Download Human Origins

Human Origins
Who Found Early People?
• Archaeologists = excavate and study traces of early settlements
• Analyze artifacts (jewelry, tools, and other human-made objects)
• Anthropologists = study culture
• What is culture?
• Re-create picture of every day life
• Paleontologists = study fossils
Common Practices
Shared Understandings
Social Organization
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What people eat
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Language
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Family
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Clothing
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Symbols
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Caste/Class Structure
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Sports
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Religious Beliefs
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Relationship between
individual and community
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Tools/Technology
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Values
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Government
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Economic System
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View of Authority
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Social Customs
Work
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The Arts
Political Beliefs
And They Were Discovered
• Mary Leakey
• Archaeologist who found prehistoric footprints that resembled modern day
human tracks
• Found in Tanzania
• Created by australopithecines (walked upright -> aka hominid)
• Why is walking upright important?
• Donald Johanson
• Anthropologist who found a complete skeleton of an adult female hominid
(named it Lucy) in Ethiopia
• Oldest hominid found to date
• Hominids had opposing thumbs (why is this important)
The Stone Age
• Invention of tools, fire, development of language, etc.
• Broken up into two stages
• Paleolithic Age
• Earlier stage of the Stone Age (lasted the longest)
• Neolithic Age
• Latter stage -> learned to polish tools, make pottery, grow crops, raise
animals, etc.
Hominid Development
• Homo Habilis (man of skill/handy man)
• Made tools of lava rock
• Homo Erectus (upright man)
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Used intelligence to develop technology
Became skillful hunters
Invented tools for digging, cutting, etc.
First to use fire (uses?)
Development of language
• Hunting, naming objects, exchanged ideas, etc.
Hominid Development
• Homo Sapiens (wise man)
• Modern humans
• Larger brains then homo erectus
• Neanderthals
• Powerfully built people with slanted brows and thick bones
• Developed religious beliefs/performed rituals (funerals)
• Held belief there was a world beyond the grave
• Cro-Magnons
• Identical to modern humans
• Planned hunts (studied animal behavior)
• Advanced spoken language
Achievements in Art and
Technology
• Early humans
• Less focus on survival
• Began to focus on art and inventing
• Many early humans were nomads
• Searching for what?
• Hunting and gathering
• Developed tools like spears and digging sticks
• Also used tools
Paleolithic Art
• Created necklaces, polished beads, and small sculptures
• Cave paintings
• What where they?
Neolithic Revolution
• “Agricultural revolution”
• Change in climate (rising temps)
• Rich supply of grain
• Steady food source
• Slash and burn farming
• Domestication
Growth of Villages
• Farming villages
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Africa (Nile River Valley)
China (Chang Jiang River Delta)
Mexico/ Central America
Peru
Catal Huyuk
• Fertile plain in Turkey
• Produced wheat, barley, and peas
• Raised sheep and cattle
• Known for obsidian based artifacts
• Religious shrines were dedicated to a mother goddess (controlled
grain supply)
• Floods, fire, drought, disease, and possible attack posed problems
Ur in Sumer
Villages Grow Into Cities
• What led to the growth of villages?
• Began to build elaborate irrigation systems
• Created food surplus
• Allowed branching out of jobs (pottery, metal objects, and woven cloth)
• Trade begins to flourish
• The sail and the wheel
Social Changes
• Increased need for labor on certain jobs
• Formation of social classes
• More organized religion
• Change in beliefs
• Began to believe in gods that would control agriculture
What is Civilization?
• Complex culture with 5 characteristics
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Advanced cities
Specialized workers
Complex institutions
Record keeping
Advanced technology
Advanced Cities
• Large group of people living together
• Center for a larger area
• Depended on trade
• City was hub for this
Specialized Workers
• Branching out to other occupations
• Specialization
• Some became artisans
• Skilled workers who make goods by hand
• Helped cities become center for trade
Complex Institutions
• Gov’t becomes necessary
• Maintain order and establish laws
• Institution
• A long-lasting pattern of organization in a community
• Religion becomes institution
• Temples become center of religion, gov’t, and economy
Record Keeping
• Gov’t officials would
• Document tax collections
• Passage of laws
• Storage of grain
• Merchants would
• Record debts and payments
• Sumerian scribes invent Cuneiform
• Stylus (Reed) and moist clay
• Beginning of Sumer = beginning of written history
Advanced Technology
• Farmers begin to use power of animal and nature
• Plowing the ground
• Irrigation systems
• Artists
• Invent the potter’s wheel
• Made bronze from copper and tin (Bronze Age)
“Ur”
• One of earliest cities in Sumer
• Along Euphrates River (Iraq)
• Had advanced agriculture
• Like?
• People live in small one-story houses
• Artisans begin to work full time
• Why is this important?
Trade and Religion
• Had a market place
• Buy things with grain, barley, etc. (Barter system)
• Had Ziggurats
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Huge temples surrounded by wall
Conduct rituals to worship the cities gods
Sacrifices are sometimes made
Storage area for food surplus, fabrics, and gems
Mesopotamia
Geography
• Desert Between Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea in S.W. Asia
• Fertile Crescent – land in this area that provides for some of S.W. Asia’s best
farming
• Fertile Plains (Eastern) – Tigris / Euphrates Rivers
• Mesopotamia = between rivers
• Rivers flooded Mesopotamia – left silt behind
• Wheat / barley = growth of villages
Environmental Challenges
• First famers in S. Meso.
