First Civilizations Africa and Asia

3200 B.C. – 500 B.C.

S.W.B.A.T

Describe the Kingdoms and religious beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians.

Geography The fertile lands of the Nile Valley attracted

Stone Age farmers. People migrated from the Mediterranean area, from hills and deserts along the Nile, and from other parts of Africa.

Without the Nile river, Egypt would be swallowed up by the barren deserts that surrounded it. While the desert protected Egypt from invasion, it also limited where people could settle.

In order to try and control the raging Nile River, people built dikes, reservoirs, and irrigation ditches. This allowed them to channel the rising river and store water for the dry seasons.

The Nile is the longest river in the world. It is

4,160 miles (6,695

kilometers) long.

This is the distance from

New York to San Francisco and halfway back

again.

The Nile River

The Nile RedSea

Egypt

Mediterranean Sea

Without the Nile there would have

been no civilization in

Egypt because it is a desert.

During the rainy season, the Nile River floods its

banks and pours sand, silt, and

nutrients into the surrounding

desert soil. Over centuries the

Nile has brought rich farming soil and water to the

desert.

Ancient Egyptian history is broken up into two sections: The Old Kingdom, and the New Kingdom.

During the Old Kingdom, Egyptian rulers called pharaohs organized a strong, centralized state. Pharaohs claimed divine support for their rule.

Egyptians believed the pharaoh was a living god. The pharaoh thus had absolute power, owning and ruling all the land in the kingdom.

7

Ancient Egyptian history lasted for about 5500 years. Historians divide Egyptian history into smaller units of time called periods. There are nine periods of Egyptian history,

starting in the Stone Age and ending in Roman times.

Pre-Dynastic

Old Kingdom

1st Intermediate Period

Middle Kingdom

2nd Intermediate Period

New Kingdom

3rd Intermediate Period

Late Period

Greco-Roman Period

55003200 BCE

2156 16402060 1580

1070

712

332

BCE

Timeline of Egyptian History

8

Duties of Pharaoh• Serve as commander-in-chief of the army.• Approve public building projects of the various

nomes.• Approve irrigation projects.• Find ways to calm civil riots.• Make appointments to the bureaucracy.• Consider taxes.• Listen to and answer requests from foreign

kings.• Make laws.• Decide in capital cases whether to impose a

death sentence or commute a case (spare the guilty person’s life).

The Pyramids During the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians built

the majestic pyramids that still stand at Giza. The pyramids were tombs for eternity.

Because Egyptians believed in an afterlife, they preserved the bodies of their dead rulers and provided them with everything they would need in their new lives.

To complete the pyramids, workers hauled and lifted millions of limestone blocks, some weighing two tons or more. The builders had no iron tools or wheeled vehicles. Building pyramids too so long that pharaoh’s would often begin building their tomb as soon as they inherited the throne.

Great Pyramid of Giza

Cairo Photo of the pyramids taken

from Earth’s orbit at 202 nautical

miles (374 km) by a space shuttle

astronaut.

The New Kingdom Power struggles, crop failures, and the

massive cost of the pyramids contributed to the collapse of the Old Kingdom. During the New Kingdom, powerful and ambitious pharaohs created a large empire.

At its height, the Egyptian empire reached the Euphrates River. This age of conquest brought Egypt into greater contact with southwestern Asia as well other parts of Africa.

Powerful Rulers One monarch of the New Kingdom,

Hatshepsut, was a woman who exercised all the rights of a pharaoh. From 1503 B.C. to 1482 B.C., she encouraged trade with eastern Mediterranean lands and along the Red Sea coast of Africa.

The most powerful pharaoh of the New Kingdom was Ramses II. Between 1290 B.C. and 1224 B.C., Ramses pushed Egyptian rule northward as far as Syria.

After Ramses II, Egyptian power slowly declined. Invaders, such as the Assyrians and Persians, conquered the Nile region. Later, Greek and Roman armies would invade from the north.

Hatshepsut, a Woman PharaohHatshepsut was the great wife of

the Pharaoh Thutmosis II, who died without any male heirs.

Hatshepsut took over Egypt. She maintained peace during her 21

years as Pharaoh of Egypt.

All ceremonies and rites for Pharaoh were made for men.

