The Indo-Europeans

1
The Indo-Europeans
2
Indo-Europeans Migrate

• The Indo-Europeans were a nomadic group coming
  from the steppes north of the Caucasus Mountains,
  between the Black and Caspian Seas. They were
  pastoral livestock herders.
• No one is completely sure why the migration
  happened, but the Indo-Europeans migrated outward
  in all directions between 1700-1200 BC.

3
The Hittites

• By 2000 BC, and Indo-European group called the
  Hittites occupied Anatolia, or Asia Minor. This
  empire also occupied Babylon, and struggled with
  Egypt for control of Northern Syria. Neither
  group won, so they signed a peace treaty offering
  to help fight off invaders.
• The Hittites used their own language with each
  other, but internationally they spoke Akkadian,
  taken from Babylon.
• Their superior weaponry skills and iron chariots
  to help conquer their empire.
• Despite their prowess, invaders attached and
  burned the Hittite capital around 1190 BC, ending
  the empire.

Hittite Red Egyptian Green
4
Aryans Transform India

• Around the same time that the Hittites were
  establishing themselves in Anatolia, the Aryans
  were migrating through the Indus River Pass into
  India.
• They left little archaeological evidence, but
  their scriptures, the Vedas, gives an idea of
  their life through prayers, spells, and
  instructions for performing rituals.

• The Aryans called the people they found in India
  the dasas, or dark, which referred to the color
  of their skin. The Aryians were taller, lighter
  in skin color, and spoke a different language
  from the people that they found.
• They did not have a writing system and were more
  pastoral than the dasas, who lived in walled
  cities.

5
A Caste System Develops

• Aryans were divided into three social classes
  Brahmins (priests), warriors, and farmers. They
  automatically considered the dasas beneath them,
  so they became the lower class, the sudras.
• Class restrictions were ridged practically
  permanent. You were part of it for life, and the
  work they did and people they married were
  determined by the caste. Cleanliness was
  important those considered unclean because of
  their profession (butchers, gravediggers, and
  collectors of refuse) were outside the caste
  system and became known as the untouchables.
  Their touch endangered the purity of everyone
  else.

6
Aryan Kingdoms Arise

• Over the next few centuries, Aryans extended
  their settlements east and south, Magadha, a
  major kingdom, emerged out of this expansion and
  struggle for power. It covered almost all of the
  Indian subcontinent.
• The great epic Mahabharata shows a blending of
  cultures as the Aryans moved southward. For
  example, Krishna, a semi-divine hero of the epic,
  is described as dark-faced. This suggests he is
  not Aryan.
• The Mahabharatas violence and confusion leads
  one to speculate about the place of gods and
  humans in the world. Due to this, religion
  gradually changed