Download Notes for the Prezi Mesopotamia: The first records of the

Notes for the Prezi
Mesopotamia:
The first records of the Mesopotamia civilization started around 3100 BCE. Mesopotamia was
concentrated between two rivers called the Tigris and the Euphrates. This water source helped
the people of Mesopotamia to live off of the land. Although the Tigris and Euphrates were
unpredictable in terms of flooding and droughts, the people of Mesopotamia focused on
agriculture. Farmers contributed grain to all of society and instead of being paid in money most
professions would be paid in grain. Mesopotamia was also one of the first civilizations to
produce things like beer and wine. One of the more well known rulers of Mesopotamia was
Hammurabi who ruled from 1792 BCE to 1750 BCE. He was the ruler of Babylon, which was an
empire inside the area known as Mesopotamia. Hammurabi introduced a law code which was
based on the “eye for an eye” principal. If you cut off somebody’s hand, you would then have
your hand cut off as a consequence. Eventually, the Babylon was taken over by another empire
within Mesopotamia which was called Assyria and the Assyrians expand their empire all the way
to the borders of Egypt.
*Picture of Babylon
*Mohandas Ghandi
Egypt:
Ancient Egypt lasted from about 3000 BCE to 332 BCE. Like the empires within Mesopotamia,
Egyptian life was influenced by the Nile River. The Nile River was used for transportation and
helped out agriculturally by giving the soil rich nutrients to grow crops on the land. The Nile
River even shaped the Egyptian worldview as Kings were supposed to act like the Nile which
meant to act calm, cool, and giving. In other words, the Nile River is a pretty big deal when it
comes to talking about the Egyptians and their way of life. There was a tremendous emphasis on
the afterlife in ancient Egypt which is why Pharaohs, or the Kings and Queens, were buried in
gold and other riches. One of the more famous Egyptians from the past is King Tut. The only
reason he is so famous is because his tomb did not get robbed until early in the 1900s CE. King
Tut did not live that great of a life anyways. He married his sister and then died before he was 20
years old.
*video on pyramids
Greece:
In the 4th Century BCE (400-301 BCE), ancient Greece starts to flourish as a civilization. Greece
civilization is based around architecture, philosophy, and literature. (Socrates and Plato) The two
main city-states within Greece at the time are Athens and Sparta. These two places compare and
contrast with one another. Sparta had Kings and Queens and heavily focused on war and military
training. Athens, on the other hand, developed the concept of Democracy. But when we say
“democracy”, it was a corrupt democracy in that women and slaves were not allowed to vote and
many of the decision-makers for Athens were individually driven to make their own personal
lives better.
*Acropolis – built to protect the city of Athens
*Parthenon – built as a temple to the goddess of Athena (438 BCE finished)
*Olympia – Olympics were an honour to Zeus who was the King of the Gods in Greek
Mythology.
*Greece had tremendous influence on Roman civilization
Rome:
There is a myth that Rome was founded by two men named Romulus and Remus. Romulus and
Remus were abandoned by their parents and were raised by a wolf. When they were old enough
they started to build a city and they got in a fight. Romulus ended up killing Remus and naming
their city Rome. The height of the Roman Empire was about 100 BCE – 200 CE. It was such a
vast empire that it actually reached the borders of modern day Britain when a Roman Emperor
named Caligula went on a military expedition. The Roman military was powerful and large and
destroyed basically anything in its path. Julius Caesar, perhaps the most well-known Roman, was
a fantastic military leader. At first he was well-liked by the people of Rome, but he eventually
became corrupt and he actually proclaimed himself Emperor of Rome. Other Romans started to
get fed-up or sick and disgusted with Caesar and he was eventually assassinated on 15 March 44
BCE.
*Talk about the Ides of March
*Video on teenager life on Rome
Inca:
The Incan Empire starts in the 1100s CE and will grow to be the largest empire in preColumbian America. When I say “pre-Columbian” I just refer to the time before Christopher
Columbus landed at the Americas in 1492. The capital of the Incan empire was a place called
Cusco which would be located in modern day Peru. The Inca, like many other ancient
civilization, focused heavily on agriculture and religion. One of the most well-known historical
buildings from the Inca Empire is Machu Picchu which gets built in the 1400s CE. There are
different views on what Machu Picchu was used for. Some historians say its main use was a city,
others say it was a temple for sacrificed people, others say it was just a place where the royal
people of the empire would go to relax and suntan, and others say it was built as a honour to the
landscape.
*Machu Picchu
*Map of Incan Empire
Maya:
The Mayan Civilization starts around 2000 BCE and lasts, like the Inca, until the Spanish
Conquest. The Mayans were one of the most studied ancient civilizations recently mainly for
what I would say is two reasons: the first is that they were an advanced civilization in terms
architecture, mathematics, and astronomy like many of other ancient civilizations; and two most
likely because of their calendar and how it ended in 2012 and the “scare” that happened
throughout the world. Mayan culture focused around agriculture and city centres. Like the
Egyptians, the Maya were fascinated in building pyramids for Gods that they worshipped and
spend resources and human power in order to build these pyramids.
*El Castillo (around the 10th and 11th centuries CE)
*Calendar
China
China is one of the world’s oldest civilizations. People of ancient China actually wrote historical
records and the first dynasty that was written about was the Xin Dynasty that lasted from 2100
BCE -1600 BCE. When we say “dynasty” it means that a family ruled that region for that
amount of time. The Zhou dynasty was the longest lasting dynasty in Chinese history which
lasted from 1046 BCE – 246 BCE. Throughout the different dynasties, China’s borders changed.
Sometimes the dynasty that was in charge was able to expand the borders and sometimes, due to
war, the borders did not expand. The Great Wall of China, which started to be built around 200
BCE and was built to protect China from enemy invasions. The Great Wall of China would be
repaired and added to throughout each Chinese dynasty that ruled China. Another important
aspect of ancient China is called the Silk Road. The Silk Road was a trade route for porcelain,
silk, and other precious clothes that would be shipped to modern-day Europe for trading
purposes.
*Great Wall of China
*Map of Chinese dynasties and each of their borders.