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Ancient History
Section 1
Early History
The Stone Age
 History class built upon what can be proven – we focus on Evolution not Faith
 Separated from apes 25 m.y.a. – process took a while (humans by 2.5 m.y.a.)
 Humans not around too much time – 1/4000th of earth’s existence
 LOTS of evidence to support evolving from apes – only 1.6% difference between the species
 Stood upright because trees were crowded & wanted to see over the tall grass
 Humans came from Africa – lots of scientific evidence to support this theory
 Spread out from there around the globe – even across Bering land bridge to America
 Moved places following the big game that they were trying to get (mammoths, horses, ect.)
 People adapted to environment – skin color even changed to adapt to environment
 Darker skin in hotter places-prevent sun burn, skin cancer, damage to sweat glands
 Lighter skin in cooler places- gives more vitamin D (preventing rickets- bowed legs)
 Homo Sapiens Sapiens (very smart humans) – only came about 120,000 y.a.
 But needed lots of space to hunt – turned into small groups with relative gender equality
 Developed tools to help their environment – fire, clothes, bone knifes, rafts, ect.
 Still humans though – signs of LOTS of fighting – killed off other human-type species
 Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) – from 2.5 m.y.a. to about 12,000 BCE
 Developed simple stone tools & walked upright – size of brain increased
 Walking upright made them slow – easy kill for predators
 We know about them based on cave paintings, tool remains, & burial sites
 Neolithic (New Stone Age) – very slow change 14,000-10,000
 People settle into 1 spot & start farming – could support way more people than before
 More than likely realized that seeds grew plants out of their garbage dump
 Big game animals were also decreasing in # - needed another plan
 Why live in towns – give up personal freedom for safety (won’t get stolen from)
 Some isolated societies still avoid cities – usually in harsh climates with less interaction
 Effects of cities – people become less free due to having to abide by rules of city
 People start to develop immunities by living in such close quarters with others
 Longer work week (labor intensive), built houses, varied clothing
 New animals domesticated – pigs, sheep, goats, cattle – giving meat, skins, dairy
 Middle East had big advantage – water source, fertile area, not forested
 Calendar – the 1st ones were a Lunar calendar – 11 days shorter than solar
 Nomads – small groups who move around the countryside to find food
 Forced to stay in small groups (no bigger than 60) – if bigger the food runs out
 Job Specialization – start to realize that certain people have talents
 It’s much better to let them work the job they are good at
Early Culture
 Matriarchal families popular 1st – women are the head of the household
 Women seem more important – makes sense they have the gift of childbirth
 Also not easy because it was hard to find out who the father was
 Birth – very dangerous act at this point
 Humans not born with very much knowledge – keep the heads small for the women
 Downfall of this is that humans are quite vulnerable at young ages
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 Prehistory – The period of time before people invented systems of writing
 We can only guess what life was like during this time based on archeological evidence
 Writing started to keep records of treaties & taxes – most important event in history
 Eventually builds wisdom – people try to understand the world rationally
 HUGE technological jumps – those with better technology beat out those without
 Bronze Age (3000 BCE) – bronze tools/weapons MUCH better
 Iron Age (1500 BCE) – even more important change in history – Iron weapons
 Cultural Diffusion – the spread of ideas, customs & beliefs from 1 culture to another
 Was done through any # of ways – war, trade, ect
 This is what drives history – think of what the internet will do for this
Civilizations By The River
 Flooding Helped Farming – would spread nutrients from soil under water around the land
 Was actually the reason that civilizations could continue to farm – helped a lot
 People actually hated it – would destroy things & kill people
 The soil that was spread around was called different things in different areas (Silt, Loess)
 MAJOR issue all over the world – every major culture has a story of flooding
 Christians believe this proves the story of Noah’s flood – obviously based on faith
Early Governments Arise
 Needed Central government – council of elders wasn’t working fast enough for good
 Priests & warriors fight over who would be the leader – continues for a while
 Leaders would claim divine right – need God to back up their power
 Early governments were formed to oversee water & food supply for the people
 Most of the earliest governments were Hydraulic Empires – leaders controlled water usage
 Gov’ts become more complex over time – turned into bureaucracies
 Types Of Governments
 Monarchy – a king or a queen rules & that power is handed down hereditarily
 Aristocracy – run by the elites of the society
 Oligarchy – run by a small group of people
Section 2
Ancient Middle Eastern Civilizations
Ancient Mesopotamia
 Mesopotamia – the land between the 2 rivers (Euphrates & Tigris)(now Iraq)
 Fertile spot (great place for a kingdom) – built houses with clay (not a lot of trees)
 A collection of cities (each its own small gov’t) – called city-states
 Culture – early civilizations run by assemblies – would only elect king during war
 Polytheistic religion – each city had a patron God based on forces of nature
 Had a bunch of Gods – even had a tooth ache god – what the heck?
