chapter one: the beginnings of civilization

Chapter One: The Beginnings of

Civilization

Cultures and Values, 6th Ed.Cunningham and Reich

Defining “Civilized”• Urban life: permanent constructions • System of regulatory government• Class distinction (wealth and

occupation)• Tools/skills --> production/trade• Written communication• Shared system of religious belief

** Not a value judgment! **

Origins of Western Civilization

• Paleolithic World View (Old Stone Age)• Art• Religion

• Neolithic Civilizations (Late Stone Age)• Domestication of animals• Cultivation of vegetation• Community• War / Weaponry

The Bronze Age (3000-1000 B.C.E.)

• Mesopotamia• Sumerian (3500-2350 B.C.E.)• Semitic (2350-612 B.C.E.)

• Egypt• Aegean Cultures

Sumerian Culture• Agricultural/Urban settlements• “Fertile Crescent”

• Writing/record-keeping: Cuneiform• Shared system of religious belief• Civil ruler / Religious rulers

Epic of Gilgamesh• Gilgamesh ruled at Uruk c. 2700

B.C.E.• Composed in Sumerian (2000

B.C.E.) on cuneiform tablets• Pessimistic work• Asserts universal questions about

human existence

Semitic Culture• Akkadian Period• King Sargon and descendants (2350-2150

B.C.E.)• Focus on HUMAN achievement• Gutian invasion / return to tradition

• Babylonian Legacy• King Hammurabi

• Assyrians• Culmination of Mesopotamian culture

Fall of Mesopotamia• Medes• Nomadic warriors• Conquered Nineveh in 612 B.C.E.• Conquered and absorbed by Persians

• Persians• Nomadic warriors• Conquered by Alexander the Great

(330 B.C.E.)

Ancient Egypt• Manetho’s History of Egyptian

Greek• 31 dynasties / 4 groups:• Old Kingdom (2700 B.C.E.)• Middle Kingdom (1990 B.C.E.)• New Kingdom (1570 B.C.E.)• Late Period (1185-500 B.C.E.)

Ancient Egyptian Culture

• Unified and consistent• Resistant to change• Worldview affected by external

events

Political Structure• Pharaoh • Head of the central government• Regarded as a living god• Exercised absolute power• Ordered and controlled visible world

• Priests• Preservation of religious beliefs• Divine kingship of Pharaohs

Egyptian Religion• Obsession with immortality / life

after death• Book of the Dead• Osiris, Isis, Horus

• Deities, subdeities, nature spirits• Responsible for all aspects of

existence

Egyptian Art• Principal function of artists: to

produce images of deities• Form of worship• Standards set forth by Pharaoh

• Artists also provided temples and shrines for honoring deities

The Old Kingdom• Imhotep• First architect known to history

• Pyramids• Funerary monuments for pharaohs,

upper class• Mummification• Preservation of the body was

necessary for the survival of the soul

Great Age of the Pyramid

• Pyramids at Giza (Dynasty IV)• Cheops• Chefren• Mycerinus

• Who built the pyramids?• Farmers• Slaves

Pyramids• Constructed of limestone blocks• Quarried, ferried, cut, dragged into

place• Center chamber contained

mummified body of pharaoh surrounded by treasures

• Plundered by robbers

Chefren’s Sphinx• Created as the guardian for

Chefren’s tomb at Giza• Adopted as a divine symbol of the

mysterious and enigmatic (Greeks)

Art of the Old Kingdom

• Reflects confidence and certainty• Idealized realism• Conceptual, symbolic

Art of the Middle Kingdom

• Loss of trust in divine providence• Artists attempted to recapture lofty

serenity of Old Kingdom• Troubled spirit captured in weight and

somber expressions

The New Kingdom• Artistic traditions continued• Conceptual

• Pharaoh Amenhotep IV/ “Akhenaton”• Massive religious/political reform• Tel el-Amarna Art

• Tutankhamen• Howard Carter (1922-1923)

The Late Period• Artists revisited earlier period

styles• Recapture realism, volume• Return to pyramid-shaped tombs

• Egypt invaded by Nubians (the Cush) 750-720 B.C.E.• Nubians and Nobatae preserved

ancient culture

Aegean Culture• Crete• King Minos / Knossos

• Cyclades Islands• Bronze tools• Imaginative/humorous pottery• Marble statues/idols

The Bronze Age in Crete

• Arthur Evans, 1894-1900• Early Minoan• Increasing growth• Contacts with Egypt and

Mesopotamia• Scattered Towns

Middle Minoan• Evolution of large urban centers• Art = lively and colorful• Little interest in monumental art• Writing system of hieroglyphic

signs

[Image 1.22]Palace of Minos at Knossos

[Image 1.25]Wasp Pendant

[Image 1.27]Snake Goddess

Late Minoan• Period of rebuilding after

earthquakes• High point of Minoan culture• Wall paintings• Religion centered upon mother

goddess connected with fertility

[Image 1.28]Funerary Mask

Mycenaean Culture• Heinrich Schliemann, 1870-1873• The Trojan War (1250 B.C.E.)

• Strongly influenced by Minoan Culture

• Art = preoccupied with death and war

• Fall of the Mycenaean empire (1200 B.C.E.)

Chapter 1: Discussion Questions

• What can be determined about the roles of women in early civilizations based on their artistic depictions? Explain, citing examples from each culture.

• Based on the universal questions evoked in the Epic of Gilgamesh, what can we assume about the Sumerian people and their lifestyles? In what ways are their concerns shared by people of our culture and generation? Explain.

• What role did geography play in the development and preservation of Ancient Egyptian culture? In what fundamental ways was Egyptian culture different from the Mesopotamian and Aegean cultures?

• Discuss the role of the archeologist. What impact do the discoveries of ancient cultures have on us today? Explain.