquest of Babylonia, Hittite horsemen had created a powerful kingdom in Asia Minor.The Hittite kings gradually expanded their territories by means of wars, alliances, and treaties, until they could truly be called an empire.The heyday of this empire was approximately from 1400 BC to 1200 BC, and it was the most powerful country in the Near East at that time.
Until a few years ago, we knew very little about this great country.However, in recent years people have deciphered the Hittite writing system and learned a lot about the well-organized government, laws and history of the Hittite nation.In terms of military and government, the Hittites were comparable to the Egyptians and Babylonians, but their contribution to civilization as a whole was secondary.Around 1200 BC, the Hittites were defeated by invaders called the "Sea Peoples", and the once mighty empire collapsed.
[-]. The Egyptian Empire
War and Conquest The Egyptian prince who led the Egyptians to victory against the Hyksos, proclaimed himself king around 1580 BC and made Thebes his capital.His successors all belonged to the No.18 dynasty, and several of them were outstanding generals and great conquerors.During the long battle against the Hyksos, the Egyptians became fierce and warlike.Their archers learned from the Hyksos the simple method of using a quiver to hold extra arrows as an extra supply.They have gained a reputation for accurate shooting of important targets.The Egyptians also adopted the horse-drawn chariots brought into Egypt by the Hyksos.The most successful warlike pharaohs were Thutmose I and Thutmose III, who used hieroglyphs to inscribe their exploits on ornate monuments and temples.The conquered lands did not really become part of the Egyptian territory, but they were forced to pay tribute and recognize the pharaoh as overlord.Rebellions happen from time to time, Syria, for example, rebels repeatedly and is conquered repeatedly.
These conquests had certain consequences: (1) they spread Egyptian civilization south to Nubia and northeast to Syria; (2) they added wealth to the pharaohs.The pharaohs received many tributes of gold and silver from Syria and Nubia.They also acquired groups of slaves, because all the captives during the war were enslaved; (3) Because of their contacts with other peoples, the Egyptians saw new cultures, followed the customs of other peoples, and learned about other peoples religion.
Art and Architecture In Thebes, the capital, many magnificent temples were built to worship the god Amun.The largest of these is the magnificent building known today as the Temple of Karnak. The roof of the temple is supported by large stone pillars made of granite. The road leading from the temple to the river is lined with statues of monster sphinxes on both sides. .No city in the world can surpass Thebes, the "city of a hundred gates".
Regarding the art and architecture of Egypt during this period, the following points can be noted: (1) Art and architecture were mainly used by prominent pharaohs and gods.The largest and most graceful buildings were the temples to the gods and the palaces to the pharaohs. (2) The architects not only showed extraordinary skills in carving huge stone statues, but also showed amazing strength in handling huge stone blocks.They were able to excavate a 1000-ton block of granite from a remote quarry, transport it to Thebes, and carve it into a colossus 90 feet high. (3) Regarding painting and sculpture, Egyptian artists created according to certain fixed rules, and their works are very similar.They sculpted the faces so lifelike they made the statues look amazing. (4) The four sides of the temple are often covered with various paintings and hieroglyphic engravings.Undoubtedly, the main purpose of engraving at that time was as decoration, but now it has become a valuable historical material. (5) No matter in terms of majestic architecture, stone carving, or painting, the Egyptians are the forerunners.The works of the Egyptians were imitated by many countries, and at the same time promoted the development of art in the entire Near East.
Religion The Egyptians were polytheists - they had many gods.Every place has its own gods.There are thousands of gods and goddesses in total.Some gods are represented by birds, beasts and reptiles, such as the falcon god, jackal god and crocodile god.There are also gods who represent forces of nature, such as Ra, the sun god, and Osiris, the river god.
During the Old Kingdom, the sun god Ra was worshiped as the greatest god, and Pharaoh was regarded as the son of Ra.After the establishment of the empire, the capital of the country was moved from Memphis to Thebes, and the god Amon of Thebes became the supreme god.Ra also became one with Amun, so the two names are often written together: Amun-Ra, as if they were one god.
There are many very interesting stories or myths about god and goddess marriages, quarrels and other events.Judging from the myths and chants that have survived, the educated Egyptians believed in an afterlife, so, as we have seen, they created the technology of preserving corpses and the beautiful construction of tombs.
