Download Unit One Reading, Part Five

50
E,ARLIESTCIVILIZATIONS 5I
UNIT ONE
PRIMARY DOCUMENTS:
THE NEGATIVE CONFESSION
COMPARATIVE WRITING SYSTEMS:
CUNEIFORM AND HIEROGLYPHICS
use
Botli Mesopotamian cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphics made
a1a
people,
animals,
pictographs, or picttires representing
lUjecls Itl
writirig system that depends on pictures was convenient fcrr keeping
ideas.
records, but was very cumbersolle for cot1,lmunicatrng abstract
B;gi*;i,rg about 2900 B.C.E. Sumerians began using graphic syrnbois
sttpplementr
repiesent-ideas, sounds, and syllables, and Egyptians' too'
The Eg1
ideas.
thli, hi"roglypirics with syrnbols representi.g abstract
soci
writing remaineci rnore pitteographic than cuneiforrrr, but in both
restricted
iargely
was
use
their
and
the writing systelns *"r"
"ornpl"*,
material to write o1l' papyrus' mr
new
a
developed
Egyptians
priests.
iio,, ,trip, oia plant pressed together. Despite their sophisticated writi
such as the Mesop
system, the E,gyptiarrs created no epic literary works'
tarnian Epic of Gilgarnesh
Negative Confession is part of The Book of the Dead, a compilation
:ijf incantations for use in burial cererrronies in Ancient Egypt. The scene
iis the Hall of the Two Truths, or the Double Ma'at, where Osiris, king
of the Underworld, presides ovcr an assenrbly of minor deities. All
the deities judge the suitability of the deceased 1o become an
r eternally blessed spirit, The deceased rnakes the following statements
,,1'l
I
I
I
I
have not done crimes against people,
have not mistreated cattle,
have not sinned in the Place of
Truth fany holy place],
have not known what should not be l<nown lsecr:ets of the gods],
have not done any ltarnr,
I did not begin a day by exactitrg nrore [han rny duc,
My name did not reach thrl bark of the nrighty ruler [Rel.
I have not blasphemed a god.
I have not robbed the poor.
done what the god abhors,
raJigned a servant to his master.
Religious Beliels
its chief
Like Mesopotamia, Egyptian reiigion was polytheistic' and
Amon-Re, the
were associated strongl"y with agriculture. Gods included
ruler of the a
the sun; Isis, goddesr-ortn. Nile and of fertiliry; osiris,
The Eg
pharaohs'
the
and Horus, son of Osiris and Isis, represented by
in another world
were very concemed with death and preparation for life
mummified bodi
supreme happiness could be achieved' They carefully
In tl
bureaucrats'
held elaborate funeral rituals, especially for rulers and
tnt,''
of
lier days, these rituals were inscribed on coffins and pyramids
the New
During
times.
later
they blcame mucir more commonplace in
texts
papyrus
collected into
dom, many incantations of these rituals were
todayasTheBooko.ftheDead.Dividedintomorethanl50chaptert
each purchased a scroll'
,rus.-prnduced for a prosperous clientele who
the person's body
the name of the deceased, and buried it with
Airdrea, Alfrsd, and Janres
H. Overfield, The Human Record, Zol.
/.
Boston, Houghton Mifffin,
VALLEY CIVILIZATION
in the Indus River Valley in what is
By 5000 B.C.E. agriculture had developed, and by 3000 B.C.E.
