KAGATLCMC01_xxxii-031v2 12/14/05 4:04 PM Page xxxii 2200–1600 b.c.e. 1,000,000–2200 b.c.e. d l POLITICS & ca. 3100– Egyptian Early Dynastic Period; 2200–2052 B.C.E. Egyptian First Intermediate Period r GOVERNMENT 2700B.C.E. unification of Upper and Lower 2052–1786 B.C.E. Egyptian Middle Kingdom o Egypt 1792–1750 B.C.E. Reign of Hammurabi; W ca. 2800–2340 B.C.E. Sumerian city-states’ Early Dynastic height of Old Babylonian Kingdom; period publication of Code of Hammurabi t 2700–2200 B.C.E. Egyptian Old Kingdom 1786–1575 B.C.E. Egyptian Second Intermediate Period n ca. 2370 B.C.E. Sargon established Akkadian Empire ca. 1700 B.C.E. Hyksos’ Invasion of Egypt e i c n A e h t n i n o i t (cid:1) Stele of Hammurabi a z i l (cid:2) Head of Sargon the Great i v i C n SOCIETY & ca. 1,000,000– Paleolithic Age ca. 2000 B.C.E. Hittites arrive in Asia Minor r ECONOMY 10,000 B.C.E. ca. 1900 B.C.E. Amorites in Babylonia e ca. 8,000 B.C.E. Earliest Neolithic settlements t ca. 3500 B.C.E. Earliest Sumerian settlements s ca. 3000 B.C.E. First urban settlements in Egypt and Mesopotamia; e Bronze Age begins in W Mesopotamia and Egypt (cid:2)Venus ca. 2900– Bronze Age Minoan society of f 1150 B.C.E. on Crete; Helladic society Willendorf o on Greek mainland s n o i RELIGION & ca. 30,000– Paleolithic art t a CULTURE 6000 B.C.E. d ca. 3000 B.C.E. Invention of writing 2200–1786 B.C.E. Rise of Amon-Re as chief Egyptian god ca. 3000 B.C.E. Temples to gods in Mesopotamia; ca. 1900 B.C.E. Traditional date for Hebrew patriarch n development of ziggurat temple Abraham u architecture o 2700–2200 B.C.E. Building of pyramids for Egyptian god-kings, development of f hieroglyphic writing in Egypt e h (cid:2)Chauvet cave painting t panel with horses e n o (cid:1)Sumerian clay tablet t r a p KAGATLCMC01_xxxii-031v2 12/14/05 4:05 PM Page 1 1600–1100 b.c.e. 1100–500 b.c.e. ca. 1600 B.C.E. Fall of Old Babylonian Kingdom ca. 1000–961 B.C.E. Reign of King David in Israel 1575–1087 B.C.E. Egyptian New Kingdom (or Empire) ca. 961–922 Reign of King Solomon in ca. 1400–1200 B.C.E. Height of Hittite Empire Israel ca. 1400–1200 B.C.E. Height of Mycenaean power ca. 1100–615 B.C.E. Assyrian Empire 1367–1350 B.C.E. Amunhotep IV (Akhenaten) in Egypt ca. 800–400 B.C.E. Height of Etruscan culture in Italy ca. 1250 B.C.E. Sack of Troy (?) 1087–1030 B.C.E. Egyptian Post-Empire ca. 650 B.C.E. Spartan constitution formed Period 722 B.C.E. Israel (northern kingdom) falls to Assyrians ca. 700–500 B.C.E. Rise and decline of tyranny in Greece 621 B.C.E. First written law code in Athens 612–539 B.C.E. Neo-Babylonian (Chaldean) Empire Pharaoh Sety I (cid:3) 594 B.C.E. Solon’s constitutional reforms, Athens (cid:1) The Capitoline Wolf 586 B.C.E. Destruction of Jerusalem; fall of Judah (southern kingdom); Babylonian Captivity ca. 560–550 B.C.E. Peloponnesian League begins 559–530 B.C.E. Reign of Cyrus the Great in Persia 546 B.C.E. Persia conquers Lydian Empire of Croesus, including Greek cities of Asia Minor 539 B.C.E. Persia conquers Babylonia; temple at Jerusalem restored; exiles return from Babylonia 521–485 B.C.E. Reign of Darius in Persia 509 B.C.E. Kings expelled from Rome; Republic founded (cid:2)Queen Nefertiti 508 B.C.E. Clisthenes founds Athenian democracy (cid:1) Darius and Xerxes, detail, south wall of the treasury, Persepolis, Iran ca. 1100–750 B.C.E. Greek “Dark Ages” ca. 1000 B.C.E. Italic peoples enter Italy ca. 800 B.C.E. Etruscans enter Italy ca. 1200 B.C.E. Hebrews ca. 750–700 B.C.E. Rise of Polis in Greece arrive in Palestine ca. 750–600 B.C.E. Great age of Greek colonization ca. 700 B.C.E. Invention of hoplite phalanx ca. 600–550 B.C.E. Spartans adopt new communitarian social system ca. 600–500 B.C.E. Athens develops commerce and a mixed economy Female athlete (cid:3) Homer, detail of statue (cid:3) of Sparta 1367–1360 