Ancient Near East

(3100 BC to 500 BC)

What happened?

The Ancient Near East is the area with Mesopotamia, the Levant, Anatolia and Elam where the first of the multiple civilizations originated. Sometimes Ancient Egypt and Arabia are also included in this. We will not follow this idea. The Ancient Near East was the home of early civilizations. Not only the geographically boundaries are vague, this is also the case chronologically. The period prior to the Ancient Near East was the Neolithic Near East. 

The origin of writing marks the transition from prehistory to antiquity, although that is an arbitrary boundary and this period is sometimes also associated with the Ancient Near East. This period begins in the 4th millenium BC with the rise of Sumer. The term covers the Bronze Age and the Iron Age in this region, until the conquest by the Achaemenid Empire (6th century BC), the conquest by the Macedonian Empire (4th century BC) or the Muslim conquest (7th century AD). An arbitrary limit applies to the end of this period. Sometimes is 539 BC chosen, the end of the Neo-Babylonian dynasty, the last Babylonian dynasty of local descent. Also the conquest of the Persian Empire in 331 BC. Alexander the Great does choose the end point. This period was followed by the Hellenistic period.

The Ancient Near East is considered one of the cradles of civilization. A year-round agriculture was here first practiced. This led to the rise of the first dense urban settlements and development of many civilizations. It also saw the creeation of the first writing system, the first alphabet, the first currency and law codes. It also led to early advances for foundations of astonomy, mathematics and the invention of the wheel.

During this period, became states increasingly large, until the region was controlled by militaristic empires thad had conquered a number of different cultures. There can be made a distiction between periods of first city-states, from the late Bronze Age territorial states and from the beginning of the first millennium BC empires. 

In the early civilizations, a single city-state could dominate, but the subjugated cities often kept their own customs and institutions. This changed with territorial states, whereby centralization sharply increased and the customs and instituions of the ruler were introduced everywhere. With the coming of empires, multiple states were brought into a system an was ruled by a single dynasty. However, this was not a unliliniaer evolution. Periods of greater fragmentation followed periods of centralization. In addition, the existence of a large empire doen not prelude the existence of city-states and territorial states.

Mesopotamia is the area around the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Iraq (in 2020) is the core area and part of Syria (in 2020). It is an important place for our history. In that area arose the first cities, people practiced the first agriculture, and the first writing system (cuneiform) was created. From 10.000 years BC, humans started to do more farming than hunting. Around 3000 BC, men already built palaces and temples for kings and priests in cities like Ur and Uruk. In 2334 BC, Sargon of Arkad, from the city Kish, conquered the nearby city-states and formed the Akkadian Empire. Many more empires followed. One of those kingdoms left behind a language, Arameans, that is spoken in some regions to this day (2020). The lineage of another people, the Hittites, is rather mysterious because little is known about it.

Mesopotamian Arrowhead

Bronze. Found: London, UK (JN0097-3)

Mesopotamian Arrowhead

± 2000 BC to ± 1000 BC

Flint was gradually replaced by bronze. It becomes the main material for tools and weapons. But jewelry and some exceptional statues were also made from bronze. Bronze slowly became more common and more and more metal objects came into use.

The Assyrians became particularly warlike. At their peak, the Assyrians were able to raise an army of 100.000 men. They relied on special forces. Fast-moving infantry that was lightly armed, but also heavily armed infantry, warriors with spears, warriors with bows, large units with slings, spears, swords and chariots.

The Assyrians were known for several things. They had supply roads built, bridges were built by architectural units that were sent for the army troops. They also devised ways to get over the enemy's defenses.

Atrocities often happen in times of war. Sometimes all residents of a city are massacred or deported en masse. The Assyrians did both things. 27.000 Jews were once deported by them to the East. They used them captive as slave laborers, making it more beneficial to capture enemies instead of killing them.

Mesopotamian Arrowhead

Bronze. Found: London, UK (JN0097-1)

Mesopotamian Arrowhead

Bronze. Found: London, UK (JN0097-2)

Mesopotamian Arrowhead

Bronze. Found: London, UK (JN0097-4)

Mesopotamian Arrowhead

Bronze. Found: London, UK (JN0097-5)

Mesopotamian Arrowhead

Bronze. Found: London, UK (JN0098-1)

Mesopotamian Arrowhead

Bronze. Found: London, UK (JN0098-2)

Mesopotamian Arrowhead

Bronze. Found: London, UK (JN0098-3)

Mesopotamian Arrowhead

Bronze. Found: London, UK (JN0098-4)

Mesopotamian Arrowhead

Bronze. Found: London, UK (JN0098-5)

Mesopotamian Seal Stone

Seal Stone 26 mm. Found: London, UK (JN0289)

Mesopotamian Seal Stone

± 2000 BC to ± 1000 BC

Seal stones were used in Roman times as a hallmark, but also as an amulet or ornament. But it has been around longer than then. Because clay tablets often contained official documents, there was also a need for a personal hallmark. That is why the roll seal was devised, which was rolled through the clay. A completely different system than ours, but it works effectively on clay. This was the first serious signature in history.

