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ANCIENT ASSYRIA

Ancient Assyria was located in north Mesopotamia and spanned four countries: In Syria it extends west to the Euphrates river; in Turkey it extends north to Harran, Edessa, Diyarbakir, and Lake Van; in Iran it extends east to Lake Urmi, and in Iraq it extends to about 100 miles south of Kirkuk. This is the Assyrian heartland, from which so much of the ancient Near East came to be controlled.

Two great rivers run through Assyria, the Tigris and the Euhprates, and many lesser ones, the most important of which being the Upper Zab and Lower Zab, both tributaries to the Tigris. Strategically surrounding the Tigris and the two Zabs are the Assyrian cities of Nineveh (Mosul Iraq), Ashur, Arbel, Nimrod and Arrapkha.

Asshur, the son of Shem, was considered to be the founder of the Assyrian nation whose king list names the earliest founders as tent dwellers in the southern and western deserts Genesis 10:22. Old Assyrian texts, the primary literary source for this period of history, mention the ciy of Sumer and an Ishtar Temple about 2350 B.C.until it fell to the Medes and Babylonians in 614 B.C. Iraq's Assyrians claim direct descent from the original inhabitants of Iraq, who built the tower of Babel and enthusiastically received Jonah's grudging call for repentance at Nineveh. They have names like Sargon, the king described by Isaiah, or Nimrod, the "mighty hunter before the Lord" portrayed in Genesis. Abraham, also a descendant of Shem, was born in Ur of the Chaldees, located 9 miles west of Nasiriyeh on the Euphrates in southern Iraq. They are an ancient ethnic group distinct from the Arabs, who invaded their land in the seventh century. Ashurism was the first religion of the Assyrians. Sennacherib made Nineveh the Capital. The Assyrian Annals record that King Ahab of Israel supplied 2000 chariots and 14000 men to Shalmaneser for the battle against a 10 king coalition headed by Ben Hadad of Damascus in 853 B.C. Asshur, the first capital, is located 56 miles south of Mosul Iraq (Nineveh) on the west bank of the Tigris River. Ashur was the Assyrian national god. Assyrians continued to practice Ashurism until 256 A.D, although by that time, most Assyrians had accepted Christianity.

Indeed, Assyrians were the first nation to accept Christianity, and the Assyrian Church was founded in 33 A.D. by Thomas the Apostle, Bortholemew and Thaddeus. The large majority of the world's most ancient people is now Christian. They continue to speak a version of Aramaic, the language Jesus spoke. Since many of them dissented from decisions by early church councils on the nature of Christ, they were often attacked by Byzantine Christians and The Ancient Church of the East, often called "Nestorian," responded to this persecution by becoming one of the greatest missionary churches in history, establishing 250 dioceses and 1,000 monasteries from Iraq to India and China. Under growing Islamic persecution and repression the Church declined. In the 16th century portions of the Church of the East sought relief by establishing relations with the Church of Rome. Thereafter, those Christians in union with Rome were known as Chaldeans which now includes the majority of Iraq's Christians.

Whereas the remaining Christians were called Assyrians. Many Assyrians have fled to southern California and Chicago, and Chaldeans to Detroit. The liturgical language of both Churches is Aramaic.The Christian populations of the Middle East, once dominant, have either vanished altogether or have been reduced to small minorities by forced conversions, persecutions and emigration.. Europe, North America and Australia have all experienced increased immigration by Middle Eastern Christians seeking to escape discrimination and persecution. In the United States about 74% of the Arabs are Christians

In the region of Baghdad and southwards the predominant vegetation is palm trees. . .The terrain is sun-parched earth. arid and dead wherever irrigation ditches do not reach. Approaching Mosul [Nineveh] to the north the traveller finds a striking change. The flat terrrain gives way to undulating plains, with pasturage or cereal crop and scented with flowers and clover. The rolling plains are cut with wadis, aflow after rains, with higher ranges of hills on the horizon.

The Assyrian land is rich and fertile, with growing fields found in every region. Two large areas comprise the Assyrian breadbasket: the Arbel plain and the Nineveh plain. To this day these areas remain critical crop producers. This is from where Assyria derived her strength, as it could feed a large population of professionals and craftsman, which allowed it to expand and advance the art of civilization.

Assyrians have used two languages throughout their history: ancient Assyrian (Akkadian), and Modern Assyrian (neo-syriac). Akkadian was written with the cuneiform writing system, on clay tablets, and was in use from the beginning to about 750 B.C.. By 750 B.C., a new way of writing, on parchment, leather, or papyrus, was developed, and the people who brought this method of writing with them, the Arameans, would eventually see their language, Aramaic, supplant Ancient Assyrian because of the technological breakthrough in writing. Aramaic was made the second official language of the Assyrian empire in 752 B.C. Although Assyrians switched to Aramaic, it was not wholesale transplantation. The brand of Aramaic that Assyrians spoke was, and is, heavily infused with Akkadian words, so much so that scholars refer to it as Assyrian Aramaic.

In 1932, Sir Max Mallowan, the eminent British archaeologist, dug a deep sounding which reached virgin soil ninety feet below the top of the mound of Nineveh (Mosul); this gave a pottery sequence back to prehistoric times and showed that the site was already inhabited by 4000 B.C.. Very soon after that, the two other great Assyrian cities were settled, Ashur and Arbel, although an exact date has yet to be determined. Arbel is the oldest extant city, and remains largely unexcavated, its archaeological treasures waiting to be discovered. The same holds for Ashur. It is clear that by 2500 B.C., these three cities were well established and were thriving metropoli.

Some of our most basic and fundamental devices of daily survival originated in Assyria. It is in Assyria where locks and keys were first used. It is in Assyria that the sexagesimal system of keeping time was developed. It is in Assyria where paved roads were first used. And the list goes on, including the first postal system, the first use of iron, the first magnifying glasses, the first libraries, the first plumbing and flush toilets, the first electric batteries, the first guitars, the first aqueducts, the first arch etc.etc.

It is in Assyria that the story of the flood originates, 2000 years before the old testament is written. It is here that the first epic is written, the Epic of Gilgamesh, with its universal and timeless theme of the struggle and purpose of humanity. It is here that civilization itself is developed and handed down to future generations. It is here where the first steps in the cultural unification of the Middle East are taken by bringing under Assyrian rule the diverse groups in the area, from Iran to Egypt, breaking down ethnic and national barriers and preparing the way for the cultural unification which facilitated the subsequent spread of Hellenism and Christianity.ideas that would shape the world to come. The example, of imperial administration, of dividing the land into territories administered by local governors who report to the central authority, the King of Assyria. This fundamental model of administration can be seen in America's federal-state system.

The Golden Age: 33 A.D. to 1300 A.D.

Assyrians continued living in their homeland throughout this dark age, until that momentous moment in human history, when the Lord Son of God gave himself for the salvation of mankind. Very soon after the crucifixion, the bulk of the Assyrian population converted to Christianity, although there remained someAshurites, until 256 A.D. It was the Apostle Thomas, with Thaddeus and Bartholomew who came to the Assyrian city of Edessa and founded the Assyrian Church of the East, said by many to be the oldest church in the world.

Armed with the word of God, and after 600 years of dormancy, the Assyrians once again set out to build an empire founded on divine revelation and Christian brotherhood. So successful was the Assyrian missionary enterprise, by the end of the twelfth century the Assyrian Church was larger than the Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches combined, and it spanned the Asian continent, from Syria to Mongolia, Korea, China, Japan and the Philippines.

When Marco Polo visited China in the thirteenth century, he was astonished to find Assyrian priests in the Chinese royal court, and tens of thousands of Chinese Christians. The Assyrian missionaries had reached China in the sixth century. With only the bible, a cross, and a loaf of bread in hand, these messengers had walked thousands of miles along the old silk road to deliver the word of God. When Genghis Khan swept through Asia, he brought with him an army over half of which belonged to the Assyrian Church of the East. So successful were the missionaries, the first Mongolian system of writing used the Assyrian alphabet. In the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries they began a systematic translation of the Greek body of knowledge into Assyrian. At first they concentrated on the religious works but then quickly moved to science, philosophy and medicine. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Galen, and many others were translated into Assyrian, and from Assyrian into Arabic. It is these Arabic translations which the Moors brought with them into Spain, and which the Spaniards translated into Latin and spread throughout Europe, thus igniting the European renaissance.

By the sixth century A.D., Assyrians had begun exporting back to Byzantia their own works on science, philosophy and medicine. In the field of medicine, the Bakhteesho Assyrian family produced nine generations of physicians, and founded the great medical school at Gundeshapur. Also in the area of medicine, Hunayn ibn-Ishaq*s textbook on ophthalmology, written in 950 A.D., remained the authoritative source on the subject until 1800 A.D. In the area of philosophy, the Assyrian philosopher Job of Edessa developed a physical theory of the universe, in the Assyrian language, that rivaled Aristotle's theory, and that sought to replace matter with forces.

One of the greatest Assyrian achievements of the fourth century was the founding of the first University in the world. The School of Nisibis had three departments: theology, philosophy and medicine, and became a magnet and center of intellectual development in the Middle East. The statutes of the School of Nisibis, which have been preserved, later became the model upon which the first Italian university, The University of Bologna, which began as a law school in the Middle Ages, recently celebrated its ninth centennial. Founded in 1088 it is the oldest continuing institution of higher learning in the world. Among its alumni are Thomas Aquinas and Italy's most famous writers, Dante, Petrarch and Torquato Tasso. Part of the national system of higher education, the University is a large public institution with over 90,000 students.

When Arabs and Islam swept through the Middle East in 630 A.D., they encountered 600 years of Assyrian Christian civilization, with a rich heritage, a highly developed culture, and advanced learning institutions. It is this civilization which became the foundation of the Arab civilization.

The Assyrian missionary enterprise, which had been so successful throughout the Asian continent, came to an abrupt end with the coming of Timurlane the Mongol. The indiscriminate destruction leveled by Timurlane against the civilizations he encountered put to a permanent end the Assyrian missionary enterprise. A large segment of the Assyrian population escaped the ravages of Timurlane by fleeing into the Hakkary mountains (present day eastern Turkey); the remaining Assyrians continued to live in their homelands (presently North Iraq and Syria), and Urmi. The four Assyrian communities, over time, begin defining themselves in terms of their church affiliation. The western Assyrians, all of whom belonging to the Syrian Orthodox Church, began identifying themselves as "Jacobites". The remaining communities belonged to the Assyrian Church of the East. After the division of the Church of the East in 1550 A.D., the Chaldean Church of Babylon, a Roman Catholic Uniate, was created, and members of this church began to call themselves Chaldean. these three communities no longer saw themselves as one and the same.

The Assyrian people today stand at a crossroad. One third of is in a diaspora, while the remaining two-thirds lives perilously in its native lands. Although the Assyrian empire ended in 612 B.C., history is replete with recorded details of the continuous presence of the Assyrian people till the present time.

Mass emigration to the West and absorption into Western societies

World Assyrian Population . Iraq 1,500,000 .. France 20,000 ... Syria 700,000 .. Belgium 15,000 ... USA 400,000 Georgia 15,000 ... Sweden 120,000 .. Armenia 15,000 ...Lebanon 100,000 ... Switzerland 10,000 ...Brazil 80,000 Denmark 10,000 ... Germany 70,000... Russia 70,000 ...Iran 50,000 ... Jordan 44,000 ... Australia 30,000


 

 

History Link 101

The cultures of Africa, Aztec, China, Egypt, Greece, Mayan, Mesopotamia, Rome, Olmec, Prehistory, Middle Ages and World War II are divided into categories of Art, Biographies, Daily Life, Maps, Pictures and Research and more
CLICK HERE.

 

 

 

Lecture 1 Hy 101

 

1. Archeologist- studies remains left behind, artifacts

2. Anthropologist- anthro=man, studies remains of early “men”

3. Sociologist- studies social organization, exisiting societies

4. astrology- (astro=star) belief that stars one born under have direct effect upon persons

    A believer in astrology might be interested in reading his or her horoscope

5. Astronomy- science, study of movement of stars and planets, involves use of math in calculations of orbits, predicting solar and lunar eclipses.

Early peoples evidenced a greater knowledge and interest in astronomy

 

First calendar in use by early peoples was a Lunar Calendar.  A solar year =13 lunar years.

