The Old World, a world in which a few distinctive civilizations existed autonomously in Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Crete, sounded the first crescendo in the rhythm of civilization, but by the beginning of the first millennium BC the world was entering a new stanza.  Increasing prosperity made people aware of more desires.  Instead of working to satisfy primal needs as Neolithic man had, people possessed the resources to go after their indulgences. They desired more wealth.  They desired more land.  And they had developed the means to achieve them, but they had not yet learned the consequences of their actions.  Military victory and political victory are two different tasks, but this fact was often discounted. In stark contrast to the relatively just laws of ancient Babylon, under Hammurabi, Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser’s (1115-1077 BC) “policy of frightfulness” caused his enemies and his subjects to be barbarically treated.  Whole cities of people were impaled on stakes, and appalling punishments were dealt for even minor infractions of the law.  The bloody Assyrians were triumphant in war, but less successful in winning subjects.  As soon as the soldiers departed from conquered lands, the people rebelled. Between 1500 and 900 BC numerous nations, thoroughly convinced that they had the god(s) on their side, ruthlessly tore apart the ancient Near East.  The armies of the Hittites, Kassites, Philistines, Hebrews, Dorian Greeks, Arameans, Chaldeans, and Peleponnesians all took part in the dissection of the land, but their leaders were not successful in gaining significant political control of a foreign population.

This is only a short summary of this topic.  To find out more, please get Why Adam and Eve Created God.