“The Lord our God made a covenant, not only with our fathers, but with all of us living today…. The Lord said, ‘I

am the Lord your God… Worship no God but me.”

- The Bible

The Near East between the Nile valley and the Sumerians soon

became a region of cultural overlap and interchange.

One people and then another would take command of a portion

of the region for a century or more, only to fall under the sway

of the next onslaught of newcomers.

Kingdoms arose whose very names are sometimes forgotten but

whose contributions to the ascent of civilization in this region

were impressive.

The Assyrians were a Semitic tribal group who emerged from

nomadism in what is now northern Iraq in the twelfth century B.C.

They entered history about 900 B.C. as challengers to other

Semites in the Tigris valley.

Their chief town, Nineveh, lay in the upper valley of the Tigris and their

chief god was the very fierce Assur, from whom the people derived their

name.

By 800 B.C., through their own ferocity and cunning in war, the

Assyrian kings had conquered much of the Tigris-Euphrates

region and were fighting the Babylonians for the southern

portion.

The Assyrians displayed great talent in military affairs.

Their army was large and seemingly irresistible, using new tactics

to negate the traditional advantage of charioteers over foot

soldiers.

By this epoch, the horse and the chariot were widely used in

warfare.

It is believed that the chariot was introduced to Near Eastern warfare by

the Hyksos invaders of Egypt in the 1500s.

For centuries, leather-clad warriors armed with short swords had

fought from chariots drawn by two or three horses.

The Chariot

This bas-relief

shows King

Assurbanipal

charging the

enemy in his war

chariot,

accompanied by

picked spearmen

who thrust away

the hostile

infantry as the

monarch loads his

bow.

The chariots would split the loose ranks of the enemy foot soldiers and the momentum of the horses combined with the raised platform gave the swordsmen an almost irresistible advantage over opposing infantry.

The early Assyrian kings took away this advantage: The tight-knit infantry formations were fielded with long spears and

swords.

The flanks were protected by bands of horsemen who engaged the enemy charioteers while they were still far off.

The infantry were so heavily armored and so disciplined that they would stand up to a chariot charge without breaking.

The Assyrians were also experts in siege warfare and no enemy fort could withstand their artillery of stone-throwing catapults and rams.

Anyone who resisted the Assyrians and lost suffered a terrible

fate:

wholesale slavery, execution, pillage, and rape.

Once conquered, the enemy was closely supervised and any

effort to spring free the Assyrian yoke was immediately

suppressed.

The chronicles left by the Assyrians delight in telling of the huge

piles of dead left by the triumphant armies of kings such as

Tiglath-Pileser III who reigned in the seventh century B.C.

Tiglath-Pileser III

Under the reign of

Tiglath-Pileser III,

Assyria experienced

its last and greatest

phase of expansion.

He subjected Syria

and Palestine to his

rule and later

merged the

kingdoms of Assyria

and Babylonia.

“Like the Thunder, I crushed corpses of their warriors in the

battle. I made their blood flow over into all the ravines and over

the high places. I cut off their heads and piled them at the walls

of their cities like heaps of grain. I carried off their booty, their

goods, and their property beyond all reckoning. Six thousand, the

remainder of their troops who had fled before my weapons and

thrown themselves at my feet, I took away as prisoners and added

to the peoples of my country [that is, slaves].

The Assyrians were perhaps the most hated conquerors in ancient history.

Only their expertly calculated plans for “divide and conquer” and mass deportations of subject peoples enabled them to remain in power as long as they did.

At one point their empire reached from the upper Tigris to central Egypt. It was governed from Nineveh by a network of military commanders who had no

mercy for rebels and held large numbers of hostages for the good behavior of he rest of their people.

But less than a century later, Nineveh was in total ruins and the Assyrians were swept from the pages of history as though they had never existed.

Their many enemies and rebellious subjects, led by the Chaldees

of New Babylon, finally united against their oppressor and took

full revenge for Assyrian atrocities.

When they captured Nineveh in 612 B.C., the victors even salted

the fertile irrigated lands that ringed the city to prevent the site

from ever being inhabited again.

It was indeed forgotten until the middle of the nineteenth century when

Nineveh’s ruins were unearthed by some of the earliest archaeological

expeditions to the Middle East.

Another small but significant Semitic people were the unwarlike

Phoenicians, who originally inhabited a strip along the coast of

what is now Lebanon.

They became the greatest maritime traders and colonizers of the

ancient Near East.

Their trade in luxury wares such as copper and dyes took them through the

Mediterranean and into the Atlantic as far as the coast of Britain.