Hatshepsut had to wear a false beard to conduct matters of state. When she died, a sphinx statue of her was made with a ceremonial

beard.

Hatshepsut’s TempleHatshepsut commanded her

advisor and lover, Senmut, to build her temple. It is one of the most

beautiful temple complexes in all of Thebes.

Mummified remains of Ramses

II

Ramses II

Egyptian Religion In the sun-drenched land of Egypt, the

chief god was the sun god, Amon-Re. The pharaoh, whom Egyptians viewed as a god as well as a monarch, was closely linked to Amon-Re. Only the pharaoh could conduct certain ceremonies for the sun god.

Egyptians also worshiped Osiris and Isis. Osiris was the ruler of the underworld, as well as the Nile River. Egyptians believed that Osiris controlled the annual flood that made the land fertile.

Isis had special appeal for women, who believed that she had first taught women to grind corn, spin flax, weave cloth, and care for children. Isis was worshipped as the ideal mother as well as the goddess of nature and magic’

Egyptians believed that Osiris and Isis had promised them eternal life after death. Belief in the afterlife affected all Egyptians, from the highest noble to the lowest peasant.

Isis

Belief in An Afterlife The Egyptians believed that each soul

had to pass a test in order to win eternal life. According to Egyptian belief, the dead soul would be ferried across a lake of fire to the hall of Osiris.

There, Osiris would weigh the dead person’s heart against the feather of truth. Those he judged to be sinners would be fed to the crocodile-shaped Eater of the Dead. Worthy should would enter the Happy Field of Food, where they would live forever in bliss.

Egyptians believed that the afterlife would be much like life on Earth. As a result, they buried the dead with everything they would need for eternity.

To give a soul use of its body in the afterlife, Egyptians perfected the skills of mummification, the preservation of the dead.

Skilled embalmers extracted the brain of the dead person through the nostrils and removed most of the internal organs.

Egyptian Pharaohs (Kings) would have their organs taken out and placed in jars to be preserved for

the afterlife.

They filled the body cavity with spices, then later dried and wrapped the body in strips of linen. This costly process took months to complete.

At first, mummification was a privilege reserved for rulers and nobles. Eventually, ordinary Egyptians also won the right to mummify their dead.

S.W.B.A.T.

Explain the discovery of King Tut’s tomb and Egyptian Society.

The Tomb of Tutankhamen

Many pharaohs were buried in the desolate Valley of the Kings. Their tombs, filled with fantastic riches, were a temptation to robbers in ancient times. As a result, most royal tombs were stripped of their treasures long ago.

Then, in 1922, the British archaeologist Howard Carter unearthed the tomb of the Pharaoh Tutankhamen. It had remained almost untouched for more than 3,000 years. The tomb and its treasures have provided a wealth of evidence about Egyptian civilization.

Howard Carter and King Tut

The body of the 18-year-old “King Tut” had been placed in a solid-gold coffin, nested within richly decorated outer coffins.

Today, the dazzling array of objects found in the tomb fills several rooms in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. They include chariots, weapons, furniture, jewelry, toys, games and food.

Tutankhamen was only a minor king. We can only imagine what treasures must have filled the tombs of great pharaohs like Ramses II.

King Tut

Egyptian Society Like other early civilizations, Egypt had its

own class system. As both a god and an early leader, the pharaoh stood at the top of society, along with the royal family.

Directly under the pharaoh were the high priests and priestesses, who served the gods and goddesses.

Next came the nobles, who fought with pharaoh’s wars. A tiny class of merchants, scribes, and artisans developed slowly. They provided for the needs of the rich and powerful.

Egyptian women generally enjoyed a higher status and greater independence than women elsewhere in the ancient world. Under Egyptian law, women could inherit property, enter business deals, buy and sell goods, go to court, and obtain a divorce.

Women’s work was not just confined to the home. They manufactured perfume and textiles, managed farming estates, and served as doctors.

Women could also enter the priesthood, especially in the serves of the goddesses. Despite their many rights and opportunities, few women learned to read and write.

Written Records Like other early civilizations, the ancient

Egyptians developed a form of picture writing. Hieroglyphics were used to keep important records. Early on, priests and scribes carved hieroglyphics on stone.

