Hittites, Assyrians, Israel · Departed to Babylon the Royal family, the aristocracy, and skilled workers ! Diaspora - scattering ! In 538 BCE, after fifty years of Babylonian captivity,

C H A P T E R 2 B A P W O R L D H I S T O R Y

Hittites, Assyrians, Israel

HITTITES

The ancient Hittite city of Hattusha, in Turkey.

Hittites

�  Old Kingdom (1700-1500 BCE) �  New Kingdom, aka Hittite Empire (1400-1200 BCE) �  Anatolia �  Horse drawn chariots = military power �  1st developed a technique tools & weapons of iron �  Akkadian became language of diplomacy �  Elamites & Hittites adapted the cuneiform system �  Fell to unidentified attackers 1200 BCE

Hittite Territory at the height of their Empire.

The Hittite’s Three Man Chariot. Two archers and a driver in each chariot made this a fearsome offensive weapon.

ASSYRIANS

Assyrian Empire, 911-612 BCE

A stone carving of the Assyrians conquering an Egyptian town in their war on Egypt.

A drawing of the Assyrian capitol of Nineveh.

Nineveh under siege by the Babylonians and Medes.

The ruins of Nineveh.

The Masqah (Maas-KAH) Gate of Nineveh.

A mythological beast called a Lammasu, from the gates of Nineveh.

Assyrian Empire

�  Created an empire larger than any previous one �  Dedicated to the enrichment of the imperial center at

the expense of the subjugated periphery

�  Believed that god chose the king �  Normally the king chose a son to succeed him �  Military leader, supervised the state religion �  Overseeing the upkeep of the temples �  Ashur, chief god

Military advantage

�  Iron weapons an advantage �  Cavalry provided speed and mobility �  Engineers developed machinery & tactics for

besieging fortified towns ¡  Tunnels under walls ¡  Mobile towers for arches ¡  Applied battering rams to weak points

�  Used terror tactics to discourage resistance & rebellion

�  Mass deportations – moved entire towns

HEBREWS Israel

Israelites

�  Loose collection of nomadic groups engaged in herding and caravan traffic who became sedentary, agricultural people

�  Transformed from having a desert god to the concept of a single deity

�  Creating ethical and intellectual traditions that underlie the beliefs and values of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

�  Few natural resources

Timeline

�  1250 BCE - 1200 BCE Destruction of manyCanaanite towns hints at a probable invasion of the Israelites into Canaan

�  1200 BCE - 1100 BCE Hebrew tribes settle Canaan �  c. 1020 BCE - c. 1000 BCE Saul reigns first king of Israel �  1000 BCE David captures Jerusalem �  1000 BCE Rise of the kingdom of Israel �  965 BCE - 928 BCE Solomon is king of Israel �  950 BCE Solomon builds the first Temple of Jerusalem �  841 BCE Israel pays tribute to Assyria �  c. 740 BCE Conquest of Israel �  721 BCE Israel is conquered by Assyria.

Modern Jerusalem. Walls of the old city indicated by red arrow.

Origins, Exodus & Settlement

�  Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) compiled 5th c BCE ¡  Tells the story of Abraham and his descendants ¡  Abraham was born in Ur, rejected idol worship, traveled

to Israel �  Hebrew language of the Bible reflects the speech of

the Israelites until about 500 BCE when it was supplanted by Aramaic

�  Children of Israel – 12 tribes

A map of the traditional route of the ‘Exodus’ from Egypt.

MONARCHY

�  Saul, 1st king of Israel around 1020 BCE �  David, r ca. 1000-960 BCE

¡  Made Jerusalem the capital ¡  Brought Ark to Jerusalem making city religious & political

�  Solomon, David’s son, r ca. 960-920 BCE ¡  Trade with king of Phoenician Tyre to Red Sea for gold, ivory,

jewels, sandalwood and exotic animals ¡  Built First Temple, 10th c BCE to be religious center for Yahweh ¡  Priests became powerful & wealthy class

�  Split monarchy into two kingdoms ¡  Israel in north with Samaria as capital ¡  Judah, in south territory around Jerusalem

A diagram of the ancient temple of Solomon.

Ancient Kingdom of Israel and its neighbors

�  The First Temple period ended around 587 BCE, as the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar II laid waste to Solomon's Temple and took a significant number of Jews captive in response to a revolt. ¡  Departed to Babylon the Royal family, the aristocracy,

and skilled workers ¡  Diaspora - scattering

�  In 538 BCE, after fifty years of Babylonian captivity, Persian King Cyrus the Great invited the Jews to return to Judah to rebuild the Temple.

�  Construction of the Second Temple was completed in 516 BCE, during the reign of Darius the Great, seventy years after the destruction of the First Temple

Jewish Identity

�  Monotheism – belief in one divine being �  Jews lived by a rigid set of rules

¡  Dietary restrictions – no pork & shellfish; meat & dairy products not be consumed together

¡  Ritual baths – used to achieve spiritual purity ¡  Sabbath – 7th day of the week – Saturday – no work, rest

only ¡  Ban on marrying non Jews

�  This isolated them from other people and created a powerful sense of community

PHOENICIANS

The Ruins of Ancient Tyre, a Phoenician trading port.

The Phoenician alphabet.

Developed Canaanite models into an “alphabetic” system of writing with about two dozen symbols

Little writing survives as perishable papyrus was used

A Phoenician-style vessel.

The Phoenician empire. Obviously, very coastal and thus based on trade and maritime pursuits.