Voyage Without a Harbor: The History of Western Civilization in a Nutshell

Copyright © 2014 David D. Peck, PhD

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CONTENTS

Preface

Part I

Ancient Origins

CHAPTER 1   The First Civilizations

CHAPTER 2   Classical Greece

CHAPTER 3   Classical Rome

Part II

The Creation Of Europe

CHAPTER 4   Emergence of Christendom

CHAPTER 5   The High Middle Ages

CHAPTER 6   Exploration, Renaissance, and Reformation

Part III

Modern Times

CHAPTER 7   Absolutism and the Age of Reason

CHAPTER 8   Age of Revolutions

CHAPTER 9   The World at War

Conclusion

Sources and Further Reading

To Rachel, my constant companion, the best fellow traveler one could have on the voyage of life … and beyond

Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbor.

—Arnold Toynbee, British historian

PREFACE

I have been teaching Western civilization and world civilization at the college undergraduate level for over twenty years. I have come to several conclusions during that time, which in combination, convinced me to write Voyage without a Harbor: The History of Western Civilization in a Nutshell.

First, there is a growing need for a basic, single-volume narrative of Western civilization. The proliferation of Internet answer sites, or online encyclopedias, indeed provide easy access to data and factual information for interested persons. Much of this information is accurate, but the contemporary reader is often left with little or no idea how to separate fact from fiction. Additionally, the reader, in the absence of an historical narrative, lacks a reliable framework for assessing the relative value of online facts and information. Consequently, while the facts acquired from the Internet may be accurate, they may likewise be trivial or insignificant. A bare-bones, or in–a-nutshell, narrative by an experienced and trained author provides, it is hoped, some guidance and reliability in determining factual accuracy and relevance while navigating the proverbial mountains of information accessible today. This volume is designed to provide guidance and reliability at a fundamental level. I have consequently placed a list of suggested readings at the end of this book, sorted by chapter. Each list serves three purposes: (1) to avoid making extensive use of footnotes, references for works cited are included in the list of suggested readings, with sufficient in-text references to identify the source; (2) each list provides guidance to additional information; and (3) the suggested readings provide the reader with alternative viewpoints. There are numerous, and sometimes conflicting, viewpoints on many subjects raised and interpretations given in the narrative, and due to the brevity of this work, there is insufficient space to develop contrasting views. Additionally, brevity requires an unavoidable level of generalization that can be misleading. To counteract this tendency, the author has attempted to balance generalization with modest factual depth as space allows.

Second, this volume is designed to counteract what historians call presentism, meaning the inclination to judge the past by one’s own standards, rather than consciously seeking to understand persons or peoples of the past by standards applicable to their own time, not ours. Modern commentators, particularly social and political commentators, often unfairly or inaccurately cite supportive examples taken from the past to justify a position. An informed listener or reader, more familiar with the past on its own terms, so to speak, is in a better position to judge the value of such examples and to arrive at his or her own conclusions regarding the applicability of a past event to the present. This volume seeks to provide information and examples taken from the past that will allow the reader to get a limited sense of the times, which is often called zeitgeist, a German word referring to the spirit of the times. As a result, examples of art, literature, poetry, and philosophy are occasionally provided so that the reader may get a feel for a people and their own self-perception.

Third, the cost of books, and textbooks in particular, continues to rise, and in some cases rises sharply. This book seeks to reduce costs and to deliver an informative narrative without needlessly increasing the price. For this reason, all photographs are my own. And instead of providing numerous expensive maps, the reader is invited to make liberal use of the excellent historical resources available on the Internet.

These factors, taken together, indicate some of the comparative benefits of Voyage without a Harbor. It is my intention that this book provide an affordable narrative overview of Western civilization from the Stone Age to the end of the Cold War in the late twentieth century, aimed at a high school senior or college freshman audience. In so doing, however, I had to make several difficult decisions about what not to include. Indeed, Voyage without a Harbor, like any volume on so complex a topic as Western civilization, must necessarily leave out a number of things I would have preferred to include. I fully expect the reader to occasionally think, Why isn’t _______ included? or Why was _________ left out? My response comes in the form of an invitation to learn the outlines of Western civilization through this single-author narrative, and then to select from it themes, events, and personalities to study in greater detail after having finished the book. As its title suggests, this book represents a small portion of a long voyage of learning, without a final destination—a lifelong quest to know, to understand, to empathize with, and occasionally, to judge the past and its peoples. I am confident that the engaged reader will find much of value in my book and will say, I want to know more about _________. I encourage the reader to follow such prompts, and to pursue knowledge in keeping with his or her interests and needs.

