The First Civilizationsand the Rise of Empires

CHAPTER 1

I. The First Humans

II. Agricultural Revolution

III. Emergence of Civilization

IV. Mesopotamia

a) Sumerian

b) Akkadian

c) Amorites

V. Egyptian

VI. New Centers of Civilizations

a) Nomadic

b) Phoenicians

c) Hebrews

VII. Rise of New Empires

a) Assyrian

b) Persian

VIII.Conclusion

I. The First Humans

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FIRST HUMANS AND THEIR CIVILIZATIONSBC and BCE – religious versus secular, otherwise no difference in usage.BC – Before ChristBCE – Before Common EraYears ago:

4,000,000 - 3,000,000

1,500,000 250,000 - 30,000 200,000 - 150,000

Hominids Homo Erectus Homo sapiens Homo sapiens sapiens

Australopithecines "upright human being"Fire used around 500,000 ya

"wise human being"1) Neanderthal (Neander Valley in Germany)

"wise, wise human being"

Africa Left Africa for Europe and Asia

Europe, Middle East By 10,000 BC, homo sapiens sapiens replaced Neanderthal and had settled around much of what had been settled/found.

From 2,500,000 -

PALEOLITHIC AGE --------------------------------------

Paleolithic - old stone; JAVA man, PEKING man, Neanderthal man, Cro-Magnon manNeolithic - new stoneBronze - use of bronze

Years ago: 10,000 10,000 - 4,000 4,000 - 3,000 3,000 - 1,200

Homo sapiens sapiens ----------- ---------------- ----------

Ice Age ends. Agricultural Revolution

Systematic Agriculture begins between 8,000 - 7,000 BC- writing begins circa 7060

Significant technical developments: tools, metals.Invention of wheel circa 3000

Concentration of people in Mesopotamia and Egypt-emergence of civilization- 3500 - 3000 BC

Approx 3000+ BC - Sumerians

Approx 3000 BC - EgyptiansApprox 2000 BC – AkkadiansApprox 1800 BC – BabyloniansApprox 1750 BC – HittitesApprox 1200 BC – Phoenicians & HebrewsApprox 700 BC – AssyriansApprox 600 BC - Persians

PALEOLITHIC AGE ENDS.

NEOLITHIC ------------

---AGE. BRONZE AGE ------BRONZE AGE. IRON AGE ---

1st Stage:Hominids

FROM AFRICA - East and South Africa 3-4 million years agoAustraliopithecinesSimple stone tools

2nd Stage:Homo Erectus

From same area 1.5 million years agoMore tools and more varied toolsFirst to leave Africa and moved into Europe and Asia

3rd Stage:Homo Sapiens (wise human being) 250,000 ya

Two branches off of homo sapiensNeanderthal (Nender Valley, Germany)

Dated to 100,000 and 30,000 bce

Relied upon variety of stone toolsFirst to bury their dead

Homo sapiens sapiens (wise wise human being)First anatomically modern humansDated 200,000 – 100,000

II. Agricultural Revolution

III. Emergence of Civilization

-Urban revolution: cities become focal point for politics, economics, social, and cultural-distinct religious structures-new political and military structures-new social structures-Economics:

KingUpper class – usually priestsPolitical leadersWarriorsFree menSlaves

-development of writing-artistic/intellectual developments- complexity of materials collected increased

Civilization: a complex culture in which large numbers of humans share a number of common elements

Basic Characteristics of Civilization:

The basic characteristics – writing and cities

IV. Mesopotamia

Little rain 0-10 inches per year, but soil rich by layers of silt over centuries

a) Sumerians

Time Period: 3000 BC – 2350 BC

Region: 1st people to create a Mesopotamian civilization (made up of cities located in a river valley).

Language:

Social Structure: 3 major groups – highly stratified

With changes in society came technological advances

Leadership:

Kings so unruly, according to EPIC OF GILGAMESH, gods created wild man Enkidu to subdue King.

