Chapter 2 Early Civilizations

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Chapter 2 Early Civilizations
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• Lesson 1 The Fertile Crescent
• Where Civilization Began
• A. Civilization
• 1. Groups of People living together that form
  a complex society
• 2. Civilizations have customs, food supply,
  social division, government, religion
  and technology
• 3. Civilizations began in about 3,500 BC in
  the Fertile Crescent
• B. The Fertile Crescent
• 1. An area of land in the south western part
  of Asia along the Tigris and Euphrates
  River, from the Mediterranean Sea to the
  Persian Gulf
• 2. Fertile- means rich soil good for farming
• 3. The west was wooded forest filled with
  deer, sheep and goats
• 4. In the center between the Tigris and
  Euphrates was a great plain of grasslands
  with pigs, oxen and lions
• C. Mesopotamia
• 1. The area of land between the Tigris and
  Euphrates River
• 2. Mesopotamia means Land between Rivers
• 3. Mesopotamia was on of the first
  Civilizations in the world

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• Climate and Rivers
• A. Climate
• 1. The Climate of this area is not very good
  for farming. It is very dry from May to
  October sometimes reaching 120 F
• 2. In November to April it sometimes rains so
  much it floods the plain between the two
  rivers
• 3. There is usually not enough rain for crops
  to grow.
• B. The Rivers
• 1. Farmers move south in search of better
  farmland in about 5000 BC
• 2. They moved from the plateau to the plains
  between the Tigris and Euphrates
• 3. Plateau an area of high flat land
• 4. The rivers provided farmers with a
  constant source of water for crops
• 5. The soil was rich from the constant
  flooding of the rivers
• 6. Farmers used irrigation from the river to
  water their crops
• C. Irrigation
• 1. Building of trenches and ditches to control
  the amount of water crops receive

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• The People
• A. Problem Solvers
• 1. Built Irrigation systems to farm
• 2. Made buildings from reeds near the river
• 3. Later began making mud bricks to form
  homes, temples and other buildings
• B. Work
• 1. Most people worked as farmers or hearders
• a. Crops Barley, Millet,wheat dates,
  lentils, onions,
  lettuce, apples, cucumbers, garlic, and
  turnips
• b. Animals sheep, goats, and cattle
• C. Technology
• 1. Over time they impoved farming tools and
  farming techniques
• 2. Soon these people had surplus crops they
  could move up and down the rivers

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• Growth of City-States and Trade
• A. City States
• 1. A city state is a city that is an
  individual unit. It has its own
  government and traditions
• 2. City-States includeUruk, Kish, Lagash,
  Mippur, Umma and Ur.
• 3. These city-states were in the Region of
  Mesopotamia
• 4. Region- Area on earth with common physical
  features
• B. Surplus food led to population growth
• 1. New settlers moved into this area
• 2. Surplus food led to specialization
• a. Some people stopped farming and took on
  other jobs
• b. Jobs like soldiers, government,
  religious leaders
• 3. Artisans-crafts people with special skills
  like potters and weavers
• 4. Artisans were paid for their skills in
  food
• C. Traders
• 1. Some people began to trade goods
• 2. Traders would leave with food and cloth
  and travel by donkey or reed boat to trade
  for copper wood and stone
• 3. Later they built large wooden boats to
  travel farther to trade this spread
  Mesopotamian culture to other parts of the
  world

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Lesson 2 Mesopotamia

• Sumer an Akkad
• A. How they were alike
• 1. Both practiced similar farming and
  business practices
• 2. Both were city-states
• 3. Both had large markets for people to trade
  goods
• B. Differences
• 1. Spoke different languages
• 2. Fought over control of land and water
• C. Uruk
• 1. A Large Sumerian city-state of about
  50,000 people
• 2. Was surrounded by field of grains
• 3. Was protected by a large brick wall
• 4. People lived in mud brick houses
• D. Ziggurat
• 1. A temple to honor gods
• 2. Made of rectangular platforms stacked an
  top of each other
• 3. Highest building in the city some were 290
  feet high

