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A few dozen city-states oversaw the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates. During this time of development, the first system of writing called cuneiform was devised in order to keep track of tax records. -
The Bronze Age was a period in which long-distance trade networks and diplomatic exchanges between states became enduring characteristics of political, economic, and cultural life in the eastern Mediterranean region. The period is named after one of its fundamental technological bases which is the crafting of bronze. -
After the Upper and Lower regions of Egypt were united, the Old Kingdom of Egypt was founded by the third royal dynasty to rule all of Egypt. The kingdom’s ruler, Djoser, built the first pyramid to house his remains, and he represented a lengthy line of kings that presided over the first great achievements of Egyptian culture, architecture, and wealth. -
Ur III dynasty was a Mesopotamian empire that had an elaborate system of bureaucracy, which was one of the first. The kings of Ur III played their civic and military leaders against each other, designating generals to direct troops in other cities and making sure that each governor's power depended on his loyalty to the king. The bureaucracy divided the empire into three distinguishable tax regions and collected wealth without estranging the conquered peoples. -
According to the Hebrew Bible, the first patriarch of the Hebrews was Abraham, a man who led the Hebrews away from Mesopotamia. The Hebrews left the Mesopotamian city of Ur and became wandering herders. From there the Hebrews could be found in many places but intimately settled in Canaan. -
These laws went into significant detail about the rights of Babylonians. It marked legal differences between aristocratic citizens, commoners, and slaves, treating the same crimes quite differently. The laws voice a profound concern for fairness, by attempting to protect people from unfair terms on loans, and providing compensation for damaged property. It even held city officials responsible for catching criminals and contained legal protections for women. -
The Bronze Age at its height saw many extensive empires and peoples in frequent contact with one another through trade and war. When most of these states collapsed, the Bronze Age did as well, with new empires arising in the aftermath. There is still no conclusive answer for why this collapse occurred because the states that had been keeping records stopped doing so as their bureaucracies deteriorated.
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The decline of the Bronze Age led to the commencement of the Iron Age. Iron was obtainable in various locations throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean regions, so it did not demand long-distance trade as bronze had. -
During the Iron Age, the Assyrians became the most powerful empire the world had ever seen. They were the first empire in the world to conquer almost all of their neighbors by using a powerful standing army, going on to control the conquered territory for hundreds of years. They represented the apex of military power and bureaucratic organization.
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A Judean king, Josiah, demanded the infliction of unyielding monotheism and the compilation of the first books of the Hebrew Bible, the Torah. These sacred writings were all in the mode of the new monotheism. This helped grow Judaism, which is the religious root of Christianity and Islam.