"Book of the Dead" In order to help an Egyptian to get the pardon of the gods, the judge of the dead, after his death, some good things about him were written on papyrus and placed around him.Here are some examples:
I have never caused starvation
I have not harmed a slave with the master of a slave
I never stole food from the dead
Such words are considered to have the effect of a spell, with the magic power of witchcraft.A collection of such discourses is often called the Book of the Dead.
Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered in 1922.He was a pharaoh who ruled Thebes from 1358 BC to 1352 BC.Along with the discovery of this royal mummy, many gold objects, several exquisite bottles, some ornate robes and some royal treasures were also found.
Egyptian priests, especially after Tutankhamun's time, were men of considerable wealth and power.
The economy lived in the Nile Valley, where agriculture still held the primacy.As long as the irrigation canals were fixed and the farmers went about their work, Egypt remained a rich country.However, most of the land in the country is occupied by kings, priests and wealthy nobles.Most of the people who worked on the land were slaves, hired labor, shepherds and herdsmen.Fine work and manufacturing have been developed.Stonecutters, masons, potters, carpenters, jewelers, painters, coppersmiths, and goldsmiths numbered in the tens of thousands.
Foreign trade started in the early days, and with the development of trade, exquisite vases, papyrus, linen, jewelry, etc. were mass-produced and exported.As early as 3000 BC, Egypt had acquired gold from European gold mines, bought livestock, fish, wine, incense, and even ships and wheeled vehicles from Syria, and bought them from Nubia in the south. Ivory, gold and ostrich.In the 15th century BC, Queen Hatshepsut, known as the first great woman in history, sent five Egyptian ships heading south across the Red Sea to Punt, which may be present-day Somalia.Even before that, a canal had been dug to allow ships to pass from the Nile to the northern end of the Red Sea.
Decline and Greatness By 1200 BC, the Egyptian Empire was in decline.At that time, most of the soldiers who formed the army were captives with the names of Pharaoh tattooed on their bodies, and there were also some mercenaries from other countries.After that, the rulers of each country competed with each other.In 670 BC, Egypt was conquered by the Assyrians, in 525 BC, Egypt was defeated by the Persians, and later invaded by other peoples.
But whoever thinks that the decline of Egypt's military power or its loss of independence is the end of its importance or influence is very wrong.Its greatness lay not in war, but in agriculture, industry, art, and thought, and Egypt remained great in these long after its conquest.Egyptian pottery influenced pottery styles elsewhere and is still emulated today.Glazing of glass and pottery belongs to its inventions.Colonnades were used in Egypt long before the Greeks, and arches were invented long before the Romans.What it left to the modern world is a calendar with 12 months and 365 days in a year.Its scholars had worked out the elementary foundations of arithmetic and geometry.
[-]. The Aegean Civilization and the Sea King of Crete
The early trade between Crete and Egypt was in the Eastern Mediterranean, south of Greece and northwest of Egypt, there was a long mountainous island, namely Crete.It wasn't until the early 20th century that historians discovered that Crete was the birthplace of an ancient empire.But since then, the buried ruins have gradually been unearthed, telling us a tragic story of a wealthy empire and sudden encounter.
Before the Egyptian pyramids were built, the inhabitants of Crete had begun to use copper artifacts, made clay pots, established villages, and probably even ventured at sea.Whether they went to Egypt, or whether the Egyptians reached Crete, we have no way of knowing, but what is certain is that the two countries were connected, because both had brave sailors.The Cretan makers of pottery, weapons, and various metal utensils learned much from Egypt.Cretan artists imitated and improved Egyptian motifs to refine their skills.Crete became the main conduit for the northward spread of Egyptian culture.
The Minoan Age of Crete During the more than 3400 years from about 1200 BC to about 2000 BC, Crete became one of the most important centers of civilization.This period is often referred to as the Minoan age, because in Greek legend the king of Crete was named Minos.Roughly speaking, the Minoan period in Crete corresponds to Egypt from the beginning of the ancient kingdom to the end of the empire; it also corresponds to Mesopotamia from the period of Sumerian city-states to the end of the Kassites. The end of the reign.
The glory of Knossos From about 2000 BC to 1400 BC, Cretan culture reached its peak.Excavation data show that there were very rich cities in Crete at that time, the largest of which was Knossos.The ruler of Knossos was apparently the king of the island, perhaps with colonies in Greece and elsewhere.The ruins of the Knossos palace show that the king not only had a considerable number of mechanics, jewelers, artists and laborers, but also many officials and clerks who obeyed the command.The storerooms of the palace contained rows of large jars containing olive oil, wine, and grain.Stacks of clay tablets contain government archives and memos.If anyone could read the Cretan script, there is no doubt that these records can tell us many interesting secrets.