I am indebted to numerous persons, including my many instructors over the years, the authors of insightful and informative volumes on civilization, history, and the peoples of the past, for what knowledge I possess and am able to deliver to you in Voyage without a Harbor, including many remarkable and inspiring individuals who have shaped my life, even though they died, in most cases, long before I was born. I am indebted to colleagues who engage me in lively debate and discussion. I also acknowledge the insights gleaned from engaged and hardworking students over the years, those remarkable learners who ask the penetrating questions, who are willing to navigate ambiguity, and who practice intellectual hospitality and are willing to at least listen to a new or strange idea. My learned and intelligent wife of thirty-plus years has long exercised a deep influence upon me in all aspects of life, including the life of my intellect. I encourage the reader to conclude that whatever virtues this volume may contain came from others, and that whatever errors there may be are my own and that I alone am responsible for them.

David D. Peck, PhD, 2013

PART I

ANCIENT ORIGINS

1

THE FIRST CIVILIZATIONS

The march of humanity … develops indubitably in the direction of a conquest of matter put to the service of the mind: increased power for increased action. But finally, and above all, increased action for increased being.

—Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Phenomenon of Man

Introduction

Almost every discussion of Western civilization focuses upon the abiding contributions of the ancient Greeks and Romans. That does not mean, however, that classical Greeks (see chapter 2) or Romans (see chapter 3) created Western civilization. The march of humanity, as Chardin called the progression of civilization, began long before the first peoples known as Greeks appeared. Furthermore, the history of civilization is rather directly tied to the history of human technologies, or as Chardin stated, the conquest of matter put to the service of the mind: increased power for increased action. Several indispensable civilizing technologies existed long before the appearance of Greek-speaking peoples in the regions of the Aegean Sea. These ancient civilizing technologies included stone and metalworking, language and writing, government and administration, religion and art. The story of Western civilization began with the emergence of such primitive technologies—in some cases long before the founding of the first cities and kingdoms, the first vestiges of civilization, in the West.

This chapter discusses the emergence of Western civilization, beginning with prehistoric stone toolmaking and continuing through the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Persia. The abiding contributions of these earlier civilizations are noted, but perhaps more importantly, readers may come to recognize the overarching patterns of civilization drawn from the ancient past that are evident in the Western world today.

Figure 1.1. Geography of Europe, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia, with the cities and rivers most frequently referenced

The Ages of Humanity

Historians—unsurprisingly—often narrate the story of humanity on its broadest scale, as the story of technological progress. History is consequently often divided into technological ages, representing the ages of human civilization. Danish archeologist Christian Jürgensen Thompson (1788–1865) created a widely used three-stage system for classifying ancient human history:

•   Stone Age (80,000–3500 BC)

•   Bronze Age (3500–1200 BC)

•   Iron Age (1200–500 BC)

The date ranges are not hyper-accurate, but represent a conceptualization of the ancient past based upon broad periods in the development of key technologies that allowed humans to develop culture and, eventually, civilization. Historians have added other ages to Thompson’s list, describing more recent human developments:

•   Industrial Age/Age of Industrialization (1750–1900, see chapter 8)

•   Age of Information/Space Age/Atomic Age (1900 to the present, see chapter 9 and the conclusion)

Each age of human history is associated with some characteristic and fundamental technology or technologies: stone, bronze (an alloy made mostly of copper and tin), and iron (which required new forges to heat the metal to much higher temperatures in order to purify it). The period of time covered in this chapter (from 80,000 to about 500 BC) is discussed within Thompson’s familiar three-ages scheme.

The Stone Age

Historians generally classify the period from 2.5 million years ago to 3500 BC as the Stone Age. Stone toolmaking characterized this period, together with its related impact on human social organization. The Stone Age is further subdivided into the Paleolithic, the Mesolithic, and the Neolithic eras. The Paleolithic era (meaning the Old Stone Age) lasted from about 2.5 million BC to about 40,000 BC and was characterized by the manufacture of stone hand axes. The Mesolithic era (meaning Middle Stone Age) lasted from about 40,000 BC until about 10,000 BC, or the end of the last major Ice Age, and witnessed new technologies, such as stone scrapers and projectile weapons (principally primitive spears). Toward the end of the Paleolithic, a new species of hominid emerged: Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens exhibited all of the characteristics of modern humans, including toolmaking. Later, at the beginning of the Mesolithic period, the first human hunter-gatherer societies formed. By the time the Mesolithic era ended, the first semi-settled agricultural communities formed. Historians speak of the emergence of language and culture near the end of this era, such as the Natufian culture of the ancient Near East. Significant as these collective achievements were, they pale when compared to the steady and profound technological advancements of the Neolithic era, the period when all of the core building blocks of civilization were created, as we shall see.

Neolithic Revolutions

The Neolithic Age lasted in the Near East from the end of the last Ice Age (about 10,000 BC) until about 3500 BC. Technological advancements made during the Neolithic Era successfully addressed two fundamental human needs, both of which are necessary for the establishment of complex societies and civilizations: first, a reliable source of healthy foods, and second, a reliable supply of potable water. The progressive domestication of animals and plants addressed food-related needs. During this time, the first animals were domesticated, as were the first plants, meaning that they were brought under human control, cultivation, and harvesting. Between 12,000 and 8500 BC, wheat, barley, beans, peas, and similar plants were domesticated successfully in the Near East. By about 7000 BC, cattle, goats, pigs, and chickens were domesticated. This process is referred to as the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution and is considered to be the period of the most profound technological innovation in history.

Primitive agricultural techniques reflected the hunter-gatherer social inheritance of the Mesolithic: seminomadic groups used slash-and-burn agriculture, which eventually gave way to permanent farms and related food-storage methods and facilities. Toward the end of the Neolithic, newly established settled communities with permanent field cultivation appeared throughout the Near East, and by 6,000 BC, the first large-scale granaries were built. The invention of pottery making and ceramics provided storage for wine and oil. In addition to agricultural improvements, human language emerged during this time, as did the mastery of fire and cooking. Humans at the end of the Neolithic were in general much better off than their predecessors.

Figure 1.2. The Stonehenge Monument built in stages during the Third Millennium B.C. Author’s Photograph.

The Age of Metals

Without the mastery of metalworking, there would be no civilization—at least not as we now know it. Think for a moment about how much of your world involves metals in one form or another. The origins of metallurgy stretch into the distant past, and one can imagine how early humans found stone useful—first as weapons and later as tools—but imagining how the first human decided that melting rocks would somehow make the world a better place poses a serious conundrum. Whoever discovered the uses of metals and however it was done, metalwork soon became essential to technological progress beyond its comparatively limited beginnings in stone.

The Bronze Age

The Bronze Age, a period in which civilizations relied upon bronze smelting and related technologies, lasted in the Near East from about 2800 to about 1200 BC. The technologies associated with the smelting and casting of metals emerged in Mesopotamia sometime around 6000 BC. The first efforts at metalworking involved softer metals with lower melting points, such as gold and copper. However, the very qualities that allowed gold and copper to be smelted made them inadequate for more demanding uses. By about 4000 BC, bronze was invented. Bronze is an alloy (an amalgam of more than one metal) made primarily from tin and copper. It is more durable than either and is comparatively resistant to corrosion, including saltwater corrosion (many ship propellers continue to be cast in bronze to this day). It was used to cast fittings for ships, hinges for doors and gates, and wheel hubs for chariots and for weaponry. The advent of bronze smelting played an important role in the emergence of civilization.

By the third millennium BC, nearly every society moving toward civilization used bronze. Obtaining the ores and the expertise necessary to work bronze posed a significant challenge, however. First of all, the knowledge and techniques of metal casting were guarded, and bronzesmiths customarily behaved as quasi priests, in some cases requiring religious initiation into their ranks before sharing their knowledge. Second, tin is rare compared to copper; consequently, societies short on tin had to engage in long-distance trade to manufacture bronze. Third, bronze melts at about 1,700ºF—depending on the ratio of alloys—requiring the construction and maintenance of high-temperature smelting furnaces. Consequently, bronze smelting and related technologies (such as mining) required a more specialized labor, prompted the establishment of sustained regional trade and economic exchange for the first time, and necessitated construction of permanent settlements with forges. Although Mesopotamia mastered bronze working first, by 2800 BC all four hydraulic (see below) civilizations had mastered the craft to one degree or another, justifying the connection between bronze-related technologies and the rise of civilization.