 Eventually larger civilizations start to pop up – people start taking over other cities
 Sumer (3500-2334 BCE) – bunch of civilizations with same language & culture
 Amazing trade area – situated at a crossroad in the center of the old world
 HUGE list of inventions – 1st to really transform the land (it helped they had Oxen)
 Invented wheel (3,500 BCE) – quickly developed into chariots
 Create cuneiform (3,500 BCE) – hieroglyphs developed 75 years before Egypt
 Great astronomers – heliocentric 1000’s of years before Europe
 Bronze tools (mix copper & tin) – really cool until Hittites create Iron
 Gilgamesh – oldest recorded story – King of Uruk (2750 BC)
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 Ziggurats (7 step terraced pyramids) – place of worship that only priests could go to
 Steps represent heaven & earth – vertical (represents heaven)/horizontal (represents earth)
 Women have very little power – different laws for them
 1 woman leads a city after a coup (Kubaba or Kug-Baba)
 Sargon the Great (Sargon of Akkad)(r. 2379-2315 BCE) – 1st Empire builder that we know of
 May have started as servant to the king & then took over – we aren’t really sure
 Famous for taking over Mesopotamia – washed hands in Persian gulf – symbolic
 Empire crumbled soon after he died
Later Civilizations
 The Babylon Empire (1762-1595 BCE) – started in Babylon by Hammurabi
 Great military - & well defended city walls – thick enough for chariot on top
 Smart civilization – libraries all over – women learned too (unusual)
 Really into astronomy – great calendars – Zodiac signs developed
 Mathematics was based on a unit system of 60 (sexagesimal) – like degree of circle
 Knew of the Pythagorean theorem well before Pythagoras (1900 BC)
 Hammurabi (r. 1792-50 BCE) – made peaceful Empire with huge cultural flowering
 Made 1st set of laws ever (Code of Hammurabi) – 300 laws put on a 7ft pillar in square
 Penalties were VERY harsh – death sentence was often the consequence
 The idea of “innocent until proven guilty” comes from his laws
 Only taxed those he conquered – idea that would be copied lots later
 Tower Of Babel – legendary tower built by all humans to reach heaven (from Bible)
 God stopped it by changing languages – confusion – used to explain language & race
 Giant Ziggurat – probably actually made – way bigger than anything made – still!
 Nebuchadnezzar II (r 605-562 BC) – other great leader of Babylon (constructed a lot)
 Rebuilt Babylon to make it amazing again (canals, aqueducts, & reservoirs)
 Made Hanging Gardens for his homesick wife – trees, a river, & a waterfall
 Known for conquering Judah & Jerusalem (Bible) – then destroying Jerusalem
 Forced Jews to go to Babylon – called Babylonian Captivity
 Assyria (200-612 BCE) – Jewish Empire led from a capital at the city of Assur
 Most warlike/ruthless people in history – torture people horribly to keep them scared
 Didn’t invent anything – but did spread other people’s inventions through conquest
 Believed Sargon the Great was the founder (inaccurate, he was Assyrian)
 Akkadian language – would become the basis for Aramaic (which is what Jesus spoke)
 Assurbanipal (r 669-27 BC) – the last great king – was illiterate (really strange in history)
 Created the 1st systematically collected library (at Nineveh) – AMAZING collection
 Very unpopular with the court & the priesthood – contracts to ensure loyalty
 The end of the Empire – Mede & Babylonians finally destroyed the Nineveh & the Assyrians
 Phoenicia (1550-300 BCE)(called themselves Canaani) – civilization in present day Israel
 Best sailors in the world – spread culture from all over the world – especially Egypt
 Circumnavigated Africa (600 BC) & may have found America
 Didn’t farm – nearly a monopoly on moving goods for others (England to the Middle East)
 May have developed an alphabet (1200 BCE) – 22 letter alphabet (possibly Egypt too)
 1st language that used phonics (not symbols) – easier than learning 1000’s of symbols
 Bible was named after Phoenician city (Byblos) –cause they were good at letters
 Hittites (1800’s-1400’s BCE) – well known for inventing Iron (& keeping it secret)
 Some say the idea of Iron came from Central Africa (decent amount of evidence)
 Herodotus says Egyptians had it – & there was an Iron tool in the Great Pyramid of Egypt
Section 3
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Early African Kingdoms
Ancient Egypt – 53 centuries of unbroken history
 Early history – moved from the Sudan because land dried up (Sahara) – other places too
 Movement into area started by Horus? – not sure if he was real or fictional (a God later)
 VERY similar history to Jesus – atheists point to this often
 1st recorded evidence of an organized nation (about 6,000 BCE) under Pharaoh Zoser
 Imhotep was his Vizier (chief minister) – known as an unrivaled genius
 King Narmer (or Striker) united the 2 parts of Egypt (Upper & Lower) together
 His son Menes actually credited for it (3100 BCE) – makes capital at Memphis
 Nile – world’s longest river – the source of stability for the Egyptians
 Floods were a source of terror for the people – but provided nutrients through silt
 Government – run by Pharaoh – seen as deity with total power (way more than Mesopotamia)
 Taxes paid in labor (huge amount of taxes) – most of the rich people paid others to do it
 Lots of taxes – paid in labor – rich paid others to do it
 Pyramids – built with stone – often from 500 miles away (used slave labor to transport)
 Each block = 2.5 tons – total mass of 5.9 million tons - Rolled on logs?
 Would be hard even today - $ 1 Trillion & 27 years just to get the material
 Surfaced by white ‘casing stones’ (shinning in son or moonlight)
 Reflection of sunrays shows when the equinoxes & solstices – from 200 miles
 Great Pyramid – almost perfect pyramid – how hard would that be (2580 BC)
 Nearly perfect pyramid – aligned perfectly with the stars/compass points
 Can’t put knife between blocks – only millimeters off from perfection
 Aligned with stars & almost exactly in the center of the Earth
 Only a few millimeters off from exact
 Tallest building in world for 4,000 years – until Lincoln cathedral (1300 AD)
 The Great Sphinx of Giza – half human statue – guardian of Giza plateau
 Nose not shot off by napoleon – vandalism by Muhammad Sa'im al-Dahr (1378)
 Who was mad that Egyptians were praying to the Sphinx
 Death – very intricate & specific rituals for the afterlife (found later in the book of the dead)
 Believed that heaven was a happy field of food & hell was being eaten by a demon
 What does this show you about Egyptian life? – do they value food a lot?
