Ch. 3 first civilizations
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Chapter Three: First Civilizations Cities, States, and Unequal Societies 3500 BCE – 500 BCE
Transcript of Ch. 3 first civilizations
Chapter Three:First CivilizationsCities, States, andUnequal Societies
3500 BCE – 500 BCE
What makes a
civilization?(debatable)
1. Cities
Name some large citiesWhat do they have in common geographically?
2. Government
Powerful kings and bureaucracy held society togetherWhere did this power come from?
• Religious authority (“Mandate of Heaven”)
• Protection• Organized large
projects (ex. irrigation)
• Forced obedience
3. Religion/MythologyA system of beliefs about the supernatural often containing many rituals and customs
4. Specialization
of Labor
5. Social Structure (class)
Hierarchies of ClassClothing, Privileges, Land, etc.
In all civilizations what is the largest class? What is the smallest?
SlaveryDifferences between Ancient, USA, and Modern?
Hierarchies of Genderearly societies = Equality (how/why?)
early civilizations = Patriarchy (how/why?)
Female goddessesDemoted from life-giver to domestic harmony
6. Writing and Record Keepingstrengthened govt. bureaucracy (how?)
7. Arts (ceremonial and functional arts)Statues from Ain Ghazal, Jordan 7200-5000 BCE
Oldest Song in the World? c. 1400 BCE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBhB9gRnIHE
The Bronze
Age(copper & tin) 3000 to
1200 BCE
Why are some civilizations so wealthy and “advanced” and others
are so poor and “primitive”?
Mesopotamia - Many different city-states and frequent warfare
Video\Resurrecting Eden 4;46.wmv
Comparing Mesopotamia and Egyptboth emerged c. 3200 BCE
Mesopotamian GeographyTigris and Euphrates flooding not predictable
Complex irrigation systems needed
Irrigation
65% drop in crop yields between 2400 and 1700 BCE from erosion and soil salinization
Mesopotamia had malevolent gods (why?)
The Epic of Gilgamesh
c. 2700
Perhaps the oldest written story in
history
“Then the gods of the abyss rose up; Negral pulled out the dams of the nether waters,
Ninurta the war-lord tore down the dykes, and the seven judges of hell, the Annunaki, raised their torches, lighting the land with their livid flame. A stupor of despair went up to heaven when the god of the storm turned daylight to darkness, when he smashed the land like a
cup. One whole day the tempest raged, gathering fury as it went, it poured over the
people like the tides of battle”
Attitudes Toward Women
Lower than men, needed protection
(constant invasion)
Mesopotamia established long distance trade among city-states and into Asia and Turkey
SumeriansEmerged c. 3500-3000 BCE
Most Mesopotamians lived in citiesHow did the book describe Mesopotamian city life?
City of Ur (Iraq)
Temple of Ur (Ziggurat)
Priests and Priestesses held great
power
CuneiformPerhaps the
oldest writing systems
Clay Tablets
Wagon Wheel and Chariots
1792 BCE Babyloniansconquered the region
Babylon
Hammurabi(Amorite/Babylonian King)
1795-1750 BCE
The Code of Hammurabic. 1754 BCE
282 Laws
One of the earliest written codes of law
Pages 119-
121 in your text book
Many others:Hittites, Assyrians, Chaldeans
Phoenicians (800 BCE)Mediterranean sailors and traders
Phoenicians invented
glassblowing
Spread goods and languages
Ancient EgyptEmerged c. 3500-3000 BCE
Nile River
longest in the world
4,132 miles to the Mediterranean
Predictable flooding
Natural protection and Sustainableself-contained “cul-de-sac empire”
Text from a Pyramid 2333 BCE Take your bread that rots not, your beer that sours not,Stand at the gates that bar common people!The gatekeeper come out to you, he grasps your hand,Takes you into heaven, to your father Geb.
He rejoices at your coming , gives you his hands, …
Benevolent gods and positive afterlife(predictable floods and protected from invasions)
What does this picture tell us about the ancient Egyptians?
90% of Egyptians were farmersMost didn’t live in cities
Attitudes Toward WomenEgypt more egalitarian (female rulers)
Hieroglyphicsformal documents and monuments
Hieratic or Demoticeveryday use
Writing
The Rosetta Stone
Created196 BCEFound
1799 CE
Plenty of stone for construction
3100 BCE the 1st Pharaoh
Menes (Narmer?)
united Egypt’s chiefdoms
Egypt – Politically unified under a Pharaoh (Theocracy)
Old Kingdom2650-2200 BCE Prosperity and Isolation
Advanced in geometryand engineering
Pyramid of Djoser ~2630 BCEOldest stone building in history
Snefru’s three pyramids
Pyramids built by farmers during flood season. They were paid and well cared for
Khufu’s Pyramid at Giza ~2580-2560 BCE
40 Stories Tall
Medical AdvancementsAnatomySetting broken bonesPlant based medicinesSimple surgery, including tumor removal
Why Mummification?
