Bellringer
1. What characteristics define the ancient
river valley civilizations?
2. Do the Olmec & Chavin fit these
characteristics? How? How not?
– Chronology? Location? Government?
Economy? Social structures? Religion?
3. Why are they similar? Different?
Olmec
• 1200-400 BCE
Chavin
Comparing
River Valley Civilizations
History is about questions and
thinking critically to answer those
questions!
India & China?
– Less is known due to gaps in scholarship
• India
– Harappa, cities
– Traded with Mesopotamia & Central Asia
• China
– Xia & others before Shang?
– Most isolated but still traded
– Rigidly patriarchal
• Only sons capable of venerating ancestors
• Lacking a male heir was regarded as a crime
against the ancestors
Mesopotamia & Egypt
• Primary source documents
Document Questions
♦What is the basis of the a king’s legitimacy
in Mesopotamia?
♥How would you characterize Mesopotamia
religion and afterlife?
♣What is the relationship between the gods
and humankind?
♠What are the principles of justice in
Mesopotamia according to the code?
Share Readings
1. Main Idea; Thought-provoking Quote;
Issue in Document/Question
2. Read “The Occupations of Old Egypt”
and accompanying “Be a Scribe.”
– What might historians learn from this text
about the jobs and social structure of Egypt?
Comparisons
Group Analysis
As a group,
• Analyze the similarities and differences
between Mesopotamia and Egypt.
– Consider social issues, economies, governments,
purpose of literature & architecture, etc
Mesopotamia
Fertile Crescent
Cuneiform
Urbanization
“The urbanization process as such in Mesopotamia is
totally beyond our reach . . . . It is true that cities rose
here and there around royal residences, trading
settlements (ports of trade), wells, and certain
sanctuaries, but nowhere do we find such an
agglomeration of urban settlements as in southern
Babylonia—and so early in history at that. In this dark
and remote period originated the basic attitude of
Mesopotamian civilization toward the city as a social
phenomenon. This attitude is one of unconditional
acceptance of the city as the one and only communal
organization. . . .”
City-States
Ziggurats
Hammurabi
Women
Trade
Egypt
Nile River Valley
Pyramids
Afterlife
Women
Trade
Closure
Write an “AP” thesis statement in response to:

Analyze the similarities and differences in
ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt.