Early Civilizations

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Early Civilizations

• Day 32 Semester 1

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Bellwork

• The elephant has held an important position in
  Indian tradition for thousands of years.
  According to Indian belief, the wife of the great
  god Shiva produced a son from her own sweat and
  named him Ganesha. Ganesha was to guard his
  mothers door. When he denied entrance to Shiva,
  the god had Ganeshas head cut off. His mother
  searched around for a suitable replacement and
  found a baby elephants head. Ganesha, the
  elephant-headed god, is considered a remover of
  obstacles and a bringer of good fortune. Many
  homes and businesses in India have a statue of
  Ganesha.
• In one clear paragraph, explain the difference
  between Hinduism, Indias oldest religion, and
  Buddhism, a religion founded in the sixth century
  BC.

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Ancient Civilizations Chart
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Mesopotamia

• Cities
• Cities had central temples called ziggurats
• Ur in Sumer Babylon Akkad Kish Umma Lagash
  Uruk Adage Akkad
• Specialized Workers
• Priests, warriors, scribes, artisans and farmers
• Writing
• Cuneiform (worlds 1st writing system)
• Technology and Tools
• Wheel, sail, plow, made bronze, irrigation
• Religion
• polytheistic
• Government
• Priest and kings ran cities (city-states)
• Had written law codes (Hammurabi)
• United city-states into empires
• Geography
• Located in the Fertile Crescent
• Between the Tigris and Euphrates Rives
• No natural barriers

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Egypt

• Cities
• Had power over the surrounding lands
• Thebes Memphis
• Specialized Workers
• Rulers (pharaohs) officials, priests, wealthy
  landowners and slaves
• Writing
• Hieroglyphics writing had symbol that stood for
  ideas and sounds
• Technology and Tools
• Engineering, astronomy, geometry, medicine,
  calendar, written numbers
• Religion
• Polytheistic pyramids temples after-life
• Government
• Theocracy
• Ruled by pharaoh
• Geography
• Nile River
• Bordered by Mediterranean and Red Seas
• natural barriers deserts
• In Northeast Africa

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India

• Cities
• Planned and neatly laid out streets and fortified
  areas (city walls)
• Mohenjo-Daro Harappa Kalibangan
• Fortified area called citadel, contained major
  buildings of the city
• Plumbing and sewage systems
• Specialized Workers
• Artisans, traders, engineers
• Writing
• Writing system not deciphered found on stamps and
  seals 400 symbols
• Technology and Tools
• Plumbing, sewage systems sophisticated buildings
• Religion
• A mother goddess
• Fertility images
• Worship of bull
• Hinduism
• Government
• Rulers organized the work of laying out cities
  planned cities
• Strong centralized government

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China

• Cities
• Had massive earthen walls for protection
• Anyang capital of Shang Dynasty built of wood
• Specialized Workers
• King Warriors defended land artisans priests
• Writing
• Unified peoples with different languages
  characters stood for ideas
• Technology and Tools
• Refined bronze casting technology silk cloth
  production cast iron coined money
• Religion
• Closely link to family (filial piety) oracle
  bones ancestors
• Government
• Mandate of Heaven
• Theocracy
• Feudalism/aristocracy owned lands
• Organized workers to build canals and city walls
• Geography
• Yangtze River and Huang He River loess
• North China Plain Heartland

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• Test Review 3