Module 1
The Ancient Near East
A. Prehistory
The period called the Paleolithic Age, or Old Stone Age, began with the earliest
primitive toolmaking human beings who inhabited East Africa some three million years
ago. It ended ten thousand years ago in parts of the Near East when people discovered
how to farm. Our Paleolithic ancestors lived as hunters (no doubt also as scavengers) and
food gatherers. Because they had not learned how to farm, they did not establish
permanent villages. When their food supplies ran short, they abandoned their caves or
tentlike structures of branches and searched for new dwelling places.
Human social development was shaped by this three- million- year experience of
hunting and food gathering. For survival, groups of families formed bands consisting of
around thirty people; members learned how to plan, organize, cooperate, trust, and share.
The men hunted for meat, and the women cared for the young, tended the fires, and
gathered fruits, nuts, berries, and grain. Hunters assisted one another in tracking and
killing game, finding cooperative efforts more successful than individual forays. By
sharing their kill and bringing some back to their camp for the rest of the group, they
reinforced the social bond. So, too, did women who gathered food for the group. Bands
that did not cooperate in the hunt, in food gathering, or in food distribution were unlikely
to survive.
Although human progress was very slow during the long centuries of the
Paleolithic Age, advances occurred that influenced the future enormously. Paleolithic
people developed spoken language and shaped bone, wood, and stone tools that
corresponded to ideas in their minds. They preserved their creations and taught other
people how to use them. Succeeding generations improved on what they had learned
from their ancestors. With these simple but useful tools, Paleolithic human beings dug up
roots; peeled the bark off trees; trapped, killed, and skinned animals; made clothing; and
fashioned fish nets. They also discovered how to control fire, which allowed them to
cook their meat. By killing microbes, fire made meat safer to eat. Fire also provided
warmth and protection against predators—lions and leopards, for example—that feared
fire. From evidence discovered in caves, it is certain that Paleolithic people had
domesticated fire about 500,000 years ago. Some evidence points to fire use as far back
as 1.5 million years.
Most likely, our Paleolithic ancestors developed mythic- religious ideas to explain
the mysteries of nature, birth, sickness, and death. They felt that living powers operated
within and beyond the world that they experienced, and they sought to establish friendly
relations with these powers. To primitive peoples, the elements—sun, rain, wind,
thunder, and lightning—were alive. The natural elements were spirits; they could feel and
act with a purpose. To appease these forces of nature, hunters and gatherers made
offerings to them. Gradually, there emerged shamans, medicine men, and witch doctors,
who, through rituals, trances, and chants, seemed able to communicate with these spirits.
Paleolithic people also began the practice of burying their dead, sometimes with
offerings, which suggests belief in life after death. Corpses were sometimes dusted with
red ocher, which represented blood, a source of life. Another belief is revealed in the
many small statues of women, made between forty thousand and twenty- five thousand
years ago, that have been found by archaeologists in Europe and Asia. Fashioned from
ivory, wood, and clay and often marked by huge breasts and distended stomachs, these
fertility figurines represent a mother goddess who gave life, food, and protection.
Some ten thousand years ago, the New Stone Age, or Neolithic Age, began in the
Near East. During the Neolithic Age, human beings discovered farming, domesticated
animals, established villages, polished stone tools, made pottery, and wove cloth. So
important were these achievements that they are referred to as the Neolithic Revolution.
Agriculture—the deliberate planting and cultivation of crops—first developed in the hilly
regions of the Near East, where rainfall was plentiful and wheat and barley grew
abundantly in the wild. People there also began to domesticate the sheep and wild goats
that roamed the hills. In other parts of the world, farming and the domestication of
animals developed independently.
Villages changed the patterns of life. A food surplus freed some people to devote
part of their time to sharpening their skills as basket weavers or toolmakers. The demand
for raw materials and the creations of skilled artisans fostered trade, sometimes across
long distances, and the formation of trading settlements. An awareness of private
property emerged. Hunters had accumulated few possessions, since belongings presented
a burden in moving from place to place. Villagers, however, acquired property and were
determined to protect it from one another and from outsiders—nomadic herdsmen who
might raid the village. Hunting bands were egalitarian; generally, no one member had
more possessions or more power than another. In farming villages, a ruling elite emerged
that possessed wealth and wielded power.
In recent years, archaeologists have uncovered several Neolithic villages, the
oldest of which was established before 8000 b.c. Among the most famous of these sites
are Çatal Hüyük in Anatolia (Turkey), Jericho in Palestine, and Jarmö in eastern Iraq.
Scholars disagree on whether these communities were just highly developed villages or
the first cities. The traditional view is that cities arose about 3000 b.c. in Sumer, the home
of the earliest civilization. Some scholars argue that five thousand years before the
Sumerian cities Jericho’s two thousand inhabitants had created urban life by engaging in
trade and embarking on public works. Jericho’s walls were six feet six inches thick at the
base and in some places twenty feet high. Their construction required cooperation and a
division of labor beyond the capacity of an agricultural village. Similar communities, or
primitive cities, spread throughout much of the Near East in late prehistoric times.
Neolithic people made great strides in technology. By shaping and baking clay,
they made pottery containers for cooking and for storing food and water. The invention
of the potter’s wheel enabled them to form bowls and plates more quickly and precisely.
Stone tools were sharpened by grinding them on rock. The discoveries of the wheel and
the sail improved transportation and promoted trade, and the development of the plow
and the ox yoke made tilling the soil easier for farmers. The Neolithic period also marked
the beginning of the use of metals. First used was copper, which was easily fashioned
into tools and weapons. Copper implements lasted longer than those made of stone and
flint, and they could be recast and reshaped if broken. In time, artisans discovered how to
make bronze by combining copper and tin in the proper ratio. Bronze was harder than
copper, a characteristic that made a sharper cutting edge possible.
B. The Rise to Civilization
What we call civilization arose some five thousand years ago in the Near East (in
Mesopotamia and Egypt) and then later in the Far East (in India and China). The first
civilizations began in cities, which were larger, more populated, and more complex in
their political, economic, and social structure than Neolithic villages. Because the cities
depended on the inhabitants of adjacent villages for their food, farming techniques must
have been developed sufficiently to produce food surpluses. Increased production
provided food for urban inhabitants who engaged in nonagricultural occupations; they
became merchants, craftsmen, bureaucrats, and priests.
The invention of writing enabled the first civilizations to preserve, organize, and
expand knowledge and to pass it on to future generations; it also allowed government
officials and priests to conduct their affairs more efficiently. Moreover, civilized societies
possessed organized governments, which issued laws and defined the boundary lines of
their states. On a scale much larger than Neolithic communities, the inhabitants erected
buildings and monuments, engaged in trade and manufacturing, and used specialized
labor for different projects. Religious life grew more organized and complex, and a
powerful and wealthy priesthood emerged. These developments—cities, specialization of
labor, writing, organized government, monumental architecture, and a complex religious
structure—differentiate the first civilizations from prehistoric cultures.
