Early Societies in Southeast
Asia and the Indo-European
Migrations
Civilization Defined
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Cities/Urban
Political/Military system
Social Hierarchy
Economic/Job Specialization
Complex Religion
Written language
“Higher Culture” – Art & Architecture
Public Works
The Wealth of the Rivers
• Nutrient-rich silt
• Key: irrigation
– Necessity of coordinated efforts (reservoirs,
canals, dikes, dams)
– Promoted development of local governments
– City-states
• Sumer begins small-scale irrigation 6000
BCE
• By 5000 BCE, complex irrigation networks
– Population reaches 100,000 by 3000 BCE
• Attracts Semitic migrants, influences
culture
Sumerian City-States
• Cities appear 4000 BCE
• Dominate region from 3200-2350 BCE
– Ur (home of Abraham, see Genesis 11:28),
Nineveh
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Ziggurat - home of the city god
Divine mandate to Kings
Regulation of Trade
Defense from nomadic marauders
Ziggurat at Ur
 Temple
 “Mountain
of
the Gods”
The Ziggurat of Ur
Example of Defensive Walls
Sumerian Religion Polytheistic
Enki
Innana
Anthropomorphic
Gods
Political Decline of Sumer
• Semitic peoples from northern Mesopotamia
overshadow Sumer
– Sargon of Akkad (2370-2315 BCE)
• Destroyed Sumerian city-states one by one, created
empire based in Akkad
• Empire unable to maintain chronic rebellions
• Hammurabi of Babylon (1792-1750 BCE)
– Improved taxation, legislation
– Used local governors to maintain control of city-states
• Babylonian Empire later destroyed by Hittites
from Anatolia, c. 1595 BCE
Akkadian Empire
Hammurabi
The upper part of the stele
of Hammurabi’s code of
laws
Legal System
• The Code of Hammurabi
• Established high standards of behavior
and stern punishment for violators
– lex talionis – “law of retaliation”
– Social status and punishment
– women as property, but some rights
Hittite Chariot and Soldiers
Later Mesopotamian Empires
• Weakening of central rule an invitation to
foreign invaders
• Assyrians use new iron weaponry
– Beginning 1300 BCE, by 8th-7th centuries BCE
control Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, most
of Egypt
• Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (r. 605-562)
takes advantage of internal dissent to
create Chaldean (New Babylonian) Empire
– Famously luxurious capital
The Hanging Gardens by
Martin Heemskerc, 16th C.
Technological Developments in the
region
• Bronze (copper with tin), c. 4000 BCE
– Military, agricultural applications
• Iron, c. 1000 BCE
– Cheaper than bronze
• Wheel, boats, c. 3500 BCE
• Shipbuilding increases trade networks
Sophisticated Metallurgy Skills
Social Classes
• Ruling classes based often on military prowess
– Originally elected, later hereditary
– Perceived as offspring of gods
• Religious classes
– Role: intervention with gods to ensure fertility, safety
– Considerable landholdings, other economic activities
• Free commoners
– Peasant cultivators
– Some urban professionals
• Slaves
– Prisoners of war, convicted criminals, debtors
Patriarchal Society
• Men as landowners, relationship to status
• Patriarchy: “rule of the father”
– Right to sell wives, children
• Double standard of sexual morality
– Women drowned for adultery
– Relaxed sexual mores for men
• Yet some possibilities of social mobility for
women
– Court advisers, temple priestesses, economic activity
• Introduction of the veil at least c. 1500 BCE
Development of Writing
• Sumerian writing systems form 3500 BCE
• Pictographs
• Cuneiform: “wedge-shaped”
– Preservation of documents on clay
– Declines from 400 BCE with spread of Greek
alphabetic script
Cuneiform: “Wedge-Shaped”
Writing
Cuneiform Writing
Deciphering Cuneiform
Sumerian Scribes
“Tablet House”
Uses for Writing
• Trade
• Astronomy
• Mathematics
– Agricultural applications
• Calculation of time
– 12-month year
– 24-hour day, 60-minute hour
Mesopotamian Literature
• Epic of Gilgamesh, compiled after 2000
BCE
• Heroic saga
• Search for meaning, esp. afterlife
• worldly emphasis
Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh Epic Tablet:
Flood Story
The Early Hebrews
• Patriarchs and Matriarchs from Babylon, c.
1850 BCE
• Parallels between early biblical texts,
Code of Hammurabi
• Early settlement of Canaan (Israel), c.
