Transcript The First Civilizations

The First Civilizations
How did it get started?
• All civilizations arose from earlier competing
chiefdoms
• A slow process which lasted centuries
• all civilizations need an agricultural surplus
which
- Supports large populations
- Allows for the development of specialists and
elites
How did it get started?
• Competition for limited farmland (after
population reaches certain level) leads to
- Innovations in technology
- The rise of states to protect against warfare
- Winning states increasing their land-base
- Enslavement of losing populations
How did it get started?
• States organize
- agriculture(irrigation, drainage, terracing,
flood control)
- Religion (priests, temples, give rulers often a
divine status)
- Warfare (class of warrior specialists under the
ruler’s leadership)
How important were cities? What impact
did they have on society and culture?
• Cities concentrate economic and political
power, lead to the rise of social inequalities
(social class replaces kinship)
• Examples:
• Mesopotamia: Ur, Uruk (50,000 inhabitants
around 2500 BCE), city walls, cities dominated
by ziggurat (made from clay bricks)
Great Ziggurat of Ur
How important were cities? What impact
did they have on society and culture?
• Mohenjo-Daro(2600-1900 BCE): indoor
plumbing, sewage system, huge public baths,
citadel, cities follow grid pattern
• Teotihuacan (200 BCE): population of 200.000,
two huge pyramids, dozens of temples,
mansions for the wealthy
City planning in the Indus Valley
Civilization
Great Bath at Mohenjo-Daro
Street drain in Harappa
Granary, Mohenjo-Daro
Teotihuacan
Pyramid of the Sun
Lay out of La Venta, center of the
Olmec culture
How did society change?
• Social classes and social hierarchies
developed:
- Urban societies continue and magnify this
trend started in the Neolithic Age
- Upper classes have great wealth in land,
occupy top positions in government, the
military, and religion
- Peasant class, lower classes, slaves
How did society change?
• Shang China (1600-1100 BCE):
- Chinese kings give special clothing (silk), banners, chariots,
weapons to government officials, value of gifts depends on
rank
- Most peasants worked on land owned by aristocratic
landlord
• Mesopotamia:
- Code of Hammurabi (around 1700 BCE), punishment for a
crime based on social class and gender
- Slaves (frequent wars!) help with irrigation (males) or in
weaving enterprises (females) or as domestic slaves
• Slavery less common in Egypt and Indus Valley, children of
slaves could become free, slavery not connected to race
Egyptian Social Hierarchy
How were gender relations affected by
early civilizations?
• Most civilizations saw the rise of patriarchy
• Possible causes: Plow based agriculture
- Plow based agriculture, heavy labor done by
men (produce more food than women), but
not all civilizations use plow
- Women have more children, tied down with
child rearing and secondary tasks, have less
personal resources
How were gender relations affected by
early civilizations?
• Possible causes: Specialization
- Societies became more specialist
- Specialist work usually done by men (can
leave home easier than women)
- Priests, kings, merchants usually men (have
higher status than women)
How were gender relations affected by
early civilizations?
• Possible causes: Warfare
- Most civilizations lead large scale wars with a
professional army
- Military specialists were men
- Many civilizations had a powerful warrior class
(got rewarded with land)
How were gender relations affected by
early civilizations?
• Examples of Patriarchy: Mesopotamia
- Laws in give women paternalistic protection, but
under male guardianship
- Laws punish female adultery harder than male
adultery
- Female deities replaced by male deities
- Divorce much easier for husband than wife
- All rulers were male
- “respectable” women veiled in public (female
slaves were not allowed to be veiled)
How were gender relations affected by
early civilizations?
• Examples of Patriarchy: Egypt
- Most rulers male (exception Hatshepsut 14721457 BCE)
- Government officials, officers, soldiers male
- But women were allowed to own their own
property, signed their own marriage contracts
and could initiate divorce
- Not veiled in public
Colossal kneeling statue of
Hatshepsut, showing male
attributes
Hatshepsut is depicted in the
clothing of a male king though with
a feminine form. Inscriptions on the
statue call her "Daughter of en:Re"
and "Lady of the Two Lands."
Statue of Menkaura and Queen
Khamerernebty II.
What does this statue tell you about gender
relations in Egypt?
How did states rise? How did they legitimize their
power? How did they stay in control of power?
• Common characteristics of states in all
civilizations:
- Almost all civilizations ruled by kings
(monarchy)
- Ranked government officials
- Defended against enemies
- Controlled society
- Some groups benefit more than others
How did states rise? How did they legitimize their
power? How did they stay in control of power?
•
-
Benefits of states:
Organize large scale irrigation
Solve conflicts among citizens (laws, judges)
Defend against enemies
Keep public order
Provide help in times of famine (granaries in
Egypt, temples in Sumer)
How did states rise? How did they legitimize their
power? How did they stay in control of power?
•
-
Coercion:
States have authority to coerce obedience
Collect taxes
Force common population to work on large
scale projects (pyramids, irrigation)
How did states rise? How did they legitimize their
power? How did they stay in control of power?