Methuselah (mentioned in Bible) is supposed to have lived 969 years.  The figure originally

given was incorrect.  Methuselah’s age, 969 years, is based on the Lunar Calendar.

 

Mesopotamia= ancient name for Iraq where first civilization(s) developed.

Means-Land of two rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates.

 

Garden of Eden supposed location at point where these two rivers intersect.  Now, except for

Vegetation along rive banks, is desert.

 

Problems in Historical accounts-

            (1) Bias – reporting from a particular viewpoint

            (2) Ignorance- not having enough information or knowledge to provide an accurate

                 account

 7. Divination- effort of early people to determine will of god(s) by examining (reading) the liver

     of an animal. 

 8. and 9.  Lex talonis and retribution both refer to law systems which make the punishment fit

the crime: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, etc.  Example the Hebrew (Jewish) Old Testament. 

 

Mesopotamian Law Codes modified the idea of retribution to provide for monetary compensation to victims.  Mesopotamian Cities were capitalist (money-business oriented)

An example is the Law Code of the Babylonian King Hammurabi dating from 18 centuries

BC (Before Christ)

 

10.  Prehistory- History before the existence of written records-more dependent upon archeology.

11. Paleolithic= Old Stone Age- begins at point man-like individuals seen as use stone tools.

      Originally thought to have begun around 500,000 years ago, the beginning date has been

      gradually extended backward to include earlier Hominids.

      The Paleolithic Period extends until the beginning of the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age)

      around 30,000 years ago.  Lithic=stone

12. Hominid- means like man.  Early hominids differ from primates (monkeys and apes) in their

      ability to walk upright (not merely stand on two feet).  This ability to walk on two feet is

      based on a slight difference in the pelvic bone.  Hominids were not noted for their large

      brains.  They were small, slightly larger than chimpanzees.  Several different types of

      hominids which lived two to four million years ago were found in Tanzania, Africa by

      the Leakeys, British anthropologists.

13. Out of Africa- refers to the theory held by many anthropologist that mankind originated in

     Africa and migrated from Africa into Europe and Asia.

14. and 15.  The Leakeys are identified in #12.

17. Carbon Dating-measuring how much carbon atoms in a specimen of organic material

has decayed.  Organic material =remains of plants and animals that have lived, comprised of

Carbon, Hydrogen and Oxygen compounds.

18. Fire first used by Homo Erectus (man) during the Paleolithic age 500,000 years ago,

19  First domesticated animal=dog (from wolf), hunting companion during Mesolithic Period,

      Around 30,000 BC, possibly before.

20  Homo Erectus- early man, means Erect Man, stood erect, approximate size that of modern man, accomplished hunter, but brain size suggests that he mentally was equal to a nine year old child in terms of his reasoning ability.  His species continued to exist on several islands in the

Pacific until 14,000 BC before dying out.  He was also called Java man (after the island of Java

where he was found) and Peking (China) man.

21. “survival of the fittest”    idea that individuals that have characteristics (abilities) which

make it possible for them to survive and produce offspring will survive and produce offspring

while those who do not-will not, will become extinct.  A number of species have become extinct

because they could not adapt to changing conditions such as loss of habitat.  This idea is found

in Charles Darwin’s On the Survival of the Species.

22. Charles Darwin- 19th. century British biologist/scientist and author of On the Survival of the

Species.  He described different species which survived on the Galapagos Islands off the coast of

Ecuador, South America by virtue of their possessing certain characteristics that enabled them to

survive.  Darwin is associated with the Theory of Evolution, that species evolve and develop,

those which are successful being those which have or develop characteristics that enable them to

survive.  He never directly stated that mankind developed from apes, although he noted similarities between apes (primates) and men.

24. Homo sapien- term meaning Knowing man.  We are Homo sapiens; some like to refer to us

As Homo sapien sapien in order to suggest that we are somehow superior to other Homo sapiens.

25. Neanderthal man- existed in Europe 100,000 years ago.  A Homo sapien (true man).

His remains were first found in a cave in Neanderthal, Germany, hence his name-Neanderthal.

He was shorter and not as attractive as Cro Magnon man and many anthropologists claim he

became extinct around 30,000 years ago and is not an ancestor of modern man.

You will need to copy Notes on Neanderthal man from this web site to answer questions on

Neanderthal man.

25. The adjective Neanderthal has come to mean, ugly, stupid (subject of a recent Geico Auto Commercial which states that it, getting Geico Insurance, is so easy a caveman (Neanderthal) can do it.

26. See notes on Neanderthal

27. Cro Magnon Man- Homo sapien, found in CroMagnon Cave, France.  Lived at same time as

Neanderthal.  Modern man is described as a modern CroMagnon.  You could dress him up in

modern clothes and have him walk down the street and no one would notice his being different.

28. See notes on Neanderthal

29. Info. on child of with mixed Neanderthal and CroMagnon characteristics who died at the age of approximately 4, found buried in Portugal (Europe) found in notes (link) on Neanderthals.  This is listed as one of several proofs that Neanderthal and CroMagnon were the same species and could and did produce offspring, that Neanderthal mixed with CroMagnon and present population of mankind has Neanderthal genes and is descended from both.

30. Religious practices of Neanderthal suggest a belief in an afterlife, life after physical death in this world.  He buried dead with food and tools and flowers.

31. Humanitarian behavior- old, arthritic individual found in cave.  The individual a man, was

crippled, bone formation showed he had existed in this state for a long period of time and to have survived would have had to been fed by his companions.  American Indians were not so kind.

Old and useless members of the tribe were abandoned after performance of death rituals to await

Death.

32. Oldest musical instrument- a flute made out of bone, more than 30,000 years old, by Neanderthal man.

33. Symbolic Magic-practiced by CroMagnon man who painted the animals who wanted to control by painting them on sides of the caves he inhabited.  He wanted to control predators whom he feared (giant cats and bears) because they might attack him and also wanted to control,

catch, those he ate.  Favorite prey: bison (cattle) and especially horses.  He seems to have believed that by painting an animal, you captured its spirit.  American Indians in the past have

refused to allow themselves to be photographed or painted because they believed that those who

wanted to photograph or paint them were trying to capture their spirits.

34. Altamira-Spain, Lascaux and Chauvet in France are caves inhabited by CroMagnon man where examples of cave paintings are found (symbolic magic)

35. Europeans described the part of Asia nearest to them in Europe as the

Near East=Western Asia: Turkey, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, + what is now Israel

Mid-East-further East  Would include Iran (Persia), Afghanistan

Far East- China, India (lands bordering Pacific Ocean in the East

36. See problems in Historical accounts (after #5)

37. Mistook saddle horn piece shaped similar to a penis for a phallic symbol and assumed

that Assyrians were obsessed sex and failed to realize Assyrian armies had many men on

horseback who had saddles with saddlehornes.

39. Megaliths- large stones: circles such as Stonehenge, passage tombs, dolmens, all created during the Stone Age by pre-Agricultural groups in Europe, some in North Africa.

All evidenced on the part of the builders an extraordinary knowledge of astronomy and required builders to use levers and pulleys to move stone weighing many tons long distances from quarry to sites where they placed them.  Period of construction: 5,000 BC

to 1,400 BC.  Stonehenge served as a celestial (sky) calendar which marked the phases of

the moon and the sun: its solstices such the summer solstice=longest day on June 21 and

the winter solstice on December 21st=shortest day.  Stonehenge, which is probably the most

famous, is located an hour’s travel by train from London, England.

 41. Neolithic Revolution-  Neolithic=New Stone Age.  Represented a change in lives of men as a

      Consequence of discovery and development of agriculture (bread crops) + developed animal

      husbandry (domestic animals for meat and wool). 

      a. guaranteed food supply allowed larger populations to settle and live in one place

      b. provided man with more leisure time to make discoveries, improve the conditions of his

          life. 

      c. growth of villages, with specialized labor =specialization, brick maker made bricks,

          weavers wove cloth, potters made pots and jugs, soldiers defended town,

      d.  Significance: made development of civilization possible

           Cities and organized societies developed from villages as population, products and trade

           Grew

     When: 10,000 BC -  First in Mesopotamia, Turkey, Egypt

      Later in Europe- 4,000 BC

43. Types of pottery and baskets, their design, helped archeologist identify where something was

      Produced.  If two groups made same pottery, it was reasonable to assume a relationship

      existed between the two group.  If a pot made it Syria turned up in Iran, it was reasonable to

      suppose some contact (possibly trade) existed between those in Syria who made the pot and

      those in Iran who came to possess it.

44. Relic- a piece of anything which remains.  Sometimes also called artifacts.

45. and 46.  Catal Huyak in Turkey and Jerico in Palestine are well known examples of

Neolithic Villages which were much studied by archeologists.

48. Nomad- someone who travels, go from place to place.  Best example of a nomadic people=

      The Hebrews (Jews) who lived in tents, moved with their animals.

48. Other examples of nomads: Early man –hunters and gatherers who moved from place to

      Place following the animals they hunted.

49. Bronze= first metal used by men, an alloy created by melting tin and copper together.

      Was too soft, softer than later iron.

50. The Bronze Age began around 4,000 BC in Mesopotamia.

51.  Notes re. the Otzi=Iceman are found in Notes entitled the Iceman: Anthropologists

       Studied the mummified (frozen) body of this man who died in Alps Mountains in

       Europe on border of Italy and Austria.  His body, clothes and weapons provide us

       with valuable information regarding how Neolithic individuals lived in Western

       Europe 3,000 years before Christ.  He knew how to smelt copper and used snow shoes

       (see text pages 7-8)..

52. Purpose religion –sought support power outside source –protection/ help solution problems

     individual could not solve for himself by natural means (science).  An example might be

     help with an illness.  Primitive societies with less scientific knowledge more likely to seek

     non-scientific aid provided by religion.

53. Belief of primitive societies that anima (spirits) existed, could cause illness, accidents.

54. Treatment of disease in such societies would include appeasing (pleasing) spirits or using

      spells to drive them out of the body of an ill person.

55. Two types of problem solving: scientific-natural solutions or religious supernatural solutions.

 57.  Kennewick man- found in Washington State, Columbia River.  Lived more than 9,000 years

       ago.   Was determined to have not been related to American Indians, but a member of the

       White Race.  His existence and several other individuals found on North American continent

        Are clearly members of the white race who were raises question whether American Indians

        were the the first people to live in America.  Indian tribes living in the area wanted to

        prevent anthropologists from examining remains of Kennewick man; they claim he was  their ancient relative and claimed the right to bury him under the terms of the Native American

Graves and Repatriation Acts which was intended to protect Indian burial sites.

Problem: There appears to have been a non-Indian population here co-existing with that of

American Indians which was either exterminated by Indians or conquered by Indians with some of the survivors producing offspring with Indian partners,  that such offspring with subsequent unions with pure Indians would be mostly Indian and not identifiable as having white characteristics.

 

Second problem:  original theory that Indians entered America by walking across 25 mile strip of Ice (the Bering Strait) that separated Alaska from Siberia in Russia during the Ice Age, around 25,000 years ago does not fit with chronology.  Indians have been living in southern part of South America longer 40 to 50,000 years ago.  Bering Strait (water passage northern Pacific between Alaska and Siberia) today is a  Strait, water.

 

58. A tribe=a group of related individuals claiming descent from a common ancestor

      The Hebrews are an example, composed of 12 sub-tribes, all of whom claimed descent from

      A single individual, Abraham.

59. A Tribal god is a god which belongs to one tribal group and is interested only in them.

      The enemies of the tribal group are the tribal god’s enemies.  His function is to help and

      protect his chosen people, his tribal group, as long as they please him by doing what he

      wants.  If he is pleased, he will eliminate the tribal group’s enemies and give the tribal

      group the land of its enemies.

      Example: the god of the Hebrews (Jews in the Old Testament)

      He protected them and killed their enemies

      He promised them The Promised Land, land in Palestine belonging to the Canaanites.

      He withdrew his protection and aid and caused them to suffer whenever they

      disobeyed Him  or His representatives, the priests.

60. A Universal God, a god who is interested in ALL men, a god who loves and helps all of

      those who choose to follow Him, offering the gift of salvation.  Example: The Christian

     God. 