The Iron Age

Sometime toward the last half of the second millennium BC, a new type of smelting forge, called a bloomery, was invented. The bloomery provided the significantly elevated temperatures necessary to smelt and purify iron (2,795°F). Iron, like bronze, can be cast—that is, it can be melted, poured into a mold, and finished. Iron, however, may also be forged. Forging involves a process of repeated heating and cooling of the metal, combined with shaping and hardening by a blacksmith using a hammer and anvil. Forged iron had several notable advantages over cast bronze (or even cast iron): forged iron parts such as wheel hubs and door hinges maintained their true shape longer than bronze counterparts; iron tools were less brittle, had higher tensile strength, and were more flexible; and iron weapons held an edge longer. Although bronze casting continued through the Iron Age (1200–500 BC), emerging kingdoms depended upon incorporation of iron technologies and iron-related benefits. The biblical book of Judges, for example, indicates the military edge gained through the use of iron technologies: "They [the men of Judah] took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had chariots fitted with iron" (Judges 1:19 NIV, emphasis added).

Hydraulic Civilizations

By 4000 BC, the fundamental agricultural and metal-based technologies discussed above appeared in the Indus River Valley (primarily located in modern Pakistan) and by 2500 BC had made their way as far west as the British Isles. The first cities, however, appeared around rivers in the Near East, where irrigation-based agriculture capable of sustaining a large population was invented. The region of Mesopotamia (meaning land between rivers) was the first to build and form a cohesive civilization. Egypt, the gift of the Nile as the Greek historian Herodotus later called it, followed shortly after, almost contemporaneously. By about 2000 BC, four foundational civilizations had been founded near major rivers and fertile plains in Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and along the Yellow River in China. These are termed hydraulic civilizations due to their proximity to rivers and their use of irrigation and wet-farming techniques. The hydraulic civilizations mastered metalworking, in addition to essential agricultural techniques. Because Mesopotamia and Egypt are central to the story of Western civilization, we will focus on them.

Mesopotamia: The Cradle of Civilization

The region of Mesopotamia comprises the land bounded by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and their confluence, essentially following the borders of modern Iraq. Because the earliest civilizations are thought to have emerged there, historians call the region the cradle of civilization, meaning the place where civilization was born and nurtured into maturity. Beginning in about 3500 BC, the land was first ruled by smaller city-states, then a series of kingdoms, and finally by the Persians (who originated outside Mesopotamia).

Mesopotamian civilization began with a people known as the Sumerians. Inhabiting the southern regions of the Tigris-Euphrates river valley, they founded several important cities in the area, such as Uruk (ca. 4000 BC) and Ur (ca. 3800 BC). These cities functioned as religious centers, provided markets and promoted trade, and offered increased protection for the inhabitants. The Sumerians are widely credited with the invention of several basic technologies associated with the rise of civilization: the wheel (as early as 5500 BC), the sail (ca. 3000 BC), writing (ca. 3000 BC), the seeder plow (ca. 2000 BC), and a numerical system eventually based upon the number sixty (ca. 2500 BC), associated today with the 360º circle and with time—sixty seconds and sixty minutes. The Sumerians are also thought to have been the first to master the technologies of metalworking (mining, smelting, casting, and crafting) that eventually ended the Stone Age and moved civilization into what is known as the Bronze Age (3500 to 1200 BC).

Kingdoms of Mesopotamia

By the early Bronze Age, numerous city-states arose in Mesopotamia, several with perhaps familiar names: Ur, Babylon, Damascus, Jericho, and Nineveh. Beginning as isolated villages, they became increasingly interconnected, particularly as local irrigation works multiplied within the larger Tigris-Euphrates aquifer. The rivers themselves became regional highways along which goods were increasingly exchanged, providing for better diet and occasional luxuries. The managerial sophistication and planning required to establish and govern the emerging cities encouraged the development of local monarchies, aristocracies, and supporting bureaucracies. Competition for water, food, and natural resources increased over time, and city walls and defensive towers became more common in the effort to protect one city from another. It was only a matter of time before one city conquered the others and created a regional kingdom. In fact, as the following list of kingdoms illustrates, Mesopotamia’s open plains proved relatively easy to conquer but comparatively difficult to hold.

