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342 world history: early file:///F:/History/A%20Good%20Reading%201/342worldhistoryearly.html
Thor
Indo-European Conquerers
Aryans in India
Hittites and Mittani in the Fertile Crescent
Luians in Anatolia (Turkey)
Kurgans in eastern Europe (Battle-Axe People)
Achaeans, Dorians in Greece
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Before Indo-Europeans
Sedentary agrarian society
Fertility and nature worshiped
Goddess gave birth to World, Agriculture
Priests male and female
Women’s status similar to men’s: Graves Equal
After Indo-Europeans
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Herding introduced
Warfare, war culture dominates: Fortifications built
Male War Gods worshiped: Male dominated society, religion
Goddess loses status
Killed or raped by male god
Becomes consort of male god
Becomes goddess of war
Early Civilizations
City states
Elites
Religion
Crop domestication
Animal agriculture
Trade
Metallurgy
Population explosion
Mesopotamia
Flooding of Tigris and Euphrates fertilized soil
Irrigation, drainage produced early abundance
Competition and warfare between city states: Ur, Uruk, Nippur, Babylon, Kish Nineveh, Assur, etc.
Over salinization reduced wheat productivity in south by 2,000 B.C.: political power shifted north
Eventual large scale ecological destruction
Forests destroyed for fuel, ship building
Fields and pastures worked until barren
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Fertile Crescent
Egypt
Yearly flooding of Nile fertilized soil.
Irrigation, drainage controlled by Pharaoh
Abundant crops: wheat. (Later would be conquered for its productivity)
Relative geographical isolation: strong central government, religion
Unification of North and South Nile by 3,500 B.C.
2,000 year dynasty ended in Persian conquest 500 B.C.
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342 world history: early file:///F:/History/A%20Good%20Reading%201/342worldhistoryearly.html
“I slew two hundred and sixty fighting men; I cut off their heads and made pyramids thereof. I slew one of
every two. I built a wall before the great gates of the city; I flayed the chief men of the rebels, and I covered
the wall with their skins. Some of them were enclosed alive in the bricks of the wall, some of them were
crucified on stakes along the wall; I caused a great multitude of them to be flayed in my presence, and I
covered the wall with their skins. I gathered together the heads in the form of crowns, and their pierced
bodies in the form of garlands.”
“The inhabitants forsook their strongholds and their castles: they fled for safety towards Matui, a strong
country; I rushed after them in pursuit; I strawed a thousand bodies of the warriors upon the mountain; I
covered the mountain with their dead bodies; I filled the valleys therewith. As for two hundred that I had
taken alive, I pierced their wrists. My face rejoiceth over ruins; in the satisfying of my wrath I have my
pleasure.”
Biblical Warfare
Saul instructed by God to destroy the Amelekites (1000 B.C.):
“Spare no one; put them all to death, men and women, children and babes in arms, herds and flocks, camels
and asses.”
-- I Samuel 15:3
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342 world history: early file:///F:/History/A%20Good%20Reading%201/342worldhistoryearly.html
Greek Influence
Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid Persian Empire 323 B.C.
Introduced Hellenistic culture to the mideast
Maintained by subsequent Greek rulers until 130 B. C.
Greeks colonized southern Italy and Sicily for grain growing
Roman Empire
Romans conquered Italy and Sicily,
Romans then conquered the entire Greek world (except for Persia):
Asia Minor
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Much of Europe
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Roman Trade
A fleet of specialized grain carriers was used to import wheat from Egypt to Rome
Huge food giveaway program for citizens
Romans depleted their treasury importing luxury items and spices from India
Could no longer support food giveaways or army
Led to collapse of Empire in West
Persians never conquered by Romans, established silk trading routes to China
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342 world history: early file:///F:/History/A%20Good%20Reading%201/342worldhistoryearly.html
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342 world history: early file:///F:/History/A%20Good%20Reading%201/342worldhistoryearly.html
Zhou Dynasty
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342 world history: early file:///F:/History/A%20Good%20Reading%201/342worldhistoryearly.html
Ottoman Empire:
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342 world history: early file:///F:/History/A%20Good%20Reading%201/342worldhistoryearly.html
Europe in 1400
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