      The Jews refused to accept Jesus Christ because he said that all men who followed Him

     had a place in His father’s house.  Some of you may remember that Jesus was involved in a

     conflict with Jewish leaders, referred to as Pharisees, who insisted that it was more important

     to follow rules such as no work on the Sabbath and refused to accept Jesus.

 61. monotheism-  the worship of one only one god. 

62. polytheism       the worship of many gods

63. polygamy         having more than one wife

64. monogamy     having only one wife/husband

65  patriarchal      a society dominated by men, typical of early societies

66  matriarchal     a society dominated by women

67  anthropomorphic – having the body (and nature) of men.  This term certainly does not describe Egyptian gods which had the bodies and heads of various animals, although it can be

argued that some of these gods behaved like humans by becoming angry, being greedy, etc.

68. city-states- the unit of government of ancient Mesopotamia while it was ruled by the

      Sumerians who created the first civilization (based on cities-civilization) in Mesopotamia,

      now Iraq.  Each city state was independent of others; later under the Akkadians

      (called Old Babylonians) the cities were unified into a kingdom and under the later

     Assyrians the Mesopotamian cities became cities in an empire.

     A Democratic feature of city states during the Sumerian period was that the important

    Citizens of the community elected a council that served as advisors to the ruler.

Sumeria - the dawn of civilization;

We now know the Sumerians first appeared about 4800 B.C. at a place called Al-Ubaid. In Mesopotamia (Iraq) During the next few centuries they established other cities primarily along the southern half of the Mesopotamian river system. They were not indigenous: from where they originated is debated by scholars. What is known is that they were a tremendously gifted and imaginative people. Their language, linguistically related to no other, ancient or modern, is preserved for us through the thousands of clay tablets on which they inscribed and developed the first writing as yet known to man. Fortunately, the Sumerians were prolific writers and meticulous record- keepers: these tablets richly describe their existence. With the invention of writing the simple village life could evolve into complex civilization. They developed schools for an educated elite and for the many scribes who were needed for all the record-keeping and letter-writing they liked to do. Not only business records were written down but also the first numbers, calendars, literature, laws, agricultural methods, pharmacopoeias, personal notes, maps, jokes, curses, religious practices, and thousands of lists and inventories of all manner of human interests.

 

These cuneiform tablets show the Sumerians established great city states at Ur and elsewhere, absorbing the indigenous peoples and extending their influence beyond Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean Coast, the Arabian Peninsula, to Egypt, and India. Theirs was an urban civilization in which architects were familiar with all the basic architectural principles known to us today, the artist possessed the highest skills and standards of excellence, and the metal worker had a knowledge of metallurgy and technical skill which few ancient people ever rivaled. The merchant carried on a far-flung trade facilitated by the development of the wheel and axle and the sail-driven boat. The armed forces were well organized and victorious. Agriculture was productive and prosperous. Indeed, the great wealth accumulated by their civilization enabled the Sumerians to live in relative luxury for some 2000 years or more.
The various city states which comprised the Sumerian civilization continued to rise and fall in influence during these two millennia. Ur, Lagash, Kish, Eridu, Lar Sa, Babylon, Uruk, and others - each ruled by a king‹were in constant conflict, and their dominion over each other and over surrounding peoples shifted as often as the course of the rivers along side which their cities were built. Before Men came, Mesopotamia was a lifeless awirl of air, water and mist. At least, that is what legend says, and we do not know any better. Up to the thrid millennium B.C., the history of Ancient Iraq is elusive. Did civilized Man appear there six thousand years ago, or seven thousand? That far back in time, even the experts allow themselves a few centuries of doubt this way or that.

Human civilization was born with Sumerians who, at the beginning of the fifth millenium B.C., started building the first cities in the alluvial plains of Mesopotamia, in what is now modern Iraq. Their way of life gave birth to a social organization whose consequence was a mature form of art.
Their statuettes confirm this maturity:The  excavations of Ur and of Uruk dating back  to the fourth millenium B.C. have yields numerous examples Together with Eridu, Ur and Uruk were the principal Sumerian cities. The Bible also reminds us of them: Ur in particular because it was Abraham's native land.

The Sumerians (not the much later Greeks) were the first to use geometry.  Their law code dealt with modern problems such as consumer protection, medical malpractice, fees charged by medical doctors, regulated interest rates, and water sharing.  The later and better known Code of Hammurabi (18 centuries BC) promulgated by the Akkadian ruler of Babylon is a reproduction of an earlier Sumerian Law Code.

Lecture 3

IV. Egyptian Civilization: Isolation/ Loss of Knowledge that during period of Old Kingdom

Allowed building of pyramids.

  • A.     Relied on Natural Barriers of deserts in west, east, south, Mediterranean Sea (water) to the north to protect them, the Egyptian Civilization declined from  2,500 BC-300 BC
  • B.     Egypt was compared by one historian to a machine which was operated by machine operators who had machine and could operate it as long as it ran, but did not know how to

fix the machine and were incapable of producing another machine or making any improvement to the machinery they had inherited from the Old Kingdom.

  • C.     Hyksos-  Semites from Syria, took control of Egypt 1700 BC as fifteenth dynasty
    • ·        Responsible for 200 year Renaissance, reawakening which lasted only as long as the Hyksos lasted.  Afterward it was the same old, same old on the part of native rulers.
    • ·        Hyksos brought and introduced first:
      • v     Horses
      • v     Bronze metal
      • v     Composite bow

 

 Perhaps one of the greatest contributions of the Hyksos was the preservation of famous Egyptians documents, both literary and scientific.  During the reign of Apophis, the fifth king of “the Great Hyksos,” scribes were commissioned to recopy Egyptian texts so that they would not be lost.  One such text was the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus.  This unique text, dating from about 3,000 BC, gives a clear perspective of the human body as studied by the Egyptians, with details of specific clinical cases, examinations, and prognosis. 

  • v     This medical text is similar in many respects to a medical text written on more than 100 tablets which are written in Sumerian and were found in the Great Library of the City of Nineveh.
  • v     Egyptians of the Old Kingdom were more advanced than those of later periods
  • v     The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus contains instructions how to retrieve pressure on the brain by drilling holes and there is evidence that many patients on which this procedure was performed actually survived.  An examination of skulls of a number of individuals show signs of the incisions around holes in skull having healed. This is no evidence that Mesopotamian surgeons performed this procedure.

 

The Westcar Papyrus preserved the only known version of an ancient Egyptian story that may have otherwise been lost.  Other restored documents include the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, the most important mathematical exposition ever found in Egypt. 

 

2. Final decline of Egyptian Civilization is related to the fall of Nineveh (the Assyrian Empire) in

612 BC.

a. Assyrians had been allied with and were protectors of Egyptians who paid taxes to Assyrian king and contributed soldiers to his army.

b. Fall of Assyrian Empire left Egypt unprotected, opened the way for invasion of Egypt by African tribesmen from Lydia from the west and from Sudan from the south.

c. The Chaldeans who had succeeded the Assyrians as Chaldean Empire did not attempt to take control of Egypt.

IV. B. Observations made in lecture regarding Egyptians:

            1. Pharaohs married their sisters.  The pharaoh could have numerous concubines in his

                Harem, but his heir had to be the son of a sister.

            2. Egypt declined during its long history 3,000-300 BC

            3. Pyramids built during Old Kingdom by free seasonal laborers, not slaves.  The farmers

                were farmers eight months out of every year.  They worked as contract laborers for the

                other four months during their off season.  Extensive records exist for labor

encampments around pyramid sites; these sites also have been surveyed by archeologists.  Sometimes the entire family came to work during the off season where they lived together in family units, but appear to have eaten in large dinning halls.

 

V. Difference Between Egyptian Civilization and those of Mesopotamia

 

  • A.     Each group which entered Mesopotamia added to knowledge and accomplishments of

those who preceded them

    

  • B.     Accomplishments of Assyrians and Neo-Babylonians have not been fully appreciated by

Historians:

    • §         Little known.  Great Library at Nineveh (clay tablets) not unearthed by archeologists until the first quarter of the 20th. century
    • §         More known about Greeks who came afterward and left prolific written record

1.Greeks came into contact Mesopotamia through direct contact with Babylonian

   Scientists and astronomers.

2. Greeks took knowledge gained from Mesopotamian Aramaic sources and transmitted and added to it.

3. Greeks acted as a bridge through which knowledge passed from western Asia,

    Near East, into eastern Europe.

  • C.     Concepts of what Assyrians and Neo-Babylonians (Chaldeans) were like were influenced by their enemies. 
        • 1.      Hebrew (Jewish Bible) described them as violent, cruel, sinful
        • 2.      They were sinful because they did not accept the authority of 

the priests of Yahweh/God

  • D.     It has been wrongly assumed that neither Assyrians, nor Neo-Babylonian were capable of

using scientific method and math to solve problem because of what their enemies said about them and because what they had accomplished was hidden underground.

   

  • E.      It was assumed that they were incapable of providing:

1           .A Naturalistic Explanation of phenomena:  An explanation that provides a natural (scientific) explanation for events and phenomena that exist as opposed to a superstitious explanation based on gods or supernatural forces.

 

 

   

 

 2.              . Mesopotamian mathematics

  • ·        http://it.stlawu.edu/~dmelvill/mesomath/   this is source for mathematical accomplishments of Mesopotamian civilizations beginning with Sumerians and continuing with Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian.
  • ·        Pythagoras and theorem (geometry) credited to this Greek mathematician is shown to have been in use in Mesopotamia  a thousand years before it was

“rediscovered” by Pythagoras.

 

 

 

    

  • F.      The mathematician Richard Hooker questions claims made regarding Assyrians:

Assyrian Science and Math

The odd paradox of Assyrian culture was the dramatic growth in science and mathematics; this can not be explained by the Assyrian obsession with war and invasion. Among the great mathematical inventions of the Assyrians were the division of the circle into 360 degrees and were among the first to invent longitude and latitude in geographical navigation. They also developed a sophisticated medical science which greatly influenced medical science as far away as Greece.  (Richard Hooker)  Hooker is raising question whether description made of Assyrians is accurate.

VI.              BIBLE EVENTS WHICH RESEMBLE EARLIER ACCOUNTS FOUND IN MESOPOTAMIAN SOURCES:

·        Creation of the World-- In Bible Book of Genesis like earlier Sumerian account

·        Great Flood- Sumerian account in Poem of Gilgamesh

·        Upnapistim -  Sumerian Noah, instructed to build boat, preserve animals, survives

·        Book of Job- Suffering of a righteous man Bible, earlier Old Babylonian account

·        Sargon I,  who became an Akkadian ruler, found floating in river in basket by a shepherd = Akkadian Moses.  Moses found floating in basket by pharaoh’s daughter.  Different rivers.

·        Jonah, a historical figure.  Sent to Nineveh to preach to Assyrians, the reluctant Jonah is welcomed by the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal.

1.      hill behind site of city of Nineveh where Jonah lived, called hill of Jonah. He established a temple of worship there.

2.      hill now the site of a Muslim mosque

VII.            Hebrews and Early Christianity

1.. Hebrews     a nomadic group of herdsmen who originated in Mesopotamia 2,000 BC

2. Abraham- lives in Mesopotamia- ancestor of all Jewish tribes through his son Isaac and according to Bible of Ishmael, the ancestor of all Arabs by a different wife

 

. 3. Hebrew

·         Also called Jews

·        Hebrew also refers to language spoken by first Jews which later was replaced by Aramaic.  Jews spoke Aramaic at the time of Christ.

·        Hebrew language being learned by Jews living in nation of Israel created in 1948 as a Jewish Homeland out of country of Palestine.

           4. A Tribal god- a god or God who is interested in only one group of people

v     Example Hebrew god called Yahweh by Hebrews

5.      The Covenant- a contract or agreement between Yahweh and his Chosen People, the Jews (Hebrews)

v     He will help the Hebrews and  protect them if they obey him/ his priests

1.       He will destroy the Hebrews’ enemies

2.       He will give his Chosen People the land of the Canaanites who are not His Chosen People because He is not their God; He is the God of the Hebrews.

