Ancient Near East
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ancient Near East refers to early civilizations (predating Classical Antiquity) within a region roughly corresponding to the modern Middle East: Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and Syria), Persia (modern Iran), Anatolia (modern Turkey), the Levant (modern Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, and Jordan), and Ancient Egypt during the timeframe spanning the rise of Sumer in the 4th millennium BCE until the region's conquest by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE, or covering both the Bronze Age and the Iron Age in the region. As such, it is a term widely employed in the fields of Near Eastern archaeology, ancient history and Egyptology. Some would exclude Egypt from the ancient Near East as a geographically and culturally distinct area. However, because of Egypt's intimate involvement with the region, especially from the 2nd millennium BCE, this exclusion is rare.
The Ancient Near East is considered the cradle of civilization. It was the first to practice intensive year-round agriculture; it gave us the first writing system, invented the potter's wheel and then the vehicular- and mill wheel, created the first centralized governments, law codes and empires, as well as social class, slavery and organized warfare, and it created the foundations of astronomy and mathematics.
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[edit] Regions
Major regions during ancient times include:
[edit] Cultures
Cultures, peoples and empires of the Ancient Near East, in roughly chronological order.
[edit] 5th millennium BCE
[edit] 4th millennium BCE
- Predynastic Egypt
- Kura-Araxes Early Transcaucasian culture
- Kura-Araxes culture
- Proto-Elamite civilization
- Sumer: Ur, Uruk, Kish
- Susa
[edit] 3rd millennium BCE
[edit] 2nd millennium BCE
- Hayasa-Azzi
- Arzawa, Lukka Troy VI–VII
- Assyria
- Babylonia
- Canaan: Ugarit, Kadesh, Megiddo, Kingdom of Israel
- Ancient Egypt: Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom
- Hittites
- Hurrians
- Ishuwa
- Kizzuwatna
- Luwians
- Mari
- Mitanni
- Yamhad
- Aramaeans
- Sea peoples
[edit] 1st millennium BCE
[edit] Periodization
[edit] Religions
Ancient civilizations in the Near East were deeply influenced by their spiritual beliefs, which generally did not distinguish between heaven and Earth.[1] They believed that divine action influenced all mundane matters, and also believed in divination (ability to predict the future).[1] Omens were often inscribed in Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, as were records of major events.[1]
[edit] See also
- Timeline of Middle Eastern History
- Religions of the ancient Near East
- History of pottery in the Southern Levant
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[edit] References
[edit] Further reading
- William W. Hallo & William Kelly Simpson, The Ancient Near East: A History, Holt Rinehart and Winston Publishers, 1997
- Jack Sasson, The Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, New York, 1995
- Marc Van de Mieroop, History of the Ancient Near East: Ca. 3000-323 B.C., Blackwell Publishers, 2003
[edit] External links
- Ancient Near East.net — an information and content portal for the archaeology, ancient history, and culture of the ancient Near East and Egypt
- Ancient Near East.org — A database of the prehistoric Near East as well as its ancient history up to approximately the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans ...
- Archaeowiki.org—a wiki for the research and documentation of the ancient Near East and Egypt
- ETANA — website hosted by a consortium of universities in the interests of providing digitized resources and relevant web links
- Resources on Biblical Archaeology
- Ancient Near East Photographs This collection, created by Professor Scott Noegel, documents artifacts and archaeological sites of the ancient Near East; from the University of Washington Libraries Digital Image Collection
- Near East Images A directory of archaeological images of the ancient Near East