Ch 1 and 2 Review

Ancient River Valley Civilizations

PREHISTORY

• PERIOD IN WHICH OUR ANCESTORS EXISTED ON EARTH BUT HAD NOT YET INVENTED WRITING

• OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THEM COMES FROM SCATTERED AND SCARCE PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

• BECAUSE OF LACK OF WRITTEN EVIDENCE WE CAN ONLY SPECULATE ON WHAT THEY THOUGHT ABOUT, HOW THEY ORGANIZED THEMSELVES, HOW THEY INTER-RELATED WITH EACH OTHER, AND WHY AND HOW THEY BEHAVED THE WAY THEY DID

Ancient HistoryAs Humans scattered out and

populated Earth, they did so as small hunter/gatherer bands.

Then, about 10k years ago, that changed.

People discovered agriculture—the systematic planting of food

crops and domestication of animals.

The First Agricultural Revolution

• Neolithic Revolution

• Occurred at around the same time in five different locations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China and Mesoamerica

More Food = More People

• Agriculture led to permanent settlements (usually along rivers/lakes) and increased population.

• More people living in smaller spaces means greater opportunity for conflict and growth.

• Growth= language, religion, society

• Conflict= crime, disease, disorder

• Cultural Diffusion

Evolution of Civilization

• Key Traits of a Civilization:

A. Advanced Cities

B. Specialization

C. Record Keeping

D. Advanced Technology

E. Complex Institutions

Growth of Cities (Urbanization)

1) Large urban areas

2) Centers for trade and commerce

Specialization (Skilled Labor)

1) Skilled Workers, called artisans

2) Trade amongst artisans for goods

Written Language• Transitions human history from Prehistory to

History

Advanced Technology

• Wheel

• Plow

• Sailboat

• metalworking

Complex Institutions

1) Government

2) Organized religion

3) schools

Ancient Mesopotamia“Land between the Rivers”

I. Sumer—southern Fertile Crescent (4k-2k BC)I. Loess—fertile windblown soil

A. Civilization of city-states bound together by a common culture

1) Sumerians believed to have migrated to the region from Persia/central Asia prior to 5000 BC

The Ancient Fertile Crescent

Area

The Middle East: “The Cradle of Civilization”

A Hostile Land

B. Geography

1) Water—unpredictable flooding/drought (too much or not enough)

Hostile Neighbors2) Defense problems—open, flat land w/no

natural barriers for protection

Scarcity of Resources

3) Resources—limited natural resources in the region

• Lack of forests = no wood

• Few mineral/metal resources

• Dirt, rock and sand in abundance

Perseverance • C. Solutions

• Water---irrigation systems

• Defense—walled cities and standing armies

• Resources—broad trading networks with other regions

Enter the Supernatural

D. Religion

• polytheism—multiple gods based on nature; classes and rankings of gods

(Anu, Enlil and Ea)

• Human qualities and emotions

• Interference into human lives—hostile/care

• Afterlife—”Land of No Return”; no joy or emotion, bleak dismal

The Ziggurat

Ziggurat at Ur

One of the

earliest

cities

Temple

“Mountain

of

the Gods”

Evolution of Religion in Sumer

• Ruling society of kings and priests

a) Earliest society ruled by priests (Theocracy)

b) In times of war, priest turned over power to military leader

c) As wars became more commonplace, turned to military leadership more often

d) Evolved into a king who was military leader/religious leader

Sumerian Religion -

Polytheistic

Enki

InnanaAnthropomorphic

Gods

The First Empires

After the fall of Sumer, a series

of foreign invasions swept

the region

* empire--political unit in which a number of peoples are controlled by single ruler

King and Lawgiver

• Strong leader who united most of Mesopotamia

• Growth of trade and agriculture

• Hammurabi is most famous for his written code of laws--282 sections with laws from around the region—created a type of equity of law

• Specific laws with harsh punishments kept harmony

Babylonian Society

• Similar class system to Sumer with laws/punishments differing for each class

• Borrowed heavily from Sumerian culture and adopted cuneiform to their Semitic language

Collapse of Babylon

• After Hammurabi’s death, empire collapsed

• Successors unable to keep empire together

• Hittite invasion destroyed Babylon

Mesopotamian Trade(Cultural Diffusion)

“The Cuneiform

World”

