The River Valley Civilizations

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The River Valley Civilizations
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We will examine 4 categories of the River Valley
Civilizations

• Geographical
• Political
• Social
• Economical
• Each of the characteristics of civilizations will
  fit under one or more of those categories (youll
  learn more about that later.)

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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?

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4 Early River Valley Civilizations
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• We will look at the Mesopotamia River Valley
  Civilization.

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• The Fertile Crescent was located in what modern
  day countries?

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The Worlds First Civilization developed
(approximately 3500 B.C.) in a region called
Mesopotamia.
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Geographical Information
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Label your map
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• Civilization developed between the Tigris and
  Euphrates rivers in present day Iraq and Kuwait
• Mesopotamia means Land between the rivers

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Tigris River
Current times
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Euphrates River current times
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• Because Mesopotamia had no natural barriers, it
  attracted many raiders and conquerors.
• Civilizations came and went amid much warfare.

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Summarize the geography of Mesopotamia.

• What was the water source?
• Describe these 2 rivers.
• Was the area mountainous?
• In what ways, was this an unsafe and unstable
  place to live?

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Empires that came to power in theMesopotamia
region
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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.
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Mesopotamia

• Sumer
• Akkadians
• Babylonians
• Assyrians
• Chaldeans
• Phoenicians
• Israelites
• Persians

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The cradle of Civilization Sumer
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Sumer
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Political

• City-state
• Priest controlled government in times of peace
• Warrior king controlled government in times of
  war.

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Economical

• Made their living mostly by trade with other
  civilizations (moved goods up and down the river)
• Farmed
• Raised animals for food

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Social

• Religion
• Polytheistic
• Ziggurats
• Believed the gods were mean and cruel because of
  the unpredictable, violent flooding of the rivers

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Religious practice in Sumer

• Polytheistic

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Ziggurat
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Ziggurat
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Cuneiform
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• Ivory and gold harp found in UR

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Sumerian Characteristics and contributions

• Invented the arch
• the dome
• the wagon wheel
• cuneiform
• invented a number system based on 60

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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?

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• Akkadians

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Akkadians

• Conquered the Sumerians
• Ruled by Sargon who is credited with ruling the
  first real empire
• Conquered by the Babylonians

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Babylonians

• Hammurabis Code of Law

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Hammurabis Code

• Historys first known written laws
• 300 laws
• An eye for an eye
• Punishments varied according to social status.

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Examples of Hammurabis 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 its owner, then
  that builder shall be put to death.

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• If a son strikes his father, they shall cut off
  his hand

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• 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.

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• 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.

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Political Impact of Hammurabis 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.

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• 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.

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Legal Impact of Hammurabis 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.

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Babylonians were conquered by the Hittites.

• Hittites were the first to use Iron Weapons
• Hittites were conquered by the Assyrians

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Assyrians

• Extremely well organized military and government
• Cruel Warriors
• Blood thirsty
• Conquered by the Chaldeans (with help from the
  Medes and Persians)

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Battering Ram
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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)

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Chaldeans

• Famous for the Hanging Gardens
• Most famous King was Nebuchadnezzar
• Studied astronomy
• Conquered by the Persians

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Did you notice the ziggurat, huh? Huh? Did you?
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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

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Trading took the Phoenicians as far as Britain
and Africas west coast.
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• The Phoenicians needed a way of recording
  transactions clearly and quickly.
• So they developed a writing system that used
  symbols to represent sounds.

Im hooked on Phonics!
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• 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
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Purple was made from snails(Took 60,000 snails
to produce one pound of dye)
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Contributions of the Phoenicians

• They disperse ideas as well as goods, including
  their written language
• (cultural diffusion)

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Hebrews

• Abraham
• Moses
• Saul
• David
• Solomon

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Abraham and his clan lived in UR, probably around
the time of Hammurabi
Abraham leads his clan of bedouin sheep-herders
out from Ur
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Abraham and his clan, travel into different
kingdoms where some of his relatives live
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But eventually, he, his wife Sarah, and their
clan settle in Palestine
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Abraham has 2 sons

• Ishmael is the firstborn son of Sarahs maid
• Ishmael is eventually abandoned in the
  wilderness, along with his mother

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Abrahams 2nd son was Isaac

• Isaac had 2 sons Jacob (Later named Israel)
  and Esau
• Jacob had 12 sons (and four wives)

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These 12 sons (and their families) later migrated
to Egypt, probably due to famine.
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Eventually, their descendants were enslaved by
the Egyptians (and remained slaves for over 400
years)
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Moses
Hebrew who was raised as an Egyptian Set about to
free the Hebrews from Egyptian captivity
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• 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.

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After slaying a Philistine with a slingshot,
David, a shepherd boy, later becomes Israels
2nd, and most beloved King
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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)

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• After the death of Solomon, the kingdom was split
  into 2 independent and individual kingdoms
• North Israel or Samaria
• South Judea or Judah

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• Eventually, both kingdoms were overrun by other
  groups (Assyrians, Chaldeans, Babylonians, then
  Persians)

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Hebrew Legacy

• Ethical monotheism
• 10 commandments
• Torah

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Hebrew Legacy

• Promised Land which they still claim to be
  theirs continues to influence the Middle East
• Messiah, who they say will come eventually and
  deliver them from their enemies (like King
  David)

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Hebrews which characteristics were covered here?

• Government?
• Religion?
• Form of writing?
• Arts/architecture?
• Advanced technical skills?
• Social classes?

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Persians

• Originally located in present-day Iran
• Largest empire until Alexander The Great

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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

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• Persian empire ended when it was overrun by
  Alexander the Great in 331 B.C.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Questions

• In what ways did the geography influence the
  development of the Mesopotamia civilizations?
• What ways did it influence their religions?
• In what way did it influence their government?
• In what way did it influence written language?