Ò Unit 1 Ancient Civilizations Honors World History

Ò  Unit 1 – Ancient Civilizations Honors World History

Ò  Guns, Germs, and Steel

Ò  Jared Diamond

Ò  Why did history unfold differently on different continents?

Ò  Why has one culture—namely that of Western Europe—dominated the development of the modern world?

Ò  In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book Guns, Germs and Steel, scientist Jared Diamond argues that the answer is geography.

Ò  The physical locations where different cultures have taken root, he claims, have directly affected the ability of those societies to develop key institutions, like agriculture and animal domestication, or to acquire important traits, like immunity to disease.

Ò  Paleolithic Era

Ò  The Stone Age (known to scholars as the Paleolithic era) in human prehistory is the name given to the period between about 2.5 million and 20,000 years ago.

Ò  It begins with the earliest human-like behaviors of crude stone tool manufacture, and ends with fully modern human hunting and gathering societies.

Ò  Neolithic Era

Ò  The Neolithic period or New Stone Age was a period in human history when humans were still using stone tools, but they had started to settle in permanent encampments.

Ò  This transition allowed people to create permanent towns and villages, and it paved the way to a more complex culture.

Ò  In addition to growing crops, these early humans also started domesticating animals to work for them and to serve as sources of food.

Ò  Early River Valley Civilizations – 3500 BCE to 600 BCE

Ò  Mesopotamia

Ò  Fertile Crescent – arc of land between Persian Gulf and Mediterranean.

Ò  Includes Mesopotamia – “land between the rivers” – a fertile plain.

Ò  Tigris and Euphrates rivers flood once a year, leaving rich soil.

Ò  Environmental Challenges

Ò  Around 3300 BCE Sumerians began farming southern Mesopotamia.

Ò  Environment poses three disadvantages:

Ò  Floods are unpredictable; sometimes no rain.

Ò  Land offers no barriers to invasion.

Ò  Land has few natural resources; building materials scarce.

Ò  Solving Problems Through Organization

Ò  Sumerians work together; find solutions to environmental problems.

Ò  Build irrigation ditches to control water, produce crops.

Ò  Build walled cities for defense.

Ò  Trade grain, cloth, and tools for raw materials – stone, wood, metal.

Ò  Organization, leadership, and laws are beginning of civilization.

Ò  Sumerian City-States

Ò  By 3000 BCE Sumerians built cities surrounded by fields of crops.

Ò  Each is a city-state – an independent political unit.

Ò  Sumer city-states: Uruk, Kish, Lagash, Umma, and Ur.

Ò  Each city-state has temple and ziggurat; priests appeal to gods.

Ò  Priests and Rulers Share Control

Ò  Sumer’s early governments controlled by temple priests.

Ò  Some military leaders become rulers; dynasties rule after 2500 BCE

Ò  Dynasty – series of rulers from a single family.

Ò  The Spread of Cities

Ò  By 2500 BCE many new cities in Fertile Crescent

Ò  Sumerians exchange products and ideas with other cultures.

Ò  Cultural diffusion (Cross Cultural Exchanges) – process of one culture spreading to others.

Ò  A Religion of Many Gods

Ò  Sumerians believe in many gods – Polytheism.

Ò  Gods are thought to control forces of nature.

Ò  Gods behave as humans do, but people are gods’ servants.

Ò  Life after death is bleak and gloomy.

Ò  Life in Sumerian Society

Ò  Sumerians have social classes – kings, landholders, priests at top.

Ò  Wealthy merchants next; at lowest level are slaves.

Ò  Women have many rights; become priests, merchants, artisans.

Ò  Sumerian Science and Technology

Ò  Sumerians invent wheel, sail, and plow; first to use bronze.

Ò  Make advances in arithmetic and geometry.

Ò  Develop arches, columns, ramps, and pyramids for building.

Ò  Have a complex system of writing – cuneiform.

Ò  Study astronomy, chemistry, medicine.

Ò  The development of writing enabled the Mesopotamians to transpose their oral legends like the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Ò  The Epic of Gilgamesh is, perhaps, the oldest written story on Earth.

Ò  It was originally written on 12 clay tablets in cunieform script.

Ò  It is about the adventures of the historical King of Uruk (somewhere between 2750 and 2500 B.C.E.).

Ò  King Gilgamesh of Uruk oppresses his people.

Ò  As punishment, the gods send him a companion, Enkidu, who is his mirror image and becomes his good friend.

Ò  Together, Gilgamesh and Enkidu defy the gods by killing the giant Humbaba, cutting down the sacred cedar forest which he guards, and killing the Bull of Heaven.

Ò  Enkidu has ominous dreams of the destiny of tyrants who become slaves in the House of Death.

Ò  Enkidu finally dies of an illness sent by the gods.

