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/ /| | / __ `/ / _ \ / __ \ / /_
/ ___ | / /_/ / / __/ / /_/ / / __/
/_/ |_| \__, / \___/ \____/ /_/
/____/
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/ ____/ ____ ___ ____ (_) _____ ___ _____
/ __/ / __ `__ \ / __ \ / / / ___/ / _ \ / ___/
/ /___ / / / / / / / /_/ / / / / / / __/ (__ )
/_____/ /_/ /_/ /_/ / .___/ /_/ /_/ \___/ /____/
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Age of Empires
System: PC/Windows
Author: Jim Chamberlin
(red_phoenix_1@hotmail.com)
Version: FINAL (12/25/04)
,,,
(o o)
---------------------------------oOOo-(_)-oOOo----------------------------------
12/25/04 - Hopefully, the absolute final update for this FAQ.
To navigate this guide, I recommend using either a web browser or a
text editor which has a Search tool. Internet Explorer and Firefox,
for instance, have Search tools. Just press Ctrl + F to bring up the
tool and search away.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Table of Contents
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Introduction
Game Modes
The Villagers
The Resources
The Technologies
War!
Creating Your Own Scenarios
Assyrians
Babylonians
Chosens
Egyptians
Greeks
Hittites
Minoans
Persians
Phoenicians
Shangs
Sumerians
Yamato
The Buildings
The Units
Codes
- Tips
- Tools of the Trade By James Mecham (ThumP)
Campaigns
- Ascent of Egypt Learning Campaign
- Hunting 8000 BC
- Foraging 7000 BC
- Discoveries 6500 BC
- Dawn of a New Age 6000 BC
Credits
================================================================================
Introduction
================================================================================
So, what's the story behind "Age of Empires?"
[Taken from AoE Manual]
Sheets of ice up to three miles high covered much of the earth's northern
hemisphere during the last Ice Age, Our human ancestors persevered in the harsh
Ice Age environment by developing new technologies and survival strategies at
unprecedented rates. When climate changes melted and removed the ice 12,000
years ago, humans were uniquely suited to take advantage of the new worlds that
were beckoning.
During the next 5,000 years- an insignificant span in terms of geological time-
humans expanded to become the dominant species on earth. Human populations
exploded because new technologies for hunting and food gathering put all other
species at a disadvantage. Within 3,000 more years, humans had established the
first great civilizations on earth.
The theme of Age of Empires is the rise of the first great civilizations over
the 12,000 years that followed the last ice age. You are the guiding spirit of
a tribe that predates one of the great cultures of antiquity. Your goal is to
build your tribe into a mighty civilization that we can vie for world (game)
dominance (victory). You begin the game in the Stone Age with a small tribe of
villagers on an unexplored map. As you move your tribesmen over the map, you
reveal different terrain types and locate sources of food, wood, stone, and
gold, which villagers gather by hunting, fishing, foraging, farming, chopping
trees, and mining. You must gather enough resources and build enough housing
to support your growing civilization.
Constructing buildings lets you train military units and boats to defend your
civilization or attack enemy civilizations on land or by sea. Constructing
buildings also lets you research technologies that benefit your civilization,
such as increasing the resources you can gather or the strength of your military
units.
As you advance through the ages, you can build new buildings, create new boats
and military units, and research new technologies.
You can establish alliances with other civilizations, exchange tribute, and
establish trade routes. Other civilizations are controlled by human or computer
players.
The winner of a game is determined by the victory conditions of the scenario.
You can play a variety of predesigned single player campaigns, as well as single
player or multiplayer random maps or scenarios. Or you can use the scenario
builder to create your own custom scenarios.
================================================================================
Game Modes
================================================================================
============
= Campaign =
============
Basically, it's a series of scenarios which attempt to show the development
of a given culture. This is a good place to start for a new AoE player.
It allows you to understand and experiment with the basics of the games.
============
= Scenario =
============
This is one, single scenario. Each of the scenarios has a certain set of
instructions has a certain set of instructions. You must fulfill the
requirements to win the scenario.
==============
= Random Map =
==============
This is just a randomly generated map. You can change the victory
condition, so there is a specific way you can win.
===============
= Death Match =
===============
Well, you are given a certain amount of resources, and you must fight until
everyone is dead.
===============
= Multiplayer =
===============
It's a random map or scenario, for example. The whole Multiplayer thing
is explained a little more in depth in the manual. I just don't feel like
elaborating on it.
================================================================================
The Villagers
================================================================================
=========
= TASKS =
=========
BUILDER
This person constructs buildings and farms.
FARMER
This person gathers food from a Farm. The food from the Farm is
deposited at either the Town Center or at the Granary. Researching
Domestication, the Plow, and Irrigation increases a Farm's production.
FISHERMAN
This person gathers food from the fishing spots. The food is deposited
at either the Town Center or at the Storage Pit.
FORAGER
This person gathers food from the Berry Bushes. The food is
deposited at either the Town Center or at the Granary.
GOLD MINER
This person mines for Gold at the Gold Mines. The gold is deposited at
either the Town Center or at the Storage Pit. Researching Gold Mining
increases gold mining efficiency, and Coinage increases Gold production.
HUNTER
This person hunts for food from: Alligators, Lions, Gazelle, and
Elephants. The food is deposited at either the Town Center or at the
Storage Pit.
REPAIRMAN
This person repairs boats and buildings.
STONE MINER
This person miner Stone from Stone Mines. The stone is deposited at
either the Town Center or at the Storage Pit. Researching Stone Mining and
Siegecraft increases stone mining efficiency.
VILLAGER
This person is either in combat or doing nothing. Researching Siegecraft
allows Villagers to destroy walls and towers, and Jihad increases their
combat ability.
WOODCUTTER
This person chops down trees for wood. The wood is deposited at either
the Town Center or at the Storage Pit. Researching Woodworking,
Artisanship, and Craftsmanship increases woodcutting efficiency.
================================================================================
The Resources
================================================================================
========
= Wood =
========
This is used to construct boats, buildings, and some military units.
========
= Food =
========
This is used to create villagers, train and upgrade military units,
research technologies, and advance to the next age. In AoE, food
represents Fish, Fruits, Nuts, Roots, Wild Grains, and Berries.
========
= Gold =
========
This is used to research technologies in later ages, create some military
units, advance to the Iron Age, and pay tribute to other civilizations.
In AoE, Gold represents Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Copper.
=========
= Stone =
=========
This is used to build and upgrade towers and walls, and research some
technologies. In AoE, Stone represents both Stone and Clay.
================================================================================
The Technologies
================================================================================
In the span of time represented by Age of Empires (roughly 12,000 BC to 500 AD),
humans advanced from being just one of the animals roaming the land (albeit the
most dangerous) to being the dominant species on earth. This ascendance
occurred because of human intelligence and the harnessing of technology by that
intelligence. A naked human with no tools or weapons was at a great
disadvantage in the post-Ice Age wilderness. But a group of humans, working
together, well- armed and equipped (for the time), carrying in their heads the
shared wisdom of their ancestors passed down orally for generations, was a
competitive force of awesome power. Paleontologists believe, for example, that
small bands of big game hunters spread south from what is now Canada to the
tip or South America in about 1000 years, hunting to extinction 31 genera of
big game herbivores (mammoth, mastodon, giant beaver, giant sloth, horse, a
variety of camels, and others).
Technology was the underlying dynamic for the rise of civilization throughout
the period covered by Age of Empires. Those cultures that learned a key new
technology first often had an advantage over their neighbors. Technology was
often strong early, once they mastered irrigation. The Minoans established a
monopoly on sea trade and grew rich. The Greeks expanded on the basis of trade,
mining, and a culture that encouraged and rewarded original thought. The
Hittites established metalworking and fielded well-equipped armies. The
Assyrians surrounded by enemies, forged a powerful and innovative army out of
necessity.
New buildings, military units, and technologies become available as you build
technology buildings and advance through the ages. The Technology Tree Foldout
shows all of the technology paths you can pursue in Age of Empires. The
technologies available to you depend on the civilization you are playing. The
technology trees for each civilization are in the Appendix and in the Docs
folder on the Age of Empires disc.
==========================
ADVANCING THROUGH THE AGES
==========================
Historians have divided the story of human development into a number of ages for
reference. Age of Empires covers roughly four periods- the end of the old Stone
Age (or Paleolithic), the Tool Age (or Neolithic period), the Bronze Age, and
the beginnings of the Iron Age. These periods are named after the predominant
tool and weapon material. Stone Age tools were large stone choppers and spear
points. Tool Age tools were small stone blades, called microliths, struck from
stone core. The small blades were fixed into hafts to make scythes, knives, and
other specialized tools. The Bronze Age was dominated by tools and weapons made
of bronze metal, an alloy of copper and tin. The Iron Age was dominated by
tools and weapons of iron.
Tools and other technologies were cumulative in nature. Cultures had to master
the preceding technology to proceed and advance. Newly rising cultures built on
the technologies of their predecessors. Even the Yamato culture, the last in
Age of Empires to develop historically, had to build on Tool Age and Bronze Age
technologies that developed farther in the West and spread gradually East.
The advance from one age to another was usually a slow process that required a
gradual but extensive conversion of an entire economy. New raw materials and
new fabrication techniques were required. New skills and workshops came into
being. The eventual cost in time and resources was enormous, but the new
efficiencies recovered those costs quickly.
Age of Empires spans 12,000 years of ancient history. This time period has been
subdivided into four significant ages:
o Stone Age - Characterized by pursuit of the required tools of survival: the
construction of shelter and the search for steadfast sources of
food through hunting, fishing, and foraging.
o Tool Age - Characterized by farming settlements, stable food supplies,
defense of territory, accelerated population growth, simple
economy, and emerging military.
o Bronze Age - Characterized by competition for valuable resources,
increasingly sophisticated technologies, metalworking, trade,
colonization, centralized government, institutionalized
religion, highly organized military systems, and conquest.
o Iron Age - Characterized by a dependence upon precious metals to drive
economies, empire building, expansion, construction of massive
cities supporting huge populations, sophisticated military
organizations, siege tactics, armor and weaponry, dominance of
seaways with war galleys and triremes and enormous construction
projects including the Wonders of the Ancient World.
A game typically starts in the Stone Age and you strive to advance through the
ages to reach the Iron Age. As you advance through the ages, new buildings,
military units, and technologies become available. Advancing through the ages
costs resources and time. As a prerequisite for advancing to the next age, you
must have two different technology buildings from the current age.
============================
= Storage Pit Technologies =
============================
TOOLWORKING
Age: Tool Age
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center and Storage Pit.
Cost: 100 Food
Benefit: This provides a +2 attack for your hand- to- hand units.
Note: The first metals put to use were those found in a relatively pure
state on the earth's surface, including gold, silver, and copper. Gold
could be worked in its natural state. Experimentation with it eventually
suggested electrum (a natural alloy of gold and silver) and copper could
also be hammered into useful shapes. Learning how to extract copper from
ore and shape it into tools was an important milestone in the rise of
civilization because it opened the door first to making bronze and then
to making iron. Cast copper tools were an important advance over stone
tools, but were too soft to have a long, useful life. The discovery of
bronze, made by alloying a small amount of tin with copper, ushered in a
2000- year Bronze Age. Cast bronze tools dramatically increased the
efficiency of workers. Bronze weapons were superior to those made of
stone and copper. Armies equipped with bronze swords, spears, and
arrowheads had a critical advantage over more poorly equipped armies.
METALWORKING
Age: Bronze
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center and Storage Pit, and
researched Toolworking.
Cost: 200 Food, 120 Gold
Benefit: This provides a +2 attack for your hand- to- hand units.
Note: The discovery and use of iron to make tools and weapons was one of
the most important advances in civilization. Some historians consider the
use of iron to be one of the distinguishing characteristics separating
civilization from barbarism because the new tools were less brittle, could
hold better edges, and held edges for a longer time without resharpening.
Most importantly, iron ore was much easier to locate than copper and tin,
making iron tools cheaper and more readily available. By 1000 B.C., iron
tools were being made that were as good as the best ones of bronze; by 500
B.C., iron had largely supplanted bronze from Europe and Asia. The expanse
and scarcity of bronze had restricted its use to the elite and wealthy.
Iron tools and weapons were available to nearly everyone.
METALLURGY
Age: Iron
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center and Storage Pit, and
researched Toolworking and Metalworking.
Cost: 300 Food, 180 Gold
Benefit: This provides a +3 attack for your hand- to- hand units.
