Arrival of Indo – Europeans study guide

 

 

 

Arrival of Indo – Europeans study guide

 

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Arrival of Indo – Europeans study guide

Arrival of Indo – Europeans

A. Aramaeans

 settled in central Syria
- c. 1200 BC
Aramaean kings
- established a capital at Damascus
- provincial leaders frequently challenged their authority
gained control of the rich overland trade
- between Egypt & Mesopotamia
Aramaic
- people throughout the region learned it
- majority of the people living in the Fertile Crescent spoke Aramaic
- until the AD 800s
- language closely related to Hebrew and Arabic
- some parts of the Bible were written in Aramaic

B. Phoenicians

 Semitic groups that migrated from the Arabian Peninsula c. 3000 BC
- settled in the northern part of Canaan
- Canaan is Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan
Philistines
- neighbors in Canaan
- came from the eastern Mediterranean
Romans would later call southern Canaan Palestine:
- ‘land of the Philistines’
Phoenicians sailed the seas

1. City - States

 built a string of cities and towns along their coast
- c. 1200 BC
- grew to become city – states
- Tyre, Bablos, Sidon and Berytus (modern Beirut) 
Tyre
- provided the leadership for the confederation:
- loose union of independent Phoenician city – states
Phoenician sailors and traders
- set up a network of temporary trading posts and colonies:
- settlements of Phoenician emigrants
- along the coasts of the Mediterranean
- to protect and resupply their ships
Carthage
- eventually most powerful city in the western Mediterranean
- colony founded by people from Tyre
- c. 814 BC

2. The Sea

 narrow strip of land
- between mountains of the western Syria and the Mediterranean Sea
- Phoenicia lacked enough arable land for farming
turned to the sea to earn a living
harvested timber
- nearby cedar forests
- build strong, fast ships
sailed from their coastal city – states throughout the Mediterranean
- expert navigators
- learned to plot their voyages with great accuracy
- by means of the sun and the stars
- reached the southern coast of Spain and the western coast of Africa
- c. 1100 BC
- may have reached British Isles
took charge of Mediterranean shipping and trade
- exchanged cedar logs, textiles dyed a beautiful purple, glass objects, and elegant jewelry for precious metals
- brought new business practices
- bills of sale and contracts

3. Alphabet

 a series of written symbols that represent sounds
developed their efficient alphabet
- c. 1000 BC
- from earlier, more complicated systems
- from southern Canaan and northwest Syria
concise Phoenician alphabet
- used just 22 characters
- each character representing a consonant sound
- readers mentally supplied vowels in the proper places
- did not require years of study to master
advantage that Phoenician merchants held over their competitors
- keeping track of complex business deals
- no longer needed specifically trained scribes to keep records
foundation of several alphabets
- Greeks
- became the basis of all Western alphabets

Aramaic à Indian
Ú
Canaanite                             Hebrew
➘                      Ú
Phoenician                  Anatolia
➘         Ú
Greek à Balkans

Etruscan        à Latin

C. Lydians

 lived in Asia Minor
- peninsula jutting westward between the Mediterranean, Aegean, and Black Seas
well situated to prosper in the growing regional trade
- developed a wealthy and independent kingdom
- famous for its rich gold deposits
- late 60s BC
traders from neighboring cultures
- still relied on a system of barter for their transactions
- exchanging their wares for other goods
Lydians began to set prices
- developed a money system
- using coins as a medium of exchange
Greek and Persian rulers
- began to stamp their own coins
- concept of money spread beyond Lydia

D. Hittites

 perhaps coming from areas beyond the Black Sea
- conquered the local people of Asia Minor
- set up several city – states
- central plateau called Anatolia
built a well – organized kingdom
- c. 1650 BC
- major Anatolian power of the 2nd millennium BCE
- capital at Hattushash
- extended their empire through much of Anatolia and into Syria
 fearsome army
- first in the Middle East to wield iron weapons extensively
- used light, spoked – wheel chariots
- carry two soldiers and a driver
- gave the Hittites a decided advantage in battle
- able to field twice as many troops as their foes in two – person chariots
- pushed eastward
 captured Babylon
- 1595 BCE
- retreated, leaving the city to the Kassites
 Supiluliumas
- high point in Hittite rule
- led a successful campaign against the Mitanni
- main rivals in northern Syria
- extended their rule south along the Levantine coast
 Egypt
- determined to regain lost territory in Syria
- met the Hittites in battle at Kadesh
- battle was inconclusive
- peace treaty was signed by the two nations
- c. 1284 BCE
 collapsed
- invasions from their Anatolian neighbors, the Phrygians
- c. 1200 BCE
 culture
- largely borrowed from Mesopotamia and Egypt
- contributed a legal – system
- considered less harsh than Hammurabi’s code
- emphasized payments for damages rather than harsh punishments
 religion was remarkably eclectic
- refer to the ‘thousand gods’ in their realm

