People and Ideas on

the Move, 3500 B.C.–259 B.C.

By 1500 B.C., the world was connected by trade routes

stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indian Ocean

and beyond. Trading ships sailed the seas, while caravans

traveled overland routes. This trade produced a lively

exchange of goods and ideas throughout the ancient world.

Use the map at the right to answer the following questions.

1. In what part of the world would the Phoenicians havefocused their trading efforts?

2. How was the Arabian Peninsula well situated to take part in world trade?

3. Why did so many of the ancient trade routes cross the seas?

Connect History and Geography

2000 B.C.Hittites migrate to Anatolia.

54

For more information about people and ideas on the move . . .

CLASSZONE.COM

Artisans in Carthage produced this glass beadof a human face around 400 B.C.

054-55-0103co 10/11/02 3:29 PM Page 54

I N D I A N O C E A N

ArabianSea

Bay ofBengal

Caspian

Sea

Black Sea

Re

dS

ea

M edi terranean Sea

Persia n G u l f

CreteCyprus

Sardinia

BalearicIs.

Sicily

ARABIANPENINSULA

Corsica

Babylon

Ur

Pataliputra

Athens

Knossos

Byblos

Tyre

Jerusalem

Ashur

Memphis

Thebes

Sidon

Carthage

Gades

Massilia

Rome

SPAIN

EGYPT

GREECE

ASSYRIA

BABYLONIA

PERSIA

PHO

EN

ICIA

A F R I C A

E U R O P E A S I A

45°E

45°E 60°E

0°

0°

0° Equator

Tropic ofCancer

Arctic Cirlce

0°

15°N

45°N

15°W

15°W 15°E 30°E

60°N

75°N

60°E 75°E

N

Hyperelliptical Projection

0 500 1000 Miles

0 1000 Kilometers500

Early Indo-European Tribes, 1500 B.C.

Hittite Empire, 1500 B.C.

Phoenicians, 700 B.C.

Magadha, 600 B.C.

Trade routePhoenician colony

The Ancient World, 1500 B.C. to 259 B.C.

1500 B.C.Aryans invade India.

1100 B.C. Phoeniciansbegin to dominateMediterranean trade.

814 B.C.Carthage founded as aPhoenician trade center.

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Interact with History

Will the invaders takeyour land?

56

What new laws andbeliefs will theseinvaders bring? Howwill they affect you?

Will you stay or flee?Will the invaders capture and

enslave you? Or will theyallow you to continue to liveas you have?

EXAMINING the ISSUES

• If you stay, will you be able to livein peace with the conquerors?

• Can you pretend to accept their rules andgo about your life as before, perhapspracticing your religion in secret?

• If you leave, will you be welcomed in theland you flee to? Will you have to adoptthe customs of the people living there?How will you acquire farmland?

As a class, discuss these options. In yourdiscussion, weigh the advantages anddisadvantages of both choices.

As you read about migration in this chapter,see how old and new ways of doing things canblend together when groups of people move.

You are drawing water from your well when,without warning, a magnificent white horse

appears on the horizon. You have heard storiesabout this horse. You know that once a year, it issent out by a foreign king to roam freely outsidehis land. The armed soldiers who are followingthe horse will claim all the land it travels throughfor their king.

You have three choices. You can stay andfight for your land. However, there are so manysoldiers that it is unlikely that you and the othervillagers would win. You can stay and accept thedomination of the new ruler from the north. Oryou can gather up your family and flee, as manyothers have done before you.

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People and Ideas on the Move 57

SETTING THE STAGE In India and in Mesopotamia, civilizations first developedalong lush river valleys. Even as large cities such as Mohenjo-Daro and Harappadeclined, agriculture and small urban communities flourished. These wealthy rivervalleys attracted seminomadic tribes. These peoples may have left their own home-lands because of politics or changes in the environment.

Indo-Europeans MigrateThe Indo-Europeans were a group of seminomadic peoples who came from thesteppes—dry grasslands that stretched north of the Caucasus (KAW•kuh•suhs). TheCaucasus are the mountains between the Black and Caspian seas. (See the map onpages 54–55.) These primarily pastoral people herded cattle, sheep, and goats. TheIndo-Europeans also tamed horses and rode into battle in light, two-wheeled chariots.They lived in tribes that spoke forms of a language that we call Indo-European.

The Indo-European Language Family The languages of the Indo-Europeans werethe ancestors of many of the modern languages of Europe, Southwest Asia, and SouthAsia. English, Spanish, Persian, and Hindi all trace their origins back to differentforms of the original Indo-European language.

Historians can actually tell where different Indo-European tribes settled by the lan-guages they spoke. Some Slavic-speakers moved north and west. Others, who spokeearly Celtic, Germanic, and Italic languages, moved west through Europe. Still others,Greek- and Persian-speakers, went south. The Aryans (AIR•ee•uhnz), who spoke an earlyform of Sanskrit, penetrated the mountain passes of the Hindu Kush and entered India.

Notice the similarities of words within the Indo-European family of languages.

An Unexplained Migration No one is quite sure why these people left their home-lands in the steppes. The lands where their animals grazed may have dried up. Theirhuman or animal population may have grown too large to feed. They may also havetried to escape from invaders, or from an outbreak of disease.

Whatever the reason, Indo-European nomads began to migrate outward in alldirections between 1700 and 1200 b.c. These migrations, movements of a peoplefrom one region to another, did not happen all at once, but in waves over a longperiod of time.

BackgroundThis steppe areaincluded parts of present-day Romania,Moldova, Ukraine,southern Russia, andKazakhstan.

Indo-EuropeanMigrations

1TERMS & NAMES

• Indo-Europeans• steppes• migration• Hittites• Anatolia• Aryans• Vedas• Brahmin• caste• Mahabharata

MAIN IDEA

Indo-European peoples migrated intoEurope, India, and Southwest Asia andinteracted with peoples living there.

WHY IT MATTERS NOW

Half the people living today speaklanguages that stem from the originalIndo-European languages.

VocabularySlavic-speakers:speakers of a lan-guage that developedinto most of today’seastern European languages.

EnglishSanskritPersianSpanishGerman

mother

mAtár

muhdáhr

madre

Mutter

father

pitár

puhdáhr

padre

Vater

daughter

duhitá

dukhtáhr

hija

Tochter

new

návas

now

nuevo

neu

six

sát

shahsh

seis

sechs

Language Family Resemblances

057-61-0103s1 10/11/02 3:30 PM Page 57

Celts

Italics

Slavs

GermansBalts

Illyrians

Thracians

Hittites

Indo-Aryans

EarlyIndo-Europeans

Indo-Europeans

LuviansGreeks

ATLANTICOCEAN

Black Sea

Caspian

Sea

M e d i t e r r a n e a nS e a

AegeanSea

Baltic Se

aAralSea

E U R O P E

A F R I C A

A N A T O L I A

A S I A

40°N

60°N0° 40°E

CAUCASUS

S T E P P E S

Earliest Indo-European migrationsLater migrations

0

0

1,000 Miles

2,000 Kilometers

Indo-European Migrations,Starting about 1700 B.C.

Hittites Blend Empire and TechnologyBy about 2000 b.c., one group of Indo-European speakers, the Hittites, occupiedAnatolia (an•uh•TOH•lee•ah), also called Asia Minor. Anatolia is a huge peninsula inmodern-day Turkey that juts out into the Black and Mediterranean seas. Anatolia wasa high, rocky plateau, rich in timber and agriculture. Nearby mountains held impor-tant mineral deposits. Separate Hittite city-states came together to form an empirethere in about 1650 b.c. The city of Hattusas (hah•TOO•sahs) was its capital.

The Hittite empire went on to dominate Southwest Asia for 450 years. Hittitesoccupied Babylon, the chief city in the Tigris-Euphrates Valley, and struggled withEgypt for control of northern Syria. Neither the Hittites nor the Egyptians were ableto get the upper hand. So, the two peoples ended their conflicts by signing an unusualpeace treaty. In it, they each pledged to help the other fight off future invaders.

Hittites Adopt and Adapt The Hittites used their own Indo-European languagewith one another. However, for international use, they adopted Akkadian, the lan-guage of the Babylonians they had conquered. Akkadian was already widely spoken inMesopotamia, and Babylonian culture was more advanced. The Hittites thus blendedtheir own traditions with those of other, more advanced peoples. In the process, theyspread many innovative ideas throughout Southwest Asia.

The Hittites borrowed ideas about literature, art, politics, and law from theMesopotamian peoples they encountered. However, they always managed to givethese ideas a distinctive twist. Their own legal code, for example, was similar toHammurabi’s Code but was more forgiving. Murderers were not automatically pun-

58 Chapter 3

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBU ILDER : Interpreting Maps1. Location Which Indo-European people reached the farthest west?2. Movement Describe the movement of the Indo-Europeans in their earliest migrations.

The origins and migrations of the Indo-European peoples are controversialtopics among scholars. This map presents a widely held view of where theIndo-Europeans came from and how they migrated. However, it is not theonly view. In fact, there are many differing views.

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People and Ideas on the Move 59

ished by death. A convicted murderer could make up for the crime by giving thevictim’s family a slave or a child from his own family.

Chariots and Iron Bring Victory The Hittites excelled in the technology ofwar. They conquered an empire even against Egyptian opposition—largelythrough their superior chariots and their iron weapons. The Hittite war chariotwas light and easy to maneuver even at high speeds. The chariot had twowheels and a wooden frame covered with leather and was pulled by two orsometimes four horses. On the battlefield, the Hittite chariot proved itself asuperb fighting machine. It helped make the Hittites conquerors.

The Hittites used iron in their chariots, and they owed many of their mili-tary victories to the skill of their ironworkers. Ancient peoples had longknown that iron was stronger than bronze. They also knew that it couldhold a sharper edge. However, the process of purifying iron ore and work-ing it into weapons and tools is complex. For centuries, prehistoric peopleused only the purified iron they obtained from meteorites. Around 1500 b.c., theHittites were the first in Southwest Asia to smelt iron and harden it into weaponsof war. The raw materials they needed—iron ore and wood to make charcoal—were easily available to them in the mountains of Anatolia. Knowledge of irontechnology traveled widely with the Hittites—in both their trade and conquests.