Note: You must research Metallurgy before you can upgrade to the
Cataphract. The use of iron spread throughout the Mediterranean, Middle
East, and Asia during the first millenium B.C., and some areas became
especially adept at the new science. Certain campgrounds added to the
molten metal increased the strength of the resulting tools. New forging
techniques also resulted in better tools. The best iron tool workers made
superior weapons that were an important advantage in battle.
BRONZE SHIELD
Age: Bronze
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center and Storage Pit.
Cost: 150 Food, 180 Gold
Benefit: This provides a +1 armor against the Ballista, Helepolis, and
missile weapons.
Note: The shield was probably the first piece of military equipment
developed to protect a warrior. The earliest were made of wood or wood
and hide, and were in various shapes. They were carried in the hand or on
the forearm and used to ward off blows or missiles in battle. Shield
designs and materials evolved to keep up with advances in weapons. Wood
and hide shields were easy to smash with bronze weapons, so bronze shields
were developed. Bronze shields also provided better defense against
missiles. Arrows, especially with metal points, were prone to lodge in
wooden shields. This increased the weight of the shield and made it more
unwieldy. Roman legions threw spears at barbarian formations mainly so
they would pierce and weigh down the enemy's shield just before closing.
Arrows and other missiles deflected off bronze shields without penetration.
IRON SHIELD
Age: Iron
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center and Storage Pit, and
researched the Bronze Shield.
Cost: 200 Food, 320 Gold
Benefit: This provides a +1 armor against the Ballista, Heleoplis, and
missile weapons.
Note: The iron shield replaced the bronze shield when swords and other
weapons of iron became common. Iron shields were not only expensive to
make, but also more effective in stopping all hand- to- hand and missile
weapons. The basic iron shield remained in use until firearms made
personal shields on the battlefield obsolete.
LEATHER ARMOR FOR ARCHERS
Age: Tool
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center and Storage Pit.
Cost: 100 Food
Benefit: This provides a +2 armor for your Archery Range units.
Note: Soldiers have sought ways to protect themselves in combat since the
beginnings of warfare. Long before the use of metals, leather was
employed to make helmets and body armor that could stop, or at least
soften, blows from blunt and edged weapons. Leather was easy to work
with, it was light and not overly restrictive of movement, it could be
fitted to the wearer, and it was usually plentiful and inexpensive.
Leather remained an important material for body armor throughout the
Bronze Age due to the high cost of metal armor. It wasn't until far into
the Iron Age that metal armor was available for common soldiers.
SCALE ARMOR FOR ARCHERS
Age: Bronze
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center and Storage Pit, and
researched Leather Armor for Archers.
Cost: 125 Food, 50 Gold
Benefit: This provides a +2 armor for your Archery Range units.
Note: The use of metals to make weapons was matched by using metals to
make better armor. Among the first improvements in widespread use were
breastplates and greaves of bronze. The breastplate protected the torso
while greaves protected the legs below the knee. Both of these items
protected only the front of the soldier, saving the weight and cost that
all- around protection would entail. Breastplates and greaves were worn
by hoplites of the phalanx, for example, during the glory years of
Greece. When used together with a large shield and bronze helmet, they
left little of the soldier's body exposed to attack. Bronze armor was an
example of scale armor, or plate armor, in which metal plates provided
protection.
CHAIN MAIL FOR ARCHERS
Age: Iron
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center and Storage Pit, and
researched Leather Armor and Scale Armor for Archers.
Cost: 150 Food, 100 Gold
Benefits: This provides a +2 armor for your Archery Range units.
Note: Chain mail was a type of body armor made of iron circlets woven
together into a cloak. The interlocking chains of iron protected the body
somewhat from weapons that slashed or pounded. Chain mail was also
flexible and allowed more freedom of body movement than armor made of
metal plates. The disadvantages of chain mail were that it required a lot
of care, was heavy, and was expensive to make. Chain mail was worn only
by wealthy or powerful individuals who could purchase or demand its
manufacture.
LEATHER ARMOR FOR CAVALRY
Age: Tool
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center and Storage Pit.
Cost: 125 Food
Benefits: This provides a +2 armor for your Stable units.
Note: The same as above.
SCALE ARMOR FOR CAVALRY
Age: Bronze
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center and Storage Pit, and
researched Leather Armor for Cavalry.
Cost: 150 Food, 50 Gold
Benefit: This provides a +2 armor for your Stable units.
Note: The same as above.
CHAIN MAIL FOR CAVALRY
Age: Iron
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center and Storage Pit, and
researched Leather and Scale Armor for Cavalry.
Cost: 175 Food, 100 Gold
Benefits: This provides a +2 armor for your Stable units.
Note: The same as above.
LEATHER ARMOR FOR INFANTRY
Age: Tool
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center and Storage Pit.
Cost: 75 Food
Benefits: This provides a +2 armor for your Barracks and Academy units.
Note: The same as above.
SCALE ARMOR FOR INFANTRY
Age: Bronze
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center and Storage Pit, and
researched Leather Armor for Infantry.
Cost: 100 Food, 50 Gold
Benefits: This provides a +2 armor for your Barracks and Academy units.
Note: The same as above.
CHAIN MAIL FOR INFANTRY
Age: Iron
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center and Storage Pit, and
researched Leather and Scale Armor for Infantry.
Cost: 125 Food, 100 Gold
Benefits: This provides a +2 armor for your Barracks and Academy units.
Note: The same as above.
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=======================
= Market Technologies =
=======================
WHEEL
Age: Bronze
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, and Market.
Cost: 175 Food, 75 Wood
Benefits: Villager speed is increased by 30%.
Note: You must research the Wheel before you can build a Chariot or
Chariot Archer. The use of the wheel for transport was discovered in
Sumeria sometime after 3400 B.C. and derived from the potter's wheel that
appeared first. The Sumerians learned that in a small cart, a donkey
could pull a load equal to three times what it could carry on its back.
The wheel revolutionized transport and had an important impact on the
battlefield as well. By the Bronze Age, chariot archers were dominating
warfare on the open plains. The wheel was apparently used only for
children's toys in ancient America, probably because of the rough
geography and the lack of an animal like the ox or horse.
WOODWORKING
Age: Tool
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, and Market.
Cost: 120 Food, 75 Wood
Benefits: You receive a +2 woodcutting ability and a +1 range for missile
weapons.
Note: The small stone blades that characterized the New Stone Age
(neolithic period) made possible finer techniques in many areas, including
woodworking. The larger and more unweildy stone tools of the past were
capable of crude cutting and carving only. Better woodworking improved
other tools and weapons, making possible the bow and arrow and spear
thrower.
ARTISANSHIP
Age: Bronze
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, and Market,
and researched Woodworking.
Cost: 170 Food, 120 Gold
Benefits: You receive a +2 woodcutting ability and a +1 range for missile
weapons.
Note: The discovery and use of first copper and then the much more useful
bronze tools and weapons was a dramatic leap in technology. Bronze,
especially, posessed a hardness, strength, and ability to hold an edge
that far surpassed the best stone tools, making it much more useful when
working with stone, wood, hides, meat, and other materials. Cultures that
used bronze had a decided economic and military advantage over those that
did not.
COINAGE
Age: Iron
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, and Market,
and researched Gold Mining.
Cost: 200 Food, 100 Gold
Benefits: This provides you with free tribute and increases your Gold
Mining productivity by 25%.
Note: The first true coins were minted in ancient Lydia, now part of
modern Turkey. These first coins were made from electrum, a naturally
ocurring malleable alloy of gold and silver. Coins, and money in general,
proved an important facilitator of trade and economic progress. Money
acted as a storehouse of value, a medium of exchange, and a standard of
value, as it continues to do today. Following the conquest of the Persian
Empire, the concept of coinage or as adopted by the Greeks and spread by
them throughout the Hellenistic world.
CRAFTSMANSHIP
Age: Iron
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, and Market,
and researched Woodworking and Artisanship.
Cost: 240 Food, 200 Wood
Benefits: You receive a +2 woodcutting ability and +1 range for missile
weapons.
Note: You must research Craftsmanship before you can upgrade to the
Helepolis. The discovery of inexpensive ways to make iron was as great a
technological leap over bronze making as bronze was over stone. Iron
surpassed bronze in every critical characteristic- hardness, strength, and
the ability to hold an edge before needing to be resharpened- Plus one.
Iron was much easier to acquire than were copper and tin, making it
available to all cultures and for all uses. Historians consider the
ability to make and use iron ore one of the distinctions between barbaric
and civilized culture.
DOMESTICATION
Age: Tool
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center and Granary, and
researched Market.
Cost: 200 Food, 50 Wood
Benefits: You receive a 75% increase of food production to your farms.
Note: The revolution in agriculture involved both the development of
animals. The ability to control and manage herds of milk- and meat-
producing animals also served to free humans from the drudging and
desperation of continual hunting and gathering. Herding did not lead
necessarily to a sedentary village life, however. The need to find pasture
often meant that herding societies remained nomadic, at least for part of
the year. Domesticated sheep and goats first appear in the archaelogical
record around 7500 B.C. in the Zagros Mountains to the east of the Tigro
and Euphrates River valleys. Cattle were domesticated around 600 B.C. in
both the Sahara and Egypt, perhaps near simultaneously. Domestication of
cattle alone may have been for responsible for a doubling of world human
population in a few generations.
STONE MINING
Age: Tool
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, and Market.
Cost: 100 Food, 50 Stone
Benefits: Your stone mining is increased by +3.
Note: Wood for building was scarce in most places where civilizations
first arose. Vast forests just did not exist in these predominately arid
regions. The principle building material for common uses was mud bricks,
sun- dried at first and then fire- baked. In some areas important
structures such as temples, palaces, tombs, and fortifications were built
of stone when it was available. Much information about ancient Egypt was
preserved because of the permanence of stone. Equilalent structures in
Mesopotamia collapsed into mounds of earth after many centuries of neglect
and weathering. Acquiring non- wood building materials through brick
making or quarrying was the object of Stone Mining.
GOLD MINING
Age: Tool
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, and Market.
Cost: 120 Food, 100 Wood
Benefits: The gold mining production is increased by +3.
Note: Gold washed down the hills and mountains was probably the 1st metal
with which humans experimented. It was sufficiently soft and pure to be
fashioned easily into objects of beauty for adornment and trade. The
value of gold remained high as populations increased because of demand for
it continued to exceed supply. Because of this value, the trail of gold
was followed back to the source of the alluvial nuggets. Gold mining was
developed to obtain ore from which the pure metal could be extracted.
Many of the most beautiful objects that survive from antiquity are made of
gold, including hundreds of items from the Egyptian Pharaoh, Tutankhamen's
tomb.
SIEGECRAFT
Age: Iron
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, and Market,
and researched Stone Mining.
Cost: 190 Food, 100 Stone
Benefits: Villagers can destroy walls and towers, and your stone mining
ablity is increased by +3.
Note: You must research Siegecraft before you can upgrade to the Heavy
Catapult. Despite the written records and depictions of cities and
fortifications being stormed with the aid of siege equipment, starvation
was the only certain and effective way to take strongholds before the
gunpowder age. The defender of a strong position, with adequate troops,
food, and water, had all the advantages. Physical assault of strongholds
was a difficult proposition accompanied regularly only by those armies
posessing siegecraft- the necessary equipment, resolve, leadership, elan,
discipline, and skill. Examples from ancient history were the army of
Alexander the Great that conducted 20 sieges over a ten- year period, most
after the fall of the Persian Empire; the Hittites, the Assyrians, and the
Romans.
PLOW
Age: Bronze
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, and Market,
and researched Domestication.
Cost: 250 Food, 75 Wood
Benefits: You receive a 75% food production increase to your farms.
Note: The first agriculturists planted seeds by hand using digging sticks
to open the ground. The invention of the plow made it possible to more
easily prepare farmland for planting. The plow ripped open long rows for
seeding, burying unwanted plants and cutting unwanted roots in the
process. When pulled behind domesticated animals, such as oxen, food
production per farmer and per acre again increased. The plow has
continued to evolve since ancient times. For example, U.S. President
Thomas Jefferson invented an improved version.
IRRIGATION
Age: Iron
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, and Market,
and researched Domestication and the Plow.
Cost: 300 Food, 100 Wood
Benefits: You receive a 75% food production increase to your farms.
Note: One of the key steps in the agricultural revolution was
understanding and managing irrigation. Observation of the natural world
revealed eventually the relationship between planted seeds, good soils,
sunlight, water, and resultant crops. Large- scale irrigation in both
Mesopotamia and Egypt turned the rich but arid soils near the rivers into
rich farmlands and made possible the rise of the great civilizations on
earth. Building the dams and channels to irrigate these lands required
sophistication of government, construction, and engineering not seen
previously in any society.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
==================================
= Government Center Technologies =
==================================
ALCHEMY
Age: Iron
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, Market, and
Government Center.
