In the chronology of the ancient Near East the assignment of absolute dates is disputed. Astronomical data has produced four possible chronologies. Thus the fall of Babylon is placed by the ‘very short’ chronology at 1499 BC; by the ‘short’ chronology at 1531 BC; by the ‘middle’ chronology as 1595 BC; and by the ‘long’ chronology at 1651 BC. This chapter mostly follows the ‘short’ chronology.
The term ‘Near East’ is used here to describe the geographical region that comprises Egypt and the countries associated with the Fertile Crescent, i.e. Turkey (≈Asia Minor), Lebanon (≈Phoenicia), Israel (≈Palestine), Egypt, Syria, Iraq (≈Mesopotamia) and Iran (=Persia). In the north, enough rain falls for crops to be grown without irrigation, but in Egypt (Nile River) and southern Mesopotamia (Tigris and Euphrates rivers) the annual rainfall is low and agriculture is dependent on irrigation using the great rivers.
By c.3000 BC Sumerian city-states such as Uruk, Eridu and Ur had developed in southern Mesopotamia. Sargon of Akkad (r.c.2270-c.2215 BC) conquered the area and he and his successors built an empire extending from Elam (in southwest Iran) to the Mediterranean. About c.2141 BC this empire was taken over by the Gutians, a people from the Zagros region. Under Ur-Nammu (c.2047-c.2030 BC) the Third Dynasty of Ur (c.2047-c.1940 BC) re-established Sumerian sovereignty in both Sumer and Akkad until pressure from Amorites (nomads from Syria and Canaan) and Elamites culminated in the capture and devastation of Ur in c.1940 BC.
Having gained control of most of Mesopotamia the Amorites formed a number of small kingdoms one of which was Babylonia centred on the city of Babylon (south of present-day Baghdad). Established by Sumuabum (r.c.1830-c.1817 BC) and consolidated by his successors the First Dynasty of Babylon (c.1830-c.1531 BC) reached its peak under Hammurabi (r.c.1728-c.1686 BC) who conquered the surrounding city-states and gained control of southern Mesopotamia.
In Asia Minor (peninsula Asian Turkey) the Hittites gained control of central Anatolia c.1650 BC. In c.1531 BC the Hittite king Mursili-I (r.c.1555-c.1525 BC) marched south to Mesopotamia and sacked Babylon finally bringing the 400-year-old Amorite Dynasty to an end. The Hittites left Mesopotamia almost immediately and Babylon was then occupied by the Kassites, a people probably from the Zagros Mountains.
In Egypt, two kingdoms, one in the Delta (Lower Egypt) and one centred upstream on Thebes (Upper Egypt), were unified with the defeat of Lower Egypt in c.3050 BC. The Old Kingdom (c.2686-c.2160 BC) saw the building of the pyramids at Giza. During the Middle Kingdom (c.2055-c.1650 BC) expansion into Palestine took place and the Nubian frontier was fortified. After a period of domination by foreign rulers (the Hyksos) the New Kingdom (c.1550-c.1069 BC) emerged as an age of imperial expansion. In the 23rd year of his reign Thutmose III (r.c.1479-c.1425 BC) defeated a coalition of Syrians and Palestinians at Megiddo and gained nearly all of Syria for his empire. In the 33rd year of his reign he defeated the powerful Mitanni beyond the Euphrates. Under Suppiluliuma-I (r.c.1344-c.1322 BC) and Mursili II (r.c.1321-c.1295 BC) Hittite influence was extended to most of Anatolia (=Asian Turkey) and parts of Syria, clashing with the Egyptians at the inconclusive Battle of Kadesh (c.1274 BC).
At the eastern edge of the Mediterranean the Levant is the land of the Bible, the source of the religions of the Jews, Christians and Muslims. The great powers of the ancient world fought over this land. A pivotal point for communication and conflict between Egypt, Mesopotamia and Anatolia, it was the front of great empires. The area includes what are now Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel.
The Canaanites settled here during the 3rd millennium BC. Culturally descended from the Canaanites, the Phoenicians occupied the coastal plain of modern Lebanon and Syria during the 2nd millennium BC. Seafaring traders and artisans, they are said to have circumnavigated Africa and established colonies in Cyprus, North Africa (e.g. Carthage), Malta, Sicily and Spain. Around 1200 BC the ‘Sea People’ arrived on the shores of the eastern Mediterranean. One group founded Philistia in southern Palestine. The Sea People have been associated with the destruction of the cities in the Levant that allowed other groups of migrating peoples, including the Israelites, to found a number of smaller states in the area. Having escaped from Egypt the Hebrews invaded Canaan from the east and seized Jericho. But they had to contend with the Philistines. The struggle ebbed and flowed until David (c.70; r.c.1003-c.970 BC) united the Hebrew tribes, captured Jerusalem and made it his capital. Following the death of Solomon (c.80; r.c.971-c.931 BC) the kingdom of Israel split into two: the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. In 722 BC the Assyrians, the new power from northern Iraq, conquered Israel and scattered the ten tribes throughout their empire.
Assyria was originally centred on the city-state of Assur, which first became prominent and expanded its borders in the 14th century BC. From the 8th to the late 7th century BC Assyria was the dominant Near Eastern power and created an empire that stretched from the Persian Gulf to Egypt. The state fell in 612 BC, defeated by a coalition of the Iranian Medes and the Chaldaean Dynasty of Babylon (626-539 BC).
