Download Western Civilization 1 Term Paper

Beatriz Eugenia Saldana
Hum 2051: Civ1
April 25, 2014
Dr. Angela Tenga
The Synergistic Origin of Civilization: An Analysis of Early River Valley Civilizations
A large portion of the two million-plus years of the existence of the human species has
been described as the Paleolithic Era. This long phase in human development where both Homo
erectus and Homo sapiens sapiens made an appearance lasted until about 14,000 years ago.
Homo erectus evolved in Africa and spread throughout the Afroeuarasian landmass. This species
disappeared about 40,000 years ago and Homo sapiens sapiens took over as the dominant
species. The members of the species were organized into nomadic hunter-gatherer societies;
most of the energy consumed by an individual and daylight available was utilized during the
quest for food. About two and a half square miles were required for a person to hunt or gather
thus, there was a profound need for change in order to inspire population growth. Humans slowly
developed a sense for agriculture, and consequently came the Neolithic revolution. This term is
given to the development of agricultural societies that germinated in the Middle East
approximately 12,000 years ago. The agricultural advancement in our species’ early
development allowed for larger social organizations and permanent settlements; a surplus of
agricultural production lead to the rise of civilization. With agriculture came job specialization;
every member of the society had an occupation that could be completed before sundown, leaving
the remaining time for creative thought leading to the development of religion, art, literature,
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politics, science, mathematics, and technical advancement. Specialization also encouraged trade
among the members of a society or externally with different groups of people. These complex
human societies were forced to inhabit the optimal landscape to support large agricultural
production and human settlement, and thus all early civilizations were located close to river
systems and are known today as the River Valley Civilizations.
The first civilizations developed along major rivers to secure adequate water supply for
agricultural production; rivers were essential to early human settlements due to their reliable
water supply, and their ability to facilitate trade and fertilize the land. The earliest of these
civilizations sprouted in the Middle East between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in a region
called Mesopotamia or the Fertile Crescent. This civilization was one of the few that developed
with no precedents to set an example of organized society. The area lacked the security often
provided by the landscape, and civilizations frequently collapsed due to constant attacks by
neighboring nomadic enemies; the area eventually flourished due to the accomplishments of the
Sumerians (Krame). By the year 3500 BCE the Sumerians had developed the earliest known
form of written language, cuneiform; this encouraged formal bureaucracy and served as a means
of keeping written records on trade. This civilization was characterized by their extensive
scientific development, extreme religious beliefs, and well-organized city-states. Although the
civilization was centered between two rivers to promote agricultural production, trade, and
secure water supply, the behavior of the rivers was unpredictable and violent; the land would
unexpectedly flood and destroy surrounding buildings. There is evidence of a Sumerian city
being “built on top of an earlier one, separated by a layer of mud swept over in a flood” (Stearns,
Adas, Schwartz, Gilbert). Despite the irregular flooding, civilization thrived due to various
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technological advancements that helped control the water.
With the change from hunter-gatherer societies to agricultural civilizations came the need
for men to impose their dominance over women. The early civilization in Mesopotamia had strict
laws regarding women’s sexual conduct and their inferiority to men. Gender rolls were firmly
divided and enforced through political and religious laws. The Sumerians developed religious
temples to worship the grim gods they believed controlled human destiny; they also believed in
an afterlife of suffering constituting the original version of hell. Although they had strong
religious dogmas, their political system was slightly separated from such beliefs and centered
itself on well-organized city-states ruled by a single king often advised by local councils. Kings
participated in warfare, and their leadership in war was crucial to the Sumerian civilization often
plagued with external invasions. Early religious and political systems defined the cultural
traditions that endured in the region. The Sumerians improved their agricultural techniques by
introducing fertilizers, wheeled carts, bronze tools, and new ideas of crop cultivation; they also
adopted silver as a means of economic trade (Hillel). Major cities in the region expanded and
some even reached a population of over 70,000, an astounding improvement in population
density compared to hunter-gatherer societies.
Writing is considered the most important invention between the Neolithic and the
Industrial revolutions. Cuneiform at first was used for trading records, but eventually it
transformed into religious texts and some literature. Writing was not a common skill, only the
most elite people would have the opportunity of learning to write; thus it created a more definite
class distinction, which survives to this day. Writing also provides a more reliable source for
historical data. Sumerians developed the astronomical and natural sciences; and created a
mathematical system based on units of 12, 60, and 360 that is still being used today in
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calculations involving circles and time (Stearns, Adas, Schwartz, Gilbert). The Sumerians
intertwined their religious beliefs and their scientific ideas, and thus Priests were responsible for
preforming astronomical calculations to predict normal flooding believed to be controlled by
gods. Each city had its own god, and they built prodigious buildings to honor their patron deities;
these towers were called ziggurats. The Sumerians’ extensive trade and war spread their culture
across southwestern Asia; even after the collapse of their civilization, their language and
religious beliefs prevailed. Eventually the Sumerian empire fell to Akkadian rule that was later
overwhelmed by invasive forces. Within the confusion, the Babylonian Empire arose and unified
most of Mesopotamia. Hammurabi who famously codified strict laws ruled this large empire for
various years. Again, the empire ultimately collapsed to Hittite forces, that later divided into
smaller kingdoms that disputed the region for several centuries until about 900 BCE.
