CRADLES OF CIVILIZATION

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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

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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

3
People Have Advanced Technical Skills

• Where there is a dependable food supply, some
  time can be used to refine skills and become
  creative
• ExamplesMetalworking (copper tin bronze),
  Raft/boat building, Weaving (invented loom),
  Advanced Toolmaking, etc.

4
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

5
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

6
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.

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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

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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

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Ancient Egypt

• One of the worlds first civilizations developed
  along the banks of the Nile River in northeast
  Africa.
• The Nile is the worlds 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)

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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.
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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.

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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 1700s BCE local leaders again started to
  challenge the kings 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.

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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?

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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.

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Egyptian Rulers of Note
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Thutmose III

• Reclaimed throne when Hatshepsut died
• mighty warrior!
• Conquered Syria

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Akhenaton

• Amenhotep IV changed his name to honor his god
  Aton
• tried to change Egyptian religion to monotheism

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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

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Ramses II

• Successfully fought against the Hittites
• had 100 children!
• Last great pharaoh
• maybe the pharaoh during Moses
• built Abu Simbel

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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.

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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, city-states chose their own
  military leaders, which ruled like kings -gt led
  to hierarchical rule.

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Sumerians Cont

• 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.

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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.

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Sumerians Gods and Belief system

• 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 didnt
  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.

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Sumerian Inventions

• 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

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First Mesopotamian Empires

• 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.

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First Mesopotamian Empires

• Ebla
• Northern Syria
• Taken over by Sargons 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.

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First Mesopotamian Empires

• 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.
• King, priest, nobles -gtmerchants, artisans -gt
  slaves
• Upon Hammurabis death, the empire declined,
  Mesopotamia divided once again and finally fell
  to the Hittites from Asian Minor, who invaded in
  1800BC.

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Code of Hammurabi
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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