Ziggurat

began to be built around 2000 BC

center of a Sumerian city
stepped temple made of baked brick
for the patron god of the city; inside was the statue of a god/goddess; statue was equated with
the god itself, so the god actually lived in the ziggurat
Ut-Napishtim
2700 BC
protagonist of the Sumerian flood myth
when the gods decide to send a great flood to wipe out the humans, Ut-Napishtim receives divie
favor from the goddess Ea and builds a boat to carry him and his family and one of each animal
as a result, he and his wife are granted immortality
his story is recounted in the Epic of Gilgamesh wherein he is sought out by Gilgamesh, who is
pursuing immortality
Gilgamesh
king of Uruk, 2700 BC
the strongest of men, performer of mighty deeds, a demigod who built the city walls of Uruk to
defend his people
but he was also seen as an oppressive ruler, and the gods sent the wild man Enkidu to defeat
him; however, Enkidu became civilized and became friends with Gilgamesh instead
Gilgamesh grieves upon Enkidu's death and despairs at the thought of his own mortality, and so
seeks out Ut-Napishtim in a quest for immortality; he obtains a plant that would bestow him
immortality, but that plant is stolen; his failure shows that all men are mortal, and cannot reach
the level of the gods
Enkidu
2700 BC
the wild man sent by the gods to kill Gilgamesh
a prostitute is sent to humanize and civilize Enkidu, and the newly reformed Enkidu befriends
Gilgamesh
Enkidu dies not in battle but by sickness at the hands of the gods; his death is what spurs
Gilgamesh on his quest for immortality
Sargon
r. 2340-2284 BC
as an infant he was placed into a basket woven out of reeds and sent down the Euphrates River
thanks to the favor of the goddess Ishtar, he became king of Kish, and then continued to
conquer the rest of Akkad and then Sumer
his rule was so secure that even after his death, the kingship remained in his family; that is, he
created a royal dynasty
Ishtar
2700 BC
a goddess who proposes marriage to Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh rejects Ishtar, on the grounds that she turns her former lovers into animals
Ishtar is insulted and sends the Bull of Heaven to defeat Gilgamesh, and when that fails, she
strikes Enkidu with a mortal illness
Hammurabi
ca. 1792-1750 BC

 the most accomplished of the Babylonian kings

many advances in Babylonian culture: Epic of Gilgamesh reaches canonical form; Pythagorean
theorem; charting of Venus
Hammurabi expands his empire with military campaigns and improved the organization and
infrastructure of his empire
best-known achievement: Code of Hammurabi
the law describes a large range of aspects of Babylonian life
shows a consistent distinction between three social classes: nobles, commoners, slaves
lex talionis, or rule of retribution: an eye for an eye; but hurting nobles is a more serious
offense than hurting a commoner
high point of the First Dynasty of Babylon
Narmer-Menes
ca. 3100-3000 BC
pharaoh from the protodynastic period and the great unifier of Egypt
the Narmer Palette is a symbol of the unification
Nile River
the sole river of Egypt, flowing north into the Mediterranean
many cataracts; the first cataract was the southern boundary of ancient Egypt
the Nile branched out in a delta into seven branches (currently there are only two)
the branched region was known as Lower Egypt, also known as the delta, while upstream was
Upper Egypt
the Egyptians depended on the annual flooding of the Nile to water their crops
Ra/Amon-Ra
Egyptian god of the sun
By the Fifth Dynasty (2494-2345 BC), he is raised to the position of chief god of the entire land
Son of Ra becomes an official title of the pharaoh: the pharaoh takes on the name of Ra to show
that they ruled under him
Ra was later merged with the god Amon during the New Kingdom to form Amon-Ra
maat
truth, justice, and the Egyptian way
antithesis of lawlessness
the rule of the pharaoh is maat; the invaders that invade Egypt lack maat
Hyksos
Second Intermediate Period 1786-1575 BC (dynasties 13 to 17)
etymology: presumably chieftain of a modern hill-country; origin from modern-day
Israel/Palestine
Hyksos are depicted by Egyptians as vile, barbaric, and lacking in maat
the Hyksos themselves say that there was cooperation between Hyksos and the Egyptians
they are eventually overthrown
practiced the traditions of Egypt and even took on Son of Ra names
Hyksos taught them about the horse and chariot
Hatshepsut
r. 1490-1469 BC
first female ruler, in the 18th dynasty
as she was in a patriarchal society, she was depicted as a sphinx in a beard or in male clothing