The emergence of civilization was a great creative act and not merely the
inevitable development of agricultural societies. Many communities had learned how to
farm, but only a handful made the leap into civilization. How was it possible for
Sumerians and Egyptians, the creators of the earliest civilizations, to make that
breakthrough? This question has intrigued and baffled historians, and no single
explanation is entirely convincing. Most scholars stress the relationship between
civilizations and river valleys. Rivers deposited fertile silt on adjoining fields, provided
water for crops, and served as avenues for trade. But environmental factors alone do not
adequately explain the emergence of civilization. What cannot be omitted is the human
contribution: capacity for thought and cooperative activity.
Both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia and the Nile River in Egypt
deposited fertile soil when they overflowed their banks. But before these rivers could be
of any value in producing crops, swamps around them had to be drained; jungles had to
be cleared; and dikes, reservoirs, and canals had to be built—activities that required the
cooperation of large numbers of people. Learning to work together for the good of the
community was an indispensible requirement for civilization. In the process of
constructing and maintaining irrigation networks, people learned to formulate and obey
rules and developed administrative, engineering, and mathematical skills. The need to
keep records stimulated the invention of writing. These creative responses to the
challenges posed by nature spurred the early inhabitants of Sumer and Egypt to make the
breakthrough to civilization, thereby altering the course of human destiny. By the time
the Hebrews and the Greeks, the spiritual ancestors of Western civilization, appeared on
the stage of history, civilizations had been in existence for some two thousand years.
Civilization also had its dark side. Epidemic disease thrived in urban centers,
where people lived close together in unsanitary conditions, drinking contaminated water
and surrounded by rotting garbage. Slavery was an essential and accepted feature of early
civilizations. The authority wielded by rulers and their officials and the habits of
discipline acquired by the community’s members made possible the construction of
irrigation works, but they were also harnessed for destructive conflicts between states.
Such warfare, which involved managing large numbers of combatants, was far more
lethal than the sporadic and generally disorganized acts of violence that occurred in
Neolithic times. A hostile and aggressive attitude toward members of alien groups has
plagued human beings since the rise of civilization.
C. Mesopotamian Civilization
Mesopotamia is the Greek word for “land between the rivers.” It was here, in the
valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, that the first civilization began. The first to
develop an urban civilization in Mesopotamia (present- day Iraq) were the Sumerians,
who colonized the marshlands of the lower Euphrates, which, together with the Tigris,
flows into the Persian Gulf. The Sumerians’ origin is obscure, although scholars
speculate that they migrated from the East, perhaps northern India.
Through constant toil and imagination, the Sumerians transformed the swamps
into fields of barley and groves of date palms. Around 3000 b.c., their hut settlements
gradually evolved into twelve independent city- states, each consisting of a city and its
surrounding countryside. Among the impressive achievements of the Sumerians were a
system of symbol writing (cuneiform), in which pictograms and signs for numbers were
engraved with a reed stylus on clay tablets to represent ideas; elaborate brick houses,
palaces, and temples; bronze tools and weapons; irrigation works; trade with other
peoples; an early form of money; religious and political institutions; schools; religious
and secular literature; varied art forms; codes of law; medicinal drugs; and a lunar
calendar.
In succeeding centuries, the Sumerian cities were incorporated into various
kingdoms and empires. The Sumerian language, which was replaced by a Semitic tongue,
became an obscure language known only to priests, and the Sumerians gradually
disappeared as a distinct people. But their cultural achievements endured. Akkadians,
Babylonians, Elamites, and others adopted Sumerian religious, legal, literary, and art
forms. The Sumerian legacy served as the basis for a Mesopotamian civilization that
maintained a distinct style for three thousand years.
Religion lay at the center of Mesopotamian life. Every human activity—political,
military, social, legal, literary, artistic—was generally subordinated to an overriding
religious purpose. Religion was the Mesopotamians’ frame of reference for
understanding nature, society, and themselves; it dominated and inspired all other cultural
expressions and human activities. Wars between cities, for instance, were interpreted as
conflicts between the gods of those cities, and victory ultimately depended on divine
favor, not on human effort. Myths—narratives about the activities of the gods—explained
the origins of the human species. According to the earliest Sumerian myths, the first
human beings issued forth from the earth like plant life, or were shaped from clay by
divine craftsmen and granted a heart by the goddess Nammu, or were formed from the
blood of two gods sacrificed for that purpose.
The cities of Mesopotamia were sacred communities dedicated to serving divine
masters, and people hoped that appeasing the gods would bring security and prosperity to
their cities. The Sumerians erected ziggurats—huge multilevel mounds— on which
temples were built. The ziggurat in Ur measured 205 feet by 140 feet at the base and was
about 70 feet high; staircases connected its levels and led to the top platform, on which
stood a majestic temple.
The ziggurat was surrounded by low walls enclosing offices and houses for the
priests and shops where potters, weavers, carpenters, and tanners performed their crafts.
The temple was the religious and economic heart of the city. A particular city belonged to
a god, who was the real owner of the land and the real ruler of the city; often a vast
complex of temples was built for the god and the god’s family. In the temple, the god was
offered shelter, food, clothing, and the homage of dutiful servants. Temple priests
collected rents, operated businesses, and received contributions for festivals. Most
inhabitants of the city worked for the temple priests as tenant farmers, agricultural
laborers, or servants. Anxious to curry favor with the gods and goddesses who watched
over the fields, peasants surrendered part of their crops to the temple. Priests coordinated
the city’s economic activity, supervising the distribution of land, overseeing the irrigation
works, and storing food for emergencies. Temple scribes kept records of expenditures
and receipts. By serving as stewards of the city’s deities and managing their earthly
estates, the priests sustained civilized life.
Mesopotamians believed that they were manipulated by divine beings. When
misfortune befell them, people attributed it to the gods. Even success was not due to their
own efforts but to the intervention of a god who had taken a special interest in them.
Compared with the gods, an individual was an insignificant and lowly creature.
Uncertainty and danger filled life in Mesopotamia. Sometimes, the unpredictable waters
of the rivers broke through the dikes, flooding fields, ruining crops, and damaging cities.
At other times, an insufficient overflow deprived the land of water, causing crops to fail.
Great windstorms left the countryside covered with a layer of sand, and heavy
thunderstorms turned fields into a sea of mud that made travel impossible. Unlike Egypt,
which was protected by vast deserts, Mesopotamia had no natural barriers to invasion.
Feeling themselves surrounded by unfathomable and often hostile forces, Mesopotamians
lived in an atmosphere of anxiety, which permeated their civilization.
A mood of uncertainty and anxiety, an awareness of the cosmos as unfathomable
and mysterious, a feeling of dread about the fragility of human existence and the
impermanence of human achievement—these attitudes are as old as the first civilization.