and towns had evolved into cities. Much about the people remains
today, partly because archaeologists were generally unaware of the
until the 1850s, when British construction of a railroad across the
to discovery of the remains of one of the major cities, Mohenjo-Dacontroversy surrounds the origins of the civilization. Until recently,
believed that the Indus Valley people spoke a Dravidian language
iolanguages spoken in southern India. It was thought that they were coniiiound 1500 B.C.E. by Aryans. irtvaders from the northwest who spoke
e of civilization" developed
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EARLIESTCIVILIZATIONS
UNIT ONE
53
Characteristics
and towns in the Indus River
valley were supported by an advanced
system based on wheat, ry/e, peas, and perhaps rice. Cotton r.l,as
and many animals were domesticated, including chickens, cattle,
ts; and sheep. As in Mesopotamia and Egypt, abundant crops allowed
specialization in the cities to develop. Beginning in the l g50s, archaeolog discovered the remains of the largest city, Mohen jo-Daro; a second ciry,
lrrppa; and a huge complex of towr]s and villages connected to them. Bethe cities were not constructed in the same way that cities in Mesopotaand Egypt were, they almost certainly were r.rot colonies but were part of
t civilization.
with contacts in china, Southeast Asia,
:rn lndia, Afghanistan, and Mesopotamia. Jade from china and precious
i from southeast Asia have been excavated in the Indus River Valley, and
ts stone seals have been found in Mesopotamia. Small clay wheeled carts
cities were major trading centers,
Indus Valley civilizntion. Mohenjo-Daro is the largest city that has been discovered, housing
100,000 people at irs peak, protrably between 2500 and 2000
big.
B.c.E.
Harappa was probably
Indo-European langlrages. and that some of them moved southeast into Indii
escape. More recent evidence, however, does not support a sudden
bocly types or civilization patterns during that tirte, so there is still much to
about tliese early people and and the changes they may have experienced.
Geographical Features
Today the area around the Indus River is desert, with rnany ancient
now driecl up. However, in ancient times it was forested, green' and
plenty of game animals and good pasture for dornesticated animals. The:
system was formecl by water mnning frorn melting snow in the world's
n.rountain range, the Hirnalayas to the noftheast, and the Hindu Kush
to the northwest. Tlie rivel and its tributaries have been fed by monsoon
that are createcl by seasottal winds that blow frorn the seas toward the In
subcontinent. Like the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates Rivers, the Indus Riveil
riecl rich soil to the plains around it, allowing extensive agriculture to
The mountains providecl some protection from invasion, but very early
ple discovered passes that allowed them to cross, parlicularly through the
Kush. The Aryans probably used these passes as they travelled to the
and eventually made their way into many parts of the Indian
cluding the Indus River ValleY.
d by oxen have been found at various
Indus sites, suggesting that they
used as Iand transportation among cities, towns, and villages in the valley.
ng by the size ofthe cities, job speciahzatron had to be extensive, yet their
to have been inferior to those in Egypt and Mesopotamia.
tools and weapons in bronze, but they lacked swords, used stone for
and bronzed the tips of their spears so thinly that they could not
appear
cast
very effective.
Development
is known about political systems in the I,dus River Valley, but the
of the cities suggests that a well-organized govemment planned
.The main thoroughfares in Mohenjo-Daro were 34 feet wide, and a sosewage system with canals that ran fiom each house to a connecting
in the street carried off household wastes. Some scholars speculate that
and Mohenjo-Daro were trvin capitals, or that there may be other un-
cities that each ruled the countryside around it. The two cities both
ifications and iarge granaries that were probably controlled by govenrbut the pieces of evidence do not vet support a good knowledge o1'who
and to what ends.
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EARLIBSTCIVILIZATIONS
UNIT ONE
55
to have been worshipped by' ordinary people, whereas the
was favored by the pnests. There is little evidence to suppoft arr
"in artistic endeavors, other than a few carved figurines of people
and
that reflect a strong interest in fertility.
HISTORICAL EVIDENCE:
ANCIENT SEALS
ffiffitr'
valley writing system could be cleciphered with any consisrency,
would know much more about the civilization. Egyptian hieroglyphics
decoded with the very fortuuate discovery of the Rosetta Stone, a tablet
a relatively long script in three languages: forrral hieroglyphics, an infbrlEgyptian writing, and Greek. Since Greek was known. the tablet was used
find many parallel symbols in hieroglyphics. with that heacl start, scholars
able to decode most of the hieroglyphic writing sanrples that have been
Archaeologists have had no such lucl< in the Indus Valley, but neu,,
may unearth solne colnparable clr"re in the firture.
