Overview and Discussion

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Unit 1

• Overview and Discussion

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The Calendar Time

• B.C. before Christ B.C.E.before the common
  era
• A.D. anno domini C.E-common era

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Time Line

• 2000 B.C.E.
• 1000 B.C.E.
• 500 B.C.E
• 0
• 500 C.E.
• 1000 C.E.
• 2000 C.E.

• If something occurred in 2000 BCE, it took place
  4012 years ago.

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Neolithic revolution

• Agricultural societies emerge
• Led to economic, social, and political
  organization
• Rose independently throughout the world
• What was the effect of the revolution?
• Permanent settlement was formed to ensure
  dependable food supply
• Population boom

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What is a civilization

• Society with high levels of culture and social
  organization
• Formal states, writing, cities, trade, etc
• Where did the first civilization emerge?
• Began in the Middle East 10,000 BCE
• Along river valleys (3500 BCE)
• What contributes to the development of
  civilization?
• Specialization of labor (steady supply of food
  allows other people to build, invent, create
  tools, art, govt. etc

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Birth of Civilization

• Prehistoric People
• http//www.becominghuman.org/

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Evolutions Theory
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Controversy

• Evolution Vs Creation
• Charles Darwins Theory of evolution creates
  controversy! Why?
• Challenged human origin
• Many considered this to be offensive, atheistic,
  blasphemous

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Ancient CivilizationsThe Fertile Crescent
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MAPS
http//www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/maptext_n2/s
tart1.html
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Fertile Crescent

• Fertile Crescent
• - Crossroads to the world?
• Also known as Mesopotamia
• Trade brought cultural diffusion

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Mesopotamia

• Climate
• Unpredictable flooding
• No geographical
• barriers

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SOCIAL STRUCTURE

• There were three distinct classes
• the large landholders, royalty, priests, and
  merchants
• dependent farmers (most people) and artisans and
  workmen
• Slaves was not economically crucial
• not an inherited condition
• Men held authority over women and children
• Women had legal rights some engaged in trade and
  owned property.

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Economy

• Barter Economy
• - Example?
• Ziggurat
• Each had its own ziggurat? Very Important
• - Its purpose?
• Resting place of the gods

Ziggurat
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Religion

• Believed gods controlled every aspect of life.
• Anthropomorphic - gods possess same
  characteristics as man
• Man at the mercy of the gods

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GOVERNMENT

• Made up of City-states with hereditary rulers.
• Supported by priesthood and military
• Ruler led army in war and enforced laws.

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Writing

• Cuneiform
• -Oldest in the World
• -Most important contribution

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The Code of Hammurabi

• first major collection of laws
• 282 laws
• Eye for an eye, life for life

Hammurabi Babylonian Leader 1792-1750 B.C.E
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Egypt The Gift of the Nile

• 4,160 miles longest river in the world
• Predictable flooding
• carried rich deposits of silt along with it.
• primary means of communication and
  transportation.

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Menes(C. 2925 BCE) The First Pharaoh

• Pharaoh was god on earth
• Menes reigned for 62 years and was killed by a
  hippopotamus

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Religion in the Lives of Ancient Egyptians

• Gods controlled nature, especially the weather
  and illness

Egyptian Priest
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Most Honored Egyptian Gods
Major Gods
-Amon-Re (ra) was the
sun god Most Powerful God!
-Osiris was
the god of the underworld and of the Nile.
-Isis was the most powerful mother goddess
worshiped all over Egypt
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Mummification

• Mummify to preserve a sound body for the Ka to
  return to
• 70 day process
• Improper embalming leads to second true death

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Mummification
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A Fateful Test

• The heart of the dead was weighed against a
  feather if the heart weighted less he was allowed
  to go on
• Those who were viewed as sinners were fed to the
  crocodile-shaped eater of the dead
• those who were viewed as worthy entered the happy
  field of food.

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3 Kingdoms of Egypt

• Old Kingdom (2700 BCE -2200 BCE)
• Pharaohs organized a strong central state
• Policy of isolation
• Pyramid Age
• Middle Kingdom (2050 BCE 1800 BCE)
• Corruption and rebellion were common
• Hyksos invaded and occupied the delta region
  (1648 -1540 BCE)
• New Kingdom (1550 BCE 1100 BCE)
• The empire will extend to its greatest size
  (Syria and Nubia
• Nubian Kingdom Meroe took control of Egypt as the
  twenty-fifth dynasty (712-660 BCE)
• Driven out of Egypt by the Assyrians
• 332 BCE Alexander of Macedon conquered Egypt
• Ptolemaic Egypt
• Ended in 51 BCE when the Romans conquered them

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Great Leaders of the New Kingdom

• Ramses II most effective leader. (1279 BCE
  1213 BCE)
• ---What is he famous for?
• Pharaoh of the Exodus?
• The most powerful pharaoh, Ramses II expanded
  Egypt to the height of its power
• Palestine to Syria

Ramses II
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The Early History of the Jews
Also known as the Israelites and Hebrews Their
history effects relations in the Middle East
today!
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Genealogy
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Judaism

• The Israelites were monotheistic, believing in
  one true God.
• The Israelites believed that they were Gods
  chosen people.

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Teachings on Law and Morality

• The laws of the Torah address all aspects of
  life, from cleanliness and food preparation to
  criminal matters.

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Judaism
Abraham Isaac
Moses the 10 Commandments
Torah
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Indus Valley Civilization33001300 BCE

• The earliest Indian civilization flourished for
  about 1,000 years, then vanished without a trace.

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Indus Valley Civilization

• Well-organized government
• Carefully planned cities
• Modern plumbing and sewer system

Public Bath at Harappa
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Indus Valley Writing
Whose writing does the Indus peoples look the
most like? How could that be?
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Decline and Disappearance Indus Valley
Civilization

• No one knows for certain why the cities were
  abandoned or forgotten.
• Scholars have proposed a number of theories
• Natural disasters
• A devastating earthquake destroyed the region.
• A volcanic eruption caused the Indus to flood the
  city.
• Aryan invaders overran the region.
• The Indus valley climate grew significantly
  cooler and drier from about 1800 BCE. A crucial
  factor may have been the disappearance of
  substantial portions of the Ghaggar Hakra river
  system