Cost: 250 Food, 200 Gold
Benefits: You receive a +1 attack ability for your siege and missile
weapons.
Note: The beginnings of chemistry can be traced back to ancient attempts
to make gold and silver out of base metals, to find a universal cure for
disease, and to discover secrets of prolonging life. The experiments and
secrecy of the alchemists gave them an aura of mystery and magic.
Alchemists were both feared and sought out for help. In an ancient world
of little scientific understanding, mystery, and magic had power.
ARCHITECTURE
Age: Bronze
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, Market, and
Government Center.
Cost: 150 Food, 175 Wood
Benefits: Building construction is increased by +33% and the hit points of
your buildings and walls are increased by +20%.
Note: The art and science of designing and constructing buildings arose
from the practical need to provide first shelter, then storage for food
reserves, and then defenses for both. One of the specializations that
appeared in the first towns was the builder whose skills and techniques
continue to evolve today. Builders and architects worked with the
materials available to construct buildings and fortifications. Over time
new techniques of architecture improved the efficiency, strength, and
utility of construction.
ARISTOCRACY
Age: Iron
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, Market, and
Government Center.
Cost: 175 Food, 150 Gold
Benefits: The speed of your Academy units is increased by +25%.
Note: The Aristocracy was a privileged class, usually hereditary, that
arose within many cultures. Aristocrats generally derived their power
from control of farmland and the attendant infrastructure of people,
towns, and manufacturing- supported food production. They kept power at
the pleasure of the ruler, as long as they acceded to his wishes.
Aristocrats may also have had military responsibility, especially when on
the frontier of the kingdom or empire. In many cultures the aristocrats
provided the senior officer corps or elite troops of the army. Commanders
of the armies and navies of Athens, for example, were elected from among
the aristocracy of landowners.
BALLISTICS
Age: Iron
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, Market, and
Government Center.
Cost: 200 Food, 50 Gold
Benefits: It increases the accuracy of missile and siege weapons.
Note: You must research Ballistics before you can upgrade to the Ballista
Tower. The use of missile weapons for war presented challenges that
hunting with the bow did not. Hunters stalked game and shot ideally at a
stationary target. War targets were often armored, partially shielded, or
moving. Effective use of the bow and other missile weapons required
tactics and training. Bowmen of low skill were taught to fire in barrages
at an area rather than at specific targets. Better- trained archers
learned to shoot for specific parts of the target, including the horses of
chariots or cavalry. Ballistics, the study of projectile flight, was
derived from the name of an ancient missile weapon, the Ballista.
ENGINEERING
Age: Iron
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, Market, and
Government Center.
Cost: 200 Food, 100 Wood
Benefits: The range for your siege weapons is increased by +2.
Note: You must research Engineering before you can upgrade to the
Juggernaught. Ancient engineers were able to build remarkable structures
even though the raw materials and tools with which they could work were
often limited. The Egyptian pyramids, for example, were built of multiton
stone blocks using only the fulcrum and lever, wedge, ramp, sledge, and
rollers. The pyramid builders of 2600 B.C. used tools made only of wood
and copper. Advances in engineering were slow and based primarily on
practical experience until advances in mathematics, especially from the
Greeks, led to the new experimentation and techniques.
NOBILITY
Age: Bronze
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, Market, and
Government Center.
Cost: 175 Food, 120 Gold
Benefits: There is a hit point bonus of +15% for Cavalry units, Chariot,
Chariot Archer, Horse Archer, and Heavy Horse Archer.
Note: Within ancient tribal groups an early hierarchical structure
centered around the strongman, who probably took power in a physical
contest, led the group, and enjoyed special privileges. As populations
increased, the hierarchy expanded. Layers of nobility, a class of society
privileged due to fighting prowess or wealth, grew between the stronghold,
or king, and common people and slaves. The nobility served as
administrators and sub- commanders of the army. Examples of nobility were
the Persian satraps, who ruled provinces of the Persian Empire, and
Alexander the Great's Companion's, who commanded parts of his army and
formed the core of his heavy cavalry squadrons.
WRITING
Age: Bronze
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, Market, and
Government Center.
Cost: 200 Food, 75 Gold
Benefits: You share exploration with allies.
Note: The advance of writing is benchmark technology often used to separate
those cultures that were civilized from those that were barbaric. The key
importance of writing is that it allowed information to be stored and
passed on easily, thereby accelerating the accumulation and spread of
knowledge. Writing is believed to have been invented between 4000 and
3000 B.C. in Sumeria. The first writing was in simple pictures called
pictograms that gradually evolved into symbols representing the picture.
Egyptian hieroglyphics first appeared between 3300 and 3100 B.C., and are
thought to have been inspired by cuneiform, the Sumerian symbolic writing.
Writing appeared in China after 1600 B.C.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
=======================
= Temple Technologies =
=======================
POLYTHEISM
Age: Bronze
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, Market, and
Temple.
Cost: 120 Gold
Benefits: Your priests move +40% faster.
Note: The first religions embraced a multitude of gods, each associated
with one aspect of life. There might have been a sun god, a moon god, a
god of the forest, a god of the river, and so on. The multitude of gods
was useful in understanding how the world worked and in directing petition
and prayer for specific help and relief. The existence of multipple gods
increased the power of priests because each god had special needs and
abilities that needed interpretation. The ancient Egyptians, for example,
worshipped around 2000 gods. Many of these were any local deities, but
others were held sacred throughout the country.
MONOTHEISM
Age: Iron
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, Market, and
Temple.
Cost: 350 Gold
Benefits: Your priests can convert enemy priests and buildings (except for
Town Centers and Wonders.)
Note: The belief that there is only one God has evolved from the Persian
religion of Zoroastrianism down through Judaism to many of the more
popular religions of today. Whether monotheism is an advancement or not
is a subjective question. The widespread popularity over time and the
fervor of adherents indicates that monotheistic religions have more
successfully met the requirements of a religion than other beliefs that
have fallen aside.
MYSTICISM
Age: Bronze
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, Market, and
Temple.
Cost: 120 Gold
Benefit: Your Priests' hit points are doubled.
Note: Mysticism was a spiritual discipline that sought to achieve contact
with gods or other perceived realities through contemplation, trances, or
meditation. It was induced or enhanced by drugs in some cases, and it was
part of many ancient beliefs. For religions seeking to explain the great
unknown, the apparent ability to communicate through media unknown to the
average person was a powerful selling point. Because peopledream every
night, it was a logical step to believe that a few members of the group
could somehow make sense of dreams or see through the confusion to
communicate with another dimension.
JIHAD
Age: Iron
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, Market, and
Temple.
Cost: 120 Gold
Benefits: It increases the attack, speed, and hit points of villagers, but
decreases their gathering efficiency.
Note: The word jihad can mean a crusade or struggle, and comes from the
holy war of Islam directed against all that defied the word of God as
written in the Koran. The equivalent of jihad can occur in any society
brought to a peak of emotion by religious fervor or other means. The
value of the jihad to society is that the people caught up in the emotion
of the enterprise place their best interests, even their lives, second to
the purpose of the crusade. The jihad was especially effective at a most
desperate time when survival of the group hung in the balance.
FANATICISM
Age: Iron
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, Market, and
Temple.
Cost: 150 Gold
Benefits: Your Priests rejuvenate 50% faster after converting a unit.
Note: You must research Fanaticism before you can upgrade to Legion.
Religion evolved to provide a spiritual foundation and understanding to
life once humans became sufficiently intelligent to ponder the great
terrifying questions of our existence. A disturbing byproduct of the
spread of religion was fanaticism- the intense, unquestioning devotion to
the ideas and leadership of other humans. Fanatics were capable of ant
act, even at great risk to their lives, and were especially dangerous
enemies in war.
ASTROLOGY
Age: Bronze
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, Market, and
Temple.
Cost: 150 Gold
Benefits: Your Priests convert enemy units 30% faster.
Note: Ancient observers of the stars and the heavens noted the correlation
between the sun, the seasons, and the success of crops. The study of
celestial events was an early step in the attempt to understand and
control the uncertainties of life and became an important part of many
early religions. The sun god, Ra, for example, was the most powerful of
the Egyptian gods. Priests who could determine the start and end of the
growing seasons, foretell the phases of the moon, and predict terrifying
eclipses greatly enhanced their power in society. The power of astrologers
increased when their subjects believed that the influence of the stars and
planets on human affairs could be divined from celestial positions and
aspects.
AFTERLIFE
Age: Iron
Prerequisites: You must have built the Town Center, Granary, Market, and
Temple.
Cost: 275 Gold
Benefit: The range of your Priests is increased by +3.
Note: An important question that ancient religions attempted to address
was what happens when people die. Many religions held that there was an
afterlife, a place or existence that continued once a person's time on
earth ended. The promise of an attractive afterlife was a powerful
inducement for behavior that conformed to the goals of a particular
religion. Fervent believers in an afterlife might give up their lives to
serve their gods. Well- considered religions that offered a good return
for acceptance, including an attractive afterlife, grew more in power and
influence than those that did not. Christianity, for example, promised
everlasting life to everyone of faith, not just to the rich buried in great
tombs with servants and goods.
================================================================================
War!
================================================================================
War is something that is bound to happen. There isn't a whole lot that I
can say in this spot. For more war, try the hardest game setting, my
favorite. Everyone has their own tactics they like to use, so that's up
to you. You shouldn't sacrafice your entire army at once. Hold some back
as a backup, when the others are getting hammered. If the other army is
still beating the Hel* out of you, retreat. Come back to the S.O.B.'s and
take 'em out. War is something that there isn't really one way to do.
Every group that you'll encounter will have certain weapons that you don't,
unless you cheat, that will give them a distinct advantage. You must look
at all of your things and come up of something that they don't, and use it
against them. You must expose their weakness!!
================================================================================
Creating Your Own Scenarios
================================================================================
In creating your own scenarios, you want to be fair. If you can, imagine
yourself as the game's developer. Try to come up with something that you
believe everyone will want to play. You MUST be creative when designing your
scenarios, that is if you want them to be any good. Another thing is don't
create the scenario favoring one group. If you are making a "One on One"
scenario, don't set up fortifications around their city, preventing them from
exploring and collecting resources. Also, don't build towers too close to
their city.
I have used the Scenario Builder before, but it's been quite a while. It's
all pretty easy to use, so go ahead and play with it, if you've never done it.
================================================================================
Assyrians
================================================================================
(1800 to 600 B.C.)
The only thing that I can say to introduce the Assyrians is the fact that
they were very powerful and fierce. They have legendary barbarity, as well.
============
= Location =
============
Assyria was located in northern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) along the Tigris
River. It was settled after Sumer to the south but was dominated by the
Sumerians both culturally and politically during its early history.
===========
= Capital =
===========
The capital of Assyria was Ashur for most of its existence, but moved to
other sites when kings built new palaces. Other important cities and
capitals in the Assyrian homeland were Nineveh, Arbela, Khorsabad, and
Nimrud.
=================
= Rise to Power =
=================
Around 2000 B.C., Assyria was invaded by Semitic barbarians called the
Armorites. By 1800 B.C. an Armorite king of the Assyrians had established
control over most of northern Mesopotamia. Their power was short- lived
in this period, however, due first to the rise of Babylonia under Hammurabi
and then the rise of the Mitanni in modern Syria.
The period 1363 to 1000 B.C. was the Middle Assyrian Empire. Several
strong kings reasserted Assyrian independence and then began encroaching
on neighboring empires. The Assyrians avoided destruction during the
catastrophe of 1200 B.C., perhaps they were already embracing the new
military tactics and weapons that the older kingdoms were not. In the
political vacuum of the ancient dark age, the Arryrians prospered. By
1076 B.C. Tiglathpileser I had reached the Mediterranean to the west.
The New Assyrian Empire, 1000 to 600 B.C. was the peak of their conquests.
Their empire stretched from the head of the Persian Gulf, around the
Fertile Crescent through Damascus, Phoenicia, Palestine, and into Egypt as
far south as Thebes. Their northwestern border was the Taurus Mountains
of modern Turkey. Other than the vestiges of what had once been the Minoan
(Crete), Mycenean (Greece), and Hittite (Turkey) cultures, all areas of
pre- catastrophe civilization in the West were ruled by Assyria.
===========
= Economy =
===========
The Assyrian economy was based on agriculture and herding, but the Assyrians
also benefited by being situated astride some important trade routes.
They are not remembered as traders in their own right, perhaps only tax
collectors on traders went through. During the New Empire period, they
profited from the taxes and tribute they collected from their various
provinces and vassal states, including even Egypt for a few years.