• Sumerians (3500 BC) arrive
• Good soil attracted settlers
• 3 Disadvantages
• Unpredictable flooding + little / no rainfall
• Small region + a lot of people = defenseless
• Limited natural resources
Overcoming Challenges
• Irrigation ditches
• Built city walls
• Traded with mountain people
• Required organization, cooperation, leadership
• Laws to decide distribution of land and water
• Beginning of organized gov’t
City States
• Advanced cities
• Specialized workers
• Complex institutions
• Record keeping
• Advanced technology
• Each city developed its own gov’t (with own rulers) = city state
Characteristics
• Gov’t controlled by priests
• Middle man to Gods
• Ziggurat used for many purposes
• Demanded % of crops
• War = elected commander
• Sometimes became Monarch after
• Passed power to kin
• Multiple family rulers = dynasty
• Grew prosperous from surplus of crops
• Long distance trade (including new ideas/religion) also known as cultural
diffusion
Sumerian Culture
• Religion
• Polytheistic (3,000 + gods)
• Gods had human qualities (humans were servants)
• Sacrifice to keep gods happy
• Life
• Priest/Kings = highest power, then wealth merchants, then slaves
• Women – could pursue most occupations, hold property, join lower
ranks of priesthood
• Could not attend upper class schools
• Science/Technology
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Invented the wheel, sail, plow
1st to use Bronze and developed writing system (cuneiform)
Arithmetic and Geometry , number system in base 60 (minute/circle)
Arches, columns, ramps, pyramid-shape designs
First Empire Builders
• Sumerian city-states constantly at war with each other
• Sargon of Akkad (Akkadians)
• Defeated Sumer
• World’s 1st Empire (What is an empire)
• Collapse due to internal fighting, invasions, and severe famine
Babylonian Empire
• Nomadic warriors (Amorites) invaded Mesopotamia
• Took control – established capital of Babylon
• Reached peak during reign of Hammurabi
• Code/Laws (Hammurabi’s Code)
• Would unify diverse people
• Engraved in stone
• 282 specific laws
• 2 centuries after Hammurabi – empire fell to nomadic warriors
Indus Civilizations
Geography of South Asia
• Mountains – Hindu Kush, Karakorum, Himalayas
• Creates subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh)
• Indus and Ganges Rivers
• Indus Ganges Plain (Around rivers)
• Deccan – narrow border of lush tropical land in southern India
• Monsoons
Challenges
• Unpredictable floods and change of river course
• Monsoons brought wet/dry seasons
Emergence of Civilization
• Writing has not been deciphered
• Area larger than Mesopotamia and Egypt
• Not sure where people came from
• Arrived by sea from Africa?
• Passed through Khyber Pass in Hindu Kush mountains?
• Built pyramids in their cities
• Sophisticated city planning (buildings/streets)
• Precise grid system, fortified Citadels, residential areas
• Plumbing and sewage systems
• Strong central government
Culture/Trade
• No major social divisions
• Prosperous society (clay/wooden toys)
• Nonessential items
• Little warfare
• Shiva (major Indian God)
• Mother goddess, fertility images, worship of cattle
• Long distance trade
• Traded with the Sumerian civilization
End to the Indus Civilization
• Quality of building decreased
• Cities began to fall
• Indus River changed course?
• Overused the land
• Major catastrophe?
• Unburied bodies (attack, natural disaster?)
• Aryans?
Indus Civilizations
Geography of South Asia
• Mountains – Hindu Kush, Karakorum, Himalayas
• Creates subcontinent (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh)
• Indus and Ganges Rivers
• Indus Ganges Plain (Around rivers)
• Deccan – narrow border of lush tropical land in southern India
• Monsoons
Challenges
• Unpredictable floods and change of river course
• Monsoons brought wet/dry seasons
Emergence of Civilization
• Writing has not been deciphered
• Area larger than Mesopotamia and Egypt
• Not sure where people came from
• Arrived by sea from Africa?
• Passed through Khyber Pass in Hindu Kush mountains?
• Built pyramids in their cities
• Sophisticated city planning (buildings/streets)
• Precise grid system, fortified Citadels, residential areas
• Plumbing and sewage systems
• Strong central government
Culture/Trade
• No major social divisions
• Prosperous society (clay/wooden toys)
• Nonessential items
• Little warfare
• Shiva (major Indian God)
• Mother goddess, fertility images, worship of cattle
• Long distance trade
• Traded with the Sumerian civilization
End to the Indus Civilization
• Quality of building decreased
• Cities began to fall
• Indus River changed course?
• Overused the land
• Major catastrophe?
• Unburied bodies (attack, natural disaster?)
• Aryans?
