In Palestine, the withdrawal of Egyptian and Hittite forces has opened up the land to outsiders, and the Hebrews have taken advantage of the political vacuum to migrate into the region. Following first their prophet and then his man Joshua, they establish themselves in the highlands while attempting to drive out all of the Canaanites. In this they are unsuccessful. But what has transpired of late to make the Hebrews a conquering nation?
Ever since the famines in the 16th Century BC, the Hebrews had been living in the Nile Delta. Seeing their numbers – and quite possibly the numbers of other Semitic peoples – the pharaohs punished the interlopers by putting them to work on the Egyptian building projects. The Hebrews, perhaps more than their Semitic neighbors, longed to leave that land, good as it was, because their God, Yahweh, had promised the patriarch Abraham that his offspring would inhabit Palestine. At last, after some three hundred years, the Hebrews fled the Delta and moved with others of their ilk into the desert, where their new leader, Moses, gave them laws for just and godly living and thereby forged the tribes into a people following one God. So it was that, in the years following Ramses’ withdrawal from Palestine, the Hebrews drew near to their Promised Land.
Now they follow Joshua, who leads them into Palestine with the purpose of driving out the Canaanites and establishing an Israelite homeland. They experience tremendous military success, but fail to totally occupy the land. They are still tribes living between the cities, and though many such places are taken, foes still hold much of the promised territory. It is well, then, that the mysterious Sea Peoples choose this time to descend upon the eastern Mediterranean coasts, since they will keep the great powers of the world busy for a time, allowing the Hebrews to rally and forge a kingdom.
This kingdom comes about in the person of Saul. After a period in which the Hebrews rely upon strongmen called “Judges” to ensure public safety, the hue and cry for a king, a la their neighbors, is finally answered by the prophet Samuel. Saul, young and inexperienced, does not immediately impress the Hebraic tribal leaders, but after a handful of stunning victories, he has their attention. Unfortunately, another warrior has arisen to public acclaim, a shepherd named David. Proclaimed king by Samuel, after Saul’s decision to take the duties of priest upon himself, David becomes king through a series of events that sees Saul and all but a handful of his line destroyed. Though David respects Yahweh’s decision and shows Saul’s line respect, he does not allow the tribes to dissent, and engages in multiple wars for the purpose of unification. It is a long struggle, but by the king’s death, the land is united under his rule.
Unity is reinforced by David’s son, Solomon, who builds a temple to Yahweh and establishes Jerusalem as the principle city in Palestine. From there he sends to the kings of his neighbors and marries their daughters in accordance with the traditions of the day. The palace life that was so foreign to the Twelve Tribes becomes central to Jerusalem’s elite, so that by the death of Solomon, his son Rehoboam is rather disconnected with the people. When they come to him with requests of leniency, he assures them that he is the king and that they are to follow him without question. Disgusted, ten tribes secede and from then on, the state of Israel is divided in two. In such a state, the land is ill suited to match the threat rising in the north.
Around 745 BC, a new empire appears in Assyria. The Neo-Assyrians, under Tiglath Pilezar III have reached out to take the whole of the Fertile Crescent, including Palestine. Israel – the ten secessionist tribes who now claim Samaria as their capital – falls to the conquerors and Judah becomes the only state protecting Egypt from the north. In a resurgent move, the Egyptian Nubians throw off Libyan control and reassert their authority, looking for allies in Palestine and Greece. At the same time the frustrated Assyrians burn Babylon to the ground after an uprising and the affront sparks a pan-Mesopotamian war that destroys the hated conquerors. But they are quickly replaced by their Babylonian conquerors, whom we shall see by and by.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
World Civ: Ramses Sacks Palestine and Crete Yealds its Secrets
Back in Egypt, the New Kingdom is taking off. The Thebans have driven out the Hyksos and taken Nubia, introducing their culture to the south. But the focus of power remains near the Delta, where a new Pharaoh, Akhnaton, is shaking things up. He has introduced a curious new religion that is either henotheistic or monotheistic, wherein the sun is set up as the supreme deity, even over Ammon-ra. Understandably unpopular, the poor king is swiftly deposed, leaving his young son, King Tut of SNL fame, to the throne. Sadly, the boy is also quickly done-away with, and a dashing figure steps in, the renowned Ramses II.
