The Syrian Countryside is probably one of the most intriguing places to study in the ancient world. The ‘Dead Cities’ being those in the Northern area, occupying areas such as the Limestone Massif and the Hauran, towards the east and towards historically Nabatean territory, offer a unique insight into life in the ancient world simply because of how remarkably untouched the remains of these sites are. This essay intends to demonstrate what these areas of the countryside can inform us about life in the area was like, by examining its major agricultural outputs, its religious buildings and whether the area could be considered a ‘Hellenised’ society. By examining the archaeological remains and inscriptional evidence from this part of the ancient world this essay hopes to demonstrate what the evidence, and in some cases the lack of it, tells us about the Roman Syrian countryside not only at …show more content…
In fact, the production of olives for oil brings up many problems, specifically regarding who set these areas of the countryside up for olive cultivation. For a crop, which could take up to twelve years to begin to produce fruit, it seemly incredibly unlikely that these were grown by someone who happened to own a small plot of land in the area. It is much more likely the case therefore, that these were set up by wealthy land-owners, investing in these businesses, although it has been discussed by some scholars that incentives and concessions such as tax breaks could have prompted independents to grow it. It would have been inconceivable to think that such a vast growth of olives being grown to produce the only source of oil in the Roman world and one that had many uses, would have been grown in such a number if they were being grown by independent
The ancient civilizations of the Ancient Egypt, as well as the great Mesopotamia, are the world’s greatest civilization as recorded by history. The civilization was highly facilitated by rivers which cut across their land. The Euphrates, Nile, as well as Tigris, constantly moving along the river banks which in turn resulted in the adjoining land is extremely fertile (Backman). This led to flourishment and development of Ur and Eriku cities in Mesopotamia as well as the city of Thebes in Egypt (Backman). The Nile was very significant in Ancient Egypt as it made invasion by enemies impossible due to its marshy deltas (Backman). On the other hand, Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia differed fundamentally in many aspects more specifically in how their societies were structured, cultural orientation, religion, technological experiences, literature, and art among other things (Backman). This paper will center on examining these differences as well as similarities between these two regions as well as what they communicate concerning the circumstances that people from these two regions faced.
The purpose of this journal was to inform scholars and readers about the country of Egypt and its origins: the Ancient Egyption civilization and how it was built upon nature itself. The value of Hansen’s journal gives the perspective of a whole new world and geographical features. Egypt is surrounded by harsh unlivable climats, but the civilization was able to last over 500 years by using their geographical resources to their advantage to create faith, protection, and life as described by Kathy. Kathy has a PHD that she gained from Union University and is an associate publisher of Quintessential Careers. Despite the highly informative ideas, a limitation of the book is that it was written to describe Egyptian environmental aspects for readers to learn more about Egypt and maybe the desire to someday travel to Egypt. The book may have the perspective of a sort of travel guide showing a small bais while, trying to persuade people to travel to
During the years of 3500 BC to 2500 BC, the geography of a land often impacted a civilizations development in great measures. Depending on the resources available or the detriments present due to certain topographical characteristics like rivers or deserts, a civilization could flourish or collapse. By studying the geographic features of growing societies like the Nile, Euphrates, and Tigris Rivers as well as the Mediterranean Sea of Egypt and Mesopotamia, the link between developing cultures and geography will be examined through sources, including Egypt: Ancient Culture, Modern Land edited by Jaromir Malek and Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek. To determine the extent
It is undeniable that the natural environment of ancient Mesopotamia had a profound effect on the earliest civilizations known to the world. Humankind’s ability to control irrigation waters directly correlates with the rise of mass agriculture. With this mastery of their river environment, early farmers were capable of supporting large urban populations. However, in Mesopotamia the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were both a source of life as well as destruction for early societies. In many ways, the geography of ancient Mesopotamia fostered a sense of catastrophic determinism within the Sumerians, Akkadians, and Babylonians. The scarcity of resources as well as the untamable nature of their deluge environment led these early people to
Göbekli Tepe is a very interesting archaeological site that is located at the top of the mountain limestone ridge in Southeastern Turkey near the Syrian border (Banning 620). It is known as the earliest monumental building, or temple, that mankind has ever created and it was built even before the stage of agriculture, which dates back to some 11,600 years ago (Mann 1st page). Göbekli Tepe belongs to the PPN (Pre-Pottery Neolithic) in terms of its chronological context in world prehistory (Banning 620). In fact, the site can be divided into three different stratigraphic levels that are level 3, level 2A, and level 2B (Banning 620). Level 3 is the oldest level which appears to date back to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) (Banning 621). Each of the buildings measured 15 m by 10 m and contained T-shaped monoliths surrounded by a wall made of stone and mortar (Banning 621). Two U-stone shaped entrances could by identified in two of the buildings (Banning 621). However, the most monumental aspect of the Göbekli Tepe can be attributed to the sophisticated carvings of wild animals, such as scorpions and boars, on the pillars which appears in the pillars of level 3 and level 2A (Banning 621). Moreover, Level 2A, which dates to Middle PPNB, has smaller and more rectangular buildings than Level 3 and it contains delicately implemented tiled floors and T pillars without any decorations (Banning 621). Level 2B dates to the time between level 3 and level 2A, however,
One positive effect that the geography has on Greece it that they can grow olives easily. The land conditions that are favorable for growing olives are hot and dry climates, which Greece has so it is a great spot to grow them in. In document 4 it says that, “the Greeks believed that the god Athena gave them the first olive tree as a gift and they thought it was so priceless they named their city after Athena.” Olives and olive oil became one of the most valuable items that Greece had and traded. Greeks
In 1950, V Gordon Childe drew up a list of traits of to what he considered to be the common characteristics of early civilizations. According to Fagan & Scarre, a recent archaeologist Charles Redman divided Childe’s list into primary and secondary characteristics. The primary characteristics included cities and states, together with full-time specialization of labor, concentration of surplus, and a class-structured society. For the secondary, the characteristics included symptoms or by-products of these major economic and organizational changes: monumental public works, long-distance trade, standardized monumental artworks, writing, and the sciences (arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy)(Scarre and Fagan 2003). One of the most common characteristics involve was a large, dense population living in a city. This essay well state and describe two early cities in Mesopotamia and explore the layouts and characteristics of these two cities. Also, whether each city is unique or share common characteristics with each other. The two cities are Maskan-shapir and Ur.
