Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China

River Valley Civilizations

Earliest large populationsDevelopment of monumental architectureDevelopment of writing

Social/economic relationships can be better understood

Religious beliefsPolitical/legal systems become clearer

Why focus on Egypt, Mesopotamia, Indus Valley, and China?

“The Land between the Rivers”Migrants to the area increase--especially Semites

(Akkadian, Aramaic, Hebrew, Phoenician)Sumer (in south) becomes population center1st cities emerge, 4000 BCEBetween 3200 and 2350 BCE, they evolve into city-

states (control of surrounding region)Governments sponsor building projects and

irrigationAttacks by others led to wall building and military

developmentKingships evolve w/ cooperation of noble families

Mesopotamia

Sargon of Akkad (2370-2315 BCE) often considered “the” first emperor in world history. Seizes trade routes and natural resources Gradually empire weakens and collapses about 2000 BCE

Hammurabi (1792-1750 BCE) Centralizes the bureaucracy and regulates taxation Hammurabi’s Code: law of retribution and importance of social

statusAssyrians (northern Mesopotamia), about 1300-612 BCE

Powerful army: professional officers (merit), chariots, archers, iron weapons

Unpopular rule leads to rebellions; ends 612 BCENew Babylonian empire, 600-550 BCE

Nebuchadnezzar (605-562 BCE) Hanging gardens of palace shows wealth and luxury

The Course of Empire

Mesopotamia had a stratified society in which kings and priests controlled much of the wealth. The three classes of Mesopotamian society were: (1) the free landowning class; (2) dependent farmers and artisans; (3) slaves: Slavery was not a fundamental part of the economy,

and most slaves were prisoners of war.Some scholars believe that the development of agriculture

brought about a decline in the status of women as men did the value-producing work of plowing and irrigation.

Women had no political role, but they could own property, control their dowry, and engage in trade.

The rise of an urban merchant class in the second millennium B.C.E. appears to have been accompanied by greater emphasis on male privilege and an attendant decline in women’s status.

Mesopotamian Society

The religion of Mesopotamia was an amalgam of Sumerian and later Semitic beliefs and deities.

Mesopotamian deities were anthropomorphic, and each city had its own tutelary gods.

Humans were regarded as servants of the gods. In temples, a complex, specialized hereditary priesthood

served the gods as a servant serves a master. The temples themselves were walled compounds containing

religions and functional buildings. The most visible part of the temple compound was the ziggurat.

We have little knowledge of the beliefs and religious practices of common people.

Evidence indicates a popular belief in magic and in the use of magic to influence the gods.

Mesopotamian Religions

The Mesopotamian writing system (cuneiform) evolved from the use of pictures to represent the sounds of words or parts of words. The writing system was complex, required the use of hundreds of signs,

and was a monopoly of the scribes. Cuneiform was developed to write Sumerian, but was later used to write

Akkadian and other Semitic and non-Semitic languages. Cuneiform was used to write economic, political, legal, literary,

religious, and scientific texts. Other technologies developed by the Mesopotamians included

irrigation, transportation technologies (boats, barges, and the use of donkeys), bronze metallurgy, brickmaking, engineering, and pottery, including the use of the potter’s wheel.

Military technology employed in Mesopotamia included paid, full-time soldiers, horses, the horse-drawn chariot, the bow and arrow, and siege machinery.

Mesopotamians also used numbers (a base-60 system) and made advances in mathematics and astronomy.

Mesopotamian Technology

Egypt and NubiaEgypt--lower 3rd of Nile River; Nubia--middle

3rd of NileAfter 5000 BCE peoples cultivate gourds and

watermelons, domesticate donkeys and cattle (from Sudan), and grow wheat and barley (from Mesopotamia)

Agriculture easy in Egypt (due to Nile flooding) but more work in Nubia

States begin to emerge by 4000 BCE, small kingdoms by 3300 BC

Egypt, large and prosperous state by 3100 BCEMenes at Memphis unites Upper and Lower EgyptPharaoh, absolute ruler and owns all land

Archaic Period (3100-2660 BCE) and Old Kingdom (2660-2160 BCE)Great pyramids of Giza built during this period;

Khufu the largestViolence between Egypt and Nubia (Egypt

dominates from 3000-2400 BCE)Nubia later develops into Kingdom of KushInteraction through diplomacy, Nubian

mercenaries, and intermarriage

The Unification of Egypt

Period of upheaval after Old Kingdom (2160-2040 BCE) Middle Kingdom (2040-1640 BCE) Nomadic horsemen, Hyksos, invade Egypt

Using bronze weapons and chariots (Egypt does not have) Captures Memphis in 1674 BCE Causes revolts in Upper Egypt

New Kingdom (1550-1070 BCE) Pharaoh gains power, huge army, large bureaucracy Building projects: temples, palaces, statues Tuthmosis III (1479-1425 BCE) built empire including Palestine, Syria, and

Nubia Then Egypt falls into a long period of decline

Egyptians driven out of Nubia in 1100 BCE Nubian Kingdom of Kush; capital is Napata King Kashta conquers Thebes (in Egypt) in 760 BCE

Assyrians with iron weapons invade from the north After 6th century BCE series of foreign conquests

Turmoil and Empire

Egypt was more rural than Mesopotamia. It did have cities, but since they have not been excavated, we know little about urban life in Egypt.

Egypt regarded all foreigners as enemies, but its desert nomad neighbors posed no serious military threat. Egypt was generally more interested in acquiring resources than in acquiring territory; resources could often be acquired through trade.

Egypt traded directly with the Levant and Nubia and indirectly with the land of Punt (probably part of modern Somalia). Items of trade included exports of papyrus, grain, and gold and imports of incense, Nubian gold, Lebanese cedar, and tropical African ivory, ebony, and animals.

Communication

Social classesEgypt: peasants and slaves (agriculture),

pharaoh, professional military and administrators

Nubia: complex and hierarchical society (can tell from tombs)

Patriarchy in both but women have more influence than in MesopotamiaWomen act as regents, like female pharaoh

HatshepsutNubia: women serve as queens, priestesses, and

scribes

Stratified Societies

Hieroglyphics found on monuments and papyrus by 3200 BCE

Hieratic script, everyday writing 2600-600 BCE

Demotic and Coptic scripts adapt Greek writing

Scribes live very privileged livesNubia adapts Egyptian writing until Meroitic

in 5th century BCE

Early Writing in the Nile Valley

Principal gods: sun gods Amon and ReBrief period of monotheism: Aten

Pharaoh Akhenaten’s idea of a new capital at Akhetaten Orders all other gods’ names chiseled out; their names die

Mummification At 1st only pharaohs are mummified (Old Kingdom) Later ruling classes and wealthy can afford it Eventually commoners have it too (Middle and New Kingdom)

Cult of Osiris Brother Seth murders Osiris and scatters his body Wife Isis gathers him up and gods restore him to life in the

underworld Becomes associated with Nile, crops, life/death, immortality Osiris judges the heart of the dead against the feather of truth

5. Nubians combine Egyptian religions with their own

The Development of Organized Religious Traditions