History: Notes
I. The Quest for Order
A. Mesopotamia: "The land between the rivers"
1. Sumer
a. Sumerians migrated to Sumer, 5000 B.C.E., built irrigation networks
b. Became dominant by 3000 B.C.E.
c. Other inhabitants, mostly Semites - Akkadian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Phoenician
2. Sumerian city-states
a. A dozen cities dominated the area from 3200 to 2350 B.C.E.
b. Internal and external pressures promoted cities to become states
c. Importance of government in irrigation and self-defense
3. Sumerian Kings
a. Earliest governments: assemblies of prominent men
b. 3000 B.C.E., all cities were ruled by kings in cooperation with nobles
c. All cities were city-states, autonomous one to another
B. Egypt: "The Gift of the Nile"
1. The Nile River
a. Reliable water supplies and rich mulch: Beneficial conditions for agriculture
b. Agriculture began before 5000 B.C.E.
c. Agricultural communities appeared along the Nile, 4000 B.C.E.
2. Unification of Egypt
a. State emerged through Menes' conquest, 3100 B.C.E.
b. Important cities: Memphis, Thebes, Tanis
c. Centralized state ruled by the pharaoh, the god-king
3. The pyramids
a. Royal tombs, mostly constructed during the Old Kingdom
b. Enormous monuments, can be seen today at Giza, near Cairo
c. The largest is the pyramid of Khufu
C. The Course of Empire
1. Sargon of Akkad (2370-2315 B.C.E.)
a. Leader of the Semitic people from northern Mesopotamia
b. Organized a coup against the king, 2334 B.C.E.
c. Conquered Sumerian cities of Mesopotamia
d. Sargon's empire lasted for several generations, collapsed in 2100 B.C.E.
2. Hammurabi (re. 1792-1750 B.C.E.) and the Babylonian Empire
a. Babylonian Hammurabi, "King of the four quarters of the world"
b. His dynasty dominated Mesopotamia until 1600 B.C.E.
c. Devised the most extensive Mesopotamian law code
d. Empire fell under the invasion of the Hittites, 1595 B.C.E.
3. The Egyptian New Kingdom
a. Ahmosis, founder of New Kingdom,
A. Mesopotamia: "The land between the rivers"
1. Sumer
a. Sumerians migrated to Sumer, 5000 B.C.E., built irrigation networks
b. Became dominant by 3000 B.C.E.
c. Other inhabitants, mostly Semites - Akkadian, Hebrew, Aramaic, Phoenician
2. Sumerian city-states
a. A dozen cities dominated the area from 3200 to 2350 B.C.E.
b. Internal and external pressures promoted cities to become states
c. Importance of government in irrigation and self-defense
3. Sumerian Kings
a. Earliest governments: assemblies of prominent men
b. 3000 B.C.E., all cities were ruled by kings in cooperation with nobles
c. All cities were city-states, autonomous one to another
B. Egypt: "The Gift of the Nile"
1. The Nile River
a. Reliable water supplies and rich mulch: Beneficial conditions for agriculture
b. Agriculture began before 5000 B.C.E.
c. Agricultural communities appeared along the Nile, 4000 B.C.E.
2. Unification of Egypt
a. State emerged through Menes' conquest, 3100 B.C.E.
b. Important cities: Memphis, Thebes, Tanis
c. Centralized state ruled by the pharaoh, the god-king
3. The pyramids
a. Royal tombs, mostly constructed during the Old Kingdom
b. Enormous monuments, can be seen today at Giza, near Cairo
c. The largest is the pyramid of Khufu
C. The Course of Empire
1. Sargon of Akkad (2370-2315 B.C.E.)
a. Leader of the Semitic people from northern Mesopotamia
b. Organized a coup against the king, 2334 B.C.E.
c. Conquered Sumerian cities of Mesopotamia
d. Sargon's empire lasted for several generations, collapsed in 2100 B.C.E.
2. Hammurabi (re. 1792-1750 B.C.E.) and the Babylonian Empire
a. Babylonian Hammurabi, "King of the four quarters of the world"
b. His dynasty dominated Mesopotamia until 1600 B.C.E.
c. Devised the most extensive Mesopotamian law code
d. Empire fell under the invasion of the Hittites, 1595 B.C.E.
3. The Egyptian New Kingdom
a. Ahmosis, founder of New Kingdom,