Cities and Civilizations

Mesopotamia and Egypt

Cities and Civilizations Seminar

We begin at about 8,000 BCwhen 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

Click on words and pictures for web links.

The invention of Agriculture changed the way people lived.

Agriculture (Farming)

Growth of Cities

Division of Labor (Specialization)

Trade

Writing and Mathematics

GEOGRAPHY influenced the development of river valley

civilizations.

Early River Valley Civilizations

•Flooding of Tigris and Euphrates unpredictable•No natural barriers•Limited natural resources for making tools or buildings

Environment

Sumer

Egypt

Indus Valley

China

•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

Mesopotamia – Fertile Crescent

Sumer – The Earliest of the River Valley Civilizations

Sumerian Civilization grew up along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in what is now Kuwait.

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)

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. 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.

Deciphering Cuneiform

Sumerians invented: 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

Board Game From Ur

Ziggurat – Holy Mountain

BabylonGave us the first know written law code

and was the first civilization where the citizens live by the “Rule of Law”

Define “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 BCHammurabi’s Code was this law code.Hammurabi ruled the Babylonian Empire for 42 years. At the end of his longreign, Hammurabi’s legal decisions were collected and inscribed on a stone tabletin 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 Babylonian Empires

Babylonian Numbers

Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh Epic Tablet:Flood Story

EGYPT“The Gift of the Nile”

(Herodotus)Look at the map and answer the following question:What did Herodotus mean when he said that Egypt is the “gift of the Nile?”

Nile River

Sahara Desert

Because of the geography of the area, without the Nile River, there would be no Egypt.

The Annual Flooding of the Nile

4,160 Miles Long

“Gifts of the Nile” Predictable flooding (Summer

Time) Mild flooding therefore able to

use river for irrigation Prevailing winds made trade

possible both north and south on the river

Rich deposits of clay, granite, sandstone & limestone used for building

Silt deposits rich for farming papyrus used for mats, rope,

sandals, baskets, paper

Periods Time FrameNile Culture

Begins3900 B. C. E.

Old Kingdom 2650 – 2134 B. C. E.Middle Kingdom 2040 – 1640 B. C. E.

New Kingdom 1550 – 1070 B. C. E.Late Period 750 – 332 B. C. E.

Greek Ptolemaic Era

332 – 30 B. C. E.

Roman Period 30 B. C. E. – 395 C. E.

Menes: Unifier of Upper & Lower Egypt

ca. 3050 B. C. E. ?

3 Kingdoms of Egypt

Old KingdomGreat time for Pyramid Building; Sphinx

Society divided into only upper and lower

Civil Wars destroy2650-2134 B.C.

3 Kingdoms Cont’d Middle Kingdom

Called the “Golden Age” b/c of Prosperity

Hyksos take over Egypt for a while

Officially part of the Bronze Age now

2040- 1640 B.C.

3 Kingdoms Cont’d New Kingdom

Pushed Hyksos outNew Slave LaborImmense Wealth and Prosperity

Akhenaten tries to push Monotheism- (Aton- The Sun God)

1550-1070 B.C.

Egyptian Social Hierarchy

Egyptians invented:

Hieroglyphics Pyramids Geometry Advances in medicine and surgery

Hieroglyphics Early Egyptian writing found on

tombs was indecipherable. Hieroglyphics

Sacred Carving

No one could read these sacred carvings until Napoleon invaded Egypt and his archaeologists found the Rosetta Stone.

Champollion and The Rosetta Stone

Hieroglyphics “Alphabet” 24 “letters” + 700 phonetic

symbols

Papyrus is one of the first examples of paper. It is created from reeds growing along the Nile River.

Papyrus

Egyptian Gods & Goddesses:

Osiris Isis Horus

Preparations for the Underworld

Priests protected your KA, or soul-spirit

ANUBIS weighs the dead person’s heart against a feather.

The Final Judgement

Anubis Horus Osiris

Preparation for the Afterlife

Egyptian Mummies

Seti I1291-1278 B.

C. E.Queen Tiye,

wife of Amenhotep

II1210-1200 B. C. E.

Ramses II1279-1212 B.

C. E.

Giza Pyramid Complex

Plan of the Great Pyramid of Khufu

The Ankh – The “Cross” of Life

Ankhenaton: First Monotheist

1352-1336 B. C. E.

Indus River Valley (page 53)

2500 BC – 1500 BCAround 2600 B.C. the various regional cultures were united in what is called the Indus Valley Civilization. It is also commonly referred to as the Harappan culture after the town of Harappa (where it was first discovered.)

Excavations at the ancient Harappan and Mohenjo Daro mounds revealed well planned cities and towns built on massive mud brick platforms that protected the inhabitants against seasonal floods. In the larger cities the houses were built of baked brick while at smaller towns most houses were built of sun-dried mud brick. Each city is laid out in a grid pattern and shows signs of stunningly modern plumbing systems.

Much writing has been found at these sites, but it has not yet been translated.

Shang China1600 BC – 1122 BC

Lack of contact with foreigners helped give the Chinese a strong sense of identity and superiority. They regarded their land as the only civilized land and called it Zhongguo or the Middle Kingdom. This Chinese isolation contributed to the Chinese belief that China was at the center of the earth and the sole source of civilization.

The first true emperor of China, was Shi Huangdi.