Transcript Western Asia and Egypt

The Great Wall of China
The Pyramids at Giza
Chatal Huyuk
Kush
Mohenjo-daro
Great Ziggurat at Ur
 The
story of
Humanity begins
long before the first
cities or the first
writing. The ape-like
species that
eventually led to
humans arose in
Africa millions of
years ago.
 The
first upright-walking
ancestors of modern
humans, Sahelanthropus
tchadensis, evolved in eastcentral Africa nearly seven
million years ago.
 Roughly two million years
later, the slightly less apelike Ardipithecus genus
appeared.
 These
primitive hominids
eventually gave rise to the
Australopithecine species
present all over Africa
from 3.9 to 1.2 million
years ago.
 The Australopithecine
family included: A.
afarensis (“Lucy”), A.
africanus, and A.
anamensis.
“Lucy”
“Taung Child”
Laetoli Footprints
 The “robust” line, which
was related but probably
became a dead end,
included Paranthropus
robustus, P. boisei, and P.
aethiopicus.
 These species had much
larger jaws and muscle
attachments. Scientists
believe that they survived
on a diet of nuts and hard
roots.
P. boisei / H. sapiens
 The
Genus Homo
 Early Moderns
 Neanderthals
 Subsistence
 Pg. 20
The first recognizable tools
were created by Homo habilis,
a species that originated in the
Rift Valley of East Africa some
two million years ago. These
tools were simple flakes of
hard stone, usually flint.
 Homo erectus and H. ergaster
were the first species to
emigrate from the African
continent. They were aided by
larger brain sizes and more
developed tool technology.

H. habilis
Acheulian
Hand-axe
H. erectus
 The
earliest hominids
classified as human, known
as archaic Homo sapiens,
probably originated in Africa
around 400,000 years ago.
They had much larger brains
than contemporary species
and made much more
complex tools.
Archaic H. sapiens
Mesolithic tools
When early modern humans left
Africa some 50,000 years ago,
they encountered other hominid
species, including Homo
neanderthalensis. Neanderthals
had lived in Europe and the
Middle East for perhaps 200,000
years before being outcompeted by modern humans.
 Researchers now think that there
was substantial contact between
humans and neanderthals, and
that as much as 6% of our DNA
came from neanderthals.

A Neanderthal burial
 For
six and a half million
years, hominids and
early humans
supported themselves
through hunting and
gathering. This involved
collecting staple foods
such as roots, grasses,
berries and nuts from
where they occur
naturally. This diet was
supplemented with wild
game, fish, and insects.
 Because
food must be found
constantly, hunter-gatherers
had to continually travel
throughout their territory. This
is called an itinerant lifestyle.
 Some human cultures still
make their living as huntergatherers, including the !Kung
bushmen of the Kalahari
Desert and the Yanomamo
people of western Brazil.
 Agriculture
 Early
Settlements
 Rise of States
 Pgs. 21 - 22
 The
Neolithic Revolution
is the period between
8000 and 4000 BC in
which several human
communities
spontaneously
discovered agriculture.
Technologies quickly
spread across Africa,
Asia and Europe during
the period.
The evolution of corn
 The
keys to agriculture are:
the concept of
domestication (modifying
plants and animals through
selective breeding),
irrigation (moving water
over distances to crops),
and the division of labor
(individuals each do a
single job instead of
everyone doing every job).
 Agriculture
Çatalhöyük
Mohenjo Daro
Jericho
Eridu
led to collective labor,
which led to villages, which led to
the first large-scale permanent
settlements. The earliest known city
is Çatalhöyük (Chatal Huyuk) in
southern Turkey, which dates back
to at least 7500 BC. Other protocities include Jericho in Israel,
Mohenjo Daro in India, and Eridu in
Iraq. The earliest cities were all
located near rivers.
 Cities
rapidly developed
unique social, political and
economic systems including
religion, government, art
and writing, which can be
classified as civilization.
 The first agricultural
civilizations arose in the
Fertile Crescent region of
the Middle East and in
Egypt along the Nile River.
The Royal Tombs at Ur
Temple Complex at Karnak
 Answer
each question in a half-page
response with complete sentences. Be
accurate, be specific, be complete. Due
tomorrow.
 1. Name and describe the three stages of
hominid evolution (pgs. 19-20).
 2. Explain how the agricultural lifestyle
gave rise to civilizations (pg. 21).
 3. Why are early civilizations found near
river valleys? Give examples (pg. 22).
 Western
Asia and Egypt
 Mesopotamian City-States
 Empires
 Pgs. 24 - 25
 The
first large-scale
civilizations in the Old
World arose in
Mesopotamia and Egypt.
 These states and, later,
empires were situated
along major river courses
because they provided
ample fresh water for
irrigation as well as
transportation for goods.
The Fertile Crescent is a region
of the Middle East between the
Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The
term “Mesopotamia” literally
means “between the rivers.” It is
arch-shaped and extends
through modern-day Iraq, Syria,
the Levant and eastern Turkey.
 The Neolithic settlements of
Chatal Huyuk and Jericho had
been in this region, but by 3000
BC, the Sumerian people had
established the first true citystates.