• An Egyptian teacher describing to his students what
happens to peasants not able to pay their taxes:
“ Now the scribe lands on the shore. He surveys the
harvest. Attendants are behind him with staffs, Nubians
with clubs. One says: “Give grain.” There is none. He
is beaten savagely. He is bound, thrown into a well,
submerged head down. His wife is bound in his
presence. His children are in fetters. His neighbors
abandon him and flee.”
What does this tell us about the power of the state? How
credible is this account?
What was the relationship between
kingship and religion?
• Social and gender differences seen as natural, given by the
gods
• Shang China: Kings seen as Son of Heaven, only one who
can perform rituals to keep the cosmic balance
• Mesopotamia: Kings as stewards of their city’s patron god
• Egypt: pharaohs seen as divine, their power ensures the yearly
flooding of the Nile
• Religion could also limit the power of the wealthy:
- King Hammurabi rules so that “the strong will not harm the
weak”
- China during the Zhou dynasty follows the Mandate of
Heaven -> a king’s bad behavior justifies him being
overthrown
“T’ien Ming”
The Mandate of Heaven
1.The leader must lead by ability and
virtue.
2.The dynasty's leadership must be
justified by succeeding generations.
3.The mandate could be revoked by
negligence and abuse; the will of
the people was important.
Start here
Emperor is
defeated !!
Rebel bands find
strong leader who
unites them.
Attack the emperor.
Poor lose
respect for govt.
They join rebels
& attack landlords.
A new
dynasty
comes to power.
The emperor
reforms the govt.
& makes it more
efficient.
The
Dynastic
Cycle
Droughts,
floods,
famines occur.
Lives of common
people improved;
taxes reduced;
farming encouraged.
Problems begin
(extensive wars,
invasions, etc.)
Taxes increase;
men forced to
work for army.
Farming neglected.
Govt. increases
spending;
corruption.
Hammurabi’s
Code
[r. 1792-1750 B. C. E.]
What role did writing play in the
development of a civilization?
• Writing in all ancient civilizations, except the
Andes
• Literacy sign of elite status
• Some commoners who were taught writing
could rise in status (scribes)
What role did writing play in the development of a civilization?
• First use of writing:
- to record economic transactions, keep inventory (Sumerian cuneiform
around 3500 BCE)
• Writing to stabilize and support the government:
- Propaganda (on steles, temples, etc to celebrate military victories, other
successes of the king)
- Codify laws
- Diplomatic treaties
- Other bureaucratic uses such as recording harvests and taxes,
correspondence between center and local officials, etc. (first royal
libraries)
• Other uses:
- Literature (epic of Gilgamesh in Sumer, Mahabharta in India, Egyptian love
poetry)
- Religious (Hebrew Bible, Vedas in India, recording of myths of creation in
Egypt, Book of the Dead in Egypt, Mesopotamia)
- calendars
Cuneiform Writing
Gilgamesh Epic Tablet:
Flood Story
Hieroglyphic
“Cartouche”
Oracle Bones
Oracle Bones Calendar
Bison Seal, MohenjoDaro
Cascajal Block, 900 BCE, first evidence of
Olmec script, undeciphered
What art and architecture did early civilizations create?
How did it help to strengthen the government?
• Elites live lavish life styles (palaces, elaborate
clothing such as silks in China, many servants)
• Elaborate burial rituals:
- Egypt: mummification, pyramids, murals in
tombs, funerary goods
- Shang China: tombs with funerary goods,
sacrifice of servants and concubines
- Sumer (Mesopotamia): tombs with funerary
goods and human sacrifice
Giza Pyramid Complex
Abu Simbel:
Monument to Ramses II
1279-1213 B. C. E.
King Tutankhamun’s Tomb
Egyptian Gods & Goddesses:
“The Sacred ‘Trinity’”
Osiris
Horus
Isis
Preparation for
the Afterlife
Axe Scepter – 1100 BCE - jade
Ceremonial Dagger – 1028 BCE
Shang
Urn
Shang Bronzes
Zhou Coins - bronze
A Priest-King, MohenjoDaro
Citadel
Of
MohenjoDaro
• Olmec Stone Head,
between 1500 and 400
BCE, probably showing
an Olmec ruler
How did trade routes expand?
• Governments sought to take control of resources
not found in their area:
• Egypt took control of Nubian mines
• Import of luxury items for elites: incense from
Arabia to Egypt, Mesopotamia, gold from Nubia
to Egypt, precious stones from Iran to Egypt,
Mesopotamia, main Egyptian export is grain
• Leads to exchange of culture as well (for example
Nubians in Egypt, Egyptian culture adapted in
Nubia)
Nubian Pyramids at Meroe
• Nubian archers, From
the tomb of Mesehti, a
prince from the region
of Assiut (Middle
Dynasty, about 2000
BC).
Nubians bringing tribute to the
pharaoh
What technology did early civilizations
utilize?
• Calendars in each early civilization (Egypt
develops solar calendar, solar/lunar calendar in
China with leap years)
• Use of bronze for weapons, armor, ritual vessels,
tools, etc.
• Shang bronzes most advanced, used casting
instead of hammering
• War chariots in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Shang
China (led to the rise of a warrior aristocracy)
• Papyrus in Egypt
Papyrus  Paper
Hieratic Scroll
Piece
Papyrus Plant
Ramses II at the Battle of Kadesh