Despite its military might, the powerful Hittite empire fell quite suddenlyaround the year 1190 b.c. As part of a great wave of invasions, tribes attackedfrom the north and burned the Hittite capital city. Hittite supremacy in SouthwestAsia had ended.

Aryan Invaders Transform IndiaIn about 1500 b.c., the Hittites were establishing themselves in Anatolia. At the sametime, another Indo-European people, the Aryans, crossed over the northwest moun-tain passes into the Indus River Valley of India. Though they left almost no archaeo-logical record, their sacred literature, the Vedas (VAY•duhz), left a fairly reliablepicture of Aryan life. The Vedas are four collections of prayers, magical spells, andinstructions for performing rituals. The most important of the collections is the RigVeda. The Rig Veda contains 1028 hymns, all devoted to Aryan gods.

For many years, no written form of the Vedas existed. Instead, elders of one gen-eration passed on this tradition orally to men of the next generation. If a prayer wasuttered incorrectly, they believed terrible consequences might result. So accuracywas crucial.

A Caste System Develops The Aryans (“the nobles” in their language) called thepeople they found in India dasas (“dark”), referring to the color of their skin. (Dasaeventually became the Aryan word for slave.) The Aryans differed from the dasas inmany ways. Aryans were taller, lighter in skin color, and spoke a different language.Unlike the earlier inhabitants of the Indus Valley, the Aryans had not developed awriting system. They were also a pastoral people and counted their wealth in cows.The dasas, on the other hand, were town dwellers who lived in communities pro-tected by walls. The Aryans offered sacrifices to heroic nature gods, such as Indra, thethunder god, and Agni, the fire god. Archaeological evidence seems to show that thedasas worshiped life-giving principles, such as the “Great God” Shiva and variousmother goddesses.

When they first arrived in India, Aryans were divided into three social classes:Brahmins (priests), warriors, and peasants or traders. The class that an Aryanbelonged to determined his or her role in society. At first, the three classes mixedfreely. Eventually, non-Aryan laborers or craftsmen (shudras) formed a fourth group.

Hittites sometimesowned small goldstatues of theirgods—probablyintended to protectthem from dangeror bad fortune.

THINK THROUGH HISTORYA. Analyzing EffectsHow did environmen-tal features inAnatolia help theHittites advance technologically?A. Answer Iron oreand wood in themountains of Anatoliahelped them smeltiron.

BackgroundIndra was the mostpopular god in the Rig Veda. Indra hurledthunderbolts, atebulls, and raced hischariot across the sky.

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As the Aryans settled in India, they developed closer contacts with non-Aryans. Toregulate those contacts, the Aryans made class restrictions more rigid. Shudras did

work that Aryans did not want to do. Varna, or skin color, was a dis-tinguishing feature of this system. So the four major groups came tobe known as the varnas. Much later—in the fifteenth century a.d.—explorers from Portugal encountered this social system and calledthese groups castes (kasts).

As time went on, the four basic castes gradually grew more com-plex—with hundreds of subdivisions. People were born into theircaste for life. Their caste membership determined the work theydid, the man or woman they could marry, and the people with whomthey could eat. Ritual purity—for example, habits of eating andwashing that made a person physically and spiritually clean—became all-important. Those who were the most impure because oftheir work (butchers, gravediggers, collectors of trash) lived outsidethe caste structure. They were known as “untouchables,” since eventheir touch endangered the ritual purity of others.

Aryan Kingdoms Arise Over the next few centuries, Aryansextended their settlements east, along the Ganges and Yamuna rivervalleys. (See map on page 61.) Progress was slow because of difficul-ties clearing the jungle for farming. This task grew easier when ironcame into use in India about 1000 b.c.

When the Aryans first arrived in India, chiefs were elected by theentire tribe. Around 1000 b.c., however, minor kings who wanted toset up territorial kingdoms arose among the Aryans. They struggled

with one another for land and power. And each claimed his authority as a right fromthe gods. Out of this strife emerged a major kingdom: Magadha. Under a series ofambitious kings, Magadha began expanding in the sixth century b.c. by taking oversurrounding kingdoms. By the second century b.c., Magadha had expanded south tooccupy almost all of the Indian subcontinent.

One of the great epics of India, the Mahabharata (muh•HAH•BAHR•ah•tuh),reflects the struggles that took place in India as the Aryans moved relentlessly south.The poem is the story of a great war between two sets of cousins, the Pandavas andthe Kauravas. The Mahabharata’s 106,000 verses make it the longest single poem inthe world. For several hundred years, it survived as an oral tradition.

60 Chapter 3

MOUTHBrahmins (priests)

The Aryan Caste System

ARMSKshatriyas (rulers and warriors)

LEGSVaishyas (peasants and traders)

FEETShudras (laborers)

According to Indian tradition, thefour major castes emerged from the mouth, arms, legs, and feet ofPerusha (the first human being).Perusha is identified with thecreator god Brahma. The body partindicated the dignity and role of the caste that emerged from it.

THINK THROUGH HISTORYB. MakingInferences Howwere the more physi-cal forms of workviewed by Aryans?B. Possible AnswerAs impure anddegrading.

Untouchables Then and Now

In the sixth century B.C., ritual puritywas so important to upper-casteIndians that untouchables had toring a bell to warn that they werecoming near. Even the shadow of anuntouchable falling on upper-casteHindus would contaminate them.They would have to bathe beforeworshiping or eating.

In the 20th century, the greatIndian leader Mahatma Gandhicalled the untouchables harijans, or“children of God.” Through hisefforts, caste distinctions wereoutlawed by the Indian constitution.Later, the 1955 Untouchability Actprovided penalties for discrimina-tion. However, 3,000-year-oldtraditions do not die easily. Mostformer untouchables in India todaystill suffer from extreme poverty andcaste discrimination.

CONNECT to TODAY

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Elements of the Mahabharata indi-cate that a blending of cultures was tak-ing place between Aryan and non-Aryanpeoples. For example, Krishna, a semi-divine hero of the Mahabharata, isdescribed as dark-faced. This suggeststhat he is non-Aryan.

One of the most famous incidents inall of Indian literature occurs whenKrishna instructs one of the Pandavas,Arjuna (ahr•JUH•nuh), on the properway to live one’s life. Arjuna loses thewill to fight when he sees his cousinslined up among the enemies he faces.He asks Krishna how we can find joy inkilling our own kinsmen. Krishnaanswers that the eternal spirit (or Self)of every human being cannot kill or bekilled. However, Arjuna must still do hisduty and wage war:

A V O I C E F R O M T H E P A S THe who thinks this Self [eternal spirit] tobe a slayer, and he who thinks this Self tobe slain, are both without discernment;the Soul slays not, neither is it slain. . . .But if you will not wage this lawful bat-tle, then will you fail your own (caste)law and incur sin. . . . The people willname you with dishonor; and to a manof fame dishonor is worse than death.KRISHNA, speaking in the Mahabharata

The violence and confusion of the time led many, like Krishna himself, to speculateabout the place of the gods and human beings in the world. As a result of these spec-ulations, religion in India gradually changed. New religions were born, which you willread about in Section 2.

People and Ideas on the Move 61

2. TAKING NOTES

Re-create the web below on yourown paper, and fill in the names ofsome modern languages that stemfrom Indo-European roots.

Why did so many languagesoriginate from Indo-Europeanroots?

3. FORMING OPINIONS

What important contributions didthe Aryan invaders make to theculture and way of life in India?

THINK ABOUT• roles in society• religion• literature

4. ANALYZING THEMES

Interaction withEnvironment For whatenvironmental reasons might theIndo-Europeans have migrated?THINK ABOUT• weather• occupational needs• health

1. TERMS & NAMES

Identify• Indo-Europeans• steppes• migration• Hittites• Anatolia• Aryans• Vedas• Brahmin• caste• Mahabharata

Section Assessment1

Indo-European

Bayo f

Benga l

Arab ianSea

INDIANOCEAN

Indus R.

Ga n g e s R.

Mouths of

the Ganges

Narmada R.

Tungaghadra

Cauvery

R.

R .

Gul fo f

Khambh

a t

Yam

unaR .

(SRI LANKA)

(AFGHANISTAN)

(PAKISTAN)

I N D I A

C H I N A

(BANGLADESH)

S MA L L STAT E S

MAGADHADA

Harappa

Mohenjo-Daro

WE

ST

ER

NG

HA

TS

MT

S.

EA

STE

RN

GHATS MTS.

HI M

AL A Y A

M O U N T A I N STHARDESERT

DECCANPLATEAU

GANGES

PLAIN

HINDU KUSH MTS.

BAHAWALPU

R

DESERT

20°N

40°N

80°E

Lines of Aryan penetrationsConsolidation of kingdomsModern place name(PAKISTAN)

Aryan Invasions of India,1500–250 B.C.

0

0

250 Miles

500 Kilometers

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBU ILDER : Interpreting Maps 1. Location What waterway served as the focal point for

the Aryan kingdom of Magadha?2. Human-Environment Interaction Why do you think the

Aryans migrated to the east of the Western Ghats?

057-61-0103s1 10/11/02 3:30 PM Page 61

SETTING THE STAGE At first, the Aryans and non-Aryans followed their own forms ofreligion. Then as the two groups intermingled, the gods and forms of their religions alsotended to blend together. This blending resulted in the worship of thousands of gods.Different ways of living and different beliefs made life more complex for both groups.This complexity led some people to question the world and their place in it. They evenquestioned the enormous wealth and power held by the Brahmin priests. These priestsofficiated at elaborate state ceremonies and sacrifices. Out of this turmoil, new religiousideas arose that have continued to influence millions of people today.

Hinduism Develops Over CenturiesHinduism is a collection of religious beliefs that developed slowly over a long periodof time. Some aspects of the religion can be traced back to ancient times. In a Hindumarriage today, for example, the bride and groom marry in the presence of the sacredfire as they did centuries ago. Verses from the Vedas are recited daily by the faithful.Also, some non-Aryan gods known in Vedic times, such as Krishna of the Mahab-harata, continue to be worshiped.

