brief overview of 4 early river valley civilizations Egypt, Mesopotamia, Indus Valley Civ,, and Shang /Huang He

1. Civilization
& the Early River
Valley Civilizations
1

2. Objectives:
 List characteristics that raise a culture to the
level of a “civilization”
 Become familiar with traits unique to each of
the early river Valley Civilizations.
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3. Civilization Defined
 Agricultural base
 surplus
 trade
 Cities
& Urban life
 Government & Political system
3

4. Civilization Defined
 Social stratification
 Economic specialization
 Religion
 Writing
 “Higher Culture”
 Art / Architecture / Sculpture
4

5. Civilization and
the Means of Production
 Essential element: concentration of wealth
 Agriculture
 Control over natural resources
 Development of ancient civilization
 not hunter-gatherer economics
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6. Origins and Spread of Agriculture
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7. The Wealth of the Rivers
 Nutrient-rich silt
 Key: irrigation
 Necessity of coordinated efforts
 Promoted development of local governments
 City-states
 Sumer begins small-scale irrigation 6000 BCE
 By 5000 BCE, complex irrigation networks
 Population reaches 100,000 by 3000 BCE
 Attracts Semitic migrants, influences culture
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8. 8

9. Mesopotamia
 “Between the Rivers”
 Tigris and Euphrates
 Contemporary Iran, Iraq
 Cultural continuum of
“fertile crescent”
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10. Sumerian City-States
 Cities appear 4000 BCE
 Dominate region from 3200-2350 BCE
 Ur (home of Abraham, see Genesis 11:28), Nineveh
(see Jonah)
 Ziggurat home of the god
 Divine mandate to Kings
 Regulation of Trade
 Defence from nomadic marauders
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11. 11

12. The Ziggurat of Ur
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13. 13

14. Sumer was invaded quite
a bit, but conquerors
tended to take on
Sumerian ways
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15. Sumerian Contributions
 Arch
 Built arches using clay bricks that supported
heavy wall openings for doorways and
windows.
 Plow
 Wheeled vehicles
 Mathematical ideas
 Using base 60, divided a circle into 360
degrees, an hour into 60 minutes and a
minute into 60 seconds 15

16. Legal System
 The Code of Hammurabi (1800 BC)
 282 items
 lex talionis (item 196: “eye for an eye”)
 Social status & punishment
 women as property, but, . . . some rights
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17. Political Decline of Sumer
 Semitic peoples from northern Mesopotamia overshadow
Sumer
 Sargon of Akkad (2370-2315 BCE)
 Destroyed Sumerian city-states one by one, created empire based in
Akkad
 Empire unable to maintain chronic rebellions
 Hammurabi of Babylon (1792-1750 BCE)
 Law Code
 Improved taxation, legislation
 Used local governors to maintain control of city-states
 Babylonian Empire later destroyed by Hittites from
Anatolia, c. 1595 BCE
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18. Sumerian Contributions
 primitive “arch”
 Built arches using clay bricks that supported heavy
wall openings for doorways and windows.
 Plow
 Wheeled vehicles
 Mathematical ideas
 Using base 60, divided a circle into 360 degrees, an
hour into 60 minutes and a minute into 60 seconds
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19. Later Mesopotamian Empires
 Weakening of central rule an invitation to foreign
invaders
 Assyrians use new iron weaponry
 Beginning 1300 BCE, by 8th-7th centuries BCE control
Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, most of Egypt
 Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (r. 605-562) takes advantage
of internal dissent to create Chaldean (New Babylonian)
Empire
 Famously luxurious capital
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20. Mesopotamian Empires
1800-600 BCE
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21. Technological Development in
Mesopotamia
 Bronze (copper w/ tin), c. 4000 BC
 Applications: military, agricultural, construction
 Iron c. 1800 BC
 ore more plentiful than bronze
 Wheel, boats, c. 3500 BC
 Shipbuilding increases trade networks
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22. Social Classes
 Ruling classes based
 military prowess
 Religious connection
 Hereditary – sometimes claimed as offspring of gods
 Religious classes
 Role: intervention with gods to ensure fertility, safety
 Considerable landholdings, other economic activities
 Free commoners
 Peasant farmers
 urban artisans & professionals
 Slaves
 Prisoners of war, convicted criminals, debtors
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23. Patriarchal Society
 Men as landowners
 Patriarchy: “rule of the father”
 Right to sell wives,
 Disobedient children could be drive off, sold or even killed
 Double standard of sexual morality
 Women drowned for adultery
 relaxed sexual mores for men
 Yet some possibilities of social mobility for women
 Traders, scribes, temple priestesses, court advisers, economic
activity
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24. Development of Writing
 Sumerian writing systems form 3500 BCE
 Pictographs
 Cuneiform: “wedge-shaped”
 Preservation of documents on clay
 Declines from 400 BCE with spread of Greek
alphabetic script
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25. Uses for Writing
 Trade
 Astronomy
 Mathematics
 Agricultural applications
 Calculation of time
 12-month year
 24-hour day, 60-minute hour
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26. Mesopotamian Literature
 Epic of Gilgamesh, compiled after 2000 BCE
 Heroic saga
 Search for meaning, esp. afterlife
 This-worldly emphasis
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27. Kemet - Ancient Egypt
 Gift of the Nile
 King Menes
 Pyramids
 Mummies
 Hieroglyphics
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28. The Early Hebrews
 Patriarchs and Matriarchs from Babylon, c. 1850
BCE
 Parallels between early biblical texts, Code of
Hammurabi
 Early settlement of Canaan (Israel), c. 1300 BCE
 Biblical text: slavery in Egypt, divine redemption
 On-going conflict with indigenous populations
under King David (1000-970 BCE) and Solomon
(970-930 BCE)
28

