Lecture 6 - Mitanni and the Kassites

We need to remember that these kingdoms and empires are not entirely sequential, many things are happening at once. I wanted to make a Power Point or map that would show animated views of the empires rising and falling but I hadn't yet done so or even figured out how - but someone else has already done exactly that! Here's a video: Animated History of the Near East (it even has appropriate music though I muted it after a few seconds).
Here's a timeline with extra tidbits not in the one in the guidebook. It's very long but worth a look so: Timeline of the Ancient Middle East. Notice the title calls it the Middle East and the URL calls it Near East. Same thing. When I use extras like this, then watch the lecture again, it can make it all easier to follow, but sometimes more complicated -- differences send me searching online and in books again.

The Mitanni didn't leave much to posterity that we can attribute to them. Does that matter? It matters to ruled people who is in charge because it obviously affects their daily lives and the levels of thriving or suffering. In TTC's course How Economies Rise and Fall, lecturer Rodriguez states that the whole point of economics is to improve the financial standard of individual lives. The motives of starting an empire come into play here I think. America started with people wanting to find adventure and/or improve a seemingly hopeless lot in life. The whole point was generally to live on one's own terms instead of how a king, an emperor, a government, a group of favored people, dictated. We outlawed slavery because it finally seemed too against nature to deliberately put one man under control of another against his will. In the case of American blacks, it must have been horrifying to see it coming - first they were neighbors, co-adventurers, then slowly being relegated to lower status, then considered not even human but instead, animals. Just like the Jews in Nazi Germany. Like the Gypsies in Europe, like the Orientals in early America, like even the huge Vikings long ago. The Vikings were considered enormous barbarians, animals with some human traits or something but not REAL people. They were too large and violent to be considered civilized human beings. So if we're trying to improve every life with our economy, our society, our government/empire, is it working? Can people do that?
People seem to be naturally tribal, desiring to be with people of like appearance and culture. These ancient empires take over usually by force. Is it to improve everyone's life or is it megalomania on the part of the ruler? I vote megalomania. Biology, politics, scientific understandings - they all come into play and I'm tired of thinking about it. So back to the facts:

Quizlet: Mitanni and the Kassites
password:MitBabKasslec6