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• Religion and Government
• A. Religion was very important in Sumer and
  Akkad
• 1. Temples were very large and magnificent
• 2. Temples were homes to the gods
• 3. Polytheism- the worship of many gods
• B. Society
• 1. an organized community with established
  rules and traditions
• C. Gods
• 1. Believed the gods were responsible for the
  well being of the people and making the
  land fertile
• 2. Anu- god of heavens
• Enlil-god of wind
• Enki- god of water
• Ninhursag- mother of the gods
• 3. People believe if they had good crops and
  did well the gods were happy
• 4. People and priest made offerings to the
  gods like food, drink, incense

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• D. Government
• 1. Closely linked to religion
• 2. Believed kings were chosen by gods to carry
  out gods wishes
• 3. Divine Kingship The right to rule was god
  given and could be passed down from father
  to son
• 4. Divine kingship had a huge impact on later
  civilizations
• E. The Class system- way of breaking society
  into social groups by importance to the society
• 1. King
• 2. Wealthy business men
• 3. landowners
• 4. artisans (craftsmen) and farm workers
• 5. slaves

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• Writing
• A. Writing system created
• 1. System was created to keep track of
  business dealings for trading
• 2. It started as a simple picture that stood
  for objects
• B. Scribe
• 1. person who was a professional writer
• 2. used a sharpen reed to scratch into wet
  clay tablets
• 3. the clay tablet would dry to form a
  permanent record
• 4. Cuneiform- Sumerian system of writing
  using pictures in clay tablets
• C. Why Cuneiform was so important
• 1. First written language
• 2. Could settle disputes between people
• 3. Was copied by many other cities in the
  area
• 4. Many tablets have been translated by
  archeologists
• 5. Found literature of Gilgamesh adventures
  as king

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• Rise and Fall of Akkadian Empire
• A. Sargon
• 1. King of Akkadian
• 2. Sargon attacked and conquered many
  city-states in Mesopotamia. He united them
  under him as one kingdom or empire
• 3. Conquer- defeat in battle
• 4. Empire- a large territory consisting of
  many different places under the control of
  one ruler
• B. Enheduanna
• 1. Sargons daughter he named as high
  priestes of Ur.
• 2. She made offerings to the gods
• 3. Following rulers named their daughters to
  high priestess
• C. Dynasty
• 1. Ruling family of an empire
• 2. Sargon past his kingship to his son
• 3. Akkadia remained in power for about 150
  years
• 4. Akkadia was constantly threatened by
  revolts

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• Sumers Final Days
• A. Ur Controlled summer for about 100 years
• 1. Ur Nammu was king
• 2. His son Shulgi took over when he died
• B. Sumer did well
• 1. Farming, business, and the arts flourished
  
• 2. Large structures were built. The largest
  ziggurat was built at this time
• C. Ur was conquered by invaders from the
  northeast.
• 1. Sumerian civilizations decline
• 2. Sumerians contributions helped other
  civilizations
• a. Cuneiform
• b. Ziggurats
• c. The wheel

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Lesson 3Babylon and Assyria

• The Rise of Hammurabi and Babylonia
• A. Babylon
• 1. Large city-state in Mesopotamian
  region that served as the capitol city of the
  Babylonian Empire
• B. Hammurabi
• 1. Ruler of the Babylonian empire
• 2. Hammurabi collected taxes and
  built huge building in Babylon 3. Created
  Hammurabis Code of laws
• 4. Brilliant military commander who
  conquered much of Mesopotamia

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• Babylonian Civilization
• A. Daily Life
• 1. Continued to Farm using irrigation to
  water crops
• 2. Continued to practice the similar
  religions that were in this area
• 3. Developed a very strict class system
• 4. Babylon grew into a cultural center with
  may advancements in mathematics,
  literature and law.
• B. Hammurabis Code of Laws
• 1. 282 Laws dealt with business, property,
  medical practice and marriage
• 2. Not the 1st written law code, but the
  oldest complete law code that has been
  found
• 3. The law code gives us an understanding of
  Babylonian history
• 4. Punishments were harsh eye for an eye
• 5. Laws were also established to protect the
  weak

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• The Assyrians
• A. Assyria
• 1. City-State in Northern Mesopotamia
• 2. Great fighter- place a high importance on
  war and conquest
• 3. Conquest- defeat of another group of
  people
• 4. Wheeled battering ram destroyed city
  walls and troops would swarm the cities
• B. Ashurbanipal
• 1. King of Assyria
• 2. Led his army into battle
• 3. Very educated man
• 4. Built a great library in Nineveh where he
  collected many works from other
  Mesopotamian civilizations.
• 5. Historians have learned much about the
  Mesopotamian people from this library

