Download Chapter 2 Notes - Martin`s Mill ISD

Chapter 2 Notes
First Civilizations: Africa and Asia
Section 1
Ancient Kingdoms of the Nile
Geography of the Nile
Yearly Floods (Video)
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Silt –
Dikes, reservoirs, irrigation ditches
Uniting the Land
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Upper Egypt – south; stretched from
first cataract of the Nile to within 100
miles of the Mediterranean Sea
cataract Lower Egypt – north; covered the delta
region where the Nile empties into the
Med. Sea
delta 3100 B.C. – Menes, king of Upper
Egypt, united the two regions; used
Nile as transportation and trade route;
world’s first unified state
Old Kingdom (2700 B.C.-2200 B.C.)
Dynasty Strong Government
(Video)
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Pharaohs –
claimed divine support for their rule;
citizens believed they were god; had
absolute power
Vizier –
in charge of tax collection, farming,
irrigation systems; think Joseph in the
Bible
The Pyramids
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Used as tombs for pharaohs and other
important people
Suggest strength of Egypt; much
planning and organization
Collapse
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Power struggles, crop failures, cost of
pyramids
Middle Kingdom (2050-1800 B.C.)
Struggles
– Corruption and rebellions were common
– Nile did not rise as it regularly did
– 1700 B.C. – Hyksos civ. occupied delta region; had horse drawn chariots;
adopted Egyptian customs. (cultural diffusion)
Advances
– Created new stretches of arable land with new drainage system
– Occupied part of Nubia (gold)
– Expanded trade into Middle East and Crete (island in Med. Sea)
New Kingdom (1550-1100 B.C.)
- age of conquest; reached Euphrates river
(present day Iraq) and parts of Africa
Powerful Rulers
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Hatshepsut – (1503-1482 B.C.)
woman; encouraged trade with E Med.
lands and along Red Sea coast of
Africa
Ramses II – (1290-1224 B.C.) most
powerful pharaoh of New Kingdom;
pushed empire north to Syria; fought
for years with Hittites and signed peace
treaty; first such document known to
survive history
Decline
–
Power slowly declined; Assyrians and
Persians invaded and conquered
Egypt; wanted to use fertile Nile Valley
Section 2
Egyptian Civilization
Egyptian Religion
Chief gods and
goddesses
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Osiris and Isis
Osiris – god of the dead; god of the
Nile
Isis – appealed to women; thought to
have taught women to rind corn, spin
flax, weave cloth
Amon-Re –
chief god; only pharaoh could conduct
certain ceremonies
Religious rebel
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Akhenaton – young pharaoh tried to
change chief god to Aton, a minor god
whose symbol was the sun’s disk;
wasn’t well received.
Belief in Afterlife (Video)
Fateful Test
– Book of the Dead –
contained spells, charms, formulas for
the dead to use in the afterlife; visited
Osiris
Mummification –
Evidence of the Tomb of
Tutankhamen (“King Tut”)
–
Immense treasures; remained
untouched for 3000 years; chariots,
weapons, furniture, jewelry, toys,
games, and food
Egyptian Society
- Top to bottom: pharaohs and royal family, high priests and priestesses (served gods), nobles (fought
wars), tiny class of merchants, scribes, and artisans, peasants, and then slaves
Life as a Farmer
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Most Egyptians were peasant farmers or slaves; spent days working soil or repairing dikes.
In off-season, men labored building temples, pyramids, palaces; women raised kids, collect
water, and prepare food.
Social Change
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Trade offered new opportunities to growing merchant class; more demand for artisan
products like jewelry, furniture, and fabrics
Women
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Enjoyed higher status; could inherit property, enter business, buy and sell goods, go to court,
divorce
Excluded from becoming scribes or government jobs
Egyptian Learning
Written Records
– Scribes played central role
in society; kept record of
ceremonies, taxes, and
gifts; also knew of
mathematics, medicine,
and engineering
– Hieroglyphics –
carved into stone; endured
for thousands of years
– Ideograms –
– Demotic
– Papyrus
Egyptian Learning
Rosetta Stone
– Flat, black stone discovered
by Jean Champollion; carved
message in three forms of
script (hieroglyphics, demotic,
Greek)
– Helped decipher
hieroglyphics; breakthrough
for scholars
Advances in Medicine
and Science
– Mummification, surgical
operations, constellations,
movement of planets,
accurate calendar,
geometry (pyramids)
Arts and Literature
Paintings and
Sculpture
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Everyday scenes of trade, farming,
family life, religious ceremonies
Stiff standard poses (heads and limbs
in profile, shoulders facing front);
human figures with animal heads;
pharaohs larger than others
Pyramids, Great Sphinx, temples
Egyptian Literature
–
Hymns, prayers, proverbs, love poems
Instruction of Ptah-hotep
The Tale of Sinuhe
Section 3
City-States of Ancient Sumer
Geography of Fertile Crescent
Mesopotamia – “land
between two rivers”
(Tigris and Euphrates)
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Rich, fertile soil, wheat fields
Floods and irrigation; depended on
river control for survival and protection
Dikes and ditches
3200 B.C. – first
Sumerian cities; Ur and
Erech
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Few natural resources; used clay and
mud to build
Trade brought wealth; first wheeled
vehicles
Sumerian Civilization
Government and Society
– Turned to courageous and resourceful war leaders
- maintain city walls and irrigation systems
- led armies into war and enforced laws
- employed scribes to keep taxes and records
- chief servant of the gods
– Social hierarchy –
1) ruling family, leading officials, high priests
2) lesser priests and scribes, merchants, artisans
3) peasants
4) slaves
– Women
- changed over time: mother-goddess replaced by dominant male war gods
- well to do women could trade, own property, supervise palace, or even rule in
king’s absence
Sumerian Civ. Continued
Sumerian Religion
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Polytheistic; gods control every aspect
of life and nature
Ziggurat –
Believed in afterlife; heaven and hell;
more pessimistic view; hell is a grim
place
Advances in Learning
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3200 B.C. – earliest known form of
writing pic on pg. 37
cuneiformMath; number system based on six (60
min, 360 degree circle)
Accurate numbers
Section 4
Invaders, Traders,
and Empire Builders
Ruling a Large Empire
The First Empire Builder
– 2300 B.C. : Sargon – ruler of Akkad, conquered Sumerian city-states
– Built first known empire in history
Hammurabi the Lawgiver – king of Babylon (1790 B.C.)