·        If they disobey Him, he will allow their enemies to conquer them

v     Assyrians and Chaldeans (Neo-Babylonians) are allowed to conquer them in order to punish them.

v     Assyrians are referred to as “the Sword of God which punishes” for this reason

v     He punishes by bringing pestilences against them

v     He causes them and their children to die

v     He destroys their towns

v     He kills their animals

v     He will kill them and their children

v     He will cause storms, bring pestilences He will destroy their cattle and sheep, and destroy town by turning them to ash as He did in the case of Sodom and Gomorra, etc.

 

6.      Nature of Yahweh- He is a “wrathful” (angry with the Jews if they disobey Him and also angry with the Hebrews’ enemies).  The punishments He inflicts are horrible

7.      Control over Kingdom of Judea by priest based on Fear of Consequences if they disobeyed God-Yahweh and also the horrible things He would do to their enemies:  Leadership of Judea –priests, government a theocracy (defined elsewhere)

  • 8.      To maintain their control over people priests did the following:
    • v     portrayed all other peoples as evil, ungodly
    • v     for a Jew to associate with or to marry non-Jews would damn them in Yahweh’s eyes.  They would cease to be Yahweh’s chosen, under his protection.  Children would be considered Jewish only if their mother was a Jewish woman.
    • v     emphasized horrible things which would happen to their enemies (or had

happened):  The following is quoted from 8th. ed. of text: Western Civilization (large ed) quoting of Bible: 2nd. Isaiah:

Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.  Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mother, With their faces to the ground THEY SHALL BOW DOWN TO YOU, AND LICK THE DUST OF YOUR FEET. 

 

Then you will know that I am the Lord; those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.  Can the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of the tyrant rescued?  Surely, thus says the Lord: Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken and the prey of the tyrant rescued, for I will contend with those who contend with you and I will save your children.

 

I WILL MAKE YOUR OPPRESSORS EAT THEIR OWN FLESH, AND THEY SHALL BE DRUNK WITH THEIR OWN BLOOD AS WITH WINE.

THEN ALL FLESH SHALL KNOW THAT I AM THE LORD YOUR SAVIOR…

 

  • 9.      Josiah- Hebrew King of Judea who caused Bible to be written in Aramaic six hundred years before the birth of Christ.  
  • a)      Books originally written in Hebrew: Genesis, Leviticus, Numbers 1 & 2 and Deuteronomy were corrected and translated into Aramaic.
  • b)      Problems:
      • 1.      Book of Nahum which predicts the destruction of Nineveh is written after the destruction of Nineveh
      • 2.      Abraham is describes in Josiah’s Genesis as having come from “Ur of the Chaldees.”  The Chaldeans were not in Mesopotamia before the Nineveh’s was destroyed in 612 BC.  They came into Mesopotamia with the Medes and the Chaldeans stayed after the

fall of Nineveh to make Babylon their capital.

 

  • 10.  Hebrew Bible- also called Old Testament and the Torah by the Jews themselves
  • 11.  Passover- (Pesach) celebrates Biblical event: the coming of the Angel of Death to kill the First-born of all Egyptians.  The Jews, who mark their doors with lambs’ blood, are Passed over by the Angel of Death, and  are, thus, spared and  able to leave Egypt

.

  • 12.  Moses- is Biblical hero who leads liberates Yahweh’s Chosen People from slavery in

Egypt helped by Yahweh (God). 

  • 13.  Zion- Hebrew term for the Promised Land promised them by Yahweh/God
  • 14.  Canaanites-people who live in Promised Land.  The Bible recounts how they are overcome with Yahweh’s help and the Hebrews get their Zion, Promised Land.
  • 15.   Solomon, Biblical King, who is described as ruling “the Kingdom of Israel.”
          • a.       His capital is Jerusalem
          • b.      He is supposed to have built Temple there
          • c.       He is noted in Bible for his wisdom
          • d.      Estimated time of rule 1,000 BC
  • 16.  Biblical account: After the death of Solomon Israel divides into two nations:
          • a.       Judea (also called Judah) –capital= Jerusalem/ two of twelve original tribes
          • b.      Israel- capital= Samaria, l0 tribes

                 Israel angered over expenditure of Solomon/ large harem

 

                 Judea- priesthood angry with Israel because: it engaged in traded with others/

                 because Israel disinclined to accept authority of priesthood Jerusalem (temple)

                 because Israel did not follow all of dietary and Sabbath laws as strictly as they did

 

  • v     Jesus had a similar problem with regard to his and disciples observing the Sabbath.

 

  • 17.  Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) commercial- ten tribes
          • a.       conquered in 722 AD by Assyrians (their king had allied himself with Phoenicians from Lebanon against the Assyrians).
          • b.      Biblical account suggests that Samaritans of Kingdom of Israel cease to exist
          • c.       Only a small number, leaders who were considered trouble makers, were carried back to Mesopotamia by Assyrians and resettled there.
          • d.      Note: Jesus story of Good Samaritan.  The Samaritans still lived there; Jesus was making point he considered Samaritans to be good people, worthy of God’s attention.  They were still Samaritans at the time of Christ.

      18. Ten Lost Tribes-   claim that people of Israel (Samaria) became lost. 

            a. Lost to Jewish faith?  Converted later to Christianity to become ancestors of Christian

                Palestinians in area.

            b. Lost to Jewish faith? in Mesopotamia which many refused to leave when they later had

                a choice, had been successful, had homes, families etc.

      19.  Babylonian Captivity- 586 BC-539 BC  leaders of Judah carried off to Babylon by Chaldeans; the actual numbers carried off are exaggerated since population on site of Jerusalem continues and records of Neo- Babylonians indicate amount of food in terms of rations provided for captives.

      20.  See Persians-King Cyrus for return to Jerusalem in Dictionary notes.

      21.  Universal God-            A God who is interested in all Mankind

  • v     Jesus offered salvation to whosoever shall follow me. 
  • v     Paul carried message to Greek speakers of a loving God who cared about all men:

Message: God is love; he wants us to love one another.

22. Zionist- a Jewish nationalist.  Also called Zealots.  They rejected Jesus because he refused to be a political Messiah (savior) who got rid of the Roman rulers:  Jesus had insisted that “ My kingdom is not of this world.”  In my Father’s house there are many

Mansions (in heaven, not here) and had demonstrated that he was indifferent to whether Jews paid taxes to Rome when he stated: “Render (give) unto Caesar (the Roman ruler) what is Caesar’s.  The issue under discussion was Roman money.

 

23. Barabbas – Zionist whom priests preferred to save from crucifixion, and have Jesus crucified

 

24. Statement in text that in 70 AD (c.e) Romans destroyed temple in Jerusalem. 

      a. it should be noted that there was a Civil War taking place in the province of Judea

      b. Zealots were killing Jews who refused to support them and also those who converted

          Christianity

     c.  Jesus’ brother James was murdered by Zealots in 69 AD

     d.  The Romans contributed to problem by an actual refusal to interfere; instead of troubling sending in large numbers of soldiers to maintain order and stop the killing and let persons living in Judea continue Civil War and intervened only when they were forced to do so by escalating violence. 

    e.  It is not clear who destroyed, burned the temple.  It was a wooden structure.

25. Jerusalem at the time of Christ did not qualify as a city; it had a very small population,

only a couple thousand.

 

26. Diaspora- Forced exodus of/ dispersal of Jews from Judea.  Judea had difficulty keeping any population because the opportunities were elsewhere in the Roman Empire.  Large numbers of persons from Judea, Jewish and Christianity, moved voluntarily to other parts of

the Roman Empire, especially to commercial centers in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire.

 

27.    Monotheism is not uniformly practiced until after return from Babylonian

Captivity five centuries before Christ.  Monotheism  represents an ideal  that the priesthood wishes to maintain in spite of  frequent conflict priests (rules) and people.  Yahweh was worshipped with a female counterpart, Ashera.  The priests of the Kingdom of Judah stoned offenders to death for maintaining shrines dedicated to Ashera, the helper of women.  It also stoned women to death for adultery  Figure shown in text with two heads (page 7) is thought by some to be a Neolithic representation of  Ashera with her Yahweh who were supposed to have been joined together, she being Yahweh’s feminine helper and the helper of women in general.

 28.Problems with Historiography (History Writing)  Jewish archeologists in Israel (University of Tel Aviv) have found no collaboration for Biblical account that Israelites were captives in Egypt, nothing to substantiate the Passover occurred.  Similar problems have been found with the area around Jerusalem which was largely unpopulated at the time Solomon is believed to have constructed the Temple.

 VIII.         Zoroaster/ Religion of Persian

         A. Text pages 24-25

         Zoroasterian Religion

  • 1.      Founder called Zoroaster by Greeks
  • 2.      Actual name Zarathrusta
  • 3.      Claimed as first monotheistic religion
  • 4.      Existed before 500 BC, return of Hebrews from Babylon
  • 5.      Religion of Persia and of Cyrus the Great who conquered

 Babylon

  • 6.      Exact dates for Zarathrustra unavailable
  • 7.      God=Ahura-Mazda (good associated with light)
  • 8.      Involved in conflict with Satan=Ahriman

(bad =darkness, absence of light)

  • 9.      Held promise of afterlife=heaven, for those who were

Good

  • 10.  Bad went to hell
  • 11.  At the end of the world, Satan, Ahriman would be thrown

into a pit.  End of the world included resurrection of souls of dead.

 

     #s 7,8,9,10, and 11. similar to later Christinaity.

  • 12.  Three Wisemen, according to Christian tradition were Zoroasterians

who came to Bethleham following star, supernatural astrological sign.

          Mithras:  Ahura Mazda’s son.  Perhaps, originally a Persian sun-god who was given the qualities of other pagan gods by Romans who worshipped Mithras, Mitras resembled Jesus:

  • 1.      only  son of Ahura-Mazda (God)
  • 2.      born of a Virgin
  • 3.      celibate (no sexual  relationship with a woman)
  • 4.      baptized (Jesus baptized by John the Baptist)
  • 5.      followers saved by his sacrificial blood and partook of a supper in

which followers consumed bread marked by a cross and wine representing

his blood  (similar to Holy Communion)

  • 6.      Had church services on Sunday, not on Jewish Sabbath=Saturday
  • 7.      Celebrated  birthday of Mithras on December 25
  • 8.      worshippers called each other Brother and leaders were called Father
  • 9.      Symbol of Father was a shepherd’s staff, hooked sword, ring and red hat.

          Churchmen in Roman Catholic Church  adopted ring to represent their union with Christ, religious pilgrims the shepherd’s crooked staff or walking stick and the Cardinals,

The high ranking officials of the Roman Catholic church who chose the pope (head of

Church) wore red hats.Roman Mithras was, perhaps, the greatest rival to early Christianity for many reasons. As well as being a popular pagan religion practiced by the Roman Army, Mithraism had many similarities to Christianity. Mithras was born of a virgin, remained celibate, his worship involving baptism, the partaking of bread marked with a cross and wine as sacrificial blood, held Sundays sacred and Mithras was born on 25th of December. Mithraist called themselves 'brother' and were led by a priest called 'father' (Pater). The symbol of the father were a staff, a hooked sword, a ring and hat.

 

These similarities frightened the early Christian leaders - that almost 500 years before arrival of Christ all of the Christian mysteries were already known. To combat this, Christian witters said that the Devil knew of the coming of Christ in advance and had imitated them before they existed in order to denigrate them. As Christianity gained strength and became the formal religion of the Roman Empire, the 'Cult of Mithras' was one of the first pagan cults to come under attack in the fifth century; Temples of Mithras, like most other pagan Temples, were destroyed and Churches build on them.

SEE Lecture Series

This region is going to be Notes and materials from History 101 courses taught by myself, Linda Shabo

.Lectures 1 and 2

  1. German tribes which settled within the Roman Empire  (Map page 198)
  2. Byzantine Empire (Eastern Half of Roman Empire)  until 1453
  3. Justinian and Theodora:  Pages 200 ff.  His Code of Law
  4. Hagia Sophia  (Holy Wisdom) at Constantinople
  5. Icons (religious pictures and figures)
  6. Iconoclasts   (clast=those against icons)

 Iconoclasts= Jews, followers of Islam, and some within Byzantine Empire

  1. The Empress Irene blinded son Leo because he was a iconoclast in order to prevent him from ruling Byzantine Empire in 9th century and doing away with icons.
  2. Heretic- anyone who had wrong, incorrect religious belief; heresy =an incorrect religious belief.  Example Arianism (belief of Visigoths and other Germans who had been converted to Christianity before Franks).  Arianism: belief that in Trinity the father was superior to the Son and Holy Ghost.
  3. Islam (Text pages 206-208)
    1. People of Book who worshipped same God: Jews, Islam and Christians.
    2. Followers of Islam prohibited from forcing Jews and Christians as People of Book to Islam. 
    3. Jews and Christians were allowed their own religion as long as they paid taxes and did not proselyte (preach and try to convert others to their religion)
    4. Mohammed
  1. last prophet sent by God=Allah
  2. Accepted Jesus and Jewish prophets (Old and New Testaments)
  3. Unlike Christians, did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God; he was, instead, one in a long line of prophets sent by God.

