Introduction for Chapter 2

2 The Rise of the State in Southwest Asia And the Nile Valley 3200–500 B.C.E.

> Where, how, and why did the first states emerge? Chapter 2 examines the emergence of new and more complex societies in Southwest Asia and the Nile Valley. As small villages grew into cities, people continued to develop technologies and systems to handle new issues. To control their more complex structures, people created governments, militaries, and taxation systems. In some places they invented writing to record taxes, inventories, and payments, and they later put writing to other uses. The first places where these new technologies and systems were introduced were the Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys of southwest Asia and the Nile Valley of northeast Africa, areas whose histories became linked through trade, military conquests, and migrations.

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Persian Archers In this colorful decorative frieze made of glazed brick, men wearing long Persian robes and laced ankle boots carry spears, bows, and quivers. This reconstruction in the Louvre Museum in Paris was made from material found in the palace of King Darius I of Persia in Susa, built about 510 B.C.E. Enough bricks were found there to suggest that there were originally many archers, perhaps representing Darius’s royal guards or symbolizing the entire Persian people. (Louvre, Paris, France/Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY)

LearningCurve

After reading the chapter, use LearningCurve to retain what you’ve read.

ca. 3800 B.C.E. ca. 1200 B.C.E.
Establishment of first cities in Sumer Bronze Age Collapse; destruction and drought
ca. 3200 B.C.E. ca. 1100 B.C.E.
Earliest surviving cuneiform writing Iron technology improves; beginning of the Iron Age; Phoenicians begin to trade in the Mediterranean
2660–2180 B.C.E. ca. 965–925 B.C.E.
Period of the Old Kingdom in Egypt Hebrew kingdom ruled by Solomon
2500 B.C.E. ca. 900–612 B.C.E.
Bronze weaponry becomes common in Mesopotamia Assyrian Empire
ca. 2300 B.C.E. 722 B.C.E.
Establishment of Akkadian empire Kingdom of Israel destroyed by the Assyrians
1792–1750 B.C.E. 587 B.C.E.
Hammurabi rules Babylon Kingdom of Judah destroyed by the Babylonians
ca. 1600 B.C.E. 550 B.C.E.
Hittites begin to expand their empire Cyrus the Great consolidates the Persian Empire
ca. 1570–1070 B.C.E.
Period of the New Kingdom in Egypt