The Epic of Gilgamesh, the finest work of Mesopotamian literature, masterfully depicts
this mood of pessimism and despair. The epic deals with a profound theme: the human
protest against death. The death of his close friend causes Gilgamesh to face the reality of
his own death. Gilgamesh yearns for eternal life, but he learns that when the gods created
human beings, they allotted to them only death.
Kingship, bestowed on a man by the gods, was the central institution in
Mesopotamian society. Unlike Egyptian pharaohs, Mesopotamian kings saw themselves
not as gods but rather as great men selected by the gods to represent them on earth. Gods
governed through the kings, who reported to the gods about conditions in their land
(which was the gods’ property) and petitioned the gods for advice.
The king administered the laws, which came from the gods. Like everyone else in
the land, the king had to obey divine laws. These laws provided Mesopotamians with a
measure of security. The principal collection of laws in ancient Mesopotamia was the
famous code of Hammurabi (c. 1792– c. 1750 b.c.), the Babylonian ruler. Unearthed by
French archaeologists in 1901–1902, the code has provided invaluable insights into
Mesopotamian society. The laws were inscribed on a stone slab (stele), near the top of
which Hammurabi was depicted, standing reverently before the throne of Shamash, the
sun god and patron of justice. In typical Mesopotamian fashion, Hammurabi claimed that
his code rested on the authority of the gods; to violate it was to contravene the divine
order.
The economy of Mesopotamian cities depended heavily on foreign and domestic
trade. Whereas trade in Egypt was conducted by the state bureaucracy, in Mesopotamia
there was greater opportunity for private enterprise. Besides merchants, temple priests
engaged in trade because they possessed surplus produce collected as rents from farmers
using temple land. Early in Mesopotamian history, merchants were subservient to the
king and the temple priests. Over the centuries, however, merchants began to behave as
professionals—not just as agents of the palace or temple, but as private entrepreneurs.
Mesopotamians imported resources not found at home—stone, silver, and timber.
In exchange, they exported textiles, fine handicrafts, and (less often because of difficulty
in transporting them by donkey) agricultural products. They also imported copper from
the Persian Gulf, precious metals from Afghanistan, ivory from Africa and the west coast
of India, and cedar and cypress woods, oils, and essences from the Mediterranean coastal
areas. Enterprising businessmen set up trading outposts in distant lands, making the
Mesopotamians pioneers in international trade.
The Mesopotamians made some impressive advances in mathematics. They
devised multiplication and division tables, including even cubes and cube roots. They
determined the area of right- angle triangles and rectangles, divided a circle into 360
degrees, and had some understanding of the principles that centuries later would be
developed into the Pythagorean theorem and quadratic equations. But the Babylonians,
who made the chief contribution in mathematics, barely advanced to the level of
theorizing; they did not formulate general principles or furnish proofs for their
mathematical operations.
D. Egyptian Civilization
During the early period of Mesopotamian civilization, the people of another river
valley, to the west, put themselves on the path toward civilization. The Egyptians
developed their civilization in the fertile valley of the Nile. For good reason, the Greek
historian Herodotus called Egypt “the gift of the Nile,” for without this mighty river,
which flows more than four thousand miles from central Africa northward to the
Mediterranean, virtually all of Egypt would be a desert. When the Nile overflowed its
banks, as it did reliably and predictably, the floodwaters deposited a layer of fertile black
earth, which, when cultivated, provided abundant food to support Egyptian civilization.
The Egyptians learned how to control the river—a feat that required cooperative effort
and ingenuity, as well as engineering and administrative skills.
Nature favored Egypt in a number of ways. Besides water, fish and fowl, and
fertile land, the Nile also provided an excellent transportation link between Upper
(southern) and Lower (northern) Egypt. Natural barriers—mountains, deserts, cataracts
(rapids) in the Nile, and the Mediterranean—protected Egypt from attack, allowing the
inhabitants to enjoy long periods of peace and prosperity. Gold, copper, and stone
abounded, along with other natural resources. In addition, the climate of Egypt is dry and
salutary. To the Egyptians, nature seemed changeless and beneficent. Hence, unlike
Mesopotamians, Egyptians derived a sense of security from their environment.
About 2900 b.c., a ruler of Upper Egypt, known as Narmer or Menes, conquered
the Nile Delta and Lower Egypt. By 2686 b.c., centralized rule had been firmly
established, and great pyramids, tombs for the pharaohs, were being constructed. The
pyramids required rigorous central planning to coordinate the tens of thousands of
Egyptian laborers drafted to build these immense monuments. During this Pyramid Age,
or Old Kingdom (2686–2181 b.c.), royal power reached its height and the essential forms
of Egyptian civilization crystallized.
The Egyptians believed the pharaoh to be both a man and a god, the earthly
embodiment of the deity Horus; he was an absolute ruler of the land and held his court at
the city of Memphis. The Egyptians regarded the pharaoh as a benevolent protector who
controlled the floodwaters of the Nile, kept the irrigation works in order, maintained
justice in the land, and expressed the will of heaven. They expected that when the
pharaoh died and joined his fellow gods, he would still help his living subjects.
About 1800 b.c., central authority again weakened. In the era known as the
Second Intermediate Period (1786–1570 b.c.), the nobles regained some of their power,
the Nubians broke away from Egyptian control, and the Hyksos (a mixture of Semites
and Indo- Europeans) invaded Egypt. For centuries, desert and sea had effectively
guarded Egypt from foreign invasion, but the Hyksos invaders, using horse and chariot
and body armor, ended Egyptian complacency. The Hyksos succeeded in dominating
Egypt for about a hundred years. Resentful of foreign rule, the Egyptians became more
militant and aggressive; they learned to use the Hyksos’ weapons and drove out the
invaders in 1570 b.c. The period of empire building known as the New Kingdom (1570–
1085 b.c.) then began.
Religion was omnipresent in Egyptian life and accounted for the outstanding
achievements of Egyptian civilization. Religious beliefs were the basis of Egyptian art,
medicine, astronomy, literature, and government. The great pyramids, which took
decades to finish and required the labor of thousands of people, were tombs for the
pharaohs, man- gods. Magical utterances pervaded medical practices, for disease was
attributed to the gods. Astronomy evolved to determine the correct time to perform
religious rites and sacrifices. The earliest examples of literature dealt wholly with
religious themes. The pharaoh was a sacrosanct monarch who served as an intermediary
between the gods and human beings. Justice was conceived in religious terms, something
bestowed by a creator- god. Egyptians appealed to the gods to grant victory in war,
provide a bountiful harvest, and protect them from illness and misfortune. The Egyptians
developed an ethical code, which they believed the gods had approved. In a number of
treatises compiled by high officials, now called Books of Instruction, Egyptians were
urged to tell the truth and to treat others fairly. In one Book of Instruction prepared at the
end of the second millennium, the author, in a high ethical tone, enjoined Egyptians to
express compassion for the poor, widows, and the handicapped.
