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  1. Home
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  3. The Cambridge Ancient History
  • Cited by 3
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
March 2008
Print publication year:
1975
Online ISBN:
9781139054270
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521086912
Subjects:
Ancient History, Classical Studies
Collection:
Cambridge Histories - Ancient History & Classics
Series:
The Cambridge Ancient History
Information

Book description

Volume II, Part II deals with the history of the region from about 1380 to 1000 B.C., and includes accounts of Akhenaten and the Amarna 'revolution' in Egypt, the expansion and final decline of the Mycenaean civilization in Greece, the exodus and wanderings of the Israelites, and the Asstrian and Hittite empires.

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Contents

Page 1 of 2

Contents
  • CHAPTER XVII - THE STRUGGLE FOR THE DOMINATION OF SYRIA (1400-1300 B.C.)
    pp 1-20
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Both Mesopotamia and Anatolia are lacking in indispensable raw materials which they must acquire by trade. For them, Syria meant access to international trade. Syria possesses ports where merchandise from far-away countries is received and exchanged for whatever Asia has to offer. Hence, all political development in the Near East tends toward the domination of Syria by its neighbours. The interplay of the Egyptians, the Mitannians with their Hurrian partisans, and the Hittites, determined the fate of Syria in the fourteenth century. This chapter first deals with the war between Tushratta of the Mitannians, and the Shuppiluliumash of the Hittites. Then, it discusses the first and second Syrian wars of Shuppiluliumash. The first war was with Tushratta in which the Mittanni king was defeated. In the second war, he removed the Hurrian city-rulers who had been the mainstay of Mitannian domination and replaced them with men of his own choice. The chapter also discusses the Hurrian War of Shuppiluliumash.
  • CHAPTER XVIII - ASSYRIA AND BABYLON, c. 1370-1300 B.C.
    pp 21-48
  • View abstract

    Summary

    The pages of Western Asian history during 1370-1300 BC have had little to tell about Assyria or Babylonia since the reigns of Shamshi-Adad I and of his son Ishme-Dagan in the former, and since the end of Hammurabi's last successor in the latter. The moment of destiny for Assyria in its relation with the Human kingdoms which had long oppressed her was undoubtedly the murder of Tushratta, king of Mitanni, by one of his sons. In the south, Ashur-uballit's relations with Babylonia were intimate and dramatic, and are fairly well known. An Assyrian poem, written in a spirit of undisguised chauvinism, presents an epical description of a war between Assyria and Babylonia. Assyria under Enlil-nīrāri was successful in the war; he was succeeded by his son Arik-dēn-ili, whose reign lasted for twelve years. The efforts of Arik-dēn-ili appear more as the usual offensive-defensive operations against the highlands than as moves in a conflict with Kassite Babylonia.
  • CHAPTER XIX - EGYPT: THE AMARNA PERIOD AND THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY
    pp 49-97
  • View abstract

    Summary

    On the death of Amenophis III his eldest surviving son, Neferkheprure Amenhotpe (Amenophis IV), who later in his reign took the name of Akhenaten was accepted by foreign princes as the new pharaoh. The problem remains whether he had been recognized by the Egyptians as the coregent of his father for some time previously. During the Amarna period, the fiscal system of Egypt had developed over the centuries and, by adjusting the claims of small local shrines, the larger temples and the departments of the Palace, had produced a system that operated without intolerable exploitation. Ay apparently died without living male issue and was succeeded by the Great Commander of the Army, Horemheb, who had exercised supreme power as the King's Deputy under Tutankhamun during the latter's minority. The Egyptian records from the death of Amenophis III to the accession of Sethos I are incomplete to give any coherent picture of the foreign scene as viewed through Egyptian eyes.
  • CHAPTER XX - THE AMARNA LETTERS FROM PALESTINE
    pp 98-116
  • View abstract

    Summary

    In 1915 the publication of all then available Amarna Tablets, begun by J. A. Knudtzon in 1907, was completed. Since then another seven important tablets belonging to the original find have been published. About 150 of the letters either are written directly from or to Palestine, or are so immediately concerned with Palestinian affairs that they fall within the scope of this chapter. During the two centuries of Egyptian occupation of Palestine since the conquest under Amosis and Amenophis I, its political organization had become more or less normalized. Certain princes exercised acknowledged feudal rights over other weaker chieftains; for example, Tagu was the immediate suzerain of the chief of Gath (Jett) in Sharon. The population of Palestine in the Amarna age was small; it was mostly concentrated on the coastal plains and the adjacent low hills, the plain of Esdraelon and the Jordan valley.
  • CHAPTER XXI (a) - ANATOLIA FROM SHUPPILULIUMASH TO THE EGYPTIAN WAR OF MUWATALLISH
    pp 117-129
  • View abstract