Sumerians: Spooky
A city-state is a large, established
settlement that controls the political
and economic life of the
surrounding region.
 The Sumerians (who called
themselves the Sag-Giga, or BlackHeaded People) established a series
of these city-states at Eridu, Ur and
Uruk.
 Cities were usually centered around
a temple complex, which might
include a ziggurat. They also had
city walls to protect them from their
neighbors.

Ziggurat at Ur
A Sumerian king
meets petitioners
 The
Sargon the Great
Sumerian city-states were
prosperous, but vulnerable to
attack. In 2340 BC, Sargon, the
king of the northern Akkadian
tribe, invaded Mesopotamia
and conquered the Sumerian
cities.
 The Akkadians established the
first empire in Western history.
It collapsed in 2193 BC.
 Hammurabi
 Hammurabi’s
Code
 Sumerian Culture
 Egypt
 Pgs. 26 - 27
 In
1792 BC, a new empire
arose in Mesopotamia. This
one was centered in the city
of Babylon and founded by
Hammurabi.
 Hammurabi’s empire only
lasted until his death in 1750
BC, but it was characterized
by economic growth, templebuilding, and the world’s first
written law code.
Babylon
Hammurabi
The Code of Hammurabi is a set of 282
laws supposedly given to the king by a
god. They governed every aspect of
people’s lives, from religious worship to
consumer’s rights to marriage and family.
 Society was patriarchal, so nearly all
privileges and responsibilities in the law
code are given to the male head of the
household.
 Punishments are harsh. The principle of
“an eye for an eye” is implemented often,
and the majority of crimes are punishable
by death.
 Hammurabi’s code is seen as an
important influence on the books of law
in the Old Testament.

The Code Stele
The Sumerians created arguably
(see: China) the first writing system:
Cuneiform. The wedge-shaped
characters were made by pressing
a sharpened reed into wet clay.
 Writing was originally used to keep
business records. It was also used to
record the Epic of Gilgamesh, the
earliest known work of fiction.
 Mesopotamian cultures were among
the first to work in bronze, an alloy
of copper and tin.
 Sumerians also adapted the wheel
to be used on wagons and to spin
pottery.

Gilgamesh
Bronze daggers
The Egyptian civilization
was centered on the
longest river in the world:
the Nile.
 The northern stretch of
the Nile, including the
delta region on the
Mediterranean coast, is
called the Lower Nile.
 The southern portion,
which runs through Sudan
and East Africa, is the
Upper Nile.

 Old
Kingdom
 Middle Kingdom
 New Kingdom
 Egyptian Society
 Pgs. 27 - 30
Upper and Lower Egypt had
been independent regions, until
they were united by Menes, first
pharaoh and founder of the First
Dynasty, in 3100 BC.
 Pharaohs of the Old Kingdom
(2700 – 2200 BC) ruled over an
age of prosperity and
magnificence. All of the famous
pyramids, including Khufu’s,
Khafre’s, and Menkaure’s, were
built in this period. The Sphinx
may be even older still.

The Middle Kingdom (2050 – 1652 BC) marked a return
to stability after a long period of chaos. Pharaohs of the
eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth dynasties focused on
solidifying the political and social structure of the
nation, as well as improving farming practices.
 A series of ineffectual administrations in the late
thirteenth dynasty eventually led to an invasion by the
Hyksos, a people from western Asia who used chariots
and bronze weapons to conquer Egypt and end the
Middle Kingdom.
Egyptians Senusret III

Bronze swords
Hyksos
The Hyksos ruled Egypt for nearly
100 years, but by 1567 the
Egyptians were able to use their
conquerors’ technology to drive
them out and establish the
eighteenth dynasty of the New
Kingdom (1567 – 1085 BC).
 The New Kingdom saw Egypt
establish an empire over much of
the Mediterranean, from Libya in
the west to Israel in the east.
 Some of the most famous pharaohs
are from the New Kingdom period,
including Ramses the Great,
Hatshepsut, and the boy-king
Tutankhamun.