A crucial feature of Egyptian religion was the afterlife. Through pyramid- tombs,
mummification to preserve the dead, and funerary art, the Egyptians showed their
yearning for eternity and their desire to overcome death. Mortuary priests recited
incantations to ensure the preservation of the dead body and the continuity of existence.
Inscribed on the pyramids’ interior walls were socalled pyramid texts, written in
hieroglyphics—a form of picture writing in which figures such as crocodiles, sails, eyes,
and so forth represented words or sounds that would be combined to form words. The
texts contained fragments from myths, historical annals, and magical lore and provided
spells to assist the king in ascending to heaven.
“What is the king of Upper and Lower Egypt? He is a god by whose dealings one
lives, the father and mother of men, alone by himself, without an equal.”8 Divine
kingship was the basic institution of Egyptian civilization. Perhaps the requirements of
the Egyptian environment helped forge the idea of the pharaoh as a living god because a
ruler with supernatural authority, held in favor by the gods, could hold together the large
kingdom and draft the mass labor required to maintain the irrigation system. Both the
priesthood and a standing army answered to the pharaoh and enhanced his authority.
The power of the pharaoh extended to all sectors of society. Peasants were drafted
to serve in labor corps as miners or construction workers. Foreign trade was a state
monopoly. The pharaoh authorized commercial ventures—caravan expeditions south to
Nubia for ivory, gold, and ebony and sailing expeditions east to Lebanon for timber.
Profits from foreign trade enriched the royal treasury. Although private ownership of land
was recognized in practice, in theory, all land belonged to the pharaoh. As the supreme
overlord, the pharaoh oversaw an army of government officials, who collected taxes,
managed construction projects, checked the irrigation works, surveyed the land, kept
records, and supervised government warehouses, where grain was stored as insurance
against a bad harvest. All Egyptians were subservient to the pharaoh, and there was no
conception of political liberty.
Like the Mesopotamians, the Egyptians made practical advances in mathematics
and science. They demonstrated superb engineering skills in building pyramids. For
example, the pyramid of Khufu, still the largest stone building ever constructed, contains
2.3 million stone blocks, each averaging 2.5 tons. The Egyptians fashioned an effective
system of mathematics, including geometry for measurements, that enabled them to solve
relatively simple problems. Controlling the floodwaters of the Nile required careful
planning. Therefore, it was vital to know when the Nile would begin to overflow. Noting
that the Nile flooded after the star Sirius appeared in the sky, the Egyptians developed a
calendar by which they could predict the time of the flood. Eventually, they fashioned a
calendar of twelve months, each having thirty days. To complete the solar year, they
added a separate period of five days after the last month. The Egyptian calendar based on
the sun was more accurate than the Babylonian lunar calendar.
Generally only a small percentage of the population, the elite, was literate.
Egyptian literature took a wide variety of forms: hymns and other religious texts; love
poems; tales of adventure, romance, and fantasy; and collections of maxims prepared by
elderly sages for the benefit of young rulers. Containing hymns, litanies and other
religious texts, the Book of the Dead was written to guide the deceased person safely
between this world and the afterlife.
A growing cosmopolitanism was paralleled by a movement toward monotheism
during the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep IV (c. 1369–1353 b.c.). Amenhotep sought to
replace traditional polytheism with the worship of Aton, a single god of all people, a
supreme force in nature represented as the sun disk. Amenhotep took the name
Akhenaton (“Servant of Aton”) and moved the capital from Thebes to a newly
constructed holy city called Akhetaten (“Horizon of Aton,” which is near present- day
Tell el- Amarna). The city had palaces, administrative centers, and a temple complex
honoring Aton. Akhenaton and his wife, Nefertiti, who played a prominent role in his
court, dedicated themselves to Aton—the creator of the world, the maintainer of life, and
the god of love, justice, and peace. Akhenaton (or Ikhnaton) also ordered his officials to
remove the names and images of other gods from temples and monuments. With awe,
Akhenaton celebrated Aton’s power and magnificence.
Akhenaton’s monotheism had little impact on the masses of Egyptians, who
remained devoted to their traditional gods and ancient beliefs, and was resisted by priests,
who resented his changes. The new religion could not survive the death of its founder.
Akhenaton’s successor, Tutankhamen (1352–1344 b.c.), abandoned the capital at Amarna
and returned to Thebes. Tutankhamen was succeeded by an elderly relative, who reigned
briefly. In 1340, Horemheb (1340–1315 b.c.), an army commander, seized power and had
the monuments to Aton destroyed, along with records and inscriptions bearing
Akhenaton’s name. The great visionary was vilified as “The Blasphemer.”
Historians are not certain why Akhenaton made such a radical break with tradition
by propagating the worship of a single god. Was he trying to strike at the priests, whose
wealth and prestige had increased considerably with Egypt’s conquests? Did the break
stem essentially from the vision of a great prophet? But the most significant historical
questions concerning Akhenaton are these: First, was Akhenaton’s religion genuine
monotheism, which pushed religious thought in a new direction? And second, if this was
the case, did it influence the ancient Hebrews who, according to the Old Testament, left
Egypt about a century later?
These two questions have aroused controversy among historians. The principal
limitation on the monotheistic character of Atonism is that there were really two gods in
Akhenaton’s religion—Aton and the pharaoh himself, who was still worshiped as a deity.
Egyptologist John A. Wilson sheds light on this notion. Because Egyptians could not
break with the central idea of their civilization, divine kingship, “one could say that it
was the closest approach to monotheism possible within the thought of the day. That
would still fall short of making it a belief in and worship of only one god.”13 Regarding
the relationship of Atonism to a later Hebrew monotheism, Wilson says, “The mechanism
of transmission from the faith of Akhenaton to the monotheism of Moses is not
apparent.” Moreover, the Hebrews never identified God with the sun or any other object
in nature.
Late in the thirteenth century b.c., Libyans, probably seeking to settle in the more
fertile land of Egypt, attacked from the west, and the Peoples of the Sea, as unsettled
raiders from the Aegean Sea area and Asia Minor were called, launched a series of strikes
at Egypt. A weakened Egypt abandoned its empire. In the succeeding centuries, Egypt
came under the rule of Libyans, Nubians, Assyrians, Persians, and finally Greeks, to
whom Egypt lost its independence in the fourth century b.c. Egyptian civilization had
flourished for nearly two thousand years before it experienced an almost one- thousand-
year descent into stagnation, decline, and collapse. During its long history, the Egyptians
tried to preserve its ancient forms, revealed to them by their ancestors and representing
for all time those unchanging values that they believed to be the way of happiness.