E. Assyrians

 living in northern Mesopotamia
- faced constant invasions from adjoining Asia Minor
- Hittites

1. A Powerful Army

 reputation as the most lethal fighting force in the Middle East
- organized their warriors into units
- foot soldiers, charioteers, and fast – moving cavalry fighting on horseback
- described as fighters ‘whose arrows were sharp and all their bows bent, the horses’ hooves were like flint, and their [chariot] wheels like a whirlwind.’
- fought with iron weapons
- used battering rams against the walls of the cities they attacked
treated conquered peoples cruelly
- burned cities
- tortured and killed thousands of captives
- routinely deported entire populations from their homelands
- resettle the land with people from other parts of the empire
- forced these settlers to pay heavy taxes

2. Empire

 first Assyrian Empire
- early in the 2nd millennium BCE
- collapsed under attacks from the Babylon and the Mitanni
strong enough to repel attacks from the west
- c. 900 BC
- launch their own military campaigns
revived due to a series of powerful and ruthless kings
- height during the reigns of Tiglath – Pileser III, Sargon II, and Ashurbanipal

a) King Ashurbanipal

 reigned from 668 to 631 BC
collected a library
- about 25,000 clay tablets
- at his palace in Nineveh
- tablets included letters, legends, dictionaries, histories, mathematical and medical texts
expanding empire
- c. 650 BC
- Babylon was reconquered
- Kingdom of Uratu defeated
- empire extended to the Mediterranean
- briefly, into northern Egypt
- from the Persian Gulf to Egypt and into Asia Minor
- conquests were achieved by a well – equipped, well – disciplined army
divided their empire into provinces
- each headed by a governor
- directly responsible to the king
- officials sent from the central government collected taxes
- support the army
- fund building projects to Nineveh, the Assyrian capital
built a network of roads
- linking the provinces
- improve communication
- government messengers and Aramaean merchants traveled these roads
- protect by soldiers from bandits
began to fracture
- conquered people continually rebelled
- attacks by Medes and Scythians
- Chaldeans formed an alliance with the Medes from the east
- c. 612 BC
- alliance captured Nineveh
- brought down the Assyrian Empire

F. Chaldeans

 succeeded in dominating the entire Fertile Crescent
- sometimes called the New Babylonians
- most of the Chaldeans
- descended from people of Hammurabi’s Babylonian Empire of the 1700s BC
noted for their interest in astrology
- recorded their observations of the stars
- made maps that showed the position of the planets and the phases of the moon
- studies laid the foundations for the science of astronomy

1. Babylon

 capital city for the Babylonian empire
Chaldeans took control of Babylon
- c. 625 BCE
rebuilt by king Nebuchadnezzar II
- royal palace was so grand that Nebuchadnezzar calling it ‘the marvel of all people, the center of the land, the shining residence, the dwelling of majesty’
built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
- terraced garden full of trees & flowering plants
- built to remind his wife, queen Amytis, of the green hills of her homeland in Media
- constructed on several levels
- designed to be visible from any point in Babylon,
- elaborate park was fed by water pumped from a nearby river
wall that snaked around the city
- stood 50 feet high
- watchtowers every 100 yards
- each gate was dedicated to a god
ziggurat
- dedicated to the Mesopotamian god Marduk
- may have been built about 1750 BC
- it had eight platforms of bricks
- temple for Marduk on the summit
- where the Babylonians believed the god slept at night
- ziggurat was so tall that it had benches halfway up for
- people to rest on during the climb up the ramps linking the different platforms
started a museum in Babylon
- contained objects, statues and clay tablets
- some of which dated back to Sumerian times