From time to time, scholars have tried to organize the many popular cults, gods,and traditions into one grand system of belief. However, Hinduism—unlike religionssuch as Buddhism, Christianity, or Islam—cannot be traced back to one founder witha single set of ideas.

Origins and Beliefs Hindus share a commonworld-view. They see religion as a way of liberat-ing the soul from the illusions, disappointments,and mistakes of everyday existence. Sometimebetween 750 and 550 b.c., Hindu teachers triedto interpret and explain the hidden meaning ofthe Vedic hymns. As they meditated on theVedas, they asked: What is the nature of reality?What is morality? Is there eternal life? What isthe soul? The teachers’ comments were laterwritten down and became known as theUpanishads (oo•PAHN•ih•shahdz).

The Upanishads are written as dialogues, ordiscussions, between a student and a teacher.In the course of the dialogues, the two explorehow a person can achieve liberation from desiresand suffering. This is described as moksha(MOHK• shah), a state of perfect understandingof all things. The teacher distinguishes betweenatman, the individual soul of a living being, andBrahman, the world soul that contains and

Vishnu grew tobecome a majorHindu god after theage of the Vedas.He is seen here asthe whole Universein all its variety. Heis blue, the color ofinfinity.

BackgroundBoth the Vedas andthe Upanishads arecounted amongHinduism’s sacredbooks.

Roots of Hinduismand Buddhism

2TERMS & NAMES

• reincarnation• karma• Jainism• Siddhartha

Gautama• enlightenment• nirvana

MAIN IDEA

The religious beliefs of the Vedic Ageeventually developed into Hinduismand Buddhism.

WHY IT MATTERS NOW

Almost one-fifth of the world’s peopletoday practice one of these tworeligions.

62 Chapter 3

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unites all atmans. The interconnectedness of all life is a basic concept in all Indianreligions. Here is how one teacher explains the unifying spirit of Brahman:

A V O I C E F R O M T H E P A S TThou art woman, Thou art man, Thou art the lad and the maiden too. Thou art the oldman tottering on his staff: Once born thou comest to be, thy face turned every way! Adark-blue moth art Thou, green [parrot] with red eyes. Pregnant with lightning—sea-sons, seas: Thyself beginningless, all things dost Thou pervade. From thee all worldswere born.Svetasvatara Upanishad. IV. 3–4

When a person understands the relationship between atman and Brahman, thatperson achieves perfect understanding (moksha) and a release from life in this world.This understanding does not usually come in one lifetime. By the process of reincar-nation (rebirth), an individual soul or spirit is born again and again until moksha isachieved. A soul’s karma—good or bad deeds—follows from one reincarnation toanother. Karma influences specific life circumstances, such as the caste one is borninto, one’s state of health, wealth or poverty, and so on.

Hinduism Changes and Develops Hinduism has gone through many changes overthe last 2,500 years. The world soul, Brahman, was sometimes seen as having the per-sonalities of three gods: Brahma, the creator; Vishnu, the protector; and Shiva, thedestroyer. Vishnu also took on many forms or personalities, for example, as Krishna,the divine cowherder, and as Rama, the perfect king. Over the centuries, Brahmagradually faded into the background, while the many forms of a great MotherGoddess grew in importance.

Hindus today are free to choose the deity they worship or to choose none at all.Most, however, follow a family tradition that may go back centuries. They are also freeto choose among three different paths for achieving moksha. They are the path ofright thinking, the path of right action, or the path of religious devotion.

Hinduism and Society Hindu ideas about karma and reincarnation strengthenedthe caste system. If a person was born as an upper-caste male—a Brahmin, warrior, ormerchant—his good fortune was said to come from good karma earned in a formerlife. However, a person who was born as a female, a laborer, or an untouchablemight be getting the results of bad deeds in a former life. With some excep-tions, only men of the top three varnas could hope to achieve moksha intheir present life. The laws of karma worked with the same certainty as theworld’s other natural laws. Good karma brought good fortune and bad karmaresulted in bad fortune.

Together, the beliefs of Hinduism and its caste structure dominated everyaspect of a person’s life. These beliefs determined what one could eat andhow one ate it, personal cleanliness, the people one could associate with, howone dressed, and so on. Today, even in the most ordinary activities of dailylife, Hindus turn to their religion for guidance.

New Religions Arise The same period of speculation reflected inthe Upanishads also led to the rise of two other religions: Jainism(JY•nihz•uhm) and Buddhism. Mahavira, the founder ofJainism, was born about 599 b.c. and died in 527 b.c.Mahavira believed that everything in the universehas a soul and so should not be harmed. Jainmonks carry the doctrine of nonviolenceto its logical conclusion. They sweepants off their path and wear gauzemasks over their mouths to avoidbreathing in an insect accidentally.

A Jain man wearsa mask and carriesa brush to preventharm to smallcreatures.

THINK THROUGH HISTORYA. MakingInferences Howmight the lack of asingle founder resultin Hinduism changingmore over time thanother religions?A. Answer Not hav-ing a single foundermeans that no set oforiginal beliefs willdetermine Hinduism’sdevelopment. The reli-gion can thus changemore freely than reli-gions with a founder.

63

BackgroundThe doctrine of non-violence (ahimsa) isimportant both toHindus and Jains.

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64 Chapter 3

In keeping with this nonviolence, followers of Jainism looked for occupations thatwould not harm any creature. So they have a tradition of working in trade andcommerce.

Because of their business activities, Jains today make up one of the wealthiest com-munities in India. Jains have traditionally preached tolerance of all religions. As aresult, they have made few efforts to convert followers of other faiths. Because of thistolerance, Jains have not sent out missionaries. So, almost all the nearly 5 million Jainsin the world today live in India.

The Buddha Seeks EnlightenmentBuddhism developed out of the same period of religious questioningthat shaped modern Hinduism and Jainism. The founder ofBuddhism, Siddhartha Gautama (sihd•DAHR•tuh GOW• tuh•muh)was born into a noble family that lived in Kapilavastu, in the foothillsof the Himalayas in Nepal. According to Buddhist legend, the babyexhibited the marks of a great man. A prophecy indicated that if thechild stayed at home he was destined to become a world ruler. If thechild left home, however, he would become a universal spiritualleader. To make sure the boy would be a great king, his father iso-lated him in his palace. Separated from the world, Siddhartha mar-ried and had a son.

Siddhartha’s Quest Siddhartha never ceased thinking about theworld that lay outside the palace, which he had never seen. When hewas 29, he ventured outside the palace four times. First he saw anold man, next a sick man, then a corpse being carried to the crema-tion grounds, and finally a wandering holy man who seemed at peacewith himself. Siddhartha understood these events to mean that everyliving thing experiences old age, sickness, and death and that only areligious life offers a refuge from this inevitable suffering. Siddharthadecided to spend his life searching for religious truth and an end tosuffering. So, soon after learning of his son’s birth, he left the palace.

Siddhartha wandered through the forests of India for six yearsseeking enlightenment, or wisdom. He tried many ways of reachingan enlightened state. He first debated with other religious seekers.Then he fasted, eating only six grains of rice a day. (It was said thathis stomach became so empty that by poking a finger into it, hecould touch his backbone.) Yet none of these methods brought himto the truth, and he continued to suffer. Finally, he sat in meditationunder a large fig tree. After 49 days of meditation, he achieved anunderstanding of the cause of suffering in this world. From then on,he was known as the Buddha, meaning “the enlightened one.”

Origins and Beliefs The Buddha preached his first sermon to fivecompanions who had accompanied him on his wanderings. That first sermon became alandmark in the history of the world’s religions. In it, he laid out the four main ideas thathe had understood in his enlightenment. He called those ideas the Four Noble Truths:

Siddhartha Gautama c. 563–483 B.C.

According to Buddhist tradition,signs predicted even before hisbirth that Siddhartha Gautamawould be a great man. His motherMahamaya had dreamt of abeautiful elephant that was brightas silver. When asked to interpretthe dream, Brahmin priestsdeclared that the child to be bornwould either be a great monarch ora Buddha (an enlightened one).

Tradition also relates that atGautama’s birth, he exhibited thesigns of a child destined forgreatness. There were 32 suchsigns, including golden-tinged skin,webbed fingers and toes, a knob onthe top of his skull, a long tongue, atuft of hair between his eyebrows,and a thousand-spoked wheel oneach foot. Some images of theBuddha display these traits.

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■HISTORY MAKERS

Vocabularyfasted: did not eat.

First Noble TruthSecond Noble Truth

Third Noble TruthFourth Noble Truth

Everything in life is suffering and sorrow.The cause of all suffering is people’s selfish desire for thetemporary pleasures of this world.The way to end all suffering is to end all desires.The way to overcome such desires and attain enlightenment is tofollow the Eightfold Path, which is called the Middle Way betweendesires and self-denial.

THINK THROUGH HISTORYB. SynthesizingHow far might theJain respect for lifeextend?B. Possible AnswerTo viruses and bacte-ria; to not eating at all(no plant life, no ani-mal life).

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The Eightfold Path was like a staircase. For the Buddha, those who were seekingenlightenment had to master one step at a time. Most often, this mastery would occurover many lifetimes. Here is how he described the Middle Way and its Eightfold Path:

A V O I C E F R O M T H E P A S TWhat is the Middle Way? . . . It is the Noble Eightfold Path—Right Views, Right Resolve,Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, andRight Concentration. This is the Middle Way.The Buddha, from Samyutta Nikaya

By following the Eightfold Path, anyone could reach nirvana, the Buddha’s wordfor release from selfishness and pain. The Buddha’s teachings included many ideasfrom the Hindu tradition. However, they also differed sharply from that tradition.

As in Hinduism, the Buddha accepted the idea of reincarnation. He also accepted acyclical, or repetitive, view of history, where the world is created and destroyed overand over again. However, the Buddha rejected the many gods of Hinduism. Instead, hetaught a way of enlightenment. Like many of his time, the Buddha reacted against theprivileges of the Brahmin priests, and thus he rejected the caste system. The final goalsof both religions—moksha for Hindus and nirvana for Buddhists—are similar. Bothinvolve a perfect state of understanding and a break from the chain of reincarnations.

