Download In Depth: The Idea of Civilization in World History Perspective

In Depth: The Idea of Civilization in World History Perspective
A. Differences between civilized and barbaric/savages long held
i. Chinese – cultural, not biological or racial – could adapt
ii. American Indians – feared Chichimecs – sons of the dog
iii. Related to fear of invasion/outsiders common
b. Civilis – of the citizens – Latin
i. Rome – urban dwellers vs. forest/desert dwellers
ii. Greece – bar, bar – barbarians
c. Historians initially – cultural differences, then 19th century racial differences
i. Some races more inventive, moral, courageous, artistic
1. Savage to civilized – white,yellow, red, brown, black
2. Social Darwinism – historiography
3. Justified European expansion – White Man’s Burden
4. Ethnocentrism
d. Other approach – civilization just one form of social organization
i. All societies produce cultures, though might lack food
surplus/specialization
ii. All peoples capable – but lack resources, historical circumstances, desire
B. Tigris-Euphrates Civilization
a. Precedents
i. Writing
ii. Law codes
iii. City planning/architecture
iv. Trade institutions & money
b. Mesopotamia – land between two rivers
i. One of 3 civilizations from scratch – Central America, China,
Mesopotamia
ii. Farming required irrigation
iii. Sumerians 3500 BCE
1. Cuneiform – scribes
2. Sumerian art – frescoes for temples
3. Science – astronomy – calendar/forecasts – aided agriculture
a. Charts of constellations
4. Ziggurats – first monumental architecture
5. Role of geography
a. Swift and unpredictable floods – religious
b. Polytheism – punishment of humans through floods – Noah
c. Gloomy – punishment in afterlife – hell
d. Easy to invade – constant war
6. City-states – king w/ divine authority
a. Regulate religion
b. Court system for justice
c. Land worked by slaves – warfare created labor surplus
7. Inventions – wheeled carts, fertilizer, silver money
iv. Babylonians
1. Hammurabi – first codified law
a. Procedure for courts
b. Property rights
c. Harsh punishments
v. Indo-European invasions from North
1. Adopted culture
C. Egyptian Civilization
i. Benefited from trade/technology of Mesopotamia
ii. Geographic factors
1. Difficult to invade
2. Regular flooding cycle
iii. Economy – government directed vs. Mesopotamia – freedom
iv. Pharoahs – godlike – tombs – pyramids
v. Interactions with Kush to the South
vi. Egyptian art – lively, cheerful, colorful – positive afterlife – surrounded by
beauty
vii. Architecture influenced later Mediterranean
D. Indian and Chinese River Valley Civilizations
i. Indus River – Harappa/Mohenjo Daro
1. Unique alphabet/art
a. Harappan alphabet not deciphered
2. Invasion plus invasion by Indo-Europeans – difficult to understand
culture
ii. Huanghe (Yellow River)
1. Isolated, little overland trading
2. History part fact/fiction
3. State organized irrigation
4. Elaborate intellectual life
a. Writing – knotted ropes, scratches of lines, ideographic
symbols
b. Delicate art, musical interest
c. Limited materials – basic housing
E. Heritage of the River Valley Civilizations
i. Accomplishments
1. Monuments
2. Wheel
3. Taming of horse
4. Square roots
5. Monarchies/bureaucracies
6. Calendars/time
7. Major alphabets
ii. How much are these civilizations “origin” of today
1. Except for China, all have a break from past
2. Roman empire – god-like king
3. Slavery
4. Scientific achievements – Greeks studied Egyptians
iii. East vs. West
1. Mesopotamians – gap between humankind and nature
2. China – basic harmony all live together
3. Temple building, art, architecture – Mesopotamia to Middle
East/Greece
4. Mesopotamia – regional cultures created that could survive
invasion
a. Phoenicians – 22 letter alphabet
i. Colonized – simplified number system
b. Jews – morally/ethically based monotheistic religion
i. Semitic people – small, relatively weak – only
autonomous when region was in chaos
ii. Believed god- Jehovah – guided destinies of people
1. Orderly, just – not whimsical
iii. Created moral code
iv. Religion basis for Christianity/Islam
v. God’s compact with Jews
1. Little conversion
2. Minority position in Middle East
F. The First Civilizations
a. Clear division between river valley civilizations and
classical civilizations
i. Invasion/natural calamities – India
ii. Invasion/political decline – Egypt
iii. Mesopotamia – break but bridges – smaller cultures
1. Values and institutions spread
b. Theme emerges – “Steadily proliferating contacts against a
background of often fierce local identity”
c. Integrating force
i. Local autonomy lessens – priests/kings increase
power
d. Four centers of civilization started
e. Close neighbors – Egypt/Mesopotamia – different politics,
art, beliefs on death
f. Diversity and civilization worked together