Inscriptions on temples and other monuments preserved records of Egyptian culture that have endured for thousands of years.

The Egyptians also learned to make a paper-like writing material from papyrus, a plant that grows along the banks of the Nile. Writing with reed pens and ink on the smooth surface of papyrus strips was much easier than chiseling words onto stone.

The Rosetta Stone After the New kingdom declined, Egyptians

forgot the meanings of ancient hieroglyphics. Not until the early 1800s did a French scholar, Jean Champollion, unravel the mysterious writings on Egypt’s great monuments.

Champollion managed to decipher, or decode, the Rosetta Stone. This flat, black stone has the same message carved in three different forms of script—hieroglyphics, demotic, and Greek.

By comparing the three versions, Champollion patiently worked out the meanings of many hieroglyphic symbols. As a result of this, scholars could now read thousands of records from ancient Egypt.

Jean Champollio

n

The Rosetta Stone is an

ancient Egyptian granodiorite

stele inscribed with a decree

issued at Memphis in 196

BC by King Ptolemy V. The decree appears

in three languages:

Hieroglyphs, demotic script,

and ancient Greek. Because the same text is used in all three

scripts it provided the

translation for Hieroglyphics.

Advances in Medicine and Science The ancient Egyptians accumulated a vast store

of knowledge in fields such as medicine, astronomy, and mathematics. When they had a problem, they used trial and error to find a solution.

Like most doctors until recent times, Egyptian physicians believed in various kinds of magic. Yet, through their knowledge of mummification, they learned a lot about the human body.

They also became skilled at observing symptoms, diagnosing illnesses, and finding cures. Many medicines that Egyptian doctors prescribed are still used, including anise, castor beans, and saffron.

S.W.B.A.T.

Explain Egyptian contributions to Science and Mathematics and the Mesopotamian Culture.

Egyptian priest-astronomers studied the heavens, mapping out constellations and charting the movements of the planets. With this knowledge, they developed a calendar that had 12 months of 30 days each and 5 days added at the end of each year.

Nile floods forced Egyptians to redraw the boundaries of fields each year. To do this, they developed practical geometry to survey the land.

Egyptian engineers also used geometry to calculate the exact size and location of each block of stone to be placed in a pyramid or temple.

Egyptian theory

of the Solar System

Egyptian Solar Calendar

The Egyptians were the first people to develop a solar calendar. The Egyptian solar calendar had 365 and ¼ days. The

Egyptians had twelve months, each with three 10-day weeks. A special five-day week was added at the end of each year.

Paintings and Sculpture The arts of ancient Egypt included

statues, wall paintings in tombs, and carvings on temples. Painting styles remained almost unchanged for thousands of years. The pharaohs and gods were always much larger than any other human figures.

Statues often depicted people in stiff, standard poses. Some human figures have animal heads that represent special qualities. The Great Sphinx that crouches near the pyramids at Giza portrays an early pharaoh as a powerful lion.

The SphinxThe sphinx was regarded as a beast of great power and wisdom and

may have been intended to ward off evil.The sphinx’s beard and the sacred cobra which sits on the headdress of the Pharaoh have fallen away. The nose is missing because the French

army used the sphinx for target practice.

Besides the pyramids, Egyptians erected other great buildings. The magnificent temple of Ramses II at Karnak contains a vast hall with towering 80-foot columns. Much later, the Romans would adopt building techniques like those used at Karnak.

The oldest literature of ancient Egypt includes hymns and prayers to the gods, proverbs, and love poems. Other writings tell of royal victories in battle or, like Instruction of Ptah-hotep, give practical advice.

Ramses II Tomb at Karnak

Looking Ahead Long after its power declined, Egypt

remained a center of learning and culture in the African and Mediterranean worlds. It also retained economic importance as a source of grain and other riches.

In later ages, new Egyptian cities like Alexandria and Cairo would attract scholars, traders, and other visitors, Yet, from ancient times to today, foreigners have gazed in awe at the monuments of a culture that flourished for 3,000 years.

Mesopotamia The first known civilization in the Fertile

Crescent was uncovered in the 1800s in Mesopotamia. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers define Mesopotamia which means “between the rivers” in Greek.

The people that inhabited Mesopotamia were called Sumerians.

