Download Ancient Civilizations

Ancient Civilizations
Mesopotamia
• Mesopotamia means “land between the rivers”
• People began farming
around 4500 BCE
• Problems:
– Flooding, drought,
lack of natural barriers,
and limited natural
resources
Advanced Cities
• Includes some of the earliest known cities: Ur,
Uruk, and Kish
• Built City-States (Ur, Uruk, Eridu)
– Functioned like a country and ruled the
surrounding land
• At heart of the city were walled temples called
Ziggurats
Specialized Workers
• Beginning of Social Class
– Priests and Ruling class at top
• Gender inequality becomes prevalent
• Society has slaves and artisans
– Most citizens were farmers or craftsmen
– Slaves were those that owed debts or P.O.W.’s
Complex Institutions
• Priests and Kings shared control
• Kings were representatives of gods
• Military commanders took control during
war
– Would eventually take full control
• Complex legal system
– Hammurabi’s Code
Record Keeping
• Used Cuneiform
– 1st system of writing
– Pictographs
– Wrote on clay tablets
– Wrote down myths and legends
• Epic of Gilgamesh
Advanced Technology
• Built irrigation ditches and walled cities
• Architectural firsts
– Arches, sundial, wheel, bronze
• Arithmetic and geometry
• Modern units of time
Ancient Egypt
• Yearly flooding brought water and silt to the
banks of the Nile
– Fertile soil and irrigation canals helped support
large population
– Gift of the Nile
The Nile
 The longest river in the
world  flows north
 Flood Cycle  July to
October
 Greek historian,
Herodotus refers to it as,
“the gift of the Nile”
 Farmers depend on rich
black silt to grow crops
The Annual Flooding of the Nile
Advanced Cities
• Built Pyramids for their rulers
– Resting place for their Ka or eternal life force
• Built dikes to control the Nile’s flooding
• Built great temples
• Major trading centers
Egyptian Society
 Egyptian Society formed a social pyramid
 Egyptians not locked in their social classes = social
mobility
- gain status through marriage
- success in jobs
- slaves could earn freedom  service
 Education important in improving status
 Women held many rights
- could propose marriage or seek divorce
Specialized Workers
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Pharaoh = “god-king”
Priests = Viziers
Warriors
Farmers
Merchants
Artisans
Slaves
Women held many of
the same rights as men
Complex Institutions
• Theocracy: Government based around religion
= God-Kings called Pharaohs
– Different than Mesopotamian Kings.. But how?
• Pharaohs cause sun to rise, Nile to flood, crops to grow
• Polytheistic: Worshipped many Gods.
• Book of the Dead = spells to help the soul
navigate the afterlife
Record Keeping and Writing
• Hieroglyphics: Pictures stood for ideas (pictographs)
– Book of the Dead: Scrolls that guided the ceremony for burial and
afterlife
– Wrote on papyrus
– Rosetta Stone
• Helped decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs
Hieroglyphics “Alphabet”
24 “letters” + 700 phonetic symbols
Book of the Dead and Cartouche
Advanced Technology
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Pyramid Building
Calendar for planting
System of numbers
Geometry and architectural knowledge
Medicine
– Splints, surgery
– Mummification
Hatshepsut
King Tut
Ramses II
Indus Valley Civilization
• Himalayas provide
natural barrier against
invaders
• Fertile soil along Indus
River
• Monsoons bring Dry
and Wet seasons
– Oct. – May is Dry
– June – Sept. is Wet
Advanced Cities
• Built levees to keep out water
– Human-made islands
• City planning based on a grid system
• Used oven baked bricks
Specialized Workers
• Social Divisions weren’t
widely present
• Craftsmen created toys,
jewelry, and cloth
• Merchants traded with far
away people including
Egyptians and
Mesopotamians
Complex Institutions
• Religion played a key part
in society
– Theocracy
• Economy is built on trade
Record Keeping and Writing
• Language has
not been
translated
– No bilingual
inscriptions
• More than
400 symbols
Advanced Technology
• Built a complex plumbing network to rid the
city of waste
• Central Bath complex
• Shipbuilding for trade
Ancient China
• Natural Barriers include the Taklimakan Desert,
Gobi Desert, Himalayas
• Settled along the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers
– Fertile soil between the rivers encouraged settlement
– Only 10% of China is suitable farmland
Advanced Cities
• Built their cities with the use of wood
• Created massive earthen walls for protection
from outsiders
– 118 ft wide and encircled 1.2 sq miles
Specialized Workers
• Feudalism: Nobles and peasants
– Much like medieval Europe
– Peasants worked the land that was owned by
nobles
• Professional warriors
• Skilled artisans
Complex Institutions
• Religion played a key part in everyday life
• Spirits could be helpful or troublesome
– Polytheistic but had a supreme God, Shang Di
• Mandate of Heaven (Divine approval)
– Leader leads by ability and virtue
– Justified by succeeding generations
– Could be revoked by neglect or abuse
Mandate of Heaven/Dynastic Cycle
Record Keeping and Writing
• Oracle Bones: bones on which priests
scratched questions for the Gods
• Each character stands for a unit of language
• Ability to speak differently but write the same
– United the Empire
• Large number of characters
– 1,500 to be literate
Advanced Technology
• Roads and canals for
trade and agriculture
• First use of Bronze
• First to use coined money
– As well as paper money
• Associated with invention
of wheeled vehicles,
pottery, armor, and silkmaking