Transcript File

Civilizations
Characteristics of Civilization
•
Centralized Government
– cornerstone to civilization (types of leadership)
•
Agricultural Intensification
– Irrigation projects, dikes to reclaim land, calendar planting system. (secure year round food
supply)
•
State Religion
– Religion legitimized government control > government protected religion.
•
Class Structure
– No longer did people have equal access to land. Concept of private ownership emerged.
(Divide between nobles and commoners)
•
Development of Science & Writing
– Wheel, baked brick, mortar, simple machines & tools.
– Early writing = ownership of goods (inventory). Also now important for laws and religious
texts.
•
Merchants & Trade
– Items prizes by the wealthy elite. Merchants become wealthy through the process of trade
(new profession)
•
Occupational Specialization
– Food production = job specialization (tax collectors, tanners, goldsmith, brewers, teachers)
MESOPOTAMIA: Cradle of Civilization
Why did people choose to settle this land first?
• “Between two rivers”: the Tigris & the Euphrates
– South (Sumer) North (Akkad) later united by
Babylonia
• Region where humans first abandoned their nomadic
lifestyle to form permanent settlements.
– Codified laws
– Concept of kingship
– Buildings for places of worship
– Writing
– Invention of the wheel
Mesopotamia: The Geography
• Land is largely barren of stone or timber, soil is
dry
• South of the Tigris & Euphrates river is the
Arabian desert
• Climate is harsh:
– Summer: hot and dry
– Winter: stormy with unpredictable flooding
– Spring: major flooding in as rain combines with
mountain melt
Slide courtesy of mshsugarman
Why would people settle in this
harsh area?
• Euphrates river has natural levees
• Levee →embankment caused by the build up of
sediment over thousands of years
• Natural levees along the Euphrates river provide
protection from flooding and easy irrigation of rich
fertile land adjacent to the river
• Swamps provided fish, water fowl and reeds for
grazing animals and building material
• Land between the rivers was desert & swamp –
hindered unity of Mesopotamia
Slide courtesy of mshsugarman
Slide courtesy of mshsugarman
Northern Mesopotamia: Akkad
• More fertile land, hills
and plains
Southern Mesopotamia: Sumer
• Marshy areas and
wide flat barren
plains. Irrigation
necessary here, as
was trade for other
resources
The People
• Mesopotamia is a product of 4 distinct ethno cultural
groups:
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•
•
•
Sumerians
Akkadians
Babylonians
Assyrians
• These groups remained largely independent of eachother
• Early government was democratic
• More complex society = war and rivalry between states led
to people appointing a King – lugal (means “big man”)
• Eventually, this position becomes hereditary and
democratic government declines
The Sumerians
• arrived about 3000 BCE from
central Asia.
• Dominant culture between 2900 &
2400 BCE
• 4 main social classes
– Nobility (Divinely ordained
king, King’s family, palace
officials & priests )
– Free clients – worked for
nobility
– Commoners (free citizens who
owned land, as well as artisans
& professionals)
– Slaves
Legacy of Sumerian Civilization
• First system of writing cuneiform
• Divinely ordained
monarchy
• Legal system
• Lunar calendar
• Organized religion
• The Wheel
• Trade
Akkadians
Sargon (Semitic Chief)
• Conquered Sumerians in
2331 BCE and established
the capital of Akkad.
• Greatest achievement was
to unify Mesopotamia and
spread the culture to the
Fertile Cresent (stretching
from Syria to Egypt)
• Sargon’s dynasty was short
lived and it fell to barbians
in 2200BCE.
Legacy of Akkadians
• Lead by Sargon, the
Akkadians established
the first empire & unite
Mesopotamia
• Spread Mesopotamian
culture throughout the
fertile crescent
The Babylonians
• 1750 BCE King Hammurabi comes to the
thrown.
• Mesopotamia reunited under the Babylonians
by conquering Akkad and Assyria.
• By 1550 BCE unity in decline, next 700yrs is
turmoil and uncertainty.
Code of Hammurabi
• Justice based on
retribution.
• Divinely inspired
• Punishments designed
to fit crimes
• Punishments differed
depending on social
status.
The Assyrians
Assurnasirpal II (883-859 BCE)
• Aggressively expanded empire - best army in Near East
• Renown for his brutality - ruled by terrorizing conquered
peoples
• Empire stretched from the Persian Gulf to Egypt
• Moved his capital to Kalhu (Nimrud) – built a palace
lined with reliefs
• Brutality of Assyrians caused revolts in subject states
and empire collapsed by end of 7th century
• Carved reliefs show military campaigns, Assurnasirpal
hunting lions, non-Assyrians naked and in contorted
positions
Monument Inscription of
Assurnasirpal II
• "their men young and old I took prisoners. Of
some I cut off their feet and hands; of others I
cut off the ears noses and lips; of the young
men's ears I made a heap; of the old men's
heads I made a marinet. I exposed their heads
as a trophy in front of their city. The male
children and the female children I burned in
flames; the city I destroyed, and consumed
with fire."
