Mesopotamia

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Old Testament
Biblical Backgrounds

• Mesopotamia

Maps by David P. Barrett, used by permission
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Hittites
Assyria
Aram
Elam
Sumer
Egypt
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Akkadian Period

• 2330 B.C.
• Sargon the Great
• Guti invasion

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3rd Dynasty of Ur

• 2100 B.C.
• Sumerians
• Abram

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Migrations in 2000 B.C.
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Isin-Larsa Period

• 2000-1800 B.C.
• City States
• Assyria growing

Isin

• ?

• ?

Larsa
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Died 1750
Hammurabi

• Succeeded his father as King of Babylon
• Drove out the Elamites
• United all the lands of Mesopotamia under his rule

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Hammurabi

• Died 1750 B.C.
• Mesopotamia united
• Little or no delegation in evidence

Babylon

• ?

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Code of Hammurabi 1750 B.C.

• Found at Susa by de Morgan in 1902
• Caste system
• Lex Talionis
• Wages
• Trial by ordeal

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Marriage Laws

• Only legal when in writing
• Penalty for adultery is death
• Wives own property
• Monogamy

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Assyrian Kingdom

• Assyrian independence
• Treaties with surrounding city-states

Nineveh

• ?

• ?

Mari

• ?

Babylon
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Mari Tablets

• Andre Parrot excavated from 1933-1938 and
  1952-1956
• More than 20,000 tablets
• Akkadian from 1800-1750 B.C.
• Biblical names
• Travel and commerce
• Covenant To kill a young donkey

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Assyrian Kingdom

• Assyrian independence
• Treaties with surrounding city-states

Nineveh

• ?

• ?

Nuzi

• ?

Mari

• ?

Babylon
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Nuzi Tablets

• Smaller town
• Destroyed around 1450 B.C.
• Customs and culture similar to that of the
  Patriarchs

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Hittites
Nineveh

• ?

• ?

Mari

• ?

Babylon

• Hittites conquer Babylon
• Kassite dynasty in Babylon (1500-1200 B.C.)

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• The Hittites A Canaanite tribe encountered in
  Palestine by the Israelites, resident and along
  side the Amorites in the region of Bethel. They
  were pressed into service by Solomon. Still
  later, however, an independent and monarchically
  governed Hittite tribe existed nearer Syria.
  (Meyers Neus Konversationislexikon, 1871).

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Hatti
(Land of the Hittites)
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In Search of the Hittites

• Charles Texier
• Found ruins near Boghazkoy
• Archibald Sayce
• Suggested these were Biblical Hittites
• Hugo Winckler
• Translated Hittite writings

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Hattasus
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Hittites
Mitanni

• ?

Babylon
(Kassites)

• Known in the Bible as the Hurrians
• Kassite dynasty in Babylon (1500-1200 B.C.)

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Hittites
Mitanni

• ?

Babylon
(Kassites)
Egypt
Thusmoses III
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Hittites
Mitanni

• ?

Babylon
(Kassites)
Egypt
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Hittites
Mitanni

• ?

Babylon
Israel
(Kassites)
Egypt
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Ugarit

• Discovered by a farmer in 1928

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Hittites
Nineveh

• ?

• ?

• ?

Ugarit
Mari

• ?

Babylon
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Ugarit

• Discovered by a farmer in 1928

• Royal palace with 90 rooms
• Two temples
• Baal, son of El
• Dagon
• Tablets dating to 1450-1200 B.C.
• Alphabet looks like cuneiform
• Semitic language related to Hebrew
• Ugaritic poetry similar to Hebrew poets

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• Mycenaean ivory box lid found in Ugarit

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My husband has died and I have no son. They say
about you that you have many sons. You might give
me one of your sons to become my husband. I would
not wish to take one of my subjects as a husband
To Suppiluliuma
Hittites
Egypt
Ankhesenpaaten
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Hittites
Muwatalli II
Egypt
Rameses II
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Battle of Kadesh

• Rameses given false report

Amun
Re
Ptah
Set
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Battle of Kadesh

• Rameses given false report
• Rameses goes in pursuit

Amun
Re
Ptah
Set
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Battle of Kadesh

• Rameses given false report
• Rameses goes in pursuit
• Hittites attack across the Orontes

Amun
Re
Ptah
Set
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Battle of Kadesh

• Rameses given false report
• Rameses goes in pursuit
• Hittites attack across the Orontes
• Hittites attack Rameses

Amun
Ptah
Set
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Minoans
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Arthur Evans

• Began excavations in Crete in 1900
• Excavated ruins at Knossos
• Labeled the culture Minoan after the legendary
  King Minos

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Troy
!
Mycenae
!
Heinrich Schliemann
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Migrations of 1200 B.C.
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The Assyrians
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The Assyrians

• A Literary People
• Assyrian Epynom Lists
• Assyrian Military Machine

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Slingers
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Assyrian Terror Tactics
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Tiglath-Pileser I
1116 1076 B.C.

• Conquered most of Syria, Urartu, and Babylon
• Took tribute from Sidon and Byblos
• Followed by a period of decline

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Shalmaneser IIINot the good-looking fellow in
the foreground

• Fought Ahab at Qarqar
• Laid siege to Damascus
• Tribute from Jehu

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Nineveh
Joppa
Jerusalem
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The Edict of the King

• He is not named
• The Assyrian Empire was in a state of decline at
  the end of the 9th century
• Adad-Nirari III (810-782 B.C.)

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Jonah 410-11

• Then the LORD said, You had compassion on the
  plant for which you did not work, and which you
  did not cause to grow, which came up overnight
  and perished overnight. 11 And should I not have
  compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which
  there are more than 120,000 persons who do not
  know the difference between their right and left
  hand, as well as many animals?

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Salmaneser IVAshur-Dan IIIAshur-Nirari V

• Brothers
• Assyria gradually gave up her foreign possessions

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Tiglath-pileser III

• Pul
• Ascended to throne via assassination
• Bribed by Ahaz of Judah to attack Aram (2 Kings
  167-10)
• Began policy of deportations

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Shalmaneser V

• Hoshea of Israel entered into an alliance with
  Egypt
• Shalmaneser V came and besieged Samaria for three
  years before he died

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Sargon II

• Brother of Shalmaneser V
• Continued siege of Samaria
• Carried Israel off into captivity

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Sennacherib

• Brother of Sargon II
• Besieged Jerusalem in days of Hezekiah
• Assassinated (2nd Kings 1937)

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Esarhaddon

• Invaded Egypt
• Imprisoned Manasseh, King of Judah

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Assurbanipal

• Scholar-king
• Collected library of more than 6000 cuneiform
  texts.

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Chaldeans
Medes
Nabopolasser
Cyaxeres
Nebuchadnezzar
Amyhia
Astyages
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Scythians
Carchemish
?
Medes
Assyria
Megiddo
?
Babylon
EGYPT
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