River Dynasties in China
Geography
• Natural barriers
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Pacific Ocean (East)
Taklimakan Desert + Plateau of Tibet (West)
Himalaya Mountains (Southwest)
Gobi Desert + Mongolian Plateau (North)
• 2 Rivers run through this area
• Huang He + Yangtze
• Mountain ranges + deserts = 2/3 of China’s land
• 90% of remaining farmable land is between Huang He + Yangtze
Rivers
• Chinese thought people living elsewhere were “barbarians”
• Thought China was center of civilized world
Challenges
• Huang He provided yellowish silt (loess)
• Good and bad
• Earned nickname “China’s Sorrow” (Killed 1 Mil + people)
• Flooding of whole villages
• Isolation caused less dependence on trade
• Did not completely protect them from invasion
Civilizations Emerge
• No written records from this time = unknown events (educated
guess)
• China’s first dynasty = Xia Dynasty
• Led by Yu -> developed flood-control and irrigation projects
• Shang Dynasty = 1st family to leave written records
• Built elaborate palaces and tombs
Early Cities
• Anyang = one of oldest and most important
• Built mainly of wood
• Upper class lived within city walls / lower did not
• Constantly at war
• Chariot becomes major war time tool
• Dynasty ruled by warrior-nobles
• Peasants = lowest class
• Had limited farming tools
• Bronze was too “precious” for tools
Origins of Chinese Culture
• Group > Individual
• Lives based to serve family + king/emperor
• Respect for one’s parents = most important virtue
• Men controlled property and decision making
• Women seen as inferior
• Girls (13 – 16) had arranged marriage
• Improved status by bearing children
Religious Beliefs
• Believed spirits of family had the power to bring good fortune or
disaster
• Made sacrifices to honor dead relatives
• Conversed with Gods through dead relatives
• Made contact through oracle bones
• Inscribed questions in bones
• Cracked the bone and interpreted what they saw
Development of Writing
• Each character in the language stands for an idea not a sound
• No connection between written and spoken language
• Chinese unified under one system of writing
• Disadvantage = had to memorize a lot of symbols
• 10k + to be true scholar
Zhou People
• Overthrew Shang dynasty around 1027 B.C.
• Adopted much of Shang culture
• Mandate of Heaven
• Ruler of Shang dynasty was so terrible, Gods had taken it away and given it to
the Zhou People
Feudalism
• Political system in which nobles, or lords, are granted the use of lands
that legally belong to the king
• In return nobles owed loyalty and military service to the king and
protection to the people who lived on their estates
Technology and Trade
• Zhou built roads and canals to supply the large growing cities
• Introduced coin money
• Civil servant class emerged = ran daily operations of city
• Use of iron for weapons and agricultural tools
Pyramids on the Nile
• Egyptian geography
• Nile River (longest in world)
• Flooding- fertile black mud
• Wheat and barley – irrigation
Upper/Lower Egypt
• Domain ended at cataracts
• Riverboats could not pass
• Upper Egypt (South)
• Lower Egypt (North)
• Nile provided transportation
• Environmental Challenges
• Nile low = crops and growing decreased
• Nile high = flooding villages
• Desert = protection and segragation
Kingdom
• Menes united Egypt
• Kings = gods aka Pharaohs
• Theocracy – Pharaoh headed religion, gov’t, and army
• King’s ruled after death (ka = external spirit)
• Pyramids = kings resting place (bigger than palace)
• Massive public works programs, great gov’t and leadership from Pharaoh
Egyptian Culture
• Religion / Life
• Polytheistic
• Ra = Sun god, Horus = god of light, Isis = ideal mother/wife, Osiris = god of death
• Life after death
• Heart weighed less than feather
• Mummification, Coffin inside tomb, personal items
Egyptian Society
King, Queen, Royal Family
Wealthy Land Owners, Gov’t Officials, Priests, Army Commanders
Middle Class (Merchants, Artisans)
Lower Class (Peasant Farmers, Unskilled Laborers)
****Could gain higher status through marriage or success in their jobs ****
- Highest service (Must be able to read and write)
Egyptian Writing / Technology
• Crude pictographs
• Developed into Hieroglyphics
• Papyrus = Reeds that grew in marshy delta
• Split, dampened, pressed, repeat
• Number system for collecting taxes
• Geometry for property and flood surveying
• Calendar
• 365 days, 12 months, 30 days in a month , 5 days for holidays and feasting
• Knew how to check for heartbeat, splint broken bones, surgery
Invasion
• End of Old Kingdom after Pharaohs lost power
• Weakness and turmoil
• Strong Pharaohs regained control during Middle Kingdom (restored
law and order)
• Invaded by the Hyksos (Asian nomads)
• Egypt fell to Hyksos
Seafaring Traders Extend
Boundaries
Minoans Trade Far and Wide
• Minoans
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Dominated trade in eastern Mediterranean
Lived in Crete (large island on edge of Aegean Sea)
Known for pottery, swords, figurines, etc.
Exported art and culture
• Unique architectural style, burial customs, religious ritual
Minoan Civilization
• Knossos = Minoan capital city
• No fortifications = peaceful
• Named civilization Minoa after King Minos
• Kept half human half bull or Minotaur according to legend in a labyrinth or
maze that no one could escape
Culture
• Found colorful painted walls, wall paintings, and vases
• Show Minoans were graceful and artistic
• Enjoyed sports such as boxing, wrestling, and bull-leaping
• Women had role in religious ceremonies
• Higher rank than other cultures
• Sacrificed bulls and other animals (sometimes people)
End to Minoan Civilization
• Unclear reasons of why it ended
• Natural Disaster? Overpopulated? Invaders?
