Ancient Civilizations.ppt

Goal:
1.Students will REVIEW the 8 basic
FEATURES that make up civilizations.
2. Students will identify key
Characteristics of the Mesopotamia
Civilization.
DO NOW:
1. COMPLETE YOUR 8 BASIC
CHARACTERISTICS CHART
2. WHEN COMPLETE PLACE SOME OF YOUR
HOMEWORK IDEAS ON THE BOARD

Before we begin!!!!!
Political: Who controls what? What type of
government is there? Anything to do with
laws or war.
Economic: What type of economy? How
do people make a living?
Geography: Where is it? Is the land
mountainous? Desert? Oceanic?
Social: Religious, intellectual, artistic

ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA
Oldest known
civilization
Cradle of Human
Civilization
Old Testament
Nebuchadnezzar
Ziggurat (right)
Hanging gardens

Geography
This civ rose in the
valleys between the
Tigris and
Euphrates rivers.
Some say this
Fertile Crescent
was the real Garden
of Eden.

In what modern day country was
the Fertile Crescent?

Ur, the capital city of
Mesopotamia

Political:What was the earliest kingdom
in Mesopotamia? The second?

Social
This is cuneiform.
Babylonians wrote
using this “wedge-
shaped” writing on
clay tablets.
The Sumerians
invented writing.

The ancient city of Babylon, under King Nebuchadnezzar
II, must have been a wonder to the traveler's eyes. "In
addition to its size," wrote Herodotus, a historian in 450
BC, "Babylon surpasses in splendor any city in the known
world."
Herodotus claimed the outer walls were 56 miles in length,
80 feet thick and 320 feet high. Wide enough, he said, to
allow a four-horse chariot to turn. The inner walls were "not
so thick as the first, but hardly less strong." Inside the walls
were fortresses and temples containing immense statues of
solid gold. Rising above the city was the famous Tower of
Babel, a temple to the god Marduk, that seemed to reach to
the heavens

Another painting of the hanging
gardens with Tower of Babel in back

Economic: trade and farming
Sumerians
(Mesopotamians) were
known to trade with
the Egyptians and the
Indus Valley
civilizations.
In later years, these
trade routes became
Silk Road.

Sumerians invented the wheel!
The wheel was
invented by 6000 BC!
It helped military,
farming and trade.
At right, this is made
of wood.

Political:Mesopotamian Law
Code of Hammurabi
“eye for an eye
tooth for a tooth”

That concludes
Mesopotamia.
Any questions before the quiz?

Mesopotamia Quiz
Political:What law system did Sumerians
use? Hint: It can be summed: eye for eye;
tooth for tooth.
Economic: How did Mesopotamians earn a
living?
Geography:Between what 2 rivers did the
Fertile Crescent appear?
Social:What type of writing did they use?

ANCIENT EGYPT
Nile River
Mummies
Pharaohs
Rameses
King Tutankhamen
Hieroglyphics

Egyptian civilization
Egyptian civilization
arose a bit after
Mesopotamia.
Geography: It was
centered around the
Nile River.

Do Now: Answer the
following questions
based on the diagram
below.
1. Which is the tallest
pyramid?
2. Which is taller, Khufu
or the Washington
Monument?
3. What is the length of
the side of the
Menkaure pyramid at
its base?
Goal: Why did the Ancient Egyptians believe the
Nile River was a gift?

Ancient Egypt
3200-500 BC
I. Location
1. North Africa
2. Natural barriers: Mediterranean Sea, Sahara
Desert, Red Sea
A. Result = less prone to invasion.
II. Nile River
1. World’s longest river (4000 miles)
2. “Gift of the Nile”  annual flooding that deposits
rich soil.
3. Benefits
A. Easy communication.

Egyptian Society
I. Egyptian Kingdoms become one.
1. Menes: Unified Lower & Upper Egypt around 3100 BC.
II. Religious Beliefs
1. Polytheistic: belief in many gods controlling earth.
2. Mummification: process of preseriving the dead.
A. Afterlife  Happy Field of Food or Devourer of Souls
3. Pharaohs: god-kings of Egypt.
4. Chief gods: Isis, Osiris, Amon-Re, Anubis
III. Kingdoms of the Nile
Old Kingdom
2650-2134 BC
Middle
Kingdom
2040-1640 BC
New Kingdom
1550-1070 BC
Achievements Built enormous
tombs &
pyramids.
Land drained for
farming.
Traded with lands
along the Red &
Mediterranean
Sea.
Decline Power struggles,
crop failures, &
cost of pyramids.
Hittites invaded
& conquered.
Nubians, then
others, invaded.

