The Hittite Empire expanded rapidly based on a flourishing bronze-age economy, expanding from Anatolia to conquer territory in Mesopotamia, Syria, and Canaan, ultimately clashing with the New Kingdom of Egypt. Beginning in approximately 1700 BCE, the Hittites established a large empire in Anatolia, the landmass that comprises present-day Turkey. One state whose very existence coincided with the Bronze Age, vanishing afterwards, was that of the Hittites. Although the details are often difficult to establish, we can assume that at least some immigration occurred as well. Each state, large and small, oversaw diplomatic exchanges written in Akkadian (the international language of the time) maintaining relations, offering gifts, and demanding concessions as circumstances dictated. While wars were relatively frequent, most interactions between the states and cultures of the time were peaceful, revolving around trade and diplomacy. it is roughly 800 miles from Greece to Mesopotamia, the furthest distance between any of the regions) that ongoing long-distance trade was possible. Those regions were close enough to one another (e.g. There were four major regions along the shores of, or near to, the eastern Mediterranean that hosted the major states of the Bronze Age: Greece, Anatolia, Canaan and Mesopotamia, and Egypt. Ultimately, the power of bronze contributed to the creation of a whole series of powerful empires in North Africa and the Middle East, all of which were linked together by diplomacy, trade, and (at times) war. Bronze tended to stack the odds in conflicts against smaller city-states and kingdoms, because it was harder for them to afford to field whole armies outfitted with bronze weapons. The New Kingdom also demonstrates another noteworthy aspect of bronze: it was expensive to make and expensive to distribute to soldiers, meaning that only the larger and richer empires could afford it on a large scale. It was able to do this in part because of its mastery of bronze-making and the effectiveness of its armies as a result. The New Kingdom of Egypt conquered more territory than any earlier Egyptian empire. Militarily, bronze weapons completely shifted the balance of power in warfare an army equipped with bronze spear and arrowheads and bronze armor was much more effective than one wielding wooden, copper, or obsidian implements.Īn example of bronze’s impact is, as noted in the previous chapter, the expansionism of the New Kingdom. Agriculturally, bronze plows allowed greater crop yields. The harder the metal, the deadlier the weapons created from it and the more effective the tools. Some innovative smith did figure it out, and in the process ushered in an array of new possibilities.īronze was important because it revolutionized warfare and, to a lesser extent, agriculture. ![]() Needless to say, historical peoples had no idea why, when they took tin and copper, heated them up, and beat them together on an anvil they created something much harder and more durable than either of their starting metals. An alloy is a combination of metals created when the metals bond at the molecular level to create a new material entirely. ![]() The period is named after one of its key technological bases: the crafting of bronze. It was, in short, the period during which civilization itself spread and prospered across the area. It was a period in which long-distance trade networks and diplomatic exchanges between states became permanent aspects of political, economic, and cultural life in the eastern Mediterranean region. That period saw the emergence and evolution of increasingly sophisticated ancient states, some of which evolved into real empires. The Bronze Age is a term used to describe a period in the ancient world from about 3000 BCE to 1100 BCE.
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