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?