B.C.E. Religious revolution led by ca. 750 B.C.E. Hebrew prophets teach monotheism Akhenaten makes Aton chief ca. 750 B.C.E. Traditional date for Homer Egyptian god ca. 750 B.C.E. Greeks adapt Semitic script and invent the 1347–1339 B.C.E. Tutankhamun restores worship Greek alphabet of Amon-Re ca. 750–600 B.C.E. Panhellenic shrines established at Olympia, Delphi, Corinth, and Nemea; athletic festivals attached to them (cid:2)Tutankamun ca. 700 B.C.E. Traditional date for Hesiod and his queen ca. 675–500 B.C.E. Development of Greek lyric and elegiac poetry ca. 570 B.C.E. Birth of Greek philosophy in Ionia ca. 550 B.C.E. Oracle of Apollo at Delphi grows to great influence ca. 550 B.C.E. Cult of Dionysus introduced to Athens 539 B.C.E. Restoration of temple in Jerusalem; return of exiles Hercules taming (cid:3) Cerberus, Greek, 530 B.C.E. KAGATLCMC01_xxxii-031v2 12/14/05 4:05 PM Page 2 336–31 b.c.e. 500–336 b.c.e. d l POLITICS & 490 B.C.E. Battle of Marathon 336–323 B.C.E. Reign of Alexander III (the Great) r GOVERNMENT 485–465 B.C.E. Reign of Xerxes in Persia 334 B.C.E. Alexander invades Asia o 480–479 B.C.E. Xerxes invades Greece 330 B.C.E. Fall of Persepolis; end Achaemenid W 478–477 B.C.E. Delian League founded rule in Persia ca. 460–445 B.C.E. First Peloponnesian War 323–301 B.C.E. Ptolemaic Kingdom (Egypt), Seleucid Kingdom (Syria), and t 450–449 B.C.E. Laws of the Twelve Tables, Rome Antigonid Dynasty (Macedon) n 431–404 B.C.E. Great Peloponnesian War founded e 404–403 B.C.E. Thirty Tyrants rule at Athens 287 B.C.E. Laws passed by Plebeian Assembly i 400–387 B.C.E. Spartan war against Persia made binding on all Romans; end of c 398–360 B.C.E. Reign of Agesilaus at Sparta Struggle of the n 395–387 B.C.E. Corinthian War Orders A 392 B.C.E. Romans defeat Etruscans 264–241 B.C.E. First Punic War 378 B.C.E. Second Athenian Confederation 218–202 B.C.E. Second Punic e War 371 B.C.E. Thebans end Spartan hegemony h 215–168 B.C.E. Rome establishes 362 B.C.E. Battle of Mantinea; end of Theban rule over t hegemony Hellenistic world n 338 B.C.E. Philip of Macedon conquers Greece 154–133 B.C.E. Roman wars in Spain i 133 B.C.E. Tribunate of n Tiberius o Gracchus i 123–122 B.C.E. Tribunate of t Gaius Gracchus (cid:1)Painted relief from a 82 B.C.E. Sulla assumes Ptolemaic temple z dictatorship i Ancient Greek Athenian coin (cid:3) 60 B.C.E. First Triumvirate l 46–44 B.C.E. Caesar’s dictatorship i 43 B.C.E. Second Triumvirate v i C SOCIETY & ca. 500–350 B.C.E. Spartan population shrinks ca. 300 B.C.E.– Growth of international trade n ECONOMY ca. 500–350 B.C.E. Rapid growth in overseas trade 150C.E. and development of large cities in Hellenistic/Roman world r 477–431 B.C.E. Vast growth in Athenian wealth e 431–400 B.C.E. Peloponnesian War casualties ca. 218–135 B.C.E. Dgreocwlitnhe o of ft efanmanilty ffaarrmmi nign aItnadly c;attle cause decline in size of lower t ranching class in Athens, with relative s increase in importance of upper ca. 150 B.C.E. Growth of slavery e and middle classes as basis of W economy in Roman Republic f o (cid:2) Alexander the Great The RomanForum(cid:3) s &Darius III n o i RELIGION & ca. 500–400 B.C.E. Great age of Athenian tragedy 342–271 B.C.E. Life of Epicurus t a CULTURE 469–399 B.C.E. Life of Socrates 335–263 B.C.E. Life of Zeno the ca. 450–400 B.C.E. Great influence of Sophists in Stoic d Athens ca. 287–212 B.C.E. Life of Archimedes of Syracuse n ca. 450–385 B.C.E. Great age of Athenian comedy ca. 275 B.C.E. Foundation of museum and library u 448–432 B.C.E. Periclean building program on make Alexandria the center of Greek o Athenian acropolis intellectual life f 429–347 B.C.E. Life of Plato ca. 250 B.C.E. LOidvyiussse Ay nidnrtoon Licautisn translates the ca. 425 B.C.E. Herodotus’ history of the Persian e Wars 106–43 B.C.E. Life of Cicero h ca. 400 B.C.E. Thucydides’ history of the ca. 99–55 B.C.E. Life of Lucretius t Peloponnesian War 86–35 B.C.E. Life of Sallust ca. 400–325 B.C.E. Life of Diogenes the Cynic ca. 84–54 B.C.E. Life of Catullus 386 B.C.E. Foundation of Plato’s Academy 70–19 B.C.E. Life of Vergil e 384–322 B.C.E. Life of Aristotle 65–8 B.C.E. Life of Horace n 336 B.C.E. Foundation of Aristotle’s Lyceum 59 B.C.E.