Hum 2220Ms. Owens

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“Prehistory” may be defined as that period prior to written records.

Prehistoric Culture

Paleolithic (“Old Stone”) ca. 7 million to 10,000 b.c.e.

Tribal hunters and gatherers

Crude stone and bone tools and weapons

Cave painting and sculpture

Spotted horses and negative hand imprints, Pech-Merle caves, Lot, France, ca. 15,000-10,000 B.C.E. 11 ft. 2in.

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•Cave paintings

Dated 15,000-10,000 B.C.E.

• Hall of Bulls, France

Cave Paintings of Lascaux

What were the purpose and function of these vivid images?

•The depiction of the animal,

that is, its “capture” on the cave wall, may

have been essential to the

hunt itself.

Sympathetic magic

Ice Age Huts, Reconstruction of a mammoth-bone house, Mezhirich, Ukraine, ca. 16,000-10,000 B.C.E.9

Venus of Willendorf, Austria 4 3/8 ”

•25,000-20,000 b.c.e.

•Paleolithic

•Possibly used for fertility cults that ensured successful childbirth.

Neolithic (“New Stone”) ca. 8,000 to 4,000 b.c.e.Farming and food production

Polished stone and bone tools and weapons

Architecture

Pottery and weaving

transition form hunting to herding and the domestication of cattle and camels.

Saharan rock painting, Tassili, Algeria, ca. 8,000-4000 B.C.E. Men and women

are shown herding domestic cattle. 12

Earliest Architecture

Isometric reconstruction of a Neolithic house at Hassuna originally mud and limestone. 13

The world’s oldest clay vessels appear to have come from Japan.

•The Jomon Period, Japan 14,000 to 400 B.C.E.

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Beaker painted with goats, dogs, and long-necked birds, from Susa, southwest Iran, ca. 5,000-4,000

B.C.E., HEIGHT 11 ¼ in.

2,600-2,400 b.c.e

Neolithic

Cyclades (the Greek islands of the Aegean Sea)

Female Cycladic idol, from Amorgos, 2600-2400 B.C.E. Marble, 4' 10 1/2" high. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

Female Cycladic idol

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Neolithic earthworks, megaliths “great stone”

Almost all early cultures regarded the dead as messengers between the material world and the spirit world.

Dolmen site and post and lintel construction

Burial site, Dolmen (upright stones supporting a horizontal slab) France,

Neolithic period

Stonehenge, England

•Ca. 3000-1800 b.c.e

•Trilithons (lintel-topped

pairs of stones) tallest upright

22 ft.

•25 tons each

•Dragged from quarry some 20

miles away.

What was its purpose?

Stonehenge

Possibly served as a celestial observatory predicting the movements of the sun and moon, clocking the seasonal cycle, providing information that would have been essential to an agricultural society.

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Raising a sarsen stone into an upright setting. Then raising a lintel to the top of two sarsens.

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The Birth of CivilizationFrom Counting to Writing

More process than an invention, writing evolved from counting.

The development of Sumerian writing from a pictographic script to cuneiform script to a phonetic system.

Adapted from Samuel Noah Kramer, "The Sumerians," © 1957 by Scientific American, Inc.

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©Reverse side of a pictographic tablet from Jamdat Nasr, near Kish, Iraq, ca. 3000 B.C.E. listing accounts involving animals and various commodities including bread and beer. Clay

Hieroglyphs, Queen Nefertari before the Divine Scribe Thoth, from the tomb of Nefertari, north wall, Valley of the Queens,

Egypt, New Kingdom, Nineteenth Dynasty, 1290-1224 B.C.E.

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Rosetta Stone,196 B.C.E. The same information is inscribed in hieroglyphic, a pictographic script, demotic script, a

simplified form of hieroglyphic, and Greek.

Why is the Rosetta stone so important?

Metal began to replace stone and bone.

Ceremonial vessel with a cover, late Shang dynasty,

China, ca. 1000 B.C.E. Bronze, height 20-1/16 in.

Metallurgy

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The King of Lagash leads his phalanx into battle. Detail of Eannatum’s Stele of Victory, Tello, formerly Girsu, ca.

24502450 B.C.E. Limestone

Sumerian warriors were outfitted with bronze shields, helmets, and lances.

Mesopotamia 3rd millennium B.C.E

The lost-wax process of bronze casting developed in Mesopotamia, third millennium b.c.e.

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Chariot from Daimabad, Maharashtra, ca. 1500 B.C.E. Bronze 30

Myth

Humans are driven to explain the origins of the universe and define their place in it.

Myth: a usually traditional story of ostensibly (seeming to be true or genuine, but open to doubt) historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon

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Myth and the Quest for Beginnings

“The song of Creation” Rig VedaThe oldest religious literature of India – locates our beginnings in a watery darkness.