4.   622 A.D. (Christian calendar) year 0 in calendar of Islam; their calendar
begins in 622 A.D., year 0, with Hegira=Mohammed’s flight to Medina from
Mecca.
5.   Like Jews prohibited eating of pork
6.   Islam and Christians did not kill and sacrifice animals; Orthodox Jews did
7.   Kosher=clean.  Foods prepared to be eaten according to religious rules common to both Judaism and Islam had to be “kosher.”  It requires that animals be drained of blood while still alive.  This has been criticized by ASPCA and has since been abandoned by followers of Islam in Britain.
8.  Different Holy Days-Sabbath: Jew=Saturday, Islam=Friday, Christian=Sunday.
9. Religious duties of follower of Islam:  pray five times a day facing Mecca,
give money (alms) to the poor, avoid alcoholic beverages, make a pilgrimage one time during lifetime to Mecca, fast during day for month of Ramadan.

  10.   Caliph -   political and religious leader.  The Abbasid Caliph became a religious leader without  political  power to enforce his will on followers of religion of Islam after Seljuk Turks conquered Baghdad in 1055.  The Seljuk Turks who were followers of Islam did not want to do away with Caliphs as a religious leaders
11.  Shi’A  (pronounced She AH), a division of Islam  (see text page 206)
12.  Charles Martel, Frankish leader (grandfather of  Emperor Charlemagne) who defeated Muslims who crossed Pyrenees Mountains from Spain.  Battle of Tours (also called Poitiers) in 732 A.D. in southern France.  This battle determined that France would remain a Christian country, stopped spread of Islam north of Spain.
13. Visigothic Spain-  Spain ruled by Visigoths (a German tribe).  Christian kings of Spain descendants of Visigothic kings. 
14.  Moorish Conquest of Spain-fall of Visigothic kingdom to Moors (Muslim Arabs) who crossed from North Africa (Gibraltar) in 8th. century.  They conquered all of Spain except small area in Northwest bordering Bay of Biscay (Asturias).
15. Spain only country in Western Europe which did not experience so-called Dark Ages because it was under Arab Moorish Rule (trade-commerce, advanced culture including educational centers, other religions tolerated)
16.. Monastic culture- see page 209 ff.  Hermits and Monasteries
17. Papal Primacy (Bishop of Rome) pages 210-211 includes statement of Petrine Doctrine.
18. The Division of Christendom between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodox Churches (Constantinople) pages 211 and 212
Page 212 includes: Differences between Eastern and Western Churches
a. celibacy versus marriage of priests in Eastern Church
celibacy (no sexual relations)
b. Religious authority: in west pope as God’s representative made decisions as to what was correct belief  (doctrine).  East placed more emphasis on Bible and decisions of ecumenical councils made up of church leaders.

  1. Purgatory- place where soul of person not good enough to go to heaven, nor bad enough to go to hell waited to be purged or cleansed of sin, belief of Roman western church, not Eastern.
  2. 1054-heads of Roman and Eastern Church excommunicated each other= break in Eastern and Western Churches. 
  3. Differing roles of  Pope and Patriarch
    1. pope = temporal (over territory) and spiritual ruler.  He ruled Papal States in Italy as a temporal ruler and claimed supremacy over political rulers.
    2. Patriarch, head of Eastern church (Byzantine church), subject to emperor.

He was not a temporal (territory) ruler.
19. Franks page 212 ff.
a. The Merovingian Frankish kings in France:   Feudalism =form of government.  Power of counts increased at the expense of kings:  subsequent fragmentation loss of control Feudal System (king, vassal with estate, coloni=serfs)
b. Mayor of the Palace p 213
c. rise of Carolingians
1. Charles Martel
2. Pepin III
Support of Church gained because they were their protectors.  Enemies of church included Lombards (a Germanic tribe in northern Italy)
3. The cavalry broke their bodies, while the clergy (churchmen) won their hearts and minds.  This is a description on page 214 of process whereby Carolingian rulers conquered lands and peoples which included other German groups living to the north and west: Frisians, Thuringians, Bavarians and Saxons, all of whom were forced to accept the “correct” version of Christianity, Nicene Creed: Trinity-all equal, Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

  1. The Donation of Constantine (see page 214) This forged document gave papacy control over the Papal States.  Proven a forgery in the fifteenth century by Lorenzo Valla.
  2. Extent of Charlemagne Emperor included: modern France, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and the whole of Western Germany (page 214)
  3. Charlemagne-Charles the Great- Coronation (crowning) as Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD  (page 215)
  4. Problems of Government (pages 216-217)/ Court System/Feudalism
      1. the mallus, law court presided over by local count.  Conflicts that could not be resolved by evidence obtained by testimony and proofs, decided by divine (having to do with God and His Will, however determined) means: Trial by Ordeal (suffering of test): Innocence might be proven by plunging hand into boiling water.  If individual not burned, he was innocent.  More frequent: water test (page 216).  Wergeld-compensation to victims, even in case of death of family member of victim. 
      2. Charlemagne’s effort to use special representatives: missi dominici, to check on lay and clerical agents.
      3. Lay-non church; clerical (clergy)=churchmen
      4. vassal-  servant, subordinate.  Fief holder (noble) vassal of king;

knights and serfs vassals of nobles, etc.

      1. Charlemagne problem: control.  Did not want to have hereditary nobility.  He wanted vassals chosen by him based on their loyalty and service.
  1. Alcuin and the Carolingian Renaissance (rebirth of learning in this case)

Page 217 Carolingian misi (Latin script)
.25  manuscripts- handwritten on animal skin (sheep). 

  1. schools (page 217) seven liberal arts: grammar, logic, rhetoric, reading

 (goals communication, reading scripture and mathematics for calculations)

  1. Manor:  serf might work 3 days per week on land of lord and 3 for himself; Commons =common area that belonged to all for grazing livestock; forest belonged to lord and existed as a private hunting preserve for lord (this was resented by common folk; Robin Hood would become a folk hero in twelfth century England for defying nobility and hunting in King’s forest)
  2. Agricultural improvements: a better plow which cut deeper and three field system; two in use while soil of third rested and built fertility.(Page 219)
  3. Break up of the Carolingian Kingdom following death of Charlemagne as a consequence of fathers dividing kingdom among all sons (map on page 221)
  4. Salic Law (based on Frankish Custom) provided that ruler divided kingdom equally among all sons; daughters were excluded from inheriting.
  5.  Treaty of Verdun in 843 partition of Frankish Kingdom three parts provides an example of operation of Salic Law.

32. Feudal obligations of vassal to ruler: to provide a minimum of 40 days military service a year
(source of frequent arguments; made nobility unreliable, could go home and leave ruler without military force).  Vassals also were supposed to provide aids: money when lords son was knighted or daughter married (dowry).
33. scutage- sum of money given in place of military service.
34. terms benefice (what given from which vassal benefited);
35 terms: fielty (oath of loyalty); homage = to pay respect to lord, etc.
36. fief =benefice=manor
37. Beginning of conflict between Pope and Otto I German Holy Roman Emperor
a. emperor of use as protector of pope  (see page 230 ff)
b. conflict popes and emperors
1. territory in Italy (Pope had Papal States)
2. control over churchmen (clergy) and church property in Germany-
both pope and emperors wished to control.
3. local nobility under emperor of Germany did not want a strong emperor
interfering in their business, exercising power over them, although technically they were emperors’ vassals.
38. Cluny Reform Movement  (see pages 231-32); interest in reform + independence of monastic order from control of rulers (secular powers)  Donation of William the Pious, duke of Aquitaine 910 AD p 231
39  Peace of God,  Truce of God  (page 232)
40  Pope Leo IX  1049  opposition to simony  page 232
41  College of Cardinals-  independent papacy, selection of  pope by high ranking officials of church 1059-   color of robe cardinal red   page 232
42.  Investiture Controversy- Pope Gregory VII versus Emperor Henry IV page 233
43.  lay investiture   layman-non-churchmen installs churchman in office.  Issue control of bishops.
44  symbols of office of bishop=ring and staff (of shepherd)
45  Crusades p.235 and following
46   Crusader States: Jerusalem, Edessa and Antioch (Syria)
47   Primogeniture-only first born son inherited.  Many of those who participated in Crusades were younger sons of nobles whose older brother had inherited all.
48.  Reconquest-Reconquista-  Reconquest of Spain by Christians from Moors (Arab Moslems) Moors took control of Spain in eighth century; Reconquest ended in 1492 when Queen Isabelle of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon conquered last Moorish stronghold, Granada. 
49.  Fourth Lateran Council 1215 and  Doctrine of Transubstantiation page 239, according to which during Holy Communion the bread and wine are transformed into body and blood of Christ.  Also required annual confession of sin and penance (repentance)
50. page 239 ff   Franciscan and Dominicans
51. Conquest of Anglo-Saxon England in 1066 by William, the Duke of Normandy.
52.  Claimed that last ruler of Anglo-Saxon England, Edward the Confessor, who died childless, had promised throne of England to him.
53.  Harald Godwinson   Anglo-Saxon king, elected by Witan of England.  Last legitimate Anglo-Saxon king, defeated by William the Conqueror
54.  Scorch and Burn Tactics- employed by Normans against Anglo-Saxons who continued to resist foreign invaders.  Destroyed towns and farms; people starved.
55.  Normans established Feudalism.  Condition of Anglo-Saxons worse; most had been freemen who owned land they tilled.  Their language=French
56.  Normans use of castle, built throughout country to control people and protect themselves from attack.
57    Domeday Book page 241  survey of all property in England for tax purposes.
58    Henry I  page 241
59    Matilda, daughter of Henry married to Geoffrey of Anjou, Plantagenet family.
60   Son of Matilda= Henry II, first Plantagenet to rule England. Page 241
61.  Eleanor of Aquitaine- Duchess of Aquitaine ruled southeast France, married to Henry II Plantagenet.  Together she and Henry II (King of England and Duke of Normandy) controlled more of France than Louis VII and his son Philippe II Augustus did.
62.  Louis VII  King of France and first husband of Eleanor.  Marriage annulled.
63.  Consanguity- grounds (reason) for annulment of marriage; husband and wife too closely related by blood.
64.  Eleanor  see p. 242.  She also designed harbor defenses of Rouen in France.
65.  Troubador- traveling court poet-musician,  see courtly love
66   Richard the Lion Hearted,  Richard I of England.  Son of Henry II and Eleanor.
Butcher of Acre where on second crusade he slaughtered 4,000 Muslim prisoners.
Held for ransom by Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV.
67. Henry II  Plantagenet (12th. century) and Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury.  Issue control of church officials.  Canonized as saint after he was murdered in cathedral by Henry II’s knights.
68.  Magna Charta 1215   (see notes from web site and page 243 ff
69   Philip II Augustus of France, his desire to gain control over Duchies in France belonging to King John was a major factor in his encouraging English barons to rebel against John.  See Magna Charta.
70.  Hugh Capet  in 987 AD selected as ruler of France by nobles who thought that he posed on threat.  He ruled only a small area around Paris.  All subsequent rulers of France were descended in direct line from Hugh.
71. Albigensian Crusade (1223-1226) page 247 and 238-239 text + notes.  Albigensian also called Cathars, in southern France..  Many of those who participated in crusade against Albigensian heretics believed that they were saving souls.  Any who accepted heretical teachings would be damned to hell.  The only solution was to stop spread of heresy.  Individual heretics could save their lives and souls by repenting.  If they would not, it became necessary to kill them to keep them from misleading others, etc.
72. The Hohenstaufen Empire (1152-1272) pages 247-254.  Popes opposed Hohenstaufen emperors and supported their vassals against them because the popes regarded them as a threat because they controlled territory in Italy. 
a. result northern cities of Italy gained independence and became self-governing communes.
b. result 2 (page 254) Germany divided among numerous local rulers.  Internal division and the absence of a representative system of government persisted in Germany for six centuries.  England and France became strong Nation States united by strong monarchs, kings, but not Germany.
73. page 266  Charters of Towns (Alliance King and Middle Class).  King, in return for giving towns charter=license to operate and providing protection to towns, received tax money which he could use to employ his own army and be independent of feudal nobility.
74. Medieval Guilds in towns were organizations of merchants and manufacturers which controlled product: quantity and quality, conditions of sale, and training of workman: apprentices, journeymen and masters, and cooperated in some instances for mutual protection as in the case of the Hanseatic (north Germany) trade association that worked together to protect trade routes.  Guilds were later criticized because they discouraged competition.