If$the Indus
The most irnporlant clucs for unlocking the mystery of tlte ancient
Harappan script are the u-rany seals from the Irrdus Valley culture that
have been found all over the area, as well as in other trading centers
from Mesopotamia to China. Seals were fixed to rnany different obj
in ancient civilizations, includi:rg pottery, boxes, doors, baskets, and
leather bags. In Mesopotamia, seals were cylindrical in shape, and in
the Indus Valley they were square, soft stones, with impressions of
animals and a written script. They were used by lraders as a way to
'
insure that containers weren't opened during transit, or perhaps to
of the Indus River Vallcv
Civilization
,
identify the merchants.
These seals are the best clues that archaeologists have for u
the language of the Indus River Valley people, but because the inscri
are very briel-, it is difficult to find consistencies that would allow ther
to decipher it. FIowever, the fact that the distinct seals have been
in Mesopotamia, China, Southeast Asia, and Afghanistan tells us that'
trade was a significant part of the lndus Valley economy.
Society artd Culture
Although Iess is known about social distinctions in the Indus River Valley
in Egypt and Mesopotamia, the evidence points to the existence of clear
classes. For example, house sizes in Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa varied
siderably, with most people living in single-room dwellings in larger
like structures. The wealthy had individual houses of two and thr-ee
witli several roonts arid an interior courtyard. Most of the larger houses
their own wells and brick ovens. Indus River Valley society was
by a powerful priestly class, whrch rLrled from the crties. The priests
between the people and a number of gods and goddesses, although very
is knou,n aboLrt the religron. One popular god depicted on the seals isa
male with a horned head, souretitnes pictured in a postr"rre of meditation,
some to speculate that the lotus positioti and/or yoga oliginated here.
:
Indus valley cities were abandoned sonrerirle
after 1900 B.c.E., although
reasons for their decline are
unceltairr. No evidence of an invasion has been
so one theory is that the civilization suffered systems failure, a breakof the political, social, and econornic systents that supported it. There
have been a precipitating event, such as an earthquake or a flood, but
ecological changes appear to have occurred as well. The cities ma1,
grown too fast, so that the large population put stress on the environment,
ing trees to bake mud bricks for construction and fanning land too intense'some argue that a radical change to a much
drier climate occurred, or that
courses of the rivers shifted sigr,ificantly, or that the population may have
victim to malaria. The decline rvas relatively gradual, with Mohenjo-Da,abandoned in about 1200 B.C.E., and Harappa somewhat later. Almost
nly, the civilization was under stress by tlie tirne the Aryans came into the
gy"across the Hindu Kush Mountains sometime around 1500 B.C.E.
ENTCHINA
people of eastAsia probably domesticated rice sometime about 7000
E:,and by 5000 B.C.E. rice had become the staple of tlie diet in the yangver Valley. In later centur'ies, the people fartlier north around the yellow
He) River domesticated wheat, barley, and eventually rnillet that had
nbly anived from Mesopotamia. After abor,rt 3000 B.C.E. villages along
ivers communicated and traded u,ith others thror.rghout the region, and by
illtil7OO B.C.E. they had established cities ancl cornplex political, cultural,
L"social systems that served as the fouudatron lbr crvilization in Chrna anci
parts of east Asra
ic DeveloPment
Geographical Infl uences
Ancient China rose in a part of the world that was a long way away from
other centers of civilization. Although trade did exist befween China and
others, distance and geographic barriers separated the areas so that in
ways east Asia developed independently from the others. Both agriculture
metalworking apparently were independently invented in China. The H
He and Yangzi River Valleys were rich with river silt, and were quite co
to agriculture, whereas much of the land space that eventually became
was far less habitable. The Gobi Desert stretched to the north and west of
rivers; the Hirnalaya Mountains lay to the southwest; and the vast Tarim Basi
hrgh, dry, and cold - occupied the west. These geographic features have
the development of Chinese civilization, and even today, the vast majority
China's population lives in the east along the rivers or the coastline.
