Late Cypriot I: 1550-1400 B.C. Continuation of Middle Bronze Age culture. Contiguous with the rise of the 18th Dynasty in Egypt, political agreements with that nation, peaceful seas.
LC II: 1400-1200 B.C. Time of much Hellenic trade and prosperity. An economy based on copper, much settlement along the coastlines. With the destruction of Minoan Cnossus, Mycenaean Greece moved onto the political stage and made contacts with Cyprus. A veritable flood of trade followed.
El Amarna texts referring to Alashiya are believed by some to have been speaking of Cyprus.
LC III: 1200-1050 B.C. Influx of refugees, time of troubles and desertions of city centers. The Mycenaeans who flooded into Cyprus eventually involved the island in their struggle against the Sea People. Ultimately, “Cyprus sheltered the remains of Mycenaean civilization long after its disappearance from the mainland."
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Chapter XXII (a) The Expansion of Mycenean Civilization
After the destruction of Minoan power, Cadmus (Thebes) rose as the next rival to Myc. power. We are now in what the Greeks thought of as their Heroic Age, the bedrock of their mythology.
Thebes: Home of Heracles, birthplace of Dionysus. Allegedly founded by Cadmus, who is credited with introducing the alphabet into Greece, acc. to Herodotus. Cadmus’ descendant, Oedipus, is well-known in literature.
Cadmus’ sons, Polyneices and Eteocles, fought over control of the city, which story is told in Aeschylus’ “Seven Against Thebes.” The fate of Polyneices, who lost the battle, is told in “Antigone.”
Later, Athens warred against Thebes, to compel the burial of the Seven. Later, the Epigoni, their sons, challenged Thebes again and conquered it. The Theban palace site then lay desolate until the Christian Age. And Attica became the center of Greek power.
The Perseid dynasty at this time gave way to the Pelopid, launching the Second Heroic Age. But Heracles’ Perseid dynasty yet struggled to regain control and ultimately prevailed.
Prosperous time, of great palaces and the richly-stocked “beehive tombs.”
Records were kept in the Linear B script.
Even the Hittites had to reckon with this rising power.
The Greeks had made their debut on the stage of world history.
Thebes: Home of Heracles, birthplace of Dionysus. Allegedly founded by Cadmus, who is credited with introducing the alphabet into Greece, acc. to Herodotus. Cadmus’ descendant, Oedipus, is well-known in literature.
Cadmus’ sons, Polyneices and Eteocles, fought over control of the city, which story is told in Aeschylus’ “Seven Against Thebes.” The fate of Polyneices, who lost the battle, is told in “Antigone.”
Later, Athens warred against Thebes, to compel the burial of the Seven. Later, the Epigoni, their sons, challenged Thebes again and conquered it. The Theban palace site then lay desolate until the Christian Age. And Attica became the center of Greek power.
The Perseid dynasty at this time gave way to the Pelopid, launching the Second Heroic Age. But Heracles’ Perseid dynasty yet struggled to regain control and ultimately prevailed.
Prosperous time, of great palaces and the richly-stocked “beehive tombs.”
Records were kept in the Linear B script.
Even the Hittites had to reckon with this rising power.
The Greeks had made their debut on the stage of world history.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Cambridge, Chapter XXI: Ugarit and Troy
Chapter XXI (a)
Anatolia from Shuppiluliumash to Muwatallish
1350-1300 B.C.
Shuppiluliumash spent his whole exhausting reign battling to keep the Hittite empire together, especially in Syria. His son, Muwatallish, was more successful.
The empire stretched from Lebanon to Pontus.
Chapter XXI (b)
Ugarit, 14th and 13th centuries B.C.
Much do we owe this long-ruined town in north Syria, north of Sidon (KJV Map 2), now called Ras Shamra.
One of the richest and most powerful cities of the late Bronze Age, a natural link between the Aegean and the Levant.
Ugarit enters recorded history circa 1349 B.C. strongly under Egyptian influence. The king of Ugarit at this time, Ammittamru I, appears in El-Amarna correspondence.
Poetic rhythm, ala Homer, and the first Phoenician alphabet, may have come from cosmopolitan Ugarit.
