Iron Age
Historians' term for the period during which iron was the primary metal for tools and weapons. the advent of iron technology began at different times in different parts of the world
Hittites
a people from central Anatolia who established am empire in Anatolia and Syria in the late bronze age. With wealth from the trade in metals and military power based on chariot forces, the Hittites vied with New Kingdom Egypt for control of Syria-Palestine before falling to unidentified
Hatshepsut
Queen of Egypt (1473-1458 BCE) She dispatched a naval expedition down the Red Sea to Punt (possibly northeast Sudan or Eretria) the faraway source of myrrh. There is evidence of opposition to a woman as ruler, and after her death her name and image were frequently defaced
Akhenaten
Egyptian pharaoh (1353-1335 BCE) He built a new capital at Amarna, fostered a new style of naturalistic art, and created a religious revolution by imposing worship of the sun-disk. The Armana letters, largely from his reign, preserve official correspondence with subjects and neighbors
Ramesses II
A long-lived ruler of New Kingdom Egypt (1290-1224 BCE) He reached an accommodation with the Hittites of Anatolia after a standoff in battle at Kadesh in Syria. He built on a grand scale throughout Egypt
Minoan
Prosperous civilization on the Aegean island of Crete in the second millennium BCE. Engaged in far-flung commerce around the Mediterranean and exerted powerful cultural influences on the early Greeks
Mycenae
Site of a fortified palace complex in southern Greece that controlled a Late Bronze Age kingdom. In Homer's epic poems Mycenae was the bast of King Agamemnon who commanded the Greeks to besieging Troy. Contemporary archaeologists call the complex Greek society of the second millennium BCE "_________"
Shaft Graves
a term used for the burial sites of elite members of Mycenaean Greek society in the mid-second millennium BCE. At the bottom of deep shafts lined with stone slabs, the bodies were laid out along with gold and bronze jewelry, implements, weapons, and masks
Linear B
A st of syllabic symbols, derived from the writing system of Minoan Crete, used in the Mycenaen palaces of the late bronze age to write an early form of Greek. It was used primarily for palace records, and the surviving Linear B tablets provide substantial information about the economic organization of Mycenaean society and tantalizing clue about political, social, and religious institutions
Neo-Assyrian Empire
An empire extending from western Iran and Syria-Palestine, conquered by the Assyrians of northern Mesopotamia between the tenth and seventh centuries BCE. They used force and terror and exploited the wealth and labor of their subjects. They also preserved and continued the cultural and scientific developments of Mesopotamian civilization
Mass deportation
the forcible removal and relocation of large numbers of people or entire populations. those practiced by the Assyrian and Persian empires were meant as a terrifying warning of the consequences of rebellion. They also brought skilled and unskilled labor to the imperial center
Library of Ashurbanipal
a large collection of writings drawn from the ancient literary, religious, and scientific traditions of Mesopotamia. It was assembled by the sixth century BCE Assyrian ruler. The many tablets unearthed by archaeologists constitute one of the most important sources of present-day knowledge of the long literary tradition of Mesopotamia
Israel
In antiquity, the land between the eastern shore of the Mediterranean and the Jordan River, occupied by the Israelites from the early second millennium BCE the modern state was founded in 1948
Hebrew Bible
A collection of sacred books containing diverse materials concerning the origins, beliefs, and practices of Israelites. Most of the extant text was compiled by members of the priestly class in the fifth century BCE and reflects the concerns and views of this group
First Temple
A monumental sanctuary built in Jerusalem by King Solomon in the tenth century BCE to be the religious center for the Israelite god Yahweh. Preisthood conducted sacrifices, recieved a tithe or percentage of agricultural revenues and became economically and politically powerful. Destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BCE, rebuilt on a modest scale in the late sixth century BCE and replaced by King Herod's Second Temple in the late first century BCE (Destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE)
Monotheism
Belief in the existence of a single divine entity. Some scholars cite the devotion of the Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten to Aten (sun-disk( and his suppression of traditional gods as the earliest instance. The Israelite worship of Yahweh developed into an exclusive belief in one god, and this concept passed into Christianity and Islam
Diaspora
A Greek word meaning "dispersal" used to describe the communities of a given ethnic group living outside their homeland. Jews, for example, spread from Israel to western Asia and Mediterranean lands in antiquity and today can be found throughout the world
Phoenicians
Semetic-speaking Canaanites living on the coast of modern Lebanon and Syria in the first millennium BCE. From major cities such as Tyre and Sideon, merchants and sailors explored the Mediterranean, engaged in widespread commerce, and founded Carthage and other colonies in the western Mediterranean
Carthage
City located in present-day Tunisia, founded by Phoenicians Ca. 800 BCE. It became a major commercial center and naval power in the western Mediterranean until defeated by Rome in the third century BCE
Neo-Babylonian kingdom
under the Chaldaeans (nomadic kinship groups that settled in southern Mesopotamia in the early first millennium BCE) Babylon again became a major political and cultural center in the seventh and sixth centuries BCE. After participating in the destruction of Assyrian power, the monarchs Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar took over the southern portion of the Assyrian domains. By destroying the First Tempe in Jerusalem and deporting part of the population, they initiated the Diaspora of the Jews