Cyrus II (c.46; r.559-530 BC) overthrew the king of Media 550 BC and founded the Persian Achaemenid Empire (550-330 BC). In 546 BC he defeated Croesus, king of Lydia (c.48; r.c.560-546 BC), to take control of Asia Minor; and Nabonidus (r.555-539 BC), the last of the Chaldaean kings, to add Babylonia, Assyria, Syria and Palestine to his empire. In 525 BC his son Cambyses II (r.530-522 BC) conquered Egypt.
Around 1150 to 900 BC Greeks migrated eastwards across the Aegean Sea to found colonies on the western coast of Asia Minor. After suppressing a revolt of these Greek cities (499-494 BC) the Achaemenid king Darius-I (c.64; r.522-486 BC) invaded Greece to punish the mainland Greeks for their interference, but was defeated at Marathon (490 BC). His son Xerxes-I (c.54; r.486-465 BC) led the great expedition against Greece but withdrew after watching his fleet defeated at Salamis (480 BC).
In 336 BC Philip II of Macedon (46; r.359-336 BC) united the warring Greek states. His son Alexander III the Great (32; r.336-323 BC) invaded the Achaemenid Empire, liberated the Greek cities in Asia Minor and defeated the Persians in Syria, Egypt and Mesopotamia. After Alexander’s death his generals competed for his empire: Ptolemy-I (c.84; r.305-283 BC) founded the Ptolemaic Dynasty (305-30 BC) in Egypt; Seleucus-I (c.77; r.305-281 BC) founded the Seleucid Dynasty (312-63 BC) that ruled over Persia and Syria; and Antigonus-I (c.81; r.306-301 BC) founded the Antigonid Dynasty (306-168 BC) that ruled mainly over Asia Minor. By the time of his death Ptolemy had established control over Cyprus, Palestine, and many cities in the Aegean and Asia Minor. There followed nearly a hundred years of chaos and war as the Seleucids and Ptolemies fought each other in the Syrian wars (274-168 BC) for control of Syria, Asia Minor and the Aegean.
Rome, traditionally founded 753 BC, became a republic 509 BC and by the mid-third century BC controlled Italy. Success in the Punic wars (264-146 BC) gave Rome its first overseas possessions in Sicily (241 BC), Spain (201 BC) and North Africa (146 BC); and the Macedonian wars (214-148 BC) eventually left Rome dominant in Macedonia, Greece, and parts of Asia Minor. Syria and Gaul (≈France) were added by the campaigns of Pompey (106-48 BC) and Julius Caesar (100-44 BC). Egypt was annexed after the Battle of Actium (31 BC).
The expansionist policies of Mithridates VI of Pontus (c.69; r c.120-63 BC) led to a series of wars with Rome (88-85, 83-82, 74-67 and 66-65 BC). In the first war he occupied the rest of Asia Minor and much of Greece until was driven back by Sulla (c.138-78 BC). The second war amounted to a series of skirmishes with Sulla’s lieutenant, Murena (consul 62 BC). In the final two wars Mithridates was pushed out of Pontus into Armenia by Lucullus (c.118-c.57 BC), and then forced to retreat to Crimea by Pompey.
Parthia in northeast Iran began its ascendancy under the Arsacids (238-00-224). Most of Persia, Mesopotamia and Armenia were subjugated. The Arsacids were in an almost perpetual state of war, capturing or holding territory from the Seleucids, preventing vassal states from breaking away, or defending themselves against the Roman Empire in the west and nomadic tribes in the east. In 53 BC the Parthians inflicted a heavy defeat on a Roman army under Crassus (c.115-53 BC) at Carrhae and for a time occupied Syria.
Christianity at first was simply a Jewish sect that believed that Jesus of Nazareth (c.5-00-c.33) was the Messiah or Christ, the ‘anointed one’. Largely owing to the former Pharisee, Paul of Tarsus (c.5-c.67, it quickly became an independent mainly gentile organisation. In the early centuries the Christians experienced intermittent persecution by the state although there was no legal basis for this until the reign of Decius (c.50; r.249-51). By the third century Christianity was widespread throughout the Roman Empire. In 313 Constantine-I (65; r.306-337) ended persecution.
In AD 330 on the ancient site of Byzantium on the Bosporus, Constantine founded the city to which he gave his name, Constantinople. On the death of Theodosius-I (48; r.379-395), the empire was divided between his two sons, and the Christian, Hellenic-oriental Byzantine Empire (395-1453) was born. While the western half of the empire collapsed under the weight of barbarian invasions, Byzantium continued to rule the Balkans, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine and Egypt.
Ardashir-I (r.224-241) overthrew the last Parthian king and founded the Sassanian Dynasty (224-651). The Sassanids sought to drive the Romans from Asia. Shapur-I (r.241-72) waged successful campaigns against them, but lost his conquests to Odaenathus of Palmyra (d.c.267), an ally of Rome. Shapur II (r.309-79) regained the lost territories in three successive wars with Rome. Chosroes II (r.590-628) conquered Asia Minor and even threatened Constantinople, but was driven back by Heraclius (c.66; r.610-41).
Byzantium and the Sassanids, although still the two superpowers of the ancient world, were now overstretched and weakened. Within ten years of the death of Mohammed (c.570-632) the Muslim Arabs had defeated the Sassanids, captured their capital Ctesiphon on the Tigris and driven them out of Mesopotamia. Although the Arabs took Cyprus, Rhodes and Cos and twice besieged Constantinople, they never conquered and held Anatolia, which continued for several more centuries to be shared between the Byzantines and the Christian kingdom of Armenia.
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