There are three themes in the millennium of Near Eastern
history
between the formation of the Persian Empire in the sixth century B.C.
and the rise of Islam in the seventh century A.D.
One theme is the political dominance throughout the
period of peoples
coming broadly from the north. Often they originated in Iran, as with
the Persian Empire from the sixth to the fourth century B.C., the
Parthian empire from the third century B.C. to the third century A.D.,
and a second Persian Empire from the third to the seventh century A.D.
But they might also come from outside the Near East altogether, as with
the Greeks from the fourth century B.C. and the Romans from the second
century B.C. Of all these northern peoples, it was the Greeks whose
cultural impact on the Near East was the greatest at the time.
The second theme is the eventual displacement of the
ancient polytheism
of the region by a monotheist faith, Christianity. This religion was an
offshoot of a monotheist cult developed by a minor, but innovative,
Near Eastern people, the Israelites. As long as this phenomenon was
confined to the Israelites and their ethnic heirs, the Jews and
Samaritans, it was of no great historical importance. What made an
idiosyncratic ethnic tradition a major ingredient of world history was
its subsequent metamorphosis into two world religions, Christianity and
Islam Their combined adherents currently amount to about half the
world's population.
The third theme is the demise of the ancient civilization
of
Mesopotamia. Like that of Egypt, it survived the end of native rule by
some centuries. The last datable cuneiform tablet we possess is an
astronomical almanac relating to A.D. 74-75. We cannot pinpoint the
final extinction of Mesopotamian civilization, but by the third century
A.D. it must have been effectively dead. In that century Mani, a
Mesopotamian religious reformer, created a grand synthesis of the
religious traditions of his world. Christianity and Buddhism were
recognized, as was the Zoroastrian tradition of Iran. But the religious
beliefs of ancient Mesopotamia found no place in Mani's new religion.
It was as if they had never existed.