–17C.E. Life of Livy o 43 B.C.E.–18C.E. Life of Ovid t r Odysseus (cid:3) (cid:2)Double bust of the Greek historians Herodotus and Thucydides and Cyclops a p KAGATLCMC01_xxxii-031v2 12/14/05 4:05 PM Page 3 31 b.c.e.–400 c.e. 31 B.C.E. Octavian and Agrippa defeat Anthony at Actium 27 B.C.E.–14 C.E. Reign of Augustus 14–68 C.E. Reigns of Julio-Claudian Emperors 69–96 C.E. Reigns of Flavian Emperors 96–180 C.E. Reigns of “Good Emperors” 180–192 C.E. Reign of Commodus 284–305 C.E. Reign of Diocletian; reform and division of Roman Empire 306–337 C.E. Reign of Constantine 330 C.E. Constantinople new capital of Roman Empire 361–363 C.E. Reign of Julian the Apostate (cid:1) Roman fleet of Octavian 379–395 C.E. Reign of Theodosius 376 C.E. Visigoths enter Roman Empire Roman (cid:3) amphitheatre ca. 150–400C.E. Decline of slavery and growth of tenant farming and serfdom in Caesar Augustus, (cid:3) Roman Empire Emperor of Rome ca. 250–400C.E. Coloni (Roman tenant farmers) increasingly tied to the land 301C.E. Edict of Maximum Prices at Rome 9 B.C.E. Ara Pacis dedicated at Rome ca. 4 B.C.E. Birth of Jesus of Nazareth ca. 30C.E. Crucifixion of Jesus 64C.E. Christians persecuted by Nero 66–135C.E. Romans suppress rebellions of Jews ca. 70–100C.E. Gospels written ca. 150C.E. Ptolemy of Alexandria establishes (cid:1) Ara Pacis canonical geocentric model of the universe ca. 250–260C.E. Severe persecutions by Decius and Valerian 303C.E. Persecution of Christians by Diocletian 311C.E. Galerius issues Edict of Toleration 312C.E. Constantine converts to Christianity 325C.E. Council of Nicaea Columns of Hellenistic gymnasium (cid:3) 348–420C.E. Life of St. Jerome 354–430C.E. Life of St. Augustine 395C.E. Christianity becomes official religion of Roman Empire KAGATLCMC01_xxxii-031v2 12/14/05 4:06 PM Page 4 The Birth of Civilization Early Humans and Their Culture During the Paleolithic period, human communities revolved around hunting and gathering. The domestication of animals and plants for food began around 10,000 B.C.E. and marked the beginning of the Neolithic period. Civilization emerged first in Mesopotamia during the Bronze Age (3100–1200 B.C.E.). Early Civilizations to about 1000 B.C.E. Civilization in southern Mesopotamia was founded by the Sumerians. Semitic Akkadi- ans from northern Babylonia established the first empire in history. Egypt's pharaohs united the lands along the Nile. Ancient Middle Eastern Empires Between 1400 and 1200 B.C.E., the Hittites were the dominant power in the Middle East. Under pressure from outside invaders, the Hittite kingdom collapsed around 1200 B.C.E.The Assyrian military supported a large Middle Eastern empire that lasted from about 1000–600 B.C.E.After its fall, a short-lived Neo-Babylonian empire rose to take its place. The Persian Empire The Persian Empire arose in the re- gion now called Iran. Under Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great, the Parsians built a powerful empire. The Persians responded to the challenge of controlling a vast and diverse population by developing sophisticated gov- ernmental and administrative institutions. By the middle of the sixth century B.C.E., Zoroastrianism had become the chief religion of the Persians. The Persians adapted the art and culture of conquered peoples to fit their own needs and values. Palestine Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all owe many of their beliefs and practices to the Israelites. Under Moses the