Mesopotamia was the region where civilization first sprouted, but shortly after another early
society settled around the Nile River.
The Egyptian civilization sprouted in the northeastern portion of Africa along the Nile
River. Early in its development, Egypt moved towards a strong kingship. These kings were
called Pharaohs and were considered the link between humanity and gods; after their death they
would often be considered gods. Although Egyptian pharaohs held and incredible amount of
power, it is still unknown if the public regarded them as highly as they believed to be. Unlike the
Mesopotamian civilization, the Egyptians did not expand across vast lands, but instead centered
their civilization strictly around the Nile River.
The Nile River helped the Egyptians thrive throughout the centuries. Contrasting the
Fertile Crescent, the Nile had a steady northern flow and predictable flooding, thus the Egyptians
quickly adapted to the river’s behavior and used its predictability for rapid agricultural
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development and reliable trade routs. The Nile’s benign nature permitted rapid agricultural
production with little effort compared to other civilizations (Diamond). The less effort it
required, the more time there was for other large projects such as the sphinx and great pyramids.
Egyptian civilization moved from small precivilization societies to large government units
without the city-state phase that many other civilizations experienced. The area rarely faced
political instability; the Nile’s reliable flow maintained persistent unity throughout the kingdom.
There were also few invasions; the land was surrounded by dessert, which provided a natural
barrier between the Egyptian civilization and external invaders. In 3100 BCE, the king of
southern Egypt conquered the northern portion of the modern-day country, and created a unified
state stretching about 600-miles along the Nile (Trigger). This region was a unified state for three
thousand years. During this lengthy period, Egyptian political rule was divided into three major
periods of monarchy; the Old, the Intermediate, and the New Kingdoms. Each kingdom was
separated from each other by about a century of confusion. The Old kingdom declined due to
attacks by Palestinian forces, followed by Middle Eastern armies. Eventually Egypt’s stable
monarchy settled and the Middle Kingdom arose and spread its territory to what is today known
as Sudan. Another period of invasion followed and chaos surfaced across the kingdom, which
resulted in the last Egyptian dynasty, the New Kingdom around 1570 BCE. During this period
Egyptian culture spread further across the Africa, the Mediterranean, and even seeped into the
Middle East. After the year 1150 BCE the last dynasty experienced a steady decline caused by
invasions and social unrest (Hassan).
Egypt’s centralized rule was characterized by the strength of its pharaohs; the rulers
would hold divine power and were responsible for the Nile’s flow and flooding, and for
agricultural fertility. The Egyptians held a strong respect for death and built elaborate
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monuments to commemorate their greatness even after dyeing. They believed that one could be
preserved through accurate mummification, and would take earthy good with them to the
afterlife. The Egyptians controlled life and politics through a very centralized and stable manner,
and therefore believed that death could also be controlled in such ways. The extensive and
orderly death rituals commonly preformed in Egyptian culture suggested an attempt at expanding
order into the afterlife.
Egyptians were not as scientifically successful as other early societies, but still managed
to provide modern day with the twelve-month year, the idea of a week, early medicine, and
papyrus paper. They developed a form of written language called Hieroglyphics; it was
completely based on simplified pictures representing sounds. Although their complex language
appeared on tomb walls and was used extensively for record keeping, there is no evidence of
Egyptian literature. Egyptian religion died along with its civilization when Christians took over
the land early in the current era; ultimately Arab invaders claimed the land around 600 CE. Many
traditions from ancient civilizations remain present in today’s society, but most polytheistic
religions were abolished by major monotheistic views such as Christianity and Islam. Despite the
monotheistic world we currently inhabit, one religion has prevailed since the dawn of
civilization: Hinduism.
The Indus river valley civilization was located along the southwestern part of the Indus
River in what is today called Pakistan. Hinduism is India’s current official religion, but the belief
system began a long time ago. At first is was a standard polytheistic worldview, which during the
classical period sprouted into a religion. During the Indus Valley era the religion was not called
Hinduism, but was merely composed of the belief in various gods, that eventually evolved into
present day Hindu deities. The Indus River was branched into eight waterways that reliably
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flooded twice a year depositing nutrients on the land crucial for efficient agricultural production.