The Phoenicians also apparently spread the art of iron making to

the Greeks and westward into Africa. They established a whole series of colonies in the western portion of the

Mediterranean Sea.

The rich city-state of Carthage became the great rival to Rome until its final defeat around 200 B.C.

The Phoenicians themselves were absorbed into the Assyrian and succeeding empires but remained the paramount Mediterranean traders and seafarers until the rise of Greece in the 600s B.C.

The Phoenicians’ most notable contribution came in the linguistic field.

They were the first to use a phonetic alphabet , a system of twenty-two written marks (letters), each of which corresponded to a specific consonantal sound of the oral language. The alphabet, which emerged about 1000 B.C., was a definite advance in

written communications over the Sumerian’s cuneiform and the Egyptian’s hieroglyphs.

Lion Attacking a Youth

This marvelous

carved ivory

plaque dates

from the eighth

or ninth century

B.C. Phoenicia.

Until the twentieth century, present-day Iraq was called Persia,

which was ruled by the most powerful peoples in western Asia

from 500 B.C. to 500 A.D.

The Persians were an Indo-European speaking people who had

migrated slowly south from the central Asian steppes into Iran.

As of 1000 B.C., they were still nomadic and knew nothing of agricultural

or civilized crafts and techniques.

They did, however, possess large numbers of horses and their

skill of cavalry tactics enabled them to gradually overcome their

rivals and begin a sedentary life.

Through war and trading contacts with their Mesopotamia neighbors to the

west, they learned the basics of agriculture and civilized life.

In the mid-sixth century B.C., the Persians united under a brilliant warrior king, Cyrus the Great, and quickly overcame their Iranian cousins and neighbors, the Medes. In a remarkable series of campaigns between 559 and 530 B.C., Cyrus

extended his domains from the borders of India to the Mediterranean coast.

By 525, his son and immediate successor, Cambyses, had broadened the empire to include part of Arabia and the Nile valley.

The main Persian cities were at Susa, Persepolis, and Ecbatana in Iran, not in Mesopotamia. The gradual decline of Mesopotamia’s importance can be dated to this

time.

Cyrusthe Great

Cyrus II of Persia

created the

largest empire

the world had

yet seen. The

Bible cites him

as a tolerant and

ideal monarch

who liberated

the Jewish

captives of

Babylonia.

Hall of a Hundred Columns

This is the great

assembly and

banquet hall

erected by Darius

I in Persepolis

and burned to the

ground by the

triumphant

conqueror,

Alexander the

Great.

Cyrus had a concept of imperial rule that was quite different

from that of the Assyrians.

He realized many of his new subjects were more advanced in many ways

than his own Persians and that he could learn from them.

Accordingly, his government was sort of an umbrella, sheltering

many different peoples and beliefs under the supervision of the

“King of Kings” at Persepolis.

The Persian subjects were generally allowed to retain their own

customs, laws, and religious beliefs.

Their appointed Persian supervisors (satraps) only interfered when the

central government’s policies were threatened or disobeyed.

In the provinces, satrapies were kept in power after conquest so

long as they swore obedience to the monarch, paid their

(relatively light) taxes, provided soldiers, and gave aid and

comfort to the Persians when called upon.

Religion was totally free and all sorts of beliefs flourished from the

Hebrews to the fire worshippers of the Indian borderlands.

Most remarkably, the initial move toward an ethical religion seems to have

come with the teaching of Zarathustra.

Darius I (522-486) was the third great Persian ruler, following

Cyrus and Cambyses.

During his reign, the empire reached its maximal extent.

Darius the Great

Darius I is noted for

his administrative

genius and for his

great building

projects. He

attempted several

times to conquer

Greece: his fleet was

destroyed by a storm

in 492 and the

Athenians defeated

his army at Marathon

in 490.

Darius introduced a law code that was a more advanced and

refined distillation of earlier codes from Mesopotamia and

Egypt.

Additionally, a stable coinage in gold and silver and a calendar

that was commonly used throughout the Near East was

introduced.

For the next century, the peoples of the empire flourished under

enlightened Persian leadership.

The Persian kings eventually made the mistake of biting off more

than they could chew.

Darius and his successor, Xerxes, invaded the European mainland in an

attempt to extend their power and it would cost them dearly.

Xerxesthe Great

In 465, Xerxes and

his eldest son fell

under the blows of

the murderous

court led by

Artabanus, the

commander of the

royal bodyguard

and the most

powerful official in

the Persian court.

What we know of the ancient Twelve Tribes of the Hebrews is derived in large part from the poetic history of he Old Testament.