 Burial-mummification – believed they could take body & possessions with them
 So they prepared bodies & wealth to take it with them – took 70 days
 Bodies were packed with salt & flour – all done with very specific rituals
 Hieroglyphs – writing associated with Egyptian language (1 of the oldest on Earth)
 Writing done on stone or Papyrus (1st version of paper)
 Rosetta Stone (large stone) – the way we figured out how to read Egyptian language
 Was found by the French (1799) – had 3 languages on it – made it possible to decipher
 Finally translated by Jean-François Champollion (1822-24)
 Hyksos – warlike people who invaded Egypt during an Egyptian civil war (good time)
 Used chariots (Egyptians couldn’t stop the chariots) – this is where Egyptians got chariots
 Ruling family had to flee to safety in Nubia – would come back much later
Culture of Egypt
 Changed very little in 3,000 years – usually others took their ideas not the other way around
 Women had a decent amount of rights – supported parents in later life too
 New pharaoh chosen by son-in-law of the pharaoh – daughters husband
 This often meant the king had his oldest son marry the oldest daughter
 Slavery – practically unknown in Ancient Egypt – not like Rome & Greece
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 They had serfdom – which was not so bad – & wasn’t permanent
 Stories – Hercules was actually an Egyptian story – Greeks borrowed it later
 Religion – 1 of the few aspects of Egypt that changed over time – added Gods they conquered
 Believed all people came from the water – shows how important the Nile was to the people
 Amun Ra (the Sun God) – a merged God from 2 separate God’s cults
 Birthday celebrated as Dec. 25th – 1st day that is noticeably longer after winter solstice (21st)
 Connection to Jesus? – virgin birth born in stable with star shining brightly in the East
 Virgin birth later associated with Isis & Horus – lots of it before Jesus
 References to 3 stars at birth – same 1’s are known as the 3 Kings
 Osiris (God of underworld, Nile & more) – left Gods to become a King on Earth
 He & his wife spread civilization – his wife Isis kept it up after he died
 Was also the fertility God – Phallic images were all over for him
 His son Horus became the 3rd person of the great Egyptian trinity
 Zodiac signs (1st seen in Egypt?) – often associated with others also
Great Egyptian Leaders
 Atenist (Amarna) Revolution – started by Akhenaton (he who works for Aten)
 Pharaoh who started a religious revolution by moving Egypt to monotheism
 Religion revolved around obscure Egyptian God Aton
 Debatable if this is the 1st monotheistic religion – depends on dates
 Known as 1st real family man – actually depicted with his family (very different)
 Shared his rule with his wife Nefertiti – most gorgeous woman in history?
 He neglected matters of state – focusing on family instead – caused disorder
 Removed from power when influenza outbreak started – was God against him?
 Moses theory – Some think he was a disciple of Akhenaton (where he got monotheism from?)
 Left when religion was banned with a group of heretics – story of Red Sea
 Tutankhamen (r. 1333-23 BCE) – son of Akhenaton who took the throne at 9 or 10
 Changed the religion back – died of a blood clot in his leg – chariot crash?
 CT scan disproved theory of his death being murder (2005)
 Tomb found by Howard Carter (1922) – biggest Archeological discovery ever
 Nearly untouched when found - & Carter was about to run out of $ to dig with
 Ramesses II (1302-1224 BCE?) – most powerful pharaoh ever (had over 100 kids)
 Some believe that he was the Pharaoh of Exodus (Bible) – no 1 has any idea who it really was
 Pretty good guy to women – giving them more rights (divorce & have property)
 Big at using propaganda to make himself look important
 Believed (or told people) that Amon Re was his father – born by Immaculate Conception?
 Participated in the Battle of Kadesh (Qu’desh) – largest chariot battle ever?
 Nearly lost to Hittites (under Muwatalli) & then negotiated a truce with them
 Went back & told people a story about how he single handedly won battle
 Maatkare Hatshepsut (r. 1473-1458) – most powerful & longest ruling female pharaoh ever
 Only child left of pharaoh – used propaganda to stay on the throne (very strong willed woman)
 Took the title of pharaoh & showed herself as a man in art about her
 Still known as being a VERY pretty woman – still needed to dress like a man
 Mission to Punt – a city she sent an important trade mission to – made lots of $
 Built lots of buildings with the $ from this – best known is Djeser-Djeseru
 Building with colonnades like Parthenon – but 1,000 years before
 Controversy surrounding death – died some time in middle age – not sure why
 Monuments of her were defaced afterwards – trying to erase her from history
 Possibly by her nephew (Thutmose III) – revenge for not letting him be pharaoh?