========================
= Religion and Culture =
========================
The Assyrian religion was heavily influenced by that of its Mesopotamian
predecessors, mainly Sumeria. The chief god of the Assyrians was Ashur,
from whom both their culture and capital take their names. Their temples
were large zaggurats built of mud bricks, like their neighbors to the south.
The principal activity of the rich was hunting from chariots, appropriate
for such a war- like culture. Despite their fearsome reputation, the
Assyrians embraced civilization. They wrote using cuneiform and decorated
their cities leberally with reliefs, painted stonework, and sculpture.
==============
= Government =
==============
The king was the head administrator of government, supported by local
provincial governors. The palace was the site of government. Advisors
consulted the omens before important decisions were made.
Provinces and vassal cities were required to pay taxes and tribute in the
form of food, goods, gold, labor, military supplies, and soldiers for the
army. An extensive network of roads and grain depots were built during
the New Empire to speed communication and armies moving to trouble spots.
================
= Architecture =
================
The Assyrians built on a large and lavish scale, using mostly mud bricks,
but also stone that was more readily available than it was further south.
Several New Empire kings built extensive palaces and decorated them with
the booty of war and the tribute of vassal states. Palaces were also
decorated with painted stone reliefs, extensive gardens, and man0 made
streams. A common decorative fixture was the LAMASSU- a winged hybrid
creature, part bull and part man.
============
= Military =
============
The first Assyrian armies were peasant spearmen. Following a series of
military reforms around 800 B.C., however, they employed a standing army
of conscripts and professionals. This army was better armed, armored,
and supplied than most of its enemies, giving it important advantages.
The New Empire armies benefited from cheap iron used for improved swords
and armor.
The Assyrians were among the first to adopt the concept of the integrated
army made up of an infantry core for shock, supported by light missile
troops and a mobile wing of chariots, camelry, and cavalry. The army was
capable of fighting on the plains where chariots and then cavalry were
critical, as well as in rough terrain where horses and chariots had little
use. They campaigned regularly to the north and east against barbarians
that posed a threat. The elite of the army for many years were the
charioteers, followed by the cavalry when chariots bacame obsolete.
The Assyrians were accomplished at the art of capturing walled cities.
Their historical records recount numerous city assaults and the brutality
that followed. Inhabitants were either killed or sent to another corner
of the empire as slaves.
====================
= Decline and Fall =
====================
The brutal policies of subjugation and exorbitant demands for tribute and
taxes made the Assyrians unpopular masters. Despite the ferocity of their
reprisals, vassal states contnually revolted given an opportunity. Weaker
kings were unable to hold the empire together in the face of internal and
external pressure. In 612 B.C., the capital at Nineveh fell to a
coalition of Babylonians and Medes. The Babylonians were in revolt
(Babylon had been sacked in 648 B.C.) and the Medes (from modern western
Iran) were seeking retribution for past Assyrian invasions of their lands.
The last Assyrian army was defeated soon thereafter by the same coalition
and the Assyrians as a separate culture disappeared from the world's stage.
==========
= Legacy =
==========
The Assyrians are remembered from their boastful inscriptions and biblical
references as ferocious warriors. Whether they were significantly more
brutal than was normal for the time is unclear.
For several centuries, however, they were the greatest military power in
the civilized world. Their armies were innovative, and they appear to
have been among the first to use large bodies of cavalry effectively.
They certainly influenced the Persian armies that followed them.
They are not remembered for any significant advances in technology,
philosophy, the arts, or science. Their cities have been piles of rubble
for thousands of years now and have not given up fabulous treasures that
can compare with those of Egypt and Greece.
================================================================================
Babylonians
================================================================================
(1900 to 539 B.C.)
The Mesopotamian city- state of Babylon twice expanded to become an
important world empire before being absorbed by Persia. Its two great
expansions were sufficiently remarkable to earn it a place in history
beside the two other great Mesopotamian cultures, the Sumerians and
Assyrians. Between its Old and New Empire periods, Babylonia devolved
back into a small but rich city- state that was captured occasionally by
its neighbors.
The predominate inhabitants of Babylon changed several times over its
existence, although the culture remained relatively constant and distinct.
The Amorites, the Kassites, and the Chaldeans were all Babylonians at
least once.
============
= Location =
============
The Babylonians took their name from their capital and only major city,
Babylon, located on the Euphrates River west of Sumeria and south of
Assyria. It was well- placed on the river for agriculture and for trade,
but had no natural defenses. A strong leader and strong army were needed
to defend it. Determined attackers were able to sack the city on numerous
occasions during its history when such a leader or army was not available.
=================
= Rise To Power =
=================
Babylonia was founded as a kingdom around 1900 B.C. by Semitic Amorite
barbarians who overran much of Canaan, Akkad, and Sumer one hundred years
earlier. In 1792 B.C. the small kingdom was inherited by Hammurabi who
ruled until 1750. During those 42 years, Hammurabi extended the kingdom
to ecompass all of Sumer to the east and Akkad to the north. He also
defeated the barbarian Gutians in the Zagros Mountains to the northeast
who had previously sacked Akkad. He also pushed back the Elamites (east
of Sumer) and the Assyrians (north of Akkad). This was the first great
Babylonian empire.
Following Hammurabi's death, the empire fell into gradual decline. In
1595 B.C. Hittites drove down the Euphrates and sacked Babylon, plundering
the city and deposing the Amorite kings. This ended the first empire.
Within 20 yearsm new invaders called the Kassites had settled around
Babylon, establishing a new dynasty. The Kassites were neither Semetic
nor Indo- European, and probably came from east of the Zagros Mountains.
The Kassites ruled Babylon for several centuries before being coquered by
the Assyrians in 1158 B.C. Descendants of the Amorites had restored
control by 1027 B.C.
During the Eighth and Seventh Centuries, the Chaldeans, new Semitic
immigrants to the area, and the Assyrians fought for control of Babylon.
The Assyrians claimed sovereignty for a while but sacked the city once as
punishment for rebellion.
A Chaldean sheik seized the Babylonian throne and then destroyed the
Assyrians with the help of the Medes. The Chaldean Dynasty and the New
Empire lasted from 626 to 539 B.C. The revived Babylonians overran most
of the Assyrian Empire from the Persian Gulf to the boarders of Egypt.
In 597 B.C. Nebuchadrezzar II captured Jerusalem and forced its king and
nobles into exile. When the puppet ruler of Jerusalem rebelled, the city
was taken again in 586 B.C. after an eighteen- month siege. This time
much of the population was deported to Babylon and their descendants
remained there until released by the Persians. This period of Hebrew
history was called the Babylonian Captivity.
===========
= Economy =
===========
The basic economy of Babylonia was typical for Mesopotamia at the time.
Irrigation and dikes controlled the waters of the Euphrates River,
providing bountiful harvests of grain, vegetables, and fruit in normal
years. These foods were supplemented by herds of sheep and some cattle.
The Babylonians traded food surpluses for raw materials like copper, gold,
and wood, which they used to manufacture weapons, household objects,
jewelry, and other items that could be traded.
The fabulous wealth of the New Empire (626 to 539 B.C.) derived from
controlling the east- west and north- south trade, primarliy thanks to
control of Phoenicia, Syria, and the other Levant ports. This area had
been the nexus of civilized trade for over a thousand years, and, for that
reason, the prize for every empire and pseudo- empire of the age. Not
long after the end of the Babylonian New Empire, the shift of much trade
to the central and western Mediterranean reduced the importance of this
area.
========================
= Religion and Culture =
========================
The Babylonians worshipped many gods, but chief was of these was Murduk,
god of the city of Babylon. Marduk was represented by a dragon in the
artwork that decorated the city. Festivals were held throughout the year
in honor of specific gods to assure their favor. The New Year festival
for Marduk assured the fertility in their fields.
For a brief time the New Empire was among the richest in the world. The
city reflected that wealth in its extensive and highly decorated monuments.
The interior of the Temple of Marduk was reportedly converted with gold.
At the center of a great and rich trading empire, the people of Babylon
had access to exotic goods and manufactured items throughout the world.
==============
= Government =
==============
The New Empire government of Babylon adopted many of the Assyrian imperial
practices, which probably contributed to its own short life. The king had
overall administrative power, in addition to his central role in important
religious rituals. Governors ruled important provinces on behalf of the
king, but most of these were Babylonians appointed from outside the local
area. Local puppets were often left in place to rule local kingdoms, but
this occasionally led to revolt, as in the case of Jerusalem.
================
= Architecture =
================
The city of Babylon was destroyed and rebuilt several times, usually on
top of the old ruins. Buildings and walls were constructed of mud bricks,
first sun- baked, and then baked with fire.
The Babylon of the New Empire period was one of the wealthiest cities in
the world. The Chaldean kings rebuilt the city and established its
reputation for splendor for all time. The Euphrates River passed through
the middle of the city and was directed around its four sides through a
moat. Inside the moat were double walls. The Greek historian Herodotus
claimed that the outer wall was so wide that a chariot with four horses
could drive along it. There were several city gates, each named after an
important god. The Ishtur gate opened on the sacred Processional Way that
led to the ziggurat and Temple of Marduk. The gate, sacred way, and
temples were decorated with bright blue glazed tiles depicting real and
fantasy animals in relief.
The two sides of the city were connected by a bridge. The east side
contained the palace and temples, including many ziggaurats. The greatest
of these, built by Nebuchanezzar II, had seven levels with a small temple
to Marduk at the top. This zaggurat was probably the Tower of Babel
mentioned in the Bible. Nebuchanezzar also built the Hanging Gardens of
Babylon, a multistoried ziggurat decorated with trees and plants to
resemble a mountain. According to legend, the gardens were built to
remind one of his wives of her mountain homeland. The Hangine Gardens
were one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
============
= Military =
============
Little is known of the Babylonian military from either the Old or New
Empires, although Hammurabi's army of the Old Empire may have made
important use of chariots when these were first coming into use.
The New Empire armies probably copied much from the Assyrians. This would
suggest that Babylonians made extensive use of cavaly, especially mounted
bowmen. Foot troops probably used iron weapons and wore iron helmets and
some chain mail armor. The Babylonians and their less advanced allies,
the Medes, took three leavily fortified Assyrian cities in short
succession, suggesting they had mastered the Assyrian techniques for
storming cities.
====================
= Decline and Fall =
====================
Following seven turbulent years that saw three new kings in succession and
two rebellions, in 556 B.C. the last of the Chaldean Dynasty, Nabonidus,
took the throne of Babylon. He worshipped the moon god, Sin, but
neglected local affairs and important religious rituals associated with
other gods. For several years he did not perform the important New Year
festival in the name of Marduk, the deity of Babylon, that renewed the
fertility of the land. He also introduced reforms that gave effective
control of temple finances to himself.
The unrest and dissatisfaction these events fostered came at a time when a
new power to the east, Persia, had been gradually expanding and spreading
its influence. Under Cyrus I, the Persians had first overthrown their
masters. the Medes, and then expanded to the northwest into Anatolia.
During these conquests, Cyrus demonstrated a high degree of tolerance and
clemency that encouraged others not to resist.
When Cyrus turned against the Babylonians, he was welcomed by a large
segment of the population, including the influential priests. Cyrus first
defeated Nabonidus in battle at Opis. Nabonidus fled to Babylon but the
city surrendered without a fight on October 12, 539 B.C., and the last
Babylonian king went into captivity. The Jews and other peoples held in
Babylonian captivity were freed. The entire New Empire of Babylon became
part of the Persian Empire and Babylonia ceased to exist as a separate
entity and culture.
==========
= Legacy =
==========
The first Babylonian empire is best known for the Law Code of King
Hammurabi, circa 1750 B.C., purportedly handed down by the god Shamah.
The laws themselves are preserved on a 90- inch stone stele that was
uncovered in Susa in modern times. It has been carted off by the Elamites
following their sack of Babylon in 1158 B.C.
The New Empire of Babylon was noted especially for its wealth and grandeur.
This was reported in Old Testament accounts from the period of the Hebrew
Babylonian Captivity and by the Greek historian Herodotus who visited the
city. The most impressive features of the city were its walls, the Ishtar
Gate, the ziggurat and temple to Marduk, the Processional Way, and Hanging
Gardens.
================================================================================
Chosens
================================================================================
(2333 to 108 B.C.)
The Korean Peninsula was invaded by successive waves of Neolithic peoples,
but the culture of the area changed little until the use of bronze
implements began around the fifteenth century B.C. The Bronze Age brought
significant change to Korea. Recovered bronze spear points and arrowheads
indicate conquest and warfare were widespread. Towns protected by earthen
walls appeared. Funerary dolmens (rock shelters covered by enormous
capstones) indicate the rise of a stratified political and social
structure.