Hatshepsut’s Temple
King Tut’s Death Mask
Society was strictly stratified in
ancient Egypt. The pharaoh was
regarded as a living god, the
reincarnation of Osiris, and his
authority was unquestioned. His
government was run by the
nobility and high priests.
 The middle class consisted of
merchants, artisans and clerks.
They managed the economic
power of the empire.
 The vast majority of people
were peasant farmers. They
produced the food, paid the
taxes and provided free labor
for massive building projects.

Osiris
Farmer with Shaduf
Answer each question in a half-page response
with complete sentences. Be accurate, be
specific, be complete. Due tomorrow.
 1. According to the Code of Hammurabi, what
was most highly valued in Mesopotamian
society? What was least valued? Explain (pg. 35).
 2. Describe the process of mummification. What
was the spiritual purpose of the practice (pg.
28)?
 3. What contributions did King Solomon make to
the nation of Israel? Why is he so famous
amongst Hebrew kings (pg. 31)?

 Culture
 Ancient
Israel
 Assyrian Empire
 Pgs. 30 - 34
Not long after the Sumerians invented
their writing system, the Egyptians
developed hieroglyphics, a written
language that uses small pictures to
represent sounds or words.
 Egyptian artisans were able to design
and build huge monuments with a
great deal of precision due to their
advanced understanding of
mathematics.
 Priests and educated nobles had a
profound understanding of astronomy.
They developed a 365-day calendar
and were able to time the annual Nile
flood accurately.

As the Egyptian and Mesopotamian
empires were beginning to wane,
around 1200 BC, a number of regional
cultures emerged. One of these was the
Israelites.
 The Israelites were a nomadic, animalherding culture. They originally came
from Mesopotamia, migrated to modernday Israel, and were later enslaved by
the Egyptians.
 Unique among early cultures, the
Israelites were monotheistic and
relatively literate. Around 1200 BC, they
began writing down their history, laws
and religious traditions in what would
become the Old Testament.

Moses
The Torah
 By
911 BC, the power
vacuum caused by the
decline of the Egyptian
and Mesopotamian
empires had been filled
by the Assyrians.
 The Assyrians came from
an area of the upper
Fertile Crescent that is
now part of Syria (hence
the name).
Lamassu in relief
Palaces of Nimrud
The Assyrians conquered a
huge region of the Middle
East. By 627 BC, they
controlled what is now Turkey,
Syria, Israel, Iraq, Iran and
most of Egypt.
 All of this conquest was
possible for two reasons: The
Assyrians had iron weapons
while their enemies still used
bronze, and the Assyrians
were utterly ruthless. They
devastated fields, destroyed
dams, executed prisoners and
mutilated dissidents.

Assyrian iron weapons
 Persian
Empire
 India and China
 Early Indian Civilizations
 Pgs. 34 - 37
The Persian people were once a
nomadic group of looselyaffiliated families in present-day
southern Iran, until they were
united into an empire by Cyrus
the Great in 559 BC.
 The Persians were much more
considerate conquerors than the
Assyrians had been. When
Cyrus seized the city of Babylon
in 540 BC, he didn’t execute
prisoners, and he even freed the
Israelites who had been
detained there for 70 years.

Cyrus II, “the Great”



Cyrus’s successors added huge tracts of land to the Empire,
and by 486 BC, Persia stretched from western India to southern
Europe and Egypt. The entire nation was connected by the
Royal Road.
This vast empire was run as a sort of federation, in which
regional kings continued to hold power by the grace of the
“Great King.”
The empire began to fall apart under a series of ineffective
kings. The Persians were finally conquered by Alexander the
Great in the 330s BC.
 While
city-states and empires
were developing in western
Asia and Egypt, similar
processes led to the rise of
advanced cultures in India and
China.
 Indian and Chinese
civilizations also started near
great rivers, and large scale
agriculture was important to
their development, but in other
respects they were unique.
Harappa Gateway
Terra cotta Warriors
of Xian
India is a vast sub-continent
characterized by widely varying
climate regions. The north is
dominated by the Himalayan
mountains, the center is a dry plain,
the coasts are semi-tropical and
fertile. Varied climate has produced
varied cultures. Today, Indians speak
over 100 languages.
 Between 3000 and 1500 BC, the
valley of the Indus river was the
center of a civilization composed of
more than 1000 settlements,
including the cities of Harappa and
Mohenjo-daro. This is now called the
Harappan or Indus civilization.

Mohenjo-daro today
 The
Aryans
 Hinduism
 Buddhism
 Pgs. 37 - 40
A series of natural disasters had already weakened
the Indus civilization when, around 1500 BC,
invaders from the north conquered the river valley
and established an empire. These were the Aryans.
 The Aryans were a warlike, nomadic people from
central Asia. Following their conquest of the Indus
valley, they quickly extended their control over
central India and the Ganges river region.