VIKINGS-NORSEMEN-NORMANS

Notes on Vikings-Norsemen

http://viking.no/e/maps/index.html
Map

The Viking Timeline

789 -

Vikings begin their attacks on England.

800 -

The Oseberg Viking longship is buried about this time

840 -

Viking settlers found the city of Dublin in Ireland.

844 -

A Viking raid on Seville is repulsed.

860 -

Rus Vikings attack Constantinople (Istanbul).

862 -

Novgorod in Russia is founded by the Rus Viking, Ulrich.

866 -

Danish Vikings establish a kingdom in York, England.

871 -

Alfred the Great becomes king of Wessex; the Danish advance is halted in England.

872 -

Harald I gains control of Norway.

879 -

Rurik establishes Kiev as the center of the Kievan Rus' domains.

886 -

Alfred divides England with the Danes under the Danelaw pact.

900 -

The Vikings raid along the Mediterranean coast.

911 -

The Viking chief Rollo is granted land by the Franks and founds Normandy in France.

941 -

Rus Vikings attack Constantinople (Istanbul).

981 -

Viking leader Erik the Red discovers Greenland.

986 -

Viking ships sail in Newfoundland waters.

991 -

Æthelred II pays the first Danegeld ransom to stop Danish attacks on England.

995 -

Olav I conquers Norway and proclaims it a Christian kingdom.

1000 -

Christianity reaches Greenland and Iceland.

1000 -

Leif Eriksson, son of Erik the Red, explores the coast of North America.

1000 -

Olav I dies; Norway is ruled by the Danes.

1002 -

Brian Boru defeats the Norse and becomes the king of Ireland.

1010 -

Viking explorer Thorfinn Karlsefni attempts to found a settlement in North America.

1013 -

The Danes conquer England; Æthelred flees to Normandy.

1015 -

Vikings abandon the Vinland settlement on the coast of North America.

1016 -

Olav II regains Norway from the Danes.

1016 -

The Danes under Knut (Canute) rule England.

1028 -

Knut (Canute), king of England and Denmark, conquers Norway.

1042 -

Edward the Confessor rules England with the support of the Danes.

1050 -

The city of Oslo is founded in Norway.

1066 -

Harold Godwinson king of England defeats Harald Hardrada king of Norway at the Battle of Stamford Bridge

1066 -

William duke of Normandy defeats the Saxon king Harold at the Battle of Hastings.

Viking trade

[Trade]The Vikings were the international tradesmen of their time. In Constantinople (Istanbul) they traded silk and spices for slaves that they had brought from Russia. Amber they found in the Baltic area. From the north and Greenland in the west, they brought furs, skins and walrus tusk ivory to the trading towns in western Europe.
The Vikings founded trading cities in Scandinavia such as Birka, Ribe, Hedeby and Skiringsal. In Ireland they founded Dublin and in England they made York flourish to become the most important trading town outside of London.
At a time when old trade routes between east and west through the Mediterranean were closed or unsafe, the Vikings kept the trade route between Byzantium and the west open by way of Kiev and Russia.
Viking graves often contain Arab silver, Byzantine silks, Frankish weapons, Rhenish glass, and other products of an extensive trade. Silver coins from the caliphate and Anglo-Saxon coins from England flowed into the Viking lands and further stimulated economic growth.

Jorvik (York) - Introductory page

York (to give the city its modern name) has for many centuries been an important place in the history and geography of England. Romans, Angles, Vikings and Normans all used York as a capital for governing and keeping military control over a large part of northern England. It also became an important religious centre.

Jorvik - the centre of Scandinavian power in England

Eoforwic fell to Scandinavian invaders in AD 866. The first part of the name was simplified to 'jor', perhaps a result of the Old English and Scandinavian languages being combined. The veterans of the Viking Great Army settled, "....proceeded to plough and support themselves", and mixed with the local population through marriage.  The Vikings, like the Romans and Angles before them, appreciated the importance of Jorvik's location for control of the region. It became the capital of a Viking kingdom within The Danelaw, a kingdom which more or less extended over what became known as Yorkshire. It was the Vikings who divided 'Jorvikskyr' (Yorkshire) into three administrative parts 'thridjungr'. Under Scandinavian rule, Jorvik developed further as an important trading centre..
From the mid-ninth century to the mid-tenth century, control of York was contested amongst a succession of Viking, Hiberno-Scandinavian and English rulers.

Leif Ericsson

About AD 970 -1020

The first European to reach the shores of North America grew up on Greenland

Watch out for that iceberg! Eric the Red shouted the order to the rowers. Exiled from Iceland, he was searching for a new home for his family. Young Leif, his son, kept staring at the huge iceberg while they slowly and carefully rowed past it in their Viking ship. Soon the fjord opened up and Leif could see green grassland both to the right and left. The men stopped rowing and soon the ship gently grounded on the beach and they all went ashore.
For the first three years, they lived there in virtual seclusion. There were no other inhabitants around, and they focused on their family and environment, learning and taking what the new land offered.

Come West - to Greenland

After three years had passed, Eric the Red returned to Iceland and told of the bounty which he had found in the new land to the west, the land he named Greenland. Stimulated and excited by his tales and descriptions, hundreds of people packed up their families and belongings and followed him to their new home.

Leif becomes a Christian

Leif grew to be a large and imposing man, one known for his  fair judgment and honesty. Having been reared under his father's adventurous hand, Leif had a strong urge to travel and explore. One of his first trips was eastward, to Norway, the homeland of his family. He arrived in Nidaros (Trondheim) and was well received by King Olav Tryggvasson. Leif and his men stayed there for the winter, and were taught the foundations of Christianity. Before they left Norway, Leif, along with all of his men, accepted the faith and were baptised Christians. Returning to Greenland, Leif taught the people of his new-found beliefs. His mother listened to his words and became a Christian. So devout in her belief was she, she asked Eric to have a church built for worship. Grudgingly, Eric fulfilled her request, but he himself never accepted the faith or visited the finished church.

New land to the west!

Some years before AD 1000, Bjarni Herjólfsson relayed exciting news of a new land to the west. Leif, an adventurer in his own right, bought Bjarni's ship, gathered a crew of 35 and sailed westward as Bjarni had instructed. With favourable weather and winds, Leif and his crew were soon following the outlines of the new lands that they had heard of. They continued onward, stopping only briefly at the other two lands, until they reached the third new land.

Vinland the Good

There, they came ashore and constructed some booths, and later a large house for the winter. They found their winter to be frost-free, and agreed that fodder and other food, that normally would need to be kept during the cold harsh winter for the animals, would be unnecessary here. Also, the rivers and lakes were filled with salmon and a large variety of other fish. And the earth! It seemed to be black and rich, where they could easily grow their crops. So pleased was Leif by the land and its bounty, he named it Vinland.

Leif the Lucky

In the spring, Leif and his men returned to Greenland. On his return journey, Leif came upon a wrecked trading vessel whose crew he rescued; for this deed he received the entire rich cargo and the nickname Leif the Lucky. A year later his father, Eric the Red, died and Leif settled on Brattahlid taking over his father's farm.

Thorvald goes to Vinland

Thorvald, Leif's brother, borrowed Leif's ship and sailed westward to Vinland two years later. He used Leif's sailing directions and ship to complete the journey. For two years he and his men sailed along the coasts, exploring the new land.
One day, they stumbled across some natives and became involved in a skirmish. It was during this conflict that Thorvald was fatally wounded. His men buried him in Vinland and called the place Crossness.
The following year Thorvald's men returned to Greenland, bringing back a cargo of wood and wine-berries. Thorvald was the first European we know to die and to be buried in America.

Snorri - the first European-American

Thorfinn Karlsefni and his wife, Gudrid, also sailed to Vinland and resided in Leif's house. While they lived there, they collected many valuable products, including many samples of wood, which was of high value to the Vikings. Gudrid gave birth to a son during their stay and they named him Snorri. He was the first European child to be born in the New World.
Myths and Sagas suggest that the Vikings on many occasions returned to Vinland, in search of the rich timber that could be found there. Evidence suggests that there is foundation to these beliefs.
 

Where was Vinland?

In the 1960's, the Norwegian explorer and writer Helge Ingstad and his archaeologist wife, Stine, decided to resolve the question of whether Vinland meant "Grassland" or "Wine-land?"
Following the sailing instructions outlined within the sagas, Ingstad ended up at L'Anse aux Meadows, a grassy expanse located on the northernmost tip of Newfoundland.
Excavations began in 1961 and revealed the remains of eight turf-walled houses. One of these was a longhouse measuring 22m by 15 m (72 ft by 50 ft), and contained five rooms along with a "great hall," and a smithy, where bog iron was smelted. Several of the houses had stone ember pits identical to those found in Norse houses in Greenland. Another artifact unearthed was a soapstone spindle whorl, similar to those discovered in Norse ruins in Greenland, Iceland, and Scandinavia. This find suggests that women as well as men were present at the site, which is also consistent with the sagas.
The land they found had fertile soil, abundant game resources for either fishing or hunting, and iron. The climate was mild and provided a stable environment for crops if they chose to raise them. Was this in fact Vinland? The question still stands, but we do know that this is undoubtedly the site of a Norse settlement from around AD 1000.

Navigation Instruments

Weather Vanes

Weather vanes were found on every ship. They showed the wind direction so the coxswain paid close attention to which direction it pointed after they lost sight of land. But it was easy to be fooled. The wind could change direction and the current could send the ship off course. It was therefore necessary for the skipper to have navigation instruments.

Bearing Circle

The Vikings had knowledge of a primitive bearing circle. It was based on information about the sun's position at sunrise and sunset. You could find the latitude with the help of a shadow from the vertical pin and the course was marked by the pointer on the platform. A primitive bearing circle was found on Østerbygda in Greenland, but it is uncertain if this was the same type of bearing circle in use at a later time.

Sunstone

The Vikings used the so-called sun stone in order to find the sun on overcast days. The stone was made of the mineral cordierite, a mineral that could show the direction of the sun on cloudy days. The sun stone could only be used when one could see a hint of blue sky.

Sunboard

In the middle of the day the course was corrected with the help of the sunboard. This was an instrument used to measure the height of the sun. If the angle of the sun had gotten much bigger the ship had kept a too southerly course, less of an angle and it had sailed too far north. In cloudy weather or in a fog it was therefore difficult to navigate. Making a course change on the open sea could be risky. Just a small change could result in not coming to the planned destination.
Ottar from Hålogaland in telling about his voyage to the White Sea about 880 said that when he made a course change it was with land in sight not on the open sea.

Semi-Wheel

Seafarers made many observations of the sun all year round and they knew the sun's path through the heavens for all the seasons. There is a table that was written in Iceland. The table gives the height of the sun for the whole year along with a rundown of sunrises and sunsets. Here you can find where on the horizon the sun goes down and comes up the whole year. All the measurements from this table were put on the so-called semi-wheel. It was then not difficult to find the four directions nor calculate the latitude. It was perfectly natural that guides for seafarers were produced even though the sagas tell us nothing about this.
They often had to find their way back to previously discovered sights by mere chance, places like Iceland and America.

The Longship
[Longship]The Longship was the thoroughbred racing warship. It was usually about 25m/ 80ft long. Each gunwale was pierced with holes for oars, and a single mast stepped amidships carried a large, square sail. This gave the Longships speed and manoeuvrability and their shallowness of draught allowed them to penetrate rivers They needed no harbours for they were designed to be beached on any shelving sandy shore.