Israelites conquered Canaan in the thirteenth century B.C.E.and their kingdom reached its peak in the tenth century B.C.E.during the reigns of David and Solomon before splintering. The coastal Phoenicians developed the predecessor of the alphabet we use today. General Outlook of Middle Eastern Cultures Most people of the ancient Middle East believed that humans were inseparable from nature and the gods were powerful and capricious. The He- brew God reflected a different perspective on humanity's rela- tionship with nature and with divine power. Toward the Greeks and Western Thought By the sixth century B.C.E., some Greeks started thinking about the world in ways that became the hallmark of Western civilization. Western philoso- phy, science, history, medicine, law, and democracy all have roots in the civilization of the ancient Greeks. KAGATLCMC01_xxxii-031v2 12/14/05 4:06 PM Page 5 HOW DIDlife in the Neolithic Age differ from the Paleolithic? WHY DIDthe first cities develop? WHAT WEREthe great empires of the ancient Middle East? HOW WASHebrew monotheism different from Mesopotamian and Egyptian polytheism? WHAT WEREthe Persian rulers’ attitudes toward the cultures they ruled? WHAT SOCIALand political con- trasts existed between ancient Middle Eastern and Greek civilizations? •Early Humans and Their Culture •Early Civilizations to about 1000 B.C.E. •Ancient Middle Eastern Empires •The Persian Empire •Palestine •General Outlook of Middle Eastern Cultures •Toward the Greeks and Western Thought KAGATLCMC01_xxxii-031v2 12/14/05 4:06 PM Page 6 6 CHAPTER 1 THE BIRTH OF CIVILIZATION IMAGE KEY For hundreds of thousands of years, human beings lived by hunting and gathering for pages 4–5 is on page 30. what nature spontaneously provided. Only about 10,000 years ago did they begin to cultivate plants, domesticate animals, and settle in permanent communities. About 5,000 years ago, the Sumerians, who lived near the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers (a region Greek geographers called “Mesopotamia,” i.e., “between- rivers”), and the Egyptians, who dwelt in the Nile Valley, pioneered civilization. By the fourteenth century B.C.E.,1 powerful empires had arisen and were struggling for dominance of the civilized world, but one of the region’s smaller states probably had a greater influence on the course of Western civilization. The modern West’s major religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) are rooted in the traditions of ancient Israel. Early Humans and Their Culture HOW DIDlife in the Neolithic cientists estimate that Earth may be 6 billion years old and its human Age differ from the Paleolithic? S inhabitants have been developing for 3 to 5 million years. Some 1 to 2 million years ago, erect tool-using beings spread from their probable place of origin in Africa to Europe and Asia. Our own species, Homo sapiens, is about 200,000 years old, and fully modern humans have existed for about 90,000 years. Humans are distinguished by a unique capacity to construct cultures. A culture may be defined as a way of life invented by a group and passed on by teaching. It includes both material things (tools, clothing, and shelter) and ideas, institutions, and beliefs. Because cultural behaviors are guided by learning rather than instinct, they can be altered at will to enable human beings to adapt rapidly to different environments and changing conditions. The Paleolithic Age Anthropologists identify prehistoric human cultures by the styles of their most durable and plentiful artifacts—stone tools. The earliest period in cultural devel- opment—the Paleolithic (Greek for “old stone”) Age—began with the first use of stone tools about a million years ago and continued until about 10,000B.C.E. Throughout this immensely long era, people were nomadic hunters and gather- ers