Akkad (2337–2154 BC)

During the third millennium BC, the city-states of Mesopotamia expanded, creating tension and, eventually, outright conflict. Sargon the Great (r. 2337–2279), ruler of Akkad, conquered nearby walled cities, bringing them under a single rule and creating what may be considered the world’s first multicity kingdom. From his home city of Akkad, located in south-central Mesopotamia, he conquered the nearby city-states of Ur, Uruk, and Lagash, as well as regions as far away as the Mediterranean Sea in the west and the Persian Gulf in the southeast. Sargon’s sons succeeded him as kings, establishing the dynastic principle of royal succession, and the Kingdom of Akkad lasted until 2154 BC.

Babylonia (1792–1157 BC)

The city-state of Babylon had been long overshadowed by its more powerful neighbors. But under its sixth king, Hammurabi (r. 1792–1750), it conquered several neighboring cities and established itself as the premier regional power, ruled thereafter by a series of capable dynasties. Perhaps the most famous innovation associated with Babylonia was the written legal corpus known as the Code of Hammurabi. Hammurabi inscribed a coherent set of laws in cuneiform upon stone stellae (pillars) and placed them throughout his kingdom. The code consisted of 282 laws. The subjects covered reveal the increasing complexity of Mesopotamian civilization during the Babylonian period: contracts (complex commercial arrangements and compensations for breach of contract), marriage and divorce, construction lawsuits (e.g., compensation for a house that collapses following construction by a professional builder), and the removal of a corrupt judge. Although probably not invented by Hammurabi, the code is famous for its well-known formulation of lex talionis (the law of retribution): an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. Although the stellae differ from region to region, the most famous, the diorite stele, now housed in the Louvre museum in Paris, resembles an upward-pointing index finger. At the apex, or fingernail, Hammurabi is shown receiving the law directly from the sun god Shamash, the divine source of justice. The Code of Hammurabi exerted a profound influence upon subsequent western legal codes down through the ages until the present. The kingdom begun by Hammurabi is often called Old Babylonia to distinguish it from the Chaldean Kingdom (or Neo-Babylonian Kingdom, below).

The Hittite Kingdom (1430–1180 BC)

The Hittite people long inhabited Asia Minor, or Anatolia as it was known in ancient times. Among the early masters of iron forging, the Hittites moved southward into Mesopotamia in the fifteenth century, establishing a regional kingdom that competed with the Egyptian state under Pharaoh Ramesses II (see below). The Egyptian and Hittite armies met in battle in 1274 BC at Qadesh, a city on the Orontes River located in modern Lebanon. The battle at Qadesh was the first battle for which historical records exist detailing military tactics and formations. It was perhaps the largest chariot battle in history (as many as six thousand chariots were used). Although the battle was technically a draw without a clear victor, the Hittite Kingdom declined over the next century, whereas Egypt endured.

Assyria (911–605 BC)

The city of Nineveh, built according to the Bible by either Nimrod or Ashur (second son of Shem and grandson of biblical Noah), was the home city of the Assyrian people (Genesis 10:11). Archaeologists and historians studying its ruins near modern Mosul (Iraq) draw differing conclusions as to its origins. Being worshippers of Ashur, the god of war, the Assyrians assembled the most formidable military force to that date. Under a series of capable rulers such as Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883–859) and Shalmanaser III (r. 858–823), the kingdom extended westward to the Mediterranean Sea and southward to Babylon. The ruler Tiglath-Pileser III (r. 745–727) conquered the kingdom of Israel and threatened Jerusalem with vassalage. An inscription describes his sacking of Damascus in 731:

I captured [the ruler Rezin’s] warriors, archers, and lance-bearers; and I dispersed their battle-array. [Rezin], in order to save his life, fled alone, and he entered the gate of his city [like] a mongoose; I impaled alive his chief ministers; and I made his country behold them.… I destroyed 591 cities of 16 districts of Damascus like mounds of ruins after the Deluge (Keller, 260).