WALLS OF CONSTANTINOPLE (Norse called Miklagard=Great City)
The wall was 7 km long, built in three parallel walls. The inside wall was 12 meters high. There were 100 eighteen meter high towers along the wall. On the outside there were moats. There were also several kilometers of walls along the sea side plus a heavy iron chain that blocked the harbor of Constantinople - The Golden Horn. The walls protected the city against intruders for 800 years before Constantinople on April 13th 1204 was conquered for the first time by crusaders during the 4th crusade.

Miklagard (The Great City)
Byzantium-Constantinople-Istanbul

Huge city walls facing the land and sea met the Vikings when they sailed in to Constantinople mooring at the harbour in the Golden Horn. The city was the largest the Vikings knew of and it is not so strange that the Vikings referred to the city as Miklagard (The Great City).
The great wealth of the city soon made it a tempting prey for the Northerners, though because of the size of the city the Vikings quickly decided to go into the service of the emperor. He established his own Viking-guard known as the Varangians. The best known commander of this guard was Harald Hardrada .

In 980 emperor Basil II received an unusual gift from Czar Vladimir (Valdemar) of Russia. He got an army of 6,000 Scandinavian-Russian Vikings.
He incorporated them into his own army as a single unit. It became known as the "The Axe-toting Guard" - after the huge double-edged axes they used in battle. Posterity knows this unit as the "Varangians" - the sworn. They were the best paid troops in the empire. They were so well paid that you had to bribe the right people in order to get in. The Varangians were also allowed to keep the booty they managed to scrape up from the battlefields and towns they conquered. They also had a right to "polutasvarv" (palace plundering) whenever the emperor died. They then went through the palaces in the capital and grabbed all the treasures and valuables they could carry. The Northerners served the emperor for over 300 years.

The Miklagard of the Vikings

Huge city walls facing the land and sea met the Vikings when they sailed in to Constantinople mooring at the harbor in the Golden Horn.

In this city of several hundred thousand, the Hippodrome with room for 100,000 spectators dominated. It was the eastern Roman Empire's ceremony and festival center. From here the emperor proclaimed his decisions and issued decrees. Above the entrance were four horses in bronze telling what the hippodrome was actually built for.
Nearby was the largest church in the world, Hagia  Sofia - The Church of Holy wisdom. It was finished in 537 and was therefore quite new when the Vikings arrived. We know that the Vikings visited the church because on one of the columns you can still read "Halvdan was here" etched in the marble in Runic symbols. Halvdan was surely impressed when he gazed at the huge cupola which soared to 56 meters above, even though he didn't understand much of the ceremonies that were taking place on the church floor.
In the senatorial building there was room for 2000 senators, together with the splendor of the royal palace it is not so strange that the Vikings referred to the city as Miklagard (The Great City).

Runes

Rune means "Secret knowledge and wisdom". Odin himself was regarded as "Father of the Runes". Among the illiterate Vikings the rune-masters were held in high regard.

Where did the runes come from?

The runic alphabet was known from the first century AD among all Germanic tribes around the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. The oldest version of the runic alphabet had 24 runes. It was used for writing on wood, bone and stone and was regarded as sacred.

The Vikings and Runes

[Runes]The Viking word for alphabet was "futhark" named after the first 6 letters in their runic alphabet. The Viking rune-masters used only 16 letters in their futhark They used the runes in connection with trade, on weapons to give them more power, on jewellery to bring luck and happiness, and on gravestones to ease the passage for the dead on their way to Valhall.

More runes needed

Towards the end of the Viking Age the rune-masters felt the need for more runes in their "futhark" and included some new ones. The knowledge of runes also became more widespread because in many places everyday messages from ordinary people and "Viking graffitti" have been found written on wood or bone.
Some were rather wistful like this one,
"Ingebjørg loved me when I was in Stavanger"
or, this one perhaps sent to a husband who had dallied too long in the pub,
"Gyda says, come home!"
On top of the marble balustrade in the South Gallery in Hagia Sophia in Istanbul you can still make out part of what a Viking wrote in runic letters a 1000 years ago, probably:
"Halvdan was here".
Runes were used in Scandinavia well into the 14th century. If you want to know more, the Norwegian Computing Centre for the Humanities has more information about runes.

THE BATTLE OF STAMFORD BRIDGE

Few people in England have heard of the Battle of Stamford Bridge, even though it was the last Viking battle on English soil and ended the Viking era of English history.
The reason is that the Battle of Stamford Bridge is overshadowed in English history by the Battle of Hastings which occurred just three weeks later. The Battle of Hastings in 1066 is the one historical event that everyone in England knows.
Characters
The main people involved in the Battle of Stamford Bridge are:

  • King Harold Godwinsson - Previously an Earl, he seized the crown and became the English King. Died at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
  • King Harald Sigurdsson - The Viking King. His nickname was ‘Hardradi’, meaning ‘the Ruthless’. Died at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, 1066.
  • Earl Tostig - Brother of Harold Godwinsson, the English King. Fought with the Viking King Harald, against his own brother
  • Eystein Orri - The leader in charge of the Viking re-inforcements at Riccall.
  • Duke William the Conqueror - the Duke of Normandy who attacked England. Was the leader of the Norman army at Hastings and became King of England.

The Norman Invasion
After the death of the English king, Edward the Confessor, a dispute began about who was the rightful heir. Both Earl Harold Godwinsson and Duke William of Normandy wanted to be king, but Harold Godwinsson seized the English crown and proclaimed himself king.
Duke William decided to fight for the crown and built an invasion fleet to cross the English Channel. Throughout the summer the English army waited on the south coast for the fleet to cross the English Channel. But as the summer drew on, and no invasion had occurred, the English King Harold, called off the alert, the militia was disbanded, and the English fleet was moved to London from the Isle of Wight, only to be hit by a severe storm on the way.
The Vikings Invasion
To Harold’s surprise, it was in the north that the first invasion took place - by the Vikings and their English allies. The Norwegian king, Harald Hardradi, had the support of Earl Tostig, (the English King Harold’s brother), and Scottish re-inforcements. The fleet reputedly consisted of 300 ships and 9000 men. The fleet sailed up the River Humber to a small village just south of York at Riccall. The army was landed there.
York
York was the capital city of the North and a prize jewel for the Vikings to capture.
Harald’s march into the city was blocked by a smaller English army, and a battle took place just outside the city at a small village called Gate Fulford. The battle was unexpectedly hard, but the Viking invaders eventually won and marched into the city. Harald now controlled York, the main city of the north. He was so confident that he left York almost immediately, without even a garrison of soldiers to defend it. It is possible that he left York because some of the most important citizens agreed to be hostages to save a massacre.
Harald marched his army to Stamford Bridge - a point 12 miles east from York and 19 miles from his fleet in Riccall.
Stamford Bridge, Yorkshire
Quite why King Harald marched his army to Stamford Bridge is a mystery. It was on a good communication route with a bridge over the River Derwent, but was completely undefended. It maybe that he had arranged to meet hostages there. Positioning his army at Stamford Bridge proved to be a dreadful tactical mistake.
King Harold of England was caught by surprise at the invasion in the north. He marched from the south of England at amazing speed and reached Stamford Bridge in only 5 days.
The Viking army was caught completely off-guard. It was a warm, sunny autumnal day, and the Viking troops where relaxing by the banks of the River Derwent. The bridge was unguarded.
Suddenly on the horizon a dust-cloud could be seen:
‘And the closer the army came, the greater it grew, and their glittering weapons sparkled like a field of broken ice’
The English army marched towards the bridge. The Viking army needed time to arm themselves and prepare for battle. For a time a single Viking held the bridge, killing all who approached. The English army could not get past, until one of the English soldiers got under the bridge and thrust upwards with a spear, killing the Viking. The English army was now free to cross.
The Battle of Stamford Bridge
The Saga account gives a description of the battle in some detail.

  1. The English attacked the Vikings by a ‘hot assault’. The Northmen resisted it bravely.
  2. The Vikings kept their own battle order and the English forces could make little headway.
  3. Suddenly the Vikings attacked by breaking out of their battle order, seeking to drive the English from the battlefield.
  4. The English attacked the Vikings from all sides, and threw arrows and spears at the Vikings
  5. The Viking King, King Harald Sigurdsson, was enraged and went into the battle and ran out infront of his men ‘hewing with both hands. Neither helmet or armour could withstand him, and everyone in his path gave way before him’. It looked then as if the English were on the point of being routed.
  6. ‘But now King Harald Sigurdsson was struck in the throat by an arrow, and that was his death wound’.
  7. The Vikings retreated with their battle banner.
  8. Tostig, Harold’s brother, then took up the banner.
  9. Both armies then re-organised themselves and there was a long pause in the battle.
  10. Harold Godwinsson offered his brother Tostig and the Vikings peace, but they refused and said they would ‘rather fall, one across the other, than accept quarter from the Englishmen’.
  11. The Vikings set up a war shout and the battle began again
  12. Reinforcements all clad in armour then arrived from the ships at Riccall, led by Eystein Orri.
  13. Eystein then took charge of the banner, Land-Ravager.
  14. The battle was again fierce, and was known as Orri’s storm
  15. The men were so exhausted by their journey from their ships, that many fell from weariness. The English forces easily defeated them.

When the slaughter was over, Harold gave quarter to the defeated, and the Viking survivors went home in 24 ships. They had arrived in 300 ships.
The Battle Banner
Banners were an important part of a battle. The most important people were grouped round it and the banner was a rallying point for the troops. The Vikings had names for their banners. The Viking banner at Stamford Bridge was called ‘Land-Ravager’.
After Stamford Bridge
The Battle of Stamford Bridge was very important in English history for two main reasons:

  1. It was the last Viking invasion and battle on English soil. After the Norman Conquest there were many invasion threats by the Vikings, but no invasion happened. Stamford Bridge was the last.
  2. The Viking invasion and the Battle of Stamford Bridge forced the English army to march north, leaving Duke William of Normandy to land his army without opposition.

When King Harold arrived, after a forced march from Yorkshire, the Normans had marched inland to good defensive positions.
At the Battle of Hastings the course of English history changed. Without the Battle of Stamford Bridge the course of English history may have been very different.

 

  Harald Hardrada in Miklagard

Most of the Vikings in Constantinople were from Sweden but there were also Danes and Norwegians. The most famous of the Varangians was perhaps Harald Sigurdsson (1015-1066) who later became King of Norway under the name HaraldHardrada. He was commander of the emperors bodyguard, the Varangians for many years. He led the Varangians into battle in North-Africa, Syria, Palestine and Sicily. He sent all the goods he could get hold of north to Holmgaard in Russia, to his father-in-law to be, King Jaroslav the Wise. "There was an accumulation of wealth such that no man of the north had seen in the possession of a single man", said Snorre.

