Transcript Cities and Civilizations

The Four River
Civilizations
Cities and Civilizations Seminar
We begin at about 8,000 BC
when village life began in
the New Stone Age. . . Also
known as the
Neolithic Revolution.
NEW
STONE AGE
What is the REVOLUTION?
A TOTALLY new way of living:
From
Hunter-Gatherers
to Agriculture
The invention of Agriculture
changed the way people lived.
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Agriculture (Farming)
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Growth of Cities
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Division of Labor
(Specialization)
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Trade
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Writing and Mathematics
Agriculture leads to the development
of Civilization
Writing
Cities
Art
Civilization
Religion
Social
Structure
Government
GEOGRAPHY influenced the
development of river valley
civilizations.
Nile River
Tigris/Euphrates
River
Indus Ganges
River
Yellow and
Yangtze Rivers
Early River Valley Civilizations
Environment
Sumer
Egypt
Indus
Valley
China
• Flooding of Tigris and Euphrates unpredictable
• No natural barriers
• Limited natural resources for making tools or
buildings
• Flooding of the Nile predictable
• Nile an easy transportation link between Egypt’s
villages
• Deserts were natural barriers
• Indus flooding unpredictable
• Monsoon winds
• Mountains, deserts were natural barriers
• Huang He flooding unpredictable
• Mountains, deserts natural barriers
• Geographically isolated from other ancient
civilizations
Define “Fertile Crescent.”
Define “Fertile Crescent”
A well-watered and fertile area,
the fertile crescent arcs across the
northern part of the Syrian desert. It is
flanked on the west by the
Mediterranean and on the east by the
Euphrates and Tigris rivers, and
includes all or parts of Israel, the West
Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq.
From antiquity this region was the site
of sophisticated settlements.
Greeks called the northern part of the
Fertile Crescent
Mesopotamia
“Between Two Rivers”
(Tigris River and Euphrates River)
The southern part of Mesopotamia was
called Babylonia, originally Sumer.
Which country is Mesopotamia today?
(Iraq)
Mesopotamia – Fertile Crescent
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Sumer – The
Earliest of the River
Valley Civilizations
3000 BC
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Sumerian
Civilization grew up
along the Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers in
what is now Kuwait.
Sumer - Sumerians (Kuwait)
ca. 3500 to 3000 BC.
(ca. = circa)
Sumer gave us the city-state.
Define: city-state
Political unit made up of a city and
the surrounding lands. (Hinterland)
Each city state has its own
government, even when it shares a
culture with neighboring city
states.
Sumerian Writing: cuneiform
Cuneiform is created by pressing a
pointed stylus into a clay tablet.
Sumerians invented:
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Brick technology
Wheel
Base 60 – using the circle . . . 360 degrees
Time – 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in
a minute
12 month lunar calendar
arch
ramp
ziggurat
Ziggurat – Holy Mountain
The Akkadians
To the north of Sumer was a city-state
called Akkadia
 Around 2340 BC under the their leader
Sargon, The Akkadians conquered the
Sumerians
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Hittites
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Warrior empire in what is
today modern Turkey
(1750-1180 BC)
First to use War Chariots
Briefly invaded Egypt
Was later conquered by
the Assyrians
Lydia
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Develop in what is
modern day western
Turkey after the fall of
the Hittite empire
Were traders
The first to develop
coins
Babylon
In 1792 BC the city of Babylon conquered
Sumer and Akkadia
Babylon
Babylon’s king, Hammurabi created the first
know written law code and was the first
civilization where the citizens live by the
“Rule of Law”
Government by law. The rule of law
implies that government authority
may only be exercised in accordance
with written laws, which were adopted
through an established procedure.
Hammurabi’s Code - 1792 BC
Hammurabi’s Code
was this law code.
Hammurabi ruled the
Babylonian Empire for 42 years.
At the end of his long
reign, Hammurabi’s legal
decisions were collected and
inscribed on a stone tablet
in a Babylonian temple. The 282
laws of the Code of Hammurabi
represent one of the earliest
known legal systems.
“If a man stole the property of church or
state, that man shall be put to death;
also the one who received the stolen goods
from his hand shall be put to
death.”
The laws governed such
things as lying,
stealing, assault, debt,
business partnerships,
marriage, and divorce.
In seeking protection
for all members of
Babylonian society,
Hammurabi relied on
the philosophy of equal
retaliation, otherwise
known as “an eye for an
eye.”
The Phoenicians
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Lived along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea
They were sailors and traded through out the
Fertile Crescent
The Phoenicians develop a written alphabet that
later would develop into the alphabet we use
today
Israelites
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Descendants of Abraham
They were enslaved by the Egyptians
During the reign of Ramses II Moses led the
Israelites to area along the Dead Sea and the
Jordon River
Under a King named David the 12 tribes of
Israel were united into one Kingdom and made
Jerusalem the capital
Israelites
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David’s son Solomon continued to expand the
power of Israel and built Temple of Jerusalem
After Solomon’s death the kingdom divided in
two
Israel
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Kingdom of Israel
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Kingdom of Judah
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10 Tribes
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2 Tribes
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Located in the north
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Located in the South
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Capital at Samaria
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Capital at Jerusalem
Israel
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Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the
Assyrians
Kingdom of Judah conquered by the Chaldeans
Assyrians
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Around 700 BC a city-state in the upper Tigris
River valley conquered Mesopotamia
The Assyrians used iron weapons
Developed post roads
Because of their cruelty they were overthrown
by the by the Chaldeans and the Medes
Chaldeans
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Allied with the Medes they
overthrew the Assyrians
Their leader
Nebuchadnezzar II made
his capital at Babylon
He built the famous
“Hanging Gardens”
Persia
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Lived in what is modern day Iran
Under the leadership of Cyrus the Great
the Persians conquered as India to Egypt
and part of Europe
Persia
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Cyrus and his successors showed mercy to those
they conquered and many civilizations wanted to
be part of Persia
Very efficient rulers
Divided empire into 20 provinces call satrapies
Each satrapy had a governor call the satrap
Maintain a very efficient roads system with rest
stations along the road
Persia
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Zoroastrianism developed around 660 BC in
Persian
Zoroaster taught what he called the “true
religion”
There was a supreme god (Ahuramazda) and he
defended good
There was an evil god (Ahriman) and he was bad
There is a conflict between good and evil and in
the end good will win out
Persia
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In the 5th Century BC Persia’s expansion
brought it into conflict with another group of
city states called Greece
After losing two wars with the Greeks,
Alexander the Great led a Greek army into
Persia and overthrew the empire