Ancient: Comparison of River Valley
Civilizations
NAME: ___________________________
Mesopotamia
Political
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Geographic location left Mesopotamia vulnerable to outside invasion.
Organized around independent city-states each with its own king, although there was a united empire
for a time under the Babylonians.
Kings were powerful, but not divine
Gov’t leaders promoted public works projects (dams, irrigation, temples) that benefited the whole
community
Military forces, administrators and tax collectors ensured order/delivered food
Leaders oversaw the construction of defensive walls and recruited/trained large military forces
Nearly constant competition between city-states and outside invasion led to formation of formal
government institutions, ethnic diversity & unity, and pessimistic worldview
Later groups (Babylonians) standardized legal procedures, set up courts and handed down harsh
punishments for lawbreakers (“eye for an eye”) as in Hammurabi’s Code
Used writing system to record policies, populations, and business transactions
Government collected barley as tax and taxed labor (a labor draft known as a corvee tax)
Economic
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Most workers were farmers whose agriculture depended on unpredictable flooding of Tigris and
Euphrates rivers
As governments formed large scale irrigation projects (canals, dams) were put into place built by
workers drafted by the government. These projects allowed for surplus food production
Food surplus allowed for development of first cities, which became centers of population, job
specialization, political/military authority, and trade.
Large marketplaces are evidence of extensive interregional trade (including Indus and Nile river
valleys) and importance of merchants
Technologies such as the wheel, sailboats, chariots, bronze, and early iron metallurgy aided the
economy (exporting silver, importing timber from Lebanon, importing the semiprecious stone lapis
lazuli from the Indus River Valley)
Specialized labor systems included farmers, metallurgist, merchants, craftsmen/artisans, political
administrators, priests, slaves
Social
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Unpredictable flooding and dependence on nature resulted in pessimistic worldview and polytheistic
religion of powerful & often cruel gods
Social classes: 1) Government officials & priests 2) free land-owning class 3) dependent farmers and
artisans 4) slaves for domestic service (could purchase freedom)
Large priest class became members of the elite due to importance of polytheistic religion
Scribes became members of elite for their education and rare ability to use written language. In
addition to record keeping, great literary works like the Epic of Gilgamesh were created
Women lived in a strictly patriarchal system with few rights. Women of upper classes less equal than
lower class counterparts, but marriage contracts and veils were common, men could sell their wives
& children into slavery to pay off debts, and men were not punished for adultery whereas adulterous
women received the death penalty)
Sumerians are the most accomplished of the Mesopotamian civilizations (first wheel, first writing
system - Cuneiform, first plow, first sailboat, first lunar calendar – advanced astronomy, math based
on 60 – 3600 circle)
Mesopotamia
Some of the world’s earliest civilizations emerged in a region called Mesopotamia, meaning “between the
rivers,” in modern day Iraq. By 3500 B.C.E. a number of cities, including Ur and Uruk, emerged sharing
a common culture known as Sumerian. These cities, surrounded by protective walls, were more than a
mile in diameter and home to more than 30,000 people. Most residents were farmers, living in huts made
of sun-baked mud bricks, who tended their crops by day in nearby fields. But other city-dwellers,
supported by the farmers' surplus food, specialized in other occupations. Their numbers included artisans,
merchants, laborers, priests and priestesses, soldiers, and government officials. Conflict was common
among Sumerian cities, many of which were city-states, independent urban political domains that
controlled the surrounding countryside. Eager to enhance their power and wealth, larger city-states
sometimes sought to swallow up others, provoking periodic wars. Leaders who emerged in combat often
became kings and officials. Over time the kings amassed power to command armies, levy tribute and
taxes, dispense justice, and organize the building of roads, canals, and dikes. In many places kingship
became hereditary, as rulers passed on power to their sons, reflecting the patriarchal structure of Sumerian
society and families. Officials helped the kings govern, while priests and priestesses exalted them as
descendants of the gods. Royal authority was thus reinforced by religion.