Eager to please the disenchanted aristocracy, Ramses declares a return to the old days, launching massive building projects in the image of his forbears, before the Hyksos. And speaking of such, the new king seeks to make sure that such an invasion never happens again, by launching his own invasion across the Sinai and into Palestine. There he encounters the Hittites, and a terrific battle is held at Khadesh, where both forces fight to a standstill before pulling back. Such a political move is significant, because the Children of Israel, the Hebrews, have been hovering about the borders of Egypt’s influence and take advantage of the political vacuum in Palestine, moving in and establishing the Twelve Tribes. But despite their ill usage by the Ten Plagues, the Egyptians are pleased with the presence of an Israeli buffer state and thereafter seek friendly relations with the Hebrews – with the exception of an invasion, as we shall see, by and by.
But back to Crete, how do we know what we know about that place? Historians have to come up with evidence for their stories, after all. The story of Crete began long ago, but the tale of how we came to understand the island’s early history began in the late nineteenth century. Curiously enough, it was a woman who paved the way to a greater Cretan history.
Harriet Boyd, born 1871 – the same year that the legendary Troy was discovered – found that Greece was the place for her love of classic history to flourish. After a war with Turkey in which Harriet served as a nurse, she moved to the newly independent Crete, where she looked on as the Mother Goddess of Knossos was uncovered, along with Linear B tablets. Infused with archeological fervor, Harriet hiked to a likely site of her own near Gournia and began digging, where she struck gold in the form of a complete Minoan town. To crown it all, she uncovered an alter and shrine there, dedicated to the Mother Goddess of Knossos.
But the more that was discovered, the more questions were raised. Why did so many cities resemble Pompeii in that they were so preserved, as though the inhabitants had dropped everything and fled? The most plausible answer was offered by the discovery of a city under the ash of the volcanic island, Thera. After the initial digs were abandoned in the 1800s, archeologists returned in the 1960s to rediscover an advanced town, with beautiful buildings up to three stories tall, showing all the signs of a civilization disrupted by a massive volcanic eruption, powerful enough to devastate the Aegean.
Eager to please the disenchanted aristocracy, Ramses declares a return to the old days, launching massive building projects in the image of his forbears, before the Hyksos. And speaking of such, the new king seeks to make sure that such an invasion never happens again, by launching his own invasion across the Sinai and into Palestine. There he encounters the Hittites, and a terrific battle is held at Khadesh, where both forces fight to a standstill before pulling back. Such a political move is significant, because the Children of Israel, the Hebrews, have been hovering about the borders of Egypt’s influence and take advantage of the political vacuum in Palestine, moving in and establishing the Twelve Tribes. But despite their ill usage by the Ten Plagues, the Egyptians are pleased with the presence of an Israeli buffer state and thereafter seek friendly relations with the Hebrews – with the exception of an invasion, as we shall see, by and by.
But back to Crete, how do we know what we know about that place? Historians have to come up with evidence for their stories, after all. The story of Crete began long ago, but the tale of how we came to understand the island’s early history began in the late nineteenth century. Curiously enough, it was a woman who paved the way to a greater Cretan history.
Harriet Boyd, born 1871 – the same year that the legendary Troy was discovered – found that Greece was the place for her love of classic history to flourish. After a war with Turkey in which Harriet served as a nurse, she moved to the newly independent Crete, where she looked on as the Mother Goddess of Knossos was uncovered, along with Linear B tablets. Infused with archeological fervor, Harriet hiked to a likely site of her own near Gournia and began digging, where she struck gold in the form of a complete Minoan town. To crown it all, she uncovered an alter and shrine there, dedicated to the Mother Goddess of Knossos.
But the more that was discovered, the more questions were raised. Why did so many cities resemble Pompeii in that they were so preserved, as though the inhabitants had dropped everything and fled? The most plausible answer was offered by the discovery of a city under the ash of the volcanic island, Thera. After the initial digs were abandoned in the 1800s, archeologists returned in the 1960s to rediscover an advanced town, with beautiful buildings up to three stories tall, showing all the signs of a civilization disrupted by a massive volcanic eruption, powerful enough to devastate the Aegean.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
World Civ: Laws, Volcanoes, and the Rise of Iron
Meanwhile, back between the Tigris and Euphrates, the Amorites have settled in to their role as lords of the land. But they live in dual worlds, one with the cities, and one with their own people. It is a difficult balance, because while they may be kings of Akkad, they are still chiefs of the warrior bands that follow them, whom they must keep happy. With a steady income of bribes, the warrior Amorites form a kind of leisure class, since they’ve largely nothing to do with the institutions of urban infrastructure. “Let the little city dwellers live under their roofs and tend their farms, so long as we are paid!” This attitude keeps the Amorites separate from their servants in blood as well as culture. As such, the Sumerians are pleased to continue living as they always have, since those few Amorites who do prefer city-life quickly acclimate themselves and disappear.