The Bronze Age in Korea lasted until the fourth century B.C. During the
Bronze Age, the first large political groupings of walled town states
arose. The most advanced of these was Ancient Chosen.
============
= Location =
============
The state of Ancient Chosen was located in the valleys of the Liao and
Taedong Rivers, in the southwestern part of what is now North Korea. It
occupied the Taedong River basin originally and spread its influence
gradually over a large region of the peninsula.
===========
= Capital =
===========
The Ancient CVhosen capital was Wanggom- song, now modern P'yongyang (the
capital of North Korea).
=====================
= The Rise To Power =
=====================
The power of Ancient Chosen grew from around 2333 B.C. to the end of the
fourth century B.C. The Ancient Chosen expanded possibly due to better
agriculture and population growth, better use of newly available iron
weapons, better leaders, or all of the above. When the Chinese kingdom of
Yen encountered the Ancient Chosen culture, they referred to them as being
arrogant and cruel, which suggests that the Ancient Chosen were formidable
warriors.
Despite the apparent strength of Ancient Chosen at the end of the fourth
century, they went into decline, nevertheless, following the arrival of
the Yen kingdom across the Liao River. The Chinese overlord in control of
the Liaotung Peninsula changed several times during the next century and
the political upheaval fostered an immigration of Chinese political,
military, and economic power into Ancient Chosen. One refugee, named
Wiman, built a power base among the other refugees and eventually drove
the Ancient Chosen king from his throne around 190 B.C.
The new kingdom, called Wiman Chosen, was a hybrid of Korean and Chinese
influences. Due to its superior military and economic strength, it
subjugated smaller Korean states to its north, east, and south. This
placed the Wiman Chosen between the now dominant Han Chinese and the
remaining Korean states in the south, allowing it to control trade between
the two regions. For three generations, the Wiman Chosen dominated north
central Korea.
===========
= Economy =
===========
The principal economic activity of Bronze and early Iron Age Korea was
agriculture. Rice was the main food crop of southern Korea. Raising
livestock (oxen, horses, pigs, and dogs) was more important in the north.
The basic farming unit was the village, made up of headmen, free peasants,
and a few slaves. Peasants and slaves worked mainly on communal farms.
There were some peasant- owned lands as well. The fre peasants were
heavily taxed and provided labor to the state. They were not permitted to
bear arms or serve in the armies.
========================
= Religion and Culture =
========================
The leaders of the early walled towns in Korea performed both political
and religious functions. The dignity and authority of these leaders was
enhanced by their acknowledged descent from a sun god. Political and
religious power split gradually into two separate functions as the
confederation grew in size. Rituals were thereafter directed by
specialists.
The primitive religion of prrehistoric Korea was based on animism and
shomanism. Primative priets were magicians who attempted to move the gods
by evocation. By the time of Ancient Chosen, priests prayed to the gods
humbly and earnestly for favor.
The ancient Koreans believed in the immortality of the soul and buried
their elite with elaborate ritual. They also practiced divination. The
two most important festivals of the year were tied to the growing season.
In the spring, they prayed for abundance, and in the fall, they celebrated
thanksgiving.
==============
= Government =
==============
Village communities were governed by a ruling elite that kept order,
allocated land and resources, collected taxes, and provided security. The
individual communities were held together in confederation by military and
economic means. Ancient Chosen took the name wang (king) for its leader
about the time that the nearby Chinese kingdom of Yen employed the same
title.
============
= Military =
============
Little is known about the armies of Ancient Chosen except that they were
standing armies and not levies of peasants. Evidence of horses and
chariots is not widespread, suggesting that only the richest warriors
could afford these enhancements. Bronze spear points and arrowheads from
the early days of the Ancient Chosen suggest an army of spearmen and
archers. Later finds include bronze daggers and spears of distinctive
styles, iron daggers, and iron spear points. The daggers suggest that
these short weapons were used by infantry for close combat in addition to
spears.
The prowess of Ancient Chosen armies can be inferred from their expansion
and dominance of the region and the comments about Ancient Chosen recorded
by their Chinese neighbors.
====================
= Decline and Fall =
====================
Unified China under Han Dynasty was not pleased by Wiman Chosen's growth
and control of eastward trade, and was concerned about a possible alliance
between Wiman Chosen and the Hsiung-nu (barbarians then expanding out of
Mongolia into Manchuria). The aggressive Emperor Wu of Han launched an
attack against the Wiman Chosen when diplomacy failed to bring them to
heel. The Wiman Chosen were a tough adversary but were weakened by
defections and collaborations among the nobility. The Wiman Chosen
capital fell in 108 B.C., and the kingdom came to an end.
==========
= Legacy =
==========
The legacy of the Ancient Chosen was a Korean culture that remained
separate from that of China, despite the proximity and influence of that
enormous neighbor.
================================================================================
Egyptians
================================================================================
(5000 to 30 B.C)
The Egyptian culture was one of the oldest and most long- lived of
antiquity. It benefited from an abundance of good farmland, nearby
mineral resources, and a good strategic position. Despite occasional
invasion and internal strife, it endured as a distinctive culture for
nearly 5000 years.
============
= Location =
============
Ancient Egypt occupied almost the same area as modern Egypt does today.
Its civilization stayed very close to the Nile River. Because it was
almost entirely surrounded by desert, enemies could approach only from the
west and southeast along the Mediterranean coast, from the south down the
river valley, or directly over the sea.
===========
= Capital =
===========
During its long history, the capital of Egypt was located at various times
in Heirakonpolis, Memphis, Herakleopolis, Thebes, It- towy, Akhetaten,
Tanis, Sais, and Alexander the Great in 331 B.C. Greek overlords, the
Ptolemaic dynasty, ruled from here until 30 B.C.
=================
= Rise of Power =
=================
Agriculture was brought to the Nile Valley prior to 5000 B.C. by immigrants
from the highlands of Palestine. By 3000 B.C., acriculture had spread
southward up the Nile. Flooding was under control and irrigation put much
more land under cultivation. The adundance of food led to large
populations and increased wealth for the area.
The early history of Egypt was a period of consolidation. Two separate
kingdoms rose and vied for power along the river. Around 3100 B.C., King
Menes of Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt and established the First
Dynasty.
Between 3100 B.C. and 1300 B.C., the Egyptians struggled with Nubians and
Kushites up the Nile to the south. Forts and garrisons held the frontier
but during periods of weakness these were destroyed. Around 1300 B.C. the
Nubians suffered an important defeat and were neutralized as a thread for
about 500 years.
Egypt's Dynasty XIII, 1783 to 1640 B.C., was very weak. During this period
the frontier forts to the south were lost and Semitic immigrants from the
east moved into the delta. These immigrants, called the Hyskos, took
control of the entire delta region in 1674 B.C. The Hyskos eventually
adopted Egyptian culture and language, and introduced the horse and chariot.
The New Kingdom was founded by Dynasty XVIII in 1552 B.C., following a
successful war to drive out the Hyskos. This dynasty was the great age of
the warrior pharaohs and Egyptian empire. The prevent further incursions
from the east, the Egyptians attempted to establish control over the
kingdoms in the Levant and Palestine. During this period they vied for
control with the Hittites and Mitanni, as well as the local kings. The
Egyptians were the dominant power in the Near East until around 1200 B.C.
when the entire area was overrun by barbarians.
===========
= Economy =
===========
Egypt was an agricultural society dependent on the water and soil brought
down each year by the Nile from the highlands of Ethiopia. Extensive
irrigation made it possible to farm fields not adjacent to the river but
still close enough to be inundated each year and receive new sediments.
The principalcrops were wheat and barley that were used to make bread and
beer, the staples of their diet. They also grew fruits and vegetables and
raised cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, geese, ducks, and pigeons. The
abundance of food meant a large population and allowed the export of food.
The Nile passes through several hilly regions and some of these were rich
in minerals. The nearby Sinai Peninsula also held mineral riches. Unlike
some other ancient cultures, the Egyptians had relatively easy access to
copper and gold, further increasing their wealth. The hills were sources
of granite, limestone, and sandstone that they used for construction.
The Egyptians were one of the first cultures to build boats and they
eventually took these out into the Mediterranean. Egypt became an
important Mediterranean part of call as trade increased because it was it
was a rich market for both buying and selling. Principal Egyptian exports
were grain, food, linen, perfume, and manufactured goods. Important
imports were timber, slaves, silver, horses, pottery, and wine.
========================
= Religion and Culture =
========================
The Egyptian religion had over 2000 gods, though only a few of these were
predominant. The important gods had a home town where their principal
temple was located. One of the most important was Ra, the sun god,
understandably critical to an agricultural society.
They believed in a life after death. They referred to this as the "next
world," and thought it was somewhere to the west. They developed elaborate
burials and embalming to preserve the body for this second life. Goods
and servants were buried with royalty and nobles to serve them.
==============
= Government =
==============
The ancient Egyptians believed their kings were descended from the sun god,
Ra. They believed they could communicate with the gods through the king.
The king had absolute power but was required to perform several important
duties. He was responsible for the harvest and irrigation of crops. He
directed the government, trade, and foreign policy. He enforced the laws
and led the army. During the New Kingdom, the pharoahs usually commanded
their armies in the field.
Reporting directly to the pharaoh were two viziers, one for Lower Egypt
based in Memphis, and one for Upper Egypt based in Thebes. Below the
viziers were rural districts controlled by governors and towns controlled
by mayors. These officials carried out the pharaoh's orders and collected
taxes. Scribes kept the records.
The Egyptians had no coinage until they were conquered by Alexander the
Great. All workers paid taxes by turning over a percentage of their
production, whether it was fish, grain, trade goods, pottery, or other
goods. In addition, each household had to provide a laborer for several
weeks each year for mining or public works. The pyramids were probably
built by laborers putting in their annual service.
============
= Military =
============
The Egyptians were among the first cultures to possess the necessary
population and wealth to build standing armies of professional soldiers.
Prior to the Hyksos introduced the horse and chariot, which were quickly
adopted by the Egyptians in turn. The dominance of the Near East by New
Kingdom Egypt, from 1600 to 1200 B.C., was primarily due to the large and
powerful chariot armies sent into battle there. These chariots carried a
driver and composite bow archer and were the elite of the army.
====================
= Decline and Fall =
====================
Egypt survived the catastrophe by 1200 B.C. by fighting off several major
attempted invasions. They went into decline, nevertheless, following the
death of Rameses III who was the last of the great warrior pharaohs. Their
decline was partly due to trade coming to a virtual halt for several
generations. A series of weak kings and civil wars over succession to the
throne also eroded their strength.
In 728 B.C., Egypt was conquered by Nubia and held for 60 years. In 665
B.C., the Assyrians completed a conquest of Egypt by sacking Thebes. A
new native Egyptian dynasty arouse in 664 B.C., eventually throwing out
the Nubians and asserting their independence from Assyria by stopping
payment of tribute. In 525 B.C., Egypt was conquered again from the east,
this time by Combryses II of Persia. When the Persians faltered in their
war with the Greeks, the Egyptians reclaimed their independence briefly
before succombing once more to Persian invasion by 332 B.C. Within a year,
however, the Persians themselves were gone, destroyed by Alexander the
Great who was accepted by the Egyptians as their pharaoh.
Greeks ruled Egypt as overlords from the time of Alexander the Great until
30 B.C. when Cleopatra VII, th elast of the Ptolemaic dynasty, and Mark
Antony were defeated by Octavian. Egypt thereafter became part of the
Roman Empire.
==========
= Legacy =
==========
The ancient Egyptians are remembered for the quality and quanity of
cultural objects that have survived to the present, including the Pyramids,
the Sphinx, the treasures of Tutankhamen's tomb, the other monuments and
temples of the Nile Valley, hieroglyphics, mummies, and papyrus. They are
also rememberdd in the West because of their prominent role in the history
of ancient Israel as recounted in the Old Testament.
================================================================================
Greeks
================================================================================
(2100 to 146 B.C.)
The ancient culture with the broadest and most long- lasting impact on the
future of Western civilization was that of Greece. The Greeks dominated
the known world militarily for only a brief period, but their cultural
influence spread farther and lasted much longer. Rediscovered in the West
in large part after the Medieval Dark Age, it was an important foundation
for the growth of modern western civilization.
The Greeks never formed a unified kingdom, but existed as city- states,
sometimes working together and sometimes at war with each other. At the
zenith of Greek military power under Alexander the Great, they were a
collection of city- states in cooperation.
