Trading Peoples in the Ancient Middle East
Geography of the Middle East
Desert
̶ ______________________________________________
Arid = __________
Mountains
̶ Zagros Mountains (separate Iraq and Iran)
Seas
̶ Mediterranean, ______________, _____________, _________________
Regions
̶ Fertile Crescent
̶ _________________________________
̶ Asia Minor – ___________________________________
̶ Canaan – Modern Israel, Lebanon, Palestine
Modern Countries
̶ Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Jordan
Minoan Civilization
The Minoans – 2000 – 1400 BCE
Located on the island of ______________________
Capital city = __________________________
Success was based on trade NOT conquest
Major influence on early Greece
Minoan Trade and Culture
Named after ____________________________, legendary king who supposedly kept a half-man,
half bull (________________________________) under the palace
Dominated trade in the Mediterranean
Traded pottery, swords, figurines, precious metals
Also ________________________________________________________
Palace at _________________________
Many wall paintings
̶ ________________________________
̶ ________________________________
̶ Men & women practicing for athletic contest – _____________________
̶ Women __________________________________
̶ No ______________________________________
Dolphin Fresco Bull Leaping
Religion
______________________________________
Sacrificed bulls and other animals to their gods
At ________________________________________________
Bull played a great role in society and religion
Priestesses led shrines, males aided them
_____________________________________ had higher rank than neighboring societies
Minoan Civilization Vanishes!
Civilization began to decline circa 1470 BCE
Causes?
̶ _________________________________________________________________________
̶ ______________________________________________
The Phoenicians
_______________________________
1100 BCE – became trading power in Mediterranean
Originated in ________________________________
Spread out across the Mediterranean
_________________________________________: major city-states
City-States completed with each other
__________________________________________________________
First Mediterranean people to go past the ___________________________________
Sailed from Red Sea around Africa back to the Mediterranean (2000 years later done again)
The Phoenicians – 1100 – 842 ________
____________________________________________ along the Mediterranean coast
Traveled through the Straits of Gibraltar into the Atlantic and around Africa, even as far as Britain
Phoenician Trading Ship
Trade
Traded for wine, weapons, precious metals, ___________________ and __________________
Act _______________________________________________
Purple dye produced from murex (snails)
Rotten snails to produce ____________, took 60,000
to produce 1 lb of dye
______________________________
The Alphabet
Developed the phonetic alphabet
̶ ______________________________ = _______________________________
Eventually modified by the ____________________ & _____________________
Made record keeping easier while trading
Decline
Eastern cities captured by the Assyrians in 842 BC
Hurt trade
Western cities (like ___________________________) set up their own city-states
Phoenician homeland taken over by _______________________ (Cyrus I)
Aramaeans
Settled in ____________________________________________
Monarchy
̶ Rule by a king or queen
Land traders who moved by _________________________
̶ People ___________________________together for protection
Controlled _______________________ between Egypt and _________________________
Aramaic became the common __________________________________
̶ Combination of ________________________ and ___________________________
̶ Language spreads through Middle East (Cultural Diffusion)
Trading Caravans
Lydians
Located in modern day ________________________________
̶ ________________________________
Peninsula bound by the Black Sea, Aegean Sea, and Mediterranean Sea
Cultural center of Asia Minor
Invented _______________________ and set-prices
Most neighbors still used the barter system
̶ System of trade where goods are exchanged for _________________________
̶ Made them more advanced _________________________________