The Hebraic tradition of Abraham leading his people out of the wilderness and into the land of Canaan refers to what is accepted as historical fact: Nomadic, primitive Semitic tribes departed from someplace in northern

Mesopotamia in the twelfth century B.C. and wandered for a lengthy time through what is now Saudi Arabia.

By the 1500s B.C., they were established in Canaan, the southern part of Palestine. Here they came under Egyptian rule and a good portion of the Twelve

Tribes became coerced slaves in the Nile delta.

The Hebrew’s Exodus from Egypt under the legendary leader

Moses occurred during the thirteenth century B.C.

The exact reasons for the Exodus are not clear but it is entirely possible

that the Old Testament story of brutal treatment by the pharaoh is true.

In any case, under Moses, the Hebrews resolved to return to the

“land of milk and honey,” the Promised Land of Canaan,

whose memory had been kept alive by their leaders in Egypt.

Escaping pharaoh's wrathful pursuit, the Hebrews wandered

across the Sinai peninsula until they encountered the Canaanites

and the Philistines, who were already settled in coastal Palestine.

By about 1000 B.C., the Hebrews overcame the Canaanites and established

their own small kingdom with Saul as the first king.

Moses

Moses our Teacher is

revered as the most

important prophet in

Judaism, Christianity,

Islam, and numerous

other faiths. Upon his

120th birthday, Moses

pronounced a blessing

over his people and

died: God Himself

buried him

somewhere in a valley

in the land of Moab

(Deuteronomy 34:6).

Saul carried the war to the Philistines, and his work was carried

on by his lieutenant and successor, David.

David was a great warrior hero and he was successful in conquering

Jerusalem, which then became the Hebrew’s capital.

David’s son, Solomon, was the most renowned king of the

Hebrews.

During his reign, the Hebrews briefly became a factor in Near

Eastern affairs, serving as trading intermediaries between Egypt

and the Mesopotamians.

The famous Temple of Jerusalem, constructed of stone and cedarwood

and decorated inside and out with gold, became a wonder of the ancient

world.

David beheads Goliath

David is central to

Jewish, Christian,

and Islamic

doctrine and

culture. He is

depicted as a

righteous king, an

acclaimed warrior,

musician, and poet

traditionally

credited for

composing many of

the psalms

contained in the

Book of Psalms.

When King Solomon died, a revolt against his successor split the

Hebrew kingdom in two:

Judea and Samaria or as they are sometimes called, Judah and Israel.

Although ethnically very close, the two kingdoms were quite

hostile to one another.

As time passed, Samaritans and Judeans came to look on one

another as different peoples.

Their differences arose as the Judeans (Jews) came under the influence of

the Egyptian empire while the Samaritans came under the influence of

Mesopotamia.

The kingdom of Samaria/Israel was ended by a rebellion against

the Assyrian overlords.

This defeat resulted in the scattering of the populace far and

wide, the first Diaspora or scattering .

Judea, however, survived under the Assyrians until their defeat in

612 B.C., when it fell under Babylonian over-lordship.

The ill-fated attempt to throw off this yoke led to the crushing

defeat by King Nebuchadnezzar in 586 and the ensuing

Babylonian Captivity (586-539 B.C.), when thousands of Jews

were taken off to Babylon as hostages for the good behavior of

the rest.

The great temple of Solomon was demolished.

The Judeans continued under Persian rule from 539 B.C. until

Alexander the Great toppled the King of Kings in the 330s.

They lived under the Hellenistic successors of Alexander until

the gradual extension of Roman power reached Palestine.

From the time of the kingdom of Saul, a great god known as

Yahweh (Jehovah) was established as the Hebrew’s chief deity but

was by no means the only one.

In Samaria, Yahweh was regulated to an inferior position.

In Judea, Yahweh’s cult gradually triumphed over all rivals and

this god became the only deity of the Jews of Jerusalem.

Monotheism was so rare that we only know of one pre-Jewish experiment

with it – Akhanton of Egypt.

The Judeans Jews, under the influence of a whole series of great

prophets including Amos, Hosea, Ezekiel, and Isaiah, came by

the 600s B.C. to believe themselves bound to Yahweh by a sacred

contract, the Covenant, given to Moses during the Exodus.

From the time of the kingdom of Saul, a great god known as

Yahweh (Jehovah) was established as the Hebrew’s chief deity but

was by no means the only one.

In Samaria, Yahweh was regulated to an inferior position.

In Judea, Yahweh’s cult gradually triumphed over all rivals and

this god became the only deity of the Jews of Jerusalem.

Monotheism was so rare that we only know of one pre-Jewish experiment

with it – Akhanton of Egypt.

