Ancient India –
Indus Valley
Study Guide
Why did people of the Indus Valley
choose to settle where they did?
• Great conditions for agriculture!
– fertile soil
– Water source
What is unique about Indus Valley
cities? (Hint** layout description)
• Cities in the Indus Valley were built with
similar layouts
– Straight, wide streets
– Rectangular city blocks for buildings
– Brick buildings
– City fortress
What is a possible explanation for the
disappearance of the Mohenjo-Daro
people?
• Earthquake
• Flood
• Attack from invaders
How were the Aryans able to take
farmland away from native people?
• They were stronger fighters because they had
horses
What is another name for
“Enlightened One”?
Buddha
Who was Zarathustra?
• The creator of Zoroastrianism
• He changed the religious beliefs of the
Persians
Know the difference between the
three religions.
• Hinduism – teaches that people live many
lives until they reach spiritual perfection
• Buddhism – people should seek love, truth,
knowledge, and a calm mind
• Zoroastrianism – life on Earth is a struggle
between the forces of light and the forces of
darkness (two gods – one good, one evil)
Know about different leaders.
• Chandragupta Maurya- cruel and harsh ruler
• Ashoka - Buddhism
• Chandragupta II – enlarged empire, ruled
during the Golden Age
• Cyrus the Great – built the Persian Empire
• Darius – organizer, developed the courier
system
The Golden Age of India Acheivements
• In the lives of People – pony express, sewage
system, arabic numerals, traded West of
Mediterranean
• Literature – wrote folktales (Sinbad the Sailor,
Jack the Giant Killer), holy books( Vedas),
wrote plays and poems (Kalidasa)
• Medicine – way to set broken bones,
inoculation, sterilized tools, dentistry
Caste System
• What was it? – a way to organize social classes
• How did it operate? –born into a caste, could
only marry someone in their caste, couldn’t
become a member of another caste, people
would have the job their parents had, lowest
class called the “untouchables” who couldn’t
allow their shadow to fall on people in other
classes