Download River Valley Civilizations

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Sumer: 3500-2300BCE
Ancient Egypt: 2700-1100BCE
Indus Valley: 2500-1500BCE
China:
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Shang 1650-1027BCE
Zhou 1027-256BCE
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Rivers provide drinking water, fish, game, and
transportation for people, armies, and
products.
Flooding deposits a layer of silt – rich soil.
To control floods and store water for the dry
season – dikes, reservoirs, and irrigation canals
were constructed.
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Cities
Organized Central governments
Priest-kings were followed by military leaders who
were followed by hereditary monarchs
 Bureaucracy - government organized into
departments
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Complex Religion
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Polytheistic – belief in many gods that control the
forces of nature
Most gods behave like humans
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Job Specialization/Social Classes ~ Hierarchy
Priests
 Nobles
 Wealthy Merchants
 Government Workers
 Artisans (skilled craft workers)
 Soldiers
 Peasant Farmers
 Slaves
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Public Works
Irrigation Systems
 Roads
 Bridges
 Defensive Walls
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Arts & Architecture
Writing
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Cuneiform – 3200BCE
First-Known Writing
Wedge-like shapes
made on clay tablets
HIEROGLYPHICS
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Seals have not been
deciphered.
ANCIENT CHARACTERS
MODERN CHARACTERS
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Tigris and Euphrates
rivers – unpredictable
floods
Fertile Crescent:
Persian Gulf to
Mediterranean Sea
Mesopotamia
(between the rivers)
Modern-day Iraq
City-States constantly
fought
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Nile River – 4160 miles
– longest in the world.
Center of a ten-mile
wide strip of fertile
land.
The desert protected
against invasion, but
limited settlement and
the acquisition of new
ideas.
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Indus River
modern-day Pakistan
Barriers
HUANG HE RIVER AKA YELLOW RIVER
AKA RIVER OF SORROWS
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Goal was to keep gods happy with sacrifices and
ceremonies.
Each city-state had a special god or goddess.
Fear of natural disasters led to a pessimistic
world view.
At death, people went to a huge cave filled with dust
and silence.
Inanna and Dumuzi
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Village gods
Afterlife = Good go to Happy Field of Food –
Bad go to crocodile-shaped eater of the dead.
Mummification to provide a home for the
soul.
Wealthy entombed with everything needed for
eternity.
Pharaoh considered a god – son of Amon-Re.
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Figurines representing a mother goddess and a
three-faced god have been discovered.
Sacred animals included the bull.
Certain trees were revered.
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Shang Ti ruled over the other gods.
Priests acted as intermediaries between humans and
the gods.
Veneration (respect) of ancestors because
deceased relatives would intervene with the
gods on your behalf.
Household gods oversee activities in the home.
Taoism/Daoism
Confucianism
Legalism
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Mandate of
Heaven – gods
grant the right to
rule to a dynasty
Dynastic Cycle –
rise and fall of
dynasties (ruling
families)
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First Writing – Cuneiform
First Wheeled Vehicles – carts and war chariots
Basic Algebra & Geometry
Number System based on 6 ~ 360-degree
circle & 60-minute hour
Accurate 12-month Calendar tracked seasons
Ziggurats
First to use arches, columns, ramps
Complex Irrigation Systems
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Old Kingdom – 2700-2200BCE – Pyramid Age
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Middle Kingdom – 2050-1800BCE – Turbulent Age
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Pharaohs, Mummification, Pyramids
Major Construction – land drainage, canal to Red Sea,
temples at Luxor & Karnak
New Kingdom – 1550-1100BCE – Empire Age
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Empire at its largest – from Kush to the Euphrates
Famous Rulers: Akhenaton, Hatshepsut, Ramses II
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Women had high status
Education for wealthy males
Geometry
Astronomy
Engineering
Painting, Sculpture, Literature
Best medicine in the ancient world
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Son-in-law (maybe son)
of Akhenaton ruled
1333-1323BCE.
Died at 19.
Tomb discovered in
1922 by Howard Carter.
Curse: many associated
with the opening of the
tomb died soon after –
fueling the legend ~ true
cause = mold.
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Written in
Hieroglyphics
(important and religious
documents), Demotic
(everyday script), and
Greek (rulers at the
time).
Written in 196BCE
and discovered by
one of Napoleon’s
men in 1799.
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Discovered in 1922
Cities: Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro and
farming villages over 950 miles
First city planning: grid pattern, uniform
building style, rectangular city blocks,
plumbing
First to cultivate and weave cotton
SHANG
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Small kingdoms
Silk Making
Bronze Tools
Characters
Oracle Bones –
Questions written on
bones or tortoise shells
Astronomy
ZHOU
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Feudalism
Iron Tools & Weapons
Use of Money
First Books
Soybeans