Chapter 3: The Mediterranean and Middle East, 2000-500 BCE Flashcards
(71 cards)
The Cosmopolitan Era can also be referred to as…
The Late Bronze Age, a time of widely shared cultures and lifestyles
What was Mesopotamia divided into in 1500 BCE?
Babylonia in the south and Assyria in the north
What did the Assyrians export to make bronze?
They exported textiles and tin, which they traded for silver with Anatolia.
What did the “Old Assyrian Kingdom” consist of?
They Assyrians had control of the Upper Euphrates RIver, which shows the importance of trade routes connecting Mesopotamia to Anatolia and the Syria- Palestine Coast.
Who were the Hittites?
The Hittites were people from Central Anatolia (modern day Turkey) who established an empire in Anatolia and Syria in Late Bronze Age, and were the most powerful in Anatolia from 1700-1200 BCE.
[The Hittites (/ˈhɪtaɪts/) were an Anatolian Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in modern-day Turkey in the early 2nd millennium BC. The Hittites formed a series of polities in north-central Anatolia […] and an empire centered on their capital, Hattusa (around 1650 BC). Known in modern times as the Hittite Empire, it reached its peak during the mid-14th century BC under Šuppiluliuma I, when it encompassed most of Anatolia and parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia, bordering the rival empires of the Hurri-Mitanni and Assyrians.
Between the 15th and 13th centuries BC, the Hittites were one of the dominant powers of the Near East, coming into conflict with the New Kingdom of Egypt, the Middle Assyrian Empire, and the Empire of Mitanni. By the 12th century BC, much of the Hittite Empire had been annexed by the Middle Assyrian Empire, with the remainder being sacked by Phrygian newcomers to the region. From the late 12th century BC, during the Late Bronze Age collapse, the Hittites splintered into several small independent states, some of which survived until the eighth century BC before succumbing to the Neo-Assyrian Empire; lacking a unifying continuity, their descendants scattered and ultimately merged into the modern populations of the Levant and Mesopotamia.]
What was the key Hittite development?
Iron tools, including iron horse-drawn war chariots.
They used copper, silver, and iron, and kept the process of making iron tools secret.
What culture did the Hittites borrow?
They borrowed Mesopotamian culture. This includes cuneiform
Who did Mesopotamian political and cultural concepts spread to?
Akkadian was used as a language between governments, and the Elamites and Hittites adopted cuneiform.
What was ugarit?
Ugarit was 30 cuneiform symbols used to write consonant sounds. It was the early use of the alphabet.
What happened to the Egyptian Middle Kingdom?
It declined in 1700 BCE due to the collapse of central authority. It fell under foreign rule of the Hyksos.
What gave the Hyksos advantage over the Egyptians?
Advanced military technologies, including the horse-drawn war chariot and composite bow.
How were the Hyksos seen by the Egyptians?
Although the Hyksos intermarried with the Egyptians and assimilated, they continued to be regarded as “foreign.”
Who was the reunification of Egypt under a native dynasty accomplished by?
Princes from Thebes, like in the formation of the Middle Kingdom 400 years earlier. After 30 years of warfare, Kamose and Ahmose expelled the Hyksos from Egypt and made the New Kingdom.
What shook Egyptian pride and their isolationist mindset?
A century of foreign Hyksos rule.
What was the mindset of the New Kingdom?
It was aggressive and expansionist, winning access to timber, gold, copper, taxes, and tribute.
Who was Hatshepsut and what did she do?
Hatshepsut (c. 1505–1458 BC, sixth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty, the first dynasty of the New Kingdom) held the throne in Egypt after Pharaoh Tuthmosis II died. She dispatched a naval expedition down the Red Sea to Punt, the source of Myrrh. This expedition was a success, yielding ebony, ivory, cosmetics, monkeys, and panther skins. She often used male pronouns and wore a beard. After her death, her name and image were defaced.
What was Myrrh?
A reddish brown resin from the sap of a local tree. It was burned on the altars of gods and used in medicines and cosmentics.
What did Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten do?
Reigning c. 1353–1336 or 1351–1334 BC as the tenth ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty, he built a new capital at Amama, made a new style of naturalistic art, and created a religious revolution by imposing the worship of a sun disk.
Why did Akhenaten change his name?
He changed his name to spread belief in Aten as the supreme deity. He closed the temples of other gods, imposing monotheism.
Why did Akhenaten change Egypt’s beliefs to be monotheistic?
He was trying to reassert the superiority of the king over priests. Worship was confined to the royal family, so everyone else had to worship him.
How were Akhenaten’s reforms taken?
They were hated by government officials and priests. After his death, temples were reopened. Amon became the chief god, and the capital returned to Thebes. Kingship weakened to priests.
Who was Tutankhamun?
A boy-king. He is famous because his tomb has not been pillaged.
What did Ramesses II do?
He undertook monumental building projects all over Egypt and had many wives, with possibly over 100 children.
What battle did Ramesses II fight?
He fought a major battle vs. the Hittites at Kadesh over control of Syria- Palestine in the 13th century BC. It was a draw, and they negotiated a treaty.
