Download The Early River Civilizations

Unit 1 Chpt 1 The Early River Civilizations Prt 1
I. Early man developed agriculture along 4 major river valleys
A. Rivers flooded spilling silt out along the surrounding land
1. Silt was extremely fertile
2. The silt was easy to farm
B. Rivers provided transportation for trade
C. Rivers provided water for irrigation
II. Mesopotamia (Greek for the Fertile Crescent)
A. Cultures developed along the Tigris-Euphrates River valley
B. The Rivers flooded unpredictably
1. People along the rivers learned to irrigate from the river
2. Created a fertile area in the middle of what other wise was desert
3. Area lacked resources such as stone, iron, tin and copper
4. People in the area trades their excess food for these resources
C. Sumeria-The first major civilization in the area (3000 BC-2300 BC)
1. Developed several city-states
a. the components of a city state
1. A religious center, usually a stepped pyramid called a ziggurat
2. A market for trade
3. A wall to protect the city
4. The farming area around the city
b. city-state usually was governed by a king
1. king had total authority
2. he was the political leader as well as the religious leader (theocracy)
2. Social structure of Sumeria
a. nobles-made up of the ruling class and had special privileges
b. commoners
1. farmers
2. merchants
3. artisans-craftsmen that make things
4. trader
c. slaves
3. innovations of the Sumerians
a. first to develop the wheel
1. used carts and wagons for trade
2. developed war chariots
3. developed the potters wheel
b. devised a number system based on 60
c. first to develop the arch
d. first to develop a form of writing (cuneiform)
1. using a wedge shaped stylus the Sumerians made impressions in clay tablets
2. used for record keeping
3. scribes (those who knew how to read and write cuneiform) became very import
members of the Sumerian society
4. Religion
a. Sumerians were polytheistic (many gods)
b. each city had a patron deity to look after the city
c. Sumerians believed the gods were immortal
5. Literature
a. Sumerian created an epic poem called the Epic of Gilgamesh
b. story is about a legendary king searching for the secret of immortality
D. Akkadia (2340 BC -2100 BC)
1. 2340 BC the king of the city-state of Akkadia, Sargon, conquered the Sumerians
2. Sargon was the first empire builder
E. Babylonians (2100 BC-1750 BC)
1. Hammurabi, king of the city-state of Babylon conquered Akkad and Sumer creating the
Babylonian Empire
2. Hammurabi created a law code for his kingdom called Hammurabi’s code
1. Based on strict punishment (an eye for an eye)
2. the code punished government officials that did not do their jobs
F. Hittites (1600 BC-1200 BC)
1. Invaded out of what is modern day Turkey
2. First people to use iron weapons
3. Where destroyed by the “sea people”
4. With the destruction of the Hittite Empire, Mesopotamia became divided between several
smaller kingdoms
G. Phoenicians (1200 BC)
1. Ocean going traders
2. Founded the city of Carthage in North Africa
3. Developed a alphabet that later would become our modern day alphabet
H. Israelites
1. Descendants of the patriarch Abraham
2. Migrated out of Mesopotamia and settled along the Jordan river in an area called Canaan
3. They were divided into 12 tribes
4. Moved to Egypt to escape drought
a. enslaved by the Egyptians
b. lead out of bondage by Moses
c. made a covenant with God (Yahweh) and accepted his laws (10 Commandments)
5 Resettled in Canaan and defeat the local people that lived in that area
6. All 12 tribes were united under the rule King David
7. Israel continued to prosper under the rule of David successor Solomon
a. Solomon had the Temple built in the capital of Jerusalem
b. the Temple held the Ark of the Covenant, the Menorah and the Trumpets of Gideon
8. After Solomon’s death Israel divided into two kingdoms
a. The Kingdom of Israel, the 10 tribes in the North
1. slowly absorbed by the local kingdom
2. often referred to as the “10 Lost Tribes
b. Kingdom of Judah, the two tribes in the south
1. Conquered by the Chaldeans, Assyrians and Babylonians
2. The period while under the control of Babylon is often referred to as the
Babylonian captivity
9. Judaism
a. monotheistic religion
b. based on a covenant between the people of Israel and God to only worship him
c. Believed in prophets
I. Assyrians (700 BC – 612BC)
1.Using Iron weapons conquered much of Mesopotamia
2. Assyrians had a very organized empire
a. divided into provinces with governor
b. governor answered to the king
c. spies informed the King if the provincial governors were not doing their jobs
3. develop complex system of roads with stations along the way
a. messengers could travel from post to post and get fresh horses
b. the road was patrolled by soldiers and merchants and travelers could safely travel
4. Assyrians treated the people they conquered badly and over thrown
J. Chaldeans (625 BC-539 BC)
1. Assyrians were overthrown by The chief of the Babylonians was Nabopolassar
2. His son Nebuchadnezzar II rebuilt the city of Babylon made it his capital
3. To please his wife, a Persian princess who was home sick< had the famous hanging gardens of
Babylon built
4. The Persians overthrow the Chaldeans in 539 BC
K. Lydians (687 BC-546 BC)
1. Trading people living along the coast of Asia Minor
2. Was the first culture to use coins (money)
3. 550 BC Cyrus the Great of Persia attacked Lydia