The Religious Community The five disciples who heard the Buddha’s first sermonwere the first monks admitted to a sangha, or Buddhist religious order. At first, thesangha was a community of Buddhist monks and nuns. However, sangha eventuallyreferred to the entire religious community. It included Buddhist laity (those who hadn’tdevoted their entire life to religion). The religious community, together with theBuddha and the dharma (Buddhist doctrine or law), make up the “Three Jewels” ofBuddhism. Every day, Buddhists all over the world recognize the importance of theThree Jewels of their faith by declaring: “I take refuge in the Buddha. I take refuge inthe law. I take refuge in the community.”

Buddhism and Society Because of his rejection of the caste system, many of theBuddha’s early followers included laborers and craftspeople. He also gained a largefollowing in northeast India, where the Aryans had less influence. The Buddha reluc-tantly admitted women to religious orders. He feared, however, that women’s pres-ence would distract men from their religious duties.

Monks and nuns took vows (solemn promises) to live a life of poverty, to benonviolent, and not to marry. They wandered throughout India spreading the

Buddha’s teachings. Missionaries carried only a begging bowl to receivedaily charity offerings from people. During the rainy season, they

retreated to caves high up in the hillsides. Gradually, these seasonalretreats became permanent monasteries—some for men, others for

women. One monastery, Nalanda, developed into a great universitythat also attracted non-Buddhists.

The teachings of the Buddha were written down shortly afterhis death. Buddhist sacred literature also includes commen-taries, rules about monastic life, manuals on how to meditate,

THINK THROUGH HISTORYC. Comparing Inwhat ways areBuddhism andHinduism similar?C. Possible AnswerSearch for perfectunderstanding and anend to suffering; rein-carnation; quest toend the chain of rein-carnations; cyclicalview of history.

65

Buddhist traditiontells that justbefore he died, theBuddha laypeacefully on hisright side betweentwo trees.Reclining Buddhas,like this one inLaos, point to thiscalm acceptance ofdeath as the ideal.

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and legends about the Buddha’s previous reincarnations (the Jatakas). This sacred lit-erature was first written down in the first century b.c.

Buddhism in India During the centuries following the Buddha’s death, missionarieswere able to spread his faith over large parts of Asia. Buddhist missionaries went to

Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia in the third century b.c. Buddhistideas also traveled along Central Asian trade routes to China.However, Buddhism never gained a significant foothold in India, thecountry of its origin. Several theories exist about Buddhism’s gradualdisappearance in India. One theory states that Hinduism simplyabsorbed Buddhism. The two religions constantly influenced eachother. Over time, the Buddha came to be identified by Hindus asone of the ten incarnations (reappearances on earth) of the godVishnu. Hindus, thus, felt no need to convert to Buddhism. Theybelieved it had already become a part of their own religion.

Nonetheless, despite the small number of Buddhists in India,the region has always been an important place of pilgrimages forBuddhists. Today, as they have for centuries, Buddhist pilgrims flockto visit spots associated with the Buddha’s life. These sites include hisbirthplace at Kapilavastu, the fig tree near Gaya, and the site of hisfirst sermon near Varanasi. Buddhists also visit the stupas, or sacredmounds, that are said to contain his relics. The pilgrims circle aroundthe sacred object or sanctuary, moving in a clockwise direction. Theyalso lie face down on the ground and leave flowers. These threeactions—circling a shrine, lying face down as a sign of humility, andoffering flowers—are important rituals in Buddhist worship.

Trade and the Spread of Buddhism As important as missionarieswere to the spread of Buddhism, traders played an even more crucial role in this pro-cess. Along with their products, traders carried Buddhism beyond India to Sri Lanka.Buddhist religion was also brought southeast along trade routes to Burma, Thailand,and the island of Sumatra. Likewise, Buddhism followed the Central Asian traderoutes, called the Silk Roads, all the way to China. From China, Buddhism spread toKorea—and from Korea to Japan. The movement of trade thus succeeded in makingBuddhism the most widespread religion of East Asia. Throughout human history,trade has been a powerful force for the spread of ideas. Just as trade spreadBuddhism in East Asia, it helped spread cultural influences in another major region ofthe world: the Mediterranean basin, as you will learn in Section 3.

Vocabularypilgrimages: travelsto holy places.

66 Chapter 3

2. TAKING NOTES

Compare Hindu and Buddhistbeliefs and practices using a Venndiagram like the one below.

3. MAKING INFERENCES

How might the belief inreincarnation provide a form ofsocial control?

THINK ABOUT• karma• the belief in the interrelatedness

of all life• caste

4. THEME ACTIVITY

Religious and EthicalSystems Create an illustratedinformation board showing the lifeof Siddhartha Gautama. Includefamily background, accom-plishments, and a list of hisreligious and ethical beliefs.

1. TERMS & NAMES

Identify• reincarnation• karma• Jainism• Siddhartha Gautama• enlightenment• nirvana

Section Assessment2

Buddhism in the West

Throughout the 20th century, large numbers of Asians haveimmigrated to live in the West,particularly in North America.Many of them naturally broughttheir Buddhist religion with them.Today, Buddhist temples havebecome a common feature of many large cities in the West.

Since the 1950s, many non-Asians who were dissatisfied withthe religions of the West haveturned to Buddhism for insight intolife’s meaning and for peace ofmind. They have particularlyresponded to Zen Buddhism, whichstresses everyone’s ability to reachenlightenment during this lifetime.Today, Buddhism can claim 920,000Asian and non-Asian believers inNorth America alone.

CONNECT to TODAY

Hinduismonly

Both Buddhismonly

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People and Ideas on the Move 67

SETTING THE STAGE Buddhism spread to Southeast Asia and to East Asia partlythrough missionaries, but even more importantly through Buddhist traders. In theMediterranean, the same process took place: traders in the region carried many newideas from one society to another. They carried new ways of writing, of governing, andof worshiping their gods.

Minoans Trade Far and WideA powerful seafaring people, the Minoans (mih•NOH•uhnz) dominated trade in theeastern Mediterranean from about 2000 to 1400 b.c. They lived on Crete, a largeisland on the southern edge of the Aegean Sea (ee•JEE•uhn). TheMinoans produced some of the finest painted pottery of the time.They traded that pottery, along with swords, figurines, and vessels ofprecious metals, over a large area.

Along with their goods, Minoans also exported their art and cul-ture. These included a unique architectural style, burial customs, andreligious ritual. Minoan culture had an enormous influence onGreece, for example. Trading turned Crete into a kind of “steppingstone” for cultural exchange throughout the Mediterranean world.

Unearthing a Brilliant Civilization Archaeologists in the 19thcentury excavated Knossos, the Minoan capital city. There, they

found the remains of an advanced and thrivingculture. It must have been a peaceful one as well,since Minoan cities did not seem to need fortifi-cations to protect them. The archaeologistsnamed the civilization they found in Crete Minoaafter King Minos (MY•nuhs). According to a leg-end, Minos was a king who kept a half-human,

half-bull monster, called the Minotaur (MIHN•uh•tawr). He keptthe monster locked inside a labyrinth, a complicated maze fromwhich no one could escape.

The excavation of Knossos and its colorful painted walls produceda great deal of information about Minoans. The wall paintings, as wellas the official seals and painted vases, show the Minoans as graceful,athletic people who loved nature and beautiful objects. They alsoenjoyed vigorous sports such as boxing, wrestling, and bull-leaping.

Many Minoan artworks depict women and their role in religiousceremonies. The art suggests that women held a higher rank than inmost neighboring cultures. A great Mother Earth Goddess seems tohave ruled over the other gods of Crete. Also, priestesses took chargeof some shrines, aided by male assistants.

Seafaring Traders Extend Boundaries

3TERMS & NAMES

• Minoans• Aegean Sea• Knossos• King Minos• Phoenicians

MAIN IDEA

Trading societies extended thedevelopment of civilizations beyond the Fertile Crescent region.

WHY IT MATTERS NOW

Traders spread knowledge of readingand writing, including an ancient formof the alphabet that we use today.

BackgroundA Greek legend saysthat every year, KingMinos sacrificed 14Athenian boys andgirls to the Minotaur.The mythical heroTheseus finally killedthe Minotaur andended the slaughter.

THINK THROUGH HISTORYA. DrawingConclusions Howdo you think archaeol-ogists can identifyplaces in the Mediter-ranean whereMinoans traded?A. Answers FindingMinoan products (pot-tery, figurines, swords,etc.); finding evidenceof Minoan influence(architecture, clothing,religion, burial cus-toms, etc.).

Bull Leapers of Knossos

The bronze statue above capturesthe death-defying jump of a Minoanbull leaper in mid-flight. Manyworks of Minoan art show youngmen performing incredibleacrobatic leaps over the horns ofangry bulls. In one case, thegymnast jumps over the bull’shorns, makes a somersault off itsback, and lands behind its tail.

In another gymnastic feat, someteam members hang on to thehorns of a bull, using their bodiesto cushion its horns and to force itshead low, while another teammember jumps over its back.

What was the reason for thisbull-leaping? Was it a sport? Just a“fun” activity? An initiation foryoung warriors? Or a religiousritual? Most likely it was all ofthose. It probably also expressed adeep link between Minoans andnature, symbolized by the bull.

Daily Life

KnossosCRETE

ANATOLIA

GR

EE

CE

Medi t e r ran ean S ea

Ae g e an

S ea

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BackgroundLebanon is found onthe eastern end of theMediterranean Sea.The Straits ofGibraltar are on thewestern end.

THINK THROUGH HISTORYB. SummarizingWhat adjectivesmight describeMinoan civilization?B. Answer seagoing,artistic, advanced,peaceful

The Minoans sacrificed bulls and other animals to their gods. In at least one case, ayoung man was sacrificed. Excavation of a mountain temple revealed the bones of a17-year-old boy on an altar, along with the skeletons of three priests. The positions ofthe skeletons suggest that the priests carried out the human sacrifice just before thebuilding collapsed.