The union of the Amorites and the Sumerians, however, is not entirely out of the question. The kings of Akkad find it troublesome to please their followers, so steps must be taken to prove themselves supreme rulers. What laws already exist are codified by one Hamurabbi, who, in the Eighteenth Century BC, has the legal code etched into small obelisks and erected in the public place of every town. These laws apply to everyone, so in one move the king has made himself supreme and brought all his peoples – nomad and settled – to the same level.
Half the world away, sea-folk with a strikingly Egyptian-like culture have founded civilizations on Crete and the Aegean coasts in Greece and Ionia. A warlike people, they produce and export weapons to their mainland neighbors – likely the traders along the Palestinian and Phoenician coasts. But despite their warlike tendencies, they are nonetheless extremely advanced (for the age), indulging in ashlar masonry and flushable toilet systems, and write in a curious script called “Linear A,” which has yet to be deciphered. But their achievements are nothing when set against Thera’s destructive output, and around 1625 the volcano erupts, wrecking life in Crete and damaging the ecological system for years. The Cretans understandably flee to their coastal colonies and vanish into history, only resurfacing for an instant when a strange new people, the Myceneans return to Crete. These people come speaking “Linear B,” a language of the rich and religious, and prove even more violent and warlike than their predecessors, pleasing the gods with sacrifice and torching those neighbors that disrupt trade, like Ilium.
Not to be outdone, a new people emerge from the steppes to try their hand at empire. The Mittani, horse lords with a warrior class after the fashion of the Aryans, settle in the mountains east of Anatolia. From those impregnable heights they essay forth to pillage the rich valleys north of Akkad. Someone of them invented the bellows, a humble device capable of heating the forge to such a degree that stronger metals than bronze may be crafted. With this new technology, a band of Mittani called “Hittites” raid and slaughter in the lowlands all the way to the Persian Gulf, taking the loot back into the mountain fastness with the promise of future tribute from those conquered. Sadly, as with any cultural mingling, information is passed, and before long the art of making iron has become common knowledge. With the loss of their secret, the Hittites and Mittani vanish, leaving the field of history to more enduring empires.
The union of the Amorites and the Sumerians, however, is not entirely out of the question. The kings of Akkad find it troublesome to please their followers, so steps must be taken to prove themselves supreme rulers. What laws already exist are codified by one Hamurabbi, who, in the Eighteenth Century BC, has the legal code etched into small obelisks and erected in the public place of every town. These laws apply to everyone, so in one move the king has made himself supreme and brought all his peoples – nomad and settled – to the same level.
Half the world away, sea-folk with a strikingly Egyptian-like culture have founded civilizations on Crete and the Aegean coasts in Greece and Ionia. A warlike people, they produce and export weapons to their mainland neighbors – likely the traders along the Palestinian and Phoenician coasts. But despite their warlike tendencies, they are nonetheless extremely advanced (for the age), indulging in ashlar masonry and flushable toilet systems, and write in a curious script called “Linear A,” which has yet to be deciphered. But their achievements are nothing when set against Thera’s destructive output, and around 1625 the volcano erupts, wrecking life in Crete and damaging the ecological system for years. The Cretans understandably flee to their coastal colonies and vanish into history, only resurfacing for an instant when a strange new people, the Myceneans return to Crete. These people come speaking “Linear B,” a language of the rich and religious, and prove even more violent and warlike than their predecessors, pleasing the gods with sacrifice and torching those neighbors that disrupt trade, like Ilium.
Not to be outdone, a new people emerge from the steppes to try their hand at empire. The Mittani, horse lords with a warrior class after the fashion of the Aryans, settle in the mountains east of Anatolia. From those impregnable heights they essay forth to pillage the rich valleys north of Akkad. Someone of them invented the bellows, a humble device capable of heating the forge to such a degree that stronger metals than bronze may be crafted. With this new technology, a band of Mittani called “Hittites” raid and slaughter in the lowlands all the way to the Persian Gulf, taking the loot back into the mountain fastness with the promise of future tribute from those conquered. Sadly, as with any cultural mingling, information is passed, and before long the art of making iron has become common knowledge. With the loss of their secret, the Hittites and Mittani vanish, leaving the field of history to more enduring empires.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
World Civ: The Dawn of Time to the Egyptian Kingdoms
About this time last year, I took a World Civ class wherein our professor had us write short summaries at the end of each week to prove that we had done the readings. The following series is my synthesis of that homework, with a little outside material seeping in...
