The Bronze Age

The first great western civilizations originated in the Near and Middle East, during what we commonly refer to as the Bronze Age. In this chapter, we will focus on events in the Near East, since that is where the oldest evidence of Goddess religion has been found. In later chapters, we will discuss the other important civilizations of the Bronze Age, such as the Sumerians , the Egyptians , and the Minoans on Crete. In addition, we will explore the evolution of Goddess religion in the east, in terms of the Indus Valley civilization and India.

The Bronze Age began around 3300 BCE, and is characterized by two very significant developments. First of course is the discovery of the technique for casting bronze, and second is the invention of various systems of writing.

Although methods of casting copper had been known for some time, copper is a rather soft metal which occurs naturally, and so it's discovery is not partiularly suprising. Bronze, on the other hand, is an alloy of copper and tin... and tin does not occur naturally. It must be extracted from Cassiterite , using a very complex and carefully controlled process. This impressive advance in metallurgical technology enabled the construction of all sorts of tools, devices, and weapons which had never before been possible.

Equally significant was the invention of systems of writing, such as cuneiform and hieroglyphics , which mark the beginning of recorded history, and enable us to receive information directly from persons who lived thousands of years ago. Naturally, not everything which is written is literally true... ancient documents must be subjected to careful analysis and interpretation, much like any other artifact.

As a window into the past, it is very important to bear in mind that by the time recorded history began, the Kurgan invasion had already brought radical changes to the Near and Middle East. A number of powerful nation-states had come into being, standing armies had been created, and the major cities in the region were now heavily fortified.

In terms of religion, the introduction of the Kurgan war-god lead to various forms of polytheism, in which the Mother Goddess was relegated to some secondary role... frequently becoming the subservient spouse of the war-god. These early forms of organized religion often served as tools of political and social control, and over time their pantheons expanded to include a large assortment of deities, at the head of which, typically, was a violent male war-god.

The earliest written records concerning the Near East date to about 2400 BCE. They tell us that the central and southern parts of the country were occupied by an artistic and peaceful group of people known as the Hattians. They were indigenous to the area... descendants of the Neolithic culture that had built such magnificent cities as Catal Hoyuk. Because their population was widely dispersed and relatively poor, they had been mostly ignored by the early Kurgan invaders, who had continued onwards towards the large wealthy cities to the south.

Around 2100 BCE, a tribe of Kurgans known as the Hittites entered Turkey, from the general area of the Ukraine. Perhaps they knew that the nations furthur to the south were already heavily militarized and fortified... which meant that Turkey, although not as wealthy, would be far easier to conquer. In any case, the Hittites decided to establish their kingdom in Turkey.

The Hattians recognized the military superiority of the Hittites, and wisely chose to yield control to them, without resistance. As difficult as this may have been, it spared them from great loss of life, and enabled their religious beliefs to remain much more intact.

The name of the original Hittite war-god is not definitely known... however in later accounts he is referred to as Tarhunt, which appears to be a Hittite translation of Teshub , the war-god of their more literate neighbors, the Hurrians. The Hurrians were another Kurgan tribe who invaded the Near East several centuries earlier, and controlled the area immediately to the southwest of the Hittite kingdom. Tarhunt was frequently depicted riding in a chariot, carrying thunderbolts and a mace or battle-ax.

Over time, the Hittites adopted many of the cultural and religious practices of their neighbors, including the Mother Goddess of the indigenous Hattians. The original name of the Goddess is unknown, however she seems to have evolved into Arinniti , a solar deity and the spouse of Tarhunt.

For much of the second millennium the Hittites kept control of central Turkey, however the western states managed to remain independent. Their great wealth, obtained through sea trade, enabled them to hire mercenaries and field large armies, when necessary.

Over the following centuries, the major nations in the area grew more powerful, and bitter rivalries developed. The Greeks contended with the western states of Turkey for dominance in maritime trade. The Hittites fought the Egyptians for control of Canaan , while Babylon struggled to combat the growing power of Persia , to the east. Although no one at the time suspected it, the stage was set for a massive regional conflict that would bring down the great civilizations of the Bronze Age, destroy hundreds of cities and towns, and leave hundreds of thousands of people dead. It would be called the Trojan War.

The war takes its name from the fact that Troy was the capitol of the most powerful western Turkish state of Mysia. The conflict began around 1250 BCE, when the Hittites seized the island of Cyprus for it's rich copper mines. Cyprus, however, was allied with the western states of Turkey, who depended on it for their supply of copper... they therefore reacted by using their great wealth to hire mercenaries, and launched a massive attack on the Hittites, which completely destroyed their empire and left all of Turkey in Trojan hands.

The end of the Hittite empire destabilized the entire region, and resulted in a series of massive and deadly battles between the Trojans and the kingdoms of Canaan and Egypt. Furthurmore, when the Greeks learned about these battles, they decided to take advantage of the fact that the western states of Turkey had been left relatively undefended, so they launched a suprise attack against the Trojan homeland. The Trojans were caught off-guard by this, but using their formidable sea-power, they retaliated by attacking and destroying nearly every coastal city in Greece. Eventually however, they became engaged on too many fronts, found themselves and their allies outnumbered, and were defeated.

In the end, the entire region was devastated. Both the Hittite and Trojan empires had been wiped off the face of the Earth. Canaan was reduced to a complete ruin. Egypt had been forever crippled as a world power... while Greece, although it had suffered severe dammage, would eventually manage to recover.

The Trojan War marks the end of the Bronze Age. Most of the great metalsmiths were dead, their foundries destroyed, and their secrets lost. The so-called Iron Age would now begin, with this crude and ugly metal taking the place of bronze. In addition, most of the literate people, the scribes, scholars, and teachers, had been killed... which is why so few records from this time can be found. Even Greece entered a period of complete illiteracy, known as the Greek Dark Ages , which lasted nearly 400 years... indeed, they would have to invent an entirely new alphabet, to enable writing to begin again.

The barbarian kings who had ruled the great nations of the Bronze Age had come to power by warfare, maintained their empires by warfare, and ultimately had been consumed by warfare. I find it hard to feel sorry for them. The real tragedy was the hundreds of thousands of ordinary men, women and children who died in this terrible war, and the loss of the science, art and culture which resulted.   It was the end of an era.