Under Amittamru’s son, Niqmaddu II, Ugarit loyalty passed to the Hittite Empire which was then ruled by Shuppiluliumash I. (1325)
A prosperous century passed. Then came the end: Hittite power faded under Shuppiluliumash II and the Sea Peoples attacked Ugarit to cut off this most important ally to him (1100s B.C.) Earthquake and fire completed the devastation.
The Ras Shamra texts provided the first substantial evidence outside of the Bible of Syria-Canaanite religious practices. [Other than “Phoenikike Historia, attributed to Sanchuniathon, preserved in Philo of Byblos, now extant only in the “Preparatio Evangelica of Eusebius].
Chapter XXI- Troy
(Troy VII)
1250 to 1184 B.C. are the date ranges for the destruction of this level of Troy; in all likelihood, the event at the core of the Iliad – taking us, in historical connection at least, to the first literature of the Western World. [Homer, if he was a real person, lived at least three centuries after this event.]
Anatolia from Shuppiluliumash to Muwatallish
1350-1300 B.C.
Shuppiluliumash spent his whole exhausting reign battling to keep the Hittite empire together, especially in Syria. His son, Muwatallish, was more successful.
The empire stretched from Lebanon to Pontus.
Chapter XXI (b)
Ugarit, 14th and 13th centuries B.C.
Much do we owe this long-ruined town in north Syria, north of Sidon (KJV Map 2), now called Ras Shamra.
One of the richest and most powerful cities of the late Bronze Age, a natural link between the Aegean and the Levant.
Ugarit enters recorded history circa 1349 B.C. strongly under Egyptian influence. The king of Ugarit at this time, Ammittamru I, appears in El-Amarna correspondence.
Poetic rhythm, ala Homer, and the first Phoenician alphabet, may have come from cosmopolitan Ugarit.
Under Amittamru’s son, Niqmaddu II, Ugarit loyalty passed to the Hittite Empire which was then ruled by Shuppiluliumash I. (1325)
A prosperous century passed. Then came the end: Hittite power faded under Shuppiluliumash II and the Sea Peoples attacked Ugarit to cut off this most important ally to him (1100s B.C.) Earthquake and fire completed the devastation.
The Ras Shamra texts provided the first substantial evidence outside of the Bible of Syria-Canaanite religious practices. [Other than “Phoenikike Historia, attributed to Sanchuniathon, preserved in Philo of Byblos, now extant only in the “Preparatio Evangelica of Eusebius].
Chapter XXI- Troy
(Troy VII)
1250 to 1184 B.C. are the date ranges for the destruction of this level of Troy; in all likelihood, the event at the core of the Iliad – taking us, in historical connection at least, to the first literature of the Western World. [Homer, if he was a real person, lived at least three centuries after this event.]
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Chapter XX, The Amarna Letters
Chapter XX
The Amarna Letters, 1450 to 1350 B.C.
Found at El-Amarna, 1887, some 350 tablets.
Concern: Affairs in Palestine, reign of Amenophis IV (Akhenaten) and Amenophis III. Almost all written by Canaanite officials.
(I have the text of two of them, in “Documents from Old Testament Times,” by D. Thomas. Review follows:
Letter No. 287:
From Abdiheba, a Hittite, pre-Israelite governor of Jerusalem, under Egypt’s suzerainty: complaints about his neighbor and his precarious fate.
Letter No. 288:
More complaints: his land is about to fall to the Habiru.
The tablets are written in a jargonized Akkadian. 68 of them are to or from Rib-adda, prince of Byblos. It was a time of corruption, low morale and rivalries between the Canaanite “kings.”
The Amarna Letters, 1450 to 1350 B.C.
Found at El-Amarna, 1887, some 350 tablets.
Concern: Affairs in Palestine, reign of Amenophis IV (Akhenaten) and Amenophis III. Almost all written by Canaanite officials.
(I have the text of two of them, in “Documents from Old Testament Times,” by D. Thomas. Review follows:
Letter No. 287:
From Abdiheba, a Hittite, pre-Israelite governor of Jerusalem, under Egypt’s suzerainty: complaints about his neighbor and his precarious fate.
Letter No. 288:
More complaints: his land is about to fall to the Habiru.
The tablets are written in a jargonized Akkadian. 68 of them are to or from Rib-adda, prince of Byblos. It was a time of corruption, low morale and rivalries between the Canaanite “kings.”
