Riverine Cultures & Civilization,
3500 - 2000BCE
I. Emergence of Civilization
II. Control of Civilizations
IDs: Gilgamesh, Standard of Ur, Horus
Argument
In the riverine cultures of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the
Indus River and China, civilization was based upon
unions of kingship and religion and social hierarchies,
in which elite groups controlled surplus production,
building programs & writing.
I. Emergence of Civilization
A. 7000-3500
BCE: Village
agriculture &
pastoral
nomadism
B. Six “First” Civilizations, 3500-1400 BCE
C. Riverine Cultures (River Valley
Civilizations)
• Mesopotamia: 3500
BCE (Tigris & Euphrates)
• Egypt: 3000 BCE (Nile)
• Indus Valley: 3000 BCE
(Indus)
• China: 2200 BCE (Yellow
& Yangzi)
Why there?
Old argument
– rivers
New argument
– dense
population
D. Characteristics of Civilization
1. Cities
City walls &
gates
Babylon
Ishtar Gate
2. Occupational Specialization
Highly productive
agriculture
Art
Monumental Buildings
3. Complex Religious & Political
Structures
a. Temples and
palaces
Mesopotamian
ziggurat
b. Bureaucracies of Priests & Specialized
Officials
Writing
Mesopotamia:
Cuneiform
Egypt: Hieroglyphics & Demotic Script
China: Oracle Bones
Divination
4. Distinct Social Classes & Social Hierarchy
Elites
Religion (priests)
Kingship
(kings, nobles)
Elites
Mesopotamian Social Hierarchy
Kings
Priests
Officers, Bureaucrats & Specialized Craftsmen (Patricians)
Dependent Workers (Plebeians)
Slaves
Standard of Ur (2600-2400 BCE)
Egyptian Social Hierarchy
Pharaoh
Elites: High Priests & Nobles
Local Officials, Lesser Priests & Nobles
Peasants
Slaves
II. Control of Civilizations
A. Mesopotamia
1. City-states
(political
organization)
2. Union of Religion & Kingship
Mesopotamian city gods
3. Divine
legitimacy
for king’s
rule
Gilgamesh
Enkidu
Enlil
4. Building
Programs
Babylon
Ishtar Gate
5. Writing
Cuneiform
Epic of
Gilgamesh
Later: States
Sargon the Great
of Akkad
(reigned 23342279 BCE)
B. Egypt
1. Union of
Kingship &
Religion
Osiris
Isis
Horus
dead pharaoh =
Osiris
live pharaoh =
Horus
2. Divine legitimacy
Horus
King as shepherd
3. Building Programs
4. Writing
Hieroglyphics & Demotic Script
Argument
• In the riverine cultures of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the
Indus River and China, civilization was based upon
unions of kingship and religion and social hierarchies,
in which elite groups controlled surplus production,
building programs & writing.