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Chapter 2
Overview and Discussion
Ancient
Civilizations
The Fertile Crescent
MAPS
http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/maptext_n2/start1.html
What changes in the world lead to
civilizations (define)?
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Agricultural Revolution: farming & irrigation
Permanent villages turned into city-states
Organized governments, religion, and legal system
Writing system-recorded history!
Political system based on territory rather than kinships
Specialization of labor in areas other than food production
What’s wrong with this definition?
People define civilization with their own way of life
Fertile Crescent
• Fertile Crescent
- “Crossroads to
the world?”
• Also known as
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
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Climate:
• Unpredictable
flooding
-Why a blessing?
-Why a curse?
Topography:
• No geographical
barriers
-Why is that a
problem?
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Religion
• Believed gods controlled every aspect of
life.
• Anthropomorphic - gods possess same
characteristics as man
• Man at the mercy of the gods
- Why?
Natural disasters
Natural blessing
SOCIAL STRUCTURE
• Each state had distinct social hierarchy
• There were three distinct classes:
– the large landholders, royalty, priests, and merchants
– dependent farmers (most people) and artisans and
workmen
– Slaves was not economically crucial
• not an inherited condition
• Men held authority over women and children
• Women had legal rights; some engaged in trade
and owned property.
Status of women in Mesopotamian society
• Hunter gathering
society
• Higher status
• Served as a primary
role in procuring
much of the family’s
food
• Agricultural society
• women’s status
declined
– cultivating work was
done by men
• had no political role
• occupations
– textile weaving,
brewing, prostitution,
tavern keeping, baking,
and fortunetelling,
raising children
Economy
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Barter Economy
- Example?
Ziggurat
Each had its own
ziggurat? Very
Important…
• - Its purpose?
GOVERNMENT
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City-states with hereditary rulers.
Supported by priesthood and military
Ruler led army in war and enforced laws.
Complex government with scribes to collect
taxes and keep records.
Mesopotamian technological advances.
• technology
– any specialized knowledge that is used to
transform the natural environment and society.
• Agriculture
– Irrigation (canals, dams, etc.
• transportation
– carts, sledges, and boats for maneuvering in the
varied terrain.
• metallurgy
– Bronze
Writing
• Cuneiform
-Oldest in the World
-Wedge depressions
in clay tablets
-Formed from a reed
stylus
-Most important
contribution
The Code of Hammurabi
– first written set of laws
– 282+ laws
– “Eye for an eye, life for
life” What does that
mean?
Hammurabi
Babylonian Leader
1792-1750 B.C.E
Egypt: “The Gift of the Nile”
• 4,160 miles longest
river in the world
• Predictable
flooding
• carried rich
deposits of silt
along with it.
• primary means of
communication
and
transportation.
Explain how the first Egyptian civilization
was shaped by its natural environment
• Imposing natural
barriers of desert and
harborless seacoast
provided what?
• protection from outside
influences and threats
and allowed Egypt to
develop a unique
culture in isolation and
security
Menes: The First Pharaoh
• He built a large palace
and the people called
him Pharaoh, which
means "great palace.”
• From then on Egypt's
rulers were called
pharaohs, his was the
first dynasty.
Discuss the image of the pharaoh and the reason for
construction of the pyramids.
• Pharaoh
– god on earth
– maintain ma’at, the divine order of the universe
– He was the link between the people and the gods,
therefore ensuring the welfare and prosperity of the
country.
• The death of the pharaoh was a critical
– because the well-being of the state depended on him.
– every effort was made to ensure that he had a safe
journey back to the gods in his afterlife.
Religion in the Lives
of Ancient Egyptians
• Egyptians, like all
ancient peoples
believed that the Gods
controlled nature,
especially the weather
and illness
Egyptian Priest
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Most Honored
Egyptian Gods
Major Gods:
-Amon-Re (ra) was the
sun god – Most Powerful
God!
-Osiris was the god of the
underworld and of the
Nile.
-Isis was the most
powerful mother goddess
worshiped all over Egypt
Mummification
– Mummify to
preserve a sound
body for the Ka to
return to
– 70 day process
– Improper
embalming leads to
second true death
Mummification
• Ka
– Spirit created
when all men
are born
– This spirit of
life returns once
the body has
passed the
test…
A Fateful Test…
• Egyptians had to pass test after they died.
• It was believed that dead souls were ferried
across a lake of fire to the hall of Osiris
• The heart of the dead was weighed against a
feather if the heart weighted less he was allowed to
go on
• Those who were viewed as sinners were fed to the
crocodile-shaped eater of the dead/ those who
were viewed as worthy entered the happy field of
food.
Indus Valley Civilization
3300–1300 BCE, flowered
2600–1900 BCE
•The earliest Indian civilization flourished
for about 1,000 years, then vanished
without a trace.
Indus Valley Civilization
• Well-organized government
• Carefully planned cities
•Modern plumbing and sewer system

Public Bath at
Harappa
Mohenjo-daro & Harappa
• Two major cities of the
Indus Valley
• Very sophisticated
civilization
•Lots of modern
excavation & research in
that area today
•Mohenjo-daro
discovered in the 1940s
by a British
archaeologist
Indus Valley Writing
Whose
writing
does the
Indus
peoples
look the
most like?
How could
that be?
Decline and Disappearance:
Indus Valley Civilization
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No one knows for certain why the cities were
abandoned or forgotten.
Scholars have proposed a number of theories:
A devastating earthquake destroyed the region.
A volcanic eruption caused the Indus to flood the city.
Aryan invaders overran the region.
The Indus valley climate grew significantly cooler and
drier from about 1800 BCE. A crucial factor may have
been the disappearance of substantial portions of the
Ghaggar Hakra river system
Compare the civilization in the Indus Valley with the
civilizations in Mesopotamia and Egypt.
• Emergence of civilization
– All three civilizations were built around fertile river valleys.
• Society
– The resulting surplus production of foodstuffs supported a
government and religious infrastructure
• Writing
– All three civilizations also developed a complex system of writing
to accompany the growth of government and urban life.
• Religion
• religious beliefs and practices tied to the natural
environment.
• Urban or agricultural
– Because of the size of the Indus River system, the civilization there
was much larger than that in Mesopotamia. Whereas the
Mesopotamian civilization was urban centered, that of the Indus
Valley was more dispersed and rural.