For the Roman Empire agriculture was its primary source of their food and wealth. The grew grains, olives, and grapes. Furthermore, out of those crops they made olive oil and wine since that was one of their most important commodities. Most of the grain, grape, and olive products they made were then later traded or sold to other people. On the other hand, the Roman’s had a fairly negative approach to trading, considerably in the higher classes. Since having a surplus of crops and land was a status of wealth while manufacturing and commerce were seen as a lesser occupation. The rich landlords had many slaves to work in their fields to harvest their crops.
Covering up to 500,000 square miles, these were extremely fertile lands, watered by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Long, long ago, the area was so populated and so prosperous that it has been nicknamed the Cradle of Civilization. But it collapsed. Due to thousands of years of irrigation, subsequent salination, and displacement of forest with agriculture; the area now is the cradle of misery and hostility. It is now part of the deserts and arid lands of Israel, Lebanon, Jordon, Syria, Iraq, and southeastern Turkey.
Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia present a valuable area of historical research. They are of great importance mostly because of their ethnic kinship (Watson, 2017). In such case, comparison and contrast essay is very promising as causal relationships can be formed based on a mutual starting point. This comparison-contrast essay focuses on differences and similarities in these societies’ economic, political and cultural life in order to make further implications regarding the circumstances the peoples of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia faced.
Although Egypt and Mesopotamia were both early agricultural societies built upon the water provided by the major rivers which sustained them, they exhibited important differences as a consequence of the different physical environments in which they developed. In this paper I will first focus on what I consider to be the major aspects of these differences in environment and then explore the consequences of these differences in their religious beliefs, political organization and commercial practices.
This research paper is about one aspect of the ancient world that I have analyzed and the topic that I have done this research on is the Assyrian Army. I will give a detailed analysis with precise and concise information with well presented information with credible claims to support my paper and my thesis statement that “.The Assyrian Army was the most organized Army in the Ancient near east; they conquered the Dark Age era with their tactical and physical nature of militant system which makes them the best army of all time”. The Worldview connection is that the Assyrian was into terror and believed that they were immortal which shows how brutal they were. The Assyrians not only viewed themselves as a great army but had a worldview that was set as the foundation of western civilization which was more polytheistic.
Long, long ago, before the invention of TV, the radio, and phones, people lived in ways that are very questionable and thought provoking to us today. Their traditions, customs , and culture are very different than ours. Many questions have arisen, and many have been answered. But, as always, the are those few questions that were never given an answer. Today we will be looking at many questions, yet there is one question that we will be thinking about throughout this entire essay. How did geographic challenges lead to the rise of city-states in Mesopotamia? This question and much more will be answered within this text, And who knows? Maybe you'll find a question of your own to answer!
Greece’s economy was primarily based on the trade of grapes, cereals, and olive oil. However, because of natural constraints, production soon proved insufficient to satisfy demand. The olive tree and grapevine were the main sources for economic growth, as well as the cultivation of herbs and vegetables. Sheep and goats were the most common types of livestock. Woods were heavily exploited, first for domestic use and eventually to build triremes. Bees were kept to produce honey, the only source of sugar known to the ancient Greeks. Since it was so labor intensive, agriculture employed up to 80% of the Greek population.[5] Ancient Rome was a slave-based economy whose main concern was feeding the vast number of citizens and legionaries who populated the Mediterranean region. Agriculture and trade dominated the Roman economy, only supplemented by small scale industrial production.5 This was a similarity between Greece and Rome because Greece had to adapt to the demands of their own economy, and trade, while Rome had to do the same, but to a greater extent because their main concern was to feed the people of their empire.
Tell el-‘Amarna, the city built by Heretic Pharaoh Akhenaten was located between Luxor and Cairo along the Nile. The city was occupied during the reign of Akhenaten and abandoned after his death by his son, Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Although the city was along occupied for a short period of time, archaeologists have been able to reconstruct a fairly accurate representation of the city. However, because the city was associated with Aten and the religion of the heretic king, the city was partially destroyed and nearly all evidence of the culture during the reign of Akhenaten was destroyed. Although the Egyptian people attempted to erase this pharaoh from history, the city tells the story of the time through the few pieces of art, the tombs, and the city plans. The articles written by Croker and one of the ones written by Kemp discuss the value of architecture and how it related to status within the society of the time. The other articles written by Ikram, and Kemp, Stevens, Dabbs, Zabecki, and Rose discuss the art, religion, and ritual practices. The city of Amarna was created on the basis of abandoning the old gods in favor of the worship of a single god, Aten. Societies in ancient history were based primarily on religion, and while archaeologists try to use Amarna as a basis for the study of New Kingdom Egypt because the religions changed Amarna should not be used as a template. Akhenaten aimed to abandon the old ways