 Cleopatra (69-30 BCE) – last pharaoh of Egypt – VERY misunderstood
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 Queen for her brother (EWW!) – but was kicked out when she tried to take over
 Manipulated everyone around her to gain her position as Pharaoh – AMAZINGLY smart
 Not powerful though – always needed help from powerful men to stay as pharaoh
 This was a time where Egypt was not the powerhouse it used to be though
 Pretty plain looks – was sexy to men for her brains not her looks
 Thutmose III (r 1479-25 BCE) – military genius nicknamed “the Napoleon of Egypt”
 Created the largest empire in Egyptian history (17 campaigns) – 1st to cross Euphrates
Other Civilizations of Africa
 Much more important than most people realize – books about Africa don’t sell
 Some say they were more advanced than Egypt, Babylon, Greece or Rome
 May have had ship building better than anything for 1,000-2,000 years
 Trading with civilizations all over the world (even as far as China)
 Stories of AMAZING Ethiopians from cultures worldwide
 But it was really a blanket statement for all dark skinned people (even India & Asia)
 All sources (including Greece) talked about how amazing they were
 Kush (or Cush) Empire (800’s-400’s BCE) – strong civilization south of Egypt (in Nubia)
 Little known about them – Archeologists just recently got interested
 Religion – very similar to Egyptians – just changed names
 Fought back & forth with Egypt – taking over Egypt once under King Piye (752-21 BCE)
 Taharqa (r. 690-664 BC) – Piye’s son – ruled Egypt for a while
 Would eventually be pushed out by Assyrians – he fled south & died in exile
 Soon after King Alara united the Nubians - & established the capital (Napata)
 Was soon after moved to Meroë (starting traditional Kush)
 Started a cultural flowering (making lots of pyramids)
 Axumite Kingdom (400’s BCE-100’s CE) – established by invaders from S. Arabia
 Well known trading city – found trading with lots of places (India, Rome, & Byzantium)
 Would be its downfall too – lots of people fought over the $ coming through trade
 Muslims left them alone later – they sheltered Muhammad’s daughter in time of need
 Makeda (AKA Queen of Sheba) – not sure if she really existed or when
 Made queen by her father because of her stunning intelligence (what she’s known for)
 Met & fell in love with Solomon (Jerusalem) – who loved each other’s intelligence
 It’s believed that she had a son (Menelik) with Solomon
 Started the longest line of reigning Christian monarchs – lasted until early 1900’s
 Developed its own alphabet (called Geez)
 There were major cities there from early ancient history – near Goa
 Went there to get Magicians – to prove Moses wrong?
 Bantu Migrations (3000-1000 BCE) – general term for 400 ethnic groups in Africa
 Spread out when herds started to dwindle – spread language & culture in the process (Iron?)
 More than 90 Million people speak Bantu language because of this
 Might be the 1st Monotheistic religions in the world – possibly 5000 BCE
Section 4
Ancient Chinese Civilizations
Early Ancient Chinese Civilization
 VERY important part of history – but unfortunately ignored too often by historians
 Was the most economically developed state on earth for centuries
 The richest country in the world as recently as 1800
 Produced more books than all of the rest of the world combined until 1500
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 We will soon see that this is a huge indicator of depth of knowledge
 This dominance was only shattered by the West’s rapid industrialization (17-1800’s)
Somewhat Isolated – surrounded on all sides by barriers – able to develop without intrusions
 Left to be able to evolve on its own without reference to other models – helped a lot
 Countries around them were nomadic – very rarely had anything to teach Chinese
 But China taught many other areas around them
 Became very stable country because of this – less internal chaos than other areas
 Also a very unified society – the group was more important than the individual
5 Emperors (legendary perfect kings) – mythical kings that are an example for later kings
 The Yellow Emperor (or Huang Di)(2698-2599 BCE) – most well-known mythical king
 Known for winning huge chariot battle in the fog (The Battle of Zhuolu 2,600’s BCE)
 Put compasses on chariots to fight in the fog still – won & took the Yellow River
Mandate of Heaven – philosophical concept about rulers to legitimize the rule of Kings
 Heaven (Tian) would bless the authority of a just ruler – withdrawn if they are unjust
 Unjust rulers lose Mandate of Heaven & are allowed to be taken out of power
 Developed from previous idea (under the Shang Dynasty) that rulers descended from Gods
 Makes the background of the ruler less important – led to major issues later
 Similar to the Divine Right of Kings in Europe – but there was no way to take it back there
 An attack on a European King was an attack on God himself
Dynastic cycle – the cycle that every dynasty (family of Kings) goes through
 Starts off great, then kings get corrupt – Nat. Dis. shows king has lost his mandate
 Ruler is overthrown & civil war follows – 1 group takes over & the process starts again
China dealt with periodic civil wars due to dynastic cycle – civil wars followed by peace
Early Ancient Chinese Civilization
 Prehistory – inhabited by Homo Erectus over 1 million years ago (by finding Peking Man)
 Peking Man – popular specimen found in China – proved genetic connection to Africa
 & was the 1st recorded use of fire by Homo erectus (1.27 million years ago)
 These were lost during WWII – but we have excellent casts made of the bones
 Neolithic – evidence of agriculture of millet crops are dated from about 7,000 BCE
 Yellow River becomes the 1st agricultural center – called yellow because of soil
 This soil (called loess) builds up & floods the river often – helps with agriculture
 The Yangshao & Longshan cultures (5000-3000 BCE) – earliest referenced Chinese cultures
 Known for painting pottery, silkworm cultivation, & millet (like wheat) growing
 Xia Dynasty (2,100-1,600 BCE) – not completely sure it existed – could be mythology
 Was the 1st dynasty to be covered in Chinese history – established by Yu the Great
 Yu became king after taming a flood – teaching people flood control techniques
 Worked for 13 years with 20,000 workers to build river channels instead of dikes
 He was shown as the perfect civil servant – working so hard to help the people
 He passed the throne to his son – which established the 1st hereditary dynasty
 He did this even though he was picked instead of the kings son (interesting)
 The last king (Jie) was corrupt & was overthrown by Tang – starting the Shang Dynasty
 Jie’s troops abandoned him on the battlefield in the Battle of Mingtiao
 Mainly because he abused the people & wasted way too much money
Shang Dynasty (or Yin)(1700-1046 BCE)
 Started by King Cheng Tang (1675-46 BC) – very popular King despite weird laws
 Lowerd taxes & the conscription rate of soldiers – & helped families
 Gave gold to families who had sold children to help them buy them back
 But once banned dancing & singing in order to get rain from God during a drought
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 & promised to sacrifice himself later if the rain didn’t start (huh?)