In Mesopotamia, people only needed one seal impression in their lifetime. In that case, the laborious in-house manufacture of a roll seal was somewhat in demand. Hence, some peoples also had alternative means of signing documents. Each person authorized to make contracts, had their own unique seal. In addition, the institutions, such as temples and palaces, had a roller seal available. Such seal stones were also used to mark ownership of certain goods, for example in a warehouse. Or a baker who marked his bread as recognized bread. For the less fortunate there were seals of simpler materials such as bone, wood, metal, glass, ivory, stone and shells.

The first script, in the form of cuneiform writing, arose from the need of early Mesopotamian man to sign up contracts. They already kept a simple bookkeeping with the first symbols and later a picture writing. Due to the increase in trade, there was a need to draw up contracts. The pictograph did not meet that requirement. The Sumerians developed ± 3000 BC the cuneiform script. Contracts became extremely popular in Mesopotamia. All kinds of matters, much more than with us, were arranged by contract. Certain types were much more common. Contracts such as loans, marriage contracts, land holdings and mortgages were extremely important. The writing and seals spread to other parts of the world.

Canaan

(3200 BC to 1200 BC)

What happened?

Canaan was an area corresponding to the Levant, a busy transit area for human tribes and peoples of various origins from all corners of the world since prehistoric times. That is why several cultures came into conflict there.

The area lies on the overlap zone of four ancient cultures: Mesopotamia to the east, Anatolia to the north, Minoans to the west and Ancient Egypt to the south. The influences of those cultures have put a lot of pressure on each other. Even though the soil is not fertile, until ± 5000 BC; it rained a lot in the region. That is why there was agriculture on the flanks of the mountains.

Canaan consisted of prosperous cities with agricultural areas, under the authority of a priestess in the temple. Canaan is the old name of Israel. It was part of the land promised by God to Abraham and his posterity.

Canaanite Holly Land Terracotta Jar

Canaanite Terracotta Jar. Found: Israël (JN0229)

Holy Land

± 2000 BC to ± 1000 BC

Canaanite civilization was a response of long periods of stable climate and short periods of climate change. The farmers grew local horticultural products along with the commercial cultivation of olives, grapes, and pistachios. They had extensive grain fields.

During the climate change the agricultural system collapsed. Commercial production was replaced by subsistence companies. Next, the prosperity of their trade would have attracted the powerful neighbors.

Tel Kabri is the only Canaanite city to be excavated in its entirety, as no other city was built over its ruins. It is noteworthy that much of the Minoan influence has been found in the frescoes in the palace.

The Israelites in Canaan have just taken over a Canaanite god and left deep marks in the Bible. It has therefore been made impossible to make a clear distinction from an ethnic, cultural, and religious point of view.

Many scientists are convinced that the Israelites are of Canaanite origin. A group that separated over time and developed its own identity.

Luristan 

(2900 BC to 1250 BC)

What happened?

Besides Mesopotamia, in present-day (2020) Iran, Luristan, now Lorestan, was a mountainous province in Iran. In ancient times Luristan also experienced a great heyday due to a high level of bronze art. Clothing pins, deities, weapons, etc. were cast in bronze. The ethnicity of the people who created them remains unclear. They may have been Persian. All recovered objects are the art of a nomadic people. All belongings had to be light and portable. Necessary items such as weapons, equipment, pins, cups were decorated over their small area. Especially the display of animals was common.

Ancient Luristan Bronze Age Pair of Bells

Bronze Pair of Bells. Found: Oxford, UK (JN0107)

Bronze of Luristan

± 1600 BC to ± 1000 BC

The bronze work from Luristan is famous for its good quality and high craftsmanship. It can often be recognized by the decoration with highly stylized animal motifs. The objects were found in burial fields. To date, no settlements have been found near the burial fields, and it is probably a traveling people, who still lived nomadically. Since a lot of horse harness is found, they were probably riders.

There is growing evidence of a Mesopotamian influence towards the end of the 2nd millennium BC. Several Babylonian kings were inscribed on a number of coats of arms in cuneiform writing. The metal industry of Luristan flourished to somewhere around 650 BC. As the increasing power of the Persians and the Medes cut off access to copper and tin mines, which was necessary to provide the raw materials.

A small number of these bronzes had surfaced sporadically in Europe, but had been attributed by dealers and scholars to areas and cultures outside Iran. In 1922 AD, a small group of Luristan bronzes, and some otther material, attributed by M. Rostovtzeff, a Russian historian, in the Louvre and the British Museum to Cappadocia in Turkey. Mass plundering of Luristan tombs seems to have begun in that decade. Other itemss were being offered for sale in London and New York.