 The
invading Aryans were
in the minority in
conquered India, so they
instituted a series of social
and economic rules to
ensure their cultural
hegemony to this day. This
was the caste system.
 Brahmans: Priests
 Kshatriyas: Warriors
 Vaisyas: Merchants
 Sudras: Peasants
 Untouchables
Hinduism is the religion introduced to
India by the Aryans. Hindus believe in
a single universal truth (the Brahman)
as expressed through a nigh-infinite
number of gods and described in the
vedas.
 The notion of reincarnation, or
physical rebirth after death, was
introduced to Hinduism in the 500s BC.
The cycle of reincarnation is
influenced by the individual’s karma,
or force of good deeds in life.
 Hinduism has been used as a
justification for the strictly ordered
caste system.

Ganesh
Kali
Buddhism is a spiritual
philosophy derived from
Hinduism by Siddhartha
Gautama, known as the
Buddha (“Enlightened One”).
 Buddhism teaches that
enlightenment can be attained
by accepting the Four Noble
Truths and following the Eightfold Path. One who is
enlightened can escape the
cycle of reincarnation and
reach nirvana.

 Answer
each question in a half-page response
with complete sentences. Be accurate, be
specific, be complete. Due tomorrow.
 1. What are the Four Noble Truths of
Buddhism? Explain the Middle, or Eight-fold,
Path (pgs. 39–40).
 2. How is the Silk Road different from the other
trade routes pictured in the map on pg. 41?
How would these differences have affected
trade from east to west?
 3. Explain the concept of filial piety and how it
relates to Confucianism (pgs. 43-45).
 Mauryan
Empire
 Early China
 Shang Dynasty
 Zhou Dynasty
 Pgs. 40 - 42
Aryan political hegemony fell apart by 325 BC, and
India became a series of small unaligned states. For
a period from 324 to 183 BC, the northern part of
India was controlled by the Mauryan kings.
 The greatest of the Mauryan monarchs was Asoka,
who ruled from 269 to 232 BC. A dedicated
Buddhist, Asoka built hospitals, sent missionaries to
China, and encouraged trade along the Silk Road.

Chinese civilizations developed later
than those of western and central Asia.
This is because China had no contact
with other advanced cultures, so they
had to invent everything for themselves.
 While cities and agriculture may have
come comparatively late, the Chinese
might have developed the earliest
system of writing: Scapulimancy. Animal
bones were carved with pictures (later
symbols and letters) and thrown into a
fire. The way the bone broke was used to
divine the future. The symbols used
were the early precursors to modern
Chinese characters.

Scapulimancy
Chinese Zodiac
 From
1750 to 1045 BC, a
series of rulers collectively
known as the Shang dynasty
ruled northern China.
 The Shang developed a
system of imperial
government and, under
their leadership, Chinese
artisans perfected the art of
working in bronze.
Zhou soldiers destroy a field
Immediately following the Shang dynasty, a new
line of emperors arose under the name Zhou. They
ruled from 1085 to 256 BC.
 The concept of the Mandate of Heaven was
elaborated during the Zhou dynasty. This states that
the emperor is chosen by Heaven to rule justly and
peacefully. His word is law. But if he is unjust, or if
there is a natural disaster, the people have the right
to remove the emperor and replace him.

 Qin
Dynasty
 Han Dynasty
 Confucianism
 Pgs. 42 - 45
When the Zhou dynasty lost the
Mandate of Heaven and collapsed,
what followed was 200 years of civil
war. From these troubled times
came Qin Shihuangdi, the first of the
Qin emperors.
 Qin Shihuangdi’s major goal, and
the project that occupied his entire
reign, was the building of the Great
Wall. The purpose of the wall was to
keep northern bandits out of China.
The wall of today was built 1,500
years later to commemorate the Qin
project.

Terra cotta warrior
 The
Statue of a teacher
Qin dynasty lasted exactly
one emperor, but it was
succeeded by the Han, which
ruled from 202 BC to AD 220.
 Under the Han emperors,
China expanded into the
central Asian deserts and
south into Vietnam. Such a
large state required an army of
professional bureaucrats, and
the Han Empire established
schools to train them.
Confucius (Kongfuzi) was a
political and social
philosopher who lived in the
sixth century (500s) BC. His
sayings, the basis for
Confucianism, were taught to
every Chinese child for over
2500 years.
 Confucianism is concerned
with relationships between
people as a model for orderly
society. If everyone works hard
and obeys the rules of social
interaction (the Dao), then the
world will be in harmony.

Confucius