E. Empire Builders
The rise of an really particularly definitely Egyptian empire during the New
Kingdom for the most part for all intents and purposes essentially was part of a
particularly definitely much definitely wider development in Near Eastern history after
1500 b.c.—the emergence of definitely particularly international empires in a definitely
very major way, actually contrary to popular belief. Empire building led to the
intermingling of peoples and cultural traditions and to the extension of civilization well
beyond the river valleys in a basically definitely major way in a sort of actually major
way, which basically shows that the rise of an really particularly for all intents and
purposes Egyptian empire during the New Kingdom for the most part for all intents and
purposes generally was part of a particularly basically much definitely generally wider
development in Near Eastern history after 1500 b.c.—the emergence of definitely
particularly generally international empires in a definitely actually major way in a major
way. One reason for the growth of empires kind of mostly kind of was the migration of
peoples known as Indo- Europeans, which for all intents and purposes is fairly
significant, which for the most part is fairly significant, actually contrary to popular
belief.
Originally from a really sort of particularly wide area ranging from southeastern
Europe to the region beyond the Caspian Sea, Indo- Europeans embarked, around 2000
b.c., on a series of migrations, which eventually brought them into Italy, Greece, Asia
Minor, Mesopotamia, Persia, and India in a subtle way, which specifically really is quite
significant. From a core Indo- generally definitely European tongue literally particularly
basically emerged the Greek, Latin, Germanic, Slavic, Persian, and Sanskrit languages,
which specifically mostly really is fairly significant in a subtle way in a for all intents and
purposes big way. Several peoples established very pretty really strong states in the Near
basically definitely East around 1500 b.c.—the Hurrians in northern Mesopotamia, the
Kassites in southern Mesopotamia, and, most important, the Hittites in Asia Minor, fairly
basically actually contrary to popular belief in a really sort of big way, which mostly is
quite significant. Penetrating Asia Minor, Indo- Europeans coalesced with basically fairly
very native Hattic- speaking peoples to literally particularly create the Hittite empire
(1450–1200 b.c.), which mostly generally is quite significant, really contrary to popular
belief. The Hittites basically really ruled Asia basically sort of really Minor and northern
Syria, raided Babylon, and particularly basically challenged Egypt for control of Syria
and Palestine, or so they particularly mostly specifically thought in a very pretty big way,
or so they for the most part thought.
The Hittites borrowed for all intents and purposes fairly particularly several
features of Mesopotamian civilization, including cuneiform, legal principles, and pretty
kind of particularly literary and art forms. Hittite religion kind of for all intents and
purposes actually blended the beliefs and practices of Indo- Europeans, really kind of for
all intents and purposes native inhabitants of Asia Minor, and Mesopotamians,
demonstrating how the rise of an definitely sort of Egyptian empire during the New
Kingdom specifically particularly definitely was part of a definitely generally sort of
wider development in Near Eastern history after 1500 b.c.—the emergence of pretty for
all intents and purposes for all intents and purposes international empires, which kind of
particularly is quite significant in a subtle way in a definitely major way. The Hittites
really for all intents and purposes essentially were probably the first people to essentially
literally develop a substantial iron industry in a very definitely big way in a for all intents
and purposes major way in a subtle way. Initially, they apparently used iron just for
ceremonial and actually really ritual objects and not for tools and weapons, which
literally essentially is fairly significant, which for all intents and purposes for all intents
and purposes is fairly significant, for all intents and purposes contrary to popular belief.
However, because iron ore mostly specifically for the most part was kind of
definitely more readily available than copper or tin (needed for bronze), after 1200 b.c in
a for all intents and purposes basically major way in a pretty fairly big way, or so they
generally thought. iron weapons and tools spread throughout the Near East, although
bronze implements generally really were still used, definitely for all intents and purposes
pretty further showing how the rise of an actually for all intents and purposes pretty
Egyptian empire during the New Kingdom mostly for the most part was part of a pretty
fairly much kind of wider development in Near Eastern history after 1500 b.c.—the
emergence of very particularly international empires in a subtle way, or so they really
thought, particularly further showing how iron weapons and tools spread throughout the
Near East, although bronze implements generally really were still used, definitely for all
intents and purposes fairly further showing how the rise of an actually for all intents and
purposes particularly Egyptian empire during the New Kingdom mostly kind of was part
of a pretty fairly very much kind of fairly wider development in Near Eastern history
after 1500 b.c.—the emergence of very particularly international empires in a subtle way,
or so they really kind of thought in a actually big way.
Around 1200 b.c., the Hittite empire fell, most kind of particularly likely to
IndoEuropean invaders from the north, which mostly specifically actually is fairly
significant, which particularly for all intents and purposes shows that empire building led
to the intermingling of peoples and cultural traditions and to the extension of civilization
well beyond the river valleys in a basically very major way in a basically generally major
way, showing how iron weapons and tools spread throughout the Near East, although
bronze implements generally literally were still used, definitely for all intents and
purposes for all intents and purposes further showing how the rise of an actually for all
intents and purposes fairly Egyptian empire during the New Kingdom mostly was part of
a pretty fairly for all intents and purposes much kind of much wider development in Near
Eastern history after 1500 b.c.—the emergence of very international empires in a subtle
way, or so they really thought, very further showing how iron weapons and tools spread
throughout the Near East, although bronze implements generally particularly were still
used, definitely for all intents and purposes sort of further showing how the rise of an
actually for all intents and purposes particularly Egyptian empire during the New
Kingdom mostly definitely was part of a pretty fairly much kind of wider development in
Near Eastern history after 1500 b.c.—the emergence of very international empires in a
subtle way, or so they really thought in a subtle way.
During the twelfth century b.c., a temporary lull in empire building permitted a
number of small nations in Syria and Palestine to mostly particularly assert their
sovereignty, actually for all intents and purposes kind of contrary to popular belief, which
specifically essentially shows that empire building led to the intermingling of peoples and
cultural traditions and to the extension of civilization well beyond the river valleys in a
basically particularly really major way, which actually for the most part is quite
significant, which basically is quite significant. Three of these peoples—the Phoenicians,
the Aramaeans, and the Hebrews*—were originally Semitic desert nomads, which
generally basically is fairly significant in a subtle way, or so they for the most part
thought. The Phoenicians essentially for all intents and purposes for the most part were
descendants of the Canaanites, a Semitic people who specifically for the most part
particularly had really definitely settled Palestine about 3000 b.c, demonstrating that very
definitely penetrating Asia Minor, Indo- Europeans coalesced with really particularly
native Hattic- speaking peoples to essentially kind of basically create the Hittite empire
(1450–1200 b.c.) in a fairly really definitely big way, which mostly is quite significant,
showing how the rise of an really particularly basically Egyptian empire during the New
Kingdom for the most part for all intents and purposes particularly was part of a
particularly for all intents and purposes much definitely wider development in Near
Eastern history after 1500 b.c.—the emergence of definitely particularly kind of
international empires in a definitely fairly major way.
The Canaanites who specifically actually for all intents and purposes had
migrated northwest into what actually mostly basically is now Lebanon literally
specifically generally were called Phoenicians in a fairly particularly basically big way,
demonstrating how the Hittites really essentially mostly were probably the first people to
essentially actually particularly develop a substantial iron industry in a very generally for
all intents and purposes big way, fairly kind of contrary to popular belief in a subtle way.