Assurnasirpal II at war
King Ashur-nasir-pal II of the Assyrian Empire meets a high official during
a review of soldiers and war prisoners. He is accompanied by a parasolbearer and is watched over by a winged deity. He holds a bow and a pair
of raised arrows, symbolising victory in battle. From the North-West
Palace at Nimrud, about 865-860 BC; now in the British Museum.
Scene from Nimrud Relief: King Assurnasirpal II of Assyria hunting lions,
883-859 BCE
The Persians
Cyrus the Great (576-530 BCE)
• Replaced Ayssrian “rule by fear” with tolerance and
fairness.
• Established the Achaemenid Empire – largest the
world had ever seen
• Brought stability to Persian Empire and would
survive 800 yrs until Greeks conquered under
Alexander the Great.
– Religious differences accepted
– Fair taxes and local officials retained
– First declaration of human rights
Cyrus the Great
Wheel
• First accounts of the wheel date back to 4BCE.
• The country of origin of the wheel is still unresolved.
• Although Mesopotamia dates back much further the wheel is
a late invention as it would not have been efficient due to the
lack or roads.
Wooden disk,
records as per
carvings. Oldest
preserved remnant
in the form of
wooden disk found
in Slovenia & dates
back approx 5000
yrs ago.
Religion & Beliefs
The gods
• Mesopotamians were polytheistic
• Polytheism: Many gods/ deities
• Mesopotamians worshipped hundreds of gods
• Henotheistic: certain gods were viewed a s
superior to others
Nature of the gods and man
• Man was created by the gods to help hold off
the forces of chaos
• In turn, the gods would take care of humanity
and help them in every aspect of their lives
(health, prosperity, fertility, etc..)
• Lives of Mesopotamians revolved around their
gods – depended upon them like a guardian
angel
Worshipper statues
These carved statues stand in perpetual prayer on behalf of the
worshippers who placed them. Note their hands clasped in reverence
and their wide eyes staring in awe of the gods
The Higher Gods
• Only a few gods were major deities
• These controlled the major realms of the
universe: sky, sun, air, water, etc…
• Anu: father of the gods & sky god
• Enlil: god of air
• Utu: god of the sun & truth and justice
• Nanna: moon god
• Inanna: goddess of love and war
City gods
• Every city had a patron god or goddess
• This god / goddess would have the largest temple in the
city – belief that the god / goddess literally inhabited the
temple
• Statue of the god was at the very centre of the temple
• Priests would attend to needs of god just like a person
• Once a year they would even be taken out to inspect the
city
• Babylonian god – Marduk – rises to be a major deity
during the time of the Babyloninan empire
Figures at the top of Hammurabi’s Code show
King Hammurabi receiving the law from Shamash
Significance:
• Laws had divine origin
• Kings are divinely ordained – divine authority to rule over and judge
others
Tower of Babel: One of the most famous ziggurats.
The Epic of Gilgamesh
The Epic
• Written between 2000 BCE in cuneiform on
12 tablets
• Recounts the adventures of the Sumerian King
of Uruk and his quest for immortality
• Many adventures explore the themes of love,
friendship, courage and the meaning of death
and life
The Epic of Gilgamesh: The Flood
Plot
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Gilgamesh seeks eternal life
Meets Utnapishtim who tells how he
achieved this
Followed his god’s orders to build a
boat to hold family, friends and
animals
God Enlil blesses Utnapishtim &
offers him eternal life – a unique gift
As a parting gift, Utnapishtim offers
Gilgamesh a plant that will make him
young again – Gilgamesh is careless
and the plant is stolen by a serpent
Significance
• 1st written piece of literature in
history
• Reveals a people’s relationship
with their gods and their place in
the world and the search for the
meaning of life
• The epic inspired the creation and
flood narrative in the book of
Genesis & the Greek epic The
Iliad
• Epic written 2000 BCE; Abraham
left Ur in 1900-1800 BCE - he
probably was familiar with these
stories
What is the meaning of life?...
Gilgamesh…what you seek you will not find for
when the gods created man they allotted to him
death, but life they retained in their own
keeping. As for you Gilgamesh, fill your belly
with good things; day and night, night and day,
dance and be merry, feast and rejoice. Let
your clothes be fresh, bathe yourself in water,
cherish the little child who holds your hand and
make your wife happy in your embrace, for this
too is the lot of man
The Demise of the
Mesopotamian Civilization
War and Famine
War
• The various city-states of Mesopotamia fought for
control of the land – these brutal conflicts would take
its toll on the people and civilization – War is bad for
business!
Irrigation Techniques:
• Irrigation made civilization possible in Mesopotamia
– it also destroyed the land
• Irrigation water would evaporate due to poor
drainage, leaving behind mineral salts
• Over thousands of years, the land became infertile –
the land could no longer support the people
Ziggurat of Ur