IV. Social
Order
.
Priests
Nobles/Warriors
Scribes
Merchants
Peasants/Slaves
Pharaoh
s

Pyramids
These are the Giza
pyramids, the most
famous.
Pyramids were tombs
for the kings.
These were built in
3500 B.C.E.
How old are they?

Political:Egyptian Pharaohs
Egyptians were led by
Pharaohs.
They were priest-kings
King Tut is the most
famous
Using computers, this
image was
reconstructed using his
remains

Abu Simbel was built by
Ramseses II

Mummies
Egyptians who could
afford to do so would
have themselves
mummified.
They believed in a
better afterlife if their
body was preserved.

The Egyptians took out all of the internal organs, except
the heart. When they removed them the organs were put
in canopic jars, that were put in the tomb with the
mummy. They did not take out the heart because it was
believed to be the intelligence and emotion of the
person. The Egyptians
thought the brain had no significant value, so they took it
out through the nose. The body was packed and covered
with natron (a salty drying agent). After this the body
was left
for 40-50 days.

Egyptians wrote in hieroglyphics

What did Egyptians write on?
Ancient Egyptians
used papyrus, a
substance derived
from the plant of
the same name

The Great Sphinx is
located on the Giza
plateau, about six
miles west of Cairo.

Nubia
People around the
world have learnt about
the glorious past of the
Egyptian empire, but
most have failed to
learn of the Nubia,
which was sometimes
even stronger than the
Egyptian empire. Nubia
rivaled Egypt in wealth
and power, and
mutually influenced
each other.

The Egyptians called them the Kush. The Kush was
comparable with Egypt, and both states
communicated with each other constantly. Today we
do not hear of Nubia nor Kush. In its place is nothern
Sudan. With the construction of the Aswan high dam
in the 1960s, Nubian land was flooded and that forced
some 100,000 Nubians to seek new homes in
Egyptian and Sudanese cities. Nubia's glorious past is
now under water.

Egyptian economy
Although Egypt looks
really sophisticated, the
economy is a traditional
economy based on
farming and trade.
Egyptians traded up and
down the Nile, with
Mesopotamians and
sometimes with Indus
Valley (in Pakistan)

That concludes Egypt.
Any questions before the quiz?

Egypt Quiz
1.What river is the basis for Egyptian civilization?
2.What “paper” did Egyptians write on?
3. What is an Egyptian ruler called?
4.What writing system did Egyptians use?
5.What other African kingdom did Egypt trade
and interact with?
6. What type of economic system did Egypt have?

1 OCT AGENDA
COPY DOWN INDUS CIVILIZATION
QUESTIONS
GO OVER RUBRIC FOR FRIDAYS
GROUP PRESENTATIONS
GO OVER HW ON PAGES 126 - 131

Indus River Quiz
P: Why do we know so little of the power
structure in the Indus Valley?
E: How did the Indus make a living?
G:In what modern day country are the settlements
of the Indus River Valley civilization?
G:Why did the cities have so many walls?
S: How do Indus artifacts demonstrate that the the
the Indus Valley was sophisticated?

G:What modern day countries
was the Indus Valley civ in?

Indus River Valley
This civ is still
mysterious.
The writing has not
been translated.

Indus River civilization
We do know the cities
were sophisticated
enough to have brick
walls surrounding
them for protection
against flooding from
the Indus River.

Indus Economy
Just like the other river
valley civs, the Indus
river valley people
were mostly farmers.
Traditional economy
They did trade with
Chinese and with
Sumerians
(Mesopotamians).

That concludes Indus River
Valley Civilization.
Get ready for the quiz.

HW: Students can read and look at Visual Sources of the Indus
Civilization and answer the following questions
Based on these visual sources, how would you describe an Indus Valley city to
someone who had never seen it?
Compare these images of Indus Valley cities with those of the early agrarian
village of Çatalhüyük (see the photo on p. 64 and Visual Source 2.1 on page 77).
What differences can you identify between these two types of settlements? What
had changed in the intervening centuries?
IMAGE 3.2
How might a prominent landowner, a leading official, a clan head, or a merchant
make use of such a seal?
What meaning might you attach to the use of animals as totems or symbols of a
particular group or individual?
IMAGE 3.3
What specific features of this figure can you point out?
What possible indication of elite status can you identify?
What does Visual Source 3.4 suggest about views of women, images of female
beauty, and attitudes about sexuality and the body?
IMAGE 3.4
What features of this statue may have provoked such observations?
How do you react to this statue? What qualities does she evoke?
What overall impression does the statue convey?