The most famous Sumerian ruler was King Gilgamesh, hero of the Epic of Gilgamesh, a magnificent
narrative poem from the third millennium B.C.E. In this epic the handsome young king, described as part
god and part man. Confronted by gods, Gilgamesh searches for immortality, only to learn that eternal life
is beyond his grasp. The epic exhibits fundamental features of Mesopotamian religion. Like many ancient
belief systems, it was polytheistic, meaning that people worshiped more than one god. Gods and
goddesses personified forces central to agricultural society, such as earth, sun, water, sky, fertility, and
storms who were temperamental figures, portrayed in human form and believed to affect every aspect of
life. But overall outlook was gloomy: humans had to serve unpredictable and spiteful gods in this life,
with little hope for better fate in the next life.
Religion nonetheless played a central role in early societies. It supplied an explanation for the forces of
nature, and a way for people to try to influence those forces. It provided a focus for festivals, such as new
year holidays in spring, celebrating life's natural cycles with rituals, dances, and songs. It exalted rulers as
divine agents, enhancing their authority and helping them maintain order. Priests and priestesses, often
family members or devoted followers of rulers, heralded the rulers as godlike beings descended from
divinities and performed rituals intended to bring divine favor on the realm.
To further enhance their status and prestige, rulers built splendid temples to the gods and palaces for
themselves. Some Sumerian cities constructed ziggurats, massive brick towers ascending upward in tiers,
typically topped by shrines for religious rituals. Dominating urban landscapes, ziggurats also served as
symbols of power and as lookout towers for defense. Governance and religion were thus intertwined, each
supporting the other.
Secured by this support and sustained by surplus food, Sumerians made great strides in other endeavors.
They promoted regional commerce, pioneered the use of wheels, fashioned metals into tools and
weapons, devised ways to keep track of time, performed architectural and engineering feats, and invented
writing.
Although Sumer's farms produced abundant wheat and barley, and its sheep supplied ample wool, woods
and metals there were scarce. So Sumerians traded with other lands, exchanging their textiles and grains
for cedar wood and copper from the eastern Mediterranean, gold from Egypt, and gems from what is now
Iran. To carry these goods, Sumerians fashioned wooden boats for rivers, cargo ships for seas, and
wheeled carts to be pulled overland by animals.
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Sumerians also made advances in metalwork. In the fourth millennium B.C.E., metalworkers began to
mix molten copper with tin, thereby producing a sturdier metal called bronze, which was used to make
swords and shields for soldiers and sometimes knives and axes for farmers.
Other innovations, too, are credited to Sumerians. They created a calendar based on cycles of the moon
and a double-entry bookkeeping method. They devised a computation system based on segments of 12
and 60, still used now for dividing time into hours, minutes, and seconds. And they developed
architectural and engineering skills to build palaces, temples, fortifications, and irrigation systems.
Furthermore, as trade and tribute expanded and society grew more complex, Sumerians devised symbols
to record financial and administrative transactions. As this system improved, they also used it to record
rituals, laws, and legendary exploits of rulers such as Gilgamesh. This momentous invention, which we
call writing, facilitated governance, enhanced commercial connections, and vastly aided the preservation
and transmission of knowledge.
Sumerians wrote by inscribing figures in wet clay, which hardened into tablets, some of which still exist
today. They etched symbols from right to left, using wedgelike characters that scholars now call
cuneiform. At first these were merely stylized pictures of people, animals, and objects such as carts,
houses, baskets, and bowls. Eventually, however, as characters were added to express ideas and sounds,
writing became very complex, so schools were set up in palaces and temples to train writing specialists,
or scribes. Few Sumerians learned to write, but those who did played a key role in spreading and
preserving their culture. So useful, indeed, was their writing system that it was adopted by outside
conquerors seeking to unite and rule all Mesopotamia.
Conquest was crucial in spreading Sumerian culture. Beginning around 2350 B.C.E., the Sumerian citystates were conquered by Akkadians, temporarily connecting the region under a common government.
The Akkadians also established a pattern repeated throughout history: conquerors learned from societies
they conquered and helped spread their culture. The Akkadians, for example, adopted the Sumerian
calendar, writing system, and computation methods, introducing them to other regions as Akkad's empire
expanded. Soon Mesopotamia’s central location led to the Akkadians being overthrown by nomadic
invaders. The pattern of conquest and adaptation was repeated as the nomadic invaders briefly united
Mesopotamia under the Babylonian Kingdom around 2000 BCE. Babylon's most notable ruler was
Hammurabi, who reigned from 1792 to 1750 BCE and issued the famous law code bearing his name.