• Survived disasters previously
• 1470 B.C. earthquakes and volcanic eruption
• Could not rebuild city after this but lasted another 300 years
• Greek invaders may have taken advantage of this
Phoenicians Civilization and Trade
• Most powerful traders
• Mainly in area of Lebanon
• Number of city states along Mediterranean
• Sometimes competed with each other
• Remarkable shipbuilders and seafarers
Phoenician Cities
• Most important were Sidon and Tyre
• Known for production of purple dye(Berytus) and trading center for papyrus
(Byblos)
• Cities spread out about 30 miles apart
• Distance the normal ship could sail in a day
• Greatest colony was Carthage (N. Africa)
The Alphabet
• Needed way to record transactions clearly and quickly
• Symbols that represented sounds and was phonetic (one sign used
for one sound)
• Introduced writing system to trading partners
Takeover
• Assyrians captured eastern cities – ending trade to these parts
• Later came under control of the Babylonians
• Eventually became part of the Persian Empire
Egypt and Nubia Collide
New Kingdom of Egypt
• War and violence after Middle Kingdom
• Succeeded by weak pharaohs and power struggles among rival nobles
• Invaded and destroyed by Hyksos
• Queen Ahhotep – helped drive out Hyksos
• Kahmose – won victory over the Hyksos
• Successor drove them out of Egypt completely
• Pharaohs of New Kingdom sought to strengthen Egypt by building an
empire
• Wealthier and more powerful than ever
Empire Builders
• Became conquerors – bronze weapons and two-wheeled chariots
• Army included archers, charioteers, and infantry
• Hatshepsut (Woman Pharaoh)
• Her stepson (Thutmose III)was a young child at the time
• Encouraged trade instead of war
Thutmose III
• more warlike than his stepmother
• Possibly murdered his stepmother
• Led numerous victorious invasions into Palestine and Syria
• Egyptian armies pushed farther into Nubia (region of Africa that
straddled the upper Nile River)
• Returned to Egypt carrying gold,cattle, ivory, and slaves
Egyptians and Hittites
• Came into conflict with Hittites when pushing into Palestine and Syria
• Battle of Kadesh
• Fought to a standstill
• Ramses II – pharaoh that made a treaty with Hittite king that
promised “peace and brotherhood between them forever”
Builders
• Rulers of this New Kingdom built palaces, temples, and tombs
• Hid tombs beneath desert cliffs
• Built in the Valley of the Kings
Decline of the Empire
• After Rames II dies all of Easter Mediterranean suffered a wave of
invasions
• Both Egypt and Hittite Empire attacked by “people of the sea”
• Not identified yet
• Egypt never regains power and breaks up into regional units
• Erected own walls for defense
• Egypt falls to its neighbors – the Libyans
Kushites + the Nile Region
• After Egypt declines Nubia establishes the Kushite dynasty on the
Egyptian throne
• Nubia is South of Egypt
• Regains independence when Egypt declines
• Restored Egyptian way of life
• Tried to do this by conquering Egypt and taking over Libyan rulers
• Kushite King Piankhi led an army down the Nile and overthrew the
Libyan dynasty
• United the entire Nile Valley
• Assyrians conquer Egypt around 671 B.C.
Golden Age of Meroe
• Kushites move South to Meroe after defeat
• Becomes active in trade with Africa, Arabia, and India
• Meroe had a lot of rainfall and had tons of iron ore
• Becomes center for manufacturing of weapons and tools
• Got luxury items from India and Arabia in return
• Meroe begins to decline after 4 centuries
• Rise of Aksum -> dominated North African trade with a seaport along
Red Sea
Assignment
• Describe the pro’s and con’s of Egypt shifting to an empire building
nation. Describe the good and bad that can result in this and explain
the type of place that Egypt should be
Assyrian Domination
Military Machine
• Assyria acquired a large empire
• Sophisticated military organization and state-of-the-art weaponry
• Greatest power in S.W. Asia
• Developed warlike behavior in response to invasions
• Developed a strong army
Organization and Conquest
• Had glorified military strength
• Iron-working technology
• Stiff leather and metal armor
• Used iron swords and spears
• Infantry, archers, spear throwers
• Protected by large shields
• Used pontoons to cross rivers (animal skins)
• Would dig under walls to weaken them
• Calvary plus foot soldiers would attack
• Shower of arrows while other soldiers used battering rams to knock
down fortification
• No mercy; received bounty for heads
Expanding Empire
• Defeated Syria, Palestine, and Babylonia
• Extended rule into Egypt and Anatolia
• Organized conquered territory into an empire
• Kings chose rulers for each separate region
• Military campaigns added new territory often
• Brought more taxes and tribute
• Refusal to pay = cities burned and people sent into exile
Culture
• Military rulers also known as great Builders
• Nineveh was established
• Largest city of its day (3 miles long, 1 mile wide)
• 2 sculptures found – brutal military campaigns, the lion hunt
• Held one of the largest libraries for it’s day
End to the Empire
• Assyrian power spread itself too thin
• Cruelty led to many enemies
• Nineveh falls
• Destroyed by army of Mede and Chaldeans people
• Burned and leveled the city
Rebirth of Babylon
• Chaldeans made Babylon their capital
• Restored by Nebuchadnezzar
• Many famous hanging gardens
• 1 of seven wonders of the world
• Empire fell shortly after Nebuchadnezzar
• Persians came to power next
• Adopted many Assyrian military, political, and artistic inventions
Persian Empire
Rise of Persia
• Included in ancient day Iran
• Prosperous farmland and a lot of minerals
• Copper, lead, gold, silver
• Trade with neighbors East and West
• Cyrus the Great
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Military and governing genius
Began conquering neighboring kingdoms in Iran
Extended rule from Indus River to Anatolia (2,000 miles)
Kindness toward conquered people