who depended for their food on what nature spontaneously offered. An un- certain food supply and the inability of human beings to understand or control the mysterious forces that threatened their existence persuaded them that they occupied a world governed by superhuman powers. Cave art, ritual burial prac- tices, and other evidences of religious or magical beliefs appeared during the Pa- leolithic era, and they bear witness to a suspicion as old as humanity itself that there is more to the world than meets the eye. Homo sapiens Our own Human society in the Paleolithic Age was probably based on a division of species, which dates back roughly 200,000 years. labor by sex. Males ranged far afield on the hunt. Females, whose mobility was limited by the burdens of childbearing and nursing, gathered edibles of various culture Way of life invented by a kinds in the vicinity of a base camp. The knowledge that people acquired as group and passed on by teaching. hunters and gatherers eventually equipped them to develop agriculture and Paleolithic Greek for “old herding, and these food-producing technologies drastically changed the stone”; the earliest period in cul- human lifestyle. tural development that began with the first use of stone tools about a million years ago and continued 1This book substitutes B.C.E.(“before the common era”) and C.E.(“common era”) for B.C.and A.D., until about 10,000B.C.E. and it uses the term “Middle East” in preference to “Near East.” KAGATLCMC01_xxxii-031v2 12/14/05 4:06 PM Page 7 THE BIRTH OF CIVILIZATION CHAPTER 1 7 The Neolithic Age About 10,000 years ago, people living in some parts of the Middle East made advances in the production of stone tools that marked the start of the Neolithic (i.e., “new stone”) Age. But more significant than their tool-making technology was their shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture. They began to domes- ticate the wild species of sheep, goats, wheat, and barley that were native to the foothills of the region’s mountains. Once domesticated, these species were trans- planted to areas where they did not naturally occur. Hunters and gatherers maintain their food supply by harvesting a district and then moving on, but farmers settle down next to the fields they cultivate. They establish villages, construct relatively permanent dwellings, and produce pottery in which to cook and store the grains they raise. The earliest Neolithic settlements featured small circular huts clustered around a central storehouse. Later Neolithic people built larger rectangular homes with private storage facili- ties and enclosures for livestock. The similarity in size and equipment of build- ings suggests that a Neolithic village’s residents differed little in wealth and social status. Although they engaged in some trade, their communities were largely self-sufficient. The most exceptional of the known Neolithic settlements are Jericho (near the Dead Sea) and Çatal Hüyük (about 150 miles south of the capital of modern Turkey). Jericho was occupied as early as 12,000B.C.E., and by 8000B.C.E., it had a massive stone wall enclosing an area exceeding eight acres. (No other Neolithic site is known to have been fortified.) Çatal Hüyük was a somewhat later and larger community. It had a population well over 6,000. Its mud-brick dwellings were packed tightly together. There were no streets, and Çatal Hüyük’s residents traveled across its buildings’ roofs and used ladders to access their homes. Many interiors were elaborately decorated with sculptures and paintings that are At Ain Ghazal, a Neolithic site in Jor- assumed to have ritual significance. dan, several pits contained male and Wherever agriculture and animal husbandry appeared, the relationship be- female statues made of clay modeled tween human beings and nature changed