A Brief History of the Ancient Near East
Goals for today: understand general political history of Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon understand the importance of these political situations to Israel understand how Israel is able to thrive only when there is a lull on the world scene understand how empires took tribute from Israel and other vassal countries
A Brief History of the Nations in the Ancient Near East A. Languages B. Nations – Egypt – Sumer – Akkadians Assyria Babylon – Syria – Philistia – Hatti (Hittites)
A. Languages Main languages are the Semitic languages – Hebrew: Israel – Akkadian: Assyria and Babylon – etc. Other languages – Sumerian: Sumer – Egyptian: Egypt – Hittite: Hatti
Egypt: 3 major period 1. Old Kingdom: 2800 - 2200 B. C. E. – roughly Early Bronze Age 2. Middle Kingdom: 2000 - 1750 B. C. E. – Middle Bronze is 2200 to 1550 3. New Kingdom: 1550 -1150 B. C. E. – Late Bronze is 1550 -1200 periods between: – 2200 - 2000 rival powers in Egypt – 1750 - 1550: Hyksos invaders dominate Egypt
Egypt’s Dynasties Since the Greek historian, Manetho (3 rd century B. C. E. ) There are some problems with these divisions, but it has been done for centuries
Dynasties and Kingdoms Old Kingdom: 3 -6 Dynasties – time of pyramids – 2800 to 2200 BCE Middle Kingdom: 10 -12 Dynasties – ruled from Thebes – 2000 to 1750 Hyksos period: 13 -17 Dynasties – 1750 to 1550 BCE New Kingdom: 18 -19 Dynasties – 1550 to 1200 BCE – 20 th Dynasty and beyond goes to Greek conquest
Hyksos (15 th) Dynasty
18 th Dynasty First Dynasty of New Kingdom Strongest point in Egyptian History in 1550, Ahmose I reunited Egypt – Egypt controls Canaan Thutmoses III (1490 -1436) leads Egypt to its strongest point Amenhotep IV: el-Amarna letters written at capital of el-Amarna
Thutmose III
19 th Dynasty came to power ~1300 w/ Sethi I and Rameses II reasserted control over Asia Minor moved capital to border of Sinai in delta most scholars identify this with period of Exodus ? Sethi I is Pharaoh who enslaves Israelite ? Rameses II is Pharaoh of Exodus
Rameses II
20 th Dynasty and beyond from 1200 down to Greek conquest Egypt declined at end of Late Bronze Age and start of Iron I Age never become as dominant several Iron Age II pharaohs who are strong, but never controls known world
Sumer first great civilization in the world arose around 3500 (start of Early Bronze) Sumer located in marshes of lower Mesopotamia between Tigris and Euphrates invented writing (Gilgamesh) advanced mathematics based on number 6 much of their art / culture was adopted by the Semitic peoples
Akkadians later the two main countries would be Assyria (in North) and Babylon (in South) ~2400, Sargon I is first Semitic ruler to defeat the Sumerians the Akkadians adopted Sumerian culture and religion, but kept Semitic language controlled Mesopotamia until Cyrus the Great (Persian ruler ~520)
Assyria: 9 th century Ashurnasipal II (888 -859) Shalmeneser III (858 -824) – pictured Jehu (842 -815) giving tribute – Qarqar in 853 B. C. E. from 800 to 750 lost control of world due to internal struggles
Battle of Qarqar in 853 B. C. E.
Assyria: 8 th century Tiglath-Peleser III (747 -727) – restores power – expands westward – from now until fall of Ninevah (612), Assyria is a constant threat to Israel and Judah Sargon II (721 -705) – Israel falls Sennacherib (704 -681): Judah almost falls Assurbanipal (668 -628): last great king
Tiglath. Pileser III
Tiglath-Pileser III (745– 727)
Sennacherib’s 701 campaign
Rise of Assyria
Babylon After 625, they were able to win over from Assyria exacted tribute from Canaan just like Assyria had done defeated Judah in 596 and 586 Babylon falls to Cyrus the Great (Persian ruler) in 520
The Rise of the Babylonian Empire
The Rise and Fall of the Babylonian Empire
Syria used Semitic language known from Ugarit and Ebla kingdom of Aram culture similar to Canaan but not exactly the same (although many scholars make too many parallels)
Philistines they occupy the coastal area in Canaan come onto the scene about the time the Israelites arrive on the scene they are one of the Sea Peoples, but not all Sea Peoples are Philistines wiped out in early 6 th century by Babylon
Hittites they occupied the area of modern Turkey as a world power, they fell at the end of the Late Bronze Age and start of Iron Age this is about the time period when Israel comes onto the scene not a huge presence for Israel, but a presence in terms of culture (esp. cov’t)
Conclusions: remember: Israel’s economic resources Israel thrived when there was a lull in the world political situation Israel needed contacts with other nations these relationships help us understand the political scene in Israel and Judah, and also the religious texts that evolve out of these settings.
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