Post on 13-Jan-2016
The River Valley Civilizations
We will examine 4 categories of the River Valley Civilizations:
1. Geographical
2. Political
3. Social
4. Economical
• Each of the characteristics of civilizations will fit under one or more of those categories (you’ll learn more about that later.)
Defining…..
• Geography: Where is it? Is the land mountainous? Desert? Oceanic?
• Political: Who controls what? What type of government is there? Anything to do with laws, government, rulers, or war.
• Social: Religious, intellectual, artistic, cultural
• Economic: What type of economy? How do people make a living?
4 Early River Valley Civilizations
We will look at the
Mesopotamia River Valley Civilization.
The Fertile Crescent was
located in what modern
day countries?
The World’s First Civilization developed
(approximately 3500 B.C.) in a region called
Mesopotamia.
Geographical Information
Label your map
• Civilization developed between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in present day Iraq and Kuwait
• Mesopotamia means “Land between the rivers”
Tigris River
Current times
Euphrates River – current times
• Because Mesopotamia had no natural barriers, it attracted many raiders and conquerors.
Civilizations came and went amid much warfare.
Summarize the geography of Mesopotamia.
1. What was the water source?
2. Describe these 2 rivers.
3. Was the area mountainous?
4. In what ways, was this an unsafe and unstable place to live?
Empires that came to power in the
Mesopotamia region
Because there were so many different groups of people (conquerors) who lived in
Mesopotamia, we will look at only a few things about each one. But the things we look at, will be
one of the characteristics of civilization.
Mesopotamia• Sumer
• Akkadians
• Babylonians
• Assyrians
• Chaldeans
• Phoenicians
• Israelites
• Persians
The cradle of Civilization –
Sumer
Sumer
Political
• City-state
• Priest controlled government in times of peace
• Warrior – king controlled government in times of war.
Economical
• Made their living mostly by trade with other civilizations (moved goods up and down the river)
• Farmed
• Raised animals for food
Social• Religion
– Polytheistic
– Ziggurats
– Believed the gods were mean and cruel because of the unpredictable, violent flooding of the rivers
Religious practice in Sumer
• Polytheistic
Ziggurat
Ziggurat
Cuneiform
• Ivory and gold harp found in UR
Sumerian Characteristics and contributions
• Invented the arch
• the dome
• the wagon wheel
• cuneiform
• invented a number system based on 60
So… what characteristics of civilization did Sumer have?
• Written language?
• Religion or belief system?
• Social classes?
• Division of labor (or job specialization)?
• Form of government?
Akkadians
Akkadians• Conquered the
Sumerians• Ruled by Sargon
who is credited with ruling the first real empire
• Conquered by the Babylonians
Babylonians
• Hammurabi’s Code of Law
Hammurabi’s Code
• History’s first known written laws
• 300 laws
• An “eye for an eye”
• Punishments varied according to social status.
Examples of Hammurabi’s Code• If a builder builds a
house for some one, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls and kills it’s owner, then that builder shall be put to death.
• If a son strikes his father, they shall cut off his hand
• If the woman has not been careful but has gadded about, neglecting her house and belittling her husband, they shall throw that woman into the water.
• If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.
• If he breaks another man's bone, his bone shall be broken.
• If he puts out the eye of a freed man, or breaks the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina.
• If he puts out the eye of a man's slave, or break the bone of a man's slave, he shall pay one-half of its value.
Political Impact of Hammurabi’s Code
• First written code of laws, – It created a sense of
order– Established a coherent
“rule of law” which was independent of ethnic or tribal custom or even familial or monarchical whim.
• Until this law, what passed for “law” was simply custom or the wish of whoever was ruling at the time. The law could change from generation to generation – even minute to minute.
Legal Impact of Hammurabi’s code• For the first time, the
notion of a separate judiciary as part of the overall government– This is a modern
hallmark of modern democratic governments the world over.
Babylonians were conquered by the Hittites.
• Hittites were the first to use Iron Weapons
• Hittites were conquered by the Assyrians
Assyrians• Extremely well organized
military and government • “Cruel Warriors”• Blood thirsty• Conquered by the
Chaldeans (with help from the Medes and Persians)
Battering Ram
Assyrian Contributions• Established many permanent roads to
facilitate troop movement.
• Established the first postal system to facilitate communications.