forever. People began to try to control over a reed framework. Similar figures have been found at Jericho and other nature, not just respond to what it offered. This was a vital prerequisite for the sites, all from the same period, about development of civilization, but it was not without cost. Farmers had to work 8500–7000 B.C.E.They were probably harder and longer than hunters and gatherers. They faced health threats from used in religious rituals, perhaps con- accumulating wastes. They had to figure out how to live together permanently in nected with ancestor worship, as were one place and cope with unprecedented population growth. The earliest Ne- plastered skulls, masks, carved heads, and other artifacts. olithic communities appeared in the Middle East about 8000 B.C.E., in China about 4000B.C.E., and in India about 3600B.C.E. Archaeological Museum, Amman, Jordan, kingdom. Art Resource. ©Photograph by Erich Lessing In 1991 a tourist discovered a frozen body in the Ötztal Tyrolean Alps on the Italian-Austrian border. The body turned out to be the oldest mummified human being yet discovered and sheds new light on the Neolithic period. Dated to 3300B.C.E., it was the remains of a man between 25 and 35 years old, 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighing 110 pounds. He has been called Ötzi, the Ice Man from the place of his discovery. He had not led a peaceful life, for his nose was broken, sev- eral of his ribs were fractured, and an arrowhead in his shoulder suggests he bled to death in the ice and snow. Ötzi wore a fur robe of mountain animal skin, with Neolithic “New stone” age, dat- a woven grass cape underneath and leather shoes stuffed with grass. He was heav- ing back 10,000 years to when peo- ple living in some parts of the ily armed for his time, carrying a flint dagger and bow with arrows also tipped in Middle East made advances in the flint. The blade of his axe was copper, indicating that metallurgy was already production of stone tools and shift- under way. His discovery vividly shows the beginning of the transition from the ed from hunting and gathering to Stone Age to the Bronze Age. agriculture. KAGATLCMC01_xxxii-031v2 12/14/05 4:06 PM Page 8 8 CHAPTER 1 THE BIRTH OF CIVILIZATION The Bronze Age and the Birth of Civilization As Neolithic villages and herding cultures were spreading over much of the world, an- other major shift in human life styles began on the plains near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and in the valley of the Nile River. Vil- lages grew to become towns and cities that dominated large areas. These new urban cen- ters usually had some monumental buildings whose construction required the sustained ef- fort of hundreds or thousands of people over many years. There is evidence of social strati- fication—of the emergence of classes dis- tiniguished by wealth, lineage, and religious and political authority. Writing was invented, probably to deal with the challenge of manag- ing complex urban economies. Sophisticated works of art were created, and the first metal implements—made from bronze, an alloy of copper and tin—appeared. Although stone tools continued to be used, the increasing im- portance of metal ended the Stone Ages in the Middle East and inaugurated the Bronze Ötzi is the nicknamescientists have Age (3100–1200 B.C.E.). The characteristics given to the remains of the oldest of Bronze Age cultures (i.e., urbanism; long- mummified human body yet discov- distance trade; writing systems; and accelerat- ered. This reconstruction shows his ing technological, industrial, and social probable appearance and the clothing and weapons found on and with him. development) are regarded by historians as the hallmarks of civilization. Wieslav Smetek/Stern/Black Star Early Civilizations to about 1000 . . . B C E WHY DIDthe