– Code of Hammurabi – legal principals his government would follow; first
important attempt by a ruler to codify all of the laws to govern a state.
1) “cause justice to prevail in the land/ to destroy the wicked and the evil/ that the
strong may not oppress the weak”
2) Criminal law – robbery, assault, murder; “eye for an eye”
3) Civil law – private rights, business contracts, taxes, marriage, divorce;
protected the powerless (slaves, women)
– United empire; improved irrigation, well-trained army, repaired temples, religious
unity (Marduk, chief god)
Warfare and the Spread of Ideas
(Cultural Diffusion)
Secret of Ironworking – 1400 B.C.
– Hittites were less advanced but had stronger weapons and tools
– Spread across Asia, Africa, and Europe (IRON AGE)
Assyrian Warriors – 1100 B.C.
– Reputation for being among the most feared warriors; forged iron
weapons
– Well-ordered society: first to develop laws regulating life in the
royal household, founded one of first libraries
Warfare and the Spread of Ideas
(Cultural Diffusion)
Babylon
Revived – 612
B.C.
– Nebuchadnezzar – revived
Babylonian empire;
stretched from Persian Gulf
to Med. Sea
– Rebuilt canals, temples,
palaces, walls, Hanging
Gardens (Ancient Wonder of
World)
Persian Empire – 539 B.C.
Cyrus the Great – controlled Asia Minor to India
– Tolerance -
Uniting many peoples
– Darius – 522 – 486 B.C.; skilled organizer of government
– Divided empire into provinces
– Satrap –
story of Daniel in the Bible
– Adapted laws from conquered lands to develop own code of laws, built roads to
unify empire, established coin system.
New Religion
– Zoroaster – 600 B.C.; rejected old gods
- Ahura mazda – single wise god; ruled world
- Ahriman
- arch enemy; prince of lies and evil
- Zend-Avesta - sacred book
Phoenician Sea Traders
-famous sailors and traders along Med. Sea
Manufacturing and Trade
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Farming, glass, purple dye (Tyrian purple)
Words Bible and bibliography
Est. colonies in N Africa, Sicily, and Spain; traveled to England
Alphabet –
Were called “carriers of civilization”
Section 5
The Roots of Judaism
Early History of the Israelites
Nomadic People (2000
B.C.)
– Abraham – considered founder
of Israelite nation
1) sheep and goat herders
2) moved from Sumer to Canaan,
then to Egypt
Kingdom of Israel (1000
B.C.)
– David – very strong and popular
king; united Israelite tribes into a
single nation
– Solomon – David’s son; very
wealthy, very wise, tried to expand
by negotiation
Early History of the Israelites Cont.
Division and Conquest
– High Taxes
– Labor Revolts
– Kingdom split into Israel (north) and Judah (south)
1) could not defend against invaders
2) conquered by Assyrians and Babylonians
3) Nebuchadnezzar exiled all Israelites into Babylon; became
known as Jews
4) Persian king, Cyrus, conquered Babylon and freed Jews;
tolerance
A Covenant with God
One True God
– Monotheistic –
– Believed in an all-knowing, all-powerful God
The Chosen People
– Covenant –
read excerpt on pg. 46
– “promised land” (Canaan); God’s “chosen
people”
Teachings on Law and Morality
Torah
– Laws – cleanliness and
food preparation; criminal
laws
– Patriarchal –
– Women – few legal rights
Ten
Commandments
– Set of laws dealing with
religious duties to God and
rules for conduct
1) Sabbath –
2) “Honor thy father and
mother” “You shall not murder”
“You shall not steal”
Teachings on Law and Morality
An Ethical Worldview
– Prophets –
– Ethics –
– Jews saw their leaders as fully human and
bound to obey God
– Diaspora –
– Kept own traditions wherever they settled
throughout the world; influenced Christianity
and Islam