 she had total control of Egypt

Amenhotep IV/Akhenaten
r. 1527-1507
attempts a religious revolution to convert the polytheistic Egypt into monotheistic, elevating the
literal disk of the sun to a god named Aten
he changes his name from Amenhotep IV to Akhenaten, or pleasing to Aten
he personally composes the Hymn to Aten, praising Aten as the one and only god
he also moved the capital from Thebes to Akhetaten, or Tell-el-Amarna, thus his reign is known
as the Amarna period
but everyone continued to worship the original gods anyway, and as soon as Akhenaten died,
everything reverted back to the old religion
everyone hated Akhenaten
Ramses III
r. 1184-1152 BC
second pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty in Egypt
best known for defending his country against invaders in three great wars
protected his country against Libyans twice and the Sea Peoples once
Sea Peoples
appears to have been a coalition coming from all over the Mediterranean, which is the sea
from the Sea Peoples
attacked in 1220 during Merenptah's reign and again during Ramses III's reign, but both times
they were fended off
Rosetta Stone
196 BC
a stone with writing on it in two languages (Egyptian and Greek) using three scripts
(hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek)
text written by a group of priests honoring the Egyptian pharaoh, listing all the good things the
pharaoh has done for Egypt
Abraham
ca. 2000-1750 BC
according to the Old Testament, the patriarch Abraham went north from Ur in Mesopotamia to
Uran and discovered Yahweh
the first person to teach that there was only one god
according to Hebrew tradition, he led a nomadic tribe into Palestine from the East around 1900
BC
Moses
1393 BC
he took the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt: the exodus
God appeared to him and gave him the Ten Commandments, and Moses created a covenant
with God
he leads his people through the Sinai Desert to Canaan
Saul
r. ca. 1020-1000
first king of Israel appointed by the Judge Samuel for the sake of unity among the Israelites to
rebel against the Philistines

 he contended with David as a rival, and David ultimately succeeded him

Ark of the Covenant
930 BC
a wooden chest containing the tablets of the Ten Commandments
originally a portable shrine sometimes carried into battle
David gave the Ark a fixed home in Jerusalem, and Solomon built a temple for it
David
r. ca. 1000-970 BC
David defeats Goliath and makes the Philistines flee
David captured Jerusalem and made it the capital of Israel
defeated the Philistines and forced them to pay tribute
expanded north and took the city of Damascus
moved to Ark of the Covenant to stay permanently in Jerusalem
Solomon
r. ca. 970-930 BC
Built a temple for the Ark: The Temple of Solomon
consolidated David's fledgling empire
showed tolerance for his pagan subjects, allowed pagan worship and pagan temples
improved foreign relations and the economy
public building programs used forced labor and taxes; Solomon's popularity fell
slips away from worship of God to worshiping pagan gods
The United Monarchy ends after his death
Babylonian Captivity
586-539 BC
roots of the Jewish Diaspora (scattering)
Judah fell to the Babylonians ruled by Nebuchadnezzar
the captives were deported to Babylon, but they were later allowed to trickle back
however, many were unable to come back and so had to figure out how to worship God in other
ways
Tiglath-pileser I
r. 1114-1076 BC
To Assyria I added land and to its people I added people: the primary duty of every king
thus, the goal of the king is to expand
considered himself an ideal ruler
Tiglath-pileser III
r. 744-727 BC
launched major innovations and campaigns in Assyria
expanded Assyria, stretching it from Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean including Israel
Sargon II
r. 721-705 BC
constant fighting during his reign, both internally and externally
Babylon revolted, but he put it down forcibly, and created Fort Sargon to celebrate his victory
Ashurbanipal
r. 668-ca. 630 BC
two famous exploits:

 conquest of Egypt; control of Egypt was short, but relations remained friendly even after Egypt
gained independence
creation of new great library: he was a scholar as well as a conqueror; he learned Sumerian and
Akkadian; ordered retrieval of thousands of Babylonian and Sumerian texts to collect and
translate