APWH Chapter 2
M-W
Review
• Culture develops before “civilization”
• Agriculture did not quickly, or inevitably
lead to civilization.
• Some agricultural societies reached the
modern period without forming the
apparatus we associate with civilization
(West Africa).
Components of “civilization”
• After agriculture, the next step in setting
up a framework for world history is the
emergence of civilization as a form of
human organization.
1.Cities
2.Control of geographic areas
3.Status distinctions
4.Record keeping.
Early Period of Civilization
• Mesopotamia 3500 BCE - 1000 BCE
• Begins 5000 years after the advent of
agriculture.
• Before then, there were isolated cities with
populations of around 10,000.
• Next 2000 years 3 other major civilizations
will develop - all agricultural in origin.
New Inventions
• Theme - New technologies along with the
maturation of agriculture came before the
emergence of civilization in the Middle East.
• Key innovations have not had to be
reinvented since.
• By 4000 BCE, Mesopotamians were
beginning to use bronze for tools and
weapons.
• The wheel (probably brought to region by
nomads from Central Asia)
Indo-European Migrations
4000-2000 BCE
The Middle East: “The Crossroads of Three
Continents”
Bronze
• Improved military and production
capacities.
• Required long-distance trade and
travel to acquire (another feature
marking this early civilization period).
The Ancient Fertile Crescent Area
The Middle East: “The Cradle of Civilization”
Sumerians
• Earliest documented people of
Mesopotamia.
• Tigris and Euphrates Rivers area
• Over next 2000 years evolved into the
states of Babylonia, states of the
Hittites, Assyrians, Chaldeans and
others.
• The idea of “civilization” drew
immigrants and invaders to the area,
mostly from Central Asia.
Sumerians
Sumeria
•
•
•
•
Prototype of civilization. Features:
agricultural surplus.
“stated societies” v. stateless.
dependence on cities for techno
development and cultural exchange.
• Writing for recordkeeping, long-distance
communication, trade, generation and
preservation of knowledge.
• City-State – an urban center and control of
surrounding agricultural lands.
Sumerian Religion - Polytheistic
Enki
Innana
Anthropomorphic
Gods
Semitic Language Family
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hebrew
Arabic
Aramaic
Phoenician
“Middle
Eastern”
Later Civilizations
• Egypt along Nile River - from 3000
BCE.
• Harappan (Harappa was major city)
along Indus River, now Pakistan - 2500
BCE
• Asia along Huang He (Yellow) River in
northern China
• Olmec in Central America
River Valley Civilizations
• Geography provides agricultural
societies with the best promise for a
surplus. Located along major water
supply.
• Required use of irrigation canals coordination and possibly property
definition.
• Government and formal rules (laws)
develop.
End Part I
Part II
• Regional Characteristics of
Early Civilizations
• http://www.lostcivilizations.net/ancientcivilizations.html
Egypt and Mesopotamia
• Similarities:
1. Developed close beside each other, traded
and had knowledge of each others
military.
2. Both used irrigation canals
3. Both were polytheistic.
4. Both worshipped gods that took on
human forms.
Mesopotamian Religion
• Temples - housed the
cult of the deity or
deities
• Ex: City of Ur
• Polytheistic many
gods, both male and
female forms.
• *Mesopotamian gods
more feared and
angry than Egyptian
gods.
• Unpredictable like the
rivers.
Ziggurat at Ur
 Temple
 “Mountain
of
the Gods”
Mesopotamian Religion
• Gods were
anthropomorphic
• Humanlike in form
and conduct.
• Priests inherited
their positions
father to son.
Mesopotamian Religion
• Ziggurats were the
most visible part of
the temple
compound
• Amulets show a
belief in the value
of magic.
• Hairstyles
distinguished
class. Slaves were
bald.
Mesopotamian Politics
• Lugal – by 3000 BCE,
political ruler called
this – “Big Man”
• “Sargon the Great” of
Akkad- First Dynastic
king
1. Standardized weights
and measures
2. Used cuneiform
writing
3. Comprehensive law
code
4. Developed trade
between all city-states
under his control.
The Royal Standard of Ur
Sargon of Akkad:
The World’s First Empire [Akkadians]
The Babylonian Empires
Hammurabi’s [r. 1792-1750 B. C. E.] Code
Hammurabi, the Judge
Intellectual Advancements
• Bronze was the first metal used for
tools and weapons like:
• Chariots
• Metal-tipped arrows and squads of
archers
• Siege machinery -battering rams to
break through walls.
End Part 2
Cuneiform
• Writing system evolved from
pictographs
• Created with a wedge-shaped stick
pushed images into a wet clay tablet.