Art, Trade, and Sea Power The Cretans were skilled in metalworking and pottery.Using copper from Cyprus and tin quarried as far away as Europe, they forged beautiful daggers, longswords, and other bronze utensils.Their pottery pots were made on potter's wheels and were extremely ornately depicted, and were famous in the Near East.They also handle technical tasks, such as the water and drainage systems in the palace.The Cretans did not build temples as large as Egypt, or carve stone statues as large, but they have shown great artistic talent in murals, pottery painting, and metal work decoration. .
Crete occupies a very important position in sea power and trade.Its ships not only reached Egypt, but also traveled all over the eastern Mediterranean coast, and perhaps even reached the west bank.Colonies of Crete were found in Cyprus, Greece, Sicily and other places.The Cretan navy must have been strong enough to defend distant colonies, guard Cretan maritime trade and protect the palace of Knossos.King Knossos can be described as a real "sea king".
The Cretans spread their culture throughout the area around the Aegean Sea, so the Cretan culture is often referred to as "Aegean Civilization".But most importantly, we must pay attention to Crete's influence on Greece.At that time, the civilization of the Greek peninsula was inferior to that of Crete, because the Cretans had established colonies on the Greek peninsula.Colonial ruins have been found at Mycenae, Tiryns, and elsewhere.We will go into details in the chapter on Greek city-states.
The fall of Knossos Around 1400 BC, Crete experienced a sudden and mysterious tragedy.The great palace of Knossos was looted and burned, and the rest of the cities of Crete met a similarly cruel fate.Is it mutiny?Is it an earthquake?The greatest possibility should be that the foreign enemy defeated or avoided the Cretan navy, suddenly swept across those wealthy cities, and looted a large amount of property.The invaders were probably pirates from the Greek peninsula or Mycenae.
[-]. Syria and the Semites
Migration of peoples During the period following the sacking of Knossos, there was a massive southward migration in the Aegean region.It was a time of migration and invasion.Teams of adventurers looted their homes everywhere, and the people of all nationalities who were expelled from their hometown had to find a place to live in a new place.Some drifted at sea in boats, while others traveled overland across Asia Minor and Syria in cumbersome two-wheeled vehicles.The first few groups encountered an Egyptian army, were defeated and killed.But subsequent groups of migrants settled in Syria and Palestine.
Syria is a mountainous country located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, originating from the Taurus Mountains in the north and extending to the Sinai Peninsula in the south.Palestine is simply the southern part of Syria closest to Egypt.Although the southeastern sides of Syria are bounded by deserts, they are famous for their cattle and sheep, wine, honey and olive oil, as well as copper mines, commerce, and the high-quality timber produced by the cypress forests that cover the slopes of Lebanon. of.
With Egypt to the south, Asia Minor to the north, and the valley of the Euphrates to the northeast, Syria has historically served as a battlefield, a channel of commerce, and a place of gathering and mixing.Syria became the turbulent melting pot of the ancient world, its inhabitants a mixture of all races.The Philistines came from Crete and Asia Minor; the Hittites from Asia Minor; other peoples from elsewhere.Yet the language of this country is more consistent than blood.Many of the languages spoken in Syria belong to a group of languages often called Semitic languages, and the speakers of these languages are collectively known as Semites.Not only the Hebrews, but also the nearby tribes and Arabs belong to the "Semites" in terms of language.Even the Philistines learned to speak a Semitic language.
Hebrews The Hebrews, or the children of Israel, whose sacred writings make up the Holy Book of the Jews and the Old Testament in the Christian Bible.They are nomads, wandering around, looking for pastures for their sheep and cattle. The "Old Testament" tells us how the Hebrews went south to Egypt during the famine, then suffered oppression, fled again, and returned to Palestine after a long wandering.
In Palestine the great kings of the Hebrews were David and Solomon.In the 10th century BC, under the rule of Solomon, wealth was obtained due to commercial prosperity.A fleet on the Red Sea sailed to Russia to mine gold.Horses, twine, and chariots were brought back from Egypt, transit taxes were levied on spice merchants, and ships were sent on long voyages to Spain.But Solomon's greatest glory was that he built a magnificent temple to Yahweh in Jerusalem.Not long after Solomon's death, the kingdom was divided into two parts, which were conquered by the Assyrians and the Babylonians respectively.