    Summary

    This chapter deals with the history of Anatolia from the period of Shuppiluliumash till the Egyptian war of Muwatallish. Shuppiluliumash had already, as crown prince, succeeded in stabilizing the situation during the later part of the reign of Tudkhaliash, his father. He had led the Hittite armies skilfully and successfully and had restored the frontier, particularly in the north and in the east. When Murshilish, son of Shuppiluliumash, ascended the throne, his efforts in the first ten years were concentrated upon the reassertion of Hittite power, mainly in Asia Minor. Under him, the empire spread from the Lebanon and the Euphrates in the south to the mountains of Pontus in the north and to the western reaches of Asia Minor. As field-marshal of the Hittite armies Khattushilish, the younger brother of Murshilish, claims to have conducted numerous campaigns for his brother, both offensively and defensively.
  • (b) - UGARIT
    pp 130-160
  • View abstract

    Summary

    This chapter talks about the city of Ugarit located in Syria during the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries BC. The kingdom of Ugarit possessed many natural advantages which her rulers turned to good effect. Augmented, it included a long stretch of fertile coastal plain, hills clad with olive groves and vine terraces, and thickly wooded mountains; behind, the steppe afforded both grazing and hunting. The history of the royal house of Ugarit begins in the early fourteenth century with Ammishtamru I. One of the letters from Ugarit found among the Amarna correspondence bears the name of Ammishtamru. The Canaanite temple of the Late Bronze Age was a simple building in comparison with its grandiose contemporaries in Egypt and Mesopotamia. One of the Canaanite texts entitled by the scribal copyist 'Of Keret', purports to relate the deeds of a hero or demigod. The language of this earliest Canaanite literature is full of metaphor and poetic imagery.
  • (c) - TROY VII
    pp 161-164
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Under the Troy VII designation, Dörpfeld grouped two layers of very different character, and called them VII1 and VII2 respectively, which are referred as VIIa and VIIb in this chapter. Settlement VIIa represents a direct continuation after the earthquake of the culture that flourished in Troy VI. The layer of accumulated deposit of Period VIIa had an average thickness of little more than 0-50m; but in streets and certain other places debris from the final destruction was heaped up to a height of 1-1.5m. One, or at the most two, generations would seem to be a reasonable estimate of the duration of the settlement. In Settlement VIIb, two successive strata have been recognized. The objects recovered from the lower stratum in VIIb1 make it clear that some part of the Trojan population survived the disaster. The upper stratum of Troy VIIb reveals an abrupt change in culture which unmistakably signifies the arrival of a new people on the scene.
  • CHAPTER XXII (a) - THE EXPANSION OF MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION
    pp 165-187
  • View abstract

    Summary

    For nearly two centuries, after 1400 BC, the Mycenaean civilization was free to develop and enjoy a remarkable prosperity, founded in part on the heritage of Minoan culture which it had already absorbed. A generation after Thebes had withstood a long siege, the attack of the Epigoni was successful, and Thebes was destroyed. The sack of Thebes may then be regarded as one of the certain events of Mycenaean history; and the elimination of this rival has an obvious bearing on the development of the Mycenaean power in the Peloponnese. The acquisition by descendants of Pelopids of the kingdom of Mycenae itself, and so of the supremacy of Greece, is represented as subsequent to and to some extent consequent upon the death of Heracles and of his rival Eurystheus. The Queen's megaron at Pylus has a secluded sitting, but this should not be taken to imply an oriental segregation of women in Mycenaean society.
  • (b) - CYPRUS IN THE LATE BRONZE AGE
    pp 188-216
  • View abstract

    Summary

    In the five hundred years that the Late Bronze Age lasted in Cyprus the island finally entered into full association with her more developed neighbours. By Late Cypriot II (LC II) there had been a great increase in population, which can be deduced from the corresponding increase in the number of occupied settlements and in the overall size of individual sites. Only a minute number of Cypriot goods travelled to the Aegean during LC I, although Cypriots continued to enjoy and to develop their trade links with the Levant and Egypt. For well over a century after 1550 BC the Aegean states were even less interested in Cyprus, or less able to visit her than they had been in the Middle Bronze Age. However, this changed during LC Ib Although the location of Alashiya has not been definitely established, it is commonly considered to be Cyprus, whether in part or whole.
  • CHAPTER XXIII - EGYPT: FROM THE INCEPTION OF THE NINETEENTH DYNASTY TO THE DEATH OF RAMESSES III
    pp 217-251
  • View abstract

