Chapter 2

Overview and Discussion

Ancient Civilizations

The Fertile Crescent

MAPS

http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/maptext_n2/start1.html

What changes in the world lead to civilizations (define)?

• Agricultural Revolution: farming & irrigation • Permanent villages turned into city-states • Organized governments, religion, and legal system • Writing system-recorded history!• Political system based on territory rather than kinships• Specialization of labor in areas other than food production• What’s wrong with this definition?• People define civilization with their own way of life

Fertile Crescent• Fertile Crescent

- “Crossroads to the world?”

• Also known as Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia

•

•

Climate: • Unpredictable

flooding -Why a blessing? -Why a curse?

Topography: • No geographical barriers

-Why is that a problem? •

Religion• Believed gods controlled every aspect of

life. • Anthropomorphic - gods possess same

characteristics as man • Man at the mercy of the gods - Why?

Natural disasters Natural blessing

SOCIAL STRUCTURE• Each state had distinct social hierarchy• There were three distinct classes:

– the large landholders, royalty, priests, and merchants– dependent farmers (most people) and artisans and

workmen– Slaves was not economically crucial

• not an inherited condition

• Men held authority over women and children• Women had legal rights; some engaged in trade

and owned property.

Status of women in Mesopotamian society

• Hunter gathering society

• Higher status• Served as a primary

role in procuring much of the family’s food

• Agricultural society• women’s status

declined– cultivating work was

done by men• had no political role• occupations

– textile weaving, brewing, prostitution, tavern keeping, baking, and fortunetelling, raising children

Economy

• Barter Economy • - Example? • Ziggurat • Each had its own

ziggurat? Very Important…

• - Its purpose?

GOVERNMENT

• City-states with hereditary rulers. • Supported by priesthood and military• Ruler led army in war and enforced laws. • Complex government with scribes to collect

taxes and keep records.

Mesopotamian technological advances.

• technology – any specialized knowledge that is used to

transform the natural environment and society. • Agriculture

– Irrigation (canals, dams, etc. • transportation

– carts, sledges, and boats for maneuvering in the varied terrain.

• metallurgy – Bronze

Writing• Cuneiform Cuneiform

-Oldest in the World -Wedge depressions in clay tablets -Formed from a reed stylus

-Most important contribution

The Code of Hammurabi

– first written set of laws first written set of laws

– 282+ laws 282+ laws

– ““Eye for an eye, life for Eye for an eye, life for life” life” What does that What does that mean?mean?

Hammurabi

Babylonian Leader

1792-1750 B.C.E

Egypt: “The Gift of the Nile”• 4,160 miles longest

river in the world• Predictable Predictable

floodingflooding• carried rich carried rich

deposits of silt deposits of silt along with it.along with it.

• primary means of primary means of communication communication and and transportation. transportation.

Explain how the first Egyptian civilization was shaped by its natural environment

• Imposing natural barriers of desert and harborless seacoast provided what?

• protection from outside influences and threats and allowed Egypt to develop a unique culture in isolation and security

• He built a large palace and the people called him Pharaoh, which Pharaoh, which means "great  palace.” means "great  palace.”

• From then on Egypt's rulers were called pharaohs, his was the the first dynastyfirst dynasty.

Menes: The First Pharaoh

Discuss the image of the pharaoh and the reason for construction of the pyramids.

• Pharaoh– god on earth– maintain ma’at, the divine order of the universe– He was the link between the people and the gods,

therefore ensuring the welfare and prosperity of the country.

• The death of the pharaoh was a critical– because the well-being of the state depended on him. – every effort was made to ensure that he had a safe

journey back to the gods in his afterlife.

Religion in the Lives of Ancient Egyptians

• Egyptians, like all ancient peoples believed that the Gods Gods controlled nature, controlled nature, especially the weather especially the weather and illness and illness

• Egyptian PriestEgyptian Priest

Most Honored Egyptian Gods

Major Gods:Major Gods: --Amon-Re (ra)Amon-Re (ra) was the sun god – Most Powerful God! -OsirisOsiris was the god of the underworld and of the Nile.

-IsisIsis was the most powerful mother goddess worshiped all over Egypt

Mummification– Mummify to

preserve a sound body for the Ka to return to

– 70 day process

– Improper embalming leads to second true death

Mummification• Ka

– Spirit created when all men are born

– This spirit of life returns once the body has passed the test…

A Fateful Test…• Egyptians had to pass test after they died.

• It was believed that dead souls were ferried across a lake of fire to the hall of Osiris

• The heart of the dead was weighed against a feather if the heart weighted less he was allowed to go on

• Those who were viewed as sinners were fed to the crocodile-shaped eater of the dead/ those who were viewed as worthy entered the happy field of food.

•The earliest Indian civilization flourished for about 1,000 years, then vanished then vanished without a trace. without a trace.

Indus Valley CivilizationIndus Valley Civilization3300–1300 BCE, flowered 3300–1300 BCE, flowered

2600–1900 BCE2600–1900 BCE

Indus Valley CivilizationIndus Valley Civilization

• Well-organized government • Carefully planned cities •Modern plumbing and sewer system

Public Bath at Harappa

Mohenjo-daro & HarappaMohenjo-daro & Harappa• Two major cities of the Indus Valley

• Very sophisticated civilization

•Lots of modern excavation & research in that area today

•Mohenjo-daro discovered in the 1940s by a British archaeologist

Indus Valley WritingIndus Valley WritingWhose writing does the Indus peoples look the most like?

How could that be?

Decline and Disappearance: Indus Valley Civilization

• No one knows for certain why the cities were abandoned or forgotten.

• Scholars have proposed a number of theories:• A devastating earthquake destroyed the region. • A volcanic eruption caused the Indus to flood the city. • Aryan invaders overran the region. • The Indus valley climate grew significantly cooler and

drier from about 1800 BCE. A crucial factor may have been the disappearance of substantial portions of the Ghaggar Hakra river system

Compare the civilization in the Indus Valley with the civilizations in Mesopotamia and Egypt.

• Emergence of civilization– All three civilizations were built around fertile river valleys.

• Society– The resulting surplus production of foodstuffs supported a

government and religious infrastructure• Writing

– All three civilizations also developed a complex system of writing to accompany the growth of government and urban life.

• Religion• religious beliefs and practices tied to the natural

environment. • Urban or agricultural

– Because of the size of the Indus River system, the civilization there was much larger than that in Mesopotamia. Whereas the Mesopotamian civilization was urban centered, that of the Indus Valley was more dispersed and rural.