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Goal 2
Early Empires
The First Empires
• Between 3000 and 2000 BC, there were several
city states in Sumer and they were almost
always at war with each other.
• In 2350 BC a conqueror names Sargon defeated
the city state states of Sumer.
• By taking control of all the city-states, Sargon
had created the worlds first empire.
• An Empire is when several independent states
are under the control of one ruler.
Early River Valley Civilizations
• Mesopotamia means “land between the rivers”
It is the area where the civilization of Sumer
was.
• Mesopotamia is between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers.
• This area is known as the Fertile Crescent
because it created large harvest of food.
• To provide water, the citizens dug irrigation
ditches to carry water from the rivers to the
city.
• For defense they built city walls with mud and
bricks.
• They traded their hand made goods for raw
materials with people in the mountain regions
• By 2500 BC new cities were arising all along
the Fertile Crescent and the Sumerian culture
was spreading.
• 500 years after Sargon had united the citystates into an empire, a group of nomadic
warriors known as the Amorites took over the
Empire.
• Sumer became known as the Babylonian
Empire. Its most famous ruler was King
Hammurabi
• Hammurabi is most famous for having the first
set of written laws. The law code was carved
in stone and placed around the empire.
• About 200 hundred years after the Babylonian
Empire fell, another empire was forming on
the Nile River
Hammurabi’s Law Code
Ancient Egypt
• The Egyptian Empire started like the Sumer with
many different villages. By 3200 BC, the villages
became 2 separate kingdoms.
• The Egyptian Kingdoms formed along the Nile
River. The Nile was much more dependable than
the Rivers of Mesopotamia.
• Eventually Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt united
to form an Empire that would last for about
3000 years.
• In Mesopotamia the Kings were considered
representatives of the gods but in Egypt the
were gods.
• The Egyptian God Kings were called Pharaohs.
They were the head of religion and the
government.
• This type of government is called a Theocracy.
• They believed their kings ruled even after
their death and had eternal life, therefore
their tombs were very important.
• The final resting place, or tomb for the
Pharaohs were called Pyramids.
• The Egyptians were polytheistic and had more
than 2000 gods. The main god was Re, the
sun god.
• Egyptians believed in an afterlife. To make
sure that their bodies reached the other world
they preserved the body by mummification
• They developed a system of writing known as
Hieroglyphics.
• At first they wrote on stone and clay but
eventually they developed papyrus reeds
which was like paper.
• Egyptians also developed a calendar with 365
days and 12 months.
• They Egyptians did have social classes and
slavery, but people could move from one
social class to another with hard work.
Assignment # 1
• Use the chart on the next screen
to write your name in
Hieroglyphics
Assignment #2
• In the World History text book, answer
questions 1 – 5 on page 41 about ancient
Egypt.
• Put your answers on the same paper as your
name in hieroglyphics and turn it in at the end
of class.
Indus Valley Civilizations
• While Egyptians were building the Pyramids,
bricks were being laid for India’s first cities.
• Civilizations in the Indus Valley started about
2500 BC, however less is known about it than
Mesopotamia and Egypt because the language
has not been translated.
• This civilization first formed along the Indus
River and took up a larger area than Egypt and
Mesopotamia.
• One of the biggest achievements of the Indus
Valley people were their well planned cities.
• They built strong levees to keep water out,
man made islands to raise the cities above
flood waters
• While the cities in other civilizations were a
jumble buildings and winding streets, the
Indus cities were on a grid system.
• Houses featured bathrooms with plumbing.
Waste water ran through the streets in
drainage ditches and then into sewage pits.
• There were not great social differences and
few weapons were found which suggest that
they were mostly peaceful.
• Around 1750 BC the Indus cities declined. It is
believed that earthquakes and floods caused
this decline along with droughts possibly
invaders.
River Dynasties in China
• About 1,000 years after the civilizations of
Mesopotamia, Egypt and India started, China’s
first cities started.
• Unlike the others, these civilizations still thrive
today.
• The river that China’s first cities formed along
was the Huang He, also known as the yellow
river.
• About the time the other major civilizations
were falling to invaders, a group of people
known as the Shang rose to power in China.
• The Shang were the first to leave written
records and lasted from 1700 BC to 1027 BC.
• They built many elaborate palaces and tombs,
but unlike other civilizations they built their
cities mainly of wood.
• Each city was surrounded by walls of earth
118 ft. wide circling an area 1.2 sq. miles.
• In the ancient Chinese culture, marriages were
arranged for girls when they were between 13
and 16 years old.
• The Shang society was divided into 2 main
social classes. Nobles and Peasants. The
nobles on the land and lived inside the walls.
• The main god was Shang Di. To consult with
him, kings used oracle bones.
• In Chinese writing each character was a
symbol. There was no links between the
spoken language and the written.
• A person needed to know 1500 symbols to be
barely literate.
• Around 1027 BC people called the Zhou
overthrew the Shang and started a new dynasty.
• They claimed that the gods told them to do this.
This is called a Mandate from Heaven
• While they kept many parts of the Shang culture
they also brought new ideas and inventions
• Under the Zhou many roads and canals were
built and the first coined money was made.
Assignment
• Get a world History book and answer
questions 9 – 17 on page 56.
• You do not need to write the questions.
Pyramid Foldable
• You will each make a pyramid with 3 sides.
• For the outside choose 3 out of the 4 river
valley civilizations that we talked about this
chapter and decorate one side for each one
• On the inside, give detailed information about
the civilizations that are on the outside of the
pyramid.
• Include information about geography, culture,
religion and time period.
• This will count as a project grade so make it
neat, colorful and full of information.