Minoan Culture’s Mysterious End The Minoan civilization finally ended about1200 b.c. The reasons for its end are unclear. Could it have been the result of somenatural disaster? Did the island become overpopulated? Or was it overrun by invaders?

The civilization had withstood previous disasters. In about 1700 b.c., a great disas-ter, perhaps an earthquake, destroyed most Minoan towns and cities. The Minoansrebuilt the cities with equal richness. Then again in 1470 b.c. a series of earthquakesrocked Crete. The quakes were followed by a violent volcanic eruption on the neigh-boring island of Thera. Imagine the frightening catastrophe: first the shaking of theearth, then the fiery volcanic blast, next a huge tidal wave on Crete’s northern coast,and finally a dense rain of white volcanic ash.

The disaster of 1470 b.c. was a blow from which the Minoans did not recover. Thistime, the Minoans did not succeed in rebuilding their cities. Nonetheless, Minoan civ-ilization did linger on for almost 300 years. After that, invaders from Greece may havetaken advantage of their weakened condition to destroy them. Some Minoans fled tothe mountains to escape the ruin of the kingdom. Crete’s influence as a major seapower and cultural force was over.

Phoenicians Spread Trade and CivilizationAbout 1100 B.C., after Crete’s decline, the most powerful traders along the Mediterra-nean were the Phoenicians (fih•NIHSH•uhnz). Phoenicia was mainly the area nowknown as Lebanon. Phoenicians never united into a country. Instead, they founded anumber of wealthy city-states around the Mediterranean that sometimes competedwith one another. (See the map on pages 54–55.) The first cities in Phoenicia, such asByblos, Tyre (tyr), and Sidon (SYD•uhn), were important trading centers.

The Phoenicians were remarkable shipbuilders and seafarers. They were the firstMediterranean people to venture beyond the Strait of Gibraltar. Some scholarsbelieve that the Phoenicians traded for tin with inhabitants of the southern coast ofBritain. Some evidence exists for an even more remarkable feat—sailing around thecontinent of Africa by way of the Red Sea and back through the Strait of Gibraltar.

Phoenicians madevows to their cruelgods and god-desses, shown instatues like thesefrom Byblos. ThePhoenicians wouldsacrifice their first-born children andanimals to pleasethese deities.

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Such a trip was not repeated again for 2,000 years. The Greek historian Herodotus(hih•RAHD•uh•tuhs) relates the feat.

A V O I C E F R O M T H E P A S TThe Phoenicians set out from the Red Sea and sailed the southern sea [the IndianOcean]; whenever autumn came they would put in and sow the land, to whatever partof Libya [Africa] they might come, and there await the harvest; then, having gatheredin the crop, they sailed on, so that after two years had passed, it was in the third thatthey rounded the Pillars of Heracles [Strait of Gibraltar] and came to Egypt. There theysaid (what some may believe, though I do not) that in sailing round Libya they had thesun on their right hand [in reverse position].HERODOTUS, in History, Book IV (5th century B.C.).

Commercial Outposts Around the Mediterranean The Phoenicians’ mostimportant city-states in the eastern Mediterranean were Sidon and Tyre, both knownfor their production of purple dye; Berytus (now Beirut, in Lebanon); and Byblos, atrading center for papyrus. Phoenicians built colonies along the northern coast ofAfrica and the coasts of Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain. The colonies strung out like beadson a chain about 30 miles apart—about the distance a Phoenician ship could sail in aday. The greatest Phoenician colony was at Carthage (KAHR•thihj), in North Africa.Settlers from Tyre founded Carthage in about 725 b.c.

The Phoenicians traded goods they got from other lands—wine, weapons, precious metals, ivory, and slaves. They alsowere known as superb craftsmen who worked in wood,metal, glass, and ivory. Their famous purple dye was pro-duced from the murex, a kind of snail that lived in the watersoff Sidon and Tyre. One snail, when left to rot, produced justa drop or two of a liquid of a deep purple color. Some 60,000snails were needed to produce one pound of dye.

Phoenicia’s Great Legacy: The Alphabet As mer-chants, the Phoenicians needed a way of recording transac-tions clearly and quickly. So, the Phoenicians developed awriting system that used symbols to represent sounds. ThePhoenician system was phonetic—that is, one sign was usedfor one sound. In fact, the word alphabet comes directlyfrom the first two letters of the Phoenician alphabet: alephand beth. As they traveled around the Mediterranean, thePhoenicians introduced this writing system to their tradingpartners. The Greeks, for example, adopted the Phoenicianalphabet and changed the form of some of the letters.

Few examples of Phoenician writing exist. Most was onpapyrus, which crumbled easily over time. However, thePhoenician contribution to the world was enormous. Witha simplified alphabet, learning was now accessible to manymore people.

Phoenician trade was upset when their eastern citieswere captured by Assyrians in 842 b.c. However, thesedefeats encouraged exiles to set up city-states like Carthageto the west. The Phoenician homeland later came underthe control of the Babylonians, and still later, of thePersian empire of King Cyrus I. Their conquerors recog-nized the Phoenicians’ superb ability both as shipbuildersand as seamen. Nonetheless, one of their most lasting con-tributions remains the spread of the alphabet.

�����

���

�� ���

�����

��

�

ABCDEFG

H

IJKLMN

OP

QRSTU

VWX

YZ

Phoenician

SKILLBUILDER: Interpreting Charts1. Which letters show the most similarity

across the three alphabets?2. Why might one language have fewer

letters in its alphabet than another?

People and Ideas on the Move 69

BackgroundByblos was so famousfor its papyrus that itgave the Greeks theirword for book, biblos,from which theEnglish word Biblecomes.

Alphabets—Ancient and Modern

Greek English

BackgroundThough not the first,the Phoenician alpha-bet was one of theearliest. And becausethey were traders, thePhoenicians spreadthe idea of the alpha-bet far and wide.

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70 Chapter 3

As usual, Phoenician shipping fleets are exploring new territories. Thelatest trip has taken our vessels past the Rock of Gibraltar into theAtlantic Ocean. Consider the danger faced by our sailors as they rowpast the placid Mediterranean . . . into who-knows-what. These bravemariners have only the gods and their skill to rely on.

Murex, the snail from which thefamous purple dye is made, is now anexclusive Phoenician monopoly.

Workers break the murex shell,then take out the shellfish and

put it in large vats. Whenthe snails have died

and rotted, theyexcrete a yellow

liquid. When exposedto the sun for long

periods, the liquidturns purple. The small

amount of dye extractedfrom huge numbers of

snails means that only therichest Romans can afford to use the dye for their robes. Thus the dye has been named “royal purple.”

Residents living near dye centerscomplain of the stench of rottingsnails and the huge piles of emptyshells left near the factories.

Daily Life

Home ConstructionC arthage, Tyre, Sidon

Shipping News

Crowded conditions within these walled towns have led to the constructionof two-story homes. Many are adding balconies onto the second story, soresidents can look out over the city wall. Walls are still being constructed ofbrick or clay and covered with stucco. Some of the latest homes sportbathrooms, with tubs featuring a bath seat.

in 660 B.C.

Phoenician Financial NewsDye Prices Go Up!

GlassmakingThe glass manufacturing and exportbusiness is growing by leaps andbounds. The sands of Lebanon are richin silica and make the best glass in theMediterranean area. Borrowing tech-niques from Palestine has resulted inthe creation of window glass. Romansare extremely interested in this processand are also experimenting with glass-blowing techniques. Less expensiveglass is quickly replacing metal in Romanhome decoration.

This bronze plaque from the gates in the city of Balawat showssailors leaving Tyre on yet another profitable trading expedition.

Making Inferences Based onthese articles, what kinds of jobsmight be listed under EmploymentOpportunities in the classified adsof this newspaper?

SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R16

Researching Do research onPhoenician agriculture, shipbuild-ing, or the city of Carthage andsubmit an article to “PhoenicianFinancial News.”

Connect to Today

Connect to History

The horse and date palm havebeen chosen as official symbols onCarthaginian coins.

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People and Ideas on the Move 71

Vocabularymonsoon: a windthat affects climate bychanging direction incertain seasons.

2. TAKING NOTES

Below is a list of accomplishments.Copy the chart beneath the list onyour paper. Then fill in the chart,identifying feats that were Minoanand those that were Phoenician.

• dominated trade (2000–1400 B.C.)• set up numerous city-states• developed an alphabet• produced a famous purple dye• jumped over bulls for fun• produced fine painted pottery

3. EVALUATING SOURCES

Go back to page 69. ReadHerodotus’s account of how thePhoenicians sailed around Africa.What words show Herodotus’sdoubt? Why do you think heexpresses doubts?

THINK ABOUT• the sources that reported the

feat• Herodotus as a historian• the Phoenicians’ seafaring skills• the fact that the trip was not

repeated for 2000 years

4. ANALYZING THEMES

Economics The Phoeniciansfounded wealthy city-statesaround the Mediterranean. Thesecity-states often competed withone another. Do you think it wouldhave made more sense for thecity-states to cooperate or didcompetition make them stronger?Explain your reasons.

THINK ABOUT• advantages of a unified country• advantages of independence• benefits of competition

1. TERMS & NAMES

Identify• Minoans• Aegean Sea• Knossos• King Minos• Phoenicians

Section Assessment3

A F R I C A

E U R O P E

ANATOLIA

A S I AATLANTIC

OCEAN

PACIFICOCEAN

Mediterranean Sea

ArabianSea

INDIAN OCEAN

Bay ofBengal

Red

Sea

NileR.

Dan u be R.

Euphrates R.

PersianGulf In

dus

R. Gan g e s R.

H uang

He

(Yello w

)

CaspianSea

Black SeaAralSea

40°N

20°N

Tropic of Cancer Tropic of Cancer

0° 60°E

100°

E

120°

E

140°

E

80°E

40°E

20°E

20°W

20°N

40°N

0

0

1,000 Miles

2,000 Kilometers

The Patterns of Ancient Trade, 2000–250 B.C.

