Civilization Civilization BeginsBegins

Beginnings of Civilizations

• Cities, first rose in river valleys– Water

– Farming

– Renewable soil

– Animals

– Transportation

• 4 Major River Valley Civilizations :1.Tigris and Euphrates in the Middle East

2.Nile River in Egypt

3. Indus River in India

4.Yellow River in China

8 Basic Features Common to Most Early Civilizations:

1. Cities– In fertile areas producing a food surplus

2. Well-organized central governments– Needed to maintain order and the surplus– Divine Right

3. Complex religions– Polytheistic, believing in many gods– Controlling the natural forces and human activities– Priests intervene with the gods on behalf of the people

4. Job specialization– Artisans, priests, farmers, weapons maker and soldiers

5. Social classes– Where you stand in society

6. Arts and architecture– Temples to the gods– Places for the rulers

7. Public works to benefit the city– Defensive walls, irrigation

systems, roads and bridges8. Writing

– Pictograms– Leaders needed to keep

records

MesopotamiaCivilizations of the Ancient Middle East

Sumerians

• Sumer, the oldest civilization of the Middle East– Developed in Mesopotamia means

“between the rivers”– Between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers

(Iraq)– First cities around 3200 BC– City-States– Sumerians made the first wheeled vehicles

Sumerian Culture• Women had rights but not many• Polytheistic

– Gods controlled every aspect of life• The Sumerians invented the

earliest form of writing, cuneiform (wedge)– A form of picture writing– Wrote on clay slabs called steles

with a stylus• Advances in mathematics and

astronomy.– Base 6 numbers: 360 degrees, 60

minutes in an hour

• Mesopotamia’s location at a geographical crossroads opened it to many invasions…

The Babylonians• Hammurabi, King of Babylonia

conquered about 1790 BC– Published the Code of

Hammurabi on a stele– The world’s first major

collection of laws– Very harsh “An eye for an

eye”

FACTHammurabi did not create most of these laws, he was the first to write them down

The Assyrians

• Conquered about 1100 BC• Warlike and brutal• Built well ordered cities• Gathered cuneiform tablets

into one of the first libraries• Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt

Babylon– Contributed to the huge

knowledge base, especially astronomy

Ishtar Gate, Babylon

The Persian Empire

• Conquered about 539 BC• Darius organized the empire

– Based taxes on what each could afford

– Built roads– Uniform weight and measures– Introduced coinage– Tolerant of the customs and cultures

under their controlDarius I - Darius the Great

(521-486 BC)

Xerxes’ Dad