The first Civilizations

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Chapter 2

• The first CivilizationsEgyptThe Gift of the Nile

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Egypt
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Nile River Valley

• Narrow strip of land about 10 miles wide
• Early people learned to control river canals,
  dikes, reservoirs, irrigation ditches

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Nile River

• River
• Flows north
• Originates in the highlands of Ethiopia (Blue
  Nile)
• White Nile comes from lakes of central
  Africa-main source is Lake Victoria
• Ends in the Mediterranean Sea
• Longest river in the world at 4,160 miles

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Nile River

• Floods
• Until recently, flooded annually in July-Sept
• Floods predictable
• Added moisture to the soil
• Deposited silt, replenishing the soil with
  nutrients-food, water and transportation
• delta to form at the mouth of the river
• Provided papyrus-reed that grows along the banks
  of the Nile

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First People

• 5,000 to 4,000 B.C.E.
• Divided into two regions
• Upper Egypt first cataract to 100 miles of the
  sea
• Lower Egypt from delta inland 100 miles

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Natural Barriers

• Deserts- Lybian, Nubian, Arabian
• Seas- Mediterranean and Red
• Cataracts- waterfalls and rapids which interrupt
  Nile six times
• Only real access into Egypt was across the Sinai
  Peninsula- invaders and traders used this route
  into Egypt

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The Nile River Valley
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King Menes 3100 B.C.E.

• Unites the two kingdoms
• First Egyptian dynasty

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Ruling Dynasties

• Approximately 31 dynasties (ruling families) from
  2700 B.C.E. to 1090 B.C.E.
• Dynasties ruled Egypt for a total of 2700 years
• Years between kingdoms without ruling dynasty
  usually marked by civil wars and/or invasion

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Egyptian Historical Periods

• Ancient Egyptian history divided into three
  periods
• Old Kingdom
• Middle Kingdom
• New Kingdom

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Old Kingdom 2700 B.C.E. to 2200 B.C.E.

• AKA - The Pyramid Age
• Rulers called Pharaohs (great house) - claimed to
  be divine and worshiped as gods on Earth
• Chief god Amon-Re (pharaohs sons of Sun god)
• Pharaohs had absolute power ( owned all land and
  water)
• Viziers supervisors that ran the government

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OLD KINGDOM

• Era was remarkable for prosperity, artistic
  flowering, and the evolution of religious beliefs
• Pharaoh commanded the wealth, resources, and
  people of all Egypt
• Pharaoh cared for his people

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The Great Pyramid of KhufuAbout 2560 B.C.E.
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The Great Pyramid of Khufu

• Egypt had great enormous quantities of stone for
  building
• Took 20 years to build
• 481 feet tall- tallest structure in the world for
  43 centuries
• Each side perfectly aligned North, South, East,
  West

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The Great Pyramid of Khufu

• Each side 751 feet long error of less than 9
  inches per side
• Covers 13 acres
• Used more than 2 million stones each more than
  2 tons some more than 15 tons

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The Great Sphinx

• Located in Giza
• Body of a lion and face of a man (the pharaoh
  Khafre)
• Faces the rising suntall as a six-story building

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Step Pyramid at Sakkara is oldest stone building
in the world which was built for the pharaoh Zoser
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Old Kingdom ended about 2200 B.C.E.

• Reasons
• Cost of Pyramids
• Crop failure
• Power struggle
• Results over 100 years of chaos
• Princes from the city of Thebes reunited Egypt

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Middle Kingdom- 2050 B.C.E. to 1800 B.C.E.

• Marked by troubles
• corruption, rebellions, Nile failed to flood
  regularly
• Accomplishment
• Drainage projects
• Canal from Red Sea to Mediterranean Sea
• Pharaohs more concerned with common
  people-allowed mummification

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Middle Kingdom

• Increased trade
• Egyptian Army invades Nubia and occupied rich
  gold lands

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End of Middle Kingdom

• About 1700 B.C.E. invaded by the Hyksos
• Hyksos had advance military technology-the horse
  drawn chariot

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Hyksos

• Adopted Egyptian customs, language beliefs
• Fully introduced bronze age to Egypt
• Ruled for about 100 years
• About 1600 B.C.E. overthrown by the Egyptians

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New Kingdom 1550 B.C.E. to 1100 B.C.E.

• Powerful Pharaohs created a new larger empire
  all the way to the Euphrates River
• Egypt at the height of wealth and
  powerwidespread slavery became a feature of
  Egyptian life for the first time
• Hordes of slaves brought home

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Important rulers of the New Kingdom

• Hatshepsut- first female ruler known in history
• 1501 B.C.E.- 1482 B.C.E.
• Increased trade

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Thutmose III

• Known as the Napoleon of Egypt because of his
  military victories
• Not allowed to rule in his own right because of
  his age
• Ruled Egyptian Empire at its greatest size
• Tried to wipe out the memory of Hatshepsut

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Pictures of Thutmose III
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Ramses II

• Last great ruler of the New Kingdom
• Signed first known treaty in history with the
  Hittites
• Ruled for 67 yearshe was in his nineties when he
  died
• It is believed he fathered more than 150 children

