Hist 100World Civilization I

Instructor: Dr. Donald R. Shaffer

Upper Iowa University

Lecture 2Sumerians (1)

Generally credited as the first “civilization” appearing in what is today Iraq around 3,000 BCE

Sumerian civilization grew around the Tigris and Euphrates (Mesopotamia), rivers that while they nourished civilization, because of their unpredictable flow lent a pessimistic and capriciousness to the Sumerian worldview

Sumerian civilization centered around “city-states” City states sometimes went to

war with each other, at other times cooperated

Tigris andEuphrates

Riversin

Mesopotamia

Lecture 2Sumerians (2)

Cuneiform A system of writing devised

by the Sumerians Scribes pressed wedges into

damp clay tablets Partly symbolic, partly

phonetic, it enabled the Sumerians to express symbolic ideas in writing

Difficult to learn, hence literacy largely limited to scribes and the elite

Scribes also scholarly class, studying math, botany and language

SumerianCuneiform

Lecture 2Sumerians (3)Sumerian Culture

Religion: Polytheistic: believed in a

hierarchy of gods Anthropomorphic: gods

behaved like human beings, had constantly to be appeased

Literature Suggested by some scholars

as source for creation myth in the Bible

Epic of Gilgamesh Three social classes

Nobles Commoners Slaves

Ziggurat

Lecture 2Sumerian successors The proof of the success of

Sumerian civilization is the extent to which they were copied by successors

Successors were various Semitic peoples that moved into Mesopotamia

Copied Sumerian writing system, Gods, etc.

Akkadian Empire Sumerians conquered by

Sargon in 2331 BCE, leader of the Semetic Akkadians

Babylonians (Amorites) Another Semetic people

who conquered Meso-potamia 100 years later

Code of HammurabiCode of Hammurabi

(on display at the Louvre)

Lecture 2Egypt (1)The Nile

Just as the Tigris and Euphrates defined life in ancient Mesopotamia, the River Nile shaped ancient Egypt

It flooded regularly and gently, replenishing the fields of the Nile Valley

These fields produced abundant crops which made the great achievement of the ancient Egyptians possible

The easy navigation of the river also made it easy to unify the country and keep it unified The Nile Valley as

seen from space

Lecture 2Egypt (2)

Periods of Egyptian History Archaic 3100-2600 BCE Unification of Egypt Old Kingdom 2660-2180 BCE Construction of Pyramids 1st Intermediate 2180-2080 BCE Political chaos Middle Kingdom 2080-1640 BCE Recovery & political stability 2nd Intermediate 1640-1570 BCE Hyksos “invasion” New Kingdom 1570-700 BCE Creation of Egyptian Empire

Akhenatan’s “heresy”

Lecture 2Egypt (3)Egyptian Culture

Religion Like the Sumerians, the

Egyptians were polytheistic Because of the political unity

of Egypt, they all worshipped the same gods

The pharaoh was at the center of this religion, as a god in human form

Egyptian religion was less an attempt to appease the gods, but to prepare for the afterlife

Many monumental structures, most notably the pyramids, had that purpose

Mortuary Temple ofHatschepsut

near Thebes (modern Luxor)

Lecture 2Egypt (4)Egyptian Culture (cont.)

Social Structure Egyptian population mostly

free, but subject to labor calls The pyramids were built this

way No caste system—a person

of humble origins could rise as high as their talent would take them

The deserts surrounding Egypt largely isolated the country during its early history

Hyksos “invasion” (c. 1640 BCE) Ended Egypt’s relative

isolation from the world Contemporary depictions ofAncient Egyptian peasants

Lecture 2Indus Valley Civilization (1)

Like in other areas, civilization in on the Indian subcontinent began in a river valley Centered in the Indus River

Valley in modern PakistanKnowledge of the Indus

Valley civilization is limited because no one has been able to decipher its written language What historians have learned

primarily comes through archeology

Lecture 2Indus Valley Civilization (2)

Evidence seems to suggest a gradual evolution from Neolithic until civilization emerged about 2500 BCE

They built impressive cities Mohenjo-Daro may have had

a population of 100,000 Some city neighborhoods

laid out in a grid. Something thought to have originated later with the Greeks

Impressive drainage systems to funnel wastes out of the cities

Lecture 2Indus Valley Civilization (3) There appears to have been

contact between the Indus Valley Civilization and Mesopotamia Pottery and other artifacts

of Indus Valley have been found in Mesopotamian archeological sites

The decline of the Indus Valley civilization is as obscure as its origin and history Your textbook makes the

case for decline due to a man-made ecological crisis

Other scholars have suggested natural calamities

Also hard to make connections to later Indian civilizations