Transcript Early River Civilization Notes

Early Civilizations
Mesopotamia, Egypt, Assyria and Persia
Beginning of Civilization
Civilization
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Early humans slowly domesticated food
and animals
As the food supply grew, many nomadic
tribes settled into villages
Prehistory: Time before written history
The villages began to grow creating
Civilization
Civilization has 5 characteristics
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Advanced cities
Specialized workers
Complex institutions
Record keeping
Advanced technology
Advanced Cities
• As cities grew, the need for certain
workers increased
– Traders, government workers, and priests were
the most popular
• With all the extra food, specialization or
development of skills in certain work
• Many new jobs expanded beyond farming
to include artisans or skilled workers who
make goods by hand
– Because of specialization, artisans made better
tools, weapons and jewelry
• With large populations living
together, the need for
government, or system of
ruling, was needed
– Government is an example of
an institution or long lasting
pattern of organization in a
community
– Other forms of an institution
that make up civilization are
religion and the economy
New Technology
• New tools and techniques helped
to solve many problems early
civilizations had
– Farmers used plows attached to
animals to plow their fields
– Artisans invented the potters wheel
to help make pots, plates, bowels
and jugs around 3,500 B.C.
– Metal workers found that mixing tin
and copper made bronze around
3,000 B.C.
• Called the Bronze Age when
people used bronze instead of
copper and stone
City of Ur
• On the Euphrates River (around Southern Iraq), around 5,000
years ago, a large city was created called Ur
• Ur had class system for it’s 30,000 inhabitants
• Ur had an irrigation system that brought water in from over a
mile away
– This irrigation system gave Ur a food surplus that helped the economy
• Ur had a large
marketplace where
people bartered or
traded goods and
services without
money
• The most important
building in Ur was the
giant temple
– It was ziggurat
(means “Mountain of
God") or pyramidshaped monument
– Priests would walk the
100 steps (about 15
per story) to the top to
sacrifice a goat or
sheep
Mesopotamia
• Between the Persian Gulf in
the east and the
Mediterranean Sea in the
west is a large desert
• Within this area is an arc of
excellent farming land
– Called the Fertile Crescent
• This area included a land
called Mesopotamia which
means “land between the
rivers”
• Almost all early civilzations
were started by rivers. Thus
becoming Early River
Civilizations.
• The 2 rivers that ran through Mesopotamia were the Tigris and
the Euphrates
• Each year, these rivers flooded bringing silt which provided
good farming nutrients
• Even with the excellent farming conditions, Mesopotamia:
– flooded at irregular time periods,
– had no natural barriers for protection
– Had limited natural resources
• All the organized cities in Mesopotamia served had
their own governments and rulers
• These main cities and the surrounding areas were
known as city-states or a city and surrounding areas
functioning as an independent unit
– Ur was a city-state
• Hammurabi took the existing laws and
combined them into a single, uniform code of
laws called Hammurabi’s Code
– The code was carved in stone and placed all over the
empire
• The code had 282 specific laws that dealt with
everything from community to family to
business and crime
• Even though the law applied to everyone, the
punishments varied by wealth
• After about 200
years, a group of
people called the
Amorites invaded
and conquered
Mesopotamia
– After conquering, they
set up their capital at
Babylon (near present
day Baghdad)
• The height of the
Babylon Empire was
between 1792-1750
BC under the leader
Hammurabi
• Because farmers in Mesopotamia
believed that success with the
crops depended on blessings from
the gods, the priests were in
charge of the government
• In times of war, the men of the city
chose strong soldiers to lead the
armies
• As wars became more frequent,
these men became permanent
leaders
• These leaders began to pass the
power onto their sons forming a
Dynasty or series of rulers from
the same family
Religion
• Religion played a central role in ancient Mesopotamia
• The different forms of religion were:
– Monotheism-belief in 1 god
– Polytheism-belief in more than 1 god
• Was the most popular in Mesopotamia
• The people and priests had a god or demon for everything that
happened
– Storms, floods, heat, sickness, good fortune, death, love and so on
Building Empires
• Around 2350 BC, a
city-state called
Akkad started to
conquer other citystates
• After conquering all of
Mesopotamia, Akkad
became the world’s
first empire or many
people and countries
under one leader
Egypt
• Stretching over 4,100
miles in eastern Africa is
the longest river in the
world
– Called the Nile
• The river provides fertile
soil for the barren desert
land like in Mesopotamia
• Because of the
abundance of food that
the Nile was able to
produce, Egyptians
worshiped it as a god
• Most Egyptians lived along the Nile from the mouth
(Mediterranean Sea) in the North to the first rapids (First
Cataract) in the South
• Those that lived around the Delta or the broad, marshy,
triangular area of land formed by silt at rivers mouth were in
Lower Egypt
• Those that live near the First Cataract lived in Upper Egypt
because the elevation is higher
• To travel, those in Upper Egypt used the Nile currents to go
north and those in Lower Egypt used sail boats powered by the