1300 BCE
– Biblical text: slavery in Egypt, divine
redemption
• On-going conflict with indigenous
populations under King David (1000-970
BCE) and Solomon (970-930 BCE)
David and Goliath by Caravaggio, 1600
Michelangelo's
David
David with the Head of
Goliath,
c. 1450/1455,
Andrea del Castagno
Model of Solomon’s Temple
Moses and Monotheism
• Hebrews shared polytheistic beliefs of
other Mesopotamian civilizations
• Moses introduces monotheism, belief in
single god
– Denies existence of competing parallel deities
– Personal god: reward and punishment for
conformity with revealed law
– The Torah (“doctrine or teaching”)
Foreign conquests of Israel
• Assyrian conquest, 722 BCE
– Conquered the northern kingdom
– Deported many inhabitants to other regions
– Many exiles assimilated and lost their identity
• Babylonian conquest, 586 BCE
– Destroyed Jerusalem
– Forced many into exile
– Israelites maintained their religious identity
and many returned to Judea
The Phoenicians
• City-states along Mediterranean coast
after 3000 BCE
• Extensive maritime trade
– Dominated Mediterranean trade, 1200-800
BCE
• Development of alphabet symbols
– Simpler alternative to cuneiform
– Spread of literacy
Israel and Phoenicia , 1500-600 BCE
Indo-European Migrations
• Common roots of many languages of
Europe, southwest Asia, India
• Implies influence of a single IndoEuropean people
– Probable original homeland: modern-day
Ukraine and Russia, 4500-2500 BCE
• Domestication of horses, use of Sumerian
weaponry allowed them to spread widely
Indo-European Migrations 3000-1000 BCE
Implications of Indo-European
Migration
• Hittites migrate to central Anatolia, c. 1900
BCE, later dominate Babylonia
• Influence on trade
– Horses, chariots with spoked wheels
– Iron
– Migrations to western China, Greece, Italy
also significant
* 551 – 479 B.C.E.
* Born in the feudal
state of Liu.
* Became a teacher
and editor of books.
Li --> Rite, rules, ritual decorum (Binding
force of an enduring stable society)
Ren --> humaneness, benevolence,
humanity
Shu --> Reciprocity, empathy
Do not do unto others what you would
not want others to do unto you.
Yi --> Righteousness
Xiao --> Filial Piety (Respect your elders!)
1. Ruler
Subject
2. Father
Son
3. Husband
Wife
4. Older
Brother
Younger
Brother
5. Older
Friend
Younger
Friend
*
Status
* Age
* Gender
* The single most important Confucian
work.
* In Chinese, it means “conversation.”
* Focus on practicalities of interpersonal
relationships and the relationship of
the role of rulers and ministers to the
conduct of government.
* Knowing what he knows and knowing what he
doesn’t know, is characteristics of the person
who knows.
* Making a mistake and not correcting it, is
making another mistake.
* The superior man blames himself; the
inferior man blames others.
* To go too far is as wrong as to fall short.
* 372 - 289 B.C.E.
* Disciple of Confucius.
* Starts off with the assumption that “people
are basically good.”
* If someone does something bad, education,
not punishment, is the answer.
 Good people will mend their ways in
accordance to their inherent goodness.
* The emperor is the example of
proper behavior --> “big daddy”
* Social relationships are based on
“rites” or “rituals.”
* Even religious rituals are
important for SOCIAL, not
religious reasons, acc. to Confucius.
INDIA
CHINA
1. Brahmin
1. Scholar-Gentry
2. Kshatriyas
2. Peasants
3. Vaishyas
3. Artisans
4. Shudras
4. Merchants
Untouchables
Soldiers
Imperial Nobility
Domestic Slaves
* 280? - 233 B.C.E.
* Han Fe Zi.
* Lived during the
late Warring States
period.
* Legalism became
the political
philosophy of the
Qin [Ch’in] Dynasty.
1. Human nature is naturally selfish.
2. Intellectualism and literacy is
discouraged.
3. Law is the supreme authority and
replaces morality.
4. The ruler must rule with a strong,
punishing hand.
5. War is the means of strengthening
a ruler’s power.
One who favors the principle
that individuals should obey
a powerful authority rather
than exercise individual
freedom.
The ruler, therefore, “cracks
his whip” on the backs of his
subjects!
* Not sure when he
died.
[604 B.C.E. - ?]
* His name means
“Old Master”
* Was he Confucius’
teacher?
* The basic text of Daoism.
* In Chinese, it means The Classic in
the Way and Its Power.
* “Those who speak know nothing:
Those who know are silent.”
These words, I am told,
Were spoken by Laozi.
If we are to believe that Laozi,
Was himself one who knew,
How is it that he wrote a book,
Of five thousand words?
1. Dao [Tao] is the first-cause of the
universe. It is a force that flows through
all life.
2. A believer’s goal is to become one with
Dao; one with nature. [“The butterfly or
the man?” story.]
3. Wu wei --> “Let nature take its course.”
--> “The art of doing nothing.”
--> “Go with the flow!”
4. Man is unhappy because he lives acc. to
man-made laws, customs, & traditions that
are contrary to the ways of nature.
To escape the “social, political, & cultural
traps” of life, one must escape by:
1. Rejecting formal knowledge and
learning.
2. Relying on the senses and instincts.
3. Discovering the nature and
“rhythm” of the universe.
4. Ignoring political and social laws.
* Feminine
* Masculine
* Passive
* Active
* Darkness
* Light
* Cold
* Warmth
* Weak
* Strong
* Earth;
Moon
* Heaven;
Sun
How is a man to live in a world
dominated by chaos, suffering, and
absurdity??
Confucianism --> Moral order in society.
Legalism --> Rule by harsh law & order.
Daoism --> Freedom for individuals and
less govt. to avoid
uniformity and conformity.