Just as control of the Nile was vital to Egypt, control of the Tigris and Euphrates was key to developments in Mesopotamia. The rivers frequently rose in terrifying floods that washed away topsoil and destroyed mud-brick villages.

The land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is part of the Fertile Crescent. This area includes land from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean coast. Today, the nations of Israel,

Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Turkey are part of the Fertile Crescent.

The Fertile Crescent

Tigris

Euphrates

One story in Sumerian history is a poem called The Epic of Gilgamesh which tells a story about a great flood that destroys the world.

The Sumerians are credited with creating the first wheeled vehicles. In addition to this, the Sumerians divided up their civilization into city-states, where a city controlled the surrounding countryside.

Historians know so much about the Sumerians because they wrote about their beliefs

and lifestyle.

The oldest known story of humankind is called the Epic of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh was a real man, ruling in the city-state of Uruk. The Epic is a

tale about his adventures with his half-brother Ekindu. He

searches for answers from the gods about the meaning of

life and death.Gilgamesh

Sumerian Religion Like most ancient peoples, the Sumerians

were polytheistic, worshiping many gods. These gods were thought to control every aspect of life, especially the forces of nature.

To Sumerians, their highest duty was to keep these divine beings happy and thereby ensure the safety of their city state. Each city built a ziggurat, a pyramid-temple that soared toward the heavens.

To win the favor of the gods, the people prayed and offered sacrifices of animals, grain, and wine.

The Sumerians were the first civilization to use the arch to support large buildings. The Ziggurat of Ur was over ten stories tall and made entirely of mud

bricks.

Ziggurat of Ur: Discovered

Ziggurat of Ur: Restored

Artist’s depiction

Civilization: The term comes from the Latin civis, meaning citizen or townsman.

Advances in Learning By 3200 B.C., the Sumerians had invented

what may be the earliest known form of writing. This type of writing was later called cuneiform, from the Latin word cuneus, for “wedge” because it used a reed pen to make wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets.

Over the centuries, Sumerian scholars made advances in mathematics. To measure and solve problems of calculation, they developed basic algebra and geometry.

They based their number system on six, dividing the hour into 60 minutes and the circle into 360 degrees, as we still do today.

By 3000 BCE, the Sumerians developed cuneiform writing. Documents, receipts, laws, and poetry were

recorded on clay tablets. It is thought that students were very tired from carrying lumps of clay to write their

lessons.

Mesopotamian school tablet Tablet from the Epic of Gilgamesh

Looking Ahead Eventually, armies of conquering peoples

swept across Mesopotamia and overwhelmed the Sumerian city-states. Often the newcomers settled in the region and adopted ideas from the Sumerians.

Building on Sumerian knowledge of the constellations and planets, later Mesopotamian astronomers developed ways to predict eclipses of the sun and the moon.

Solar Eclipse

Hammurabi the Lawgiver About 1790 B.C., Hammurabi, the King of

Babylon, brought much of Mesopotamia under his control. He took steps to unite the Babylonian empire. His most ambitious and lasting contribution was his publication of a remarkable set of laws known as the Code of Hammurabi.

Hammurabi was not the author of the code. Most of the laws had been around since Sumerian times. He had his artisans carve nearly 300 laws on a stone pillar for all to see.

Hammurabi’s Code was the first important attempt by a ruler to codify or arrange and set down in writing, all of the laws that would govern a state.

The Code of Hammurabi

Written in Cuneiform

Code of Hammurabi Examples If a son strikes his father, his hands shall be hewn off. If anyone steals the minor son of another, he will be put to death. If a man takes a woman as a wife, but has no intercourse with her,

this woman is no wife to him. If a man puts out the eye of a patrician, his eye shall be put out

(an eye for an eye) If a man knocks the teeth out of another man, his own teeth will be

knocked out. If the slave of a freed man strikes the body of a freed man, his ear

shall be cut off. If anyone commits a robbery and is caught, he shall be put to

death. If anyone brings an accusation of any crime before the elders, and

does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if a capital offense is charged, be put to death.

S.W.B.A.T

Describe the empires of the Middle East and their lasting contributions

Warfare and the Spread of Ideas

Later empires shaped the middle East in different ways. Often, conquerors uprooted the peoples they defeated. By forcing people to move elsewhere, these invaders helped spread ideas. Other conquerors, like the Hittites, brought new skills to the region.

