This is world history; my name is Dr. Long.
This video addresses ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Levant.
Some of the earliest civilizations in the world arose during the Bronze Age, from 4000
to 1000 BCE.
This was a period in which bronze was the dominant metal.
Some particularly noteworthy civilizations during the Bronze Age began in three areas
that were geographically close to one another – namely, Mesopotamia; Egypt; and the Levant.
Mesopotamia is a term that means ‘the land between the rivers’ – namely, the Tigress
and Euphrates Rivers.
Mesopotamia is present-day Egypt is located in the northeast corner of Africa.
Right next to Egypt is Levant, a territory comprising a present-day Israel; Palestine;
Jordan; Lebanon; and Syria.
These three areas – Egypt; the Levant; and Mesopotamia – are sometimes known as the
Fertile Crescent, for the rich agricultural resources and their crescent-like shape.
The earliest of these three civilizations arose in Mesopotamia, the land between the
Tigress and Euphrates Rivers.
Beginning around 3500 to 3000 BCE the Sumerians built the first civilization in Mesopotamia.
More specifically, the Sumerians created a host of independent city states.
A city state is a city that is an independent country; it generally includes the countryside
around the city, which in turn supplies food to the city.
The Sumerian city states were ruled by kings.
Sumerians built large cities with huge mudbrick buildings.
They also built ziggurats; ziggurats were large tower and temple structures to worship
their gods.
The Sumerians were polytheistic.
Now the Sumerians also created one of the first written languages, and used cuneiform
– wet clay that was hardened in the sun, to write on.
Culturally and linguistically the Sumerians were a Semitic people, as were the Hebrews
and the Arabs.
The Tigress and Euphrates River valleys provided rich agricultural land for the Sumerians to
have agriculture and irrigation.
In addition, boats also could move goods; people; and messages up and down the Tigress
and Euphrates Rivers.
However, the Tigress and Euphrates Rivers were very prone to flooding, and their flooding
was unpredictable.
This made Mesopotamian life unpredictable.
Flooding became a central part, and a traumatic part, of their life.
Flooding often showed up in Mesopotamian myths.
A good example of this is the most famous myth and work of literature from ancient Mesopotamia,
The Epic of Gilgamesh, which incidentally loosely resembles the Biblical story of Noah
and the flood.
The Epic of Gilgamesh portrays the gods as fickly and vengeful, unpredictable – like
Mesopotamia’s own rivers.
Gilgamesh, the main character, is seen as on a quest for eternal life.
Another character, Enkidu, is seen as an uncivilized brute, who is finally tamed after six days
and seven nights of sex with a prostitute named Shamhat.
So The Epic of Gilgamesh is a story about flooding, eternal life, civilization – many
of the issues that Sumerians dealt with.
Mesopotamia’s geography also made it open to invasion, which were frequent, with new
peoples invading; conquering; and mixing with those already living in Mesopotamia.
In 2300 BCE, another Semitic people called the Acadians, led by their King Sargon, invaded
Mesopotamia and took over the Sumerian city states.
However, the Acadian Empire was short lived; it only lasted for about a hundred and fifty
years, and it was then overrun by the Babylonians.
The most famous king of the Babylonians was King Hammurabi.
Hammurabi is particularly noted for his law code, Hammurabi’s Code.
This was one of the earliest forms of systematic laws, and it would influence many law codes
for years to come.
Hammurabi’s Code was very strict and is known for its eye-for-an-eye types of punishments
for lawbreakers.
Nonetheless, it was very influential, and one of the first systems of laws.
Now in contrast to the civilizations that arose in Mesopotamia, civilization in Egypt
was much more stable.
Egyptian civilization began around 3000 BCE and thus is slightly younger than the Sumerian
city states.
Egypt was a kingdom largely shaped by its geography – namely, it grew up along the
Nile River, a very large river that runs for thousands of miles through Africa and empties
into the Mediterranean.
The territory along the Nile in Egypt had very rich farmland.
The Nile is also a very predictable river; it rises in the fall and leaves a rich deposit
of silt and fall is thereafter.
Because the Nile made Egypt so rich agriculturally, its people clustered along the river, forming
settlements and cities.
The Nile also united Egypt as it provided a fast means of water transportation.
Besides the Nile, Egypt also has deserts to the east and the west of the Nile, and this
gave Egypt natural barriers for invasion as it was very difficult for invading armies
to get through these deserts.
Now Egypt was invaded from time to time, but compared to Mesopotamia successful invasions
of Egypt were fairly rare and this made Egypt a stable civilization for about three thousand
years.
The Egyptians produced their own writing; their own art; and their civilization – in
some respects – seemed changeless.