Kings were representative of city god – highest ruler and judgeheld privileges and responsibilities

Cities:

By 3000 BC - Eridu, Ur, Uruk, Umma, Lagash

Cities built with walls, defensive towers strategically placed.

URUK – marvel of engineering – 900 towers

Gender Roles:

Womens roles: Mens roles:

Religion:gods venerated equally – of conqueredGods ruled cities – King of city eventually became linked with the god

Ultimately became divine

Temple – most prominent bldg in city

Uruk – becomes most important

Religious owned most land, worked by peasants.

Treatment of gods

Legal:

Economy:agricultural, also woolen textiles, pottery, metalworks, some trade

Notables: Epic of Gilgamesh

DO NOT COPY

The story of Gilgamesh addressed the mystery of why men had to die while gods lived forever, and it was a story about human audacity and willfulness against the will of the gods. Gilgamesh = 2/3 god, 1/3 human. Enkidu created by god Anu.

The story begins with a barbarian named Enkidu coming out of the wilderness. Enkidu was Gilgamesh's opposite: Enkidu had been living in the untamed wilds and was happy living with the animals he had befriended; Gilgamesh lived among people in the sophisticated city and because of his willfulness was estranged from the people he ruled.

From Uruk, Gilgamesh sent a temple prostitute to seduce Enkidu, and Enkidu lost his innocence -- vaguely similar to Eve giving Adam the apple of knowledge, which in this instance was explicitly carnal. The prostitute gave Enkidu bread fit for a god and wine fit for royalty, and she introduced him to Gilgamesh. Enkidu and Gilgamesh became friends and attempted great feats together, including the killing of a god in the form of a bull, a god who was the bringer of droughts to their valley. The great mother goddess, Ishtar -- a goddess seen in the heavens as the planet Venus -- thought that in killing the bull, Gilgamesh and his friend had exercised too much willfulness and that as punishment either the barbarian or Gilgamesh had to die. It was Enkidu who died, and following his death Gilgamesh was heartbroken and lost himself by wandering from town to town.

Story of the flood, eternal life (plant), and death

b) Akkadian (2350 – 2100)

– Sargon 2334 – 2279 BC –

• King of Akkad. 55 yr reign.

– Akkadian Empire, c. 2340-2100 B.C.E.

– Semitic people

– Sargon around 2340 B.C.E. overran the Sumerian cities and established an empire over most of Mesopotamia

– Empire falls about 2100 B.C.E

Religious:

Economy:

Women’s Roles:

Men’s Roles:

c) Amorites or Old Babylonians:

1792 BC – 1750 BC

Conquered Sumerians and Akkadians

Rules by Hammurabi

Code of Hammurabi – 282 Laws

Code of Hammurabi282 laws-written so as to not be arbitrary-eye for an eye-standards for professions: public officials had numerous duties,

responsibilities.-Consumer protection-sought to protect women and children / focus on family matters-sexual promiscuity permitted – for men.-reorganized and consolidated previous laws in order to maintain the

established social / economic order.

ALSO devised most sophisticated mathematical system based on numerical system of 1-60 (we use hours and minutes - 60), Quadratic equation (used in computing amounts of materials for bldg)

When Hammurabi died, his son lost ½ the kingdom in revolts and thus weakened, fell to Hittites

WILL RETURN TO HITTITES, but let’s return to a few of Hammurabi’s laws …

CODE OF LAWS1. If any one ensnare another, putting a ban upon him, but he can not prove it, then he

that ensnared him shall be put to death.

2. If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.

3. If any one bring an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if it be a capital offense charged, be put to death.

4. If he satisfy the elders to impose a fine of grain or money, he shall receive the fine that

the action produces.

5. If a judge try a case, reach a decision, and present his judgment in writing; if later error shall appear in his decision, and it be through his own fault, then he shall pay twelve times the fine set by him in the case, and he shall be publicly removed from the judge's bench, and never again shall he sit there to render judgement.

6. If any one steal the property of a temple or of the court, he shall be put to death, and also the one who receives the stolen thing from him shall be put to death.

