Four Early River Valleys
How did they become civilizations?
 Neolithic Revolution – domestication of
plants & animals
 Organized Farming & village life
 Food Surplus was created led to
specialization of labor
 Growth in population
 Creation of complex societies requiring
complex institutions which governed
large scale projects like irrigation
Population Growth & Development
of Civilizations
Food Surplus
Living longer
 Iron Age = new
 Increased, healthier
farms tools
 Domesticated
animals = beasts
of burden
population living
closer together in new
urban areas
 Increased immunities
based on close
proximity & better
health
Population Growth & Development of
Civilizations
 Cultural connections increased through new trade
routes
 Developments of empires
 Development of Writing systems to record taxes to
pay for expanded governments
 Development of great road building projects to
encourage trade, uniform coinage, uniform weights &
measurements (Lydian's & Persians)
River Valley
Civilizations
Egypt
Mesopotamia
EGYPT
Monarchy – Kingdom/Empire
Pharaoh God/King
Dynasty – ruling family
Polytheistic
Advances in medicine, math, calendars, irrigation,
cosmetics, mummification, building & architecture,
pyramids, jewelry,
metal work
 Social Class Structure: Pharaoh,
Priest/Nobles, merchants/artisans (Middle
Class), peasants, slaves
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Favorable Geography
 Benefits of Nile
 Rich soil
 Water
 Transportation
 Natural Boundaries
 Predictable flooding
Ancient Egypt
Mesopotamia
Peoples
 Sumerians
 Babylonians
 Hebrews
 Phoenicians
 Lydians
 Hittites
 Assyrians
 Chaldeans
 Persians
MESOPOTAMIA – FERTILE
CRESCENT
 Sumerians 1st Civilization: 1st to build
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wheeled vehicles - 3500 BCE
built irrigation systems, dykes, and canals for
better farming
Cuneiform system of writing – 1st
Sumerian- algebra and geometry
Sumerian: - city-states, Priest/Kings
polytheistic
Fertile Crescent & Mesopotamia
Fertile Crescent
 “Cradle of Civilization”
 Location = easy to invade  instability  negative view
 Epic of Gilgamesh
 Originally known as Sumer – 12+ independent city-states
 warfare
 Ziggurats, cuneiform
 Conquered by Akkadians and then Babylonians
and Assyrians
 Hammurabi’s Code – Babylon; social hierarchy
 Interaction with Phoenicians and invasion by Hittites
Influence of Geography
 Unpredictable flooding
 Rivers/Coastline
 Seaports/trade developed
 Lack of stone
 Clay for construction & writing
 Low, level plains
 No natural barriers to
invasion
Indus River Valley
Indus River Valley
 Heavily planned cities
 Standardized weights, measures, architectural styles, brick
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size
Irrigation
Written language
No evidence of palaces, warrior class,
temples, or kings
Rule by priests – predecessor to caste system
Ritual burning, ceremonial bathing, style of dress, elephants
Mohenjo Daro and Harappa – indoor plumbing, 2-3 story
houses
India
 2500BCE: First cultivation of rice, cotton and tea
 built ships, navigated seas, international commerce
(Indian Ocean & overland)
 well-planned towns, rectangular patterns
 Art -copper, bronze, and pottery, including a large
collection of terra-cotta toys
 two-storied and spacious, lined the town streets;
they had drainage systems that led into brick-lined
sewers
China
Early China
 Shang Dynasty: 2000BCE system of writing
pictographs - drawings of objects ideographs –
thought or idea
 Oracle Bones, early writing:
 Zhou Dynasty:
Mandate of Heaven
rise & fall of dynasties
 Qin Dynasty: Shi Huangdi new technologies warfare, cavalry, Legalism – you will
obey orders!
Burned Confucian books
Elaborate burial
Legacies of River Valleys
 Expanded populations & urbanization
 New networks – roads & trade routes
lined, sea routes
 Established systems of government,
laws, & religion
 Established patterns of culture &
cultural diffusion
RISE OF THE STATE
AKA I’m just glad we’re out of Ch. 1
Class
◦Upper Classes:
◦Higher salaries  better land, goods, and jobs
◦Distinguished by clothing, houses, and burial
◦Commoners:
◦Farmers, artisans, police/soldiers, servants, low-level
officials
◦Taxes, rent, labor, and tribute  provided for upper
class
◦Enslaved People
◦Derived from prisoners of war, criminals, and
debtors
◦In every first civ
Gender and Patriarchy
◦Gender – ways societies assign meaning to biological
differences of sex
◦Separate spheres as ideal
◦Women seen as weak but also potentially destructive
◦Women had to be in public – tending livestock and
crops, in markets, etc
◦Legal rights
◦Why patriarchy?
◦Plow – easier for men to use
◦Growing pop = more time pregnant
◦Warfare
◦Regulation of female sexuality coded in laws
◦State replaced kinship as
basic organizing principle
of society
Basics of States
and Kings
◦Needed someone to
organize irrigation,
defense, mediation of
conflicts, etc
◦Protected upper class –
used lower class to provide
for needs
◦Often regarded as divine
◦Kings distinguished by
dress, residence, and
burial
3400 year old palace discovered in 2019
during drought; Tigris; remains of
mysterious Mittani Empire
Keeping Records
◦Writing seen as gift from gods
◦Propaganda prevalent
◦Accounting system – who paid
taxes, wages, etc
◦Calendars for rituals
◦Law codes
◦Could led to social conflict (Shi
Huangdi burying 460 scholars
alive)
◦Variations: quipu, cuneiform,
hieroglyphs, Phoenician
alphabet