Early Israel and Judaism

The complex history of Ancient Israel and Judaism will be examined in some detail in lecture. But the student should navigate around the following link. It may appear daunting at first, but the layout is pretty straightforward. Give it a try:
History of Judaism Time Line

Apaocalypse Documentary

Click on to the documentary "Apocalypse" from the Frontline series on PBS. Pay particualr attention to such notions as dualism, Zoroastrianism, Satan, Judgement, and the endof (human) time.

Queen Hatshepsut Documentary

Egypt, Persia, and Palestine Study Terms

Ancient Egypt: Order & Protest
(Pgs. 48-56)
Environment and Geography
Isolation and the Nile River
Unified State v. City-States
Pharaoh
Hieroglyphs
The Afterlife (& Hierarchy)
Mummification
Book of the Dead
Ma’at (& Isfet)
The Role of the State in bringing order and Cosmos
Creation, the original “hillock” Hieroglyph of ma’at
Birth/Rebirth/Order & Cosmos:
Amen-Ra, Thoth, the Sun Boat, and Apep
Immutability
Osiris, Isis, Seth
Rebirth and Life
Stability and Protest:
“Pharaoh” Hatshepsut
Amenhotep III
(Alternatively spelled Amenhophis)
Empire and the New Kingdom
Amenhotep IV (Akhetaton)
Akhenaton and Nefertiti
Aton
The Hymn to Aton (&Psalm 104)
Tutankhamen
(Sigmund Freud: Moses and Monotheism)

Persia & Zoroastrianism
(Pgs. 124-131)
Cyrus the Great
Zoroaster/Zarathustra (Reading Pg. 130)
Polytheism
Fire Gods/ Marduk/Ba’al/The Magi
Ahura-Mazda (“Wise Lord”)
Ahriman (Angra Mainyu) “Fallen” Being
Dualism of good and evil
The Avesta
Asha or “Truth” and Druj or “The Great Lie”
Mithra and the “Six Immortals”
People as the “Collective Savior”
Legacies of Zoroastrianism:
The Book
Human Free Will
Satan
Paradise (or Hell) after Death/Immortal Bodies
Light and Dark/Right and Wrong/The Spirit and the Flesh
(Puritanism)
Judgment Day at the End of (Human) Time/The Apocalypse


Palestine & Judaism
(Pgs. 63-65)
Yahweh
Abraham
Moses, the Sinai Covenant, and the “Chosen People”
(The First Commandment)
King David/Jerusalem
King Solomon
Importance of Jerusalem and the Temple
Shalom
Kingdom of Israel (North/Assyrians/”Ten Lost Tribes of Israel”)/The 1st Diaspora
“Yahweh-only” Movement
Kingdom of Judah (South/Nebuchadnezzar/Chaldean/Destruction of the Temple & the “Babylonian Captivity”)
(Zoroastrianism)/Cyrus the Great of Persia
Return of the Exiles and the Rise of Satan
Antiochus IV/Judas Maccabaeus
Book of Daniel
Apocalypticism, the messiah(s), and the “select”

Significances of Judaism:
Monalatary Monotheism
Judaism as Ethical System/ Social Justice
Hebrew Patriarchy
Perfectibility, End Times, Linear Time (Chaos v. Cosmos)
Reinforces Apocalypticism

Akhenaten Documentary

Akhenaten

Pharaoh Akhenaten's monotheistic religion apparently was not the only thing unusual about him. Read this National Geographic article
Androgynous Build
Sigmund Freud had an interesting take on Atenism and the origins of Monotheism. Read the following article from the New York Times Magazine:
Freud, Monotheism, Moses, and Akhenaten
The relationship between Akhenaten and his successor, "King Tut" has been in dispute for some time. Check out a new wrinkle in the debate:
Tut's Father?

Human Evolution, Civilization, and Mesopotamia Study Terms

Human Evolution, the Neolithic Revolution, and “Civilization”
(Chapter 1)
Charles Darwin
Natural Variation & Natural Selection
Inherited Characteristics
Australopithecus
Homo erectus (or ergaster)
“Out of Africa” (The first time)
Neanderthals
Homo sapiens
“Out of Africa” (Again)
Paleolithic
Hunter/Gatherer
Culture
Custom
Animism vs. Organized Religion (Burials)
Language
Neolithic “Revolution”
Domestic Agriculture
Sedentary Lifestyle
“Riverine” Cultures & “Cooperative effort”
Rise of States
Complexity
Specialization and Hierarchy
Urban (City-States)
Writing (Cuneiform)
Monumental Architecture (Ziggurat)
Long(er) Distance Trade (Surpluses)
Nomadic Pastoralism
Indo-European

Mesopotamia
(Chapter 2)
Fertile Crescent
Sumer
Potter’s Wheel
Cuneiform Writing
Ur & Uruk
Sumerian Religion:
Chaos v. Cosmos
Polytheism
Nature and Patron Gods (Ziggurat)
Akkadian Empire
Sargon
Babylon
Apsu and Tiamat vs. Marduk
The Epic of Gilgamesh (Uruk)
Death and the Afterlife
Hammurabi’s Code
Cosmos in Human Society