a. King Croesus asked the oracle at Delphi what he should do
b. the oracle said that if he fought Persia, a great empire would fall
c. thinking the oracle meant that he would defeat the Persians he attacked Persia and lost
4. In 546 BC Croesus died and the Lydian empire became part of Persia
L. Persia (559 BC to 330 BC)
1. Indo-European group that lived in what is modern day Iran
2. United under the leadership of Cyrus the great the Persians conquer Egypt all the way to Asia
Minor
3. Under the leadership of Darius the Persian came into contact with a group of people called the
Greeks
a. an extended series of war broke between the Greek and the Persians
b. in the 330’s BC Alexander the Great (Greek) conquered the Persians
4. Persian Innovations
a. empire was dived in 20 provinces called satrapies
1. each satrapy was ruled by a satrap
2. the satrap collected taxes, recruits soldiers and ran the province
b. Build an efficient road system with way points which provided food shelter and
protection
c. Created a standing army from across the empire
1. based on a combination of Cavalry and infantry
2. One group of the army was called the immortals
a. elite infantry force that numbered in the thousands
b. when one died another simply took his place in the ranks
5. Zoroastrianism
a. monotheistic religion founded by the Persian Zoroaster
b. Based on supreme god called Ahuramazda
c. Ahuramazda is a good god and he in a battle with an evil god called Ahriman
d. this a battle between good and evil and humans play a part in this battle
e. humans have the choice to pick between good and evil
f. in the end, Ahuramazda, good will win out over evil
g. Zoroastrianism is the basis for Judaism, Christianity and Islam
II. Egypt
A. Located along the Nile River
1. flooded on a regular and predictable time table
2. The sections of the Nile river divided Egypt into 2 sections
a. The area around the Nile Delta was called Lower Nile
b. the area along the southern end of the river is called the Upper Nile
B. In 3100 BC the king of the Lower Nile named Menes united the two sections into one kingdom
1. his rule began the first dynasty of Egypt
2. this early period was called the Old Kingdom
C. The Old Kingdom
1. The king of Egypt was called a Pharaoh and was considered a living god
2. Mummification developed during the Old Kingdom
3. Pyramid building began during the old kingdom
4. In 2400 BC King Khufu built the Great Pyramid on the plain of Giza
a. took 20 years to complete
b. until the mid 1800’s, it was the tallest build created by man
5. Later under the reign of Khafre, Khufu’s son, the Great Sphinx was built
6. Around 2150 BC the Old Kingdom collapsed on over a century of chaos reigned through
Egypt
D. The Middle Kingdom
1. Around 2055 BC a new series of strong Pharaohs gained control of Egypt
2. For the next 400 years Egypt expanded south into Africa and invaded Palestine and Syria
3. The Egyptians built the Great Canal connecting the Nile with the Red Sea
4. In 1650 BC Egypt was invaded by a warrior people called the Hyksos ending the Middle
Kingdom
a. the Hyksos bronze weapons were superior to the copper weapons of the Egyptians
b. the Hyksos also used war chariots and were an extremely mobile army
E. The New Kingdom
1. 1550 BC a new dynasty of Pharaohs drove the Hyksos out of Egypt creating the New
Kingdom
2. Using the new weapons adopted from the Hyksos the Egyptians conquered into southeast Asia
3. Hatshepsut became the first female pharaoh and built a huge temple in here honor near Thebes
4. In 1364 BC Amenhotep IV tried to change the polytheistic religion of the Egyptians to a
monotheistic religion
a. He wanted to Egypt to worship the sun god Aten
b. He moved the Egyptian capital to Arman
c. many Egyptians were upset with these changes (especially the priests)
d. When Amenhotep died in 1647 BC his son, Tutankhamen became Pharaoh
1. Tutankhamen re-established the old polytheistic religion
2. He moved the Capital back to Thebes
3. Tutankhamen dies at a young age and is forgotten to history until Howard
Carter discovers his tomb in the early 1900’s
5. Under Ramses II Egypt continued to expand and add large portions of territory in the Middle
East to its’ kingdom
6. In 1200 BC a group called the “sea people” invade Egypt and ended the Egyptian empire
7. By 1070 BC the New Kingdom ended and fro the next 1000 years Egypt was conquered and
controlled by different groups including the Nubians, Persians, Libyans, Greeks and
finally the Roman
F. Egyptian Society consisted of 3 classes
1. Upper class
a. the pharaoh and his family
b. a group of nobles
1. they acted as government officials
2. they managed the provinces
3. owned LARGE tracts of land
c. priests
2. Middle Class
a. artisans
b. merchants
c. scribes
3. Peasants
a. owned small tracts of land
b. many worked the large estates of the nobles
c. worked on building projects for the Pharaoh
G. Technological advances of the Egyptians
1. Hieroglyphics
a. system of picture writing
b. was not deciphered until the 1800’s with the discovery of the Rosetta Stone
2. Hieratic Script
a. simplified version of hieroglyphics
b. uses lines, dashes and brush strokes to represent the more formalized pictures of
hieroglyphics
c. used for record keeping and business
3. Became great builders
4. developed mummification
5. developed the concepts of geometry
6. developed a very accurate 365 day calendar
7. studies the stars, astronomy