The Long Reach of Ancient TradeTrading in ancient times also connected the Mediterranean Sea with other centers ofworld commerce, such as South and East Asia. Several land routes crossed CentralAsia and connected to India through Afghanistan. Two sea routes began by crossingthe Arabian Sea to ports on the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. From there, traderseither went overland to Egypt, Syria, and Mediterranean countries, or they continuedto sail up the Red Sea. To cross the Arabian Sea, sailors learned to make use of themonsoon winds. These winds blow from the southwest during the hot months andfrom the northeast during the cool season.

To widen the variety of their exports, Indian traders used other monsoon winds totravel to Southeast Asia and Indonesia. Once there, they obtained spices and otherproducts not native to India.

Though traveling was difficult in ancient times, trading networks like those of thePhoenicians assured the exchange of products and information. Along with theirgoods, traders carried ideas, religious beliefs, art, and ways of living. They helped withthe process of cultural diffusion as well as with moving merchandise.

Phoenician traders by their travels made crucial contributions to world civilization. Atnearly the same time, another eastern Mediterranean people, the Jews, were creating areligious tradition that has lasted for more than 3,000 years. This is discussed in Section 4.

Minoan Phoenician

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBU ILDER : Interpreting Maps1. Movement What area of the ancient world had the greatest number of land routes?2. Human-Environment Interaction What natural inland feature often served as a highway for trade?

067-71-whpe-0103s3 10/11/02 3:30 PM Page 71

SETTING THE STAGE The Phoenicians lived in a region at the eastern end of theMediterranean Sea that was later called Palestine. The Phoenicians were not the onlyancient people to live in Palestine. Nor were they the only Palestinian people to makea great contribution to world civilization. The area of Palestine called Canaan(KAY•nuhn) was the ancient home of the Hebrews, later called the Jews. Their history,legends, and moral laws are a major influence on Western culture, and they began atradition also shared by Christianity and Islam.

The Search for a Promised LandAncient Palestine’s location made it a cultural crossroads of the ancient world. Byland, it connected Asia and Africa and two great empires, both eager to expand. Tothe east lay Assyria and Babylonia and to the west Egypt. Palestine’s seaports openedonto the two most important waterways of that time: the Mediterranean, which con-

nected to the Atlantic Ocean, and the Red Sea, which flowed intothe Indian Ocean. The Hebrews settled in Canaan, the part ofancient Palestine that lay between the Jordan River and the Mediter-ranean Sea. In fact, Hebrews often used the word Canaan to refer toall of ancient Palestine. According to the Bible, Canaan was the landGod had promised to the Hebrew people.

From Ur to Egypt Most of what we know about the early history ofthe Hebrews is contained in the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.Jews call these books the Torah (TAWR•uh) and consider them themost sacred writings in their tradition. Christians respect them aspart of the Old Testament. As in other sacred literatures, the booksof the Torah describe some events that actually happened. However,those books also contain stories told to teach important lessons.

In the Torah, God chose Abraham (AY•bruh•ham) to be the“father,” or first, of the Hebrew people. God’s first words to Abrahamexpressed a promise of land and a pledge: “Go from your countryand your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will showyou. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and makeyour name great. . . .” (Genesis 12:1–2)

The Torah says that Abraham was a shepherd who lived in the city ofUr, in Mesopotamia. The Torah tells that God commanded him to move his people andtheir flocks to Canaan. This would have occurred around 2000 b.c. The story of how andwhy he moved to Canaan is told in the Book of Genesis. Abraham, his family, and theirherds made their way from the lower Tigris and Euphrates region to Canaan. Then, pos-sibly around 1650 b.c., the descendants of Abraham moved again—this time to Egypt.

The God of Abraham The Bible tells how Abraham and his family roamed for manyyears from Mesopotamia to Canaan to Egypt and back to Canaan. All the while, their

BackgroundThe Book of Genesisis the first book of theBible. Genesis means“beginning.”

The Origins of Judaism4TERMS & NAMES

• Palestine• Canaan• Torah• Abraham• monotheism• covenant• Moses• Israel• Judah• tribute

MAIN IDEA

The Hebrews maintained monotheisticreligious beliefs that were unique inthe ancient world.

WHY IT MATTERS NOW

From this tradition, Judaism, thereligion of the Jews, evolved. Judaismis one of the world’s major religions.

72 Chapter 3

Philistines

The Philistines were anotherancient people who settled inCanaan. The Greeks called the areawhere they lived “Palestine” afterthe Philistines. Much of what weknow about the Philistines comesfrom their neighbors, the Hebrews,who disliked them and fought withthem over control of the land.

The Philistines enjoyed definitemilitary advantages over theHebrews. They had a fleet of shipsand swift chariots. More import-antly, they knew how to forge ironinto swords and shields. Over time,Hebrews learned the secret ofsmelting iron and were able to fightthe Philistines on more even terms.

SPOTLIGHTON

VocabularyBible: the namegiven to the sacredbooks of Judaism, aswell as to those ofChristianity.

BackgroundMany scholars usethe name Israelite,instead of Hebrew.

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God, whose name was Yahweh, went with them. Godsworshiped by other people at that time were often local,associated with a specific place. Because the God of theHebrews did not belong to any one place, the Hebrewscould carry their worship of him wherever they went.

Unlike the other groups around them, who were poly-theists, the Hebrews were monotheists. They prayed onlyto one God. Monotheism (MAHN•uh•thee•ihz•uhm), abelief in a single god, comes from the Greek words mono,meaning “one” and theism, meaning “god-worship.” TheHebrews had made a startling leap. They proclaimedYahweh as the one and only God. In their eyes, Yahwehhad power not only over the Hebrews, but over all peo-ples, everywhere. To the Hebrews, God was not a physicalbeing, and no physical images were to be made of him.

The Hebrews asked Yahweh for protection from theirenemies, just as other people prayed to their gods todefend them. According to the Bible, Yahweh looked afterthe Hebrews not so much because of ritual ceremoniesand sacrifices, but because Abraham had promised to obeyhim. In return, Yahweh had promised to protect Abraham and his descendants. Thismutual promise between God and the founder of the Hebrew people is called acovenant (KUHV•uh•nuhnt). This was the first of a series of covenants that Yahwehand the Hebrews would make together.

“Let My People Go.” The Bible says the Hebrews migrated to Egypt because of adrought and threat of a famine. At first, the Hebrews were given places of honor inthe Egyptian kingdom. Later, however, they were forced into slavery, their lives made“bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field.”(Exodus 1:14)

The Hebrews fled Egypt—perhaps between 1300 and 1200 B.C. Jews call this event“the Exodus,” and they remember it every year during the festival of Passover. TheTorah says that the man who led the Hebrews out of slavery was named Moses. At

Passover, it is told that at the time of Moses’ birth, the Egyptianpharaoh felt threatened by the number of Hebrews in Egypt.

He thus ordered all Hebrew male babies to be killed. Moses’

On Moses’ returnfrom Mount Sinai,he saw the Hebrewsworshiping agolden calf andangrily broke thetablets of the Law.The 17th-centuryItalian painterGuido Reni depictsthis dramaticmoment.

BackgroundIn the Book of Exodus,God strikes downthe first-born of theEgyptians, but he“passes over” thehomes of the Hebrews.Passover celebratesthis episode.

BackgroundThe name Yahwehlater became Jehovahto some Christians.

35°N

30°N

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40°

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DeadSea

JordanRiver

M e d i t e r r a n e a n S e a

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Gu l f

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Sea

B la ck Sea Caspian

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Nile R.

Euphrates

TigrisR.R .

Nile

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SYRIA

JUDAH

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ASSYRIA

CANAAN

BABYLONIA

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TyreSamaria

RaamsesJerusalem

Sidon Damascus

RaamsesJerusalem

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Kingdom of Judah, 980 B.C.

Kingdom of Israel, 980 B.C.

Assyrian Empire, 650 B.C.

Babylonian Empire, 600 B.C.

Wanderings of AbrahamRoute of Hebrews out of Egypt

Canaan, the Crossroads, 2000–600 B.C.

GEOGRAPHY SKILLBU ILDER : Interpreting Maps 1. Movement Along what waterway did Abraham

begin his wanderings away from his native city?2. Location How did Canaan’s location make it a

true crossroads of the eastern Mediterranean?

73

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mother hid her baby in the reeds along the banks of the Nile. There, an Egyptianprincess found and adopted him. Though raised in luxury, he did not forget his Hebrewbirth. When God commanded him to lead the Jews out of Egypt, he obeyed. From thattime on, Moses has been considered the greatest figure in Jewish history.

A New Covenant While the Hebrews weretraveling across the Sinai (SY•ny) Peninsula,Moses climbed to the top of a mountain—MountSinai—to pray. The Bible says he spoke withGod. When Moses came down from MountSinai, he brought down two stone tablets onwhich Yahweh had written ten laws, the TenCommandments of the Bible.

These commandments and the other teachingsthat Moses delivered to his people became thebasis for the civil and religious laws of Judaism.The Hebrews believed that these laws formed anew covenant between God and the Hebrewpeople. God promised to protect the Hebrews.They, in turn, promised to keep God’s command-ments. The covenant was based on the idea that

God is just—and not arbitrary. In addition, the laws given to Moses required a highstandard of moral conduct.

The Land and People of the Bible The Torah reports that the Hebrews wanderedfor 40 years in the Sinai Desert. Later books of the Bible tell about the history of theHebrews after their wanderings. After the death of Moses, they returned to Canaan,where Abraham had lived. The Hebrews frequently fought with their neighbors overland. They were also making a change from a nomadic, tribal society to settledherders, farmers, and city dwellers. They were learning new technologies from neigh-boring peoples in ancient Palestine. These changes in their previously simple way of

life made settling down a difficult experience for the Hebrews.

The Hebrews Are Ruled by Judges When the Hebrews arrived inCanaan, they were loosely organized into twelve tribes. These tribes

lived in separate territories and were self-governing. In times ofemergency, the Bible reports that God would raise up judges. They

would unite the tribes and provide judicial and military leadershipduring a crisis. What the judges had in common was charisma,

a personal magnetism that attracted many followers to theircause. In the course of time, God chose a series of judges,one of the most prominent of whom was a woman, Deborah.