Based on these visual sources, how would you describe
an Indus Valley city to someone who had never seen it?
HARAPPA

•physical setting in a plain surrounded by
agricultural fields; the major river at the top of the
picture; its large size; and the grid layout of its
streets.
•Individual features of the city: walls and gates;
the large, separately walled complex to the left of
the drawing; the suburbs that cluster next to this
separate walled enclosure; the river port at the
center top of the drawing; and the large open
space within the walls of the city toward the
center top of the image.
Based on these visual sources, how
would you describe an Indus Valley city to
someone who had never seen it?

How might a
prominent
landowner, a
leading official, a
clan head, or a
merchant make
use of such a
seal?
What meaning
might you attach
to the use of
animals as totems
or symbols of a
particular group
or individual?

How might a prominent landowner, a
leading official, a clan head, or a
merchant make use of such a seal?
The seal might be used to mark
ownership of trade goods destined for
transport; or to represent a specific clan,
a high official, or a prominent individual.
Other possibilities decoration, for
financial or commercial contracts, or as
a symbol of authority.

What meaning might you attach to the
use of animals as totems or symbols
of a particular group or individual?
Animals possess symbolic meanings in the
Indus Valley civilization.
Specific animals may have been associated
with specific professions, clans, or people.
Animals may have been used as totems,
and their inclusion on seals was designed
to protect or safeguard the item attached to
the seal.
Animals provided a simple written language

What specific
features of this
figure can you
point out?
What possible
indication of
elite status
can you
identify?

What specific features of this
figure can you point out?
The specific features that stand out are
its headband, armband, and clothing
pattern.
The facial features of the figure are also
pronounced, as is his beard.

What possible indication of
elite status can you identify?
The headband and armband may be
signs of elite status.
The pattern on his clothing may imply
wealth and status.
His beard may also be a sign of elite
status.

What features of this statue may
have provoked such observations?
her body posture and facial features,
which convey confidence
her bracelets and other jewelry, which
might speak to her status and perhaps
her profession

How do you react to this statue?
What qualities does she evoke?
Two possible reactions :artistic qualities and
beauty; and interest in its purpose and
meaning
Several scholars have noted that the statue
evokes confidence and perhaps talent; it
might also evoke a sense of impatience on
the part of the dancer.

Ancient China Quiz
P: In China, according to the dynastic cycle,
what happened to “bad kings”?
E: How did the Chinese earn a living?
G: What river was the earliest Chinese
civilization centered around?
S: What technological advancements did the
Chinese have?

ANCIENT CHINA
Great Wall
Began 2000 B.C.
Mandate of
Heaven
Dynasties
Silk
astronomy

As in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and along the Indus River,
Chinese civilization began within a major river valley.
Modern China itself is a huge geographical expanse.
Around 4000 BC, this huge area contained an almost
infinite number of ethnic groups and languages. This
history, in which a vast area populated by diverse ethnic
groups became, over time, a more or less single culture,
began in the Yellow River Valley.

YellowRiverCivilization
G:Ancient China was
formed around the
Yellow River.
The color yellow
symbolized
“centrality”, as in
China is the center of
the world.

Chinese accomplishments
During the Zhou and
Shang periods, the
Chinese made
remarkable
achievements in
astronomy and
bronzework, learned
to make silk and
create books, and
developed a complex
system of writing

E:Chinese invented silk
Silk was exotic and
expensive, so it was
good for trading with
the rest of the world.
It is made from silk
worms.
Silk also makes
“paper”

S:Chinese astronomy
•2137 BC - Chinese book 书经 records the earliest known solar
eclipse on October 22.
• 2000 BC - Chinese determine that Jupiter needs 12 years to
complete one revolution of its orbit.
•1400 BC - Chinese record the regularity of solar and lunar
eclipses and the earliest known solar variation日珥.
•1200 BC - Chinese divide the sky into twenty eight regions 二
十八宿 for recognitions of the stars.
•1100 BC - Chinese first determine the spring equinox 黄赤交
角.
•776 BC - Chinese make the earliest reliably record of solar
eclipse.

In the Middle Ages the Arabs made known
throughout Muslim Spain a material which
was to replace all its predecessors. This was
paper, whose manufacture they imported
from far distant and mysterious realm of
China.
The first paper appeared in China about 200
BC. Its name is derived from papyrus. Silk
was transformed into paper by a process of
pasting, but because silk was expensive, wool
and cotton came to be used instead. This
invention was attributed to Ts'ai Lun.
PAPER

In the picture above, the
manufacturing process used by the
Chinese. They steeped mulberry or
bamboo bark in water, then kneaded it
to produce a paste from which they
obtained smooth thin sheets of paper.