Harald Journeys Home

When Harald, after many years service, planned to go home he wanted to take with him the empress's niece, Maria, but the empress said no. The Varangians said that there were rumours that Empress Zoe herself wanted Harald. Emperor Constantine imprisoned Harald, but Harald received help in escaping. He took Maria by force, grabbed a ship and rowed out of the harbour. When they reached the chain that protected the harbour he ordered everyone that wasn't rowing to the back of the boat and the rowers rowed for their lives. When they had rowed the ship up on the chain he ordered everyone forward. The ship tipped forward and slid off the chain. They could continue on into the Black Sea towards Russia. But before going on to Norway he graciously sent Maria back to Miklagard with a company and married Jaroslav's daughter Ellisif. They left for Norway in 1045.
Harald Hardrada's last battle

Vikings  A SUMMARY

Vikings, Norsemen or Northmen, common names for the inhabitants of Scandinavia in the period 800-1050. The origin of the word Viking is disputed, as are the reasons for the sudden expansion of Scandinavian activities in this period, though over population, the weakness of neighbouring states, and favourable trading conditions were probably influential factors.
Although the Vikings are best known as pirates, some of their raids were political in nature, and they were equally energetic as colonists - with colonies stretching from North America to central Russia - and as traders, with main trading posts at Birka (near Stockholm) and Hedeby (near Schleswig).
A signal for the start of Viking raids on the British Isles was the sacking of the monastery at Lindisfarne in 793. Soon Viking rule was established in the Orkneys, Shetlands, Hebrides, and parts of north and western Scotland, in parts of Ireland, and increasingly in England. The kingdom of Wessex under Alfred the Great resisted strongly however, and was victorious in 899.
In the 10th century the Scandinavian settlers in England lost their power, but towards the end of the century raids from Denmark increased, culminating in the invasion and conquest of England under Sweyn I and Cnut (Canute) the Great. The Vikings in Ireland however, were halted by their defeat at the battle of Clontarf, 1014.
Under Charlemagne and his successor, Louis the Pious, the Carolingian empire proved too strong for the Vikings, but after the latter's death in 840 they raided the areas round the Seine and the Loire frequently, sacking Paris in 845. As in England, they were prepared to be bought off by Danegeld. In 912 the Viking Rollo was granted lands in France which were to form the nucleus of the duchy of Normandy.
In Spain and the Mediterranean the Vikings met determined opposition from the Arabs and made only infrequent raids.
In the Atlantic, the Vikings had colonised the Faeroes and Iceland by the end of the 9th century. Eric the Red began the settlement of Greenland in about 986, and his son Leif Ericsson discovered 'Vinland' in North America in 1000, though the Viking colonies that were established there do not seem to have survived long. In the East, the Vikings (known as Rus) traded down the Dnieper and Volga rivers, establishing trading posts at Novgorod and Kiev, where they founded a dynasty. Vikings also served in the imperial guard in Byzantium, where they were known as Varangians.
Viking success was based very much on their superior ships and seamanship, whether in the military longship or in the colonists' broad knarr. Viking ships are preserved in Oslo and in Denmark at Roskilde. The Vikings were not disorganised pirates, but had an established system of law and social organisation and a rich poetic culture.
© JM Dent/Historybookshop.com

The Long Ship
The Viking Long Ship was used from the 700's to about 1000AD by the Vikings of Northern Europe. The first known European exploration of America was probably made in these Viking ships. It was between 25 and 35 metres long. The Viking Long Ship had a single mast and one large square sail. It could also be rowed. With its shallow hull, it could easily be rowed up rivers to attack villages and towns far inland.


Secrets of Norse Ships
by Evan Hadingham



For three turbulent centuries, the glimpse of a square sail and dragon-headed prow on the horizon struck terror into the hearts of medieval Europeans. Indeed, the Viking Age, from A.D. 800-1100, was the age of the sleek, speedy longship. Without this crucial advance in ship technology, the Vikings would never have become a dominant force in medieval warfare, politics, and trade.

The drekar, or dragon-headed longships, were stealthy troop-carriers. They could cross the open oceans under sail and then switch to oars for lightning-fast hit-and-run attacks on undefended towns and monasteries. Far surpassing contemporary English or Frankish vessels in lightness and efficiency, longships carried Viking raiders from northern England to north Africa.

Viking expertise in naval craftsmanship soon led to the evolution of other types of ship. Among these were the knarr, or ocean-going cargo vessel, which facilitated far-flung trade networks and the colonization of Iceland, Greenland, and America. The knarr drew on similar design principles as the longship but was higher and wider in relation to its length and had only limited numbers of oars to assist with maneuvers in narrow channels. Cargo decks were installed fore and aft.

Proof in the planking

The secret of the Viking ship lay in its unique construction. Using a broad ax rather than a saw, expert woodworkers would first split oak tree trunks into long, thin planks. They then fastened the boards with iron nails to a single sturdy keel and then to each other, one plank overlapping the next. The Vikings gave shape to the hull using this "clinker" technique rather than the more conventional method of first building an inner skeleton for the hull.



Discovered in Norway in 1906, the Oseberg ship (above), the best preserved Viking ship ever found, reveals its Norse shipbuilders' graceful construction style.

 

Next, the boatbuilders affixed evenly spaced floor timbers to the keel and not to the hull; this insured resilience and flexibility. They then added crossbeams to provide a deck and rowing benches, and secured a massive beam along the keel to support the mast.

The longships' light, economic construction was a major factor behind their success. Modern replicas have achieved speeds of up to 14 knots. In marked contrast to modern sailboats, the ships' lack of a big, vertical keel meant that they were highly maneuverable and could easily penetrate shallow surf and river estuaries. Seafarers steered using a single side rudder on the right, the 'starboard' or "steering board" side. (The term 'starboard' is thought to have originated in the Viking era.) They could also reef the square sails in strong winds and adjust them to permit rapid tacking.

Preserved to the present


Famous discoveries of Viking ships at Gokstad and Oseberg, Norway, in 1880 and 1906, respectively, established the classic image of the dragon-headed warship. Longships from both sites were preserved almost intact, with lavish carved decoration, in the waterlogged clay of royal burial mounds. Built around A.D. 890, three quarters of a century after the Oseberg ship, the Gokstad vessel shows great improvements in design, particularly in the sturdiness of the mast supports. Not surprisingly, this era, during which the Norse perfected longship design, coincides with the eruption of seaborne Viking raids on the monasteries and towns of Europe.

 


Astoundingly, a veritable flotilla of sunken Viking vessels turned up on the grounds of the very museum being built to house other Viking boats.


The modern phase of Viking ship investigation began with the recovery of five vessels at Skuldelev in Roskilde fjord, Denmark, between 1957 and 1962. The excavation involved building a coffer dam around the ships, which Norsemen deliberately sunk in a desperate bid to barricade the fjord against invaders.

The major revelation at Skuldelev was the variety of the vessels, which ranged from a stocky cargo ship with a capacity of 24 tons to two sleek longships. The larger of the longships, measuring 95 feet in length, had made at least one successful crossing of the North Sea, for tree-ring analysis of its oak timbers revealed that they had been cut down around A.D. 1060-70 near Dublin, suggesting the presence of a major shipyard at this key Viking stronghold in Ireland.

Even more remarkable discoveries were to follow in 1996, when contractors began expanding Roskilde's waterfront museum, originally built to house the finds from Skuldelev. As astonishing as it sounds, no fewer than nine wrecked medieval ships eventually turned up in different spots around the building site, including one under the museum's car park.

Continue: The most striking discovery...


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Northmen (Vikings)

The Scandinavians who, in the ninth and tenth centuries, first ravaged the coasts of Western Europe and its islands and then turned from raiding into settlers. This article will be confined to the history of their exodus.
Tacitus refers to the "Suiones" (Germ., xliv, xlv) living beyond the Baltic as rich in arms and ships and men. But, except for the chance appearance of a small Viking fleet in the Meuse early in the sixth century, nothing more is heard of the Scandinavians until the end of the eighth century, when the forerunners of the exodus appeared as raiders off the English and Scottish coasts.
In their broad outlines the political divisions of Scandinavia were much as they are at the present day, except that the Swedes were confined to a narrower territory. The Finns occupied the northern part of modern Sweden, and the Danes the southern extremity and the eastern shores of the Cattegat, while the Norwegians stretched down the coast of the Skager-Rack, cutting off the Swedes from the western sea. The inhabitants of these kingdoms bore a general resemblance to the Teutonic peoples, with whom they were connected in race and language.
In their social condition and religion they were not unlike the Angles and Saxons of the sixth century. Though we cannot account satisfactorily for the exodus, we may say that it was due generally to the increase of the population, to the breaking down of the old tribal system, and the efforts of the kings, especially Harold Fairhair, to consolidate their power, and finally to the love of adventure and the discovery that the lands and cities of Western Christendom lay at their mercy.

 

 Summary from a Roman Catholic Sources which emphasizes raids of Norsemen-Vikings
The Northmen invaded the West in three main streams:

  • the most southerly started from South Norway and Denmark and, passing along the German coast, visited both sides of the Channel, rounded the Breton promontory, and reached the mouths of the Loire and the Garonne. It had an offshoot to the west of England and Ireland and in some cases it was prolonged to the coasts of Spain and Portugal (where Northmen came into contact with Saracen) and even into the Mediterranean and to Italy.
  • The midmost stream crossed from the same region directly to the east and north of England, while
  • the northern stream flowed from Norway westward to the Orkneys and other islands, and, dividing there, moved on towards Iceland or southwards to Ireland and the Irish Sea.

The work of destruction which the first stream of Northmen wrought on the continent is told in words of despair in what is left of the Frankish Chronicles, for the pagan and greedy invaders seem to have singled out the monasteries for attack and must have destroyed most of the records of their own devastation. A Danish fleet appeared off Frisia in 810, and ten years later another reached the mouth of the Loire, but the systematic and persevering assault did not begin until about 835. From that date till the early years of the following century the Viking ships were almost annual visitors to the coasts and river valleys of Germany and Gaul.
About 850 they began to establish island strongholds near the mouths of the rivers, where they could winter and store their booty, and to which they could retire on the rare occasions when the Frankish or English kings were able to check their raids. Such were Walcheren at the mouth of the Scheldt, Sheppey at that of the Thames, Oissel in the lower Seine, and Noirmoutier near the Loire.
For over seventy years Gaul seemed to lie almost at the mercy of the Danes. Their ravages spread backwards from the coasts and river valleys; they penetrated even to Auvergne. There was little resistance whether from king or count. Robert the Strong did, indeed, succeed in defending Paris and so laid the foundations of what was afterward the House of Capet, but he was killed in 866. In the end the success of the Danes brought this period of destruction to a close; the raiders turned into colonists, and in 911 Charles the Simple, by granting Normandy to Rollo, was able to establish a barrier against further invasion.
Meanwhile, England had been assailed not only from the Channel and the southwest, but also by Viking ships crossing the North Sea. The Danes for a time had been even more successful than in Gaul, for Northern and Eastern districts fell together into their hands and the fate of Wessex seemed to have been decided by a succession of Danish victories in 871. Alfred, however, succeeded in recovering the upper hand, the country was partitioned between Dane and West Saxon, and for a time further raids were stopped by the formation of a fleet and the defeat of Hastings in 893.
To Ireland, too, the Northmen came from two directions, from south and north. It was one of the first countries of the West to suffer, for at the beginning of the ninth century it was the weakest. The Vikings arrived even before 800, and as early as 807 their ships visited the west coast. They were, however, defeated near Killarney in 812 and the full fury of the attack did not fall on the country until 820. Twenty years later there appear to have been three Norse "kingdoms" in Ireland, those of Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick, with an overking, but the Irish won a series of victories, while war broke out between the Danes coming by the Channel and the Norwegians descending from the north. For the next century and a half the Danish wars continued. Neither party gained a distinct advantage and both the face of the country and the national character suffered. Finally in 1014, on Good Friday, at Clontarf, on the shores of Dublin Bay, the Danes suffered a great defeat from Brian Boru. Henceforth they ceased to be an aggressive force in Ireland, though they kept their position in a number of the coast towns.
During the earlier attacks on Ireland, the Scottish Islands and especially the Orkneys had become a permanent centre of Norse power and the home of those who had been driven out by Harold Fairhair. They even returned to help the king's enemies; to such an extent that about 855 Harold followed up victory in Norway by taking possession of the Orkneys. The result was that the independent spirits amongst the Vikings pushed on to the Faroes and Iceland, which had been already explored, and established there one of the most remarkable homes of Norse civilization. About a hundred years later the Icelanders founded a colony on the strip of coast between the glaciers and the sea, which, to attract settlers, they called Greenland, and soon after occurred the temporary settlement in Vinland on the mainland of North America.
But the prows of the Viking ships were not always turned towards the West. They also followed the Norwegian coast past the North Cape and established trade relations with "Biarmaland" on the shores of the White Sea. The Baltic, however, provided an easier route to the east and in the ninth and tenth centuries it was a Swedish Lake. By the middle of the ninth century a half-mythical Ruric reigned over a Norse or "Varangian" Kingdom at Novgorod and, in 880, one of his successors, Oleg, moved his capital to Kiev, and ruled from the Baltic to the Black Sea. He imposed on Constantinople itself in 907 the humiliation which had befallen so many of the cities of the West, and "Micklegarth" had to pay Danegeld to the Norse sovereign of a Russian army. The Varangian ships are even said to have sailed down the Volga and across the remote waters of the Caspian.
There is, however, a second stage of Norse enterprise as remarkable, though for different reasons, as the first. The Norman conquests of Southern Italy and of England and in part the Crusades, in which the Normans took so large a share, prove what the astonishing vitality of the Northmen could do when they had received Christianity and Frankish civilization from the people they had plundered.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

World History 101