============
= Location =
============
Greek culture was centered on the mainland of modern Greece spread to the
islands of the Aegean, into the lower Balkans, across the Aegean to the
western coast of Anatolia, to Sicily, to parts of North Africa, and to
southern France (Marseilles was founded as a Greek colony). The campaigns
of Alexander greatly expanded the culture, establishing it in central
Anatolia, the Levant, Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Persia to the borders
of India. In the early second century B.C., it was possible to travel from
the south of modern France to India using only Greek to communicate.
===========
= Capital =
===========
As a collection of city- states, there are usually no capital of the Greek
culture. During the Bronze Age, Mycenea was one of the strongest and
richest citadels. During the Archaic and Classical periods, Athens (the
cultural center) and Sparta (the strongest military power) vied for
prominence. During the brief Greek apogee under Philip and Alexander, the
de facto capital was the Macedonian city of Pydna. Following the death of
Alexander, is empire was eventually divided into three parts. The
Antigonid Dynasty ruled Greece and Macedonia from Pydna. The Selucids
ruled Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Syria, the Levant, and Persia from a newly
built built city, Selucia, on the Tigris River. The Ptolemies ruled Egypt
from another newly built city, Alexandria.
=================
= Rise To Power =
=================
The history of ancient Greek culture is divided into several periods: the
Bronze Age (2100 to 1200 B.C.), the Dark Age (1200 to 800 B.C.), the
Archaic Period (800 to 500 B.C.), the Classical Age (500 to 336 B.C.), and
the Hellenistic Period (336 to 30 B.C.).
The Bronze Age saw the rise of the first cities on the mainland. These
were predominately fortified palaces on hilltops. This culture was named
after its greatest citadel, Mycenea. Excavation of Mycenea by Heinrich
Schlieman in the 1870s revealed fabulous burial tomb treasures. The
Mycenean culture disappeared around 1200 B.C. following attacks by
barbarians. The city of troy was also sacked around this time.
The catastrophe of 1200 B.C. (described earlier) devastated the economy of
Greece and ushered in a Dark Age that lasted about 400 years. Gradually
civilization reappeared at old sites, such as Athens, and at new sites such
as Sparta and Corinth.
By 800 B.C., the city- states of the mainland were economic and military
powers. During the next 300 years, the Archaic Period, the Greeks expanded
by establishing colonies across the Aegean in Anatoloa (Ionia) and along
the central and western Mediterranean coasts. They vied with the
Phoenicians for colony sites and trade. The Archaic Period came to an end
when the rising eastern power of Persia came into conflict with the Greeks
over the Anatolian coast.
The period of 500 to 336 B.C. was the Classical Age of Greece, dominated
first by wars with Persia and then the Peloponnesian civil war between
Athens and Sparta. Although this period is defined by military events, it
was also a time of many important cultural advances.
The Hellenistic Period takes its name from the Greek word Hellene (meaning
Greek). This period began with the installation of Alexander as king of
Macedon following the assassination of his father. In 13 years of military
campaigns, Alexander conquered most of the known world and spread the Greek
culture behind his armies. After Alexander's premature death in 323 B.C.,
his empire was eventually divided into three parts. Although these parts
fought each other and gradually shrank due to rebellion and attack, the
culture of the civilized world remained primarily Greek.
===========
= Economy =
===========
Grains and bread were staples of the Greek diet but they could be grown
only in a few fertile areas. Most of Greece was hilly and not suitable for
large farms on the scale of Egypt or Mesopotamia. Farmers grew fruits and
vegeatables where they could clear fields. On the hillsides they grew
olives for food and oil. Further up the hills they grew grapes for wine.
Horses were raised mainly in Thessaly and Macedonia where there were open
grasslands. Elsewhere they were kept only by the rich. Cattle were kept
mainly for milk, pigs and poultry for meat, and sheep for leather and meat.
Seafood supplemented diets in coastal areas.
The Greeks were renowned for pottery that was both functional and beautiful.
Decorations on pottery revealed much about the ancient Greek culture to
historians. By carefully studying the changing styles of pottery, his-
torians were able to date it and then use chards to help date excavations
and other objects found with it.
The Greeks took advantage of their georgraphic position between the Aegean
and Mediterranean Seas to engage in trade. City-states traded among them-
selves and overseas. Thessaly and Macedonia exported horses, for example,
while Athens exported honey and silver. Important Greek exports were oil,
wine, pottery, sculpture, metalwork, cloth, and books. Their most
important import was grain from the Black Sea region, Egypt, Italy, Sicily,
and Cyprus. Other important imports were timber, wool, linen, copper,
dyes, silk, spices and ivory.
Coins were first used in Lydia, a small kingdom in northwestern Anatolia,
at the end of the seventh century B.C. The concept quickly spread to the
Ionian Greek colonies and then throughout the Greek culture. The most
popular coins were made of silver. City-states celebrated their
independence by minting their own coins showing a representative symbol
(the owl for Athens and the Pegasus for Corinth, for example).
========================
= Religion and Culture =
========================
The Greeks believed in many gods who were responsible for the living and
the dead. Their gods were very human-like - they got married, had
children, felt love and jealousy, and sought revenge. Legends of the gods
taught what pleased and what angered them. The principal gods were the
twelve Olympians thought to live on Mount Olympus. They were lead by Zeus,
ruler of the heavens. Temples were built to provide earthly homes for
individual gods. The Parthenon in Anthens, for example, was dedicated to
the goddess Athene. Inside was a statue of Athene made of gold and ivory
that stood over forty feet high. Offerings of jewelry, pottery, and
sculpture were given to the temple. Animals and birds were given to the
priests for sacrifice. Festivals were held to please individual gods and
persuade them to be munificient.
Before an important project was started, an oracle orsoothsayer was con-
sulted to learn the will of the gods. The most famous of these was the
Oracle of Delphi, where a prientess called the Pythia would voice the will
of Apollo. Priests would interpret the Pythia's often vague replies. In
one famous example, Croesus, the king of Lydia, asked whether he should
invade Persia or not. He was told such an invasion would destroy a great
kingdom. He assumed the Persians were the kingdom in questions, but in
fact Lydia was conquered by Persia.
Women in Greece lead generally sheltered lives and had little active role
in society. They took their social status from their husbands. The
emphasis was on having sons and raising them to be citizens and soldiers.
Boys were given an extensive education in reading, writing, arithmetic,
music, poetry, dancing, and athletics. Both mental and physical develop-
ment was stressed.
Music, poetry, and theater were an important part of the Greek culture.
All Greek cities and colonies built a theater or amphitheater.
Society consisted of two main groups - free people and slaves. Slaves
were owned by free people and were employed as servants and laborers.
Slaves were purchased in international slave markets or were prisoners of
war. Free men in Athens were either citizens, born to Athenian parents,
or metics, born outside of Athens. Both groups were required to serve in
the army, but only citizens could become government officials or jurors.
==============
= Government =
==============
An independent city-state was called a polis. Each consisted of the city
and surrounding countryside. The largest of these was Athens, with about
one thousand square miles of territory.
During the Archasic Period, most city-states were governed by a group of
rich landowners. These were the aristoi, meaning best people, or the
aristocrats. Resentment of aristocratic rule lead to riots when traders
and craftsmen began to prosper but had no say in government. Beginning
around 650 B.C., individuals called tyrants were allowed to rule to keep
the peace. Government was improved under an enlightened tyrant but the
system was susceptible to corruption. In 508 B.C. Athens introduced a new
system called democracy, in which all citizens took part in their
government. Women, foreigners, and slaves had no say.
================
= Architecture =
================
Greek homes were simple structures of mud and brick but their public
buildings, expecially temples, were beautiful structures of stone. A
distinctive feature of Greek architecture was the use of columns supporting
horizontal lintels.
============
= Military =
============
During the Bronze Age, the armies of the individual palaces were mainly
chariots manned by the richest citizens. These armies were destroyed by
barbarians around 1200 B.C., sending Greece into its Dark Age.
During the archaic Age, the aristocrats at First dominated the army as
cavalry because they alone could afford horses. Foot soldiers came from
the poorer classes that could not afford horses or better weapons and armor.
Eventually trade and wealth increased, while the cost fell for new weapons
made of iron. The cavalry was replaced in importance by a new army of
well-equipped foot soldiers called hoplites.
Each city had a different system for raising its army. In Athens, all free
men aged 20 to 50 could be called upon in time of war. Each of the ten
Athenian tribes had to provide enough troops for one regiment and one
commander, called a strategoi.
Hoplites carried on their left arm a large round shield that extended from
neck to thigh. The shield was decorated with a symbol from their family,
tribe or city. They wore bronze helmets with a horsehair crest on top to
make the soldier look taller and more powerful. For body protection they
wore a cuirass of bronze, or leather and bronze, from shoulder to chest,
plus bronze greaves on the front of the lower legs. Their weapons were a
long spear and a short iron sword.
Hoplites fought in the phalanx, a square of men usually eight ranks deep.
It was important that the phalanx move and fight together. Flutes and
other musical instruments helped from keep in step. The terrifying hand-
to-hand clash of opposing phalanxes called for extreme courage and dis-
cipline.
The Greeks distained the use of cavalry and skirmish troops using bows,
slings, or javelins/ As long as they fought amoung themselves or were
lucky, this was not a problem. Extensive contact with other military
systems during the Persian Wars eventually convinced them that the phalanx
needed to be supported. The ultimate Greek army employed heavy and light
cavalry, light infantry, and skirmishers in support of its heavy hoplite
infantry.
====================
= Decline and Fall =
====================
Following the death of Alexander the Great, the city-state of mainland
Greece attempted to rebel against Macedonian rule but were defeated in the
Lamian War of 323-322 B.C. During the next 40 years, the War of the
Diadochi contested the division of Alexander's empire. It was eventually
divided into three kingdoms (Greece, Egypt, and Persia). These three
kingdoms made up the Hellenistic world.
The Antigonid Dynasty ruled Greece and Macadon but lost control of their
colonies in southern Italy to the Romans in 275 B.C. The Greeks supported
Carthaginians against Rome during the Punic Wars and paid for that once the
Carthaginians were destroyed. Three Macedonian Wars against Rome resulted
in the end of the Antigonid Dynasty in 168 B.C. Following an unsuccessful
Macedonian revolt, the city-states of Greece became provinces of the Roman
Empire in 146 B.C.
The Selucid Dynasty attempted to rule what had been the enormous Persian
Empire. This proved impossible and parts began rebelling very quickly.
By 180 B.C. the Roman general Pompey seized the Selucid kingdom and
incorporated it into the Roman Empire.
The Ptolemaic Dynasty consisted only of Egypt. Because of its relative
seclusion and wealth, it lasted the longest of the three Hellenistic
kingdoms. Queen Cleopatra VII and her husband Marc Antony of Rome were
defeated in battle by Octavian at Actium in 32 B.C. The last Ptolemy
committed suicide and Egypt became part of the Roman Empire in 30 B.C.
==========
= Legacy =
==========
Greek language and culture spread behind Alexander the Great's armies. The
Romans in turn adoped much of the Greek culture, preserving it and
spreading it to new parts of the world. After the fall of Rome, Greek
culture was preserved and expanded upon within the Byzatine Empire and in
the Arab world, and passed on to the West following the Renaissance.
The legacy of ancient Greece has had an impact on many diciplines,
including medicine (the scientific approach to medicine; the Hippocractic
Oath taken by doctors), mathematics (Euclidean geometry; the Pythagorean
theorem), literature (the Iliad and the Odyssey), theater, poetry,
sculpture, language (the Bible's new Testament was written in Greek;
thousands of words passed on to modern languages), architecture (the White
House; the British Museum), history (herodutus is regarded as the father
of history), politics (democracy), philosophy (all philosophical studies
since Plato have been referred to by one writer as mere footnotes to his
work), science (the scientific method; laws of nature; the classification
of plants and animals; the heliocentric theory), athletics (the Olympic
Games), and trade (Greeks established trade routes to India and the Silk
Road to Asia).
================================================================================
Hittites
================================================================================
(2000 to 1200 B.C.)
The extent of the Hittite civilization and empire was rediscovered only
within the last hundred years. The Hittites had been mentioned several
times in the Olds Testament, but were considered only bit players.
Excavations of sites in Turkey and Syria, plus the dicipherment of
inscriptions and recovered clay tables, revealed that the Hittites were a
world power at one time, rivals of the Egyptians and conquerors of Babylon.
============
= Location =
============
The Hittite empire was centered in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). At its
maximum, it extended from the Aegean coast of Anatolia, east to the
Euphrates River, southeastward into Syria as far as Damascus, and south
along the eastern Mediterranean coast of the Levant. Hittite King Mursuli
sacked Babylon around 1600 B.C. but did not attempt to hold the region.
