The River Valley Civilizations
Tigris-Euphrates, Ancient Egypt, and Indian and
Chinese River Valley Civilizations.
Tigris-Euphrates
• First civilization formed along Tigris and Euphrates
Rivers in Mesopotamia.
– Middle East leaders in agriculture, metalworking, and
village structure.
– Civilization formed from scratch.
• By 3500 BC the Sumerians had established
Cuneiform.
– Began as pictures, but later used geometric shapes
Cuneiform Tablets
Sumerian Ziggurat
Tigris-Euphrates
• Sumerian Art:
– Statues filled the temples of the gods. Statues of gods
in individual homes.
• Sumerian Science:
– Learned about movement of sun and stars. Created
constellation charts still used today.
• Sumerian Religion:
– Complex rituals with patron gods for each city.
– Ziggurats – massive towers operated by professional
priests. Polytheistic. Prayer very important to them.
Tigris-Euphrates
• Sumerian Politics:
– Tightly organized city-states ruled by a king who
claimed divine authority. Court system in interest
of justice. Had slavery (original slave owners).
• Sumerian Economy:
– Agriculture. Used fertilizer. Used silver as early
form of money.
Tigris-Euphrates
• This region was hard to defend and was
always a temptation to invaders (even today).
– Fell to Akkadians who continued much of culture.
– Later conquered by Babylonians – King
Hammurabi.
• Hammurabi’s Code: rules of procedure for
courts of law and harsh punishments for
crime. Ideas used for most judicial systems
today.
Egyptians
• Built up along Nile River in North Africa
around 3000 BC.
• They traded with Mesopotamian societies but
their culture was very different.
• Less open to invasion, and actually maintained
a unified state.
Egyptians
• Pharaoh was the ruler – had immense power.
• Economy more government directed due to need
for complex irrigation.
• Pharaohs thought of as gods.
– Elaborate pyramids built for them from 2700 BC
– This framework of Egyptian society lasted till after
1000 BC.
• Neither hieroglyphs nor science as elaborate as
Sumerian, but math more advanced. Idea of 24
hour day.
Egyptian Pyramids
Great pyramids of Giza. One of the 7 wonders of the World.
Egyptian
• Art: Lively with cheerful colorful pictures in
tombs, palaces, and furnishings.
• Religion: polytheistic.
– Ra: god of the sun. Eye of Ra popular in
decorations. Many other gods and goddesses.
Egyptian Mythology
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Ra - God of the Sun
Isis - Mother Goddess
Osiris - God of the Underworld, God of the Dead
Anubis - God of Mummification/Afterlife - Jackal head
Horus - God of the Sky - Falcon head- son of Isis/Osiris
Hathor - Goddess of Love and Fertility
Apep (Apophis) - God of Darkness - serpent head
Ammit - Devourer of the Dead - crocodile head
Amun - The Creator God
Baal - God of Storms
Setesh (Seth) - God of the Desert - dog/fox head
Egyptian Mythology
Indus River Civilization
• Indus River civilization emerged by 2500 BC
– Many large cities: Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
– Houses had running water!!!
• Developed own distinct writing and art.
• Indo-Europeans invaded and destroyed this
society, so very little is known about the
nature of this culture or its influence on India.
– Harappan writing has yet to be deciphered.
Indus River Valley
City
Chinese Civilization
• Civilization along the Huang-he (Yellow River)
developed in considerable isolation.
– Civilization legendary in China and people revered
as godlike kings.
• Chinese had elaborate concept of their
history.
– Part fact-part fiction records of early kings.
Chinese Civilization
• Accomplishments:
– By 2000 BC had advanced technology and
elaborate intellect.
– Learned to ride horses and make pottery.
– By 1000 BC were using iron and coal.
• Writing evolved from knotted ropes to
scratches on bone to the type of symbols we
know today.
Ancient Chinese Writing
Judaism
• The Jews gave the world the first monotheistic
religion.
• Settled near the Mediterranean around 1200
BC
• Jewish culture remains much the same today.
• Basis for both Christianity and Islam.