• Hired many of its soldiers from foreign lands and paid them based on success (Mercenaries)
Chaldeans• Famous for the
Hanging Gardens
• Most famous King was Nebuchadnezzar
• Studied astronomy
• Conquered by the Persians
Did you notice the ziggurat, huh? Huh? Did you?
Phoenicians (coast of present-day Lebanon and Israel)
• Prominent traders
• Seafarers
• Developed an alphabet that was passed on to the Greeks
• Famous for “purple”
• Absorbed into other cultures
Trading took the Phoenicians as far as Britain and Africa’s west coast.
• The Phoenicians needed a way of recording transactions clearly and quickly.
• So they developed a writing system that used symbols to represent sounds.
I’m hooked on Phonics!
• As they traveled around the Mediterranean, the Phoenicians introduced their writing system to their trading partners.
• The Greeks adopted the alphabet although they changed the form of some of the letters.
Greece
Purple was made from snails(Took 60,000 snails to produce
one pound of dye)
Contributions of the Phoenicians
• They disperse ideas as well as goods, including their written language
• (cultural diffusion)
Hebrews• Abraham
• Moses
• Saul
• David
• Solomon
Abraham and his clan lived in UR, probably around the time of
Hammurabi
Abraham leads his clan of bedouin sheep-herders out from Ur
Abraham and his clan, travel into different kingdoms where some of
his relatives live
But eventually, he, his wife Sarah, and their clan settle in Palestine
Abraham has 2 sons• Ishmael is the
firstborn; son of Sarah’s maid
• Ishmael is eventually abandoned in the wilderness, along with his mother
Abraham’s 2nd son was Isaac • Isaac had 2 sons:
Jacob (Later named Israel) and Esau
• Jacob had 12 sons (and four wives)
These 12 sons (and their families) later migrated to Egypt, probably due to famine.
Eventually, their descendants were enslaved by the Egyptians (and remained slaves for over 400 years)
Moses
Hebrew who was raised as an Egyptian
Set about to free the Hebrews from Egyptian captivity
• After Moses’ death, Joshua leads the Israelites into Canaan, slaughtering everyone and everything in their path.
• After Joshua, Israel is ruled by judges, but eventually, Saul, is appointed king.
After slaying a Philistine with a
slingshot, David, a shepherd boy,
later becomes Israel’s 2nd, and
most beloved King
Solomon• Known for his wisdom
• He built a new palace out of Phoenician lumber
• Built a temple to house the ark of the covenant of which only one partial wall remains (The Wailing Wall)
• After the death of Solomon, the kingdom was split into 2 independent and individual kingdoms– North: Israel or Samaria– South: Judea or Judah
• Eventually, both kingdoms were overrun by other groups (Assyrians, Chaldeans, Babylonians, then Persians)
Hebrew Legacy
• Ethical monotheism
• 10 commandments
• Torah
Hebrew Legacy
• “Promised Land” which they still claim to be their’s continues to influence the Middle East
• Messiah, who they say will come eventually and deliver them from their enemies (“like King David”)
Hebrews – which characteristics were covered here?
• Government?
• Religion?
• Form of writing?
• Arts/architecture?
• Advanced technical skills?
• Social classes?
Persians• Originally
located in present-day Iran
• Largest empire until Alexander The Great
Persian government became a model for future governments
• Established a tax collection system
• Allowed locals to keep customs and religions
• built a system of roads that are still used today
• Established a postal system
• Persian empire ended when it was overrun by Alexander the Great in 331 B.C.
Overview of river valley civilizations
• The river valley civilizations develop from small farming villages.
• The civilizations create laws, centralized governments, writing systems, and advanced technologies.
• The process of trade spreads new ideas from one civilization to another.
Interaction with Environment• Seasonal flooding and a limited
growing area were challenges faced by early river valley civilizations.
• To deal with these problems, people created irrigation systems, which produced surplus food.
• Surpluses supported the rise of cities.
Power and Authority
• Projects such as irrigation systems required planning, leadership, and laws – the beginnings of organized government.
• In some societies, priests controlled the first governments.
• Over time, power and authority shifted to military leaders and kings.
Science and Technology• Early civilizations depended on breakthroughs
in science and technology, including bronze tools, the wheel, the sail, the plow, writing, and mathematics.
• These innovations spread from one civilization to the next through trade, wars, and the movement of peoples.
Questions
1. In what ways did the geography influence the development of the Mesopotamia civilizations?
2. What ways did it influence their religions?
3. In what way did it influence their government?
4. In what way did it influence written language?