The Assyrians, who lived on the upper Tigris, learned to forge iron weapons. By 1100 B.C., they began expanding across Mesopotamia. For 500 years, they earned a reputation for being among the most feared warriors in history.

Assyrian Empire

Assyria was a military state. The upper, land-holding class was made up of military commanders.

The Assyrians developed or improved many innovations

including iron swords, lances, metal armor, and

battering rams.

Prisoners being

impaled on stakes

Assyrian cavalry

Historians are unsure why warfare was so central to Assyrian culture. Was it to keep others from attacking or to please their god Assur by bringing peace and order to the region.

Despite their fierce reputation, Assyrian rulers encouraged a well-ordered society. They were the first rulers to develop extensive laws regulating life within the royal household.

For example, women of the palace were confined in secluded quarters and had to be veiled when they appeared in public.

Assur

Veiled Women

At Nineveh, King Assurbanipal founded one of the first libraries. He ordered his scribes to collect cuneiform tablets form all over the Fertile Crescent.

Those tablets have given modern scholars a wealth of information about the ancient middle East.

King Assurbanipa

l

Babylon Revived In 612 B.C., shortly after Assurbanipal’s death,

neighboring people joined forces to crush the once-dreaded Assyrian armies.

An aggressive and ruthless king, Nebuchadnezzar, revived the power of the old Babylon. His new Babylonian empire stretched from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.

Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt the canals, temples, walls, and palaces of Babylon. Near his chief palace were the famous Hanging Gardens, known as one of the wonders of the ancient world.

Nebuchadnezzar

The Gardens were probably made by planting trees and flowering plats on the steps of a huge ziggurat. According to legend, Nebuchadnezzar had the gardens built to please his wife, who was homesick for the hills where she had grown up.

Eventually the thick walls that Nebuchadnezzar built failed to hold back new conquerors. In 539 B.C., Babylon fell to the Persian armies of Cyrus the Great.

Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Cyrus the Great

Cyrus the Great and the Persian Empire

Cyrus (559-530 BCE), the first Persian king, created an empire extending from Anatolia to the Persian Gulf, bringing together all of the former empires of Assyria and Babylonia. He is called

Cyrus the Great.

The Persians Cyrus and his successors went on to

conquer the largest empire yet seen. The Persians eventually controlled a wide sweep of territory from Asia Minor to India, including present-day Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

In general, Persian kings pursued a policy of tolerance, or acceptance of the people they conquered. The Persians respected the customs and religious traditions of the diverse groups in their empire.

Persian Empire

The real unification of the Persian empire was accomplished under the Persian emperor Darius, who ruled from 552 B.C. to 486 B.C. A skilled organizer, Darius set up a government that became a model for later rulers.

He divided the Persian empire into provinces, each headed by a governor called a satrap. Each Satrapy, or province, had to pay taxes based on its resources and wealth.

Darius

Persian Religion Religious beliefs put forward by the

Persian thinker Zoroaster also helped to unite the empire. Zoroaster lived about 600 B.C. He rejected the old Persian gods.

Instead, he taught that a single wise god, Ahura Mazda, ruled the world. Ahura Mazda, however was in constant battle against Ahriman, the prince of lies and evil.

Each individual, said Zoraster, had to choose which side to support. On Judgment Day, taught Zoraster, all individuals would be judged for their actions.

Those who had done good would enter paradise. Evildoers would be condemned to eternal suffering.

Two later religions that emerged in the Middle East, Christianity and Islam, stressed similar ideas about heaven, hell, and a final judgment day. Today, Zoroastrianism is still practiced by tens of thousands of people, mostly in India.

The Phoenicians While powerful rulers subdued large

empires, many small states of the ancient Middle East made their own contributions to civilization. Phoenicians, for example, gained fame as sailors and traders.

Historians have called the Phoenicians “carriers of civilization” because they spread Middle Eastern civilization around the Mediterranean.

The Phoenicians were known as great merchants, traders, and sailors. Their small ships traveled as far as Great Britain and possibly down the southern coast of

Africa. They traded with early Spaniards and Britons for tin to make bronze. By 1200 BCE they were the dominant naval power in the Mediterranean.

