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CRADLES OF
CIVILIZATION
• Nile river valley in Egypt
• Tigris/Euphrates river valley
in Iraq
• Indus river valley in South
Asia
• Huang He river valley in East
Asia
5 Characteristics of
Civilization
1. People have advanced technical
skills
2. A specialization of labor exists
3. Cities and governments exist
4. A form of written language exists
5. A calendar exists
People Have Advanced
Technical Skills
• Where there is a dependable
food supply, some time can be
used to refine skills and become
creative
• Examples:Metalworking (copper +
tin = bronze), Raft/boat building,
Weaving (invented loom),
Advanced Toolmaking, etc.
A Specialization of
Labor Exists
• With extra food, fewer men &
women had to farm & could earn a
living in a specialized field
• Examples: Artisans (workers
skilled in a craft), Merchants,
Traders, Weavers, Smiths, Sailors,
Fishers
Cities and Government Exist
• The first cities needed a way of
supervising and protecting
agriculture and trade
• Examples: Officials needed to
oversee collection, storage,
distribution of farming surpluses &
to organize labor force for
irrigation systems; Professional
soldiers needed to guard territory
and trade routes
A Form of Written
Language Exists
• With the development of agriculture,
there are large complex communities,
and a need to pass on or preserve
information
• Examples: Record amounts of grain,
Water for irrigation, Livestock, etc.
How Did Written Language Develop?
• PICTOGRAMS: - a picture represents a
thing ex: “tree”
• IDEOGRAMS: a picture stands for an idea
ex: “wealth”
• PHONOGRAMS: a picture stands for a
sound, usually a syllable
ex: “tree” sound in “treason”
• ALPHABET: a sign represents a single
consonant or vowel
ex: “t” represents first sound in “tree”
A Calendar Exists
• Farmers needed to know when
seasons would change, so they
observed the sun and moon
• Examples: Farmers would know
when to plant and when to
harvest
Ancient Egypt
• One of the world’s first civilizations developed along the
banks of the Nile River in northeast Africa.
• The Nile is the world’s longest river at 4160 miles and
passes over 6 cataracts or waterfalls.
• As early at 5000 BCE nomadic hunter gathers settled by
the Nile and took up farming.
• The Nile provided for fish, geese and ducks as well.
• Reeds growing on the banks of the Nile were used to
weave rope, make sandals, baskets and later used as a
form of writing material.
• (Papyrus)
Uniting Egypt
Protected from invasion by deserts and cataracts the early
farming villages on the Nile prospered. This led to strong
leaders coming to power uniting small villages into small
kingdoms or monarchies, each under control of a king.
By 4000 BCE ancient Egypt consisted of two large kingdoms
Lower Egypt in the north in the Nile Delta
Upper Egypt in the south in the Nile Valley
3000 BCE Narmer or Menes a king of Upper Egypt led forced
from the south to the north to conquer Lower Egypt, he then
ruled lower and Upper Egypt from his capital at Memphis (No
not that Memphis)
This began the rule of the Dynasties, rule by one family, in
Egypt, from 3000 BCE to 3323 BCE
The Dynasties of Ancient Egypt are divided into three periods,
Old, Middle and New Kingdoms.
The Old Kingdom
• 2700 BCE to 2200BCE
• At first the lower and upper kingdoms kept
their own identities, but over time a strong
national government was build and formed
the basic features of a civilization. Capital
was at Memphis.
The Middle Kingdom
• 2200 BCE to 1700 BCE
• The stable period of the old kingdom ended with nobles
fighting each other for control of Egypt. Around 2050
BCE a new dynasty reunited Egypt and created a capital
at Thebes.
• This new dynasty became as powerful as the old.
Creating canals, conquering lands and expanding trade.
• In the 1700’s BCE local leaders again started to
challenge the king’s power, at the same time Hyksos
from western Asia invaded and using copper weapons
and horse drawn chariots defeated the Egyptians and
created their own dynasty that lasted 110 years.
The New Kingdom
• The Egyptians under Ahmose defeated the
Hyksos and became the first leader of the New
Kingdom, he and others that followed him took
the title of Pharaoh or “great house of the king”
• Ahmose rebuilt temples and reorganized trade.
Following Ahmose came pharaohs who brought
more lands under Egyptian rule:
• The scope of the empire allowed for more
commerce with conquered territories as well as
cultural diffusion within the empire.
– What is Cultural Diffusion?
Technological Advances of the
Egyptians
• Written language, Hieroglyphics collections of proverbs, “The Book
of the Dead”, on how to reach a happy afterlife.