Hebrew Law Deborah’s leadership was unusual for aHebrew woman. The roles of men and women were quiteseparate in Hebrew society. This was generally the case amongpeoples of the region. Women could not officiate at religiousceremonies. In general, a Hebrew woman’s most importantduty was to raise her children and provide moral leadershipfor them.

The Ten Commandments were part of a code of laws deliv-ered to Moses. The code included other rules regulating socialand religious behavior. In some ways, this code resembledHammurabi’s Code with its attitude of “an eye for an eye anda tooth for a tooth.” However, its strict justice was softened by

The Ten Commandments*

The first four commandmentsconcerned the Hebrews’ rela-tionship with God:

• I am the Lord thy God. . . .Thou shalt have no othergods before me.

• Thou shalt not make untothee any graven image. . . .

• Thou shalt not take the nameof the Lord thy God invain. . . .

• Remember the Sabbath dayto keep it holy.

The last six commandmentsconcerned the Hebrews’ rela-tionship with one another:

• Honor thy father and thymother. . . .

• Thou shalt not kill.• Thou shalt not commit

adultery.• Thou shalt not steal.• Thou shalt not bear false

witness against thy neighbor.• Thou shalt not covet . . .

anything that is thy neighbor’s.

THINK THROUGH HISTORYA. Contrasting Howdid the religion of theHebrews differ frommany of the religionsof their neighbors?A. Answer TheHebrews worshipedonly one God. Yahwehwas not only the Godof Hebrews, but of allpeoples. Yahweh ful-filled promises to theHebrews in acovenant.

Tradition dictatesthat the Torahshould be writtenon a scroll and keptat the synagogue inan ornamentedchest called an ark.

BackgroundThe Hebrew word forthese ten laws,devarím, actuallymeans “words” or“utterances,” not“commandments.”

*Jews and Catholics word the commandments in ways slightly different from this version.

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People and Ideas on the Move 75

expressions of God’s mercy. The code was later interpreted by religious teacherscalled prophets. The prophets believed that they had been chosen as messengers toreveal God’s will to his people. They constantly urged the Hebrews to stay true totheir covenant with God.

The prophets taught that the Hebrews had a duty both to worship God and to livejustly with one another. The goal was a moral life lived in accordance with God’s laws.In the words of the prophet Micah, “He has told you, O mortal/ what is good;/ andwhat does the Lord require/of you/but to do justice, and to love/kindness,/ and to walkhumbly with your/God?” This emphasis on right conduct and the worship of one Godis called ethical monotheism—a Hebrew idea that has influenced human behavior forthousands of years through Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. From ethical monothe-ism, the three religions derive much of the moral force that characterizes them.

The Kingdom of IsraelCanaan—the land that the Hebrews believed had been promised them by God—combined largely harsh features such as arid desert, rocky wilderness, grassy hills, andthe dry, hot valley of the Jordan River. Water was never plentiful;even the numerous limestone formations soaked up any excessrainfall. After first settling in the south-central area of ancientPalestine, the Hebrews expanded south and north.

Saul and David Establish a Kingdom The judges occasion-ally pulled together the widely scattered tribes for a united mili-tary effort. Nonetheless, Philistines continued to threaten theHebrews’ position in ancient Palestine. The Hebrews got alongsomewhat better with their Canaanite neighbors. After the exile,the only large tribe left was the tribe of Judah. As a result,Hebrews came to be called Jews and their religion, Judaism.

From about 1020 to 922 b.c., the Hebrews united under threeable kings: Saul, David, and Solomon. The new kingdom wascalled Israel (IHZ•ree•uhl). For 100 years, Israel enjoyed itsgreatest period of power and independence.

Saul, the first of the three kings, was chosen largely because ofhis success in driving out the Philistines from the central hills ofancient Palestine. Saul is portrayed in the Bible as a tragic man,who was given to bouts of jealousy. After his death, he was suc-ceeded by his son-in-law, David. King David, an extremely popu-lar leader, united the tribes, established Jerusalem as the capital,and founded a dynasty.

Solomon Builds the Kingdom About the year 962 b.c., David was succeeded byhis son Solomon, whose mother was Bathsheba. Solomon was the most powerful ofthe Hebrew kings. He built a trading empire with the help of his friend Hiram, theking of the Phoenician city of Tyre. Solomon also beautified the capital city ofJerusalem. The crowning achievement of his extensive building program in Jerusalemwas a great temple, which he built to glorify God. The temple was also to be a perma-nent home for the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the tablets of Moses’s law.

The temple that Solomon built was not large, but it gleamed like a precious gem.Bronze pillars stood at its entrance. The temple was stone on the outside, while itsinner walls were made of cedar covered in gold. The main hall was richly decoratedwith brass and gold. Solomon also built a royal palace even more costly and moremagnificent than the temple.

The State of Israel

On May 14, 1948, Jews and manynon-Jews around the worldcelebrated the birth of the modernstate of Israel. Israel owes itsexistence in part to the idea of thePromised Land. Jewish traditionkept that idea alive for almost 18centuries after Jewish rule hadended in Palestine. By the 1800s,persecution of Jews in Europe ledmany to believe that Jews shouldreturn to the land given to them byGod—to Palestine.

In the late 1800s, a movementcalled Zionism called for “a(Jewish) home in Palestinesecured by law.” In 1947, after thehorrors of Nazism, the UnitedNations answered that call. Itestablished Israel as a Jewishhomeland. Jews had regained theirPromised Land.

CONNECT to TODAY

THINK THROUGH HISTORYB. SummarizingWhat does Hebrewlaw require ofbelievers?B. Answer To wor-ship God and to treatother human beingsfairly.

BackgroundSolomon formedalliances by marryingthe sisters or daugh-ters of other kings.The Bible says that hehad 700 wives, whoturned him away fromGod. (I Kings 11:3–4)

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The Kingdom Divides Solomon’s building projects requiredhigh taxes and badly strained the kingdom’s finances. In addition,men were forced to spend one month out of every three workingon the temple. The expense and forced labor caused much discon-tent. As a result, after Solomon’s death, the Jews in the northernpart of the kingdom—geographically distant from the south—revolted. By 922 b.c., the kingdom had divided in two—withIsrael in the north and Judah (JOO•duh) in the south.

The next 200 years was a period of confusing ups and downs forthe two kingdoms. Sometimes they fought each other; sometimesthey joined together to fight common enemies. Each of the king-doms had periods of prosperity, followed by low periods.

The Babylonian CaptivityDisaster finally struck as the independence of the two kingdoms waslost. In 738 b.c., both Israel and Judah began paying tribute—peacemoney paid by a weaker power to a stronger—to Assyria. By payingtribute, Israel and Judah hoped to assure that the mighty Assyrianempire would not attack. Then everything began to fall apart. TheAssyrians began the siege of Samaria, the capital of Israel, in 725. By722, the whole northern kingdom had fallen to the Assyrians.

The southern kingdom of Judah resisted for another 150 yearsbefore it too was destroyed. The destruction of Judah was to come atthe hands of the Babylonians. After conquering Israel, the Assyriansrapidly lost power to a rising Babylonian empire. The Babylonianking Nebuchadnezzar (nehb•uh•kuhd•NEHZ•uhr) ran the Egyptiansout of Syria and ancient Palestine, and he twice attacked Jerusalem.The city finally fell in 586 b.c. Solomon’s Temple was destroyed inthe Babylonian victory. Many of the survivors were exiled to Babylon.During their exile in Babylon, the Bible describes how the prophetEzekiel urged his people to keep their religion alive in a foreign land.

Then about 50 years after the fall of Judah, another change of for-tune occurred: in 539 b.c., the Persian king Cyrus the Great con-quered Babylon. The next year, Cyrus allowed some 40,000 exiles to

return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple. Many, however, were kept in Babylonia.Work on the Second Temple was completed in 515 b.c. The walls of Jerusalem

were rebuilt in 445 b.c. Soon, however, other empires would rise and fall inSouthwest Asia. These new empires would take control both of ancient Palestine andthe destiny of the Jewish people.

King Solomon

962?–922? B.C.

Solomon’s fame as a wise manbecame a legend. In the Bible, heprays to God for “an understandingmind,” which God grants him.

Soon after, the story goes, twowomen and a baby boy werebrought before him. Each womanclaimed the baby was hers. Afterhearing their testimony, Solomondeclared, “Divide the living boy intwo; then give half to the one andhalf to the other.” He then waitedfor the women’s reactions.

One said: “Please, my lord, giveher the living boy; certainly do notkill him!” However, the otherwoman accepted: “It shall beneither mine nor yours; divide it.”

By his great wisdom, Solomonknew that the woman who wouldgive up the child to save it was thereal mother.

THINK THROUGH HISTORYC. DrawingConclusions Howmight geographicaldistance make thesplit of Israel andJudah more likely?C. PossibleAnswers Poor com-munications inancient times wouldhave made it difficultfor the king to enforcehis laws in distantplaces. Geographicaldistance meant littlecontact betweenIsrael and Judah; sothey would have dif-ferent ways of think-ing and living.

76 Chapter 3

2. TAKING NOTES

On your own paper, create a timeline showing major Hebrewleaders. Then, below the time line,give one piece of informationabout each.

3. IDENTIFYING PROBLEMS

What were the main problemsfaced by the Hebrews between2000 B.C. and 700 B.C.?

THINK ABOUT• the quest for a homeland• other peoples• hardships• problems among Hebrews

4. THEME ACTIVITY

Interaction withEnvironment You are theleader of a Hebrew tribe. Write ashort speech explaining to yourpeople why Palestine is the bestchoice as a homeland.

1. TERMS & NAMES

Identify• Palestine• Canaan• Torah• Abraham• monotheism• covenant• Moses• Israel• Judah• tribute

Section Assessment4

Abraham:Father ofJewish people

2000 B.C.

D. Possible AnswerTheir religion wasmore important totheir lives than eventhe defense of theircapital.THINK THROUGH HISTORYD. MakingInferences TheTemple was rebuiltbefore the walls ofJerusalem. What doesthis fact indicate aboutthe Jews after theBabylonian captivity?