29. Moses and Monotheism
 Hebrews shared polytheistic beliefs of other
Mesopotamian civilizations
 Moses introduces monotheism, belief in single
god
 Denies existence of competing parallel deities
 Personal god: reward and punishment for conformity
with revealed law
 The Torah (“the teaching”)
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30. Foreign conquests of Israel
 Civil war
 Northern tribes: Israel
 Southern: Judah
 Assyrian conquest, 722 BCE
 Exiles Israel: ten lost tribes
 Babylonian conquest, 586 BCE
 Additional exile of many residents of Judah
 Returned later than century
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31. Israel and Phoenicia, 1500-600 BCE
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32. 32

33. The Phoenicians
 City-states along Mediterranean coast after 3000 BC
 Extensive maritime trade
 Dominated Mediterranean trade, 1200-800 BC
 Development of alphabet symbols
 Simpler alternative to cuneiform

Easier to learn and use - spread of literacy
33

34. 34

35. Indus Valley Civilization (IVC)
 (3300–1300 BC)
 At its peak, IVC may
have had a pop. of
over 5 million
 Bronze Age
civilization
 noted for its well
planned cities built of
brick, roadside
drainage system, &
multistoried houses.
35

36. Computer generated
picture of what
Mohenjo Daro may
have looked like.
36

37. 37

38. well-planned, precisely measured cities
38

39. k
IVC writing
system
remains
undeciphered
39

40. 40

41. 41

42. Indo-European Migrations
 Common roots of many languages of Europe,
southwest Asia, India
 Implies influence of a single Indo-European
people
 Probable original homeland: contemporary Ukraine and
Russia, 4500-2500 BCE
 Domestication of horses, use of Sumerian
weaponry allowed them to spread widely
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43. The Indo-European Migrations
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44. Implications of Indo-European Migration
 Hittites migrate to central Anatolia, c. 1900 BC, later
dominate Babylonia
 Influence on trade
 Iron
 Horses, chariots with spoked wheels,
 Migrations to western China, Greece, Italy also significant
 Influence on language and culture
 Aryo, “noble, lord”
 Aryan, Iranian, Irish
 Caste system in India
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46. 46

47. Early Chinese Civilization
 Began along the Huang He & Yangtze Rivers
Dynasties
 Xia Dynasty – 2200 -1800 BC
 17 emperors
 Shang Dynasty – 1800 -1046 BC
 30 emperors
 Zhou Dynasty - 1046-256 BC
 39 emperors
47

48. China’s
Huang River Valley
The Huang He is often
called by the Chinese
“the River of Sorrows”,
because of its frequent & disastrous
flooding
Why would people choose to settle & build
a civilization there despite the danger?
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49. Huang He is also the Yellow River
 Loess is more!
 Loess (les) is a rich,
loamy fine soil
 useful for farming, but
blows away easily
It is called the Yellow River
because it is one of the
muddiest rivers in the
world!
At its mouth, it flows out
into the ______ Sea.
49

50. Shang
 the birthplace / cradle of Chinese civilization.
50

51. The Invention of Writing
 oracle bone inscriptions are the oldest
known form of Chinese writing.
 Chinese writing has undergone relatively few
changes since 1st developed 3,500 yrs ago.
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52. oracle bone
Oracle
bones
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55. Shang Religion
 worshipped “Shang Di,” the supreme god who
ruled over lesser gods of the sun, moon, wind,
rain, & other natural forces & places.
 also believed that although their ancestors lived
in heaven after their deaths, ancestors were still
actively involved in affairs of family &
descendants.
 Shang Kings communicated with their ancestors
using oracle bones & made frequent sacrifices
to them
55

56. Levees attempt to keep the Huang
River under control.
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