World / European History Unit1 -- The Ancient World
1.
2. The Past? Dates? Events? People?
A class that helps students prepare for
college and the SATs?
Something students need to take so that
Coach Flo has a job?
Something to sleep through?
I have no idea, but I know it sucks?
3. History is a story that tells us who we are … by
telling us who we were.
The story must tie facts together, but there is no
need to have all the information to tell the story
Stories from the past combine to help us tell our
story
4. Time before the
development of writing
Scientists say it may go
back hundreds of thousands
of years
No documented “story”
without writing
Really belongs to scientists
and archaeologists
Many human advances,
including the ability of
humans to domesticate
agriculture – leads to
settlements
5. No writing – no
record
Need writing to
document a
story
Start looking,
therefore, for
the oldest
writing
6. Civilizations developed
along major river
systems all over the
world
Some settlements are
tens of thousands of
years old
Rivers brought not just
water, but silt as well,
which fertilized the land
Certain rivers are
predictable in their
floods
7. Mesopotamia: Tigris and Euphrates
Egyptian: Nile
Indian: Indus
Chinese: Yellow
10. Also at times called Ancient Sumeria and / or
Ancient Babylonia (depended on the different
empires found there)
Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
Modern Day Iraq
Writing: Cuneiform (Wedge-shaped writing)
Government: City-states
Religion: polytheistic and tied to nature
Epic of Gilgamesh: Flood story
Hammurabi's Code: equality before the law
11.
12. Wedge shaped writing
Based on pictures –
not an alphabet
Mostly used reeds to
imprint blocks of mud
Mainly seems to be
used for trade at first
Later versions much
more developed and
complex
13. City states
Seperate political
units united by a
common culture
Often warred and
traded with each other
Probably spoke the
same language and
practiced similar
religious beliefs
Cuneiform found
across the region
14. Many different gods and
goddesses
Often tied to nature
Men trying to explain the
world around them
Gods and Goddesses
appear in human form –
don’t we often see God in
our image too?
Ancient people – primitive
– not stupid
Image to the right is
Marduk – Bybylonian God
of Air and Sky
15. Mesopotamian story from
at least 2200 BCE (exact
date unknown)
Gilgamesh – king of Uruk
(city-state) who wanders
the world in search of
imortality
Epic contains a flood story
-- Similar to Noah’s Flood
from the Book of Genesis
“Babylonian Captivity” –
Hebrews in Babylon – ]
6th
century BCE
16. Oldest law code
Dated to about 1750 BCE
Hammurabi – king in Babylon
Loosely based on an “Eye for
an eye”
Very harsh and simplistic
compared to modern codes
Important because it provides
for written laws and
punishments
282 Different laws and
punishments for different
social classes
17.
18. Nile River: flows north from the highlands of Ethiopia to
the Med – civilization develops only along the river
Settlements in Egypt are probably older than in
Mesopotamia, but writing developed later
Religion: polytheistic with Pharaoh (king) as son of Re
Government: first empire (multiple nations – one ruler) –
Nile runs from Black Africa to Arab Africa
Writing System: Hieroglyphics (picture writing) – has
thousands of characters – much more sophisticated than
Mesopotamian cuneiform
19.
20. “picture writing”
Dates back to at least
3500 BCE
Used in Egypt until the 6th
century BCE
Literally thousands of
different symbols –
carved on everything in
Egypt
Remained a mystery until
the Rosetta Stone was
deciphered in 1820s
21. Contains a royal decree
from King Ptolemy in
196 BCE
In 3 languages –
Hieroglyphs, Demotic
(late Egyptian) and
Greek
Discovered in 1799 by
French troops in Egypt,
but taken by the British
in 1801
Been in the British
Museum since 1802
Translated in early
1820s
22. Empire – multiple nations
under one ruler
Egyptians and Nubians
Upper and Lower Egypt
25% of the pharaohs
known to be black (black
features in their faces)
Pyramid structures found
in the Sudan
Empire eventually
incorporated many
different nations under the
pharaoh (last pharaohs
weren’t even Egyptian –
they were Greek)
23. Re (Ra) – Sun God
Had relations with
Pharaoh’s wife
New baby Pharaoh was
child of Re
Pharaoh often married his
sister to keep the blood
pure
So Pharaoh’s “dad” was
also his grand-dad and his
son
Pharaohs had to be
mummified after death and
preserved for the afterlife
24. Phoenicians
Found in modern day
Lebanon (north of Israel)
Sea traders – colonized
the entire Mediterranean
area
Traded with Egyptians
and Greeks – brought
goods and culture across
the Med
Developed an alphabet to
facilitate trade
Alphabet – set of symbols
based on sounds of a
language
25. Hebrews (Israelites)
Small and insignificant
kingdom found in and around
Jerusalem (eastern part of the
Med.
Often conquered by others
(Egypt, Babylonia, Rome,
Alexander, Persia)
Religion – monotheism
Judaism
Old Testament
Foundation for both Christianity
and Islam
26.