Religious Teacher Israel's main contribution to the world was the preaching of the Gospel of the Holy Spirit.To issue a warning to the world, do not worship idols, do not agree with the worship of polytheism (polytheism), and insist on worshiping and worshiping the only and supreme God Jehovah.Some Hebrews believed that Jehovah was the unique God of their tribe or nation, but some great prophets believed that Jehovah was the God of all mankind, the most holy and most impartial.This view of God and the Ten Commandments and other noble teachings gave the world a new standard of religion and morality.If one understands the human sacrifices, evil rituals, and inferior beliefs of other ancient religions, one can understand what the Hebrews did to the world as teachers of religion and morality.The Hebrew prophets had laid the groundwork for Christianity in the hearts of the people.
The Phoenicians lived along the coast of Syria with the Phoenicians.They were neighbors of Semites and Hebrews.Their principal cities included Tyre, Sidon, and Bibles.The Phoenicians mainly did two things, namely commerce and colonization.After the demise of Crete and the decline of Egypt, the Phoenicians began to establish colonies in northern Africa, Sicily, Cyprus, or Greece.The largest of these colonies was Carthage, in what is now Tunisia.The Phoenicians were for a long time a rival to Rome.
The Phoenicians are often credited as the inventors of the English writing system because of their use of the alphabet.Even if the Phoenicians did not create the alphabet, at least they used it and passed it on to other peoples.Perhaps the Greeks received the alphabet from the Phoenicians and spread it throughout Europe.This event is far more important in world history than the wars of a Thutmose pharaoh or the wealth of a King Solomon.
The word Alphabet (letter) is composed of the two letters alpha and beta at the beginning of the Greek word.Each letter originally had a meaning, such as beta, derived from the Semitic word betha, which means a house; such as alpha, also derived from the Semitic word aleph, meaning a cow.Perhaps A (alpha, aleph, etc.) was originally a symbol or picture of a bull's head.It may be that each letter was originally a sign or picture, but later this sign became used only for one syllable, combined with other syllables to form countless words.From the crude drawings of the cave dwellers who pioneered them, to the pictorial writing of the Egyptians and other peoples that led us on the road to modern writing, what a valuable invention the alphabet is!
[-]. Empires in the Iron Age
Iron Age During the long history of the early kingdoms of Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Crete, bronze was the metal used to make tools and weapons.But sometime before 1100 B.C., iron ore was melted and molded into the desired shape, and the art of forging the edges into sharp edges was mastered.This had astonishing consequences for the kingdoms and empires of the Near East.People who use iron can conquer other peoples, and iron has become an important commodity. In order to seize iron ore, various countries have triggered many wars.
Early Assyria Assyria was already very important before the Iron Age.Assyria was located northwest of Babylonia, far up the Tigris River.We must clearly distinguish it from Syria.
Assyrians could write on clay tablets, ride horses, drive chariots, and shoot arrows with crossbows.They are famous for their chariots and cavalry.Infantry consisting of spearmen, swordsmen, and archers forms dense formations or phalanxes that are not easily broken during battle.By the 11th century BC, the Assyrians were already fighting with iron weapons.
Expansion and Empire Since the 11th century BC, a series of warlike kings appeared in Assyria. Almost every year, they gathered their people, threw down the plow, took up the sword, and fought a fierce short-term war of aggression.Kings go to war in person, hardened by carnage.Their tyranny can be listed as long as their names.In the 9th century BC, Sharmanese III forced many small countries in Syria to pay tribute to him, and he also conquered Silesia, which was rich in silver mines.In the 10th century BC, Tiglath-Palasher III and Sargon II captured iron and copper mines from the Armenians in the mountains north of Assyria.In the 7th century BC, Sennacherib crushed the rebellions of Babylonia and Ilam and conquered Syria.His son Asarhaddon also conquered Egypt, which was under Assyrian rule from 670 BC to 651 BC.At this time, Assyria was indeed the most powerful empire in the Near East.
The Romans of the East, the Assyrians, had many similarities to the Romans we are about to talk about.The Assyrians were the Romans of the East.Both were warlike, and both built mighty empires by force.Both used iron fists in the formation and rule of empires, but they showed extraordinary dexterity in management.They built good roads, allowing messengers and armies to move quickly.
