Egypt's Neighbors in the Ancient World

 

Mesopotamia

The ancient land of Mesopotamia, located in the country of Iraq today, is known as the birthplace of civilization. This was where the first humans migrated when they left the continent of Africa, during the Paleolithic Period hundreds of thousands of years ago. Their land was an ideal place for invention, farming and government to thrive. Set between two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, Mesopotamia was a very fertile land. But they did not have enough rainfall for the amount of food they needed to grow, so they developed the first irrigation techniques, ways of moving water to where they needed it.

 

After this, they were able to develop agricultural or farming techniques for growing and harvesting food. The most common foods in Mesopotamia were barley and wheat, which were often used to make bread. They consumed many different animals for meat – beef, lamb, goats, geese, and even turtles were on the Mesopotamian menu. They were the first to build walled cities, perhaps because their land was so flat and open to invasion. Most importantly, they were the first people to come together and form a city to protect their community.

 

The very first cities began in Mesopotamia. Their cities would have looked very strange in comparison with any modern metropolis. To reach their neighbors or walk from one part of the city to another, they climbed up on ladders and walked across the rooftops, as they did not have roads between the houses. Their homes were very box-like and close together, made of mud bricks baked in the sun. Cities during this period had an average population of about 2000 people. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Mesopotamians were likely the first to invent writing. They created a wedge-shaped script called cuneiform around 3500 B.C.E. to record business and trade agreements. Cuneiform was written on clay tablets and cylinder seals The Code of Hammurabi, written around 1754 B.C.E., contained the very first codified or written laws, all written in cuneiform. They designed standardized systems of measurement as well. Around 3500 B.C.E., they invented the wheel, which was an incredible innovation for its time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They wrote their myths and stories on the exterior coverings of cylinder seals, which were round tube-like containers rolled out of clay and imprinted with cuneiform. They told many amazing stories about the creation of the world, the invention of agriculture, and the dawn of war. Their most famous story was the Epic of Gilgamesh, a great adventure about a king who seeks immortality and the meaning of life. Like the Egyptians, the Mesopotamians believed in many gods.

 

The Mesopotamians built an empire that stretched over a great region of the Ancient Near East. During their golden age (900-630 BCE), their empire reached from Egypt to Persia (Ancient Iran). They expanded their borders through war for the sake of power, wealth and fame.

 

If you want to learn more about the Mesopotamians, here is a website with lots of interactive features, where you can look at artifacts, solve puzzles and go on a virtual archaeological dig!

Ancient Mesopotamia: This History, Our History

Ancient Mesopamia Interactives

Ancient Mesopotamia Archaeological Site Map

 

Ancient Israel and The Levant

In a land that was known as the Fertile Crescent for its lush green hills and plentiful water lived the earliest Jewish peoples, known as the Israelites. The region, with their neighbors on all sides,  At first the Israelites lived in tribes, organized by families and governed by tribal leaders. Israel as a unified kingdom is first mentioned in a stelae of Pharaoh Merneptah, around 1209 B.C.E. (New Kingdom). This is the earliest time at which the tribes could have joined together under one leader, because this is the first historical record we have of their existence. The kingdom of Israel is where Judaism began.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the centuries, the tribes of Israel formed a state, fought many wars, and were conquered by many different peoples. Their golden age started with the founding of an Israelite kingdom with the legendary rulers David and Solomon, the first of many great kings. Their neighboring kingdom in the north was named Judah, and was founded before Israel.

 

King Solomon built a magnificent temple with the wealth he had accumulated from trade and alliances with other kingdoms, including Ethiopia and Phoenicia. Israel’s neighbors in the north were the Phoenicians, living in the area that is now Lebanon. Phoenicia was a group of city-states along the Mediterranean coastline, who traded goods with Assyria, Greece, Rome and smaller territories by sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Centuries after the reign of Solomon, the Israelites came under the control of Babylon, Persia and Greece at different points in their history. The Israelites faced conquests, wars and even banishment from their own homeland during the Babylonian Exile, beginning in 586 B.C.E. During this time of exile in the land of Babylon, the Israelites started to write down the stories and laws that would become the Hebrew Bible. Afraid of losing their traditions in a foreign land, they asked their scribes, or writers, to save everything they knew. And so the Jewish written tradition began, which would later lead to the beginning of Christianity and Islam.

 

When they finally returned to their homeland in 537 B.C.E., the Israelites found their home taken over by enemy tribes and kings. Since then, the Israelites continued to struggle for their homeland over many centuries. They picked up bits and pieces of other traditions along the way – Greek philosophy, Egyptian theology. Everywhere they went, they left stories of who they were and who their god was. In an area that was filled with people who believed in many gods, the Israelites continued worshipping their one very powerful god. While they were not the first people to worship one god, they were the most important, because it was from the Jewish tradition that Christianity and Islam were born.