7. If any one buy from the son or the slave of another man, without witnesses or a contract, silver or gold, a male or female slave, an ox or a sheep, an ass or anything, or if he take it in charge, he is considered a thief and shall be put to death.

First settlement around 4000 BC

Over 2500 years, most stable civilization the western world had ever known.

Included 31 dynasties grouped into four periods

V. EgyptianV. Egyptian

Divine KingshipThe Importance of Religion

Inseparable element of the world orderPolytheisticSun gods and land godsSun god worshiped as Atum in human formEgyptian ruler took the title “Son of Re”

King PharohHORUS (sky and falcon god)RA (sun god)AMEN-RE OSIRIS (god of the dead)Mummification – important for return of spiritual ka

Hyksos - result was the Egyptian use of bronze for improved tools and weapons, more effective methods of warfare which enabled the Egyptians to establish the New Kingdom and expand their empire, use of horse-drawn war chariots, significant increase in Egyptian imperialism.Ahmose IEmpire – Somalia, Nubia, Palestine, SyriaHatshepsut 1490-1468 BCAmenhotep IV 1364 – 1347 BCTUTANKHAMEN

VI. New Centers of Civilization

By 6500 BC, Agriculture had spread into the Balkan peninsula

By 4000 BC, humans in what is now France, central Europe, Mediterranean area had domesticated animals

Between 3200 – 1500 BC – the druids ended up with very large stones (megalithic constructions) throughout Britain. These megalithic constructions were also evident as far north as Scandinavia and as far south as Corsica and Malta.

a) Role of Nomadic PeopleHerding, hunting, gathering, limited farmingIndo_Europeans were most significant nomadic people.

Indo-Europeans from somewhere in the steppe region north of the Black Sea or in southwestern Asia

b) The PhoeniciansPalestinePorts of Byblos, Tyre, and SidonTradersAlphabetEstablished coloniesSkilled sea travelers

c) Hebrews

Time Period: Between 1200 and 1000 B.C.E emerged as distinct people

Region: South of the Phoenicians

Language: Semitic speaking

Social Structure:

Yet important as source of origin for major world religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam

Jewish history written in Old Testament - Doubt as to veracity of material in Old Testament today because historians believe ti was written LONG after events and do not reflect the TRUE history of the Hebrews.

• Leadership:– Between the origins of the nomadic peoples later known as Hebrews and King

Solomon, Hebrews worshipped many gods … tree god, stone god … polytheistic.

– Solomon King, united tribes, monotheistic• He expanded power and government, expanding the army, which in turn

expanded control of area.• Solomon best known for his WISDOM, and the building of religious sites

– After Solomon’s death, division and tension between groups– Northern tribes and Southern tribes separate

• Gender Roles:• Religion: Polytheistic until Solomon. Temple housed the Ark of the Covenant

– Yahweh» Created nature but not in nature» God of mercy and love» Spoke through Moses

– Covenant, law, the prophets• Legal:

• Economy:

• Cities: Samaria, Jerusalem

• Military: – Kingdom of Israel w/capital at Samaria (10 northern tribes)– Kingdom of Judea with capital at Jerusalem (2 southern tribes)– In 772 BC, Assyrians destroyed Samaria, Hebrews dispersed (10 lost

tribes)– Southern Kingdom managed for awhile, paying tribute to Assyrians,

and as Assyrian power declined, a new enemy appeared – Chaldeans. Chaldeans defeated Assyrians, destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC. Many were deported to Babylonia (Psalm 137)

• Notables: Chaldeans conquered by the Persians, and Hebrews returned and with help of Persians rebuilt.

VII. The Rise of New Empires

a) Assyrians

Time Period: 800 -600 BC

Region: Syria and Palestine, Babylon and southern Mesopotamia

Language:

Social Structure: System of communication, assimilated Mesopotamian civilization

Not fearful of assimilation of those of different religious beliefs or political

THEIR language gave them their identity.

Leadership: King Ashurbanipal (669-626 B.C.). Kings held absolute power.

