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The First Civilizations
and the Rise of Empires
Chapters 1 and 2
The First Civilizations:
The Peoples of Western Asia and Egypt
I. The First Humans
II. Agricultural Revolution
III. Emergence of Civilization
a)Mesopotamia
IV. First Civilizations
a)Sumerians
f) Chaldeans
b)Akkadians
g) Phoenicians
c)Amorites / Old Babylonians
h) Hebrews
d) Hittites
i) Persians
e) Assyrians
V. Egyptians
VI. Conclusion
I. THE FIRST HUMANS
CHRONOLOGY OF THE FIRST HUMANS AND THEIR CIVILIZATIONS
BC and BCE – religious versus secular, otherwise no difference in usage.
BC – Before Christ
BCE – Before Common Era
Years ago:
4,000,000 - 3,000,000
1,500,000
250,000 - 30,000
200,000 - 150,000
Hominids
Homo Erectus
Homo sapiens
Homo sapiens sapiens
Australopithecines
"upright human being"
Fire used around 500,000 ya
"wise human being"
1) Neanderthal (Neander
Valley in Germany)
"wise, wise human being"
Africa
Left Africa for Europe and
Asia
Europe, Middle East
By 10,000 BC, homo sapiens
sapiens replaced Neanderthal
and had settled around much of
what had been settled/found.
From
2,500,000 -
PALEOLITHIC
AGE
-------------------------------------
Paleolithic - old stone; JAVA man, PEKING man, Neanderthal man, Cro-Magnon man
Neolithic - new stone
Bronze - use of bronze
Years ago: 10,000
10,000 - 4,000
4,000 - 3,000
3,000 - 1,200
Homo sapiens sapiens
-----------
----------------
----------
Ice Age ends.
Agricultural
Revolution
Systematic Agriculture
begins between 8,000
- 7,000 BC
- writing begins circa
7060
PALEOLITHIC AGE
ENDS.
NEOLITHIC -----------
Significant technical
developments: tools,
metals.
Invention of wheel circa
3000
Concentration of people in
Mesopotamia and Egypt
-emergence of civilization
- 3500 - 3000 BC
Approx 3000+ BC Sumerians
Approx 3000 BC - Egyptians
Approx 2000 BC – Akkadians
Approx 1800 BC –
Babylonians
Approx 1750 BC – Hittites
Approx 1200 BC – Phoenicians
& Hebrews
Approx 700 BC – Assyrians
Approx 600 BC - Persians
---AGE. BRONZE AGE
------BRONZE AGE.
IRON AGE ---
1st Stage:
Hominids
FROM AFRICA - East and South Africa
Australiopithecines
Simple stone tools
 3-4 million years ago
2nd Stage:
Homo Erectus
From same area
 1.5 million years ago
More tools and more varied tools
First to leave Africa and moved into Europe and Asia
3rd Stage:
Homo Sapiens (wise human being)
 250,000 ya
Two branches off of homo sapiens
- Neanderthal (Nender Valley, Germany)
Dated to 100,000 and 30,000 bce
Relied upon variety of stone tools
First to bury their dead
- Homo sapiens sapiens (wise wise human being)
First anatomically modern humans
Dated 200,000 – 100,000
II. Agricultural Revolution
III. Emergence of Civilization
Civilization: a complex culture in which large numbers of humans share a
number of common elements
Basic Characteristics of Civilization:
-Urban revolution: cities become focal point for politics,
economics, social, and cultural
The basic characteristics – writing and cities
Languages:
Semitic: Assyrian, Akkadian, Aramaic, Babylonian, Canaanitic, Phoenician,
Syriac, Arabic, Hebrew
Indo-European: English, German, Greek, Latin, Persian, and the languages of
India.
IV. FIRST CIVILIZATIONS
a) Sumerians
Time Period: 3000 BC – 2350 BC
Region:
Language:
Social Structure: 3 major groups – highly stratified
Leadership:
Gender Roles:
Religion:
Legal:
Economy:
Cities: Eridu, Ur, uruk, Umma, Lagash -
Notables: Epic of Gilgamesh
• B) Akkadian
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Time Period: 2350 – 2100 BC
Region:
Language: Semitic
Social Structure:
Leadership: Sargon: 2334-2279 BC
Gender Roles:
Religion:
Legal:
Economy:
Cities:
Notables:
c) Amorites or Old Babylonians:
Time Period: 1792 BC – 1750 BC
Region:
Language: Semitic
Social Structure:
Leadership: Hammurabi
Gender Roles:
Religion:
Legal:
Economy:
Cities:
Notables: Code of Hammurabi – 282 Laws
Code of Hammurabi
282 laws
-written so as to not be arbitrary
-eye for an eye
-standards for professions: public officials had numerous duties,
responsibilities.