An African Creation Tale Drawn from the huge fund of creations stories told by African tribal people and transmitted orally for centuries. It situates the origins of life in the slender grasses that grow in wet, marshy soil.

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Myth

Popol Vuh (“Sacred book”)Central America's Maya Indians, links creation to the word, (to language itself).

A Native American Creation Tale, “How Man Was Created”

Native American Iroquois Federation, a Mohawk tale recounts how the Good Spirit fashioned humankind in its diversity.

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Chapter 1

Mesopotamia: Gods, Rulers, and the Social Order

(ca. 3500–330 B.C.E.)(Tigris and Euphrates river)

The Gods of Mesopotamia

Associated with the effects of the environment/forces of nature

Sumerian creation myth: The Babylonian Creation

The search for immortality: The Epic of Gilgamesh

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The Babylonian Creation

Sumerian creation myth (poem), 2nd millennium b.c.e.

Humankind’s first cosmological myth

Illustrates chaos and conflict like its climate

Tiamat, the Great Mother, vs Marduk the hero-god who creates Babylon

Epic of GilgameshMesopotamia produced the world’s first literary epic.

Human vulnerability and the search for ever-lasting life.

2nd millennium b.c.e

Gilgamesh between two human-headed bulls (top portion). Soundbox of a harp, from Ur, Iraq, ca. 2600 B.C.E.

What is an epic?

Gilgamesh (tragic hero), Enkidu (friend), Humbaba (evil monster), Utnapishtim (gives advice)

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Gilgamesh

Semihistorical figure who probably ruled the ancient Sumerian city of Uruk around 2800 b.c.e.

two-thirds god and one-third man

Blessed by the gods with beauty and courage

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Enkidu

The gods created a wild creature.

After a confrontation they become friends.

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Neil Dalrymple 2003

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Humbaba

Evil monster in the Cedar forest

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'Woe to Gilgamesh, for he has scorned me in killing the Bull of Heaven.' Ishtar

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Gilgamesh slaying the Bull of Heaven

Utnapishtim

Ancient hero who had survived a tragic flood. (Like Noah in the Hebrew bible)

Gives Gilgamesh advice on how to find the plant that gives immortal life.

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The immortal plant

Gilgamesh finds the plant capable or rendering him immortal

Only to have it stolen by a snake while he sleeps

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Epic of Gilgamesh may have been chanted with an accompaniment of a harp

Harp reconstructed from Ur, ca. 2600 b.c.e. Wood and inlays of gold, lapis lazuli and shell, 3 ‘ 6”

The Rulers of Mesopotamia

Sumer Loosely-knit group of city-states

Earliest Bronze Age technology

BabylonSixth king of Babylon named Hammurabi developed unifying code of law

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Sargon I

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Head of an Akkadian ruler (Sargon l), from Nineveh, Iraq, c. 2350 B.C.E. Bronze, 12" high. Museum of Antiquities, Baghdad.

2350 b.c.e. Akkadian warlord Sargon I conquered Sumer

United city-states for 56 years

Theocratic monarch (sole ruler and representative of the gods)

World’s first multi-ethnic empire

Babylon: Hammurabi’s Law Code

Primarily secular in scope, but with the force of divine decree

Represented a landmark in the development of human rights in that it was written, unlike the traditional oral laws

inscribed with the law code of Hammurabi, Susa, capital of Elam (now in Iran), c. 1792-1750. Basalt, 7’ 28".

51The Standard of Ur, ca. 2700b.c.e double sided panel with inlaid shell, lapis Lazuli, red limestone

Div

isio

n of

labo

r

“

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The Arts in Mesopotamia The ziggurat

Traditional spiritual center of the city-state

Shrine room statuettesExpressed the insecurities of a people surrounded by reminders of their own vulnerability

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Ziggurat at Ur, Iraq,2150-2050 B.C.E.

•A ziggurat is a massive terraced tower made of rubble and brick which symbolized the sacred mountain linking

the realms of heaven and earth .

•Serving as both a shrine and a temple it formed the spiritual center of the city-state.

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Statuettes from the Abu Temple, Tell Asmar, Iraq, ca. 2900-2600 B.C.E.

Found in a shrine room at the top of the ziggurat . Probably they are votive (devotional) figures that represent the townspeople of

Tell Asmar in the act of worshipping their local deities.

In perpetual prayer

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The Hebrews

Early history of the Hebrews 2000 b.c.e.

Bible written 1000 years later

The covenant • Forged between God and Abraham

Ethical monotheism• the veneration of a single god as moral monitor, was

unique in the ancient world.

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Genesis 1:1

 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

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Genesis 1:26

    26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” New International Version (NIV)

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Genesis 17:7

7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. New International Version (NIV)

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The Ark of the Covenant

The Ark of the Covenant and sanctuary implements, Hammath near Tiberias, fourth century. Mosaic. Zev Radovan.