• Honored culture of places he conquered
• Under Persian rule, people had a lot of freedom
• Babylon opened gates to Cyrus the Great
• Allowed Jews that were deported to return to Jerusalem
• Cyrus loses his life in battle
Persian Rule and Religion
• Cambyses extended empire by gaining Egypt
• Did not treat people as well as Cyrus
• Cambyses dies and rebellion breaks out
• Darius
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Began as kings bodyguard
10,000 immortals helped seize throne for Darius
1st 3 years of reign putting down revolts
Inability to conquer Greece
Provinces and Satraps
• Darius broke empire into 20 provinces
• Similar to homeland of groups of people
• Still practiced same religion
• Spoke their own language / followed their own laws
• Installed a governor called a satraps in each province
• Inspectors to check on satraps
• Also appointed an army leader and tax collector
• Excellent road system and use of standardized money
• Royal Road – stretched 1,677 miles
• Trade helped hold the empire together
Religion
• Why should so much suffering and chaos exist in the world?
• Persian Prophet Zoroaster
• Two spiritual armies fight for possession of a person’s soul
• Ahura Mada (god of truth and light)
• Ahriman (god of evil and darkness)
• People judged by what side they choose
• Avesta became the holy writings
• People’s own choices controlled their fate
China’s Empire
Philosophy and Social Order
• Confucius
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Most influential scholar
Lived during time when Zhou dynasty was in shambles
Studied and taught history, music, and moral character
Could restore social order, harmony, and good gov’t through 5 relationships
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Ruler and subject
Father and son
Husband and wife
Older brother and younger brother
Friend and friend
• Children should practice filial piety
• Respect for their parents and elders
• Wanted to show rulers how rule effectively
• Confucius is appointed Minister of Justice
• After resignation, Confucius’ ideas were kept and studied in a book
called the Analects
Confucian Idea About Gov’t
• Education could transform a humbly born person into a gentleman
• Laid ground work for a bureaucracy
• Trained civil service (people who run the gov’t)
• Confucianism is never a religion but an ethical system
• Becomes foundation for Chinese gov’t and social order
Daoists Seek Harmony
• Laozi is key figure
• Natural order was only thing important
• Universal force called the Dao (“the Way”) guides all things
• Beliefs turn into Daoism
• Search for knowledge and understanding of nature
• Led to people pursuing scientific studies such as alchemy, astronomy, and
medicine
Legalists and Harsh Rule
• Believe that highly efficient and powerful gov’t was the key to
restoring social order
• Gov’t should use the law to end civil disobedience and restore harmony
• Teach that a ruler should provide rich rewards for people who carried
out their duties well
• Disobedient should be punished harshly
• Believed in controlling ideas as well as actions
• Encourage leaders to burn all material that might encourage people to think
critically about gov’t
I Ching and Yin and Yang
• I Ching = book of oracles
• Answered ethical or practical problems
• Threw set of coins, interpreted the results, and then read the proper oracle
• Yin and Yang
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Created by ancient thinkers
Two power that when put together represent the natural rhythms of life
Yang = Masculine qualities in the universe
Yin = Feminine qualities in the universe
The Qin Dynasty
• Short lived dynasty in 3rd century B.C.
• 13 yr. old ruler who applied Legalist ideas
• Qin ruler assumes name Shi Huangdi or “First Emperor”
• Began rule by:
• Halting the internal battles that had taken China’s strength
• Defeating invaders and crushing internal resistance to his rule
• Attacked the invaders north of the Yellow River and south into Vietnam
(doubled China’s size)
• Acted to crush political opposition at home
• Commanded noble families to live in the capital city under close watch
• Killed many Confucian scholars
• Burned “useless” books
• Established an autocracy
• Government in which the ruler has unlimited power
• Built road network of 4,000 + miles
• Forced peasants to work against their will
• Created irrigation projects to increase farming
• Merchants become higher class
Great Wall of China
• Discourage invaders from attack
• Built by peasants
• “Work on the wall or die”
• Many worked and died anyway
• One of few human made objects that can be viewed from space
Goodbye Qin Dynasty
• Peasants rebelled 3 years after the second Qin emperor took office
• Leader from Han lands pushes army into capital city
• Qin Dynasty gives way to the Han Dynasty
Cultures of the Mountains
and Sea
Geography and Greek Life
• Mostly mountainous peninsula
• The Sea
• Same as rivers in ancient civilizations
• Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea, Black Sea
• Transportation routes
• Skilled sailors
• Poor in natural resources
• The Land
• ¾ = rugged mountains
• Difficult to unite under 1 gov’t
• Led to small independent communities
• Land transportation difficult
• 20% able to be farmed
• Not able to support large population
• The Climate
• Varied climate
• Supported an outdoor life
Mycenaean Civilization
• Indo-Europeans that migrated to Greece
• Located on steep, rocky ridge protected by wall 20 ft thick
• Warrior like king
• Villages and farms
Culture and Trade
• Feasts in great halls
• Buried with richest treasures
• Armies searched for plunder
• Farmers, goat-herders, stonesmen, weavers
• Minoan influence
• Importance of trade
• Adapted writing system into the Greek language
• Told legend or stories
Trojan War
• Mycenaean kings fought 10 yr war with Troy
• Trojans kidnapped Helen (Greek wife of King)
• Thought war was fictional
• Control of waterway in the Aegean Sea?