winds
Uniting Egypt
• Egypt was founded
around 5,000 BC into
small villages that had
their own gods, rituals
and customs
• By 3,200 BC, the villages
were united into two
kingdoms- Upper Egypt
and Lower Egypt
• Eventually a man named
Narmer united the two
kingdoms into one
• Narmer moved the capital to Memphis, near the
boarder of Upper and Lower Egypt and he
combined the 2 crowns
– He then was the first ruler of the first dynasty of 31 that ruled
over 2,600 years
• The kings of Mesopotamia and Egypt were
different in regards to religion
– In Mesopotamia, the kings were representatives of the gods
– In Egypt, the kings were the gods
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The Pharaohs or God-Kings were almost as
powerful as the gods in the heavens
– The type of government that is ruled by religious authority is
called a theocracy
• The Egyptians believed
that because the
Pharaohs were gods,
then they ruled after
death
• To make their eternal
reign easier, they built
magnificent tombs, or
pyramids
• The pyramids had
perfectly cut stone that
weighed anywhere from
2.5 tons to 15 tons
• Like the Mesopotamians, the
Egyptians believed in many
gods
– They worshiped more than 2,000
deities or gods and goddesses
• The rich and royal Egyptians
had their dead bodies go
through a process called
mummification which was
embalming the corpse to
prevent it from decaying
• The corpse was then placed in
a tomb (like the pyramids) and
given items the person would
need in the after life, life food,
clothing and jewelry
• The Egyptian form of writing
became known as
hieroglyphics
– In this form of writing, a picture
stood for an idea
• Many hieroglyphics were
carved or drawn onto stone,
but they soon moved to
papyrus or Egyptian paper
Egypt Invaded
• Egyptian history is split
into 3 parts
– Old Kingdom (till 2080 BC)
– Middle Kingdom (20801640BC)
– New Kingdom (15701075)
• The Middle Kingdom was
a prosperous time
• When it ended, Egypt
went into war and
violence
• With weak leaders and internal fighting, Egypt
was weakened enough for invaders
• From 1640-1570 BC, Egypt was conquered and
ruled by nomadic raiders called Hyksos
– They used chariots to get to Egypt
• While the Hyksos ruled Egypt, a group of
people called Hebrews came to live in Egypt
around 1650 BC
• By 1600, a strong Egyptian Queen was able to
finally drive the Hyksos out of Egypt
• The Hebrews, who remained in Egypt, were
then made slaves and didn’t leave till around
1250 BC
The New Kingdom
• After the Hyksos were
overthrown, the New
Kingdom was created
• During the New Kingdom,
Egypt decided to become
an empire and became
wealthier and more
powerful than ever
– They used 2 wheel
chariots, bronze spears,
archers, and infantry (foot
soldiers)
• One of the greatest rulers of
the New Kingdom was the
Queen Hatshepsut
• As queen, Hatshepsut
encouraged trade with other
kingdoms
• After many years of ruling,
Hatshepsut’s stepson
Thutmose III became pharaoh
• Thutmose III was an
aggressive ruler who
expanded the empire into
Palestine, Syria and to the
Upper Nile
• As the Egyptians pushed into Syria, they came into
conflict with a group of people called the Hittites
– After many small battles, Ramses II the Pharaoh who got
into a major war around 1285 with Hittites
• Like the Old Kingdom, many pharaoh’s of the New
Kingdom built many large monuments and temples
Assyria
• Around 850 BC, the Assyria built a large empire with
the use of a well structured army
– Used Iron weapons and armor instead of bronze
• Between 850 and 650 BC, the Assyrians conquered all
the old centers of civilization (Babylon, Mesopotamia,
and Egypt)
• The Assyrians built large
cities
– Nineveh was the capital of
Assyria
• Nineveh was the largest
city of the time being 3
miles wide and 1 mile
long
• Nineveh also had the
worlds largest library at
the time with more than
20,000 clay tablets
• Around 612 BC, two
groups called the Medes
and the Chaldeans
conquered Assyria and
destroyed Nineveh
• After defeating the
Assyrians, the
Chaldeans made
Babylon the capital
• This made Babylon
the center of
civilization 1,000
years after
Hammurabi ruled
there
• The greatest King of
the Chaldeans,
Nebuchadnezzar
restored Babylon’s
glory
Persia
• Persia, located in the
south-eastern Fertile
Crescent, was populated
by Indo-Europeans
around 1,000 BC
– People from what is now
Russia
• For about 500 years,
people left them alone until
King Cyrus began to
conquer other kingdoms
– He built an empire that
stretched over 2,000 miles
• Cryus was a fair ruler
– Used tolerance and kindness towards conquered territories
to gain loyalty
• Eventually, Cyrus was killed in battle and his son,
Cambyses took control
• Cambyses was a weak ruler who had no tolerance
– When he died 8 years later, the Persian control had
diminished
• Cambyses’s successor was Darius who was a
noble of the ruling dynasty
• After taking control, Darius put down revolts
that had arisen during Cambyses’s reign
• After putting down the revolts, Darius began to
expand the empire
• Under the Persian’s, conquered people were allowed
to practice their own religion and followed their own
laws
• Even though he was tolerant Darius still had absolute
power
– In each province, he installed satrap’s or governors who
ruled locally
• To make sure the governors remained loyal, Darius
sent out officials to supervise
• With such a large empire, Darius needed a
reliable road system
– The Royal Road connected the capital Susa to
Sardis in the far west over 1,600 miles away
• In addition, Darius issued a standard coin
system of gold and silver
– People now never needed to weigh the metal