This decorative mosaic pictures the curtained Ark

that sheltered the Torah with sacramental

Objects - menorah (seven-branched candelabrum) and the

shofar or Ram’s horn, which is used to call the faithful to prayer.

Genesis 17:8

8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” New International Version (NIV)

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Judaism

The Hebrew monotheism

Yahweh or Jehovah

The covenant (contract)This contract or covenant bound the

Hebrews to God in return for God’s protection.

Torah (Hebrew bible,

“instructions”)

Hagia Sophia, Constantinople (now Istanbul), completed 537 C.E.

Ten Commandments

Yahweh revealed to Moses the essence of the covenant in a set of ten laws or commandments.

Defines the proper relationship between God and the faithful.

The mainstream Jewish view is that God will reward those who observe His commandments and punish those who

intentionally transgress them.

once one learned Torah properly, one could then learn the higher truths

Beliefs of the Law Beliefs of the Law

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A drawing of Babylon as it might have looked in the 6th century b.c.e. The Ishtar Gate stand at the center, with the

palace of Nebuchadnezzar II and the Hanging Gardens behind and to its right. On the horiazon and the east bank of

the Euphrates looms the Marduk Ziggurat.

Book of Job 2:3-6

3 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”

Why do bad things happen to good people? 69

 4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. 5 But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

 6 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”

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Job 1:18-22

 18 “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

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 22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

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Chapter 3- Job Curses the day of his Birth

Chapter 38 – Job Must Bow to the Creator’s Wisdom1 Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:  2 “Who is this that obscures my plans    with words without knowledge?

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Chapter 42: Job’s Final Answer

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1 Then Job replied to the LORD:  2 “I know that you can do all things;    no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 5 My ears had heard of you    but now my eyes have seen you. 6 Therefore I despise myself    and repent in dust and ashes.”

Job 42:12, 16-17

12 The LORD blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part.

 16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so Job died, an old man and full of years.

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Wailing Wall

It is the oldest symbol of the Jewish faith

The Menorah has 7 branches to symbolize the 7 days of Hanukah

The Menorah is said to be the symbol of Israel and our mission to be “a light unto the nations”

The lamp stands today in all synagogues

around the world

MenorahMenorah

The Star of David - universal symbol of Judaism

appears on synagogues, the state flag of Israel, and Jewish ritaul objects

The star is made of two triangles

Appeared early as the 960’s B.C.E.

The Hebrew term for the Star of David is

Magen David

Star of David Star of David

Iron Technology

King Assurnasirpal ll hunting lions (Lion Hunt), from Nimrud, Iraq, c. 883-859 B.C.E. Alabaster relief, 3' 3" x 8' 4". British Museum,

London.

Iron was introduced by the Hittites.

Cheaper to produce and more durable then bronze.

The Iron Age

The Assyrian EmpireHad a reputation as the most militant civilization of ancient Mesopotamia.

The Persian Empire The linguistic and ethnic diversity of this empire made it the first multicultural civilization of the ancient world.

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The Assyrian Empire

Reconstruction of the walled citadel at Khorsabad, Assyria (Iraq), ca. 720b.c.e.

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The Assyrian Empire

Ashurbanipal besieging an Egyptian city, 667 b.c.e. Alabaster relief.

The Assyrian Empire

King Ashurnasirpal II killing lions, from the King’s Palace, Nimrud, ca. 883-859 b.c.e. Alabaster relief 84

Gateway of a Assyrian palace

Winged Human-headed bull from

Khorsabad, Iraq, ca. 720 b.c.e. limestone

13’ 10”

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Persepolis, Persian empire

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The Persian Art

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The Persian Art

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The Persian Art

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The Persian Art

90Achaemenid (Persian) gold vessel 5th to 3 rd cen.

B.c.e

Ahura-Mazda (Wise Lord), Persian god

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Epic of Gilgamesh Essay

In your own words answer the following questions about the Epic of Gilgamesh:

Who was Gilgamesh? What was he searching for and why? How does this epic reflect the ideals of Mesopotamian culture? What makes Gilgamesh an epic hero? Are there any comparable figures in contemporary literature or life?

The Hebrews

The early Hebrew state The role of the prophets

The Babylonian Captivity and the Book of Job

Book of Psalms

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The Hebrew State and the Social order

The Hebrew Prophets

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Mesopotamia

“Land Between the Rivers” (Tigris and Euphrates river)

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The Assyrian Empire

Plan of the palace, Khorsabad, Assyria (Iraq), ca 720 b.c.e.

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HistoryHistory

• Judaism was founded by Abraham around 1750 B.C.E.

• Although Abraham is seen as the founder of Judaism, his grandson Jacob, who’s

name changed to Israel, was the father of 12 children who became known as the

“children of Israel”, or Israelites..

The Social Order

Law: Hammurabi’s Code Primarily secular in scope, but with the force of divine decree

Represented a landmark in the development of human rights in that it was written, unlike the traditional oral laws

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