MT1 Week5 NearEasternKingdoms

Question 1

Empires

Answer 1

• Empires are defined as large-­scale political entities that bring a diverse group of societies (including other states and their territories) under a single ruler
• Early Bronze Age empires arise in Near East in the 3rd millennium BC
• Akkadian Empire under King Sargon I
• Ur III (Sumerian Renaissance)
• Elam with capital Susa that we did not look at
• In this lecture we look at Near Eastern Empires of the 2nd millennium BC

Question 2

Middle Bronze Age group 1: 2000-­1700 BC

Bronze Age cities of Anatolia
2000-­1700 BC

Answer 2

• First cities form in Anatolia about 2500 BC
• Alaça Höyuk (höyuk is a tell and in Persian it is a tepe)
• Rich Royal Graves
• Similar cities start to appear across Anatolian plain (kingdoms and city states)
• Sargon I (Akkadian Empire) brought southern portion of plain into Akkadian sphere of influence 2400 BC

Question 3

Kanesh (Kültepe)

Answer 3

These Clay tablets with Akkadian script were found in antiquities markets in the 1880s

• Bedrich Hrozny (1920s) discovers the origins of the tablets to be an Assyrian trading colony beside the city of Kanesh in Anatolia (modern day Turkey)
• Merchants were from the city of Assur on the Tigris & had a flourishing trade 1900 -­ 1750 BC
• Assur merchants sent tin and textiles to Kanesh by donkey caravan in return for silver from Anatolia
• Larger trading network (tin from Iran & possibly copper from Persian Gulf)

Question 4

Kanesh

Answer 4

• 10 Assyrian merchant colonies on the Anatolian plain in this period called the colonial period (21st-­18th century BC)
• Included Assyrian merchants and soldiers
• colonies were called karum (port) and Kanesh was the largest of these depots of caravans
• Karum did not pay taxes to the city as long as goods stayed within the karum
• Trade conducted by Assyrian merchant families and not the state
• Colonies were attached to Anatolian cities
• These cities were independent and controlled only their immediate area