The oldest bell was found in China. The first bells in Europe were cast in the 4th-5th century. Usually these were church bells to call people for the church service. But they were also to warn the population against danger or to gather. The clock was also used to indicate the time. Another application was to serve as a musical instrument for the carillon.

Bactria

(2200 BC to 1700 BC)

What happened?

Bactria was the name of a region in Ancient Near East. It was mainly located in the northeast of Afghanistan (2020), around the main city of Bactra, the city of Bamyan. The region lies between the river Amu Daria, then Oxus, and the mountains of the Hindu Kush. The language belongs to the Eastern Iranian language group. The English name Bactria is derived from the Ancient Greek ‘Baktriani’, a Hellenized version ‘Bakhlo’.

The region is mentioned in the holy book of the Zoroastrians, the Avesta. The prophet Zarathustra, founder of Zoroastrianism, proclaimed his teachings in Bactria. He is said to have been murdered in Balch. 

The landscape of Bactria, which has now largely dried up, was famous in ancient times for its fertility. The river was so important that it was worshiped as God in a temple dedicated to the river, the Oxus Temple at Takht-e-Sangin. The fertility of the Amu Darya and its central location in relation to the Silk Road are important factors explaining the success and wealth of Bactria.

Bactrian Stone Jar

Stone Jar. Found: North Iran (JN0211)

Bactrian Pottery

± 2000 BC

Bactria lived in a Bronze Age when this jar was baked. This period dates from ± 2200 to 1700 BC. Pottery is a model making from clay that is then hardened by heating into earthenware and stoneware. Figurines were made this way from ± 30.000 to 20.000 years BC in the Late Paleolithic. Making pots originated from the agricultural society because it was useful then. Such objects can be utensils such as pots, cups, bowls, but also decorative objects.

The raw material for pottery is clay, a sedentary rock, which can be found along the seashore or rivers. It is usually easy to mold, but there are many types. Potters use different types. The size of the work can be a determining element for the clay used. The color or texture, that the object should be given, also plays a role. When clay dries, it hardens. Dry clay can become malleable again by adding water to it. Once it is heated that is no longer the case.

Ceramics is baked earth that includes various heat-made materials. Pottery is formed between 900 and 1100°C. Terracotta is unglazed pottery. Our example is a stoneware and requires a higher baking temperature. It is between 1100 and 1300°C and is waterproof. The clay becomes stone. Porcelain is baked at even higher temperatures.

Babylonia

(1895 BC to 539 BC)

What happened?

Babylonia or the Babylonian Empire was a state in ancient Mesopotamia from about 1800 BC until 539 BC, whose ruins are located in present day (2021) Iraq. It was founded as a small port town on the Euphrates River. And it grew into one of the largest cities of the ancient world under the rule of Hammurabi.

Several centuries later, a new line of kings established a Neo-Babylonian Empire that spanned from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. During this period, Babylon became a city of beautiful and lavish buildings. Biblical and archeological evidence point toward the forced exile of thousands of Jews to Babylon around this time. The term is also used geographically to indicate the southern Mesopotamia, sometimes as Sumer and later as Chaldea. The Northern part is often referred as Assyria.

The capital and cultural center was Babylon. From 800 BC to 609 BC, the submissive to the Assyrian Empire. Among the Babylonians, some of mankind’s oldest writings have survived. Babylonia was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state. A small Amorite-ruled state emerged from 1894 BC. It already existed during the Akkadian Empire (2335 BC to 2154 BC), but expanded during the reign of Hammurabi to become a major capital city. Babylonia was called ‘country of Akkad’ in reference to the previous glory of the Akkadian Empire. After the death of Hammurabi, Babylon fell apart and reverted to a small kingdom.

Like Assyria, Babylonia retained the written Akkadian language for official use. For religious use, they retained the Sumerian language. By the time Babylon founded, Sumerian was already no longer a spoken language. Earlier Akkadian and Sumerian traditions played a major role in Babylonian and Assyrian culture.

Under Assyrian rule, Nabopolassar seized control in 620 BC with the support of most of the inhabitants. He was not able to utterly secure Babylonia an forced to content with an occupying Assyrian army encamped in Babylonia trying to unseat him. After the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 612 BC, the Neo-Babylonian Empire could truly rule with the Chaldean dynasty. It was short-lived, being conquered in 539 BC by the Persian Achaemenid Empire.

Tumbled Stone Agate

Found: Botswana (JN0011-1)

Tumbled Stone - Agate

± 1895 BC to 539 BC

Agate is one of the most common materials in the art of hardstone carving. The stone has been used for over 8.000 years. It has been recovered at a number of widespread ancient sites in the ancient world with artefacts of Neolithic people. Its role in Bronze Age Minoan culture is illustrated at the Knossos site on Crete. Agate scroll seals from the Minoan era (2200 - 1700 BC) have been found on Crete. Powers and symbolism were attributed to agate.