Ò  Horrified by Enkidu's death and the prospect of his own demise, Gilgamesh undertakes a quest for immortality

Ò  This brings him to the house of Utnapishtim, a virtuous man who obeys the gods and was saved by them from the Great Flood.

Ò  Utnapishtim puts Gilgamesh to various tests which he fails and eventually sends him away, assuring him that he cannot escape death.

Ò  A humbled Gilgamesh returns to Uruk and orders his story to be inscribed in stone.

Ò  Epic criticizes:

Ò  Tyranny

Ò  Oppression

Ò  Violence

Ò  Conquest

Ò  ambitions of the powerful

Ò  Promotes the values of a simple life of rest and enjoyment of the pleasures of human companionship, love, food, and drink.

Ò  Another idea of the epic is a carpe diem ("seize the day") theme.

Ò  Pro-nature, pro-environmentalist stance of the poem.

Ò  Epic expresses a belief in a divine justice, order, or balance of things requiring punishment in kind for transgressions such as violence, cruelty, pride and the destruction of nature.

Ò  The First Empire Builders

Ò  From 3000 to 2000 BCE city-states at constant war.

Ò  Around 2350 BCE, Sargon from Akkad defeats city-states of Sumer.

Ò  Creates first empire – independent states under control of one leader.

Ò  His dynasty lasts about 200 years.

Ò  Babylonian Empire

Ò  Amorites, nomadic warriors, take control of region around 2000 BCE.

Ò  Make Babylon, on Euphrates River, the capital.

Ò  Babylonian Empire at peak during Hammurabi’s rule (1792-1750 BCE).

Ò  Hammurabi’s Code

Ò  Hammurabi creates a code of laws for the Babylonian Empire.

Ò  282 laws on all aspects of life; engraved in stone and made public.

Ò  Set different punishments depending on social class, gender.

Ò  Goal is for government to take responsibility for order, justice.

Ò  The more important later ruler was the Babylonian King Hammurabi who improved administration with an extensive legal code built on previous regional laws.

Ò  The foundation of the code was lex talionis, or the law of retribution, with punishments tied closely to offenses.

Ò  So, the loss of an eye between equals demanded the loss of the offender’s eye.

Ò  But the loss of an eye between different classes required more punishment for the lower-class offender and less for the upper-class offender.

Ò  In reality, judges had some latitude to make their own decisions, but it set a strong precedent for the rule of law.

Ò  If a merchant increases interest beyond that set by the king and collects it, that merchant will lose what was lent.
If that woman has not kept herself chaste but enters another man's house, they shall convict the woman and cast her into the water.
If he puts out the eye of a free man's slave or breaks the bone of a free man's slave, he shall pay half his price.
If the slave of a free man strikes the cheek of a free man, they shall cut off his ear.'”

Ò  If a free person helps a slave to escape, the free person will be put to death.
What can you tell from the Hammurabic code about the social and family structure of Mesopotamia?

Ò  What is the relationship between law and trade?

Ò  Why did agricultural civilizations such as Babylon insist on harsh punishments for crimes?

Ò  Amorite rule of Fertile Crescent ends 200 years after Hammurabi.

Ò  ANCIENT EGYPT

Ò  The Gift of the Nile

Ò  Yearly flooding brings water and fertile black mud – silt.

Ò  Farmers build irrigation system for wheat and barley crops.

Ò  Egyptians worship Nile as a god.

Ò  Environmental Challenges

Ò  Light floods reduce crops, cause starvation.

Ò  Heavy floods destroy property; deserts isolate and protect Egyptians.

Ò  Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt

Ò  River area south of First Cataract is elevated, becomes Upper Egypt.

Ò  Cataract – where boulders turn Nile River into churning rapids.

Ò  River area north, including Nile delta, becomes Lower Egypt.

Ò  Delta – land formed by silt deposits at mouth of river; triangular.

Ò  King Narmer Creates Egyptian Dynasty

Ò  Villages of Egypt ruled by two kingdoms – Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt.

Ò  King Narmer unites them around 3000 BCE; makes Memphis capital.

Ò  Establishes first Egyptian dynasty.

Ò  Pharaohs Rule as Gods

Ò  To the Egyptians, kings are gods; Egyptian god-kings called pharaohs.

Ò  Pharaohs control religion, government, army, well-being of kingdom.

Ò  Government based on religious authority – theocracy.

Ò  Builders of the Pyramids

Ò  Kings believed to rule even after death; have eternal life force, ka.

Ò  Build elaborate tombs, pyramids, to meet needs after death.

Ò  Pyramids made with blocks of stone, 2-15 tons each; 481 feet high.

Ò  Kingdom had leadership, government; economically strong.

Ò  Religion and Life

Ò  Egyptians believe in 2,000 gods and goddesses – polytheistic.