The 1st dynasty that we have found written history for – on Oracle Bones (1500 BCE)
 Oracle bones – pieces of bone or turtle shells with writing on them
 Lots most of them later – people ground them up & used them as medicine
Still don’t know much about them – oracle bones were lost due to medicine aspect
 They were an agricultural people with a little hunting & sacrifice – lots of use of jade
 Moved their capital 6 times – finally ended at Yin – led to golden age
 They made most of their money off the large-scale production of bronze
 Which meant that they needed a lot of labor to mine, refine, transport & make it
 They were very influential in other parts of Asia due to immigration & expansion
Philosophy – 1 major work was done during this time – written later
 Yi Jīng in his “Book of Changes” – actually written in this time – written during Zhou
 A form of divination – handed down orally for generations (written in 672 BCE)
 Divination – like a fortune teller, interpreting signs to explain what is happening
 Text is a group of lines (hexagrams) that refer to specific things – similar to binary
 Were interpreted differently by many different people through history
 Developed ideas like Yin & Yang that would remain in Chinese history
 Koreas flag has similar markings on it – stands for Heaven, Water, Earth, & Fire
 Vietnam also has a trigram that means Qián (Heaven)
The Fall of Shang – very similar end as the (mythical?) end of the Xia dynasty
 Di Xin – became a very unpopular king by raising taxes so he could party all the time
 Used as an example of a corrupt king in China still today (often called Shang Zhou)
 The last straw was throwing a Duke from the state of Zhou in jail
 The Battle of Muye (1046 BC) – the people of China supported a revolution
 Duke Wu attacked with 50,000 troops – badly outnumbered against 700,000 men
 But 100’s of 1000’s of Di Xin’s troops switched sides during the war
 The rebels won a very bloody battle – killing almost all of the soldiers
 The King (Di Xin) killed himself by burning himself & his expensive goods
 His son (Jizi) left China & founded the Joseon Dynasty of Korea
 Duke Wu named himself King after the battle – & started the Zhou Dynasty
 Had accomplished his father’s dying wish by taking over
 More about him later – see the beginning of the Zhou
Zhou Dynasty (1066-221 BCE) – the longest dynasty in Chinese history
 Started by King Wu of Zhou – become the “father of the people” after taking over
 Quickly opened the rice storage to feed the people – great move to gain popularity
 Picked his cabinet by meritocracy – using the popular Prime Minister (Jiang Ziya)
 Very smart military thinker who wrote important books on military strategy
 A trend is starting – power shifts between central & local power often
 With dynasties falling in periods of disunity & then uniting under another
 This is a constant theme in China for 1000’s of years
 Zhou tried to change things – to show the difference between them & the Shang
 A partial shift away from Shangdi was part of this – more ancestor worship
 Have to explain how rulers are legitimate – after having taken over the Shang
 Traditional Chinese culture starts at this point – many important changes here
 They move away from bronze slowly – because they introduced iron for the 1st time
 Education – came up with a well-developed system of writing (literacy goes up big-time)
 Chinese philosophy exploded during this time – most of the greats from this time
 Government – takes over areas around them – extending area to “middle kingdom”
 Established a feudalist system called Fengjian feudalism – broken into separate states
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 These states were led by nobles & they had power of taxation & administration
 Later they removed loyalty & decided to est. their own power base
 Gov’t positions were given based on the intellectual ability of the candidate
 Fighting “barbarians” & winning with their large scale chariot forces
 Transportation/communication difficult – hard to govern
 Became very good a shipbuilding & navigating by the starts
 Agriculture – very intensive & often directed by the gov’t through the feudal system
 The gov’t would take some of the land to keep some food in case of famine
 China’s 1st projects of hydraulic engineering were started during the Zhou
 Done as a way to help agricultural irrigation
 They dammed a river to create an irrigation reservoir – in case of a drought
The move & Slow Decline of the Zhou Dynasty
 End of the Western Zhou – makes the kingdom start losing power
 Violence starts after King You replaces the queen with 1 of his concubines (Baosi)
 People hated Baosi (most beautiful woman in history?) & loved the deposed queen
 King Yu kept lighting the warning beacons (for invasion) to make his wife happy
 Would make the army show up expecting battles – & found out it was nothing
 Queen Shen’s father (Marquess of Shen) attacked the palace (771 BCE)
 When he had the warning beacons lit no 1 came – like the boy who cried wolf
 The ruling family was killed by Marquess’ troops – & their son Ping became King
 King Ping moved the capital to the East to keep away from dangerous groups
 Actually had to get help from the feudal leaders to keep from getting killed
 This became a dangerous precedent – leaders saw him as weak
 The King slowly lost power during this period (called the Eastern Zhou Dynasty)
 Leaders never had as much power after this incident – nobles had more
 The End of the (Eastern) Zhou – a slow loss of power to the individual states
 The dynasty continues – but with much less central power (power in the states instead)
 The king now NEEDED the local leaders for his power – therefore he is under them