At the beginning, Assyrian agriculture was a small farm, but later it suddenly became a large manor controlled by a small number of rich people, and slaves were allowed to farm it.Manufactures and commerce were left in foreign hands.
Assyrian culture In terms of civilization, the Assyrians, like the Romans, relied on other nations and continued to pass on.This is their main cultural contribution.But in some respects, like architecture, the Assyrians were more than just imitators.Every Assyrian king wanted to build a more magnificent palace, intending to surpass his predecessors.King Sennacherib rebuilt the ancient city of Nineveh and made it his capital.Ashurbanipal was a scholar of the king. He collected a large number of books, and with the help of a dictionary to study on his own, he even understood the ancient Sumerian characters.
King Ashurbanipal reigned from 669 BC to 626 BC.After him came disaster: civil war, rebellion, invasion.In 612 BC, proud Nineveh fell to the combined forces of Babylonians, Medes and Scythians.A scholar at the time wrote briefly: "They took from the city in quantities beyond count, after which they reduced the city to a ruined mound."
Babylon once again had the upper hand.King Nebuchadnezzar reigned from 605 BC to 562 BC, during which time Babylonian wars of aggression broke out again.He was very famous, especially when he captured and burned Jerusalem and brought many captives back to Babylon, one of whom was the young prophet Daniel.
Nebuchadnezzar built his own magnificent palace in Babylon and also built the famous "hanging gardens" for his Persian queen.In fact, the sky garden is a large balcony.The queen missed the mountains and rivers of her hometown very much, but there was no such scenery in Babylon, so the king helped her build it artificially.After Nebuchadnezzar's death, Babylon's momentum of prosperity did not last long.In 539 BC, the Persians conquered Babylon.
[-]. The Rise of Persia
In ancient times Persia was part of the mountainous Iranian plateau stretching from the Caspian Sea in the north to the Persian Gulf in the south.The rest of this plateau was Media.The Medes are often associated with the Persians.Their places of residence are adjacent, and they appear in history at the same time, and they may have close relatives, so they all claim to be Iranians.We all call their land the Iranian plateau.
The Medes The Medes regularly lost ground to their warlike neighbors, the Assyrians, until the 7th century BC when the situation was reversed.The king of the Medes, Cheaxale, trained his cavalry better than the Assyrians.The Iranians were skilled riders, they could quickly surround their enemies (as the American Indians once did), and when the horses were galloping, they could hit the target with perfect accuracy.As mentioned earlier, it was Chiaxale who united the Babylonians and the Scythians to destroy the city of Nineveh together.
Persians About half a century later, around 550 BC, Media was conquered by the Persian king Cyrus.In the future, we must remember that the word Persian includes the Medes, and the word Persia also includes Medes.Cyrus knew tactics and was full of ambition. His life's work was conquest, plunder, and war.He conquered all of Asia Minor and, in 539 BC, made Babylon a vassal of Persia.Since then, Cyrus' empire has also included the Syrian territories of Mesopotamia and Babylon.
Persia is the successor of Babylon and Assyria. This young and energetic Persian Empire has seized and inherited excellent culture.Most of the elements of Persian civilization appeared elsewhere.The Persians inherited cuneiform writing from ancient Mesopotamia, and directly or indirectly from the Assyrians the art of architecture, the organization of armies, and the way of governing an empire.
In terms of religion in Zoroaster, the Persians have their own independent religion, which is also one of their contributions to civilization.They had their own prophet named Sarasushtra, which means Zoroaster in Greek and is better known by the latter title.When Zoroaster was young, the god of life and light he believed in, that is, Ahura Mashida, had shown words that increased his wisdom in many visions.These words and various hymns and maxims are recorded in the "Avesta", which may be called the "Bible" of the ancient Persians.
According to Zoroaster, Ahura Mashida and all good people are constantly fighting against the evil god Ahriman and all evil people.In this way, life is a continuous struggle, but in the end it must be Ahura Mashida and the good people who win.Everyone will be judged after death. If good deeds outweigh sins, they will go to heaven; otherwise, they will be handed over to Ahriman.
At first the number of Zoroastrian converts was very small, and then his teachings spread rapidly.Perhaps Zoroastrian died in many wars for the new religion, but Zoroastrianism became the religion of Persia.
(End of this chapter)
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