Chapter 2 First civilizations Africa and Asia

1
Chapter 2First civilizations Africa and Asia
2
(No Transcript)
3
Ancient Kingdoms Of The Nile
In the first section we will saw how the
geography of Egypt affected the diversity and its
impact on foreign lands as well as the impact
foreign lands had on Egypt. We will see the
politics of Egypt and see how its rulers shaped
and affected its political, military, and
religious beliefs.
4
The Nile River Valley

• Egyptian era was split into two. The old and new
  kingdom.
• Egyptian empire was located right along the Nile
  river valley which provided protection,
  transportation, and a water supply.
• Lands around the Nile were very fertile and
  farmers took advantage and started farming there.
• 2 sections of Egypt were Upper Egypt in the south
  and Lower Egypt in the north.

5

• Egyptian kingdoms were ruled by monarchs called
  pharaohs.
• Old kingdom was called the pyramid age.
• Pyramids were built as tombs for dead pharaohs
  where they were mummified and buried with all
  their belongings.
• During the middle kingdom in 1700 B.C the empire
  was destroyed by the invading Hyksos.
• New kingdom started when Hyksos were driven out
  of Egypt.
• First female ruler was queen Hatshepsut during
  the new kingdom.

6
Pharaohs of Egypt

• Queen Hatshepsut was the first female ruler.
• She encouraged trade with the eastern
  Mediterranean and expanded the empire as far as
  Africa.
• One of the greatest most influential pharaohs was
  Ramses II.
• Gained fame for the wars he led agaist the
  Hittites until a treaty was finally signed
  between the two.
• After Ramses death, the Egyptian empire started
  to decline after being invaded by Assyrians,
  Persians and later on, Greek an Roman armies.
• As Egypt declined, major city Nubia gained
  independence.
• At around 650 B.C Assyrians pushed the Nubians
  back to their original homeland where they ruled
  for another 1000 years.

Queen Hatshepsut
Ramses II
7
Egyptian Religion

• Egyptian religion was polytheistic.
• The chief god of the egyption religion was the
  sun god, Amon-re.
• An important god was Osiris, god of the
  underworld and god of the Nile.
• Isis was a goddess who promised life after death
  through mummification.
• Other gods included Horus, son of Isis and
  Osiris, Anubis, Set, and another sun god, Aton.
• Only the pharaoh was allowed to conduct
  ceremonies for the sun god.
• Cats were treated as gods also and were greatly
  respected in egyptian society.

8
Egyptian cat
Eye of Horus
Mummified Cat
The eye of the god Horus is said to represent his
battle against the god Set, and to represent
eclipses.
Cats were worshipped by egyptians and were often
mummified and buried in tombs with pharaohs to be
brought with them to the after life.
9
Egyptian Society

• Most egyptians were peasent farmers.
• Egyptian slaves were usually prisoners of wars
  and battles.
• Slaves were used to build pyramids for pharaohs,
  and to carry out other difficult tasks.
• During the new kingdom, more merchants started to
  surface with the increase of trade.
• With trade increasing, craftsman started coming
  about.
• Women were treated with respect in egyptian
  society and were allowed to inherit property, go
  to court, obtain a divorce, enter business deals,
  and buy and sell goods.

10
Hieroglyphics The Rosetta Stone

• Scribes were specifically taught to read and
  write to keep records of ceremonies, taxes and to
  serve nobles, priests or the pharaoh.
• Hieroglyphics was the official picture writing of
  egypt used to keep records.
• Records were written on paper made of papyrus, a
  plant that grew along the nile river.
• The Rosetta stone was a black stone found in a
  tomb with greek, demotic, and hieroglyphic
  writing on it which allows scholars to decode and
  understand thousands of records from ancient
  egypt.
• From the Rosetta stone, scholars found out that
  egyptians studied medicine, astronomy, and
  mathematics.

11
City-States of Sumer

• The cities of Sumer were northeast of the Nile
  river.
• The sumerian civilization was located in the
  fertile crescent, land that curves from the
  Persian Gulf to the eastern Mediterranean coast.
  It was very fertile land and ideal for farming.
• The first known civilization in the fertile
  crescent was Mesopotamia, which meant the land
  between two rivers. It was located between the
  Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
• The sumerians had very few natural resources but
  used what they had.
• They built ziggurats out of bricks they made from
  clay and water. Ziggurats were temples for gods
  or goddesses of the city.
• Trade was the main source of economy for the
  sumerian people. Many people were merchants and
  artisans.