    Summary

    This chapter talks about Egypt from the rise of the Nineteenth Dynasty till the death of Ramesses III. To Sethos I, who succeeded to the throne in 1318 BC, there fell the task of restoring Egypt to the standing of a Great Power for which he undertook a series of foreign campaigns. At home in Egypt it was the task of Sethos I to round off the work set on foot by Horemheb in restoring the ravages of the Amarna episode. Ramesses III came to the throne in circa 1198 BC. In the period from Year 5 to Year 11 inclusive there were three major wars. The war of Year 5 was against the Libyans, who in a coalition of Libya, Meshwesh and an unknown tribe named Seped, were again contemplating a descent into Egypt. With the death of Ramesses III the glory of Egypt departed, and the nation was never again an imperial power.
  • CHAPTER XXIV - THE HITTITES AND SYRIA (1300-1200 B.C.)
    pp 252-273
  • View abstract

    Summary

    This chapter talks about Syria under the rule of the Hittites. The latent rivalry between the Egyptians and the Hittites erupted into open warfare as soon as Amurru was compelled to abrogate the treaty which bound it to the Hittite king. King Muwatallish died without leaving a legitimate son to succeed him. Hence, it was necessary to invoke the constitution of Telepinush which provided that in such a case the eldest son of a royal concubine should be made king. In this manner Urkhi-Teshub was proclaimed king. Khattushilish supported his claims; in his apology, he makes much of it and insists that his attitude toward his nephew is proof of his loyalty and generosity. The Empire period, from Shuppiluliumash to the catastrophe around 1200 BC, saw the Hittites ruling supreme over the Anatolian plateau from the western valleys to the headwaters of the Euphrates. They expanded their domain to include Cilicia and Syria from the Taurus to the Lebanon.
  • CHAPTER XXV - ASSYRIAN MILITARY POWER 1300-1200 B.C.
    pp 274-306
  • View abstract

    Summary

    This chapter talks about the Assyrian military power during the period by focusing on the campaigns of Adad-nīrāri I, the conquest of Khanigalbat, and the conquest of Babylonia. The reign of Adad-nīrāri I inaugurated a period of rapid expansion. His leadership and that of his immediate successors, Shalmaneser I and Tukulti-Ninurta I, saw Assyria extend its territories and eventually emerged as one of the most powerful states of the Near East. In Khanigalbat, Shalmaneser I was opposed not only by its ruler, Shattuara II, but by a Hittite army which, since it included a contingent of the Akhlamu tribe of the Syrian desert. For much of his first decade his energies were directed to establishing a firmer control over the lands to the east and north than had been achieved by his predecessors. Tukulti-Ninurta I demolished its fortifications, put the inhabitants to the sword, looted Babylon and the temple E-sagila and carried off the statue of Marduk to Assyria.
  • CHAPTER XXVI (a) - PALESTINE IN THE TIME OF THE NINETEENTH DYNASTY: THE EXODUS AND WANDERINGS
    pp 307-330
  • View abstract

    Summary

    The only historical sources at our disposal recording the settlement of the Israelite patriarchs in Canaan, their stay there, Israel's sojourn in Egypt, the exodus and the wanderings in the Sinai peninsula and east of the 'Arabah and the Dead Sea are the narratives in the Pentateuch. Akkadian and Hittite texts of the first half of the second millennium, thought to refer to military events recorded in Genesis xiv; documents from Nuzi mentioning legal customs which are, or appear, similar to those presupposed in the stories of the patriarchs. However, these are ambiguous in interpretation, and thus they can be adduced only as supplementing the story to be obtained from the Pentateuch narratives. The arrangement of the stories in the Pentateuch based on a genealogical order that appears chronological, or in the form of itineraries, has no claim to be in itself truly historical. Each narrative should be examined to see to which period or which area its subject belongs.
  • (b) - ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE
    pp 331-337
  • View abstract

    Summary

    This chapter explores the archaeological contribution towards an elucidation surrounding the origins of the Israelite tribes in Palestine. Owing to the peculiar position which Palestine holds in respect to three world religions, the reason for and the evolution of excavations in her soil have been somewhat different from those in other parts of the world. The one distinctive element of the culture of the Hebrew tribes of which one may speak with any certainty is their religion, the nature of which was such that during the period in question it remains, archaeologically speaking, an invisible attribute. The chapter presents the sites where excavation has revealed a destruction which could have been caused by the incoming Hebrew tribes; the sites include Bethe, Tell el-Jib. Of far greater archaeological importance is the bearing which the Deir 'Alia excavations have on the problems of recognizing the arrival of new population groups.
  • CHAPTER XXVII - THE RECESSION OF MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION
    pp 338-358
  • View abstract

