Tue., 12/10
Do Now—Exercise 24B Model answer: The Babylonians and Assyrians dominated each other militarily at various times and shared much of the same culture. Both kingdoms produced architectural elements such as the guardian lamassu, wrote in cuneiform script, and worshipped deities such as Ishtar. But the Assyrian religion had some features not found in Babylonian religion. Most notable was the national god, Assur, after whom the Assyrian capital was named. Whereas Babylon’s chief deity, Merodach, merely led the other Babylonian gods as their chief, Assur moreover embodied or contained the attributes of all of the lesser Assyrian gods within his own being. Study Guide: Begin working on your Exam 4 Study Guide. HW: Complete the Exam 4 Study Guide and/or study it for 20 min. Flashcards recommended!
========================
Study Guide Model Answers:
1) In five or more sentences, compare and contrast Amun, Aten, and “I am” (YHWH). Use the Model answer from Exercise 20B.
In the process of establishing an exclusive cult around the sun disk, Aten, Amenhotep IV adapted the name Akhenaten. Amun, the primordial first cause, was a plastic deity who could take on the attributes of other Egyptian gods. Aten, however, was the sun itself, a force of nature, and, in the eyes of Akhenaten, outshone all other deities. “I am”, the Hebrew God, had a personality and speech, but was a creator and not a created being. For the Hebrews, identifying “I am” as a created object such as the sun or moon amounted to idol worship and violated the first two of the Ten Commandments.
2) Who was the real “King Tut”? In five or more complete sentences, discuss Tutankhamun’s historical situatedness, the political struggle between Amun worship and Aten worship, the fate of Tutankhamun’s consort, Ankhesenamun, and the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. Use the Model answer from Exercise 21B.
A Dynasty 18 pharaoh in the late 15th c. B.C., Tutankhamun married his half-sister, Ankhesenamun, after many in the royal family fell victim to plague. Since the plague was interpreted as Amun’s vengeance against Akhenaten’s heresy, the royal couple replaced their Aten names with Amun names and put an end to Aten worship. After Tutankhamun died at age nineteen, Ankhesenamun attempted to marry a Hittite prince, but was forced to marry her grandfather, Ay, instead. When Ay died, General Horemheb took the throne, memorialized his allegiance to Amun, and ordered a damnatio memoriae of the Amarna rulers and their despised Aten cult. Howard Carter discovered the intact tomb of “King Tut” in 1922.
3) In five or more complete sentences, summarize the Amurru political interactions with the Egyptians and Hittites. Use the Model answer from Exercise 22C.
The Habiru were bands of brigands organized by Abdi-Ashirta into the kingdom of Amurru in the fourteenth century B.C. The king of Byblos (Gubla), Rib-Hadda, begged his Egyptian overlord, probably Amenhotep III, for back-up against the Amurru. The Amurru dynasty, however, played both sides against the middle, professing loyalty to Egypt while using both the Hittite threat and the possibility of switching allegiance to the Hittites to their advantage. Frustrated by this insolence, the Amarna ruler, Akhenaten, demanded extended audiences from the Amurru royalty. After secretly negotiating treaties with their Hittite-vassal neighbors, and after delaying compliance with and ultimately refusing the second such pharaonic order, the Amurru kings themselves signed a vassalhood treaty with the Hittites, significantly shifting the balance of power in Syria.
4) In five or more complete sentences, compare and contrast Babylonian and Assyrian religion. Use the Model answer from Exercise 24B.
The Babylonians and Assyrians dominated each other militarily at various times and shared much of the same culture. Both kingdoms produced architectural elements such as the guardian lamassu, wrote in cuneiform script, and worshipped deities such as Ishtar. But the Assyrian religion had some features not found in Babylonian religion. Most notable was the national god, Assur, after whom the Assyrian capital was named. Whereas Babylon’s chief deity, Merodach, merely led the other Babylonian gods as their chief, Assur moreover embodied or contained the attributes of all of the lesser Assyrian gods within his own being.