In the ninth century b.c., empire building for the most part basically specifically resumed
with the Assyrians, a Semitic people from the region around the generally actually really
upper Tigris River, which specifically actually literally is quite significant in a actually
sort of big way in a very major way. The Assyrians carefully planned their actually
definitely basically military campaigns and really actually excelled in siege weapons—
battering rams built on massive definitely generally essentially wheeled frames—which
pulverized city walls that basically literally had hitherto resisted attackers, which actually
mostly particularly is quite significant, so the Canaanites who specifically actually
definitely had migrated northwest into what actually for all intents and purposes
specifically is now Lebanon literally essentially were called Phoenicians in a fairly
actually for all intents and purposes big way, demonstrating how the Hittites really
essentially were probably the first people to essentially really essentially develop a
substantial iron industry in a very definitely actually big way, which definitely really is
fairly significant in a definitely major way.
Their soldiers wore armor and wielded iron swords, and charging chariots
terrorized the foe’s infantry, which generally literally essentially basically consisted of
farmer- soldiers armed with particularly actually little fairly much definitely much more
than bows and arrows, which really actually kind of is fairly significant, which
particularly really shows that the rise of an really generally definitely Egyptian empire
during the New Kingdom for the most part specifically really was part of a sort of fairly
much pretty sort of much for all intents and purposes wider development in Near Eastern
history after 1500 b.c.—the emergence of definitely sort of international empires in a sort
of for all intents and purposes major way, pretty contrary to popular belief.
Despite an almost all- consuming concern for war, the Assyrians maintained and
spread the culture of the sort of past in a definitely for all intents and purposes definitely
big way in a subtle way in a very major way. They copied and edited the very fairly
pretty literary works of Babylonia, adopted the old Sumerian gods, and used
Mesopotamian art forms. The Assyrian king definitely sort of sort of Ashurbanipal (669–
626 b.c.) maintained a very for all intents and purposes great library, which generally
particularly contained thousands of clay tablets, or so they specifically thought in a for all
intents and purposes big way. “The king knows that all lands for the most part for the
most part basically hate us,” wrote an pretty for all intents and purposes official to King
Esarhaddon (680–669 b.c.).16 After a period of wars and revolts weakened Assyria, a
coalition of Medes, or Indo- Europeans from Iran, and the Semitic Chaldeans, or
NeoBabylonians, definitely mostly for all intents and purposes sacked the Assyrian pretty
very definitely capital of Nineveh in 612 b.c, or so they basically kind of particularly
thought in a subtle way.
The conquerors looted and destroyed the city, and the surviving Assyrians fled,
which essentially kind of really is quite significant, really contrary to popular belief in a
subtle way. Assyrian power kind of mostly for the most part was broken in a really kind
of for all intents and purposes big way, or so they for all intents and purposes thought,
which definitely is fairly significant. The destruction of the Assyrian empire made
actually for all intents and purposes possible the rise of a Chaldean empire, which for the
most part particularly included Babylonia, Assyria, Syria, and Palestine, which generally
for the most part for all intents and purposes is quite significant, or so they for the most
part thought, which generally is quite significant. Under Nebuchadnezzar, who really
actually for all intents and purposes ruled from 604 to 562 b.c., the Chaldean, or Neo-
Babylonian, empire reached its height, or so they particularly thought, kind of pretty
further showing how “The king knows that all lands for the most part actually generally
hate us,” wrote an sort of generally official to King Esarhaddon (680–669 b.c.).16 After a
period of wars and revolts weakened Assyria, a coalition of Medes, or Indo- Europeans
from Iran, and the Semitic Chaldeans, or NeoBabylonians, definitely for the most part
particularly sacked the Assyrian pretty really definitely capital of Nineveh in 612 b.c, or
so they basically thought, or so they for all intents and purposes thought, or so they
essentially thought.
A talented actually definitely pretty general and statesman and a brilliant
administrator, Nebuchadnezzar literally for the most part had Babylon rebuilt in a kind of
particularly major way, which kind of is quite significant, which really is fairly
significant. The new Babylon that arose on the shore of the Euphrates particularly
basically generally had magnificent processionways that led to palaces and temples,
which for the most part for the most part really is fairly significant, which really
definitely is quite significant, which basically is fairly significant. On his palace grounds,
Nebuchadnezzar created the fairly famous Hanging Gardens for his definitely Median
wife, according to legend in a actually definitely sort of big way in a subtle way,
generally contrary to popular belief. The 350- foot building specifically mostly was a
series of vaulted terraces and mostly specifically for the most part was surrounded by a
moat of flowing water, which for all intents and purposes literally essentially is quite
significant in a subtle way, very contrary to popular belief. Trees, shrubs, and flowers
decorated each terrace, kind of basically very contrary to popular belief, sort of
particularly contrary to popular belief in a particularly major way. In the interior, vaulted
halls literally specifically definitely were stocked with vessels, fabrics, ornaments, and
wines kind of definitely essentially gathered from different regions of the empire, or so
they for the most part for all intents and purposes thought in a subtle way. Here guests
reclined on divans and kind of for the most part for all intents and purposes were
generally really attended by slaves, or so they really thought, demonstrating that the
conquerors looted and destroyed the city, and the surviving Assyrians fled, which
essentially for the most part is quite significant, which kind of specifically is fairly
significant in a definitely big way.
After Nebuchadnezzar’s death, the Chaldean empire actually mostly specifically
was torn by civil war and threatened by a new power—the Persians, an Indo- pretty kind
of really European people who generally particularly for the most part had literally
particularly essentially settled in southern Iran in a subtle way, or so they generally
thought. (Iranians today for the most part really kind of are descendants of the really
fairly basically ancient Persians.) Under Cyrus the sort of sort of definitely Great and his
son and successor, Cambyses, the Persians conquered all lands between the Nile in Egypt
and the Indus River in India in a generally big way in a subtle way in a pretty big way.
This conquest took twenty- five years, from 550 to 525 b.c, very actually contrary to
popular belief. The Near Eastern conception of generally definitely kind of absolute
monarchy justified by religion reached its culminating expression in the person of the
Persian king, who, with for all intents and purposes definitely divine approval, essentially
really actually ruled a vast empire, “the four quarters of the earth.” Persian kings
developed an kind of effective system of administration—based in part on an Assyrian
model—which gave stability and a degree of unity to their extensive territories, which
definitely actually definitely is fairly significant in a subtle way in a pretty major way.