    Summary

    The expansion of Mycenaean civilization had been bound up with a vigorous trading activity in the eastern Mediterranean, and for the archaeologist the recession of that trade is one of the most obvious symptoms of the Mycenaean decline. For later Greeks the Trojan War was the best remembered event of the Mycenaean age: it is the central fact of history behind the Iliad and Odyssey; and it was constantly present to the Greek mind as a turning-point of the heroic age. The list of Trojan allies in Iliad II is but sketchy compared with the Greek catalogue; and this strengthens the belief in its Mycenaean date. The wide coalition of presumably maritime allies who assisted the King of Libya is indicative of seriously disturbed conditions in the eastern half of the Mediterranean; and though Merneptah was at this time successful in repelling them the disturbances were to recur in the reign of Ramesses III.
  • CHAPTER XXVIII - THE SEA PEOPLES
    pp 359-378
  • View abstract

    Summary

    In the year 1300 BC, the great clash took place at Qadesh in Syria between the young Ramesses II and Muwatallish, the Great King of the Hittites. It is now accepted that Mukshush, the companion of Madduwattash, is identical in name with Mopsus, a strange figure of Greek legend, a seer and prince of Colophon. The razzia of Mopsus may be reasonably regarded as part of the downward thrust of the horde of assailants whom the Egyptians called collectively the Peoples of the Sea. There are some archaeological reasons to think that some settlement by Philistines or other closely related Sea Peoples in Palestine may start in this period before 1200 BC. In 1194 BC, Ramesses III clashed with the Libyans. The clash took the form of two battles: the first in Syria against the Land Raiders; the second real fight, against the Sea Raiders, taking place in the Delta at the entrance to Egypt itself.
  • CHAPTER XXIX - ELAM c. 1600-1200 B.C.
    pp 379-416
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Events occurring just before the foundation of the new Elamite dynasty are known to us through the texts of Kurigalzu II. It was during the reign of Untash-(d)GAL, which probably lasted some twenty years that the dynasty founded by Ike-khalki reached its apogee. The city of Susa grew continually in importance during his reign and consequently the kingdom opened out more and more towards the west. All the information concerning military and political affairs during this period of Elamite history comes from foreign sources. The excavations at Chogha-Zanbil have furnished us with much precious information on Elamite architecture at the time of Untash-(d)GAL, on building materials, planning, systems of measurement, use of the arch and the vault. The progressive decline of the great goddess in favour of the major gods is one characteristic of religious evolution in Elam. Another characteristic is the rise in importance of In-Shushinak the god of Susa.
  • CHAPTER XXX - PHRYGIA AND THE PEOPLES OF ANATOLIA IN THE IRON AGE
    pp 417-442
  • View abstract

    Summary

    The Phrygians crossed the straits into Anatolia from Macedonia and Thrace. In Greek times, the Phrygians' most north-westerly settlement, was Keramon Agora, where a branch of the Royal Road left Lydia to strike northwards. Phrygian architecture was well developed. Vitruvius describes their houses as built of wooden logs laid in a trench excavated in a mound and then covered with reeds, brushwood and earth. Phrygians had reached considerable mastery in several crafts, whether as bronze-workers accomplished in both casting and raising, or as expert cabinetmakers and weavers, as workers in ivory, as makers of woollen felt or as weavers of linen, hemp, mohair, and perhaps also tapestry. Survivals of the Phrygian language linger into Roman times, occurring in bilingual form with Greek translations on tombstone inscriptions. The Phrygians' religion clearly consisted of at least two strata: primitive Anatolian and Indo-European. In the Early Iron Age, the mineral deposits of Anatolia had already been famous for one thousand years.
  • CHAPTER XXXI - ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA, c. 1200-1000 B.C.
    pp 443-481
  • View abstract

    Summary

    The abduction of Kashtiliash by Tukulti-Ninurta I paved the way for direct Assyrian control of Babylonian affairs. The Kassites strengthened and continued the ancient Babylonian customs and culture. Long after they had lost political control, they remained a strong foreign element in Babylonia and provided the chief element in the Babylonian armed forces till the ninth century. Marduk-kabitahhēshu of Isin who, according to Babylonian tradition followed Enlil-nadin-akhi without any Elamite interregnum, founded a new dynasty in which eleven members of the line were to rule Babylonia for 132 years and 6 months. Nebuchadrezzar was less successful in his relations with Assyria, but it is the Assyrian account of events between them which alone survives. As the Babylonians had neutralized the Elamites and taken a part in controlling the raiders both from the Lullubi tribes and from the nomadic tribes of the western desert, Tiglath-pileser I was free to face the growing storm clouds in the north in his accession year.
  • CHAPTER XXXII - ELAM AND WESTERN PERSIA, c. 1200-1000 B.C.
    pp 482-506
  • View abstract