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■

■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■HISTORY MAKERS

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differentPERSPECTIVES

The Flood StoryThe tale of a devastating flood appears among the legends of ancient

peoples throughout the world. In some versions, the story of the floodserves to explain how the world came to be. In others, the flood is heaven’spunishment for evil deeds committed by humans. At the right is a fifth-century a.d. view of Noah and his ark in the Hebrew flood story.

H E B R E W L I T E R A T U R E

The TorahWhen Yahweh saw how wickedly humans were acting,he was sorry that he had created them. Only one man,Noah, found favor in God’s eyes.

And God said to Noah, “I havedetermined to make an end of allflesh, for the earth is filled withviolence because of them. . . . Makeyourself an ark of cypress wood; makerooms in the ark, and cover it insideand out with pitch. . . . And of everyliving thing, of all flesh, you shall bring

two of every kind in the ark, tokeep them alive with you; theyshall be male and female. . . .

The rain fell on the earth fortydays and forty nights. . . . At the endof the forty days Noah opened thewindow of the ark . . . and . . . sent outthe dove from the ark; and the dovecame back in the evening and there inits beak was a freshly plucked oliveleaf; so Noah knew the waters hadsubsided from the earth. . . .

Then God said to Noah, “Go out ofthe ark, you and your wife, and your

sons and your sons’ wives with you.Bring out with you every living thingthat is with you. . . . I establish mycovenant with you, that . . . neveragain shall there be a flood to destroythe earth.”

A R E T E L L I N G O F A N I N D I A N T A L E

The Fish Incarnation of VishnuThe Hindu god Vishnu is said to have reappeared onearth many times. In his first earthly incarnation, hetook the form of Matsya, the fish, and saved mankind.

One day, as the sage Manu waspraying at the river Ganges, a small fishasked for his protection. Manu put thefish in an earthen jar, but soon the fishwas too big for the jar. So Manu put itinto the river, but soon it outgrew theriver. So Manu put the fish in theocean. By now Manu began to suspectthe divine nature of this fish.

The fish told Manu there would bea great deluge [flood]. He advisedManu to build a large boat and takeseven Rishis (saints), the seeds ofvarious kinds of plants and one of eachtype of animal. When the delugecame, the fish said, he would take theark and its inhabitants to safety.

Sure enough, when the delugeoccurred, the fish was there. Manutied the boat to the horns of the fish,using the divine snake Vasuki as arope. The fish then pulled the boatthrough the waters until it reached amountain peak.

M E S O P O T A M I A N M Y T H

The Epic of GilgameshIn this legend, Utnapishtim, like Noah, escapes a worldwide flood by building anark. The gods are unable to sleep because of the uproar caused by humans. Tohave peace, they agree to destroy the human race in a great flood. However, Ea,the god of wisdom, warns Utnapishtim of the coming catastrophe in a dream.

O man of Shurrupak, son of Ubara-Tutu; tear downyour house and build a boat, abandon possessions andlook for life. . . .

I loaded into (the boat) all that I had of gold and ofliving things, my family, my kin, the beasts of the field

both wild and tame, and all the craftsmen. I sent themon board. . . .

For six days and six nights the winds blew, torrent andtempest and flood overwhelmed the world. . . . When theseventh day dawned the storm from the south subsided,the sea grew calm, the flood was stilled; I looked at theface of the world and there was silence, all mankind wasturned to clay. . . . I opened a hatch and the light fell onmy face. Then I bowed low, I sat down and I wept, thetears streamed down my face, for on every side was thewaste of water.

Drawing Conclusions List the simi-larities among the different versions.Why do you think that stories fromsuch different geographical areas andtime periods are so similar?

SEE SKILLBUILDER HANDBOOK, PAGE R17

Researching Look in newspapersand magazines for accounts of peoplefleeing a great flood. Share what youfind with the class.

For another perspective onthe Flood Story, see World

History: Electronic Library of Primary Sources.

Connect to Today

Connect to History

CD-ROM

People and Ideas on the Move 77

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3Chapter Assessment

REVIEW QUESTIONS

SECTION 1 (pages 57–61)

Indo-European Migrations11. Name three reasons that historians give to explain why Indo-Europeans

migrated.

12. What are two technologies that helped the Hittites build their empire?

13. How were the Aryans different from the non-Aryans (dasas) that theyencountered when migrating to India?

SECTION 2 (pages 62–66)

Roots of Hinduism and Buddhism14. In Hinduism, how are the ideas of karma, reincarnation, and

moksha connected?

15. Why were lower castes more likely to convert to Buddhism?

SECTION 3 (pages 67–71)

Seafaring Traders Extend Boundaries16. What did the Minoans export?

17. What is Phoenicia’s greatest legacy to the world?

SECTION 4 (pages 72–77)

The Origins of Judaism18. What is ethical monotheism and why is it important?

19. What caused the division of Solomon’s kingdom?

20. Name two ways that early Judaism differed from other religions of thetime.

People and Ideas on the Move

TERMS & NAMESBriefly explain the importance of each of the followingin the years 3500 B.C. to 259 B.C.

Interact with History

On page 56, you considered staying or fleeing from a for-eign invader before you knew what some of the conse-quences of your decision might be. Now that you’ve readthe chapter, reconsider your decision to stay or flee.Would you still make the same choice, or have youchanged your mind? Discuss the consequences of yourdecision on your life.

1. Indo-Europeans

2. caste

3. reincarnation

4. karma

5. Siddhartha Gautama

6. Minoans

7. Phoenicians

8. Torah

9. monotheism

10. Moses

Visual Summary

78 Chapter 3

Number of Gods

Holy Books

Moral Law

Leaders

Final Goal

Originally, no gods

Books on the teachings andlife of the Buddha

Eightfold Path

Monks

Enlightenment, Nirvana

Buddhism

One God

The Torah and other books ofthe Hebrew Bible

Ten Commandments

Priests, judges, kings,prophets

A moral life throughobedience to God’s law

Judaism

Many gods, all faces ofBrahman

Vedas; Upanishads,Mahabharata, and others

Karma

Brahmins

Moksha

Hinduism

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CRITICAL THINKING1. EFFECTS OF MIGRATION

How important were the migrations of the Indo-European peoples? How lasting were the changes thatthey brought? Explain your conclusion.

2. WORLD RELIGIONS

Using a chartlike the one below, fill in the information about thethree world religions listed.

3. SOLOMON’S KINGDOM

How would you evaluate King Solomon’s reign?Support your opinion with evidence from the chapter.

4. ANALYZING PRIMARY SOURCES

This passage tells how the Hebrews asked theprophet Samuel to appoint their king. Read theparagraph and answer the questions below it.

T H E B I B L EThen all the elders of Israel gathered togetherand came to Samuel at Ramah and said tohim, “. . . Appoint for us then a king to gov-ern us, like other nations. . . .” Samuel prayedto the Lord, and the Lord said to Samuel,“Listen to the voice of the people in all thatthey say to you; for they have not rejectedyou, but they have rejected me from beingking over them. Just as they have done to mefrom the day I brought them out of Egypt tothis day forsaking me and serving other gods,so also they are doing to you.”I SAMUEL 8:4–8

• How does the writer present the idea of choosinga king? What words give you that impression?

• Who does this passage say was Israel’s real king?

FOCUS ON TIME LINES

Review the time line below. Itshows the development of newideas in the ancient world. Thenmake two charts.• In the first chart, group the

new ideas by category.

• In the second chart, list the

new ideas by order ofimportance.

Connect to HistoryHow could ironworking helpAryans to carry out their migra-tions in India? To conquer terri-tory? To settle territory?

CHAPTER ACTIVITIES1. LIVING HISTORY: Unit Portfolio Project

Your unit portfolio project focuseson showing how people in history have interacted with the environment. ForChapter 3, you might use one of the following ideas.

• You are an Indo-European scout. Draw a map showing your chief theroute to the place where you want your people to migrate. Then, explainto the chief why you have chosen this place.

• Write a dialogue between King Minos and a Minoan sailor describing thedangers of seagoing trade routes. Be specific. Include possible ways tominimize these dangers.

• Write a myth telling about events that might have occurred as thePhoenicians sailed around Africa. The events can be imaginary, but shouldbe based on the route that the Phoenicians reportedly took.

2. CONNECT TO TODAY: Cooperative Learning

Although the caste system was officially abolished bythe Indian government in 1955, a castelike system based on occupations stillexists in India today. Work with a team to research and create a bar graph.In the bar graph, compare the percentage of people in certain occupations intoday’s India with the percentage of the wealth they own. For example, 2%of the working population in today’s India are government officials andwhite collar workers; they own, say, 25% of the country’s wealth.

Use the Internet, magazines, or your library to research statisticsabout the topic. Look for statistics that answer such questions as:

What percentage of working people in today’s India belong to each majoroccupational group? What percentage of the country’s wealth is owned bypeople in these occupational groups?

• Look for statistics. Show those figures visually in a bar graph.

• Label the graph clearly.

• Compare the working population in India today with the ownership ofwealth in the country.

THEME INTERACTION WITH ENVIRONMENT

THEME ECONOMICS

People and Ideas on the Move 79

Religion

HinduismBuddhismJudaism

Founder

ApproximateTime

OriginatedArea

Originated

3000 B.C. Writinginvented inMesopotamia

2650 B.C. The “step”pyramid designed in Egypt

2000 B.C. First Minoanpalace built on Crete

1500 B.C. Egyptians invent amethod for raising waterfrom rivers to irrigate fields.Hittites begin smelting iron

1400 B.C. Invention of thePhoenician alphabet

1000 B.C. Ironworkingarrives in India

600 B.C. First officialcoins of fixed weightproduced in Anatolia

280 B.C. First lighthousebuilt in Alexandria, Egypt

1640 B.C. Chariotsintroduced into Egypt

THEME RELIGIOUS AND ETHICAL SYSTEMS

CLASSZONE .COMTEST PRACTICEAdditional Test Practice,

pp. S1–S33

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