Act One of World History begins. Mankind grubs about for enough calories to fuel the wife and kids, whether that is termites and tubers or big, furry things that require edged tools to bring down. Grandpa Enoch came into possession of fire some time ago and in the light of that flickering flame, those edged tools and other implements were developed by Uncle Tubal-cain, while Uncle Jubal strung the first lute in the name of campfire songs. But even though life is better than before, and somebody in the family has discovered the art of tents and lean-tos, the nomadic life is still pretty tough. Word on the street is that Great-grandpa Cain experimented with planting seeds, so somebody moves down to Ur to repeat the trial. Lo! The seeds sprout, to much rejoicing, and Chief Nimrod holds a tribal meeting to discuss establishing a permanent settlement.
Things go well until Nimrod gets a bit full of it and the families split to form other cities. They maintain Christmas-card contact with Ur via the grandkids of Jabal (the lad who pioneered those nifty tents) who haven’t acclimated to urban life and prefer to stick with tepees, traveling between the farms. Some of these prove problematic and take to raiding settled folk and some from the next valley over actually manage to seize a whole city or two – though their lordship is negligible and short-lived, since they quickly blend in with the natives and disappear. After a while the novelty of exerting power spreads to the city elders who, a la Nimrod, start spreading their influence until one or two cities kowtow to them. A couple, Sargon and Hammurabi, even create mini-empires, but these are as flash-in-the-pan as the raider kings. Meanwhile, some folks get fed up with the war mongering and move out to settle the wild west past Sinai.
Enter young Mizraim, who gets it into his head that the Nile valley would make for good planting. Conditions in the Sahara went south recently, as did communication with those that went past the Nile. No matter, since the new desert and the forbidding rapids below the Nile’s headwaters mean that the valley is all but cut off from the east and therefore unassailable – at least for a few generations. This means that the imperialist tendencies that characterized Ur can be carried out in Egypt without outside interference. Dynasty families come to rule the valley in two distinct regions, and the lower Egyptian king eventually takes the fight to the south and unites the whole river valley, centering all power in his palace. But nothing lasts forever and a severe drought brings the cousins from Palestine running into the Delta. In the ensuing chaos, they run rampant and kick out the resident rulers, while the folks down at Thebes hold out like true Egyptians, biding their time until the flush of victory wears off and the meddlesome loiterers relax.
Act One of World History begins. Mankind grubs about for enough calories to fuel the wife and kids, whether that is termites and tubers or big, furry things that require edged tools to bring down. Grandpa Enoch came into possession of fire some time ago and in the light of that flickering flame, those edged tools and other implements were developed by Uncle Tubal-cain, while Uncle Jubal strung the first lute in the name of campfire songs. But even though life is better than before, and somebody in the family has discovered the art of tents and lean-tos, the nomadic life is still pretty tough. Word on the street is that Great-grandpa Cain experimented with planting seeds, so somebody moves down to Ur to repeat the trial. Lo! The seeds sprout, to much rejoicing, and Chief Nimrod holds a tribal meeting to discuss establishing a permanent settlement.
Things go well until Nimrod gets a bit full of it and the families split to form other cities. They maintain Christmas-card contact with Ur via the grandkids of Jabal (the lad who pioneered those nifty tents) who haven’t acclimated to urban life and prefer to stick with tepees, traveling between the farms. Some of these prove problematic and take to raiding settled folk and some from the next valley over actually manage to seize a whole city or two – though their lordship is negligible and short-lived, since they quickly blend in with the natives and disappear. After a while the novelty of exerting power spreads to the city elders who, a la Nimrod, start spreading their influence until one or two cities kowtow to them. A couple, Sargon and Hammurabi, even create mini-empires, but these are as flash-in-the-pan as the raider kings. Meanwhile, some folks get fed up with the war mongering and move out to settle the wild west past Sinai.
Enter young Mizraim, who gets it into his head that the Nile valley would make for good planting. Conditions in the Sahara went south recently, as did communication with those that went past the Nile. No matter, since the new desert and the forbidding rapids below the Nile’s headwaters mean that the valley is all but cut off from the east and therefore unassailable – at least for a few generations. This means that the imperialist tendencies that characterized Ur can be carried out in Egypt without outside interference. Dynasty families come to rule the valley in two distinct regions, and the lower Egyptian king eventually takes the fight to the south and unites the whole river valley, centering all power in his palace. But nothing lasts forever and a severe drought brings the cousins from Palestine running into the Delta. In the ensuing chaos, they run rampant and kick out the resident rulers, while the folks down at Thebes hold out like true Egyptians, biding their time until the flush of victory wears off and the meddlesome loiterers relax.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)