The rivers absorbed a yellowish-brown dust (giving the Yellow River its
frorn central Asia so that it forrned loess, a thick mantle of fertile and soft
easy enolrgh to be worked with wooden digging sticks. Like tlie Tigris
Euphrates Rivers, the East Asia rivers were prone to irregular flooding, anr
people responded by building dikes, channels, and basins to store river watei'
and rainfall.
He (Yeilow) River was so prone to unpredictabie flooding,
up with rnethods to control it.
,Chinese fanners and leaders lrad to come
agriculture'
ingly elaborate irrigation systems kept up with expanding
'gre.ti.rtt
An imriver'
the
of
flow
the
to
manage
dikes weie constructecl
stick
digging
the
over
was the hoe, a vast improvement
use the Huang
*
int tutfy innovation
was the four-pronged hoe that
I it had a wide, flat base. A later improvement
made chinese agriculture
used to turn over the soil for cultivation. Its use
urban population'
more productive so that it could support a larger
metallurgy, particularly
t rrtrn, China's growth was also spurred by mastery of
bronze weapons. and^tools. Ruling elites corfrollo:"::
.--- proar.tion-of
r
{;ttr.
bronze axes' spears'
,oppu and tin ores, and employed craftsmen to produce
horse-drawn charfor
fittings
for
ivrs, ara arrowheads. Bronie was also used
diffused across
that
in Mesopotamia
L,iots, u t..t nology probably flrst invented
higf leve.l.of t'?ft?Tu':lll
..;;rl.f Otlu to irr. river vallevs' Arituals
]:
and househoid use by wealth famiffi;; ".5.fr created for religious
in the
iLii'.i ,Ln l.portant development that was to be of immense importance manuof silk
i.r;f.p,".ri of China *ai th" pioneering of the key processesunraveling
their
carefully
and
trees
,iu.toring, raising silkworrls on rnulberry
thread'
,cocoons to Produce silk
t*Xl-tl
were surrotrnded by
religion, and
Cities were centers of political control and
were constructed, such as
greur*utt, of hardened earth. Large pLrblic builclings
storehouses, royal tombs' shrines of gods and ancesialuc.s, political centers,
pcople lived in villages outside the
iors, and'houses of the nobrlity. Ordinary
grid plan aligned with the north polar
city walls. The cities were laid olrt on a
all major buildings faced
,or, ,r.,. gates opened to the carclinal directions, and
for order'
itfouth, reflecting a concertl
I Development
f'.*l{i,
.,'
He River
tt. lgth century B.C.E. the areas north and west of the Huang
f'bv
from
animals
', 'were
groups who followed domesticated
to many nomadic
home
.,;;;;;;;;rr*...'o,
AncientChina. GeographyshapedthedevelopmentofChinesecivilization,wrthmostpeoplelivingin
river valleys in the east. The first known dynasty, the Shang, ruled an area around the Wei River,
Zhou Dynasty extended its control over a much larger area.
and the
would continue ro happen for thousands of vears, these
into conflict with people that had settled into agrii,,nomuAi, gioup, often came
to legend, an ancient dynasty
cultural rittugl, along the river valley. According
area, but
iirrifr-U^.[ t irgOJr, called the Xia came to control much of the
beel.foyd,:1]::,::':t::t^tl:
gQu,{rcheologtcal srtes connected to it have
::11
to the flrst written records that
traced
be
may
china
of
;;;;"Th; history
practices that
i;U. u distinctive culture wit6 its owtt cuisine, beliefs, and
as the Shang
known
is
1750 and is00 B.C.E Tlie culture
;ffi;;;;.;;