Hammurabi 's code, sought to regulate matters such as trade and contracts, marriage and adultery, debts
and estates, and relations among social classes. It assigned penalties based on retribution—the famous
principle of "an eye for an eye"—attempting not only to deter crimes but also to limit retaliation by
ensuring that punishments did not exceed the damage done.
The code provides many insights into Mesopotamian society. It reveals, for example, that society was
hierarchical, divided into nobles, commoners, and slaves, with different penalties depending on social
status. A noble who knocked out another noble's tooth, for example, would have his own tooth knocked
out ("a tooth for a tooth"), but a noble who knocked out a commoner's tooth only had to pay a fine. The
code also shows that society was patriarchal, with men having greater rights and status than women.
Marriages were contractual, arranged by the parents of the bride and groom. A husband could legally
have a mistress, or even a second wife if his first one had no children. But a woman who cheated or ran
off on her husband could be cast in the water to drown. Women did have some rights: they could buy and
sell goods and own property, which they were allowed to inherit and pass on to descendants. For all his
accomplishments, Hammurabi failed to establish an enduring regime. Following his death in 1750 B.C.E.,
the Babylonian kingdom declined and was eventually overrun by warlike nomads.
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Egypt
Political
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Geographic locations isolated Egypt from most outside invaders
Peace allowed for the creation of a large and stable empire governed for a king called a pharaoh
Pharaohs claimed to be gods living in human form giving them ownership and absolute rule of the
land, power to establish a highly centralized authoritarian government, and mounted large-scale
construction projects (like pyramids) to demonstrate power
Pharaohs used authority to build large-scale irrigation projects to harness the regular annual floods of
the Nile River and mount large military campaigns into surrounding regions
Pharaohs were supported by an extensive bureaucracy made up of hundreds of ministers and priests,
and tens of regional governors
Government collected as much as 60% of farm harvests as tax and created a labor draft
Economic
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The 4000 mile-long Nile River flooded annually and acted as the life blood of the civilization
providing rich soil, fish, and papyrus
Gov’t built irrigation led to food surpluses, population growth, and the division of labor
The farming of wheat, barley, cotton, beans, and fruit trees could only occur in a six mile stretch of
land that bordered either side of the Nile
Egyptian skill with bronze and iron metallurgy helped keep the economy productive in this fragile
environment and prevent invasion
Specialized labor systems included farmers, craftsmen/artisans, metallurgists, political administrators,
priests, and slaves
Artisans skillfully used papyrus to make scrolls, river rafts, baskets, rope, and sandals
Merchants were less important in Egypt but societies around the Mediterranean Sea sailed to Egypt
to trade for their prized artisan goods and borrow ideas
Social
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Regular controllable flooding and dependence on nature resulted in optimistic worldview and
polytheistic religion of powerful gods
Life seems dominated by a belief in the afterlife (mummies, frontal art)
Powerful priests were members of the elite for their ability to read & write, honor the numerous
deities, and commission temples & religion monuments built solely for the purposes of veneration
Pictorial writing system, hieroglyphics, developed recording history, religious worship, and scientific
understandings, but no epic literature developed
Social classes dominated by ruling class and priests with a small nobility, large farming population,
and large slave population, but there was some social mobility available through the bureaucracy
Men dominate public and private life in a patriarchal system, though writings showed the importance
of male/female relationships, rule by a few women, and laws allowing female rights of property
ownership and divorce
Became advanced in art & architecture, medicine, metallurgy – first bronze tools, and pottery.
Although less advanced in math and astronomy, Egyptians developed a 365 day 12 month calendar
in order to predict the Nile’s floods.
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Egypt
North Africa is dominated by the Sahara Desert, a hot, dry wasteland as large as the United States. Only
the Nile River, flowing north through the desert, interrupts the arid expanse. Although some north
Africans settled along the mild coastline, most North Africans, however, settled near the Nile River,
where they clustered in farming villages along its fertile floodplains. These villages eventually formed the
foundations of large, complex, dynamic societies later called Egypt. In the fourth millennium BCE, as the
Nile Valley population grew, towns and villages along the river united into small kingdoms. These early
states organized irrigation bringing river water to farm fields. By 3100 B.C.E., through various conflicts
and conquests, the northern realms combined into a Kingdom of Egypt, which became one of the ancient
world's most powerful and prosperous realms.