The Judeans Jews, under the influence of a whole series of great

prophets including Amos, Hosea, Ezekiel, and Isaiah, came by

the 600s B.C. to believe themselves bound to Yahweh by a sacred

contract, the Covenant, given to Moses during the Exodus.

The contract was understood to mean that if the Jews remained

constant in their worship of Yahweh and kept the faith he

instilled in them, they would eventually triumph over all their

enemies and be a respected and lordly people on Earth.

The faith that Yahweh desired was supported by a set of rigid

rules given to Moses by Yahweh on Mount Sinai, from which

evolved a whole law code that governed every aspect of Hebrew

daily life.

Coming to be known to later Jews and Christians as the Ten

Commandments, these moral regulations have been adapted to much

different social circumstances.

The Ten Commandments were the property of the Jews, given to

them as a mark of favor by their lord and protector Yahweh.

The Jewish faith was one of the earliest attempts to formalize an

ethical system and to link it with the worship of supernatural

deities.

Ethics is the study of good and evil and determining what is right and

wrong in human life and conduct.

To Yahweh’s followers, those who did evil on Earth would be

made to suffer, if not in this world, then in the one to come.

Additionally, the laws of Yahweh assured that the good would be rewarded

– again, if not in this life, then in the eternal one to come.

Mount Sinai

Some modern

biblical scholars

believe that the

Israelites would have

crossed the Sinai

Peninsula in a direct

route, rather than

detouring to the

southern tip. With

this belief, scholars

look for the biblical

Mount Sinai

elsewhere.

When the kingdom was founded under Saul, most Hebrews were still rural herders and peasants, living as Abraham had lived.

Over the next half millennium, however, many Hebrews made the transition from rural to town life. As many people shifted from subsistence farming to wage earning, social

tensions dividing rich and poor began to appear.

Most than most, the Jews divided all humanity into “we” and “they.” They recognized themselves as the Chosen and all non-Jews as Gentiles.

Jews looked upon non-Jews as distinctly lesser breeds and intermarriage with nonbelievers was considered treasonous. Ancient Judaism was almost never open to converts.

Saul

Saul was the first

king of the united

Kingdom of Israel.

Appointed by the

prophet Samuel, Saul

fell on his sword to

avoid capture in the

battle against the

Philistines at Mount

Gilboa. There three

of his sons would

suffer death and

David would prepare

for his succession.

The nuclear family was the basic unit of Hebrew society, with the

father enjoying very extensive rights.

The married state was strongly preferred while bachelors were

looked upon as failures.

Young men were to marry no later than the age of twenty-four while girls

were thought to be ready at thirteen.

As in every ancient society, marriage was arranged by the parents, usually

after the negotiation of a dowry (bride-price).

Children were the whole point of marriage – the continuation of

the family was the primary duty of both husband and wife.

In the centuries after the fall of the monarchies of Samaria and

Judea, the Jew’s concept of Yahweh changed in several significant

ways.

The Babylonian Captivity was a particular low-point and many Jews

never returned to the faith after having been seduced into the

worship of false gods.

Those who returned were “tried and true” believers who rebuilt

the Temple and restructured their theology based on the new

interpretations of the Covenant, the Talmud.

Not only was Yahweh the only god, he was the universal god of all.

Yahweh was a just god, who would reward or punish according to his ethical principles, but he was also a merciful god who would not turn a deaf ear to the earnest penitent.

Yahweh was an omnipotent (all-powerful) and omniscient (all-knowing) master, who could do whatever he desired, always and everywhere. There were no other opposing forces that could frustrate his will or

wisdom.

Yahweh granted Man free will, who allowed the principle of evil to arise in the form of the fallen angel Lucifer.

Man could ignore conscience and the Law and choose evil, but if he did, he would face a Last Judgment that would condemn him to eternal punishment and deprive him of the fate that Yahweh desired and offered: salvation in blessed.

Finally, Yahweh gradually came to be a personal deity, in a way in which no other ancient god had been. He could be prayed to directly; he was observant of all that affected a

man’s or a woman’s life.

His actions were not impulsive or unpredictable.

Yahweh wanted Man not as a slave but a friend.

The relationship between God and Man is meant to be one of mutual love.

This was a vision of the relationship between the deity and his

creature man that no other people had:

A mutually dependent, ethical, just but also merciful on the Lord’s side.

A submissive but not slavish on man’s side.

It was a relationship between a stern but loving father and an independent,

sinful, but dutiful child.

The mold for the evolution of Christianity had been formed.

All that was needed was the appearance of the long-rumored

messiah who would fulfill the promise that the Chosen would

enter glory, some day.