• Symbols represented objects and
activities.
Cuneiform: “Wedge-Shaped” Writing
Deciphering Cuneiform
Sumerian Scribes
“Tablet House”
Sumerian Cylinder Seals
Quiz 3
2014
Literature = Gilgamesh
• Earliest written
epoch about
warrior king and
his travels.
• Included story of a
flood that covered
the world.
Gilgamesh Epic Tablet:
Flood Story
Math
• Base 60 system
• No zero
• Used for keeping records,
architectural designs, geometry.
Babylonian Math
Babylonian Numbers
Economics
• Driven by
Conquest
• Search for new
resources causes
expansion.
• Central location
built trade with
Africa and eastern
regions
Trade in the
“Cuneiform World”
Mesopotamian Society
• Classes – 3. Royalty,
Priests, Commoners.
• Slaves – captured in
battle or criminals.
• Hairstyle
distinguished slaves.
• Women – held lower
status than men.
• Infanticide practiced
(deliberate killing of
babies *mostly
female)
Mesopotamian Harp
Board Game From Ur
Sophisticated Metallurgy
Skills
at Ur
Women in Mesopotamia
• Manufactured
textiles
• Brewed beer and
ran taverns
• Worked as
prostitutes and
fortune tellers
• Could own some
property.
• Could NOT hold
government office
Egypt
• Mummification - believed important for a
journey to an afterlife
• Book of the dead - A textbook to prepare
the body for and a guide through the
underworld.
• Egyptian death
• Artifacts show Egyptian religion held a
more optimistic view of life.
• Egyptian gods - the devourer
• The Nile had predictable seasons of
flooding the farming plains.
• Egypt website
Egyptian Politics
• Pharaoh = Egyptian God/King
• ma’at - divinely authorized order of the universe
maintained by Phaoroah.
• Ideas – Largest group of “polymathics”. Astronomy,
mathematics, engineering, medicine, art, all heavily
influenced by religious beliefs
• Pyramids tombs believed to ensure king’s place in the
afterlife.
• Size of monuments implies more labor organization.
• First pyramid constructed by Djoser (Old Kingdom
period)
• Egyptian scientists
• Egyptian doctors
• Egyptian society
Ancient Egyptian ships 3200 2000 BCE
ancient ships
Differences between Egypt
and Mesopotamia
• Egyptians did not practice infanticide as most
early civilizations did.
• Mesopotamian gods more feared and angry than
Egyptian gods.
• Upper class Egyptian women had more equality could own property, head households -even become
Pharaoh!
• Different writing system
• Egypt = Hieroglyphics
• Mesopotamia = Cuneiform
• Pyramids used for dead vs. Ziggurats used for the
living
• video heiroglyphics
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/cultures/mesopo
tamia_11.shtml
• http://www.squidoo.com/mesopotamia
Harrapan India
• Only two major cities with high urban
technologies developed- Harappa and
Mohenjo Daro
• trade and cultural contact with early
Chinese.
• Writings have not yet been
deciphered!
3 Legacies of River
Civilizations
• Created Social mechanisms - concept
of states, writing, use of money.
• Interaction and influence on
surrounding areas - Egypt > Africa &
Greece. Mesopotamia > Greece
• Philosophy of a separation between
humans and nature will influence
Middle Eastern and European cultures.
3 Legacies of River
Civilizations
• Spirit of civilization spreads to later
societies
• - Shang Dynanasty in China semimythical histories imply the Shang
introduced the concept of political
order that would inform Chinese
culture.
1200-800 BCE
• Hiatus period
• Time of “cooling off” for advancing
of civilizations.
• New series of invasions and migrations
from Indo-Europeans in Central Asia.
• Centralized power becomes weakened.
1200-800 BCE
• Mesopotamia - Period of hiatus.
• Lessening of dominance in region
• Leads to rise of local societies like
Venetia and Israel.
1200-800 BCE
• Egyptians - did not disappear
• power falters around 1000 BCE.
• Succession of Pharaohs from outside
will rule
• Nubia up Nile River, to finally
Alexander the Great from Greece.
1200-800 BCE India
• Harappan civilization = simply
disappears.
• Natural disasters suspectedearthquakes changed course of
river
• Possibly invaders.
• Can’t decipher their writings so don’t
know!
China
• Chinese had the least disruption
• Shang Dynasty flows smoothly into
Zhou.
End of an Age 800 BCE
• With the exception of China, this break
in civilization marks the gap between
the “first civilization period”
emphasizing the river valleys and the
start of the “classical civilization
period” of the Greeks and Romans.