Early River Valley Civilizations

1. Early River Valley Civilizations 3500 B.C.-450 B.C.

2. Mesopotamia • Fertile Cresent- curved shape piece of rich land in present-day Iraq • “Land Between The Rivers” • Tigris River/Euphrates River

3. Sumerian City-States • Multiple cities with different government and and different rulers, linked together with a similar culture. • Dynasty- series of rulers from the same family • Cultural Diffusion- ideas and products spreading from one culture to another

4. Sumerian Culture • Polytheism- belief in more than one god • Cuneiform • Arithmetic • City Walls/Buildings, Irrigation, Organization • Base 60

5. Sargon Of Akkad • Conquered Northern and Southern Mesopotamia • Created first empire • Empire- brings together several peoples and nations under the control of one ruler

6. Babylonian Empire • Amorites- nomadic warriors • Invaded Mesopotamia in 2000 B.C. • Capital in Babylon • Peak during reign of Hammurabi

7. Hammurabi’s Code • Uniform code of laws to unify diverse groups in empire • Engraved in stone • Created order and uniformity • Clear punishments • Based on social classes

8. Egyptian Civilization The Gift of the Nile

9. Geography

10. Bounded on the south, east and west by desert, and on the north by the sea • Protected from outside influences • Evolved in a unique way

11. The Nile River • Longest river in the world • Flows north to Mediterranean Sea • Large Flood Plain led to permanent villages

12. TRANSPORTATION: The Nile River was the highway that joined the country together. Up until the nineteenth century, travel by land was virtually unknown.

13. Architecture

14. Stone pyramids, tombs, temples and palaces • Skilled workers consisting of highly trained craftsmen and laborers

15. Paintings, carved stone images, hieroglyphs, and statues • Stories of the pharaohs, the gods, the common people and the natural world of plants, birds and animals

19. How did humans move such massive blocks of stone using only Stone Age tools? • The Egyptians left thousands of illustrations depicting daily life in the Old Kingdom, but none of them show how pyramids were built. • Theories try to explain it, but the mystery has yet to be solved.

20. The Ramp Theory • Were ramps used to haul the stone blocks on wooden sleds up the side of the pyramids? • Lubricated with water to reduce friction • 10 men were needed to drag a stone • Several ramps on each side of the pyramid at different levels • May have been coiled

25. Other Pyramid-Construction Theories… • Wooden Crane Theory • Egyptians did not have access to trees that were strong enough for this. • 2.5 ton blocks • Pulley And Fulcrum Theory • Pulleys were used on ships at the time.

26. Funerary Complex Processional Causeway Funerary Temple Solar Barques Mastabas

27. Government

28. Government and religion were inseparable. • The Pharaoh was the head of State and the divine representative of the gods on earth. • Religion and government brought order to society through: • Temple construction • Laws • Taxation • Labor organization • Trade • Defense of interests

29. It gained stability through the co-operation of all levels of the population. • The PHAROAH was at the top of the social hierarchy. • Next to him, the most powerful officers were the VIZIERS, the executive heads of the bureaucracy. • Under them were the HIGH PRIESTS, followed by ROYAL OVERSEERS (administrators) who ensured that the 42 DISTRICT GOVERNORS carried out the pharaoh's orders. • At the bottom of the hierarchy were the SCRIBES, ARTISANS, FARMERS, and LABORERS.

30. Pharaohs often showed themselves as warriors who single-handedly killed scores of enemies and slaughtered a whole pride of lions.

31. Not all men • Women also gained the throne, most important being Queen Hatshepsut.

32. Royal women got status from relationship with king. • Kings had many wives. (Rameses IIhad eight wives and over a hundred children.) • Married within family

33. Vizier • Prince or person of exceptional ability • "superintendent of all works of the king“ • Supreme Judge of the State • All commands passed through his hands first.

34. Writing

35. Hieroglyphics is one of the earliest languages to be written down • First on stone and pottery dating from 3100 B.C. to 3000 B.C. • Remained in use for almost 3,000 years

36. Hieroglyph literally means "sacred carvings”

37. Scribes went through a long apprenticeship before they mastered the skill of writing. • The ability to write guaranteed a possibility of career advancement.

38. Be a scribe. It will save you from toil and protect you from every kind of work. It will spare you from bearing hoe and mattock, so that you will not have to carry a basket. It will keep you from plying the oar and spare you all manner of hardships. -- Excerpt from a text used in the New Kingdom for the instruction of scribes.

39. First Form Of Paper • Papyrus stem interior was cut into thin strips. • Soaked in water and beaten to break down and flatten • Layered crosswise and lengthwise to produce a sheet, which was beaten again to mesh the strips together • Dried with weight presses Papyrus Plant Papyrus Sheet

40. Book Of The Dead • 190 chapters of spells to assist the deceased on their journey • Placed near dead • Later, the spells were written on strips of linen that were wrapped around the mummies.

41. Religion

42. Concept of God did not exist • Concerned about natural phenomena and how they were controlled • This stage of religious development is referred to as magical. Before the concept of God existed, magical power was symbolized in the hieroglyph of a scepter.

43. People gradually gained personal identity. • Began to conceive the gods in a personalized form • This stage in development is called mythical. • When writing was being invented and myths were being formulated • Theocracy- kings as representations of gods

44. Horus Isis Osiris • Every town had its own deity represented by an animal. • Given human bodies with human attributes • Temples to venerate local gods

45. Changed to a national religion with a smaller number of principal deities • Moving towards a monotheistic faith symbolized by the Sun God (Ra)? • Common understanding about the creation of the world and the possibility of reverting to chaos (Nu) with destructive forces

46. Priests • Clothed, fed, and put to bed images that represented gods at temples • Ceremonies to nourish the Ka (spirit) of a deceased pharaoh in mortuary temples • Shaved their heads and body hairand washed twice daily for purification • Wore gowns or kilts of pure white linen

50. Believed in an everlasting life and resurrection of the body EXAMPLES: The sun fell into the western horizon each evening and was reborn the next morning in the east. New life sprouted from grains planted in the earth, and the moon waxed and waned. As long as order was maintained, everything was highly dependable and life after death could be achieved. But there were certain conditions. For example, the body had to be preserved through MUMMIFICATION and given a properly furnished tomb with everything needed for life in the afterworld.