In some ways, developments in Egypt paralleled those in Mesopotamia. As in Mesopotamia, smaller
states combined by conquest into larger domains, with powerful rulers, polytheistic religions, writing
systems, and extensive commerce. In other ways, however, Egypt differed markedly from Mesopotamia.
Separated by seas and deserts from potential foes, and blessed by a river whose annual, soil-enriching
floods helped farmers produce ample crops year after year – ancient Egypt was bountiful, powerful,
extensive, and predictable, much like the Nile River. More stable and predictable, Egyptian society
gradually developed belief in life after death, prompting efforts to preserve and house the remains of
rulers and other prominent people.
Central to Egypt's worldview was the concept that the universe's elemental order encompassed truth,
justice, harmony, and balance. The rulers, called pharaohs, were powerful, godlike figures whose main
duty was to maintain this order. The sun god and chief divinity ruled the heavens much as pharaohs ruled
the earth. Religion and governance in Egypt were one and the same. Other popular gods became symbols
of fertility, devotion, and the victory of life over death, inspiring an outlook far more hopeful than that of
early Mesopotamian religion.
Sustained by such myths and the cycles of the Nile, whose annual soil-renewing floods were more regular
and predictable than floods in Mesopotamia, Egyptians concluded that life was renewable and cyclical.
They came to believe that death was not the end of life, that honorable living would merit eternal life.
Religion thus reinforced morality, as the prospect of attaining life after death promoted honorable
behavior. The prospect of life after death also promoted mummification, an elaborate process for
preserving the bodies of prominent people after death.
Like the early Mesopotamians, ancient Egyptians made momentous contributions to culture, knowledge,
and communication. They produced impressive artworks, decorating temples and tombs with splendid
paintings and sculptures. They charted constellations, created a calendar, and practiced medicine based on
natural remedies. They even invented an accounting system and developed mathematics to advance their
architectural and engineering skills.
Egyptians also devised a form of writing now called hieroglyphs. Like Sumerian cuneiform, it began in
the fourth millennium BCE with pictographs, to which were added symbols for ideas and sounds. Like
the Sumerians, Egyptians trained scribes to master and use their writing system. Unlike the Sumerians,
however, Egyptian scribes wrote with ink-dipped reeds on papyrus, a paperlike material made from plants
that grew along the Nile, and rolled it into scrolls for easy storage or transport. Far less cumbersome than
Sumerian clay tablets, the scrolls helped Egyptians readily record their legends, laws, rituals, and exploits.
Deciphered records reveal that Egypt had a high degree of political and social stratification. They also
show that life focused mainly on family, farming, and the Nile. Egyptian society was structured by status
and wealth. Upper classes of priests and state officials lived in luxury; middle classes of merchants,
scribes, and artisans enjoyed some prosperity; and lower classes of peasants and laborers worked hard to
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barely survive. Most Egyptians were peasants: humble farmers and herders raising wheat, barley, cotton,
sheep, and cattle.
Marriage and family were central to Egypt's society. Some men practiced polygyny, meaning they had
more than one wife, but marriages were mostly monogamous. As in West Asia, husbands provided the
homestead while wives brought a dowry and furnishings into the marriage. Gender roles were well
defined but not rigid. In lower-class households men mostly worked the fields, but they might also be
hunters, miners, craftsmen, or construction workers. Women mainly did household tasks, such as cooking
and making clothes. But women in Egypt seem to have had higher status than those in West Asia.
Egyptian women could own and inherit property, seek and obtain a divorce, and pursue trades such as
entertaining, nursing, and brewing beer. Furthermore, in contrast to West Asian households, Egyptian
families often were matrilineal, with property descending through the female line, and wives in Egypt
were recognized as dominant in the home. Egyptian priestesses played key roles in religion, and a few
women even served as rulers. But governance and warfare were, as elsewhere, mainly the work of men.
The rhythm of work in Egypt followed the ebb and flow of the Nile, which typically flooded between July
and September. In October, once the waters receded, the growing season began. Aided by oxen and other
farm animals, peasants plowed fields and planted crops, then tended them, bringing buckets of water from
irrigation canals. The harvest usually started in February, with women and children helping the men
gather crops and thresh grain. The main crops were wheat and barley, but Egyptians also grew dates,
grapes, and other fruits and vegetables. In years when food was abundant, the government stored some of
the grain for use in times of scarcity. Large projects needing many workers, including construction and
repair of palaces, temples, and irrigation systems, normally started once the harvest was over.