first cities develop? uring the fourth millennium, populations of unprecedented density D began to develop along Mesopotamia’s Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and Egypt’s Nile River. By about 3000 B.C.E., when the invention of writing began to produce the kinds of records that make the writing of history possible, urban life had spread throughout these regions and centralized states had begun to develop. Because city dwellers do not grow their own food, they need to estab- lish some system to promote, collect, and disburse surpluses produced by rural farmers and herders. The arid climates of Mesopotamia and Egypt meant that farmers could meet the demands of urban populations for their products only Bronze Age (3100–1200 B.C.E.) with the help of extensive irrigation systems. Irrigation technology was more Began with the increasing impor- elaborate in Mesopotamia than in Egypt. In Egypt the Nile flooded at the right tance of metal that also ended the moment for cultivation, and irrigation simply involved channeling water to the Stone Ages. fields. In Mesopotamia, however, the floods came at the wrong season. Dikes civilization Stage in the evolu- were needed to protect fields where crops were already growing and to store tion of organized society that has water for future use. The lifelines of Mesopotamian towns and villages were among its characteristics urbanism, rivers, streams, and canals, and control of the water these channels supplied was long-distance trade, writing sys- tems, and accelerated technologi- a contentious issue that could lead to war. Mesopotamia was a flat plain. The ter- cal and social development. rain provided little protection from floods and allowed swollen rivers to carve KAGATLCMC01_xxxii-031v2 12/14/05 4:06 PM Page 9 THE BIRTH OF CIVILIZATION CHAPTER 1 9 Black Sea Caspian GREECE Aegean Sea Sea HITTITES Habubah MITANNI Kabirah Nineveh Ebla M LIBYACRE T E M e d it e r r a nL Oe Wa nE R CSYePaRUS LEBANONSYRIA EuphrMataesrSEiShOBuPrOaRuTbivpAAyeKIprMSlsioaSsiInnAkhYRAITBiAsgrisAsuBRirYveLrONIAANKLSiKapUgpAMauDsrEhRELSAuIMRsAaN EGYPT Larsa Ur Memphis Uruk Eridu Giza Sahara EGYPT Arabian Desert Amarna Desert G UPPER ulf EGYPT Thebes R e d 300 MILES River Aswan S First cataract e 300 KILOMETERS a Nile NUBIA MAP 1–1 The Ancient Middle East Two river valley civilizations thrived in the Ancient Middle East: Egypt, which was united into a single state, and Mesopotamia, which was long divided into a number of city-states. BASED ONthis map, what might explain why independent city-states were spread out in Mesopotamia while Egypt remained united in a single state? new channels and change their courses. Cities were sometimes severely damaged or forced to relocate. At one time archaeologists assumed that the need to con- struct and manage irrigation systems caused the development of cities and cen- tralized states, but they now know that large-scale irrigation appeared long after urban civilization was established. (See Map1–1.) Mesopotamian Civilization QUICK REVIEW Civilization seems to have made its first appearance in Babylonia, an arid por- tion of Mesopotamia that stretches from modern Baghdad to the Persian Gulf. The First Civilization The first cities appeared in Sumer, the southern half of Babylonia, during the • Civilization first appeared in fourth millennium B.C.E. The earliest urban center may have been at Uruk, a Babylonia city that established outposts of its culture as far afield as Syria and southern • First cities appeared in Sumer Anatolia. During the Early Dynastic Period (i.e., 2800–2370 B.C.E.), Uruk was during fourth millenium B.C.E. • Earliest urban center may have joined by a number of other city-states scattered along the banks of the Tigris been at Uruk and Euphrates. Competition for water and land led to wars among them.