Decline of Greek Culture
• Collapse of Myceanean civilization after Trojan War
• Attacks by sea raiders
• Dorians move into lands
• Far less advanced than Myceanean Greeks
• Economy and trade collapsed
• No written records
Homer
• Blind story-teller
• Said to be the most famous story-teller
• Epics
• Poems
• Said to be told about heroic deeds
• Iliad and Odyssey
• Possibly based off of Trojan War
• Iliad = Fierce warriors (Greek)
• Achilles and Hector of Troy = main characters
• Odyssey
• Odysseus uses wits and trickery to defeat Trojans
Myths
• Traditional stories about their Gods
• Sought to understand the mysteries of nature and power of human
passions
• Attributed human qualities to their Gods
• Lived forever however
• Zeus lived with Hera on Mount Olympus
• Athena = God of wisdom
Democracy and the Golden
Age
Pericles’s 3 Goals for Athens
• Pericles leads Athens during it’s golden age
• 3 Goals
• Strengthen Athenian Democracy
• Hold and strengthen the empire
• Glorify Athens
Stronger Democracy
• Increased the number of paid public officials
• Poorest could serve if elected
• More citizens engaged in gov’t than ever
• Direct Democracy
• Form of gov’t in which citizens rule directly and not through representation
Athenian Empire
• Tried to enlarge the wealth and power of Athens
• Built Athens a 200 ship navy
• Strongest in Mediterranean
• Strengthened safety
• Needed overseas trade to gain supplies such as grain
Glorifying Athens
• Beautified Athens
• Persuaded the Athenian assembly to vote huge sums of money to
buy gold, ivory, and marble
• The Parthenon
• One of architecture’s noblest works
Greek Art
• Sculpture
• Statue of Athena in Parthenon
• Sculptor Phidias
• 38 feet tall (gold and ivory)
• Aimed to create figures graceful, strong, and perfectly formed
• No expression on statues
• Wanted to capture normal human motion
• Called Classical Art
Greek Drama
• Built 1st theatres in the west
• Expression and civic pride and a tribute to the gods
• Wealthy citizens produced plays
• Tragedy
• Serious drama about common themes such as love, hate, war, and betrayal
• Comedy
• Slap-stick situations and crude humor
• Satires = poked fun at a subject
• Showed freedom and openness and freedom of public discussions
Spartans vs. Athenians
• Tensions building for years
• Leaders in both Athens and Sparta pressed for war
• Both groups believed they could win
• Peloponnesian War
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War between Sparta and Athens in 431 B.C.
Athens = strongest sea power in Greece
Sparta could not easily be attacked from sea
Sparta attacks Athens
• Citizens brought into Athens city walls for protection
Sparta Gains the Edge
• Plague killed roughly 1/3 of Athens’ population including Pericles
• Athenian assembly sent huge fleet of 27,000 soldiers to destroy the
polis of one of Spartan’s wealthiest allies
• Athenians were destroyed
• 404 B.C. Athens surrenders
Philosophers
• Lovers of wisdom
• Socrates
• Believed that absolute standards did exist for truth and justice
• Encouraged Greeks to go further and question themselves and their moral
character
• Plata
• Student of Socrates
• Wrote “The Republic”
• Set forth vision of a perfectly governed society
• All citizens would fall naturally into three groups; famers and artisans, warriors, and the
ruling class
• Aristotle
• Student of Plato
• Questioned nature of human belief, thought, and knowledge
Warring City-States
Rule and Order
• City-state or polis was fundamental political unit in ancient Greece
• City and surrounding country side
• Agora = center of city
• Acropolis = fortified business center on top of a hill
Political Structure
• Monarchy
• Aristocracy
• Government ruled by a small group of noble, land owning-families
• Sometimes aristocratic rule was disliked, wealthy merchants and
artisans take power
• Formed Oligarchy -> few powerful people
• Looked down on non-Greek foreigners (barbarians)
New Army
• Dorian Age – only rich could afford best weapons and armor
• Iron replaces bronze = harder, more common, cheaper