Unlike the other two regions where civilization sprouted, there was not a single name or empire
for the societies of the Indus Valley, instead major cities developed along the banks of the river
such as Harappa and Mohenjo Daro. These two amazing cities had dense, multi-story homes
constructed out of uniformly sized bricks along perpendicular streets. The buildings were
oriented to catch the wind and provide a natural form of air conditioning; they were also clean
due to a central drainage system that used gravity to carry waste and water out of the city. In
Mohenjo Daro the largest public building was not a temple or a palace, as it was in other cities
and civilizations, it was a public bath known today as The Great Bath. It is unknown what this
bath was used for; because later Indian cultures placed such an importance on ritual purity,
historians speculate that The Great Bath might have been a giant baptismal pool. The cities also
traded with each other and Mesopotamian civilizations; they used seals as identification markers
on goods and clay tablets. The seals have been found all around the Indus Valley and even in
Mesopotamia, confirming the fact that these civilizations had contact with each other early in
their history. Everything that is known about this civilization has been discovered through
archeology, although the Indus Valley did have written language, it does not resemble any
modern language and there is no Rosetta Stone to aid in its deciphering. Indus Valley society
was composed of peaceful people, although the area has been vastly excavated, archeologists
have found little to no evidence of warfare.
Around the year 1750 BCE the Indus Valley civilization declined until it faded into
obscurity, the reason for this collapse is unknown but there are various theories to such a
dramatic downfall. The first is conquest, because the area was very peaceful and had practically
no weapons it is very possible that nomadic invaders destroyed the cities and took over the land.
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The second theory involves a natural disaster, due to the increasing population and the need for
more agricultural production it is plausible that the Indus Valley civilization brought upon their
own demise by destroying their environment (Diamond). The Indus valley’s landscape was very
different than what it is today, in the past it was full of vegetation and was very fertile, today the
area is arid and not ideal for agricultural production. It is believed that this drastic change in the
landscape was caused by human manipulation of the environment, thus it becomes evident that
Indus River Valley civilizations might have collapsed due to this change in the landscape. The
third theory is that a massive earthquake changed the course of the rivers so much that the area
dried up; without adequate irrigation, the cities could not sustain themselves and people could
not adapt to such changes, and consequently their civilization collapsed. The last and simplest
theory is that people merely left the area to find fertile land after the drastic environmental
transformations. The Indus River was not the only nursery for civilization in Asia; further east,
Chinese societies emerged along the Yellow river.
Chinese history is conveniently divided into dynasties, and most of them follow the same
pattern of rise and fall in a cycle that lasts from about 1500 BCE until 1911 CE at the time of the
Chinese revolution. The first of these dynasties developed along the banks of the Yellow River,
and was called the Shang Dynasty. The civilization along the Yellow river developed in almost
complete isolation; there was trade with India and Mesopotamia, but it did not come until later in
their history and it was very limited. The Shang dynasty ruled through a type of feudal system,
where local lords would control their lands but were to remain loyal to the king. The kings would
be considered the intermediate between the gods and the humans, mirroring elements of the
Egyptian civilization which whom they never had contact. Due to China’s lack of external
contact they believed to be located at the center of the Earth, and the kings would consider
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themselves rulers of all humanity. They were also responsible for ceremonies honoring the gods
in order to maintain fertility and well being across the kingdom. The Chinese believed in
sacrifice and would often make ceremonial sacrifices to the gods in order to assure stability. Like
in all other early societies, and most modern ones, the society was ordered into a social pyramid
with the kings and priests at the top, then the aristocratic families, and at the bottom the peasants
and slaves would be found. Writing was another important element of early Chinese culture.
Many history and literary works were made during the Shang dynasty; and just like in other
cultures, it created a stronger class distinction.
Chinese civilization remained relatively constant throughout the dynasties, some aspects
of society changed, but most political systems and social orders remained constant. Thus the
Shang dynasty is perceived to have founded Chinese civilization that prevailed until the Civil
war in 1911 CE. The people of the Chinese civilizations strongly believed in a concept known as
the Mandate of Heaven, this stated that as long as the king behaved according to laws and
morale, he or she would remain as the ruler appointed by the gods. If the emperor misbehaved of
broke any Chinese traditions he or she would loose the mandate of heaven, and chaos would
strike the land until someone else would receive such mandate and become the new ruler
appointed by the gods. The Shang dynasty eventually collapsed due to peasant uprising and
natural disasters that left the kingdom weak and open to invasion. Wu, a commander, overthrew
the Shang dynasty in its time of weakness and became the first king of the Zhou Dynasty. Wu
claimed that the Shang ruler had lost the Mandate of Heaven and was no longer fit to rule. The
Zhou centralized the government and strived to expand its territory. Eventually the empire got
too large and the ruler too ambitious that he lost the mandate of heaven, the empire divided into
three pieces and was taken over by the Qin dynasty.