• Religion for Jews is a way of life, not just
traditions and ceremonies.
Accomplishments of These Civilizations
• Pyramids
• Taming the horse
• Creation of alphabets and writing systems
– Almost all alphabets today derived from some river
valley writing system.
• Development of key math concepts (square roots)
• Development of well organized monarchies and
beurocracies.
• Invention of functional calendars.
Decline of River Valley Civilizations
• By 1000 BC most river valley civilizations in
decline.
• They flourished for 2500 years and influenced
later cultures, such as Greeks.
• Phonecians devised simplified alphabet with
22 letters – predecessor of Greek/Latin
alphabet.
Egyptian Gods & Goddess
Ra / Re / Amen-Ra
King of the Gods
Sun god
Falcon head with a sun on top.
Sometimes seen as the creator of men
(Egyptians called themselves "the cattle of Ra”)
■ Since heaven and the underworld have water,
Ra uses a boat (Madjet (“strong”) while rising
and Semektet ("becoming weak") when setting.
He often has help from other gods to
successfully navigate his boat.
■ He constantly had to fight monsters
(Sebau, Nak, and Apep)
■ The phoenix is one of his symbols
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Osiris
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God of the earth and vegetation
Symbolized the yearly drought and
flooding of the Nile.
Gave Egypt civilization.
Married his sister, Isis
Osiris rules Egypt and he leaves Isis in
charge when he is gone
Set and 72 conspirators kill him by
chopping him up into pieces
Isis found almost all the pieces and put
him back together (making the missing
part out of clay)
King of the afterlife
Usually shown as a bearded,
mummified human with green skin and
wearing the atef crown. His hands
come out from the mummy wrappings
and hold the flail and crook.
Horus
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Falcon headed
The Pharaoh was supposed to be his
earthly embodiment.
Son of Osiris (after his resurrection)
Set is always trying to hurt him
Stunted from his waist down
In art, he is often shown standing on
crocodiles
His sons are born from Isis. Each take
care of the organs during the
mummification process
■ Duamutef (stomach)
■ Imsety (liver)
■ Hapi (lungs)
■ Qebehsenuef (intestines)
Isis
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Isis was the sister/wife of Osiris
Shown as a a woman wearing a
vulture head-dress and the solar
disk between a pair of horns
Isis suckles the pharohs
May be one of the judges of the
dead
Has great magical powers
Created the cobra and uses the
cobra bite to make Ra reveal to
her his secret name
The purest example of the loving
wife and mother
Set
■ God of evil, the desert, storms,
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and chaos
A devil figure
Antelopes are sacred to him
Hates Osiris (jealous)
Kills Osiris and becomes king
before he is killed by Horus
Part pig and part donkey
Hathor
■ Usually depicted as a cow or as a
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beautiful woman wearing a
horned headdress
She is both wife/ daughter of Ra
Also married Horus
Suckled Horus when he was
young and took care of him after
Set blinded him
Her milk is food of the gods
She offers food and drink to the
dead
Women aspire to be her
Anubis
■ Son of Nephthys and either
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Set or Ra – adopted servant
of Isis
Head of a jackal
Guides the dead to the
underworld and weighs their
heart (bad deeds make your
heart weigh more)
Works with Osiris in the
underworld
Mummification god
Ammut
■ “Eater of the Dead”
■ She stands by the scales of the hearts
and eats the hearts of the wicked (a final
death)
■ Head of a crocodile, body of a leopard,
hind legs of a hippo (apparently wicked
hearts are fattening – who knew?)
Thoth
■ Moon god
■ Head of an ibis
■ Scribe (records the weight of the hearts
in the underworld)
■ Invented writing
■ From the Book of the Dead:
“Hear the word of the very truth. I have judged
the heart of the deceased, and his soul stands
witness for him. His deeds are righteous in the
great balance and no sin has been found in
him.”
Sekhmet
■ Lion headed
■ Wife of Ptah (an early
creator god)
■ Breathes fire against
her enemies
■ Delivers punishment to
the gods