• Led to less wealthy people in army
• Hoplites = spear and shield
• Phalanx = army fighting formation (powerful)
Tyrants Seize Power
• Powerful citizen soldiers
• Tyrants take control – very powerful individuals
• Very competitive between tyrants
• Sparta and Athens are created
Sparta and Military
• Sparta builds military state
• Conquerors Messenia
• Messinians become helots or peasants forced to stay on the land they
worked
• Gave up half of yearly crop
• Revolted
• Sparta dedicates itself to creating strong city-state
Spartan Gov’t and Society
• Two groups governed Sparta
• Assembly = free adult males, elected officials
• Voted on major issues
• Council of Elders
• Proposed laws on which assembly voted
• Ephors – 5 elected officials who carried out laws
• 2 Kings ruled over Spartan military
• Diverse society
Spartan Education
• Men = military training
• Boys left home at age 7 and into barracks
• Girls did not receive military
• They wrestled and played sports
• Everyone believes to put service to Sparta over family
• All forms of expression were discouraged
• Valued duty, strength, and discipline
Alexander
Intro
• Peloponnesian War weakened several Greek city-states
• Rapid decline in military and economic power
Philip and Macedonia
• Macedonia -> cold place just North of Greece
• People lived in mountain villages
• Greeks looked at Macedonians as uncivilized foreigners who had no
great philosophers, sculptors, or writers
• Philip -> Macedonia king who dreamed of taking control of Greece
and Persia
Philip’s Army
• 23 when he became king
• Brilliant general and ruthless politician
• Peasants turned into well-trained army
• 16 X 16 phalanxes that paved way for calvary
Conquest of Greece
• Athenian orator Demosthenes warned Greeks of threat of Philip and
his army
• Athens and Thebes joined an alliance against Philip
• Greeks defeat at battle of Chaeronea
• Ended Greek freedom and independence
• Philip killed at a wedding
• Alexander the Great becomes king of Macedonia
Alexander Defeats Persia
• 20 years old when he became king
• Learned science, geography, and literature from Aristotle
• Enjoyed Homer’s Iliad and hearing about Achilles heroic deeds in Troy
• Thebes tries to rebel
• Alexander burns city, kills 6,000 people, ends any thought of rebellion
Invasion of Persia
• Greece secure -> time to invade Persia
• Persian messengers try to warn the empire
• Two forces met at Granicus River
• Alexander makes 1st move and destroys Persian defenses
• Darius III -> king of Persia
• Raises huge army of 50,000 – 75,000 soldiers
• Alexander breaks through defenses and heads straight for Darius
Growing Ambitions
• Darius tries to negotiate peace treaty
• Offered Alexander Western 1/3 of empire
• Rejected offer and confidently announced plan to conquer entire
empire
• Marched into Egypt
• Named Pharaoh
Conquering Persian Empire
• Alexander moves into Mesopotamia to meet Darius
• Persians assembled 250,000 solider army
• Battle at Gaugamela
• Persian lines weaken
• Darius flees again
• Macedonian army now moves into richest provinces
• Distributed treasures among the army
Alexander’s Other Conquests
• More interested in expanding empire instead of governing it
• Crossed into Indus valley
• Encouraged to turn around by his army
• Alexander dies at 33 from fever
• Antigonus takes control of empire
• Ptolemy becomes pharaoh of Egypt
Rome
Early Republic
• Republic -> form of government in which power rests with citizens
who have the right to vote to select their leader
• 2 Groups struggle for Power
• Patricians -> aristocratic landowners
• Inherit social status
• Plebeians -> common farmer, artisans, and merchants
• Make up a majority of the population
• Barred by Roman law to hold any gov’t positions
• Eventually allowed their own assembly and elected representatives called tribunes
Rome’s 12 Tables
• Created and written Roman law
• Based on idea that all free citizens, both patricians and plebeians,
had a right to protection of the law
Roman Republic
Gov’t
• Balanced government?