According to Chinese political theory, every
dynasty goes through the so-called
dynastic cycle:
1.A new ruler unites China and founds a new
dynasty.
2.China, under the new dynasty, achieves prosperity
and a new golden age.
3.The royal family of the dynasty begins to decay,
corruption becomes rampant in the imperial court,
and the empire begins to enter decline and instability.
4.The dynasty loses the Mandate of Heaven, their
legitimacy to rule, and is overthrown by a rebellion.
The Mandate of Heaven is then passed to the next
dynasty

The Great Wall of China was
built to keep the Mongols out.

Many died building it, and their
bodies were used as filler for it.

That concludes China.
Any questions before we take the
quiz?

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#1 What were the sources of state
authority in the First Civilizations?
Citizens recognized that the complexity of cities or
densely populated territories required some authority
authorities frequently used force to compel obedience.
Authority in early civilizations was often associated
with divine sanction.
Writing and accounting gave states authority by
defining elite status, conveying prestige on the literate,
providing a means to send out propaganda,
strengthening the state by making accurate record and
giving weight to orders, regulations, and laws.

#2 MESOPOTAMIA
• outlook on life viewed
humans as caught in an
disorderly world, subject to
the whims of quarreling
gods.
• environment deforestation,
soil erosion, and salinization
of the soil. This ecological
deterioration weakened
Sumerian city-states,
• Urban centered cities
• civilization, consisted of
independent states that
frequently warred among
themselves and were subject
to unexpected attack
EGYPTIAN
cheerful and hopeful outlook on
the world, rebirth of the sun
each day and of the river every
year assured Egyptians that life
would prevail over death.
more sustainable agricultural
system that lasted for thousands
of years and contributed to the
continuity of its civilization.
Rural while cities were
governmental or religious based
a strong divine right system.
While over time the pharaohs
declined in real power, the
political tradition helped Egypt
to maintain unity for 3,000 yrs.

#3 When and where did the
First Civilizations emerge?
1. Sumer in Mesopotamia, by 3000 B.C.E.
2. Egypt in the Nile River valley, by 3000
B.C.E.
3. Indus Valley civilization in the Indus and
Saraswati river valleys of present-day
Pakistan, by 2000 B.C.E.
4. China, by 2200 B.C.E.

#4 What was the role of cities in the
early civilizations?
political and administrative centers
centers of culture including art, architecture,
literature, ritual, and ceremony
marketplaces for both local and long-
distance exchange
centers of manufacturing activity

#5 What accounts for the initial
breakthroughs to civilization?
1. The growing density of population, producing more
congested and competitive societies, was a
fundamental motor of change.
2. Such settings provided incentives for innovations,
such as irrigation or plows that could produce more
food
3.These same environments generated intense
competition among rival groups that led to repeated
warfare.
4. Since losers could not easily flee to new lands, they
were absorbed into the winner’s society as slaves.

# 6 In what ways was social inequality
expressed in early civilizations?
wealth
avoidance of physical labor
clothing
houses
manner of burial
class-specific treatment in legal codes

#7 MESOPOTAMIA
PATRIARCHY
law codified and sought to
enforce a patriarchal family
life.
respectable women, those
under the protection and
sexual control of one man
nonrespectable women, such
as slaves and prostitutes,
who were often forbidden to
wear a veil.
goddesses were gradually
relegated to home and
hearth, to be replaced by
male deities,
EGYPTIAN
PATRIARCHY
Women in Egypt were
recognized as legal equals to
men. They were able to own
property, sell land, make their
own wills, sign their own
marriage contracts, and initiate
their own divorces.
Royal women occasionally
exercised significant political
power as queens.
Women were not veiled in
Egypt, and art depicting
marrage as equal partners.

#8. In what ways have historians tried
to explain the origins of patriarchy?
Transition from digging-stick agriculture (mostly women)
to more intensive agriculture with animal-drawn plows and
more intensive large-herd pastoralism (men better perform)
The growing population of civilizations meant that women
were more often pregnant and even more deeply involved in
child care than before.
•Men, because they were less important in the household,
were available to take on positions of economic, religious,
and political authority as societies grew more complex.
From these positions men shaped the values and practices of
their societies in a manner that benefited them at the
expense of women.

# 9 Meso & Egypt Neighbor Interaction
agriculture relied on wheat and barley adopted from
Mesopotamia
gourds, watermelon, domesticated donkeys, and cattle from
Sudan.
Egypt’s step pyramids and system of writing were stimulated by
Mesopotamian models.
divine kingship” most likely derived from traditions in central
or eastern Sudan
Indo-European pastoralists influenced both as they migrated
into the region. They brought with them the horse and chariot
technology, which proved effective on the battlefield. Both
incorporated both the horse and chariot into their armies.
With the invasion of the Hyksos into Egypt, Egyptian
civilization also adopted new kinds of armor, bows, daggers,
and swords; improved methods of spinning and weaving

Ancient Civilizations.ppt

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