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• Babylon Grows
• A. Nebuchadnezzar II
• 1. Became King of Babylon
• 2. Built massive buildings tower of Babylon,
  Hanging Gardens
• 3. Babylon grew into a trading center once
  again
• 4. Advancements in Math (place value of
  numbers)
• 5. Advancements in Science Study of
  planets and the sun
• B. Nebuchadnezzar II dies
• 1. Babylon declines quickly
• 2. 539 BC Persians invade and conquer
  Babylon

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Lesson 4Hebrews, Phoenicians and Lydians

• Hebrews
• A. Abraham
• 1. Shepherd who lived in Ur.
• 2. Considered the first Jew
• 3. God Spoke to Abraham and told him to move
  to the land of Canaan
• 4. Abraham promised to move to Canaan and to
  only worship one God. God agreed to care
  for Abraham and his people
• 5. The people who followed Abraham were
  called Hebrews
• 6. Abraham was the founder of Judaism
• B. Covenant
• 1. an agreement
• 2. The agreement between God and Abraham
• C. Monotheism
• 1. The worship of only one God
• 2. Judaism ( religion of the Hebrews) is the
  first Monotheist religion

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• D. Hebrews move to Egypt
• 1. Egyptians force the Hebrews into slavery
• 2. Slavery- Practice of one person owning
  another person
• 3. Moses- Person chosen by God to lead the
  Hebrews from slavery to freedom
• E. Hebrews leave Egypt
• 1. Moses given the Ten Commandments
• 2. Ten Commandments- list of rules for
  worshiping God and moral conduct
• 3. God made a covenant with Moses. Those people
  who left Egypt and their descendants would
  follow the commandments and God would care
  for them
• 4. Descendants- people who are born later in
  the same family

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• The Hebrew Bible
• A. Torah
• 1. First 5 books of the Hebrew Bible given to
  Moses from God
• 2. Torah means to teach
• 3. The Torah provide guidance and laws for
  the Jewish people
• B. Tradition
• 1. These books are very sacred to Jewish
  people
• 2. The rollers that hold the Torah are often
  decorated, but the scrolls are never
  decorated.
• 3. The Torah also recorded the early Hebrew
  History through Stories

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• Israel and Judah
• A. Deborah
• 1. A woman Hebrew Judge
• 2. Judges provided guidance in times of
  trouble
• 3. Women were not usually given these roles
• 4. Deborah encouraged the King of the Israel
  to attack the Canaanites
• B. War with the Canaanites
• 1. King of Canaanites was treating the Hebrew
  harshly
• 2. The Hebrews attacked and won the battle
• 3. The Canaanite King escaped and was killed
  by a Hebrew woman just as Deborah
  predicted
• C. David as King
• 1. David united the twelve tribes and found
  the new kindom of Israel
• 2. Under David and his son Solomon Israel
  prospered and did well.
• 3. Solomon built a large temple in Jerusalem
  to worship God and house the Torah
• 4. After Solomon's death Israel was attacked
  by the Assyrians and late by
  Nebuchadnezzar II and many of the
  Israelites were brought to Babylon as slaves
• 5. Many Israelites continued to practice
  their religion and returned to Jerusalem

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• Judaism Today
• A. Jewish Practices
• 1. Still read the Torah
• 2. Worship in Synagogues
• 3. Synagogues- Jewish house of worship
• 4. Still Celebrate Jewish feasts such as
  Passover
• 5. Rabbis teach Jews how to read the Torah
• 6. Rabbi in Hebrew means teacher
• Phoenicians and Lydians
• A. Phoenicians
• 1. Traders who traded goods throughout the
  Mediterranean area
• 2. Phoenicians live on the east side of the
  Mediterranean.
• 3. Most important trading city was Carthage
  in Africa
• 4. Their trading passed ideas through this
  entire region of the world
• B. Alphabet
• 1. The most important contribution was the
  modern alphabet
• 2. Cuneiform was too complex 700 characters
• 3. Phoenician Alphabet was much simpler 22
  characters
• 4. Later Greeks added vowels