 The King actually has to ask for help from warlords to field an army
 So he lost much of his land – leaders slowly withdrawal loyalty from the King
 The gov’t eventually rules in name only – regional lords had power not the Emperor
 Gets to the point where regional lords stop even acting like they are loyal
 Regions move slowly towards independent kingdoms in China
 Other groups invade from the north (Qin) – & make the situation more crazy
 Spring & Autumn Period (722-481 BCE) – a time of decentralized power
 The overlords said they were just protecting the weaker states – just an excuse
 States worked together pretty well – had a complex system of interstate relations
 But major disunity WITHIN the states – civil wars & family power struggles
 The 3 remaining elite families in Jin (Zhao, Wei, & Han) split the state up (403 BCE)
 & the impotent Zhou gov’t was forced to recognize their authority
 This would lead to a period known as the Era of Waring States
Warring States Period (476-221 BCE) – a 7 way civil war in China for the throne
 The 7 most prominent states battled each other for power – even though there was a King
 The Dukes of the states of Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei & Qin called themselves kings
 Major changes during this time period – a time of technical & philosophical inventions
 Warfare – changed a lot due to changes in technology – mostly the use of iron
 The use of chariots declined as people focused more on infantry & cavalry
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 Gov’t – major developments in complex bureaucracies & centralized governments
 They also established an important legal system – especially in the Qin state
 Military developments – many innovations done including the use of iron & cavalry
 Complex logistical systems were maintained by efficient gov’t bureaucracy
 They needed to supply, train, & control these large forces
 The size of the armies ranged from 10s of 1000s to several 100,000 men
 The 1st official Chinese cavalry unit was formed by King Wuling of Zhao (307 BCE)
 The chariot remained important despite the rise & superiority of cavalry
 The crossbow was the preferred long range weapon of this period
 Mass-produced easily & it was easy to train in mass also
 Military thought – major time for growth of military strategy
 Sun Tzu (Sun Wu) – by far the most famous military strategist in Chinese culture
 More than likely lived during the S&A period – Gen for King Helü of Wu
 Wrote the military handbook “the Art of War” – blending in Taoist philosophy
 Handbook for generals for centuries after (Napoleon to Ho Chi Minh)
 13 chapters – covers all aspects of a war (from planning to implementation)
 Laying plans, waging war, attack plan, positioning, timing/momentum, weak
points, maneuvering, variation of tactics, marching, attack by fire, & the use of
spies
 Ideas – outlines theories of battle, diplomacy, & cultivating relationships
 Be ready to change plans based on changing battle (not an easy checklist)
 A leader must be capable of comprehending “unfathomable plans”
 Positioning in your physical environment is of vital importance
 Quotations – “The most skillful enemy seizes the enemy without fighting”
 “If you know yourself & your enemy you will win all of your battles”
 Legacy – used by millions (from military to fashion & business)
 Used by Japanese in Russo-Japanese War (huge deal)
 On reading list of numerous US militaries – big favorite of Colin Powell
 Wu Qi (440-381 BC) – skilled in leading armies & military strategy
 He tried to change the corrupt, huge & inefficient gov’t in Chu – lowering the pay
 The money saved was used to create & train a more professional army
 Sent the nobles away from the capital to develop & populate the other areas
 The nobles hated him for changing the “old ways” & taking away their power
 & caught numerous attempts at assassination by them before they happened
 Su Qin (380-284 BCE) – an political strategist – proposed an alliance against Qin
 Alliance broke down at 1st sign of hard times – Qin played them off each other
 Was torn limb from limb in public by people he tried to use in a power grab
 Was trying to play people off each other & got caught by all of them
 Major wars of the period – some of the craziest, most intriguing wars in history
 Wei was an early important state – many important leaders left Wei for Qin later
 Battle of Maling (342 BCE) – interesting but not amazingly important war
 Sun Bin & Pang Juan were friends in the state of Wei – but Juan was jealous
 Juan decided to frame his friend to get Sun Bin to write his thoughts down
 Sun Bin was framed for treason – was handicapped & had his face tattooed
 He faked being crazy to stay safe – knowing Pang Juan was in on it
 Going as far as eating poop in a pigsty – saying it was delicious
 Eventually Sun Bin left Wei to help Qi - & beat Pang Juan at Maling
 Pang Juan committed suicide after the war
 Wei would eventually fall & that gave rise to the rise of the state of Qin
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The Unification of China Under Qin
 Reforms of Shang Yang (390-38 BC) – reforms of Qin state made it a powerhouse
 Enacted many legalist reforms – taking ideas from other states to a whole new level
 Created a new law system – enforcing tough new laws (similar to an eye for an eye)
 Supposed to marry at young age & have lots of kids – needed more people in Qin
 Enforced farming quotas – even enslaving those who didn’t meet them
 Moved the capital city – decreasing the power & influence of nobles on the gov’t
 Also created a meritocracy – taking land from nobles & giving it to great soldiers
 Abolished primogeniture – taxing families with more than 1 son
 Didn’t want large farms to be broken up between the 2 sons