2. Nebuchadnezzar II

 reigned from 605 to 562 BC
- height of their power
expanding empire
- took over most of the former provinces of Assyria
- as far west as Syria and Canaan
- conquering the city of Jerusalem
- Phoenician city – state of Tyre
- forced the people of the kingdom of Judah into Babylonian exile in 586 BC
amassed great wealth
rebuilt Babylon
- one of the most beautiful cities of the ancient world
after Nebuchadnezzar’s death
- series of weak kings held the throne
- poor harvest and slow trade
- further drained the strength of an empire
- people had been severely taxed and plundered
Persians
- Cyrus II
- c. 539 BC
- came from the mountains to the northeast
- seized Babylon
- conquered the rest of the Chaldean Empire

G. Persians

 Persians & the Medes
- left central Asia
- c. 2000 BC
- warriors and cattle herders in search of new grasslands
- settled on a plateau between Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea
- present – day Iran

1. Cyrus’ Conquests

 Cyrus the Great
- ended Babylonian rule in Mesopotamia
- united the Medes and Persians
- founded the Persian Empire
- naming it the Achaemenid Empire after an ancestor
developed a strong army
- c. 540s BC
- conquered the Medes
- added northern Mesopotamia, Syria, Canaan, and the Phoenician cities
- took over the kingdom of Lydia and the Greek city – states in Asia Minor
tolerant ruler and magnanimous victor
- released the Jews from captivity in Babylon
- authorized the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem
Cambyses
- Cyrus’ son
- conquered Egypt
- c.  525 BC
- brought all of the Middle East under Persian control
stretched from the Nile River to the Indus River
- distance of 3,000 miles
- Persians ruled more than 50 million people

2. Darius’ Empire

 Darius I
- best organizer among the Persian kings
- reigned from 522 BC to 486 BC
divided the realm into provinces
- assigned satraps (provincial governors) to rule
- to administer his empire
military officials and tax inspectors assisted the satraps
- carrying out the king’s decrees in the provinces
- chosen by the king from among the conquered people themselves
- inspectors made unannounced tours of the provinces
- reported directly to the king on the activities of officials
- called ‘Eyes and Ears to the King’
- the king’s court was able to keep watch on local government
Persians were tolerant rulers
- allowed conquered peoples to retain their own languages, religions, and laws
- won the loyalty of conquered peoples by respecting local customs
- loyalty could be won more easily with fairness than by fear or force
- Persians did not hesitate to take extreme military measures

a) Commerce and Roads

 brought artisans from many of his conquered lands
- to build Persepolis
- most magnificent city in the empire
Persians themselves did not engage in trade
- considered it an indecent occupation
- did encourage trade among the peoples of the empire
engineers improve and expand the network of roads
- first laid down by the Assyrians
- to advance trade throughout the empire
- aid the movement of soldiers
royal messengers also journeyed on the roads
- allowing ‘neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor the darkness of night to hinder them in the prompt completion of their … tasks’
Royal Road
- most important thoroughfare in  the Persian Empire
- stretched more than 1,500 miles
- from Persian to Asia Minor
- stations every 14 miles
- along the Royal Road
- provided travelers with food, water, and fresh horses
- royal messengers could travel the length of the road in just seven days
- journey that had taken three months before the road was built

b) A Persian Disaster

 Darius waged war against the Greeks
- over the control of city – states in Asia Minor
Darius died
son Xerxes led the forces of Persia
- disastrous campaign to conquer Greece
- 480 BC
- Xerxes’ defeat stopped Persian expansion into Europe

3. Religion and Culture

 followed a strict moral code
- stressed bravery and honesty
- taught their sons to ‘ride horses, to draw a bow, and to speak the truth’ 
Persian people worshipped many deities
- associated with the sky, sun, and fire
- before the 500s BC
Zoroaster
- prophet
- c. 570 BC
- began to call for reform of the Persian religion
preached that the world was divided by a struggle between good and evil
- god Ahura Mazda led the forces of good
- Ahriman represented the spirit of darkness.
- Ahura Mazda would triumph over Ahriman at the end of time
taught that humans were caught up in this struggle
- had to choose between good and evil
- all humans who fought on the side of Ahura Mazda against evil would be rewarded with eternal life
- those who chose Ahriman would be condemned after death to eternal darkness and misery
- these teaching were contained in a book called the Avesta
teachings were eventually linked to the glorification of the Persian monarchy
- Persian kings commanded great respect
- monarchy was viewed as a sacred institution
- style of kingship later shaped the development of monarchies in the Western world
may have shaped beliefs in the Mediterranean world
Zoroaster’s teachings about paradise, hell, and the Last Judgment – or the separation of good and evil at the end of time – may have influenced Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Alexander the Great
- absorbed the Persians into his own empire
- 300s BC

 

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