Name: ____________________________________________________ Date: _____________________________ Period: _______________
Ancient Civilizations Master Chart
Civilization
Mesopotamia
(c.3500 B.C)
 Tigris &
Euphrates Rivers
 Fertile Crescent
(present-day
Iraq)
Ancient Egypt
(c.3000 B.C.)
 Nile River – the
“River in the Sand”
Ancient India
(c.2500 BC)
Government
 Cities: Sumer, Ur,
Babylon
 City-states (c.3000 B.C.)
were self-governing
 Hammurabi: First Code
of Laws c. 1700 B.C. –
“An eye for an eye & a
tooth for a tooth”
 Ruled by priests and kings
 Menes (first pharaoh) united Upper and Lower
Egypt
 King Tut ruled c. 13611352 B.C.
 Pharaoh – chief judge,
commander-in-chief, and
chief religious figure
 Aryan fighters invade ca.
1500 B.C.
 Indus River &
Indus River
Valley
 Huang He River
(or Yellow River)
 Yangtze River
 Ziggurat - mud brick temple
 Polytheism – the belief in
many gods
 Boys attend tablet houses to
become scribes (writers)
 High, middle & low classes
 Pharaoh was a god-king
(son of Re/Ra and linked to
Horus)
 Shih Huang Ti – first
emperor of China;
ordered all books burned
in China
 Dynasty - the ruling
family
Writing
 Cuneiform (500
signs) – first system
of writing with
wedge shaped reeds
 Sumerians wrote
poetry c. 2750 B.C.
 Invented
hieroglyphics c.
3200 B.C.
 Papyrus scrolls
 Buddhism – founded by
Siddhartha Gautama c. 520
B.C. (leader: Dalai Lama)
 Sanskrit language
and writing
 Philosopher Confucius (551
– 479 B.C.) taught the
importance of moral
character (later known as
Confucianism)
 Taoism (c.500s B.C.) – find
harmony with the Tao and
nature
 Adopted Buddhism from
Ancient India in A.D. 200s
Science &
Technology
 Invented the
irrigation system,
sailboat, and
wheel
Arts &
Leisure
 Homes made of
dried bricks.
 Inflated goat
skins for floats
 Wrote on clay tablets
 Believe in afterlife (built
pyramids & mummified
pharaohs to preserve soul)
 Hinduism – founded c.1400
B.C. Beliefs written in the
Vedas (books of knowledge)
 Hindus believe in karma &
reincarnation
 Pakistan today
Ancient China
(c.1600 B.C.)
Religion,
Philosophy &
Education
 seals with pictograph
writing
 Used a solar
calendar
 Copper tools and
weapons used
 First pyramid
designed by
architect Imhotep
in 2700 B.C.
 Swimming pool
 Underground
sewers
 Developed the
decimal system,
concept of zero,
and the Arabic
number system
 Discovered iron
ore
 Pictographs &
pictograms found on
shells and bones
(50,000 characters)
 Iron plows and
swords used for
the first time in
500 B.C.
 Diviners (or oracles)
– told future on
turtle shells and
animal bones
 Paper invented in
210 B.C.
 Printing invented
in A.D. 700
 Gilgamesh –
book of heroic
tales read aloud
 Great Pyramids
and Sphinx
 Nile mud – for
pottery and
bricks
Miscellaneous
 Hanging
Gardens of
Babylon.
 Sold children if
they disobeyed
 Considered the
“Gift of the
Nile”
 Built canals to
control the Nile
 Boats used for
transportation
 Iron statues &
steel weapons
 Dance important
 Invented chess &
playing cards
 Pottery
 Cotton gin &
weaving
 Yoga
 Great builders
Inventions:
antibiotics
compass
stirrups
tea
silk
porcelain
fireworks (from
gunpowder)
 Domesticated
dogs







 Floods - built
canals and cities
on top of
flooded cities
 Hindu Caste
System (4 grps)
 Silk Road
 Great Wall of
China
 Grand Canal
 Forbidden City
Civilization
Ancient Greece
(c.800 B.C.)