27. Indus and Ganges
Rivers – in northern
India – contain the
highest concentration of
people in the world
Some settlements along
the Indus may be
perhaps 25,000 years
old. Settlements along
the Ganges may be
10,000 years old
Religions: Hinduism
and Buddhism
28. Settlements along the
Yellow River
Isolated by geography
from the rest of the world
Government: ruled by
dynasties (long periods of
familial rule). According
to tradition, dynasties
would rule until they lost
the “mandate of heaven”
(authority from the gods)
Three major philosophies
developed in Ancient
China
Confucianism
Daoism (Taoism)
Legalism
29. Confucius
Chinese 6th
century BC
philosopher
Everyone has duties and
responsibilities
Accept your position in life
Correct order in life will
bring stability (balance is
key)
Ruler’s responsibility was to
provide good government
People’s responsibility was
to be respectful and loyal
subjects
30. Taoism
Tao – means “the way”
Laozi – “mythical” 6th
century
Chinese philosopher – may or
may not have lived
Reject conflict and strife in
everyday life
Seek to live in harmony with
nature
Simplicity in life and the virtue
of yielding to outside pressure
Water – yields to pressure, yet is
an unstoppable force that causes
immense changes
Best government – one that
governs least
31. Youngest of the philosophies in
Ancient China
Sought to unite Confucianism
with Taoism under a strict code
for behavior
only through a strict sense of
loyalty and unity could peace and
harmony with nature and self be
achieved
Harsh rules – set down by harsh
rulers
Government control of
everything, down to the smallest
facet of everyday life (use of
paper to get the word out)
Rulers greatest asset – ability to
control the people and provide
stability
Control and discipline brought
unity and harmony
32.
33. Hinduism
Old Indian religion
Both polytheistic and
monotheistic
All powerful world soul or
force in all of us
Based on reincarnation and the
caste system
All of us are trying to rejoin the
world’s soul
Buddhism
Siddartha Gautama – first
Buddha or “enlightened one”
Based on understanding
relationship between desire and
pain
Eliminate desire to eliminate
suffering
Eliminate desire = achieve
Nirvana and break cycle of
reincarnation
34. Oldest surviving major world religion (may go back to pre-7000
BCE)
Polytheistic and monotheistic at the same time
Brahman – the world’s soul (monotheistic)
Different Hindu gods -- really just manifestations of Brahman
Creation – Brahman shattered – each of us has a piece of Brahman –
it’s the “life force” in all living things
Reincarnation – cycle of rebirth based on Karma (the way you live
your life)– we’re all eventually trying to rejoin Brahman – only
members of the priest class with good Karma will be able to rejoin
Brahman
Caste system: 14 levels of humans from Brahmin (priest class) to
Untouchables (lowest humans)
35. One impersonal Ultimate Reality – Brahman
Manifest as many personal deities
True essence of life – the soul is Brahman trapped in
matter
Reincarnation – Brahman is continually born into this
world lifetime after lifetime
Karma – spiritual impurity due to actions keeps us
bound to this world (good and bad)
Ultimate goal of life – to reunite with the divine,
becoming as one with Brahman
36.
37.
38. All deities are but forms
(attributes and functions)
of the impersonal Brahman
39. Siddhartha Gautama – Hindu prince who had a crisis of faith and
walked among the people and observed the world
Four Noble Truths
Everyone suffers
Suffering is caused by desire
To eliminate suffering – eliminate desire
To eliminate desire – follow the Eight fold path to righteousness
Eliminating desire would thus allow a person to become
“enlightened” or a Buddha. This was called achieving a state called
Nirvana
Achieve Nirvana and break the cycle of reincarnation and join the
world’s soul
Anyone not achieving Nirvana would ensure their good Karma and
would go up on the ladder of reincarnation
40. Siddhartha Gautama (563-483
BCE) Born in NE IndiaBorn in NE India
(Nepal).(Nepal).
Raised in great luxuryRaised in great luxury
to be a king.to be a king.
At 29 he rejectedAt 29 he rejected
his luxurious life tohis luxurious life to
seek enlightenmentseek enlightenment
and the source ofand the source of
suffering.suffering.
Lived a strict,Lived a strict,
ascetic life for 6 yrs.ascetic life for 6 yrs.
Rejecting this extreme, sat in meditation, andRejecting this extreme, sat in meditation, and
foundfound nirvana (enlightment – elimination ofnirvana (enlightment – elimination of
desire)desire)..
BecameBecame “The Enlightened One,”“The Enlightened One,” at age 35.at age 35.
41. What is the
fundamental cause of
all suffering?
Desire!
Therefore, extinguish the self,Therefore, extinguish the self,
don’t obsess about oneself.don’t obsess about oneself.
42. Four Noble Truths
1.1. There is suffering in the world. ToThere is suffering in the world. To
live is to suffer.live is to suffer.
2.2. The cause of suffering is self-The cause of suffering is self-
centered desire and attachments.centered desire and attachments.
3.3. The solution is to eliminate desireThe solution is to eliminate desire
and attachmentsand attachments
4.4. To reachTo reach nirvana (the elimination ofnirvana (the elimination of
desire)desire), one must follow the, one must follow the
Eightfold PathEightfold Path
44. Eightfold Path
Nirvana
Achieve union with BrahmanAchieve union with Brahman
-- the ultimate spiritual-- the ultimate spiritual
reality.reality.
Escape from the cycle ofEscape from the cycle of
rebirth.rebirth.
48. Ancient powerful empire (550 BC to 350 BC) centered in
modern day Iran
Stretched from the steps of India to the Greek world –
largest empire of its time
Absolute power to the God King, but also had the the first
ideas behind Local Autonomy as a way to govern its
empire
Local autonomy – idea that local rulers could control their
people while still paying allegiance to the central authority.
Local laws could be maintained.
ran into Greek colonies in what is today Turkey (ancient
Anatolia) and fought a protracted war against the united
Greek city states – it’s a war that Persia will lose.