Unit 1

Ancient Civilizations

 

 

Civilization -- Signposts -- define

1)      Settlements along major rivers combined with an agricultural revolution leads to growth of population in towns

2)      writing system

3)      religion -- often polytheistic -- explain in class about nature and polytheistic religions

4)      Governmental Systems

 

Civilizations founded on major river systems -- Why?

 

1)      Transportation / trade

2)      Fertile land from floods

3)      Drinking water

 

8000 BC -- humans in East Africa begin agricultural revolution

5000BC to 3500 BC -- First signs of civilization

 

Four major world civilizations form around rivers

1)      Mesopotamia -- Tigris and Euphrates

2)      Egypt -- Nile

3)      China -- Yellow

4)      India -- Indus

 

 

Sumeria / Mesopotamia (Greek for "land between two rivers")

****Note -- go over concept of city states -- reaally important for later with Greece

**** Note -- introduce idea regarding national unity and fending off invaders vs. national disunity bringing down a society (internal vs. external conflict)

 

1)      Settled into the Mesopotamian region around 3500 B.C.

2)      First cities (small city states) -- united by a common culture and language

3)      Kings of the individual City States were also priests of the Sumerian religion (concept of a theocracy -- rule by religious leaders -- important later for Egypt, Christendom and others)

4)      Ziggurat -- large stepped pyramid built in each city-state -- tended by priest/kings

5)      Cuneiform -- earliest writing in the world -- wedge shaped writing probably used for trade and transactions -- eventually evolved into an alphabetic system

6)      Epic of Gilgamesh -- earliest poetry -- story of a flood and how one of the main characters and a boatload of animals survive -- contrast to Noah

7)      Around 2000 B.C. -- Babylonian Empire

A)    Hammurabi -- Law Code Written Down -- equal justice for crimes

B)     Carved in stone for all to see -- important -- why?

C)     Read selections in class from the law code so students can see how harsh it was

D)    Why is equal justice important? -- get class to respond

 

Egypt

1)      About 5000-4500 B.C. -- settlements from on the Nile River

2)      Upper Egypt / Lower Egypt -- make sure students understand the difference and how the Nile flows

3)      By 4000 B.C. -- two Egyptian kingdoms -- Upper and Loower

4)      Approx. 3000 B.C. -- Menes, king of Upper Egypt, unites the country by conquering Lower Egypt.

 

5)      Egyptian history divided into three distinct periods

A)    Old Kingdom (2700 to 2200 B.C.)

n       Egyptian king becomes son of Re and therefore a god himself

n       absolute power for the king

n       pyramids built

n       only the king has an afterlife with the gods

n       brought down by political infighting and civil war

B)     Middle Kingdom (2050 to 1800 B.C.)

n       centered around Thebes in Upper Egypt

n       short lived -- civil unrest soon tore the kingdom apart, leaving Egypt ripe for invasion

About 1750 to 1600 B.C. -- period of the Hyksos Rule in Egypt

1)      gave the Egyptians something to unite against

2)      Hyksos were from Western Asia -- bronze weapons and chariots

3)      They needed help to govern the Egyptians -- Joseph and the Israelites (a primitive tribe from land already conquered by the Hyksos)

4)      When the Egyptians unite against the Hyksos and throw them out of Egypt, they enslave the Israelites

C)     New Kingdom (1600 to 945 B.C.)

n       Egypt at the height of its power

n       Queen Hatchepsut -- first woman Pharoah -- Carried out an extensive building proogram

n       Tutmose III -- expanded the empire into Syria

n       Amenhotep IV (Nefertiti) -- monotheism -- Sun god Aton -- becomes Akenaton (spirit of Aton) -- moved capital city to a new religious center

n       NOTE -- Hebrews in Egypt when Akenaton switches to monotheism

n       After his death, Tutankhamen is forced to restore the old religions and moves the capital back to Thebes

n       Ramses II -- pharaoh who lets the Hebrews go from Slavery (Exodus)

 

Life in Egyptian Society

1)      Egyptian Religion -- polytheistic -- Sun God Re and pharaoh his son

2)      Writing -- hieroglyphics -- picture writing -- deciphered using the Rosetta Stone in 1822

3)      Accurate calendars and star charts -- knew how to predict the Nile's floods

4)      Theocracy -- rule by a priest class -- So Let it be Written, So let it be done

5)      Osiris -- God of the Dead

n       ruled the underworld

n       God of the Nile

n       Determined your fate by balancing your heart against a feather

 

 

 

 

 

Internal Divisions and External Threats -- Egypt

Phoenicia (alphabet)

Israel (monotheistic religion of Judaism)

Persia and the first global system

Hinduism and Buddhism -- will be explained in class