Military: Use of iron weapons, create an empire by 700 B.C.E.Well organized army -- infantrymen and war chariots

Conventional and guerilla, Use of terror, lay siege to citiesiron swords, lances, metal armor, and battering rams In 772 BC, Assyrians destroyed Samaria.

Gender Roles:

Religion:

Legal:

• Economy: farming, trade (middlemen), canal built between Nile and Red sea begun

• Cities:

• Art/Literature: – ritual/ceremonial scenes - realism. Also important was their relief

sculptures (contribution to future civilizations and art world).– Nineveh: poetry, history, astronomy, astrology, and medicine,

instructions for grammatical translation of Summerian texts into a Semetic language. Over 22,000 tablets.

• Notables:– Sargon II (721-705 BC), who forcefully relocated Hebrews.

• Excerpts from the Code of the Assyrians.• I.2. If a woman, whether the wife of a man or the daughter of a man, utter vulgarity or indulge in low talk, that woman bears her own sin; against her husband, her sons,

or her daughter they shall have no claim.• I.7. If a woman bring her hand against a man, they shall prosecute her; 30 manas of lead shall she pay, 20 blows shall they inflict on her.• I.8. If a woman in a quarrel injure the testicle of a man, one of her fingers they shall cut off. And if a physician bind it up and the other testicle which is beside it be

infected thereby, or take harm; or in a quarrel she injure the other testicle, they shall destroy both of her eyes.• I.9. If a man bring his hand against the wife of a man, treating her like a little child, and they prove it against him, and convict him, one of his fingers they shall cut off. If

he kiss her, his lower lip with the blade of an axe they shall draw down and they shall cut off.• I.12. If the wife of a man be walking on the highway, and a man seize her, say to her "I will surely have intercourse with you," if she be not willing and defend herself, and

he seize her by force and rape her, whether they catch him upon the wife of a man, or whether at the word of the woman whom he has raped, the elders shall prosecute him, they shall put him to death. There is no punishment for the woman.

• I.13. If the wife of a man go out from her house and visit a man where he lives, and he have intercourse with her, knowing that she is a man's wife, the man and also the woman they shall put to death.

• I.14. If a man have intercourse with the wife of a man either in an inn or on the highway, knowing that she is a man's wife, according as the man, whose wife she is, orders to be done, they shall do to the adulterer. If not knowing that she is a man's wife he rapes her, the adulterer goes free. The man shall prosecute his wife, doing to her as he likes.

• I.15. If a man catch a man with his wife, both of them shall they put to death. If the husband of the woman put his wife to death, he shall also put the man to death. If he cut off the nose of his wife, he shall turn the man into a eunuch, and they shall disfigure the whole of his face.

• I.16. If a man have relations with the wife of a man at her wish, there is no penalty for that man. The man shall lay upon the woman, his wife, the penalty he wishes.• I.18. If a man say to his companion, "They have had intercourse with they wife; I will prove it," and he be not able to prove it, and do not prove it, on that man they shall

inflict forty blows, a month of days he shall perform the king's work, they shall mutilate him, and one talent of lead he shall pay.• I.20. If a man have intercourse with his brother-in-arms, they shall turn him into a eunuch.• I.21. If a man strike the daughter of a man and cause her to drop what is in her, they shall prosecute him, they shall convict him, two talents and thirty manas of lead shall

he pay, fifty blows they shall inflict on him, one month shall he toil. • I.26. If a woman be dwelling in the house of her father, and her husband have died, any gift which her husband settled upon her---if there be any sons of her husband's,

they shall receive it. If there be no sons of her husband's she receives it.• I.32. If a woman be dwelling in the house of father, but has been given to her husband, whether she has been taken to the house of her husband or not, all debts,

misdemeanors, and crimes of her husband shall she bear as if she too committed them. Likewise if she be dwelling with her husband, all crimes of his shall she bear as well.

• I.35. If a woman, who is a widow, enter into the house of a man, whatsoever she brings with her---all is her husband's. But if a man enter in to a woman, whatsoever he brings---all is the woman's.