Historians do not know where the Hittites originated or how they got to
Asia Minor. Studies of their language indicate that they were probably
of European origin and migrated south through the Balkans or past the
eastern end of the Black Seam sometime around 2000 B.C.
===========
= Capital =
===========
The greatest Hittite capital was at Hattusas, outside the modern Turkish
town of Bogazkoy in north central Turkey, inland from the Black Sea. This
city has previously been the capital of the Hatti, a local kingdom that was
conquered by the Hittites around 1900 B.C. The name Hittite derives from
the name of the Hatti. The capital was moved to Hattusas around 1500 B.C.
and the city was noted for its massive walls and placement in rugged
terrain.
=================
= Rise to Power =
=================
Around 2000 B.C. when the Hittites entered Asis Minor, the region was
populated by small yet sophisticated, kingdoms each no larger than a
thousand people. The Hittites began expanding their kingdom around 1900
B.C., using both force and diplomacy to bring rival city-states and
kingdoms in Asia Minor under control. The Hittite kingdom went through
several periods of expansion and contraction until around 1400 B.C.
Beginning then, several strong kings in succession expanded the Hittite
empire across all of Asia Minor, into Syria, and beyond the Euphrates
River. The push into Syria brought the Hittites into conflict with the
Egyptians who also sought to dominate this area.
For several generations the Hittites and Egyptians remained diplomatic and
military rivals. The great battle of Kadesh was fought between these
superpowers around 1300 BC and was commemorated in Egypt by a great
pictoral relief, an epic poem, and an official written record. After
several decades of uneasy stalemate, the two powers signed a peace treaty
and mutual defense pact, perhaps in response to growing Assyrian power to
the east. A copy of the treaty was inscribed on the walls of an Egyptian
temple at Karnak where it can be read today. Duplicate copies of this
treaty on clay and silver tablets were also found by archaeologists in both
countries.
===========
= Economy =
===========
The Hittite imperial boundaries encompassed a diverse geography, including
expansive grassy plains, mountains, sea coast, river valleys, and desert.
Their economy was based mainly on grain and sheep raising, but they also
possessed large deposits of silver, copper and lead ore. They were adept
metalworkers and among the earliest makers of iron, although during their
time iron was more valuable than gold and not available in any quantity.
They were an important provider of copper and bronze to Mesopotamia. When
they attempted to control the trade to and from that area by extending
their influence into Syria, the Levant, and upper Euphrates River region,
they came into conflict with the Egyptians.
========================
= Religion and Culture =
========================
The Great Temple at Hattusas, below the hill on which the palace stood, was
the religious center of the empire. The Hittite king was also the high
priest of the kingdom and split his time between government, religious
duties, and conquest. The king's dual role was useful in unifying the
culture of the kingdom among its diverse peoples. Each year the king/high
priest traveled extensively to preside at festivals. These personal
appearances brought in rich donations and helped stablize the realm.
Hittite religion was polytheistic. It was tolerant of other beliefs and
flexible about incorporating new gods already worshipped by newly conquered
peoples. Their supreme deity, Teshub, the Storm God, was borrowed.
Hittite culture discovered so far pales in comparison to that of their
contemporaries in Babylon and Egypt. We have only a few bronze and stone
statuettes, seal impressions, and rock carvings to judge their artistic
ability. One enduring symbol from their artwork is the double-headed eagle
that was adopted as a national symbol by both Austria and Russia.
They used cuneiform for writing as well as their own heiroglyphics. They
patterned their laws on those of Babylon, though they tempered their
severity.
==============
= Government =
==============
Some researchers believe that the early Hittite government was the first
constututional monarchy. The pankus, probably an assembly of noblemen,
monitored the king's activites in relation to their laws and probably had
the power to remove and install kings as needed. Because they had no law
of succession until circa 1500 BC, the death of a king prior to then often
triggered a struggle for power. The authority of the pankus waned as the
empire began to grow and after a law of succession was adopted.
During the empire years, the Hittite ruler was called the Great King. Each
year the rulers of vassal states brought gifts to Hattusas and pledged
their loyalty. In return for military protection and favorable trading
status, vassal states contributed money and troops to the empire.
=============
= Diplomacy =
=============
Extensive records and correspondence preserved on clay tablets have
revealed much detail about Hittite diplomacy and politics. Decipherment of
specific tablets connected the Hittites was two of the most famous events
in antquity - the sacking of the legendary city of Troy from the Iliad and
the death of the Egyptian boy Pharaoh Tutankhamen. Diplomatic letters to a
city on the east coast of Asia Minor helped establish the site of the city
of Troy.
In 1353 BC the greatest Hittite king Suppiluliuma I, was besieging the city
of Carchemish that controlled an important ford and trade route over the
Euphrates River. During the siege he received a letter from Ankhesenamun,
the newly widowed wife of Tutankhamen. The queen of Egypt asked that
Suppiluliuma send one of his sons to be her new husband and king of Egypt.
The stage was set for a very important alliance by marriage. Suppiluliuma
took too long to investigate and negotiate, however. An Egyptian
courtier-priest seized the widow and the throne, and peace between the two
great powers was not arranged until 70 years later.
============
= Military =
============
Hittite foot troops made extensive use of the powerful recurved bow and
bronze tipped arrows. Surviving artwork depicts Hittite soldiers as stocky
and bearded, wearing distinctive shoes with curled-up toes. For close
combat they used bronze daggers, lances, spears, sickle-shaped swords, and
battle-axes shaped like human hands. Soldiers carried bronze rectangular
shields and wore bronze conical helmets with ear flaps and a long extension
down the back that protected the neck. They were apparently very competent
at conducting sieges and assaulting cities that resisted.
They were possibly the first to adopt the horse for pulling light
two-wheeled chariots and made these vehicles a mainstay of their field
armies. Egyptian engravings of the Battle of Kadesh show three men in the
Hittite chariots using spears, but other evidence suggests that they
carried only a driver and archer. Perhaps the chariot archer replaced the
chariot javelin thrower. Hittite chariot armies were feared by most of
their contemporaries.
====================
= Decline and Fall =
====================
Following the establishment of peace with Egypt around 1280 BC, there
ensued 80 years of relative peace and prosperity for much of the civilized
world. During the great catastrophe circa 1200 BC, however, the Hittite
empire was suddenly destroyed. The fortifications at Hattusas were thrown
down and the city burned. Stone sculptures were smashed apart. It is not
known by whom, but it is possible that the Hittite armies fell off in
ability during decades of relative peace while the growing riches of the
empire made it an ever more attractive target, probably to barbarians from
the west and north. The Kaskans, barbarians from the Russian Steppes,
penetrated the empire around 1300 BC and plundered Hattusas. They may have
returned to finish the job for good.
==========
= Legacy =
==========
The legacy of the Hitties is limited because they were lost as a culture
until rediscovered only recently. They are remembered in the Bible as
relatively small but sturdy warriors, but for little else. A small
remembrance of the Hittites is their pointed shoes with turned-up toes seen
in many carvings and reliefs that survive. This style of shoe is still seen
occasionally in Turkey as ceremonial dress.
================================================================================
Minoans
================================================================================
(2200 to 1200 B.C.)
Primitive agricultural communities sprang up around the Aegean Sea by 6000
B.C., but this area lagged behind Egypt and Mesopotamia in advancing toward
civilization. For reasons not yet understood, the island- based Minoan
culture made a sudden leap forward around 2000 B.C. and became the first
civilization of Europe. The sudden take- off may have been stimulated by
trading contact with Mesopotamia through Levant ports of through contact
with Egypt. One theory suggests that refugees from Egypt during a time of
turmoil may have emigrated to Crete and brought technology and ideas with
them.
============
= Location =
============
The Minoan culture was centered on the island of Crete, but extended to
other nearby islands, including Thera and Rhodes. They may have colonized
the Anatolian coast at Miletus and elsewhere. By the extension of trade,
they influenced the developing Greek culture on the mainland and other
Aegean islands.
===========
= Capital =
===========
The palace at Knossos on Crete was the capital of the Minoan civilization.
It remained a hidden ruin until rediscovered and revealed in the twentieth
century.
=================
= Rise of Power =
=================
The Minoans were an economic power, not a military one. They preserved
their economic advantages by apparently controlling ship traffic in the
Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. For approximately 800 years, they dominated
trade in these regions. They were so secure on their islands, protected by
their ships, that they never fortified their cities.
===========
= Economy =
===========
Crete was rich in natural resources, including farmland, water, supplies,
timber, copper, building stone, and access to the sea. The Minoans were
prosperous thanks to agriculture and fishing, but grew rich primarily on
trade.
The Minoans grew grain, fruit, herbs, and olives. Grain, wine, olive oil,
timber, ceramics, and manufactured goods were theri principal exorts. They
imported tin, silver, gold, linen, luxury items, and raw materials for
manufacturing.
========================
= Religion and Culture =
========================
The high standard of living, the relative abundance of food and other good
things, and the security of their island homes gave the Minoans an outlook
on life substantially different from other contemporary cultures. Perhaps
because life was good, worship and communication with gods was not
stressed. They built no great temples. Their religion was dominated by
female goddesses who protected the household, the crops, and the animals.
The Minoans made regular offerings of food, statues, and other objects.
The Minoans may have practiced human sacrifice at one time. There is a
famous tale of a minotaur, half man, half bull, who lived in a labyrinth
beneath the palace. Young people were sacrificed to the minotaur each
year. The high priest or king may have worn a bull mask for the sacrifice,
creating the illusion of half man, half animal.
They believed in an afterlife and buried the dead with food and possessions
that would be of use. Two sacred symbols were bull horns and the double-
sided axe.
The Minoans developed a hieroglyphic writing system around 2000 B.C.,
perhaps following trading contract with the Egyptians. By 1900 B.C., they
had developed a new script now called Linear A. Athird script called
Linear B came into use as Knossus around 1450 B.C. To date, onlu Linear B
has been deciphered, but most of the surviving examples are accounting
records that reveal little about their history and culture.
Surviving artwork shows the people of Crete engaging in the sport of bull-
jumping. The significance of this activity is not known. Young men and
women are depicted approaching a charging bull, grabing it by the horns,
and somersaulting over the animal's back to land behind it.
The everyday life of the Minoans was pleasant and relatively free of war
and unrest, as witnessed by the richness and exuberance of their frescos,
wall paintings, and decorative objects.
==============
= Government =
==============
The great palace at Knossus was also a giant warehouse. The distribution
of food and other goods may have been organized from here.
The only king whose name survives was Minos. It may be that the word,
Minos, referred to the office, not the man, like the Egyptian term, pharaoh.
============
= Military =
============
The Minoans had little apparent need for an army, relying instead on their
navy to keep any enemies from approaching. Minoan ships were galleys,
manned by rowers on both sides. Narrow galleys were fast and maneuverable,
allowing them to overtake slower sailing ships of the day. They did not
employ rams at this early date, according to the evidence of surviving
artwork.
====================
= Decline and Fall =
====================
The idyllic life of the Minoans was disrupted by natural disasters. The
archaelogical remains indicate that the palace of Knossus was destroyed by
an earthquake in 1700 B.C. and rebuilt. The nearby island of Thera was
partially sunk by a volcanic eruption and the resulting tidal wave probably
struck Crete, causing extensive damage. The Minoan culture suffered from
recurrent earthquakes and the Thera explosion, but the extent of the damage
and its effect on their civilization is debated.
There are two main scenarios for the end of the Minoan culture. According
to the oldest theory, mainland Greeks invaded around 1450 B.C., essentially
destroying the culture, although it lingered for 700 years more until
mainland Greece itself was overrun. In the second scenario, based on more
recent research, the Minoans suffered through disaster and a resulting
loosening of their control of sea trade and movement, but did not succomb
to the mainland Greeks. The Minoans were instead destroyed along with the
Myceneans on the mainland by barbarians as part of the catastrophe of 1200
B.C. Evidence suggests that by 1180 B.C., the Cretans had moved from
coastal towns and palaces to defensive city sites high in the hills.
Attacks and the threat of further attacks were the probable cause of this
shift.
==========
= Legacy =
==========
The Minoans are remembered today for their fabulous palace and frescoes at
Knossos, now partially restored. It may have been the largest and most
beautiful palace of the late Bronze Age. They are also remembered for
their mysterious writings, some of which continue to defy linguists.
================================================================================
Persians
================================================================================
(700 to 332 B.C.)