• Best features of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy
• Had two officials (consuls)
• Directed gov’t and commanded army
• Only year long term (only elected once in 10 yrs)
• One consul could veto the others decision
• Senate (300 members) -> lifetime membership
• Dictator appointed during time of crisis
Roman Army
• Own land = required to serve
• Organized into legions (military unit)
• 5,000 heavily armed foot soldiers (infantry)
• Horseback soldiers (cavalry)
Spreading the Power
• Expansion through conquest and trade (want to conquer Italy)
• Defeat Etruscans to the North and Greek city states to the South
• Unable to defeat the Gauls in Po River Valley
• Latin citizens conquered became full citizens
• Farther places given all rights except the right to vote
• Other places become allies of Rome
• Left alone if people sent to serve in army and no allies made with other places
Trade Network
• Location was ideal
• Traded wine, olive oil, raw materials, manufactured goods
• Wanted full control of trade
• Carthage -> dominant city on Mediterranean
War With Carthage
• Become known as the Punic Wars
• 3 different wars
• 1st War -> fought for control of Sicily and Western Mediterranean
• Rome wins
• 2nd War -> Hannibal leads Carthage
• Wanted to avenge earlier defeat
• Decided to take the long trip and invade Northern Italy
• Never captured Rome but close
• Rome commanded by Scipio
• Attack Hannibal and defeat him near Carthage
• 3rd War -> Carthage no longer a threat
• “Carthage must be destroyed”
• Set siege to Carthage (50k people sold into slavery + city was burned)
Republic to Empire
Decline of the Empire
• Senate becomes real governing body of Rome
• Members chosen mostly from wealthy landowners (served for life)
• Took control of foreign/domestic policy and financial affairs
• Small farmers begin losing their land to wealthy land owners
• Many small landless farmers begin moving to city of Rome creating large
class of “landless poor”
• Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus -> “cause of Rome’s problems was the
decline of the small farmer”
• Asked gov’t to take back land from wealthy and distribute it poor
• Affected group of Senators kill them as a result of anger
New Role for Rome’s Army
• Rome had been recruiting army from male landholders of small farms
• General Marius begins new role for army
• Begin to recruit volunteers from “propertyless” urban and rural poor
• Causes oath of loyalty to general not to the state (promise of land)
• General Sulla next to take advantage of power
• Given command for war in Asia Minor by the Senate
• Council of plebs tried to transfer command to Marius = Civil War
• Sulla wins and restores all power back to the Senate and eliminated power of
popular assemblies
C’Ya Republic, What’s Up Empire
• Roman not characterized by 2 features:
• Competition for power
• Civil war caused by these conflicts
• 3 individuals begin competing for all power: Crassus (richest man in
Rome), Pompey (military hero), and Julius Caesar (military hero)
• Join together to create the First Triumvirate (equal power)
First Triumvirate
• Position of power allowed them dominate political/military scene
• Pompey receives command in Spain, Crassus command in Syria, Caesar
command in Gaul (France)
• Crassus killed in battle
• Leaders begin to fear Caesar’s success, name Pompey sole ruler
• Caesar crosses Rubicon River illegally into Italy
• Defeated Pompey in Civil War and gained sole power
• Caesar officially made himself dictator for life
• Gave land to the poor and increased the Senate to 900 members who supported
Caesar (limited power of Senate)
• Granted citizenship to people in provinces that helped him
• Reformed Roman calendar to 365 days (Egyptian)
• Caesar assassinated by numerous senators led by Marcus Brutus (Ides of
March)
The Second Triumvirate
• After Caesar’s death, 3 new men created the Second Triumvirate
• Octavian (Caesar’s heir and grandnephew), Antony (Caesar’s ally and
assistant), and Lepidus (commander of Caesar’s calvary)
• Eventually power landed in the hands of 2 -> Octavian took the Western part,
Antony the East
• Roman Empire too small for 2 rulers
• Octavian vs. Antony/Cleopatra = defeat of Antony/Cleopatra at the Battle of
Actium
• Octavian stands as lone ruler and the beginnings of the Roman Empire starts
Decline of Roman Empire
Bad News Bears
• Began to decline during reign of Marcus Aurelius
• Future rulers not sure how to fix problems
• Economic Trouble
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Foreigners (pirates) ruin Roman trade opportunities
People began buying from luxury items from Asia
Gov’t raised taxed to pay for military debts
Suffered inflation
• Agricultural decline
• Overused soil led to decline in food production
Military Trouble
• Faced many attacks by Germanic invaders
• Persia threatens Rome in Syria and Anatolia
• Capture emperor Valerian
• Lack of discipline and loyalty within the military
• Mercenaries were recruited
Political Downfall
• Citizens begin to lose their patriotism
• Holding a political position was an honor and way to gain wealth
• Leaders now lost money -> not a desirable position any longer
• Changes to who served happened often
Can it be Saved?
• Diocletian
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Became emperor in 284
Restored order and increased Rome’s strength
Governed as an absolute ruler
Limited personal freedom
Doubled the size of the army (drafted prisoners + mercenaries)
Set fixed prices for goods
Ordered farmers to remain on lands and people to remain in jobs for life
Diocletian Keeps Going
• Claims rule from gods
• Views Christianity as a threat (persecutes them)
• Divides empire into 2 parts
• Greek speaking East (Ruled by Diocletian)
• Included most of Rome’s “great” cities, trade centers, and wealth
• Latin speaking West (Ruled by Gen. Maximian)
• Both picked successors for their halves
• Diocletian retires for health reasons and civil war breaks out
Constantine
• Gains control of Western Empire
• 324 gains control of Eastern part
• Moves capital from Rome to Greek city of Byzantium (Turkey)
• Now located in West + surrounded by walls
• Renames capital to Constantinople
• Constantine dies
• Rome’s divided again -> East survives, West does not
Invaders
• Germanic invaders locate themselves on Northern border of empire
• Begin to settle into Northern part of Rome
• Overwhelm area and force emperor out of his throne
• Huns invade Europe -> push people out of their homeland
• Fierce Mongol nomads from Central Asia
• Quote (pg. 161)
• Germanic people flee the Huns to Rome
• City of Rome susceptible to attack
• Group of Visigoths led by Alaric attack city
• Attila the Hun
• Had 100k + soldiers
• Attacked both parts of empire
• Reduced Roman population and caused widespread famine
Last Hoorah
• Emperor in West becomes powerless
• Fighting occurs for who controls it now
• Romulus Augustulus
• 14 yrs. old gains emperor
• Last known Roman emperor -> forced into exile by Germanic invaders
• Eastern half becomes Byzantine Empire and flourishes
• Lasts until 1453 until it falls to Ottoman Turks