The Assyrian Kingdom reached its territorial zenith with the conquest of Egypt by Ashurbanipal (r. 668–c. 627), making the Assyrian state the largest up to that time. Ashurbanipal established an important library (called the Library of Ashurbanipal) located among the ruins of Nineveh. Over thirty thousand cuneiform clay tablets still exist, providing a wealth of archaeological and historical information. The subjects covered on the tablets include commercial transactions and administrative records, as well as texts containing the Mesopotamian creation myth, the Enuma Elish, as well as the famous Epic of Gilgamesh (below). At the Battle of Carchemish (605 BC), a coalition of Babylonians and Medes decisively defeated the combined armies of Assyria and Egypt, ending the kingdom.

Chaldea (also called Neo-Babylonia, 626–539 BC)

Nebuchadnezzar II (604–562), perhaps the most famous of Chaldean kings, inherited the most stable post-Assyrian state in Mesopotamia. His fame rests upon the massive public-building projects that elevated Babylon to legendary stature that he undertook following his conquest of Jerusalem. His rule inaugurated the period known as the Neo-Babylonian Renaissance, during which time the famous (but perhaps purely legendary) Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, were built. Nebuchadnezzar II commissioned the massive ziggurat associated with the Temple of Marduk, thought by some to be the structure that inspired the biblical story of the Tower of Babel. The famous Ishtar Gate, a rebuilt portion of which is located in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, was commissioned in 575 BC by royal decree. Following battles with Egypt and Arab tribes, Nebuchadnezzar II conquered Jerusalem in 597, placing Jehoiachin on the throne. Jehoiachin’s successor, Zedekiah of Judah, was encouraged by continuing battles between the Chaldeans and the Egyptians, and revolted, leading to an eighteen-month siege and the capture of Jerusalem in 587. Nebuchadnezzar took thousands of its inhabitants to Babylon and razed the Temple of Solomon, beginning the so-called Babylonian captivity. The last Chaldean king, Nabonidus (556–539), was too weak to resist an invasion from the east by the Persians under Cyrus the Great in 539 BC, which ended Chaldean rule.

Mesopotamian Civilization

By the end of the Chaldean Kingdom, the fundamental elements of civilization were in place and in key respects survived relatively unchanged to the present. The Akkadians and subsequent rulers of Mesopotamia either invented or improved upon several core civilizing technologies, including writing and record-keeping, mathematics and engineering, trade and commerce, and religion and religious architecture.

Government

Kingdoms were much larger than the early city-states and required a trained professional administration. Bureaucrats and scribes kept official records upon clay tablets using the cuneiform—wedge-shaped—writing system. Cuneiform writing spread throughout Mesopotamia and was used for nearly two millennia until it was replaced by phonetic alphabet systems.

Engineering

The Mesopotamians invented an advanced system of irrigation and related hydraulic engineering designed to increase and stabilize the food supply required to operate a kingdom. The hydraulic system both reduced damage caused by flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and brought a more reliable supply of all-important water to agricultural lands. The resulting increase in the food supply allowed for an increase in population and a subsequent increase in specialized labor.

Economics

The Mesopotamian kingdoms engaged in trade and commerce across a broad geographical zone, from India to the Mediterranean Sea. Akkad, for example, had a surplus of grains and other foodstuffs, and through conquest, acquired aromatic and rot-resistant cedarwood from the area of Lebanon as well as copper deposits near Magan (possibly located near modern Oman). These were traded for other metals, building stone, and even luxury items such as lapis lazuli. River-based and oceangoing trade dominated, although Sargon the Great was known for having developed roads and even a postal system. Merchants kept records on clay tablets, including contracts and warehouse receipts. Historians have learned much about daily life from such commerce-related records.