 City-states
(aka Polis)
Ancient Rome
(c.750 B.C.)
 Tiber River
Ancient America:
 Mayas – Mexico
& C. America
(c.250 A.D.)
 Aztecs – Mexico
(c.1200 A.D.)
 Incas – S.
America (c.1400
A.D.)
Religion,
Philosophy &
Education
Writing
 12 Greek gods/goddesses of
Olympus (polytheism)
 Phoenician alphabet
invented c. 800 B.C.
Government
 Trojan War - 1200 B.C.
 Persian troops invaded
Greece in 480 B.C.
 Democracy (Athens),
oligarchy (Sparta), &
tyrant (other city-states)
 Romans overthrow king
and set up republic
 Julius Caesar became
dictator (until killed in
44 B.C. by own Senate)
 Augustus Caesar – first
emperor (from 27 B.C. –
14 A.D.) “Pax Romana”
 Copán – Mayas capital
city (now in Honduras)
 Tenochtitlan – Aztecs
capital city (now Mexico
City)
 Cuzco – Incas capital city
 King
 First Olympic Games held to
honor gods in 776 B.C.
 Plato started the Academy
c.387 B.C. (first higherlearning institution)
 12 Roman gods/goddesses
(adopted from the Greeks)
 Hippocrates (Dr.)
believes body
heals itself
 Euclid- modern
geometry
 Romans adopt
Phoenician alphabet
 Aqueducts &
roads built
Arts &
Leisure
 Homer- wrote
The Iliad and
The Odyssey
 Aesop (slave)
wrote fables
 Greek plays –
tragedies &
comedies
 Gladiators
 Coliseum
 Paul brings Christianity to
Rome in A.D. 50
 Constantine makes
Christianity official religion
in 313 A.D.
Belief in 3 levels:
 Upper-world (Gods)
 Middle-world humans)
 Underworld (dead)
 Aztecs: Warriors/warfare –
worshipped Huitzilopochtli
(god of war)
Science &
Technology
 Concrete (from
volcanic ash)
 Hieroglyphs symbols carved into
stones by Mayas
 Polytheism - belief in many
gods
 Mayas created a
365-day calendar
by studying the
night sky
 Maize (corn)
 Studied stars &
planets Terrace
farming
 Inca - quinoa
 The Aeneid –
long poem
written by
Virgil
 Maya stelae - tall
flat stone statues
 Pok-a-tok –
Mayan ball game
Miscellaneous
 Plato,
Aristotle, &
Socrates –
Greek
philosophers
 Parthenon –
temple to
Athena
 Pantheon built
in Rome to
honor Roman
gods (30 B.C.A.D. 124)
 Fall of Western
Roman Empire
- 476 A.D.
 Maya – among
first to
understand
concept of zero.
 Chinampas –
Aztec floating
gardens
 Inca – built
Machu Picchu
in Andes Mts.
 NOW LET’S COMPARE TO MODERN DAY. . .
United States of
America
(A.D. 1776 –
Present)
 Representative form of
government (3 branches)
 President – elected by the
people
 Considered a Republic &
a Democracy
 The Constitution & Bill of
Rights
 All beliefs and religions
represented (1st Amendment
– Freedom of Religion)
 Free K-12 education
provided to all citizens
 “Life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness.”
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
Forms of
Communication:
Texting
Cell phones
Instagram
Facebook
Blogging
Skyping
Twitter
 Automobiles
 Space travel in
1969
 Computers
 Smart phones
 Hybrid & electric
cars
 Internet – 1985
 Football,
baseball,
basketball
 Jazz, hip hop,
rock & roll
 I ♥ Radio fest
 Movies /
Hollywood
 ACL & SXSW
5 Indicators of a Civilization (from presentation):
1. __________________________________________
4. __________________________________________
2. __________________________________________
5. __________________________________________
3. __________________________________________
 Landing on the
moon in 1969
 the Internet in
1985
 First in flight in
1903