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All River Valley Civilization emerged along rivers with distinct characteristics that
shaped their outlook on life. The Mesopotamian rivers behaved unpredictably and would often
cause violent floods that would wipe out entire cities. The Tigris and Euphrates rivers were their
only water supply available and the only one they were familiar with, and thus they believed that
the gods behaved as the rivers did; violently and unpredictable. They were constantly invaded by
nomadic groups, which enhanced their gloomy perspective on life and divinity; they also
believed that the afterlife was composed of suffering. On the other hand, the Egyptian
civilization had a completely different view on life, the gods, and the afterlife. They believed
their pharaohs to be almost-gods, therefore they were expected to behave as such. People aspired
to please their pharaoh because when he would pass away, he would become a god and carry
with him the memories of his mortal life. Egyptian gods were benevolent, and would provide the
Egyptians with thriving agriculture, and a very stable empire. The people of the Indus Valley
were also affected by the behaviors of their river. The Indus River was very calm, predictable,
and navigable, the land was also protected by the Himalayas and would rarely experience
invasion. These perfect conditions affected the people in such a way that they never developed
an army or weapons, and were believed to be quite peaceful. The landscape and the behavior of
nature shaped the early civilizations just as much at the people shaped the environment.
The early civilizations developed similar political and religious systems. All societies had
a polytheistic religious perspective, and many even shared similar gods. Both the Egyptian and
the Chinese rulers were believed to be graced with divine power, and all societies aspired to
please the gods in order to maintain stability and fertility. In many of these societies, there was a
constant power struggle between the religious and political authorities, and at times the true ruler
was indistinguishable. Although the societies developed in isolation, all of them experienced
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similar growths in their early years. They began with agriculture and learning to manipulate the
water supply. Then they attempted a centralized rule that eventually was overthrown by nomadic
invaders.
Although civilization brought great technological advances to the daily human life and
many other commodities, it is still debatable whether it was indeed a progress or a retrogression
of the human experience. Civilization as a concept needs careful evaluation and comparison to
societies where this type of human organization did not develop. As the human societies moved
towards civilization, distinctions based on wealth increased and gender inequality also
augmented. Non-civilized societies were often well regulated and had unique cultural
developments. Aggression and anger were also inventions of civilization, disputed within people
of non-civilized societies were rarely settled violently, while civilizations were often afflicted by
warfare, and regarded war-like behavior as virtuous. This leads to the conclusion that civilization
did not promote human happiness, due to the fact that they were removed from the natural cycle
and put to work against natural forces.
Civilization sprouted from human’s incessant need for expansion and growth.
Agricultural production served to supply a surplus of food, that lead to the ability for feeding
larger families, settlements, and eventually cities. All ancient civilizations evolved along a river
to secure water supply, transport, and fertility. The Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Indian, and
Chinese civilizations were very similar in their upbringing even though they shared limited
contact and had no previous example of human organization. This concept then leads to
questions regarding human’s natural programing; if all civilizations developed relatively similar,
was our species destined for civilization since its origin? Those original civilizations continued
to develop throughout time; they shaped their environment, expanded, collapsed, and have led to
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today’s current political stance. Modern humans hold all of history in their DNA, every
evolutionary step, adaptation, invasion, struggle, pleasure, disease, and fear is engraved into
every human’s genetic sequence. The human body is designed to survive and using signals from
its environment has perfectly adapted to what is most efficient in today’s world. Every action and
experience of our ancestors has affected the way humans perceive the world today. Everything
that every human has ever done has shaped the moment we currently experience.
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Citations
[1] Adas, Michael, Marc Gilbert, Stuart Schwartz, and Peter Stearns. World Civilizations: A
Global Experience. Pearson, 2011. Print.
[2] Diamond, Jared M. Collapse: how societies choose to fail or succeed. New York: Viking,
2005. Print.
[3] Hassan, Fekir. Nile Floods and Political Disorder in Early Egypt. 1997. Print.
[4] Hillel, Daniel. "Lessons of the Past." Out of the Earth: Civilization and the life of the soil.
Print.
[5] Krame, Samuel. The Sumerian: Their History Culture and Character. University of Chicago
Press. Print.
[6] Trigger, Bruce. Early Civilizations: Ancient Egypt in Context. The American University in
Cairo Press. Print.
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