Religion

The Mesopotamians were polytheistic—that is, they believed in a somewhat coherent collection of gods and goddesses that controlled natural powers and accounted for the creation and maintenance of the universe. The Sumerian pantheon, which the kingdoms of the Akkadians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and the Chaldeans inherited and adapted, shows a remarkable uniformity, although the various peoples of the region often used different names for these gods. In order to avoid confusion, the Akkadian names will be used here to describe the Mesopotamian pantheon. The four primary gods and goddesses were Anu—god of the heavens, whose symbol is a star; Ea—god of water, particularly the oceans, whose symbol is two serpents entwined on a wooden staff; Ishkur—god of rain and wind, responsible for a flood that nearly destroyed humankind; and Ninurta—goddess of earth, agriculture, and childbirth, also known as Queen of the Mountains. Additionally, there were the Seven Who Decree Fate, two of whom receive special mention here: Innana—goddess of love, fertility, passion, the beasts, and war (she was also known as Ishtar, Astarte, and even Esther among the other peoples of Mesopotamia), and Utu—god of the sun and the source of justice, also known as Shamash.

Figure 1.3. The Flood Tablet written in Cuneiform, and relating the tale of Utnapishtim, a man that is credited with saving his family and all living things from an ancient universal flood, as told in The Epic of Gilgamesh (British Museum, 7th century). Author’s Photograph.

These deities were, in turn, supplemented by a host of demigods and heroes. For example, Gilgamesh, King of Uruk, was among the most enduring demigods. His story was passed down through nearly all of the kingdoms of Mesopotamia over a period of thousands of years and is known today as the Epic of Gilgamesh. Semidivine, Gilgamesh was the fifth king from the time of a universal flood that Mesopotamians believed nearly destroyed humankind. Through a series of adventures, Gilgamesh and his loyal friend Enkidu offended the goddess Ishtar, who exacted revenge by smiting Enkidu with mortal illness. Enkidu’s death brought home the reality of Gilgamesh’s own mortality. Determined to defeat humankind’s universal mortal fate, Gilgamesh set out upon a quest to find immortality. He traveled beyond the known limits of the earth, through a mountain guarded by scorpion men and through the gardens of paradise, abounding with jeweled fruits tended by the maiden Siduri. Gilgamesh learned from Siduri that to obtain immortality, that is, to avoid death altogether and live forever, he must visit the legendary patriarch Utnapishtim, the man who built the boat that saved his family and all animal life from a universal flood. Gilgamesh crossed the ocean and found Utnapishtim, who told him of a flower at the bottom of a lake, which, if eaten, would result in immortality. Gilgamesh secured the flower, but rather than eating it on the spot, he decided to take it back to Uruk and share it with all of his people. Being part mortal, however, immortality was not his fate. On the way back, he fell asleep in his boat, and a serpent emerged from the depths of the water and stole back the flower, confirming that immortality is denied to humans and that Gilgamesh and all humans are fated to die.

Historians and scholars of religion often describe Mesopotamian religion as pessimistic, evidenced in part by Gilgamesh’s inability to secure a rescue from death and obtain immortality. Although the human soul was immortal, following death it was consigned to the dismal house of dust (i.e., the grave) for eternity. Another example, the myth of Atrahasis, tells that the gods created humans to do their labor for them and that humanity suffered plagues and famines caused by the gods until the god Enki had compassion upon humanity and provided them with fish to eat. Mesopotamians, unlike the Egyptian rulers (see below), did not widely believe in an eternal life enjoyed in the company of the gods.

Egypt: Gift of the Nile

The civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia diverged in several important ways, although they emerged in close proximity to each other and even though both shared many common civilizing characteristics. This was due in no small measure to a striking divergence in geography. Egyptian civilization was molded, almost determined, by its geography, especially by the unique qualities of its only significant river, the Nile.

The Nile River flows northward from the central African plateau and the mountains of Ethiopia over a distance of four thousand miles. It is the longest river in the world. The Nile is bordered by harsh deserts on either side along its last thousand miles, restricting human habitation to a narrow strip of riverbank averaging perhaps three to five miles in width. Beyond the Nile’s banks and to the west stretches the Libyan Desert, part of the complex of deserts in and around the Sahara. The Arabian Mountains and the Red Sea lie to the east. Egypt was nearly inaccessible from Mesopotamia, except across the Sinai Peninsula or from the Mediterranean coast. Finally, unlike the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which had often-violent floods, the Nile customarily rose and fell gradually between the months of June and September, leaving behind a new layer of rich silt ready for planting. The gentle regularity of the river and the abundant fertility it provided, combined with geographical isolation, prompted the Greek historian Herodotus to name Egypt the Gift of the Nile.

Religion and Civilization

Religion