In terms of religion, the Egyptians were polytheistic with many gods and goddesses – some of whom
were considered part human and part animal.
The Egyptians built many temples to worship their gods and goddesses, and ritual worship
was important to please the gods – also magic was important.
The Egyptians believed in a soul and an afterlife, and to a degree were obsessed with death – or
rather, how to prolong life after the grave.
At first, a good afterlife was only thought possible for the pharaohs.
However, as time went along, Egyptians also believed that commoners could have a good
afterlife as well, that they would be judged by their deeds, by the god of the underworld,
Osiris, after they died.
Egyptians also believed that the souls of the dead returned to their bodies from time
to time, so proper burials were very important for Egyptians.
Mummifying the dead was thought of as a way to preserve the body so the spirit might come
back to it one day.
In Egypt, the pharaoh was the all-powerful king, and by far was the most important figure
in ancient Egyptian society, both politically and religiously.
The pharaoh’s ruled with uncontested power during the Bronze Age, and they were also
religious figures; their prayers and rituals were seen as necessary for the Nile to function
properly.
Below the pharaoh were nobles and provincial administrators; warriors; and priests.
Most Egyptians, however, were farmers – and Egypt also had a small artisan and merchant
class as well.
The pharaohs ruled Egypt – as I’d mentioned – with absolute power; they also claimed
to be gods in human form – something that reinforced their power.
Another thing that reinforced the power of the pharaohs were the pyramids.
The pyramids were constructed as tombs for the pharaohs; the idea is their spirits might
return to their bodies in the pyramids.
The building of the pyramids were enormous construction projects; they consumed many
resources – financial; labor; and otherwise.
Some Egyptians even paid their taxes by working on the pyramids.
The largest pyramid built in Egypt, the Great Pyramid of Giza, was four hundred and eighty-one
feet tall, or nearly fifty stories high.
Now this is a really impressive structure, and it’s considered one of the wonders of
the ancient world.
It was also the tallest structure built by humans in the world until the beginning of
the 20th century with the advent of modern skyscrapers built out of steel and glass.
The fact that Egypt was united, stable, and wealthy allowed it to build great structures
such as the pyramids; in contrast Mesopotamia’s instability meant that it could not build
such large structures.
By way of comparison, the Great Pyramid of Giza is four hundred and eighty-one feet tall;
the Sumerians largest ziggurat, the Great Ziggurat of Ur, was only a hundred feet tall.
So Egypt became one of the greatest ancient civilizations in the Fertile Crescent.
Next I want to turn to the last area in the Fertile Crescent, the Levant.
The Levant also had fertile farmland, but not the sort of rich river valleys found in
Egypt or Mesopotamia.
That meant that the population and civilizations of the Levant were typically not as large
as in Egypt or Mesopotamia.
Geographically, the Levant is between Egypt and Mesopotamian, and so this made the Levant
a crossroad for trade and cultural content.
Two Semitic peoples in Levant were particularly important and noteworthy during the Bronze
Age.
The first were the Phoenicians.
The Phoenicians were a trading people in present-day Lebanon and Syria.
The Phoenicians – because they were so involved in trade, and written languages were important
for them – invented the first alphabet around 1300 BCE, and this would influence many other
alphabets that came afterwards.
Next the Hebrews, who deliver up Judaism, a monotheistic religion that worships one
god who the Hebrews called Yahweh.
Judaism came to feature is own sacred scripture, the Hebrew Bible, which consists of twenty-four
books with genres such as epic historical narratives; poetry; wisdom literature; prophecy;
and law – and Judaism would have its own unique ethical code, such as found in the
Ten Commandments.
A religion that worships one god with a strong ethical code is known as ethical monotheism,
and Judaism is a prime example of this.
Later Judaism would have an influence on the rise of Christianity and Islam.
So both the ancient Phoenicians and Hebrews were numerically small people, but they would
have a tremendous influence on cultures in the ancient world and beyond.
So let’s draw some conclusions.
Some of the earliest civilizations in the world emerged in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt,
and the Levant.
These civilizations had some similarities, such as agriculture; government; buildings;
written language; and religion.
They also had contact with each other.
They were part of one of the earliest human webs of cooperation and competition as historians
J.R.
McNeill and William McNeill argue.
However, geographical differences, from a stable Nile River in Egypt to an unstable
Tigress and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia to a lack of river valleys altogether in Levan,
led to many governmental; cultural; and religious differences in these areas as well.
This also suggests that geography has a major role in world history, and the development
of civilizations, and this is the thing that we will come back to in many of these videos.
I’ll end on this note about the importance of geography in world history.
Thanks for watching.