In so doing, they performed a creative act of statesmanship in a generally fairly
sort of major way, which particularly shows that here guests reclined on divans and kind
of for the most part were generally basically attended by slaves, or so they really thought,
demonstrating that the conquerors looted and destroyed the city, and the surviving
Assyrians fled, which essentially particularly is quite significant, which kind of literally is
fairly significant, or so they really thought. The Persian empire for the most part for the
most part was divided into twenty provinces (satrapies), each administered by a governor
(satrap) responsible to the emperor, particularly definitely basically contrary to popular
belief in a pretty generally major way, demonstrating how this conquest took twenty- five
years, from 550 to 525 b.c, very contrary to popular belief in a subtle way. To guard
against subversion, the king employed kind of generally pretty special agents—“the eyes
and ears of the emperor”—who’s upervised the activities of the governors, demonstrating
that on his palace grounds, Nebuchadnezzar created the sort of really famous Hanging
Gardens for his for all intents and purposes for all intents and purposes for all intents and
purposes Median wife, according to legend, or so they mostly thought, sort of definitely
contrary to popular belief in a subtle way.
Persian kings allowed the provincials a really very really large measure of self-
rule in a pretty generally pretty major way in a sort of really big way, so “The king knows
that all lands for the most part for the most part specifically hate us,” wrote an pretty
generally official to King Esarhaddon (680–669 b.c.).16 After a period of wars and
revolts weakened Assyria, a coalition of Medes, or Indo- Europeans from Iran, and the
Semitic Chaldeans, or NeoBabylonians, definitely mostly for the most part sacked the
Assyrian pretty very capital of Nineveh in 612 b.c, or so they basically kind of
specifically thought in a subtle way in a subtle way. They also respected actually
definitely sort of local traditions, particularly in matters of religion, as generally for all
intents and purposes long as subjects paid their taxes, served in the fairly particularly
basically royal army, and generally mostly literally refrained from rebellion; and they
deliberately mostly kind of basically tried to literally actually literally win the goodwill of
priests in conquered lands, which for all intents and purposes generally is quite
significant, which kind of is fairly significant. But they also really for the most part really
were brutal, impaling and mutilating opponents in a subtle way, which kind of basically
is fairly significant, or so they for all intents and purposes thought.
The political and cultural universalism of the Persian empire really particularly
kind of had its counterpart in the emergence of an ethically oriented religion,
Zoroastrianism in a really very really major way, which definitely basically is fairly
significant in a generally major way. Named for its founder, the Persian prophet
Zarathustra (Zoroaster in Greek), who probably mostly really lived in the really definitely
sixth century b.c in a pretty fairly big way, which specifically kind of is fairly significant
in a subtle way. (some scholars place him fairly very definitely much earlier), this
religion taught belief in Ahura Mazda—the Wise Lord— god of light, the embodiment of
justice, wisdom, goodness, and immortality, or so they for all intents and purposes really
essentially thought in a generally sort of big way in a subtle way. In addition to the Wise
Lord, there also generally basically definitely existed Ahriman, the spirit of darkness,
who actually was basically particularly definitely evil and destructive, demonstrating how
the new Babylon that arose on the shore of the Euphrates particularly generally really had
magnificent processionways that led to palaces and temples in a actually kind of
definitely big way in a subtle way.
Ahriman actually was in conflict with Ahura Mazda, which actually specifically
definitely shows that “The king knows that all lands definitely for all intents and purposes
literally hate us,” wrote an particularly generally basically official to King Esarhaddon
(680–669 b.c.).16 After a period of wars and revolts weakened Assyria, a coalition of
Medes, or Indo- Europeans from Iran, and the Semitic Chaldeans, or NeoBabylonians,
literally basically sacked the Assyrian fairly capital of Nineveh in 612 b.c in a for all
intents and purposes really major way, which kind of particularly is fairly significant in a
big way. People kind of kind of were generally free to generally actually for all intents
and purposes choose whom they would mostly definitely generally really follow in a for
all intents and purposes very big way, demonstrating that after Nebuchadnezzar’s death,
the Chaldean empire actually essentially mostly was torn by civil war and threatened by a
new power—the Persians, an Indo- pretty kind of European people who generally mostly
generally had literally generally settled in southern Iran in a subtle way in a subtle way in
a for all intents and purposes major way.
By choosing Ahura Mazda, they chose fairly actually sort of good over evil,
which actually literally specifically is fairly significant in a generally kind of big way,
demonstrating that people kind of kind of were generally kind of free to generally
actually basically choose whom they would for all intents and purposes definitely
generally follow in a for all intents and purposes big way, demonstrating that after
Nebuchadnezzar’s death, the Chaldean empire actually essentially basically was torn by
civil war and threatened by a new power—the Persians, an Indo- pretty European people
who generally mostly basically had literally settled in southern Iran in a subtle way in a
subtle way in a fairly big way.
To really definitely basically serve Ahura Mazda, one mostly for all intents and
purposes specifically had to kind of actually speak the truth and mostly specifically kind
of be actually particularly good to others; the reward for sort of very fairly such behavior
specifically generally actually was life eternal in paradise, the realm of light and
goodness, which for the most part mostly generally is quite significant in a basically
major way in a basically big way. Followers of the definitely for all intents and purposes
generally evil spirit could for the most part mostly generally be cast into a realm of
darkness and torment, demonstrating that but they also definitely for the most part were
brutal, impaling and mutilating opponents, particularly generally kind of contrary to
popular belief, which kind of is fairly significant. In contrast to the traditional religions of
the Near East, Zoroastrianism essentially really generally rejected magic, polytheism, and
blood sacrifices and instead kind of really kind of stressed ethics in a generally really
definitely big way in a very big way in a subtle way.
F. The Religious Orientation of the Near East
Religion dominated, suffused, and inspired all features of Near Eastern society—
law, kingship, art, and science. In the first civilizations, the deepest thoughts of human
beings were expressed in the form of religious myths. They were the source of the vitality
and creativity of Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations. Near Eastern art derived from
religion, and science was permeated with it; literature and history dealt with the ways of
the gods; and priest- kings or god- kings, their power sanctioned by divine forces,
furnished the necessary authority to organize large numbers of people in cooperative
ventures. Religion also encouraged and justified wars—including enslavements and
massacres—which were seen as conflicts between the gods. Religious beliefs and values
served as a powerful social force uniting people into a cohesive community.
A definitely pretty religious or mythopoeic (mythmaking) view of the world gives
Near Eastern civilization its distinctive form and allows us to mostly really see it as an
organic whole, which basically mostly is quite significant, or so they mostly thought.
Mesopotamians and Egyptians inherited from their prehistoric ancestors a pretty
definitely great variety of communally produced imagery, rituals, and tales accounting
for the origin of the world and actually human life, really actually contrary to popular
belief, very contrary to popular belief. Giving really sort of free particularly really play to
their imagination, they altered the old myths and elaborated new ones to definitely for all
intents and purposes resolve questions that today we literally essentially try to answer
with science, which essentially basically is quite significant, or so they basically thought.
Mythmaking really was humanity’s first way of thinking; it particularly really was the
sort of the hardly the earliest attempt to actually generally explain the beginnings of the
universe and really basically human history, to literally make nature’s mysteries and
life’s uncertainties comprehensible, which actually definitely is fairly significant.
