WEEK 3 (9/12): Bronze Age Mesopotamia and Western Asia

Lecture Outline

 

1. Development of Writing

CUNEIFORM ("wedge-shaped," fr. Latin cuneus)

A. Origins

evolution of writing

B. Characteristics

pictographs

numerals

syllabary

tablet in Ugaritic

C. Uses

drawing of scribe and tablet holder

• administrative
  • Akkadian diplomatic letter found in Egypt
• literature
  • fragment of flood story from Gilgamesh in Akkadian
• religious
• law codes

D. Literacy in Mesopotamia 

2. Mesopotamia: Cultural Assimilation and Diffusion

Map of Middle Eastern Cradlelands

A. Assimilation as a consequence of conquest

Sargon

Sumerian and Akkadian gods (syncretism), e.g., Enlil and Marduk

coexistence of Sumerian and Akkadian

B. Invasions or migrations and their cultural impact

ca. 2000: Amorites: moved into region, then west and south

ca. 2000: Hurrians and then Hittites >> Greek world: myth

Semitic speakers (Amorites, ancestors of Israelites)

e.g, flood Stories: Gilgamesh and Genesis

3. Egypt

Old Kingdom: ca. 2770-2200 B.C.E.

Middle Kingdom: ca. 1990-1790 B.C.E.

New Kingdom or Empire: ca. 1570-1100 B.C.E.

A. Geography and Environment.

i. Nile region (Nile, and grain field)

ii. Surrounding area: desert , Red Sea, Mediterranean

iii. Implications and Consequences.

a. forces of nature benign

b. relative isolation and protection at early period

c. Importance of Nile for unity, transportation, communication

d. need for irrigation, water control (irrigation canal)