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Mummy of Ramses II
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Foreign Invaders

• Nubia 750 B.C.E.
• 650 B.C.E. Assyrians
• Persians
• Later the Greeks Romans
• All wanted the Nile Valley for its food

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Religion (polytheism)

• Amon-Re Sun god- Chief god

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Osiris and Isis
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Osiris and Isis

• God of the Under World-ruler of the Nile
• Judges the dead
• Rise Fall the Nile believed to be the death
  rebirth of Osiris
• Father of Horus

• Wife of Osiris
• Brought him back to life after Set killed
  him-symbol is the ankh-mother of Horus
• Taught women how to grind corn, spin flax, care
  for children

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Horus

• Son of Osiris kills Set god of the sky

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Bastet and Anubis

• Goddess of fertility, sensuality and fire
  prevention
• Symbolized by cats

• god of mummy wrapping/embalming
• Holds the scales of justice while your heart is
  weighed

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Pictures of Bastet
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Pictures of Anubis
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Egyptian Afterlife

• Believed in a life after death
• Each soul needed to pass a test
• Weighed the heart against the feather of truth
• Sinners were fed to the Eater of the Dead
• Worthy souls entered the Happy Field of Food

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Mummificationpresevation of the body after death

• At first just for Pharaohs
• Process took 70 days
• Removed all organs and preserved them in jars
• Needed body in afterlife-home for the Ka-eternal
  spirit

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Valley of the Kings
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Amenhotep IV

• Religious rebel
• Akhenaton
• Tried to outlaw all
  gods except Aton
• Introduced monotheism

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Nefertiti

• Wife of Amenhotep IV
• Helps her husband
• Husbands rule started the downfall of the New
  Kingdom

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Tutankhamen

• Reestablished Amon-Re
• Boy King
• Howard Carter

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Old
Middle
New
Corrupt government suffered frequent rebellions
Pharaohs organized centralized state
Pharaohs created a large empire
Government
Built enormous tombs, the pyramids
Land drained for farming
Traded with lands along eastern Mediterranean and
Red Sea
Achievements
Power struggles, crop failures and cost of
pyramids caused collapse
Hyksos invaded and conquered
Nubians, then others invaded
Decline
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Egyptian Society

• Social Class
• A persons social position and occupation
  determined at birth
• Parents taught their children their own trade

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Egyptian Society

• Social Structure
• Top Pharaoh (royal family)
• Ruling class of vizier, priests and nobles
• Scribes and soldiers
• Middle class of merchants, artisans, doctors
• Peasant farmers were majority of population and
  slaves

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Egyptian Social Stucture
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• Ruling Class
• Egyptian life revolved around religion
• Priests and nobles had highest status after
  pharaoh
• Only priests knew how to please gods
• Gods controlled nature
• Priests performed rituals to obtain fertile land
  etc.

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• People paid tax to the temples
• Grain, gold, linen, etc
• nobles mainly held government positions
• Generals in armies, governors of provinces, tax
  collectors and court officials
• Had many luxuries

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• Middle Class
• Small group
• Settled in cities
• Provided goods services to the ruling class

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• Peasants
• Majority of Egyptians
• Lifestyle unchanged for thousands of years
• Pharaoh owned all the land
• 60 of the crops had to be paid as taxes
• Usually had to work on palace or government
  project-serve in army, up keep and repair of
  irrigations systems

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• Slaves
• Brought to Egypt as POWs or were descendents of
  POWs
• Some slaves lived comfortable lives
• Some became trusted officials (Joseph)
• Some earned their freedom
• Life was tough for most- Average 36 at death

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Status of Women

• Relatively high status for that time in
  historymore independence
• Could buy and sell property
• Could seek divorce (although rare)
• Property inherited through female line
• Role of wife and mother important
• A womans status increased
• when she had children

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Status of Women

• Sometimes women considered property, but were
  treated kindly
• Wore make-up/wigs etc. (lice always an issue)
• Queen might rule with pharaoh
• If pharaoh had more than one wife, the first wife
  was most important
• Her son would be the next pharaoh

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Egyptian Writing

• 3100 B.C.E.
• Hieroglyphics
• Developed by priests

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Scribes

• Scribes were very important
• Kept records, recorded history
• Could possibly become rich
• About the only social mobility of the era

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The Rosetta Stone - 1799

• Slab of black rock carved in three languages
• Hieroglyphics
• Demotic (everyday language)
• Greek
• Jean Champollion deciphered the Rosetta Stone

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Egyptian Achievements

• In areas of math and science
• Developed system of surveying land
• Important due to annual floods
• Surveying land led to Geometry
• Area volume
• Did not develop the concept of zero

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Egyptian Achievements

• Development of astronomy
• To predict floods, eclipses
• Led to development of calendar based on Sirius
• 365 days, 12 months
• 3 seasons, 30 days for 11 months, 35 for the 12th
• 6 hours short of a solar year
• Development of building techniques
• engineering

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Egyptian Achievements

• Medical discoveries
• Magic heavily used
• Developed surgery
• Greeks Romans based much of their medical
  knowledge on that of the Egyptians

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Egyptian Achievements

• Literature
• Hymns
• Book of the Dead
• Love poems
• Folk tales
• The Tale of Sinuhe

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The Fertile Crescent
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Crossroads of Civilization

• It commands land routes to 3 continents
• Few natural barriers
• Constant exchange of ideas through invasions and
  migrations

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Mesopotamia

• Tigris River Euphrates River
• Floods almost every year (April June)
• Periods of drought
• Rivers unpredictable and deadly

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Sumerian Civilization 3200 B.C.E.