• I.37. If a man divorce his wife, if he wish, he may give her something; if he does not wish, he need not give her anything. Empty shall she go out.• I.40. If the wives of a man, or the daughters of a man go out into the street, their heads are to be veiled. The prostitute is not to be veiled. Maidservants are not to veil

themselves. Veiled harlots and maidservants shall have their garments seized and 50 blows inflicted on them and bitumen poured on their heads. • I.46. If a woman whose husband is dead on the death of her husband do not go out from her house, if her husband did not leave her anything, she shall dwell in the

house of one of her sons. The sons of her husband shall support her; her food and her drink, as for a fiancee whom they are courting, they shall agree to provide for her. If she be a second wife, and have no sons of her own, with one of her husband's sons she shall dwell and the group shall support her. If she have sons of her own, her own sons shall support her, and she shall do their work. But if there be one among the sons of her husband who marries her, the other sons need not support her.

• I.47. If a man or a woman practice sorcery, and they be caught with it in their hands, they shall prosecute them, they shall convict them. The practicer of magic they shall put to death.

• I.50. If a man strike the wife of a man, in her first stage of pregnancy, and cause her to drop that which is in her, it is a crime; two talents of lead he shall pay.• I.51. If a man strike a harlot and cause her to drop that which is in her, blows for blows they shall lay upon him; he shall make restitution for a life.• I.52. If a woman of her own accord drop that which is in her, they shall prosecute her, they shall convict her, they shall crucify her, they shall not bury her. If she die from

dropping that which is in her, they shall crucify her, they shall not bury her.• I.55. If a virgin of her own accord give herself to a man, the man shall take oath, against his wife they shall not draw nigh. Threefold the price of a virgin the ravisher shall

pay. The father shall do with his daughter what he pleases.• I.57. In the case of every crime for which there is the penalty of the cutting-off of ear or nose or ruining or reputation or condition, as it is written it shall be carried out.• I.58. Unless it is forbidden in the tablets, a man may strike his wife, pull her hair, her ear he may bruise or pierce. He commits no misdeed thereby.

b) Persians

Time Period: 6th century BC

Region: Persia – centering in North and SouthAround 1000BC Aryan tribes from the North move in to the

regionTWO TRIBESMedes: moved west and NW to Media (their rise was

during 6th century)Persian: went south to edge of Tigris river

• Language: Indo European

• Social Structure:– Cyrus II, Conqueror of Babylon.

• Bureaucracy had had 20-40-60 years to develop and was well established. Didn't appreciate his attempts to change the system.

• In a monument to himself was going to change capital of empire to Persepolis.

• Colossal glorification to himself• Man headed bulls and lions• Staircases with stone warriors from captured empires

(Assyrians)• Egyptian columns • Greek relief and decoration

– Civil Administration and the Military• Divided into 20 provinces

– Satraps collected tribute, responsible for justice and security• Roads

– Royal Road stretched from Sardis to Susa• Professional army with a core of 10,000 cavalry

• Leadership: • Cyrus (559-530 B.C.E.)• Cambyses (530-522 B.C.E.)• Darius (522-486 B.C.E.)

• To this point in history - the largest empire on earth.• Cyrus was careful to respect the institutions and beliefs of his new

subjects.• Cyrus required little of subjects (in conquered lands)• Established provinces with Governors (of their

choosing)• Required tribute and obedience from subjects

OTHERWISE free to do as will.• Tribute: Persian system of satrapies was a system of collecing tribute

based on a region's productive capacity.

• Cyrus' son then adds to his father's empire and adds Egypt followed by Medes and Babylonian attempts to seek independence (defeated but interest grows)

• Darius: (reigned 522 - 486BC) Expanded Empire to Maccedonia then stopped.

• Gender Roles:• Religion:

– It was during this time that Zoroastrianism began– god of light– Ahurmazda, the creator, gave all humans free will

and the power to chose between right and wrong• COMMONALITY with Judaism – good and evil

• Legal:• Economy: mineral wealth, particularly iron.

• Cities: Babylon• Notables: rebuilt the Temple in Jerusalem and other

religious structures.