 Qin used alliances to fight other states – changing alliances often to suit their needs
 King Ying Zheng (259-210 BCE) proved a tough leader – became King (238 BCE)
 He wasn’t a great military tactician – but had the best advisors & listened to them
 Had amazingly smart military tacticians – finding ways around losing battles
 Attacked the Wei capital of Daliang (225 BCE) – amazingly well defended city
 Built in a smart location near rivers – had a moat & 5 gates with drawbridges
 Gen Wang Ben diverted a river towards the city – flooding the city with water
 More than 100,000 people died before they surrendered to the Qin
 Only messed up once – when they brought too few soldiers into the state of Chu
 After a horrible loss they sent over 600,000 to take the state
 Qin often won due to the use of military spies – finding ways to weaken an opponent
 They were often able to entice the king to get rid of trusted & smart advisors
 The perfect example was the Battle of Changping (260 BCE) against the Zhou
 Were in a stalemate with a smart general who was relying on defense
 Spies spread rumors of that general being weak in the state of Zhou
 This eventually led the King to fire him & appoint a more aggressive general
 He attacked & lost the war quickly – being surrounded by the Qin
 Also had the advisor Li Mu executed (228 BCE) – lost battles without him
 Attempts on the life of King Ying Zheng – a few assassinations were attempted
 The most famous was Jing Ke’s assassination mission – almost worked
 Jing Ke brought the head of a wanted ex-general who had turned against the King
 He unrolled a sword out of a map & tried to kill the King – chasing him around
 It took the King sometime to take his ceremonial sword out of his shield
 He finally took it out & stopped Jing Ke – burnt him for the attempt
 A later attempt by a friend of his would also misfire – done to avenge Jing Ke’s death
 Lao Ai – tried to replace the King – by paying a ransom of 1 million coins
 He was quartered with chariots & his supporters were beheaded
 Zhang Liang – a Han aristocrat who swore revenge against Qin
 Sold everything to pay for the assassination but destroyed the wrong carriage
 The end of the Warring States – Qi didn’t realize they were in trouble until they were alone
 Qin invaded before they were ready to fight – so they surrendered without a fight
The Qin Empire (221-206 BCE) – created after taking control of China (Warring States Per)
 Ying Zheng decides to rename himself after the start of the Qin Empire
 Calls himself Qin Shi Huangdi (1st Emperor) – differentiate between Kings of states
 Wanting to have his successors known as 2nd emperor, 3rd emperor & on
 Created a strong Legalist state with his advisor Li Si
 Conquered states were placed strictly under the Qin Empire – strong centralized state
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
The Empire was divided into 36 states – with appointed governors & military leaders
 & people were expected not to identify themselves by their previous states
 Legalist state – emphasized a strict legal code & the absolute power of the emperor
 The law is supreme over every individual (including the rulers) – 1,000s of laws
 Had many laws they didn’t use – only used to condemn an unwanted civilian
 Moved all nobles to the capital to watch them – keep your enemy close
 Ordered all weapons to be confiscated & melted down – made statues with metal
 Was an effective gov’t for expansion but didn’t work well as a peace time gov’t
 Ending freedom of thought – Qin people were only allowed to know about Legalism
 Forced the burning of books on anything that wasn’t approved by the gov’t
 They also buried & killed any scholar who wouldn’t back off
 Also any history books that weren’t written by Qin scholars were burnt
 This policy would officially end the 100 schools of thought
 Nearly killing off the ideas of Confucianism, Taoism & others
 Economy – the new centralized state helped build a strong economy in China
 Unified China by standardizing all weights & measures (to a crazy degree)
 Created Chinese script (& language) – could easily talk to each other now
 The Emperor built an extensive network of roads & canals to facilitate trade
 Standardizing the length of axles of carts to help speed on the roads
 Built Lingqu Canal by linking 2 major rivers (North & South)(214 BCE)
 Done mostly to help move military supplies – but helped economy too
 It is still in use & is now the oldest contour canal in the world
 Created a national census – gave better records for tax & labor service
 Encouraged the cultivation of unsettled lands – favoring agriculture/farm work
 But enslaved farmers that failed to meet quotas
 Military History of Qin – had lots of horses & used new technology & tactics
 After taking China he went south to the Guangdong province (Vietnam)
 The Great Wall of China – a stone wall made to protect the northern border of China
 Built by uniting numerous smaller walls from the Warring States Period
 Stretches for over 5,500 miles – with signal points at the high areas for warning
 Would be finished during Ming Dynasty – how it looks now
 Myths – the wall is NOT visible from space & no workers were buried in the wall
 Burying workers in the wall would reduce strength of wall & cause it to fall
 Expanded to the south (214 BCE) – sending 100,000 prisoners to colonize the area
 Army lost to at 1st to guerrilla warfare in Vietnamese jungles – would win eventually
 Death of Qin Shi Huangdi – died of mercury poisoning
 Really feared death – had been looking for an elixir for immortality for years
 Was out looking for it when he died – 2 months away from the capital
 Died of mercury pills made by his doctors to keep him alive (definition of irony?)
