One of these tribes was called the Hittites. They occupied Anatolia, which is the same area we now call ‘Turkey’ and ‘Asia Minor.’ From 2000 B.C. onward, they were a major power, dominating Mesopotamia. The Hittites developed chariots and iron weapons. The Hittite Empire ended in 1190 B.C. The unrelated Turkish language replaced the Hittite language in the area.
Another Indo-European tribe was the Aryans. They settled in the Indus River valley, and spoke the Sanskrit language. Their society developed a strict system of four castes. Their literature included ‘Vedas’ (magical writings) and the ‘Mahabharata’ (a semi-historical epic). Gradually, the prayers and other texts in the Vedas were formed into the polytheistic system we call ‘Hinduism.’ Between 750 B.C. and 550 B.C., the Hindu understandings of the Vedas were written down; these texts are called ‘Upanishads,’ and are another important text for Hindus. One Hindu belief is that people will be reincarnated, and that the quality of the next future life is based on the qualities of one’s deeds in this life: the ‘karma’ principle. Hinduism also produced other religions.
Mahavira, who lived from 599 B.C. to 527 B.C., founded Jainism, which believes that every object has a soul, and should not be harmed. Jains are careful to avoid stepping on small insects, because even they are thought to have souls.
Siddhartha Gautama, who died in 483 B.C., founded Buddhism. He saw that every human encounters suffering and looked for a way to have peace about this fact. He encouraged people to meditate, to reach ‘enlightenment,’ and to follow his ‘four noble truths.’ In addition, he also taught about the ‘eightfold path.’ He promised his followers that they would reach ‘nirvana’ this way — a state of mind free from suffering. He also taught reincarnation. The doctrines, or teachings, of Buddhism are called the ‘dharma’ and they are found in a variety of Buddhist books.
Both Hinduism and Buddhism affected society, and affected the way people thought about each other. People felt that relieving other people’s pain and suffering was a way to earn good karma and work off the bad karma, and have a chance to be reincarnated into a better next life. Yet they also felt that they had to allow themselves and others to suffer, because that also was a way to work off bad karma and pay debts from previous lives. Ending a person’s suffering prevents him from paying off his debt and from moving up a level in the next life.
Thousands of miles to the west, a different cultural development was happening: two civilizations, the Minoans and the Phoenicians, organized trading through the Mediterranean Sea. Ships began to carry imports and exports in all directions.
From around 2000 B.C. to 1400 B.C., the Minoans lived on the island of Crete, just south of Greece. They exported pottery, swords, and metal objects; their culture also spread to nearby countries. Their capital city was Knossos. Like other early civilizations, they conducted human sacrifice. Their ruler was King Minos.
About 1100 B.C., another culture became important in the trading network. The Phoenicians lived at the eastern end of the Mediterranean; their leading cities were Tyre and Sidon. Expert shipbuilders and navigators, they sailed west into the Atlantic, and may have explored places from England to the southern tip of Africa. Phoenicians sailed from town to town along the coasts of Africa and Europe, buying and selling. But their greatest invention was the alphabet. Previous forms of writing — hieroglyphs and cuneiform — were inefficient. With the alphabet, people could read and write quicker. When Phoenicia was captured by the Assyrians in 842 B.C., many of the Phoenicians escaped to the west and started a new city-state, Carthage. Phoenician sea trading routes were also linked to various land trading routes which eventually allowed goods to be traded with places as far away as India and Afghanistan.
By 2000 B.C., the city-state Ur had developed into an important trading center. It also had schools, and groups of children were taught to read and write. Around this time, a man named Abraham left Ur and migrated with his family northwest along the Euphrates to Haran. Haran was a major trading city, and a stopping point on the route through the Fertile Crescent. From there, Abraham and his family travelled southwest to the area around the Jordan River valley, an area called Palestine or Canaan, and inhabited by Phoenicians, Philistines, and Canaanites. Abraham’s family were ‘Hebrews’ — this word identifies them by culture and language; they were monotheists. Abraham is also the first person recorded in history to reject the practice of human sacrifice.
Abraham adopted a nomadic lifestyle, moving with his family from time to time to find fresh pastures for animals which were his source of income. Abraham and his wife Sarah had a son, Isaac. Isaac and his wife Rebecca had twin sons, Jacob and Esau. Jacob, also called Israel, had twelve sons and a daughter. Soon Abraham and his family had become a tribe. The whole clan — by this time Abraham and Isaac were dead — moved to Egypt, where they would remain for approximately 400 years. As the years passed, the Hebrews became more numerous, and they became slaves in Egypt. Sometime after 1500 B.C., a Hebrew named Moses led the slaves out of Egypt.
The Hebrews were happy to be free, but none of them had leadership experience. In order to successfully organize into a society, they needed structure. Camped at the foot of Mount Sinai, they received a set of laws. More than merely rules, these laws helped to create civilization for the Hebrews. The Hebrews understood themselves to have a ‘covenant’ with God. A ‘covenant’ is a promise, an agreement, or a contract. They understood themselves to have been rescued from slavery, and would show their gratitude by following God’s laws. Now that the Hebrews were a nation, they would be called ‘Israelites’ — this word identifies them politically. They returned to Canaan where Abraham had lived. They were organized into twelve tribes, descended from Jacob’s twelve sons.
The laws given at Sinai had several unique features, making them different from other Mesopotamian societies. These laws valued human life, called upon the Israelites to look out for the vulnerable people in society, gave a better legal and social status to women, and reduced the harshness of slavery. This is in contrast to the Babylonian laws of Hammurabi. For approximately 400 years, the Israelites lived with these laws in a form of government called a ‘tribal confederation.’
Spiritual guidance was given by prophets in Israel, who had three functions. First, as social critics, they pointed out injustices and called for reform. Second, as spokesmen and spokeswomen for God, they announced messages from Him. Third, they occasionally predicted the future. Shortly before the year 1000 B.C., the Israelites instituted a new form of government, a monarchy. Saul was the first Israelite king, David the second, and Solomon the third. After the death of Solomon and a brief civil war in 922 B.C., the Israelite kingdom split into a southern half, called Judah, and a northern half, called Israel. In 722 B.C., the northern kingdom was conquered by the Assyrians, who scattered its people across many countries. In 586 B.C., the southern kingdom was conquered by the Babylonians, who took all its people together to Babylon, where they were servants. In 539 B.C., the Persian king Cyrus conquered Babylon, and set the Israelites free to return to the southern kingdom.
The southern kingdom (called ‘Judah’ or ‘Judea’) was, however, not completely free. It was a part of the Persian Empire. As different empires rose and fell, they would later be part of the Greek Empire and then the Roman Empire.
During the years of the Babylonian Captivity, the people of Judah developed their spiritual outlook. They studied the laws of Moses — called the Torah — and the writings of the Hebrew prophets. The Torah was combined with these other writings to form a larger book, the Tanakh. The people of Judah would now be called ‘Jews’ — this word indicates their religion.
As they transitioned from Hebrews to Israelites to Jews, they formed a culture with unique features. They abandoned human sacrifice, polytheism, and eventually polygamy. They had a law code which was proactive instead of reactive, had a moral dimension as well as a legal dimension, and reduced the frequency of capital punishment. They abandoned the magical manipulation of other Mesopotamian societies, and instead embraced a religion of relationship with the deity.