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Cambridge, continued
Chapter XIX
Egypt: the Amarna Period and the end of the 18th Dynasty
Neferkheprure Amenhotpe (Amenophis IV) , aka Akhenaten, Pharoah following Amenhotpe III. Queen: Nefertiti (1379-1362 B.C.), daughter of Ay.
He – possibly as co-regent with his father – helped launch the “Amarna Revolution,” distinctive mainly for a peculiar effort at monotheism. (Falcon symbol replaced by a shepherd’s crook. El-Amarna became his capital.
Not entirely a new thing under the sun; the king and his priest were intermediaries between the sun-god and man, recalling the high status of the earliest pharaohs.
But his concentration of bureaucratic power led to corruption and problems.
El-Amarna: a new place unclaimed by any god. An instant capital; building details are extant on a cliff-side stelae. He called it Akhetaten.
Went on an iconoclastic rampage against other gods. Died in his 18th regnal year.
Smenkhkare, Ankkheprure (aka Neferneferuaten) appears to have ruled with or just after Akhenaten. His paternity is unclear. He did not live long. (His name appears on a stelae fragment now in London.) He was succeeded by the boy-king Tutankhaten
(1361-1352.) His decayed mummy was moved to Thebes and rediscovered in modern times. He died at 20 years old.
Tut. was only nine years old upon his ascension. He soon left Amarna for Memphis.
At the suggestion of Ay, his vizier [not the same as the Ay noted above?], all the revolutionary policies of Akhenaten were reversed.
His reign was also short, maybe nine years. He died in his 19th year, possibly of a head wound. He had no children living to succeed him. The 18th Dynasty, the family of Amosis, ended with him.
The vizier Ay became the next pharaoh. (He is referred to by Josephus as Harmais. (1358-1348.)
Ay also died without issue; succeeded by the Great Commander of the Army, Horemheb (1348-1320).
Both Ay and Horemheb are visible to us in carvings.
Foreign Affairs: Control over Syria slipped by the time of Akhenaten, was replaced by that of the Hittites.
Religion: A move to incorporate Re, the sun god, into the center of religious thought. Re becomes the sole god, of whom other gods are avatars.
Akhenaten’s change was to focus on Aten, an aspect of Re, and ignore all the other gods completely.
Egypt: the Amarna Period and the end of the 18th Dynasty
Neferkheprure Amenhotpe (Amenophis IV) , aka Akhenaten, Pharoah following Amenhotpe III. Queen: Nefertiti (1379-1362 B.C.), daughter of Ay.
He – possibly as co-regent with his father – helped launch the “Amarna Revolution,” distinctive mainly for a peculiar effort at monotheism. (Falcon symbol replaced by a shepherd’s crook. El-Amarna became his capital.
Not entirely a new thing under the sun; the king and his priest were intermediaries between the sun-god and man, recalling the high status of the earliest pharaohs.
But his concentration of bureaucratic power led to corruption and problems.
El-Amarna: a new place unclaimed by any god. An instant capital; building details are extant on a cliff-side stelae. He called it Akhetaten.
Went on an iconoclastic rampage against other gods. Died in his 18th regnal year.
Smenkhkare, Ankkheprure (aka Neferneferuaten) appears to have ruled with or just after Akhenaten. His paternity is unclear. He did not live long. (His name appears on a stelae fragment now in London.) He was succeeded by the boy-king Tutankhaten
(1361-1352.) His decayed mummy was moved to Thebes and rediscovered in modern times. He died at 20 years old.
Tut. was only nine years old upon his ascension. He soon left Amarna for Memphis.
At the suggestion of Ay, his vizier [not the same as the Ay noted above?], all the revolutionary policies of Akhenaten were reversed.
His reign was also short, maybe nine years. He died in his 19th year, possibly of a head wound. He had no children living to succeed him. The 18th Dynasty, the family of Amosis, ended with him.
The vizier Ay became the next pharaoh. (He is referred to by Josephus as Harmais. (1358-1348.)
Ay also died without issue; succeeded by the Great Commander of the Army, Horemheb (1348-1320).
Both Ay and Horemheb are visible to us in carvings.
Foreign Affairs: Control over Syria slipped by the time of Akhenaten, was replaced by that of the Hittites.
Religion: A move to incorporate Re, the sun god, into the center of religious thought. Re becomes the sole god, of whom other gods are avatars.
Akhenaten’s change was to focus on Aten, an aspect of Re, and ignore all the other gods completely.
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