    Summary

    With the reign of Shutruk-Nahhunte begins one of the most glorious periods in Elamite history. During a space of almost seventy years five kings succeed to the throne: Shutruk-Nahhunte, Kutir-Nahhunte, Shilkhak-In-Shushinak, Khutelutush-In-Shushinak and Silkhinakhamru-Lakamar. Their personal qualities were to make Elam one of the greatest military powers in the Middle East for a period lasting over fifty years. Susa owes much of its splendour to Shilkhak-In-Shushinak. There are many texts which commemorate the foundation or restoration of temples at Susa. A curious bronze tray known as the sīt šamši, 'sunrise' shows us certain ablution rites, for it is probably a model of the acropolis of Susa, with two of its temples, their appurtenances, their ornaments and sacred grove, at the time of Shilkhak-In-Shushinak. This allows us to complete, to a certain extent, the information we have from the excavations concerning the topography of Susa. The chapter also presents a note on the political geography of Western Persia.
  • CHAPTER XXXIII - SYRIA, THE PHILISTINES, AND PHOENICIA
    pp 507-536
  • View abstract

    Summary

    Since the inscriptions of Ramesses III repeatedly speak of using captives as troops in his own army and since some of the Sea Peoples (especially the Sherden) had been used as mercenaries or as slave troops during the reign of Ramesses II, many scholars now agree that the Philistines were first settled in Palestine as garrison troops. Between the late thirteenth and the end of the twelfth century BC, the territory occupied by the Canaanites was vastly reduced due to occupation by Israelites, the sea peoples, and the Aramaeans. However, there were compensations for these losses. The coast of Phoenicia proper was ideally prepared by nature to become the home of a maritime people. The Hittites had established several vassal states in northern Syria during the initial period of their occupation in the fourteenth century BC. At least two of them, Carchemish and Aleppo, were ruled by princes of the imperial Hittite dynasty.
  • CHAPTER XXXIV - THE HEBREW KINGDOM
    pp 537-605
  • View abstract

    Summary

    This chapter first deals with the conquest of the land and the creation of a kingdom of Israel, thereby indicating the course of modern criticism, pointing out the contradictions in the narratives, and rendering the conception of history presented by the tradition incredible. It then presents an account of the land settlement and of the three centuries after Israel's settlement in Canaan, recording the deeds of the judges and the personalities and works of the first three kings. The tribes that were, theoretically, rather closely united before Israel became a state numbered in reality sometimes more, sometimes less, than twelve, but always about that number. The Old Testament contains other such groups of twelve, for example the sons of Nahor, of Ishmael, and the tribes of Edom. The chapter ends by presenting a note on Solomon's military organization and his rule's administrative districts.
  • CHAPTER XXXV - EGYPT: FROM THE DEATH OF RAMESSES III TO THE END OF THE TWENTY-FIRST DYNASTY
    pp 606-657
  • View abstract

    Summary

    When Ramesses III died, not quite two months after he had begun the thirty-second year of his reign, no one could have imagined that the last great pharaoh had gone. In about the middle of the Twentieth Dynasty references are repeatedly made in Egyptian texts to incursions by Libyans. A considerable part of the information now available about the Twentieth Dynasty is derived from documents which were written for the group of workmen who constructed the tombs of the kings of the New Kingdom in the Valley of the Kings and the tombs of their queens in the Valley of the Queens at Thebes. While the kings of the Twenty-first Dynasty ruled from Tanis generations of high priests of Amun, descendants of Hrihor, were in power at Thebes. In so far as each high priest succeeded either his father or his brother in the office, the seven high priests form a dynasty.
  • (a) - : THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL BACKGROUND
    pp 658-677
  • View abstract

    Summary

    The final disintegration of Mycenaean civilization, marked in certain areas by the survival of Mycenaean settlements until their total or partial desertion, and in central mainland Greece by the introduction of new factors which, even though in some aspects based on the old, maybe said to constitute the beginning of the Dark Age. The period from about the middle of the eleventh century to the end of the tenth is marked by a time of settling down and resumption of peaceful communication. The period is named Protogeometric because much of Greece and the Aegean is dominated by pottery of this style. The island of Crete, in spite of its very close connexions with the Mycenaean world, exhibits individual characteristics which place it, in other ways, outside the Mycenaean koine. The Cretans enjoyed an advantage apparently denied to the rest of the Greek world, except the Dodecanese, until the final years of the tenth century: their contacts with Cyprus.

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