Agate was used as healing amulet and ornamentation dating back to Babylon. Its medicinal uses continued through the ancient Egyptian and Greek civilizations and spread through Africa and the Middle East into Russia. The ancient Egyptians made scroll seals, beads and scarabs from agate.

The stone was first found on the Shore of the Dirillo river in Sicily, Italy, then called Achates. Few agates are found there nowadays (2021). The Greek writer and philosopher Theophratus (371 - 287 BC) gave the stone a name. The Ancient Greeks made beautiful cameos and intaglio’s, making use of the different color of agate. With the cameo, the background around a subject was ground away to the underlaying layer, so that the subject stood out beautifully. At the intaglio, the subject was scratched deep into the stone, so that the underlying layer was exposed.

Beautiful signet rings, cameos and other ornamental and utility objects were made of agate, dating from Roman times. The Romans used agate as a talisman against poisoning from snake bites and food poisoning. The poison was revealed by dipping a pendant or ring of agate into a cup of drink. By contact with toxins, the stone would change of color. The Romans believed that wearing agate could reduce and prevent eye complaints. They also thought that thunderstorms and lightning strikes could be prevented by having jewelry, made of agate, in the house. Epilepsy sufferers used agate to prevent a epileptic seizure.

By the fall of the Roman Empire, Persia became the center of highly developed gemstone cutting. They frequently used agates. It was discovered how the color of agates and other stones could be changed by heating them. During the Middle Ages, it was thought that wearing agate could positively influence the weather, rain and storm would be averted, and an abundant harvest would be assured. They also believed that men wearing agate jewelry would be sexually attractive to the ladies. Saints and other figures were believed to be recognized in the agate bands. Hildegard von Bingen, the German mystic, recommended agate as a remedy for mental illness, eye complaints, angina pectoris, spleen stings, stomach complaints, fever attacks and rinderpest.

Agate of gemstone quality from the 16th century, was found in Germany. Germany’s agate mines in Ibar-Oberstein are now (2021) exhausted, but then Idar-Obersttein had a reputation for agate processing. Since the 18th century, agate has been imported from Brazil especially. The mines at Ibar-Oberstein can be visited.

Babylonian Music Tablet Replica Sumerian Cuneiform

Sumerian Cuneiform Tuning Text Replica. Found: Ur, Iraq (JN0394)

Babylonian Music Tablet

± 1800 BC

This is a rare reproduction of an ancient Babylonian tablet excavated by Sir Leonard Woolley in the ruins of Ur in the 1920s. It dates to 1800 BC. The tablet itself is a late Babylonian copy of the 32nd tablet of the Naditu Archives of Major Babylonian Lexical Texts. These are surviving encyclopedic works of the famous elite female Naditu priestess of ancient Sumer, who were responsible for art, culture, and the great literature of the period. The tablet was presented to the Baghdad Museum in the 1970s and a cast was preserved for study in the British Museum. The ancient Sumerian cuneiform tablet was translated. It shows the scale used by the Babylonians. It is the oldest known example of musical notation. And the tablet came to be known as the “Tuning Text” because it marked the necessary breakthrough in the understanding of ancient Sumerian scales, showing that Sumerian musicians as early as 2100 BC used a cyclical system of Diatonic Scale.

It describes the nine strings of the Sumerian harp and provides instructions for “tuning” by tightening and loosening specific strings. The strings, numbered symmetrically as 123454321, are presented in two parallel columns, one of which is inscribed in Ancient Sumerian and the other in contemporary Akkadian cuneiform. If the lyre was in X tuning, but the Y interval was unclear, you change two specific strings, and the lyre is in Z tuning. The original lyre had no tuning pegs. Small silver tubes were found in the Royal Tombs in Ur in 1929. Those were tuning keys. The golden lyre of Ur dates to 2500 BC and belongs to the Sumerian civilization where the first writing systems were developed. The tuning system based on perfect fourths and fifths predates the Pythagorean tuning system of Ancient Greece substantially. Each of the seven tunings has a pattern of tones and semitones (whole steps and semi-steps) that closely resembles the seven modes (= ranges of intervals) of the contemporary (2021) diatonic scale. Through this early Sumerian text, we get the first record of what ancient music sounded like.

Naditu represent highly educated women who lived in the temples and chose to remain celibate and childless. They were involved in business activities and allowed to trade and own property. Usually, they were part of the elite, and often came from royal families, especially those of Babylon. Their financial independence was based on their dowry, which they were not allowed to pass on to a man. They left behind a wealth of music, epic poetry, and beautiful images.