Egypt's kings ruled a mostly peaceful and stable society. Internally they created a centralized state with an
effective bureaucracy and tax collection system. Externally they established connections and traded with
other societies, while largely avoiding warfare. Their most enduring achievements were the pyramids,
monumental structures with triangular sides sloping upward toward a point.
Around 1200 BCE, faced with new commercial and military challenges, Egypt's dominance waned, and
power in northeastern Africa shifted to the south to the Kush of modern day Sudan.
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China
(Hwang He River, Shang dynasty)
Political
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Like the Indus, the Hwang He is an unpredictable river, flooding often and earning the nickname
“China’s Sorrow”
Ancient dynasties are called the Xia and the Shang
Little info survives on the Xia or how they ruled, whereas the Shang left written records.
Shang rulers rely of corps of small, walled towns whose rulers recognize their authority.
Shang rulers hand out food in exchange for military support, political advising or other skills that
they can put to use (ex—metalworking)
Elaborate tombs are created for rulers, which include thousands of objects as well as sacrificial
victims (humans and animals) intended to serve the king in the next life
Centralized government, power in the hands of the emperor
Government preoccupied with flood control of the rivers
Economic
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Steady annual rainfall meant the Chinese did not have to rely solely on irrigation systems
Loose soil meant ironworking developed later here; most farmers used simple wooden tools
Shank kings controlled natural resources like mines and used them to maintain power
Little written info on trade with outsiders, but physical evidence shows overland trade route to India
does exist
Social
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Social classes consist of a small elite who control natural resources and a large majority who are poor
farmers. There is also a sizable slave population and a smaller groups of artisans/craftsmen
Women are viewed as inferior; limited to domestic roles (weaving, winemaking)
Extended family system included veneration (worship) of ancestors
System of writing appears on oracle bones (used to predict the future); other records which were
written on bamboo or silk have been lost
Myths and legends explain how civilization developed but organized religion does not play a large
role
Oracle bones used to communicate with ancestors
Pattern on bones formed basis for writing system; writing highly valued, complex pictorial language
with 3000 characters by end of dynasty
Uniform written language became bond among people who spoke many different languages
Bronze weapons and tools, horse-drawn chariots
Geographical separation from other civilizations, though probably traded with the Indus Valley
Job specialization —bureaucrats, farmers, slaves
Social classes — warrior aristocrats, bureaucrats, farmers, slaves
Patriarchal society; women as wives and concubines; women were sometimes shamans
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India
(Indus River Valley, Mohenjo Daro, Harappan)
Political
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No evidence survives concerning the political system put in place (writings have not been translated
and most physical evidence has been buried).
Limited information, but large granaries near the cities indicate centralized control
Scholars speculate that the two largest cities (Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro) may have been twin
capitals
Absence of large temples or palaces means that kings likely ruled from citadels in the heart of the
city)
Assumed to be complex and thought to be centralized
Economic
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Irrigation/widespread farming develops by 3000BCE; development of large cities follows quickly
Overland trade routes show evidence of trade to China and Mesopotamia (Pottery, tools and
decorative items from the Indus Valley have been found in other parts of the world)
Textile industry flourishes and centers around cotton production
In addition to cotton, coppery, ivory and other luxury items are the most common exports
Cities are arranged in grid-patterns, with broad streets and complex sewage systems (shows evidence
of urban planning). Most homes have running water, showers and toilets.
Social
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Lack of deciphered written records means we know little of how peoples lived
Evidence of great wealth (jewelers, goldsmiths etc.)
Variety of housing (from simple to extravagant) shows sharp class distinctions
No large temples or palaces, so there may have been less emphasis on religion/ritual but likely
focused on polytheism – naked man with horns the primary god; fertility goddesses
Variety of human and animal figurines found at sites reflect a tradition of representational art; many
figures show an emphasis on fertility & reverence for female reproductive function
Toys, jewelry and other objects reflect a prosperous society with ample wealth and leisure time
Writing system only recently decipherable
Soapstone seals that indicate trade with both Mesopotamians and China
Pottery making with bulls and long-horned cattle a frequent motif
Cruder weapons than Mesopotamians – stone arrowheads, no swords
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