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Historical Dictionary |
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Narratives : Early Empires http://www.zum.de/whkmla/sat/texts/narrearlyemp.html |
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The expression Empire here is defined as a state in which one people (i.e. the ruler of one people) rules over other peoples;
this situation having been created by the means of conquest. The oldest such Empire on record is the
Akkadian Empire,
established by Sargon of Akkad c. 2350-2279. He began ruling Akkad,
a kingdom of a Semitic people located in Lower
Mesopotamia; he conquered Sumer, northern Mesopotamia and Syria. Mesopotamia and Greater Syria saw many such empires emerge and disintegrate - the Babylonian Empire established by Hammurabi, more famous for his law code; the Hittite Empire (centered in Anatolia), the Kingdom of Mitanni puzzling because of its Indic religion, periods of Egyptian rule over Syria, the lengthy, but poorly documented period of Kassite rule over Mesopotamia, the warlike Assyrian Empire, finally the Neo-Babylonian Empire. In the adjacent mountainous region to the north, States and Empires developed as well, their history intertwined with that of Mesopotamia-Syria. Elam (Persis) already is mentioned in Sumerian sources, the Sumerian city-kingdoms often at war with Elam. The Hittite Empire in Anatolia, Urartu, the Empire of the Medes, finally that of the Persians had their political centre here. Egypt was more isolated, and attracted invasions more than Egypt attempted to expand by conquest. The first major invasion of Egypt was launched by the Hyksos; they were followed by the Sea Peoples, by Libyans, Kushites, Assyrians and Persians; in the first millennium B.C. foreign rulers dominated Egyptian history. The first recorded battles in history fall in the period of the Early Empires - the Battle of Megiddo 1482 or 1479 B.C., fought between Egyptians and Canaanite forces believed to have been supported by Mitanni, and more importantly, the Battle of Qadesh 1299 or 1286 B.C., fought between Egyptians and Canaanites allied with Hittites. Egypt and the Hittite Empire, a few years after the Battle of Qadesh, concluded the first recoded peace agreement in history. Marriage diplomacy also happened; Egyptian pharaohs married princesses from Mitanni or the Hittite Empire; some scholars assume Nefertiti to have been the Mitanni princess Tadukhipa which was sent to Egypt to marry the Pharaoh. In the first millennium B.C., siege technique was developed and of decisive importance. Although the Assyrian Empire ceased to exist after the surrender of Assyrian forces in 609, the decisive blow had been struck when Ninive had fallen to the Neo-Babylonians in 612. The Old Testament reports that Jerusalem held for many months before falling to the Neo-Babylonians in 586 B.C., and with it, resistance in Judaea ended. The Early Empires develop a distinctively urban society; Babylon is believed to have had several 100,000 inhabitants, up to a million. Society reached a complexity which required regulation; the most famous law code, long believed to be the oldest on record, is the Code of Hammurabi. Hittite and Assyrian law also is partially recorded. According to the Code of Hammurabi, Babylonian society was divided into a nobility, into free and half-free men, and into slaves. Most paragraphs deal with theft, property thus being of primary concern. The Kings of Egypt, Babylon and Assyria were regarded gods, in a polytheistic society. Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaton promoted the cult of sun god Aten over all other deities. This policy has been interpreted as an attempt to introduce monotheism, an over-interpretation perhaps, as the cult of the other deities was not suppressed. The dominance of the cult of Aten ended with Akhenaton. The Jews developed monotheism (see separate chapter), as did the Persians, in the form of Zoroastrianism (see separate chapter). The Persian Empire broke with numerous traditions; the Persian Emperor did not claim to be a god; instead he claimed to be king of kings and regarded the entire population of his Empire as his slaves. He implemented the concept of religious toleration, new as it was formulated as such. He pursued a less represssive policy of governing, compared to the Assyrians and Neo-Babylonians; forced resettlement and impaling were discontinued. The Persian Empire was not centered in the irrigated plains of Mesopotamia, but in the mountains of Persis. It extended from the Aegaean Sea to the Indus River, the largest Empire the world had seen so far. The Persians adopted cuneiform script for their administration, which was multilingual, using Aramaeic, the lingua franca of the Fertile Crescent. They developed a system of Royal Roads to ensure the quick delivery of messages. |
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EXTERNAL FILES |
A Short History of Ancient Egypt, posted by Andre Dollinger,
the various narratives include primary source excerpts. Internet Ancient History Sourcebook : Mesopotamia; Egypt, Persia Mesopotamia, The Phoenicians, Persia, Hyksos, Hittites, from The International History Project posted by RAGZ International |
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