12
Sumerian Government Religion

• Sumer was made up of many idividual city-states,
  each had their own ruler, responsible for
  irrigation and maintaining the city walls.
• Each city-state had their own social classes.
• Sumerians owned slaves as well, most captured
  during wars.
• Women had rights and were respected in Sumerian
  civilization.
• Sumerians had many gods that controlled every
  aspect of everyday life.
• Their duty was to keep these gods, who acted like
  ordinary people, happy and satisfied.
• Unlike Egyptians, the Sumerians believe the
  underworld was a dark gloomy place, without hope
  and full of despair.

13
Cuneiform school for scribes

• By 3200 B.C., the sumerians came up with the
  wedge form of writing called cuneiform.
• As it developed more and more, it was used to
  keep records of grain harvest, business deals,
  prayers, myths, laws, and treaties.
• Sumerian scribes had to go to school to learn
  skills to be a scribe.
• School was very strict and most students were
  boys.
• They were taught mathematics, medicine,
  geography, astronomy and literature.
• They came up with a number system based on the
  number 6, for example 60 minutes in an hour, 360
  degrees in a circle, which we still use today.

14
An end to Sumerian Civilization

• Eventually armies of different nations swept
  across Mesopotamia and took over the sumerian
  city-states.
• The different civilizations and cultures mixed
  with sumerian culture and traditions.
• Cuneiform was changed and adapted to the new
  civilizations language.
• Because of the conquering on the sumerian
  city-states, sumerian knowledge and ideas spread
  to romans and greeks who later greatly impacted
  the world.

15
New civilizations

• In about 2300 B.C. a ruler named Sargon took over
  sumer.
• After his death, Hammurabi, the king of Babylon,
  took over sumer.
• Hammurabi is most known for his code of laws
  called The code of Hammurabi.
• He had workers carve the laws into a 7 foot
  pillar and put in the town center for all the
  people to see them and follow them.
• Hammurabi also improved irrigation in his empire
  and organized a well trained army.
• Eventually the babylonians were taken over by the
  Hittites.

16
Hittites and Assyrians

• The Hittites moved in to the babylonian empire
  around 1400 B.C.
• They brought the Babylonians and other
  civilizations the skill of making weapons much
  stronger from iron.
• Their empire collapses in around 1200 B.C and
  then the Assyrians took over. They also made
  weapons from iron.
• They were savage warriors, but also had a
  well-ordered society.
• Assyrian king Assubanipal made the first public
  library.

17
Persian Empire

• Babylonian empire led by king Nebuchadnezzar took
  over assyrian empire and revived Babylonia in 612
  B.C.
• Nebuchadnezzar influenced and built the great
  hanging gardens of Babylon.
• Under Nebuchadnezzar astronomy flourished.
• In 539 B.C, the Babylonians fell to the Persians
  under the command of Cyrus the Great.
• The persians ruled land from Asia minor all the
  way to India.
• Under the Persian ruler Darius, many
  civilizations were unified to create one big
  empire.
• Darius divided the persian empire into different
  regions with a ruler for each region, and also
  encouraged the use of coins to improve trade and
  increase the economy.
• A persian man named Zoroaster also came up with a
  new religion, the belief in one god named Ahura
  Mazda who ruled the world.

18
Phoenicians

• Phonoecians were great traders and explorers.
• They manufactured and traded many things,
  including their own purple dye.
• They set up many colonies to promote trade within
  the Mediterranean sea.
• Phoenicians spread the ideas of all different
  civilizations to create new ideas and cultures
  within civilizations.
• They also created the first real alphabet made up
  of 22 symbols.
• Their alphabet was later changed to adapt to
  different cultures.

19
Hebrews and Israel

• Solomon was the king of the Israeli empire.
• He had ambitions to take over more land and
  because of his greed his empire was taken over by
  the assyrians in 722 B.C.
• It split into two parts, Israel in the north, and
  Judah in the south.
• The hebrews fell to the assyrians and became
  slaves.
• Judah fell to babylon in 586 B.C.
• Hebrews were slaves until Moses got a message
  from God and led the great exodus.

20
Moses and The Great Exodus

• Moses got a message from God to lead the hebrews
  out of Egypt.
• After they crossed the red sea they went to a
  desert where Moses was on a hill and received the
  ten commandments from God.
• The hebrews had a monotheistic religion,
  believing in one God only.
• They made a covenant with God and the basis of
  their religion is the Torah, the first five books
  of the Hebrew scripture.
• Judaism was one of the first monotheistic
  religions which later molded and had the same
  main belief as the Christian and Islam religions.
• The ten commandments are still followed today by
  jews and christians as well and the covenant
  between God and the hebrews still remains.