lecture 19 from territorial states to empires (b)

HISTORY 26

Lecture Nineteen:

From Territorial Statesto Empires

(c. 1200 - 900 BC)

HISTORY 26

Lecture Nineteen:

From Territorial Statesto Empires

(c. 1200 - 900 BC)

Ba’al Statue, Ugarit(Louvre, Paris)

Ba’al Statue, Ugarit(Louvre, Paris)

Merenptah Baenra(1213 - 1203 BC, 19th

Dynasty)

The Libyans and the ‘Peoples of the Sea’

Battle near Memphis and Heliopolis

An invasion AND a migration

Rameses III Usermaatra Meryamun

(1184 - 1153 BC, 20th Dynasty)

The Peoples of the Sea

The Peoples of the Sea

Ekwesh and Denyen = Achaean and Danaan Greeks (Iliad)

Lukka = Lycians (southern Anatolia) Sherden = Sardinians Peleset = Philistines (Palestine)

The Peoples of the Sea

The Sherden at the battle of Kadesh under Rameses II– Mercenaries in the

Egyptian and Hittite armies (13th c. BC)

Destruction is sporadic and takes place over decades– Ex: The survival of

Carchemish

The AramaeansThe Aramaeans

• Pastoral nomads• Language: Aramaic• Dominate the city-

states of Syria• Assimilate in

Assyria and Babylon• Akkadian remained

the language of government

• Like the Gutians, Amorites, Kassites

• Pastoral nomads• Language: Aramaic• Dominate the city-

states of Syria• Assimilate in

Assyria and Babylon• Akkadian remained

the language of government

• Like the Gutians, Amorites, Kassites

The HabiruThe Habiru

• Semi-nomadic social outcasts

• NOT an ethnic group, but a social group

• Often portrayed as robbers and murderers, but also used as laborers and mercenaries

• Semi-nomadic social outcasts

• NOT an ethnic group, but a social group

• Often portrayed as robbers and murderers, but also used as laborers and mercenariesIdrimi, King of Alalakh,

formerly a habiru

The EnvironmentThe Environment

• Earthquakes• A drying of the climate in the north,

producing crop failure and famine• Grain shipments from Egypt and

Ugarit to the Hittites

• A shifting of the courses of the Tigris and Euphrates in southern Mesopotamia

• Earthquakes• A drying of the climate in the north,

producing crop failure and famine• Grain shipments from Egypt and

Ugarit to the Hittites

• A shifting of the courses of the Tigris and Euphrates in southern Mesopotamia