Cuneiform Writing

Deciphering Cuneiform

The Egyptians

• Kemet (Black Land) of the Nile River Valley

• 5000 BC, nomads began settling along the Nile

• Farming villages that grew wheat and barley

• Series of tribal kingdoms develop

The Two Kingdoms

• Early Egypt divided into north and south

• Lower Egypt in the north where Nile empties into Mediterranean

• Upper Egypt in the south bordering Ethiopia

• Narmer (Menes), king of Upper Egypt conquered Lower Egypt around 3000 BC w/capital at Memphis

• Ahmose was the first ruler of the New Kingdom, first to use the title pharaoh (great house of the king)

• Ahmose rebuilt Egypt to even greater glory

The Woman Pharaoh

• Around 1480 BC, Hatshepsut came to power when her husband Thutmose II (her half brother) died.

• Her stepson (born to Thutmose II and a harem girl) was too young to rule

• She became Regent of Egypt

Hatshepsut

• About 7 years into her regency, she proclaimed herself pharaoh and wore men’s clothing and the false beard

• Why? Now believe there were several coup attempts against her and her stepson

• Had to take on the persona of a male pharaoh to gain legitimacy and acceptance

Egyptian Culture and Society

• Similar to Sumer:

a) Upper class—nobility and priests

b) Middle class—artisans, merchants, scribes

c) Lower class—farmers and laborers

d) slaves

Religion• Polytheistic

• Greater focus on afterlife

• Idea of god/king

• Religion evolved over time to include afterlife for all people

• Originally only royalty and nobility had an afterlife, but by the New Kingdom the concept was universal

Hieroglyphics• Writing with pictures

• Also hieratic for day-to-day transactions (simplified version)

• Scribes

• Papyrus paper

Ancient Civilizations:

China and India

The Indus River Valley/ Harappa

•Located in ancient India

•People were the Harappans

•At their height around 2500BC

•Not much is known about them; by 2000BC they were in decline

•We cannot decipher the writing they left behind

Mohenjo Daro and Harappa•Built great city-states

–highly organized plan–laid out in a grid system

•Mohenjo Daro and Harappawere the major cities; each had pop. of about 40,000.

–Advanced technology & engineering–Indoor plumbing, bathrooms, underground sewage

•Aryans–From north–move into the area their religious beliefs blend with the Indus cities to form the basis for the Hindu religion–Brought Vedas and Sanskrit language

The Huang He /China•Civilizations developed along 3 rivers in China

•By about 2205BC, The Huang He civilization dominated

•Huang He; “Yellow River”–gets its name from the yellow soil of the region: loess

–Yearly flooding can be very destructive; “China’s sorrow”

–Most of China’s pop. is in this area

•The Huang He was the most isolated of the early civilizations

•China has the longest continuous civilization in the world

Huang He Civilization

• Most isolated of the river valleys

• Shang Dynasty (1766-1122 BCE)

– Not the first Chinese Dynasty

– Regional dynasty

– First to unify China

– first to leave written records

– bronze metallurgy

– Central rule to oversee irrigation and flood control

– Walled citied, elaborate palaces and tombs

– Writing: Oracle Bones

• Written on bone and used to foretell future

Zhou Dynasty1028 BCE - 221 BCE

– Beat the Shang Dynasty claiming the Zhou had heaven’s approval to rule China; the “Mandate of Heaven”

– Nobles owned large pieces of land and peasants worked the land

– Relatives of the royal family were appointed governor’s of city-states• Each of these lords

raised his own army

• This works at first, but eventually the begin to fight among themselves

Chinese Dynasties (ruling families)

•Shang Dynasty is first to unite China

•Zhou Dynasty

–During the Zhou Dynasty-1027-256 BC war among rivals but also economic growth

–traded with silk, jade and porcelain

•The last 200 years of the Zhou is known as the “Era of Warring States”

•Both Confucius and Laozi were alive during the Zhou Dynasty (but their philosophies did not become popular until later)

Qin DynastyEventually China is united under the warlike Qin Dynasty 221BC

–This empire gives China its name

–First Emperor: Qin Shi Huangdi

•Strict ruler (Legalist)–reorganized the government

–Standardized money, weights & measures

–Burnt books containing different ideas

–Began The Great Wall of China to keep out hostile neighbors to the north (214-208 BC)

–Built extensive roads and canals

•Major achievements:

–Gunpowder

–Moveable type and paper