• Architecture, Pyramids, temples
• Mathematics, allowed for calculate area and volume as well as
principals of geometry. (Think Pyramids)
• They created a 365 day calendar based on the moon and Sirius, the
bright Dog Star. (Not XM but you get the idea where they got the
name)
• Egyptian doctors learned much of anatomy from embalming
practices as well as using splints, compression and bandages.
• Many other cultures learned their medical practices from the
Egyptians.
Egyptian Rulers of Note
Thutmose III
• Reclaimed throne when Hatshepsut
died
• mighty warrior!
• Conquered Syria
Akhenaton
• Amenhotep IV changed his name to
honor his god Aton
• tried to change Egyptian religion to
monotheism
Tutenkamen
• Son of Akhenaton; boy king
• religion was changed back
• tomb found in 1922 by Howard
Carter; was almost untouched!!!!!
• Evidence of the great wealth of the
Egyptians
Ramses II
• Successfully fought against the
Hittites
• had 100 children!
• Last great pharaoh
• maybe the pharaoh during Moses…
• built Abu Simbel
Fertile Crescent/Mesopotamia
• 5000 BCE Herders migrated north from the Arabian
Peninsula escaping low rainfall and drought
• Highlanders of the area that is now Turkey went south
away from poor weather and war.
• Both groups ended up in a crescent shaped area from
the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf, known as the
Fertile Crescent.
• Many settled in Mesopotamia “land between two rivers”,
a plain between the Tigres and Euphrates rivers.
• The two rivers did not have the regular seasonal flooding
of the Nile
– The people had to deal with this and created dams, canals and
ditches to aid in their need for water for irrigation.
– By 4000 BCE they were able to produce food in abundance.
Sumerians
• 3500 BCE Sumerians form Asia Minor arrived in
Mesopotamia and settled in the lower part of the Tigris
Euphrates valley at Sumer.
• There they created 12 city-states with populations of
20,000-250,000
• Build Ziggurats in each city-state.
• Each governed them selves independently.
• With a need to keep the city-state secure form invasion
and to aid in disputes over land and water rights, citystates chose their own military leaders, which ruled like
kings -> led to hierarchical rule.
Sumerians Con’t
• Family life was regulated extensively
• Men had great authority in the home
• They could sell their wife and children to
pay depts.
• Men could divorce their wives for the
slightest things.
• Women did have some control and could
divorce, but with stricter rules and could
own property like Egyptian women.
Cuneiform
• Sumerian form of writing using pictograms,
usually written on clay tablets.
• Sumerians learned to write in schools
called eddubas
• Gilgamesh 1850 BCE epic of a godlike
man the preformed heroic deeds.
• Historians believe this to be the oldest
story in the world.
Sumerians Gods and Belief
system
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Sumerians were Polytheistic
Each deity presided over a natural force, moon, air, etc.
An- responsible for seasons, chief deity.
Enlil god of wind and agriculture.
Each city-state worshiped all, but each had one they
claimed as their own.
• Sumerians felt the gods were selfish and didn’t care
about human kind.
• If angered the gods would punish humans.
• Did not believe in a happy after life, only a dark
underworld after death.
Sumerian Inventions
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Wagon wheel, to east transportation
Arch, to make sturdier buildings
Number system based on 60
12-month calendar based on the moons
cycles
• Metal plow
First Mesopotamian Empires
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Akkadians
Kingdom of Akkad in northern
Mesopotamia
Sargon I leader came to power in 2300
BCE
Started military conquest for expansion
United all of the city states
His grandson ruled successfully, but after
him, the empire disintegrated.
First Mesopotamian Empires
Ebla
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Northern Syria
Taken over by Sargon’s grandson.
Highly developed society.
Traded with the Egyptians.
King was elected for 7-year terms.
Welfare for the poor.
Form of impeachment of the king
Declined after 2000 BCE.
First Mesopotamian Empires
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Babylonian Empire
Amarites from Western Syria over ran the Sumerian centers in
Mesopotamia.
Hammurabi came to power and put down all other rulers and took
control of entire region.
Started a new tax system, rebuilt canals, and created a strong
government.
Hammurabi created a strict code of 282 laws that governed all daily
life.
– Strict punishment, “an eye for an eye…”
– Laws for different classes with varied punishment, more severe for
crimes against nobles as opposed to slaves.
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King, priest, nobles ->merchants, artisans -> slaves
• Upon Hammurabi’s death, the empire declined, Mesopotamia
divided once again and finally fell to the Hittites from Asian Minor,
who invaded in 1800BC.
Code of Hammurabi
Successive empires
• The region of Mesopotamia was
ruled by a variety of peoples
including the Hittites, Assyrians,
Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks, and
eventually was conquered by the
Arabs.
• Today it lies mostly in the country of
Iraq, which is a Muslim country