 Prime Minister Li Si knew his death would trigger an uprising – possibly killing him
 So he acted like the Emperor was alive & turned the caravan around
 Placed the fish carts around the kings carriage to mask the smell – & talked to him
 When they got back he placed Shi Huangdi’s son on the throne
 Tomb/Mausoleum – started construction right after becoming king
 It has never been opened – stories of riches & booby traps in the tomb
 The Terracotta Army – a clay army that was left nearby to protect him in the afterlife
 Discovered by local farmers (1974) – they became Chinese heroes
 Each figure w/distinct features & roles – with a total of 8,099 statues (so far)
 There may be more pits with even more statues we haven’t seen yet
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Section 5
Ancient India
The Indus Valley Civilization (Harappan Societies)(3300-1500 BC)
 Lost civilization archaeologists discovered (1922) - more territory than Egypt or Mesopotamia
 Don’t know much about them – can’t decipher their pictographs
 Some say Ancient Indians were black (like Dravidians) – could be misinterpretation
 Lots of cities (over 1052) – most in modern day Pakistan
 Some very large, well planned cities of up to 40,000 (Mohenjo Daro, Harappa, Lothal)
 VERY clean houses where neighborhoods are grouped by profession
 Clean society – created showers, baths & the 1st sewage system ever (toilets)
 Even found ways to heat water for bathing – underground furnace
 Gov’t – not a centralized state – would eventually lead to its downfall
 Built citadels that were larger than Ziggurats – but we have no idea what they used it for
 Culture – we only know about them through archeological findings
 Religion – they prayed to Gods that dealt with creation & procreation
 Cultivated cotton 1st (5000 BC), domesticated chickens & wheat
 Gov’t came to regulate grain storehouses
 The end is hotly debated – probably natural catastrophes (floods & storms)
 The leaderless people tried to rebuild the city (couldn’t pull it off)
Indian Culture Develops
 Climate & Geography of India
 Influenced by everyone (including China) – Right in the middle of the Silk Road
 Only somewhat isolated – hard to get through mountain ranges to get to India
 Got/Gave more ideas to different people than any other group
 Major differences in geography – Mountains, valleys, plateaus – diverse people
 Separate regions contributed to economic diversity, racial & language differences
 Climate is unstable – monsoon winds twice a year – brings major rain storm once a year
 Actually helped with agriculture – harvest 2 crops in a year – help support large population
 The Vedic Age – start when Aryan migrants (nomadic herding people) come to India
 Aryans settle in India (from Iran) – blend traditions – Aryans take more ideas than they give
 Aryans bring Vedas (religious teachings) – blend with Sanskrit & finally write it down
 Combine religious beliefs into Hinduism – 1 of the few polytheistic religions to survive
 Indian Epics – older stories written down during the Vedic Age (maybe 1,000s of years old)
 Mahabharata (history of Great India) – 3rd longest epic poem in the world
 Orally transmitted for generations – forced to memorize it
 Mostly about Kurukshetra war (3067 BC?) – biggest/bloodiest in history
 Rāmāyaņa (march or journey)(7561 BC???) – love story between Rama & Sita (married)
 Sita is kidnapped & Rama goes to get her back – shows ideas of the sexes
 Man (protective) Woman (pure)
 Upanishads – epic poem that shows the early religious beliefs of the people of India
 Shows rituals (sacrifice), sacred animals (monkeys/cattle)
 Unifying divine force, seek union with this force
 Caste System – social groups that you are born into & can’t change
 Original groups based on family occupation – each group important at 1st
 Kshatriyas – Warrior/governing
 Brahmins – Priests (4% of population)
 Vaisyas – Traders/farmers (middle class)
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 Sudras – Common laborers
 Untouchables – refuse, transporting dead bodies, other lovely jobs
 Turns into strict system that regulated life & social behavior – more rigid than other civ’s
 System was so strict that it made public laws unnecessary – allowing less gov’t
 Not allowed to marry outside of your sub-caste (Jati) – was actually punishable by death
 Women’s Rights – women lost power as labor intensive agricultural societies developed
 Wives worshipped husband as God – not sure if women can even get to their version of heaven
 Arranged marriages – but still expected to “develop” strong loving relationship (intercourse)
 Sati – upper class women jump on funeral fire with husband- not often
 Expression of grief at 1st – later becomes cultural (in rural)
 600 a year in the early 19th century (last 1 was 2006) – banned by Ram Mohan Roy (1829)
 Great Math society – 1 of the 1st societies to have a regulated system of weights & measures
 Used a base 8 numerical system & knew of the uses for π years before others
 Studied stars & advanced navigation - 2000 years before the Greeks
 Credited with discovering the concept of zero – is a stepping stone towards other math ideas
 Lots of controversy about who did this 1st – most historians claim the Olmec’s/Maya were
Section 6
Early American Civilization
American Civilizations
 Everything invented separately in America (less cultural diffusion) – used differently sometimes
 Invented wheel – but only used in toys – lacked animals to pull?
 Food leads to civilization – can’t have civilization until enough food can be made to survive
 Maize (1st & possibly greatest feat of genetic engineering)
 Breeded out traits they wanted over 1000’s of years – humans help pollinate
 Europeans later loved it – led to huge population growth – slavery?
 Milpa (a unique way to set up a farm & not use any fertilizer)
 Rotate crops with perfect next crop to keep nutrients in soil
 Perfect crop rotation system – some farms used for 1000’s of years straight
 Olmec’s (1800-500 BC) – land of rubber – called themselves Xi (shi)
 Olmec heads – found in ground (6 ft. tall/15 ft. around) – 1st signs of this culture
 Represented a dead king (I’m watching you) – but how are there African features?
 Archeologists think its “mother culture” of Mesoamerica – recently found not to be true
 People very separate – can’t really be too close in the rainforest – farming is really hard
 Very similar to the Jeffersonian idea of Yeoman farmers – he wanted America to be
 Ulama – the modern version of a ball game played all over the Americas
 Sometimes people were put to death afterwards – even use the skulls for the next ball
 Advances – best known for invention of zero & calendars (counted from zero mark, new)
 1st? – possibly as early as 32 BC – which would be well before the Gupta’s
 Used as actual # - not just a placeholder like the Gupta’s did later
 Catholic Church would ban this idea until 1400’s – stands for nothing = bad!
 Invention of writing – highly developed within 1,000 years – took Sumerians 5,000
 Their history talked of people coming from the east in ships – lots of stories like this
 Historians assumed it was Atlantis because they didn’t know the rich African history
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