Phoenician man Phoenician writing

Merchants and Traders

The Phoenicians made their own contribution to our world, giving us our alphabet. Unlike cuneiform or hieroglyphics, in which each symbol represents a word or concept, an alphabet contains letters that represent spoken sounds.

In later years, the Greeks adapted the Phoenician alphabet and added symbols for the vowel sounds. Form the Greek alphabet came the letters in which these notes were written.

S.W.B.A.T

Describe the Roots of Judaism and how the Jewish faith expanded.

Early History of the Israelites The Israelites were different from the

other people who lived in the Fertile Crescent. Instead of worshipping many gods, the Israelites prayed to one God for guidance and protection.

The promise of a unique relationship with God helped shape the history of the Israelites, later known as the Jews. Their early religion evolved into Judaism, one of the world’s main faiths.

Early in their history, the Israelites, or Hebrews, came to believe that God was taking a hand in their lives. As a result, the recorded events and laws in the Torah, their most sacred text.

According to the Torah, a man named Abraham lived near the town of Ur in Mesopotamia. About 2000 B.C., he and his family migrated, herding their sheep and goats into a region called Canaan. Abraham is considered the founder of the Israelite nation.

Abraham – The founder of Judaism

The Torah

The Book of Genesis tells that famine later forced many Israelites to migrate to Egypt. There, they were eventually enslaved by the Egyptians.

In time, Moses led the Israelites in their escape, or exodus, from Egypt. After Moses died, they entered Canaan, the land they believed God had promised them.

Michelangelo's Statue of

Moses

Israel

According the Bible, Moses was a reluctant hero. When God commanded him to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, Moses said fearfully, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt.”

When God insisted, Moses protested, “But I am slow of speech and of tongue.” Despite Moses’s doubts about his abilities as a leader, he accomplished his goal. He finally freed his people from bondage in Egypt and led them to Israel.

According to Legend, God parted the Red Sea so the Jews

could escape to Israel.

The Kingdom of Israel By 1000 B.C., the Israelites had set

up a kingdom called Israel. David, a strong and shrewd king, united the feuding Israelite tribes into a single nation.

David’s son Solomon turned Jerusalem into an impressive capital, with a splendid temple dedicated to God. Solomon won fame for his wisdom and understanding.

King David of Israel

According to the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament, when David was a boy he bested the giant Goliath with a slingshot.

King Solomon’s Temple

One God The beliefs of the Israelites differed in

basic ways from those of nearby peoples. The Israelites were monotheistic, believed in one true god. At the time, most other people worshiped many gods.

The Israelites believed that God had made a covenant, or binding agreement with Abraham. The Israelites, and later, the Jews saw themselves as God’s “chosen people.”

The Ten Commandments At the heart of Judaism are the Ten

Commandments, a set of laws that Jews believe God gave them through Moses. The first four Commandments stress religious duties toward God, such as keeping the sabbath, a holy day for rest and worship.

The rest of the commandments set out rules for conduct toward other people. They include “Honor your father and mother,” “You shall not murder,” and “You shall not steal.”

The Ten Commandments I am the Lord your God You shall not recognize the gods of others in My presence You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain Remember the day of sabbath to keep it holy Honor your father and your mother You shall not murder You shall not commit adultery You shall not steal Do not give false testimony against your neighbor You shall not covet your fellow's possessions

An Ethical Worldview Often in Jewish history, spiritual

leaders emerged to interpret God’s will. These prophets, such as Isaiah and Jeremiah warned that failure to obey God’s law would lead their people to disaster.

The prophets also preached a strong code of ethics, or moral standards of behavior. They urged both personal morality and social justice, calling on the rich and powerful to protect the poor and weak.

Looking Ahead Almost 2,000 years ago, many Jews left their

homeland. This Diaspora, or scattering of people, sent Jews to different parts of the world.

Wherever they settled, Jews maintained their identity as a people by living in close-knit communities and obeying their religious laws and traditions. These traditions helped them survive centuries of persecution.

Judaism is considered a major world religion for its unique contribution to religious thought. It also influenced Christianity and Islam, two other monotheistic faiths that arose in the Middle East.