Greek historian Herodotus on mummification, from The Histories (440 BCE)The mode of embalming, according to the most perfect process, is the following:- They take first a crooked piece of iron, and with it draw out the brain through the nostrils,… next they make a cut along the flank with a sharp Ethiopian stone, and take out the whole contents of the abdomen, which they then cleanse, washing it thoroughly with palm wine, and again frequently with an infusion of pounded aromatics. After this they fill the cavity with… every other sort of spicery except frankincense, and sew up the opening. Then the body is placed in natrum [salt mixture] for seventy days, and covered entirely over. …. the body is washed, and wrapped round, from head to foot, with bandages of fine linen cloth, smeared over with gum, … and in this state it is given back to the relations, who enclose it in a wooden case which they have had made for the purpose, shaped into the figure of a man. …
If persons wish to avoid expense, and choose the second process, the following is the method pursued:- Syringes are filled with oil made from the cedar-tree, which is then, without any incision or disemboweling, injected into the abdomen. The passage by which it might be likely to return is stopped, and the body laid in natrum the prescribed number of days. At the end of the time the cedar-oil is allowed to make its escape; and such is its power that it brings with it the whole stomach and intestines in a liquid state. The natrum meanwhile has dissolved the flesh, and so nothing is left of the dead body but the skin and the bones. …
The third method of embalming, which is practiced in the case of the poorer classes, is to clear out the intestines with a clyster [enema], and let the body lie in natrum seventy days,…
Fall of the Old Kingdomdrought and famine
Middle Kingdom2050-1652 BC
A Stable “Golden Age”
Egypt traded across the Mediterranean and south into Nubia and Punt
Expanded Empire
Opened up to the world beyond Egypt and
interacted with neighborsWhy is this good?Why is this bad?
Expansion led to conflict
1652 BC the Hyksos
invaded with horses and
chariots
The New Kingdom
1570-1070 BCPermanent army
to protect boarders
Mostly Peaceful
Hatshepsut(1508-1458 BC)
Proclaimed herself Pharaoh
after her husband died
Amonhotep I
Princess Ahmose
Thutmose I
Marriage 2Mutofret
Thutmose II
Marriage 1 HatshepsutIsis slave of Thutmose II
Thutmose III Marriage 1 Nefrure
Marriage 1
Marriage 2
Sent trading expedition to Punt (south)(gold, animals, ivory, jewels, perfume, etc.)
Mysterious deathand
destruction of
monuments
Ramses II “The Great”
1303-1212 BCE
Ruled1279-1212
BCE
Peace with Egypt’s enemies and expanded
empire
More building projects than any other Pharaoh
“Ramesseum”
Abu Simbel
Fall of the New Kingdom
Overextension and bankruptcy
Weak Leaders
Invasions(Libyans, Nubians, Persians, Greeks, Romans)
Rise and Fall of Egyptian Kingdoms
Old Rise - Prosperity and wealth along the Nile River
Old Fall - Drought caused famine
Middle Rise - Expanded and traded with neighbors
Middle Fall - End of isolation led to invasion by neighbors (Hyksos)
New Rise - Defeated the invading Hyksos
New Fall –Bankrupted economy and invasion
Mesopotamia Egypt
Indus River civilizationsc. 2000 BCE
Mountains=separate from other AsiansHimalayas and Hindu Kush
Early Indus
script is mostly a mystery
Swastika
Sanskrit word
meaning any lucky or
auspicious object
Mohenjo-Daro
A Gridded Street design
Sewage and fresh
water
China – Shang and Zhou
Xia DynastyLegend?
c. 2200 BCE
Emperor Wu (Yu) organized flood control projects
Fertile Soil, Long Rivers and Good Climate
Yangtze River
3rd Longest river in the
world3,915 Miles
Shang Dynasty 1766-1122 BCE
Human sacrifices found in ruler’s tombs
Oracle Bones
Ancestor Worship
Bronze
Zhou Dynasty 1122-256 BCE
Mandate of Heaven
The gods support
honorable kings
Mandate of Heaven Dynastic CycleNew King claims Mandate of Heaven
Peace and generosity to the people
3rd or 4th king rules a time of prosperity
Tax revenue to build infrastructure and protect people
CorruptionHigh taxes and abuses the peopleInfrastructure decays
Dynasty loses Mandate of Heaven and is overthrown
Chaos, Civil War, Invasions
Zhou Mastered Iron
Zhou declined and civil war ensued
Warring States Period
Final thoughts on the word “civilization”