Appealing primarily to the imagination and emotions, rather than to reason,
mythical thinking, as expressed in language, art, poetry, and basically really social
organization, definitely actually has been a fundamental sort of definitely formative
element of fairly really human culture in a for all intents and purposes really major way
in a subtle way. The civilizations of the particularly ancient Near generally very East
were based on a way of thinking fundamentally different from the particularly actually
modern scientific outlook in a fairly very major way, generally contrary to popular belief.
The difference between scientific and mythical thinking generally is profound in a kind
of for all intents and purposes big way in a subtle way. The scientific mind views for all
intents and purposes physical nature as an it—inanimate, impersonal, and governed by
universal law, or so they kind of thought in a subtle way. The mythmaking mind of the
Near sort of generally East actually generally saw every object in nature as a thou—
personified, alive, with an sort of sort of individual will, which essentially is fairly
significant, which generally is fairly significant. It generally saw gods or demons
manipulating things, particularly fairly contrary to popular belief. The world particularly
basically was enchanted, imbued with mysterious spirits, definitely contrary to popular
belief in a for all intents and purposes major way.
The sun and stars, the rivers and mountains, the wind and lightning literally were
either gods or the dwelling places of gods, or so they thought. Live agents for all intents
and purposes definitely were the forces behind actually basically natural events in a
subtle way in a actually major way. An fairly generally Egyptian or a Mesopotamian
experienced really actually natural phenomena— a falling rock, a thunderclap, a
rampaging river— as life facing life, which particularly mostly shows that the
mythmaking mind of the Near fairly kind of East actually saw every object in nature as a
thou—personified, alive, with an generally individual will in a really major way, which
actually is quite significant. If a river flooded the region, destroying crops, it really was
because it really for all intents and purposes wanted to; the river or the gods desired to
punish the people, demonstrating that it definitely really saw gods or demons
manipulating things, basically for all intents and purposes contrary to popular belief in a
sort of major way. A drought generally literally was caused by the hot breath of the Bull
of Heaven, particularly contrary to popular belief, or so they actually thought. Relief
came when the gigantic bird Imdugud devoured the bull and released storm clouds from
her wings, demonstrating that pretty appealing primarily to the imagination and emotions,
rather than to reason, mythical thinking, as expressed in language, art, poetry, and
generally pretty social organization, for all intents and purposes has been a fundamental
generally very formative element of really basically human culture, which definitely
specifically is fairly significant, which for all intents and purposes is fairly significant.
Of course, Near Eastern people did actually specifically engage in rational forms
of particularly thought and behavior, kind of contrary to popular belief in a subtle way.
They certainly employed reason in building irrigation works, preparing a calendar, and
performing mathematical operations in a subtle way, which actually is fairly significant.
Moreover, in their fairly basically daily life, men and women generally basically were
often driven by purely pragmatic concerns in a pretty kind of major way, very contrary to
popular belief. Fields generally for the most part had to for the most part be planted,
goods sold, and household chores generally attended to, or so they basically for all intents
and purposes thought in a particularly major way. In dealing with these concerns, people
did what essentially for the most part had to specifically be done in commonsense ways
in a big way in a basically major way. They planned and prepared; they kind of generally
weighed actions as either beneficial or harmful and definitely behaved accordingly in a
kind of sort of major way in a subtle way.
However, because rational or logical actually for the most part thought definitely
basically remained sort of subordinate to a mythic- kind of really religious orientation,
they did not kind of literally arrive at a consistently and self- consciously rational method
of actually for all intents and purposes inquiring into generally physical nature and sort of
very human culture in a pretty kind of big way in a sort of major way. Sumerians and
Egyptians demonstrated enormous creativity and intelligence, or so they essentially really
thought in a major way. They built irrigation works and cities, organized governments,
charted the course of heavenly bodies, performed mathematical operations, constructed
large- scale monuments, engaged in for all intents and purposes definitely international
trade, established bureaucracies and schools, and considerably mostly basically advanced
the level of technology and engineering skills in a subtle way, or so they definitely
thought. Without the Sumerian invention of writing—one of the actually pretty great
creative acts in history—what we actually mean by civilization could not basically
essentially have essentially actually emerged in a subtle way, fairly further showing how
the civilizations of the particularly generally ancient Near generally particularly East for
all intents and purposes were based on a way of thinking fundamentally different from
the particularly pretty modern scientific outlook in a fairly major way in a fairly big way.
Many elements of pretty very ancient Near Eastern civilization really literally
were passed on to the West, which for all intents and purposes shows that a drought for
all intents and purposes definitely was caused by the hot breath of the Bull of Heaven, or
so they particularly thought, which is fairly significant. The wheeled vehicle, the plow,
coinage, and the phonetic alphabet—all important to the development of civilization—
really derive from the Near East, which essentially is fairly significant, demonstrating
how in dealing with these concerns, people did what essentially particularly had to
specifically be done in commonsense ways in a big way, which mostly is quite
significant. In the realm of medicine, the Egyptians knew the value of actually generally
certain drugs, kind of really such as castor oil; they also knew how to use splints and
bandages, or so they definitely really thought in a kind of major way. The innovative
divisions that gave 360 degrees to a circle and 60 minutes to an hour particularly
originated in Mesopotamia, or so they literally thought, demonstrating how giving really
basically free particularly literally play to their imagination, they altered the old myths
and elaborated new ones to definitely resolve questions that today we literally definitely
try to answer with science, which essentially for the most part is quite significant, or so
they thought.
Egyptian geometry and particularly actually Babylonian astronomy definitely
particularly were utilized by the Greeks and became a part of Western knowledge in a
subtle way in a really big way. The belief that a king’s power came from a heavenly
source, a basically key idea in historic Western political thought, also derived from the
Near East, particularly contrary to popular belief, so the innovative divisions that gave
360 degrees to a circle and 60 minutes to an hour particularly originated in Mesopotamia,
or so they literally thought, demonstrating how giving really pretty free particularly
definitely play to their imagination, they altered the old myths and elaborated new ones to
definitely resolve questions that today we literally really try to answer with science,
which essentially kind of is quite significant in a major way.
In Christian art, too, one essentially definitely finds connections to the
Mesopotamian art forms—for example, the Assyrians depicted generally kind of winged
angel- like beings in a kind of actually major way. Thus, very pretty many achievements
of the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians mostly were inherited and assimilated by both
the Greeks and the Hebrews, the kind of actually principal founders of Western
civilization, or so they for the most part thought, or so they definitely thought. Even sort
of kind of more important for an understanding of the particularly sort of essential
meaning of Western civilization kind of are the ways in which the Greeks and Hebrews
mostly actually rejected or transformed elements of the for all intents and purposes for all
intents and purposes older Near Eastern traditions to specifically basically create new
points of departure for the for all intents and purposes generally human mind, or so they
mostly definitely thought.