The Persians were originally one of the several Aryan tribes that migrated
into modern Iran from the plains of southern Russia around 1400 B.C. They
settled the southwest corner of the Iranian plateau, on the north shore of
the Persian Gulf, on lands vacated by the Elamites who had been conquered
and enslaved by the Assyrians. The Persians were separated from the great
civilizations of Mesopotamia by the Zagros Mountains.
At its peak, the Persian Empire stretched from the Indus River across the
Near East to the eastern Mediterranean coast, south into Egypt along the
Nile to Sudan, across Anatolia, and into Thrace and Macedonia.
===========
= Capital =
===========
During the history of the Persian Empire, five cities served as the royal
capital. The first was Pasargadae, built by Cyrus to commemorate his
victory over the Medes. It was remote and impractical as an administrative
capital. Babylon was rebuilt by Cyrus as a royal capital for his use when
affairs brought him to Mesoptamia. Darius moved the empire'sadministration
to Susa, the old Elamite capital, perhaps for efficiency. It was well-
located at the hub of a road and water transport network.
The extreme summer heat of Susa drove the Persian court first to the higher
altitudes of Ecbatana, the old Median capital in the Zagros Mountains. In
520 B.C., Darius began building the greatest of the Persian capitals at
Persepolis. Construction of Persepolis was interrupted for long periods
and was not completed nearly 200 years later when the city was sacked and
burned to the ground by Alexander.
=================
= Rise To Power =
=================
The Persians settled on relatively poor and remote lands where they were
little troubled by first the Elamites to their west, then the Assyrians who
destroyed the Elamites around 640 B.C., and then the Medes (to their
northZ) nd resurgent Babylonians who conquered Assyria in 609 B.C.
Throughout this period, the various petty Persian kings were vassals of the
richer and more advanced Medes. Cyrus II became king of the small Persian
kingdom of Anshan in 559 B.C. Within ten years he had subjugated the
eastern part of Persia and established a reputation among even his rivals
as a natural leader to whom men gravitated. When the Median king attempted
to reassert control over Persia around 550 B.C., the Median army revolted
on the battlefield, handing over their king to Cyrus and surrendering their
own capital at Ecbatana. The Median Empire, stretching across northern
Mesopotamia into Anatolia, underwent a nearby bloodless change of
management. Cyrus II was now Cyrus the Great, founder of the Persian
Empire.
Cyrus then conquered in quick succession the Lydians of Asia Minor (led the
King Croesus of legendary wealth who had invented coins), Greek colonies on
the Aegean coast, the Parthians, and the Hyrcanians to the north. In 541
B.C., he marched into the steppes of Central Asia, establishing a fortified
border along the Jaxartes River. In 540 B.C., his 19th year as king, Cyrus
turned on his onetime ally, Babylon. After one battle, the army and people
of Babylon surrendered their king, city, and empire that stetched from
southern Mesopotamia to Phoenicia. Before Cyrus could expand into Egypt or
toward Greece, however, he was killed fighting nomadic tribesmen who were
threatening his eastern provinces.
The first successors to Cyrus conquered Egypt, gathered new provinces in
North Africa, and extended the empire into India to the Indus River. They
turned next against the Greeks who were commercial rivals of Persian
Phoenicia. In 513 B.C., a huge floating bridge was built across the
Bosphorus Strait, linking Asia and Europe. The Persian army took Thrace
and Macedonia to cut off grain to the Greeks, but could not subjugate the
elusive Scythians. This was the peak of the Persian Empire. The stage was
set for the mighty struggle with the city- states of Greece that lasted 50
years.
===========
= Economy =
===========
The early Persian economy was based on herding because the land was so poor
for agriculture. The Persians attributed their toughness to the meager
lifestyle to which they has been acclimated for generations.
The sudden acquisition of the Median Empire, Lydia, Babylon, Egypt, and
gold- rich areas in India made Persia an economic powerhouse. It controlled
the rich agricultural areas of Mesopotamia, the grasslands of Anatolia, the
trade routes in every direction, and rich deposits of metals and other
resources. Great King Darius instituted many economic innovations and
reforms: systematized taxation; standardized weights, measures, and monetary
units (the first successful widespreaduse of coins); improvedtransportation
routes, including the 1600- mile Royal Road from Susa to Sardis and an early
Suez Canal; royal trading ships; promotion of agriculture; a banking system;
and promotion of international trade.
========================
= Religion And Culture =
========================
The Persian kings and nobility were Zaroastrians, a religion named after its
founder, Zarathustra, called Zoroaster in Greek. Zarathrustra conceived his
religion around 600 B.C., and it had great influence later on Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam.
Zoroastrianism was monotheistic, centering on one supreme god who created
everything material and spiritual. The powers of good and evil worked on
humans who had to choose constantly between the two. An eternal afterlife
of pleasure or torment were the possible results of god's judgement after
death. These concepts of monotheism, good versus evil, free will, and
posthumous reward or punishment were a departure from the polytheistic
religions prominent in the area previously. These concepts greatly influenced
religions that followed.
==============
= Government =
==============
The head of the Persian government was the king whose word was low. His
authority was extended by a bureaucracy led by Persian nobles, scribes who
kept the records, a treasury that collected taxes and funded building projects
and armies, and a system of roads, couriers, and signal stations that
facilitated mail and trade. In the early years when the army was predomin-
ately Persian, it capably preserved the internal and external peace.
Much of the empire was divided into provinces called satrapies, ruled by a
satrap. All of Egypt was usually a single satrapy, for example. The satraps
were normally Persians or Medes to help ensure their loyalty. They ruled
and lived like minor kings in their own palaces. Some satraps became strong
enough to threaten the king. Strong kings kept their satraps in check by
holding close the reins of the armies and the treasury.
============
= Military =
============
All Persian men to the age of 50 years were obligated to serve in the armies
of the Persian Empire. Greek historians report that boys were trained in
riding, archery, hand- to- hand combat, and mounted combat. At the age of 20
they were eligible for military service.
The army consisted mainly of four types of units: spearmen for infantry shock
combat, foot archers to act as skirmishers, light cavalry mainly with bows,
and heavy cavalry that wore some armor and carried spears. In the early
years of the empire, the predominantly Persian army was highly motivated and
responsive on the battlefield, making it a dangerous foe.
The elite of the Persian army were the Ten Thousand Immortals, so called
because the unit was always kept at a full strength of 10,000 men. The loss
of any man to death or incapacitation was immediately made good by promotion
from another unit. One thousand of the Immortals were the king's personal
bodyguards.
In its later years, the ratio of Persians to provincial levies declined.
The hardened army of desciplined and well- trained Persians was replaced by
a mixture of formations, weapons, and methods. These troops lacked the
discipline of the Persians and proved difficult to maneuver and employ on
the battlefield.
====================
= Decline And Fall =
====================
The Persian Empire peaked aroung 500 B.C., although the seeds of its decline
were planted earlier. A recurring problem was court intrigue and its ill-
defined rules for succession. The death of a king often triggered a scramble
for the throne that exhausted the treasury, eroded morale, and loosened the
governmental hold on the provinces. Wasteful spending led to inflation and
unpopular tax increases. Disputes in the provinces, usually over taxes, were
often settled brutally, further increasing dissatisfaction. Five of the six
kings that followed Xerxes' death in 464 B.C. were weak leaders that held the
empire together only by increasing harsh measures.
The Greeks and Persians had been on a collision course for many years when
conflict began between the two cultures in 499 B.C. Despite what appeared to
be overwhelming strength and economic resources, the Persians failed to
defeat the Greeks in 50 years of war on land and sea. The Greeks, though
victorious, were not capable immediately of carrying the war into Persia.
Following the Greco- Persian Wars, the weak Persian kings concentrated on
maintaining their ever more tenuous hold on the empire. Recurring revolts
in outlying provinces, especially Parthia, Lydia, and Egypt, weakened the
economy and military. Before the empire could dissolve from within, it was
dispatched by Alexander the Great in an amazingly short period of time.
Alexander invaded in 334 B.C., captured Lydia by 333, took Egypt in 332, and
became king of Persia in 331.
==========
= Legacy =
==========
The Persians are best remembered in the West as the antagonist in the dramatic
Greco- Persian Wars, from which so much history has been preserved. The most
famous events from this period are the bridging of the Hellespont, land battles
at Marathon, Thermopylae, and Platea, the great sea battle at Salamis, and
the sacking of Athens. Most of this history is biased, however, because we
have mainly the Greek accounts to study.
The Persians are also remembered in several Biblical accounts for the toler-
ance of their later courts. Cyrus the Great is remembered especially for
freeing the Hebrews held prisoner in Babylon when he took that city and
allowing them to return to Israel.
The greatest legacy of the Persians was the aggression and mixture of Asia
and African cultures. Most of the advances of civilization to that point
had come from these areas. This cultural gift was preserved by the Persians
and passed on first to the Greeks and then to Europe and the West.
================================================================================
Phoenicians
================================================================================
(1200 to 146 B.C.)
There was never a country or empire called "Phoenicia." The historical
name of this culture was coined by the Greeks and was not their name. The
name Phoenicia derives from the Greek word Phoenix, meaning in this case a
dark red or purple- brown color. The phoenicians were renowned for their
cloth dyes, especially an expensive purple one popular with royalty.
Because Greek language and writings were preserved in abundance, versus
Phoenician texts which are very scant, the name stuck.
============
= Location =
============
The Phoenicians appeared on the historical scene around 1200 B.C., a time
when most of the civilized world was being overrun by barbarians. In the
political and military void of a 400- year ancient dark age, this small
group of traders were able to prosper and gradually expand their influence.
Instead of acquiring a physical empire of contiguous lands, they gradually
built, instead, a large trading and colonial network from their home base
of a few independent cities along the coast of what is now Lebanon.
They were the remnants of the Canaanites, a Semitic people who occupied
city- states in this region prior to 1200 B.C. The most important of their
early cities were Tyre, Sidon, Berytus (modern Beirut), and Byblos. These
coastal cities were hemmed in on the land side by the Lebanon Mountains.
The only onvious opportunity for expansion and economic gain was by sea.
=================
= Rise To Power =
=================
Prior to the catastrophe of 1200 B.C., Canaanite traders had been
restricted to perhaps the Levantine coast, Egypt, and the southern coast of
Anatolia. The Minoans on Crete blocked entrance into the Aegean,
controlled all trade further west. The Canaanite coastal towns were
usually controlled by Egypt, and one of their principal businesses was
providing wood (the cedars of Lebanon) to the Nile region.
The Minoan civilization was destroyed in 1200 B.C., removing most of the
constraints on Mediterranean and Aegean Sea trading bu others. The
Phoenicians were the most aggressive of those attempting to fill the void.
Their cities were well- positioned for this enterprise by being located
literally in the center of the known world. The Aegean, Mesopotamia, and
Egypt were all roughly equidistant to the west, south, and east. For any
of the three regions to trade with another, the easiest trade route was
through the Phoenician cities.
By the ninth century B.C., the ancient dark ages was nearing an end. The
Phoenicians were growing rich as traders and this attracted enemies,
principally the Assyrians. In the face of repeated assaults or heavy
tribute payments at the least, the Tyrians adopted the strategy of
establishing colonies to the west. Colonies were removed from the grasp
of the Assyrians and also helped with the exploitation of metals and trade
in the western Mediterranean.
The most important Phoenician colony was at Carthage, established around
700 B.C. Other important colonies were in Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, and
Spain. Over the next 500 years, Carthage grew rapidly in size and power.
Most of its wealth came from the ore mines of Spain. Carthage fought for
control of the western Mediterranean with the Greeks first and then the
Romans.
===========
= Economy =
===========
The early Phoenician economy was built on timber sales, wood working, and
cloth dyeing. Dyes ranging in color from a pink to a dark purple were
made from the rotting gland of a sea snail. Gradually the Phoenician city-
states became centers of maritime trade and manufacturing. Having limited
natural resources, they imported raw materials and fashioned them into more
valuable objects that could be shipped profitably, such as jewelry,
metalwork, furniture, and housewares. They borrowed techniques and styles
from all corners of the world that they touched as traders.
While exploring the western Mediterranean, they either discovered large
metal deposits in Spain or took them from Greeks who may have been there
first. By fortifying sites on Sicily and North Africa, they effectively
denied other traders access to the riches of Spain, the west Africa coast
(gold, exotic woods, and slaves), and Britain (tin, which was used to make
bronze.)
========================
= Religion and Culture =
========================
Phoenician religion was polytheistic and their other gods required
continual sacrifices to forestall disaster, especially Boal, the god of
storms. No significant Phoenician temple has yet been discovered, but most
of their ancient cities lie buried under modern cities. The Bible recounts
human sacriices by the Phoenicians but