• City Stateslarge towns and cities and the
  surrounding countryside
• Ur
• Uruk
• Kish
• Cities are independent of each other
• Social classes set up in hierarchy-system of ranks

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Ziggurats

• Largest building
• in the city-state
• Pyramid-temple

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Economy

• First to use wheeled vehicles
• Trade with neighboring city-states was basis of
  the economy
• Sumerians fought for control of land and water
• Cities protected by high walls

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Religion

• Polytheism
• Council of gods goddesses rule the earth
• Each city-state had it specific god/goddess
• Natural events explained through actions of
  gods/goddesses-keep gods happy
• Gods goddess behaved like ordinary peoplekings
  were gods representatives
• Believed in an afterlife-gloomy underworld

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Writing cuneiform means wedged-shaped

• Stylus
• Scribes

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Achievements

• Basic algebra geometry
• Number system based on 6
• Hour 60 minutes
• Circle into 360 degrees
• Invented the plow sail
• First to use columns, inclined walks arch

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Empires of the Middle East

• Sargon 2300 B.C.E. ruler of Akkad conquered the
  city-states of Sumer
• First empire in recorded history

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Babylonian Empire

• Amorites invade Sumer locate their government
  in Babylon
• Became known as the Babylonian Empire
• Promoted chief Babylonian god called Marduk

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Hammurabi

• Code of Hammurabi
• 300 laws carved into stone pillars
• Criminal law
• Civil Law
• eye for an eye

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Hittites 1400 B.C.E.

• Conquered Mesopotamia because of their secret
  weapon iron
• Introduced Iron Age in Europe, Africa, Asia

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Assyrians 1100 B.C.E.

• Most cruel warlike
• First people to develop effective way of
  governing an empire
• Ruled by fear-uprooted people which spread ideas
• Well-ordered society-capital at Nineveh
• New military techniques-cavalry, siege weapons,
  disciplined army
• Assurbanipal established first library-helped
  preserve history of Middle East
• 612 B.C.E. crushed by their neighbors

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Nebuchadnezzar (Chaldeans)

• Ruled from Babylon-New Babylonians
• Enslaved the Jews- known as the Babylonian
  Captivity
• Built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon Tower of
  Babel

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Accomplishments

• Astrology-stars determined human destiny
• Calendar accurate to within 7 minutes

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Lydians

• Introduced the use of coined money
• Created money economy which helped trade
• Did not eliminate barter system

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Persian Empire 539 B.C.E.

• Cyrus the Great began empire
• Created the largest empire yet seen in the
  world-Asia Minor to India to Egypt
• Treated conquered peoples with toleration and
  respected customs and traditions

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Darius 522 B.C.E.

• Concerned for justice
• Divided empire into provinces called a Satrapy
  which was ruled by Satrap
• Sent spies eyes and ears of the king to check
  on satraps

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Accomplishments

• Linked empire with roads-Great Royal Road (1,677
  miles)--early pony express system
• Created set of common weights measures
• First large empire to create uniform system of
  coinage
• Single code of laws for all

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Persian Religion

• Created by Zoroaster 600 B.C.E.
• Single wise god Ahura Mazda-symbolized by light
• In a battle with evil prince of lies
  Ahriman-symbolized by darkness
• Sacred book called Zend Avesta
• Each individual chooses who to follow and there
  would be a Day of Judgment

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Phoenicians

• Greatest sailors/explorers of ancient
  times-established colonies
• Carriers of Civilization-spread Middle Eastern
  civilization around the Med. Region
• Made glass and had purple dye made from a tiny
  sea snail
• Gave us our alphabet

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Hebrews 2000 B.C.E.

• Nomads out of Ur in Mesopotamia
• Abraham founder of Judaism
• Monotheism single God Yahweh
• Torah-first five books of the Old Testament which
  is their most sacred text
• Developed a code of ethical laws

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Moved to Canaan then to Egypt

• Enslaved by Egyptians

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Moses

• Passover
• Freed Hebrews from bondage in Egypt
• Ten Commandments

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Religious

• The Covenantbinding agreement
• Prophets spiritual leaders who interpret Gods
  will
• Ethicsmoral standards of behavior

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Kingdom of Israel 1000 BCE

• Saul first king of Israel
• David slew Goliathruled for 40 years
• Solomon was the son of David
• Built the Temple of Jerusalem
• Home of the Ark of the Covenant

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Kingdom of Israel

• Kingdom split Israel in north Judah in the
  south
• Israel conquered by the Assyrians in 722 B.C.E.
• Judah conquered by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E.