Ò  Re is sun god; Osiris, god of the dead; goddess Isis is ideal woman.

Ò  Believe in life after death; person judged by deeds at death.

Ò  Develop mummification, process that prevents body from decaying.

Ò  Book of the Dead contains prayers and spells, guides souls after death.

Ò  Social Classes

Ò  Society shaped like pyramid, from pharaoh down to farmers, laborers.

Ò  Few people at top have great power; most people at bottom.

Ò  People move into higher social classes through marriage or merit.

Ò  Women have many of the same rights as men.

Ò  Egyptian women were relegated to lesser roles at home and in public although they had more authority than Mesopotamian women.

Ò  Nevertheless, some Egyptian women gained power as regents to young rulers and one, Queen Hapshetut, even attained the throne as a co-ruler.

Ò  But a woman as ruler was so disconcerting for Egyptians that artists depicted her with a beard.

Ò  Women in Egypt also priestesses and, in some cases, educated scribes.

Ò  Egyptian Writing

Ò  In hieroglyphics writing system, pictures represent ideas.

Ò  Paperlike sheets made from papyrus reeds used for writing.

Ò  Egyptian Science and Technology

Ò  Egyptians invent calendar of 365 days and 12 months.

Ò  Develop system of written numbers and a form of geometry.

Ò  Skilled engineers and architects construct palaces, pyramids.

Ò  Egyptian medicine famous in the ancient world.

Ò  Invaders Control Egypt

Ò  Changes to Egyptian Society

Ò  Power of pharaohs declines around 2180 BCE; end of the Old Kingdom.

Ò  In Middle Kingdom (2040 to 1640 BCE), some pharaohs regain control.

Ò  Improve trade, dig canal from Nile to Red Sea; drain swamps for farms.

Ò  Hyksos move into Egypt from Palestine; rule from 1630 to 1523 BCE.

Ò  Return of the pharaohs – New Kingdom – temples, statues.

Ò  Indus River Valley Civilization (India)

Ò  Indian Subcontinent

Ò  Subcontinent – landmass that includes India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Ò  World’s tallest mountain ranges separate it from rest of Asia.

Ò  Rivers, Mountains, and Plains

Ò  Mountains to north, deserts to east, protect Indus Valley from invasion.

Ò  Indus and Ganges rivers form flat, fertile plain – the Indo-Gangetic.

Ò  Southern India, a dry plateau flanked by mountains.

Ò  Narrow strip of tropical land along coast.

Ò  Monsoons

Ò  Seasonal winds – monsoons – dominate India’s climate.

Ò  Winter winds are dry; summer winds bring rain – can cause flooding.

Ò  Environmental Challenges

Ò  Floods along the Indus unpredictable; river can change course.

Ò  Rainfall unpredictable; could have droughts or floods.

Ò  Influenced an area larger than Mesopotamia or Egypt.

Ò  About 7000 BCE, evidence of agriculture and domesticated animals.

Ò  By 3200 BCE, people farming in villages along Indus River.

Ò  Planned Cities

Ò  By 2500 BCE, people build cities of brick laid out on a grid system.

Ò  Engineers create plumbing and sewage systems.

Ò  Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro.

Ò  Indus Valley called Harappan civilization after Harappa, a city.

Ò  Harappan Planning

Ò  City built on mud-brick platform to protect against flood waters.

Ò  Brick walls protect city and citadel – central buildings of the city.

Ò  Streets in grid systems are 30 feet wide.

Ò  Lanes separate rows of houses (which featured bathrooms).

Ò  Language

Ò  Had writing system of 400 symbols, but scientists can’t decipher it.

Ò  Culture

Ò  Harappan cities appear uniform in culture; no great social divisions.

Ò  Animals important to the culture; toys suggest prosperity.

Ò  Role of Religion

Ò  Priests closely linked to rulers.

Ò  Some religious artifacts reveal links to modern Hindu culture.

Ò  Trade

Ò  Had thriving trade with other peoples, including in Mesopotamia.

Ò  Harappan Decline

Ò  Signs of decline begin around 1750 B.C.E.

Ò  Earthquakes, floods, soil depletion may have caused decline.

Ò  Around 1500 B.C.E., Aryans enter area and become dominant.

Ò  Indo-Europeans.

Ò  Horses.

Ò  Polytheism.

Ò  Ancient China

Ò  Barriers Isolate China

Ò  Ocean, mountains, deserts isolate China from other areas.

Ò  River Systems

Ò  Huang He (“Yellow River”) in north, Yangtze in south.

Ò  Huang He leaves loess- fertile silt- when it floods.

Ò  Environmental Challenges

Ò  Huang He floods can devour whole villages. (China’s Sorrow)

Ò  Geographic isolation means lack of trade; must be self-sufficient.