Science 7 - LAND and SEA BREEZE and its Characteristics
Key concept 1.3.3
1. c. 8000 BCE – c. 600 BCE
KEY CONCEPT 1.3.3:
UNIFICATION OF EARLY
STATES THROUGH
CULTURE
2. Do Now: Code of Hammurabi
Use the up-close image of the Code of
Hammurabi to answer the following Do
Now questions:
1. Identify: What is literally happening in
this image? (Hint: Who, or what, is
involved, and what are they doing?)
2. Predict: How will this help unify
cultures in the ancient world?
3. Synthesize: Explain how this image
connects to historical trends we have
already covered in this class.
3. Thinking Question
How did early states use culture to develop and maintain new forms of
social and economic structures?
4. III. Culture played a significant role in unifying states through laws, language,
literature, religion, myths, and monumental art.
5. A. Early civilizations developed monumental
architecture and urban planning.
Required Examples:
• Ziggurats
• Pyramids
• Temples
• Defensive walls
• Streets and roads
• Sewage and water systems
6. Ziggurats and Pyramids
Ziggurats (Sumerian for "to build on a raised area") were massive
structures built in the ancient Mesopotamian valley and western Iranian
plateau, having the form of a terraced step pyramid of successively
receding stories or levels. Ziggurats were built by the Sumerians,
Babylonians, Elamites, Akkadians, and Assyrians for local religions. Each
ziggurat was part of a temple complex which included other buildings.
The Egyptian pyramids are ancient masonry structures located in Egypt.
Most were built as tombs for the country's Pharaohs and their consorts
during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods. The most famous Egyptian
pyramids are those found at Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo. Several of the
Giza pyramids are counted among the largest structures ever built. The
Pyramid of Khufu at Giza is the largest Egyptian pyramid. It is the only of
the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still in existence.
9. B. Elites, both political and religious, promoted
arts and artisanship.
Required examples:
• Sculpture
• Painting
• Wall decorations
• Elaborate weaving
10. The Ishtar Gate was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon.
Why would the kings of Babylon be interested in funding this piece of monumental
architecture, especially as a gate into their capital city?
11. C. Systems of record keeping arose independently in all
early civilizations and subsequently were diffused.
Required examples:
• Cuneiform
• Hieroglyphs
• Pictographs
• Alphabets
• Quipu
12. Early Writing Systems
Cuneiform | Mesopotamia
c. 3300 BCE
Hieroglyphics | Ancient Egypt
c. 3200 BCE
Alphabet | Phoenicians
c. 1200 BCE
13. D. States developed legal codes, including the Code of Hammurabi, that
reflected existing hierarchies and facilitated the rule of governments over
people.
• Most of these early legal codes followed a code of Lex Talionis,
which essentially translates to an “eye-for-an-eye.”
• However, not all social classes were treated equally. For example,
in the Code of Hammurabi, murder of a slave or lower-caste
woman could be paid off in money or goods. However, the murder
of a member of the elite would almost certainly result in
execution.
14. E. New religious beliefs developed in this period
continued to have strong influences in later periods.
Required examples of new religious beliefs:
• The Vedic religion – Indus Valley
• Hebrew monotheism - Levant
• Zoroastrianism - Persia
15. F. Trade expanded throughout this period from local to
regional and transregional, with civilizations exchanging goods,
cultural ideas, and technology.
Required examples of trade expansion from local to regional and
transregional:
• Between Egypt and Nubia
• Between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley
16. Trade Between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley
There was an extensive maritime trade network operating between
the Indus Valley and Mesopotamian civilizations. Such long-distance
sea trade became feasible with the innovative development of plank-
built watercraft, equipped with a single central mast supporting a sail
of woven rushes or cloth. We have found Indus Valley pottery in
Mesopotamia, and gold products from Mesopotamia in the Indus
Valley, serving as evidence for these early trade networks.
18. G. Social and gender hierarchies intensified as
states expanded and cities multiplied.
• It is during these time period that we see the beginnings of
patriarchy, or male dominated societies. In this way, early
civilizations were developing hierarchies based on gender.
• Additionally, one sees the development of classes based on relative
economic and social influence. A good example of this would be the
Indian caste system, which we will cover in much more detail in the
next units.
• These developments are in strict contrast with relative egalitarian-
ness of hunter-gatherer societies.
19. H. Literature was also a reflection of culture.
Required examples of literature as a reflection of culture:
• The “Epic of Gilgamesh”
• Rig Veda
• Book of the Dead
20. The Rig Veda
The Rig Veda is the oldest text in any Indo-European language
(English and Spanish are part of this family of languages.) It is a
devotional, or religious, text made up of Vedas, or hymns, and forms
the foundation for the Vedic religion which would ultimately become
formalized as Hinduism.
21. The Egyptian Book of the Dead: Coming Forth by Day
The Book of the Dead was part of a tradition of funerary texts which
includes earlier Pyramid and coffin texts, which were painted onto
objects, not papyrus. The text consists of a number of magic spells
intended to assist a dead person's journey through the Duat, or
underworld, and into the afterlife. Some of the spells included were
drawn from older works and date to before the c. 3000 BCE.
22. The Egyptian Book of the Dead: Coming Forth by Day
This scene, from the Papyrus of Hunefer (ca. 1275 BCE), shows the scribe Hunefer's heart being
weighed on the scale of Maat against the feather of truth, by the jackal-headed Anubis. The ibis-
headed Thoth, scribe of the gods, records the result. If his heart equals exactly the weight of the
feather, Hunefer is allowed to pass into the afterlife. If not, he is eaten by the waiting chimeric
devouring creature Ammit composed of the deadly crocodile, lion, and hippopotamus. Vignettes
such as these were a common illustration in Egyptian books of the dead.
23. Thinking Question | Key Concept 1.3.3
Consider all the cultural and social developments during the time
period between c. 8000 BCE and c. 600 BCE. in order to answer the
following prompt: How did early states use culture to develop and
maintain new forms of social and economic structures?
Be sure to use AT LEAST three pieces of evidence in your paragraph
to support your claim, and remember to explain HOW your evidence
PROVES your claim.
