Achievements Of The Israelite Civilization

For ages the Jewish population did not have a place to call home. They had been wandering around deserts, were once slaves in Egypt, but didn’t have any land to their name. Following the Holocaust, after many Jews had been persecuted by Hitler and the Nazis, a good portion of the overall amount of Jews in the world let alone Europe had been exterminated. As a result, Harry Truman and the UN suggested Israel, a homeland for the Jews. Tensions had been growing throughout the beginning of the 20th Century regarding the Palestinian area in the Middle East. This area was off to the side of Asia, near Africa. When the Jews and Arabs were offered part of this land, war broke out and still continues today. Even though a war happened as a result

While the Israelites originated in Mesopotamia then lived as slaves in Egypt, before escaping. The Mesopotamians had a much gloomier outlook on life after death. Despite Mesopotamian and Egyptian differences, both of these cultures were polytheistic, meaning they believed in multiple gods (course readings, section 3). This was different than the Hebrew people, who settled in the land between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Judaism believed in one god and one god only. In Egypt and Mesopotamia, the numerous gods behaved like humans. Humans understood the gods; they just couldn’t control them. The Judaic god was all-powerful. Everything was part of God’s plan, Humans had to keep faith and follow the laws that God laid down.

In Mesopotamia, there were different jobs. Men were given the harder jobs, and women would do other jobs that required other strengths besides physical strengths. There were copper and bronze workers, carpenters, leather workers, artisans, scribes, priests, local administrators, and teachers, most of which were employed by the temple. Some jobs were

The Hebrews came from the lineage of Abraham. Abraham was a man of a monotheistic God. He was promised a nation by his God. The Hebrews were traders and herders that communicated in Hebrew. They originated in East Asia, but moved to Canaan their promised land. Canaan is modern era Lebron, Israel, and Jordan. They lived there for a hundred years. After a hundred years they experienced a drought that caused a famine so they moved to Egypt for refuge. The Hebrews suffered in Egypt because many of their people were in enslaved and forced into hard labor. They were led into freedom with the help of Moses and Joshua. So they returned to Canaan. The Hebrews fought to take back their land, but they we successful. 2

Hebrews formed a loosely organized confederation after they returned to Canaan to rejoin other Hebrew tribes. They lasted for about two hundred years, until they got closer under a king. David and his son Solomon reign in the tenth century B.C. Israel got to its best moment when the Hebrews were under Solomon’s kingdom. The disintegration of the Jew community started during the first half of the fifth century

Israel was the land stuck between the Jordan River and the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. The people who lived there are referred to as Israelites, and these people are mainly mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.

Mesopotamia was the land of four primary civilizations: the Sumerian, the Akkadians, the Babylonian and the Assyrians. The Hebrews, like the Akkadians, belong to a group of people known as Semites and from there we can see the influence of Mesopotamian culture in some of the Hebrews traditions. During the same time, civilization began in Egypt, and there can be seen a distinct difference in the social, religious and political system from Mesopotamia; that the link between the two

The Israelites possessed little worldly power or wealth, but they created a powerful religion, known as Judaism which is a form of

However the arrangement was unsuccessful, Israel was seen as an express that would utilize assault as a method for resistance.

Israelites is located near east and the eastern mediterranean. Including the region’s Greece, Turkey, Iran, Irag, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Saudi, Arabia, and Israel. Israel is located at the eastern end of the mediterranean sea in western Asia. it is bounded to the north by Lebanon, the northeast by syria, the east by Jordan and the west bank, and to the southwest by egypt. The western side of the country is bordered by the mediterranean sea and covers about 170 miles of the countries border. This small country is home to a wide variety of plants, animals and geographic

Unlike the other two major religions Judaism evolved form the Israelites who didn't deny the existence of other gods for other nations, though they only worshipped one deity. Its deity was Yahweh, the god of the patriarchs, who was worshipped in a sacrificial cult centered in Jerusalem and later at sanctuaries in the north, where a rival Jewish kingdom was formed. Prophets who warned against the people's reliance on these temple cults saw themselves vindicated when both the northern and southern kingdoms were destroyed by foreign conquerors. The exile of the Judeans to Babylonia in 586 BC was a major turning point in Israelite religion. The prior history of Israel now was reinterpreted

Ancient Egyptian courts were composed of members of the society who were trusted and revered.

In Mesopotamia the ruling powers were both divine and royal. The Sumerians had a belief that people were created by gods to labor for them. The temple and its land belonged to the god Ningirsu and his wife Baba, and their family. The land owning upper classes included ruling princes and their families, leading priests, and palace officials. The political function was not separated from the religious function for much of Mesopotamia's history. In old Babylonian times a town or a precinct mayor led a group or council of elders. Nobility formed the upper house of elders, and also land-owning commoners met in a popular assembly to make important decisions. Together they managed dealings such as appointing governors, and choosing kings to be temporary military commanders in times of crisis. Eventually there was a separation of the kings from the temple, and the soldiers were kept in the king's palace. The king with his increasing

Babylonian civilization is considered as one of the most important civilizations in the ancient world. The Babylonians took and developed everything after the Sumerians civilization especially in the spiritual realm and in the field of building an integrated civilization. The earlier civilizations had big role in the Babylonians civilization period when Babylonians took all the cuneiform writing, mathematical and astronomical knowledge, in addition to that the method of building cities, dams and etc. they improved all of them. The development of knowledge continued by Babylonian where the Sumerians stop, and the Babylonian built an empire for themselves on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the southern part of Sumer (Iraq). "The first Amuriyahian family has ruled over Babylon in the period (1830- 1530 BC), when Babylon was a mini-states at the time." Then the greatest king of Babylonian Hammurabi appeared in the seventeenth century BC. He established a famous group of laws known by (Hammurabi code).Also he was the king who united this petty States and achieved an important architectural movement in the city of Babylon.

According to the Advice to a Prince, gods only could judge and punish the ruler, for example, “if he (ruler) takes silver… Marduk, lord of Heaven and Earth, will set his foes upon him…” (Sanders, p.70). Consequently, we can assume that ruler’s power have increased enormously, since no matter what he does (even despotism) is supposed to be controlled by gods. Finally, the kingship in Israel has some differences as Jews are monotheistic. Nonetheless, the Jews believed in god’s involvement in daily life as well. More importantly, god (Yahweh) was believed to decide who the king is and whether he must be changed (Sanders, p.72). This shows some parallels with Assyrians where gods only could judge the ruler. As a result, it is seen that regardless of regions and number of gods (monotheism or polytheism) rulers in ancient times were connected with divine power. In fact, at ancient times rulers often represented the choice of god(s), whereas presently they represent the choice of people. This, I think, led to more fearful and respectful attitude towards rulers due to their divine support.