-Consumer protection
-sought to protect women and children / focus on family matters
-sexual promiscuity permitted – for men.
-reorganized and consolidated previous laws in order to maintain the
established social / economic order.
ALSO devised most sophisticated mathematical system based on
numerical system of 1-60 (we use hours and minutes - 60), Quadratic
equation (used in computing amounts of materials for bldg)
When Hammurabi died, his son lost ½ the kingdom in revolts and thus
weakened, fell to Hittites
d) Hittites
Time Period: 1500 – 800 BC
Region: Asia Minor and Anatolia
Language: Indo-European
Social Structure:
Leadership: Sargon: 2334-2279 BC
Gender Roles:
Religion: adopted many of the gods of the Sumerians and Old Babylonians
Legal: modified the system of law they inherited from the Old Babylonians
Economy:
Cities:
Notables: Iron
e) Assyrian
Time Period: 800 – 600 BC
Region:
Language: Semitic
Social Structure:
Leadership: Ashurbanipal 669-626 B.C.
Gender Roles:
Religion:
Legal:
Economy:
Cities:
Notables: iron weapons, Use of terror, lay siege to cities
f) Chaldeans
Time Period: 600 – 500 BC
Region:
Language: Semitic
Social Structure:
Leadership:
Gender Roles:
Religion:
Legal:
Economy:
Cities:
Notables:
g) Phoenicians
Time Period:
Region:
Language: Semitic
Social Structure:
Leadership:
Gender Roles:
Religion:
Legal:
Economy:
Cities: Byblos, Tyre, and Sidon
Notables: traders, alphabet
h) Hebrews
The Hebrews: The “Children of Israel” Between 1200 and 1000 B.C.E.,
the Israelites emerged as a distinctive people organized into tribes
– The United and Divided Kingdoms
• Solomon (c. 970-930B.C.E.)
– Temple housed the Ark of the Covenant
• The divided kingdom
– Division into the kingdom of Israel with its capital at Samaria
and Judah with its capital at Jerusalem
– Assyrians destroyed Samaria in 722 B.C.E. and overran the
kingdom of Israel
– Deported the Hebrews to other parts of the empire
– Chaldeans defeated the Assyrians and destroyed Jerusalem in
586 B.C.E.
– Persians destroyed the Chaldean kingdom
– Judah remained under Persian control until Alexander the
Great
• Spiritual Dimensions of Israel
– Yahweh
» Created nature but not in nature
» God of mercy and love
» Spoke through Moses
– Covenant, law, the prophets
i) Persians
Babylon fell to the Persians in 539 B.C.E.
Indo-European people
Cyrus (559-530 B.C.E.)
Cambyses (530-522 B.C.E.)
Darius (521-486 B.C.E.)
Civil Administration and the Military
Divided into 20 provinces
Satraps collected tribute, responsible for justice and security
Roads
Royal Road stretched from Sardis to Susa
All subjects were the king’s servants
Professional army with a core of 10,000 cavalry
Persian Religion
Zoroaster (b. 660 B.C.E.)
Zoroastrianism
Monotheism
Ahurmazda, the creator, gave all humans free will and the power to
chose between right and wrong
Each soul faced final evaluation
First settlement around 4000 BC
Over 2500 years, most stable civilization the western world had ever known.
Included 31 dynasties grouped into four periods
Egyptian
Divine Kingship
The Importance of Religion
Inseparable element of the world order
Polytheistic
Sun gods and land gods
Sun god worshiped as Atum in human form
Egyptian ruler took the title “Son of Re”
King  Pharoh
HORUS (sky and falcon god)
RA (sun god)
AMEN-RE
OSIRIS (god of the dead)
Mummification – important for return of spiritual ka
Hyksos - result was the Egyptian use of bronze for improved tools and weapons,
more effective methods of warfare which enabled the Egyptians to establish the New
Kingdom and expand their empire, use of horse-drawn war chariots, significant
increase in Egyptian imperialism.
Ahmose I
Empire – Somalia, Nubia, Palestine, Syria
Hatshepsut 1490-1468 BC
Amenhotep IV 1364 – 1347 BC
TUTANKHAMEN
New Centers of Civilization
By 6500 BC, Agriculture had spread into the Balkan peninsula
By 4000 BC, humans in what is now France, central Europe, Mediterranean area had
domesticated animals
Between 3200 – 1500 BC – the druids ended up with very large stones (megalithic
constructions) throughout Britain. These megalithic constructions were also evident
as far north as Scandinavia and as far south as Corsica and Malta.
Role of Nomadic People
Herding, hunting, gathering, limited farming
Indo_Europeans were most significant nomadic people.
Indo-Europeans from somewhere in the steppe region north of the Black
Sea or in southwestern Asia