1. City states in mesopotamia

2. Geography of the fertile crescent
Southwest Asia
Desert climate; between the Persian gulf and Mediterranean sea
Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow toward Persian gulf
Plain in between them known as Mesopotamia “land between rivers”
Scholars call it fertile crescent
Silt left behind after flood (thick bed of mud; good soil for farming)

4. Environmental challenges and solutions
Three disadvantages for the fertile crescent:
Flooding was unpredictable
Open plain left them exposed to enemies
Limited resources (stone, wood, and metal)
Solutions
Irrigation (ditches that carried water to their fields)
City walls for defense (mud bricks)
Trade for resources

5. Sumerians create city states
City state – like an independent country,
By 3000 B.C.E, Sumerians built several city-states (Uruk, Kish, Lagash, Umma and Ur)
Ziggurat (temple) at each city-states center; priests asked for well being from gods
Polytheistic beliefs (many gods)

6. Ziggurats were built by the Sumerians, Babylonians, Akkadians, and Assyrians for local religions. Each ziggurat was part of a temple complex which included other buildings.

7. Political Roles (State Building)
Earliest Sumerian government was controlled by priests
Military leaders at times became monarchs witch became dynasties
Several city states came under the rule of dynasties
Trade with the surrounding regions allowed cultural diffusion to take place (spreading one culture to another)
Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the earliest works of literature in the world. A legendary king Gilgamesh had unsuccessful quest for immortality (common in ancient literature)

8. Sumerian Culture
Social classes emerged in Sumerian society -Priests and kings at the top -Wealthy merchants -Majority of Sumerians in fields and workshops -slaves (could earn freedom by working hard) Gender Roles -Sumerian women could pursue most city jobs; own property; become priestess

9. Sumerian Culture Continued…
Sumerians developed first writing system – Cuneiform
Little mention about female scribes (writers), suggests they couldn’t go to school, read or write.
Still, women had more rights than in other civilizations

10. First Empire Builders
From 3000 to 2000 B.C.E, Sumerian city-states at frequent war with each other
The Akkadians, under Sargon, took advantage of this and invaded Sumer
The Akkadians kept many aspects of Sumerian culture and helped spread it within the region
Sargon eventually created an empire (uniting several nations or previously independent states under one ruler)
After 200 years, the Amorites invade and establish their capital at Babylon.
King Hammurabi established his code of laws (232 specific laws; principle of retaliation; eye for an eye) p. 32

11. Quick Review Fertile crescent Silt Irrigation City-state Dynasty
Cultural diffusion
Polytheism
Empire
Hammurabi

12. Pyramids on the Nile

13. Geography of Egypt
For a long time, Egyptians lived isolated in the lower part of the Nile
Egyptians worshipped the Nile as a God due to its yearly flooding
Cataracts (rapids) did not allow boats to pass into the southern region of Egypt
But, prevailing winds allowed travel between upper and lower Egypt
Still, deserts on both sides acted as natural barriers

14. Egypt Unites into a kingdom
Menes – united all of Egypt
Egyptian kings were gods, came to be called pharaohs
Pharaohs ruled both religion and government (Theocracy)
Egyptians believed he bore the responsibility for the kingdoms prosperity

15. Religion and Culture
Egyptians believed in an afterlife, also that they would be judged for their deeds when they died.
All classes planned for their burials,
Kings and queens built massive tombs, such as the pyramids
Egyptians preserved a dead person’s body by mummification (embalming and drying corpse to prevent from decaying)
Items were placed in tombs… p 37
Writing system known as hieroglyphics “sacred carving”, written on Papyrus

16. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus
The Edwin Smith Papyrus, the world's oldest surviving surgical text, was written in Egyptian hieratic script around the 17th century BCE, but probably based on material from a thousand years earlier. The papyrus is a textbook on trauma surgery, and describes anatomical observations and the examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of numerous injuries in exquisite detail.

17. Planned Cities on the Indus River
The First Indian civilization built well planned cities on the banks of the Indus River

18. Geography of South Asia
Wall of mountains separates South Asia from rest of Eurasia
Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and Himalayas
Geographers refer to the region as the Indian Subcontinent
Mountains rest along the Indus and Ganges rivers
Floods along the Indus were unpredictable, river changed course at times
People of Indus valley had to deal with wet and dry seasons brought upon by monsoons (seasonal winds)

19. Civilization on the Indus
Historians have not deciphered the Indus system of writing
Most evidence comes from artifacts, and digs
Many scholars believe settlement began through migration by sea from Africa into southern India, and northern migration through Khyber Pass
Around 2500 B.C.E, settlements arose. The largest cities were Kalibangan, Mohenjo-Daro, and Harappa
Indus referred to as Harappan civilization due to many discoveries there
City planning (grid system) and plumbing, p. 43 ; citadels (fortified areas)
Buildings made of oven-baked bricks cut in standard sizes

20. Culture and Trade Uniform housing (social divisions not great)
Clay and wooden toys suggest prosperous society (nonessential goods)
Few weapons found, (limited warfare?)
Artifacts show links to modern Hindu culture (early rep of Shiva, major Indian God), fertility images, and the worship of cattle
Stamps and seals made of carved stone (long distance trade; some seals found in Sumer and vice versa)

21. Mysterious End to Indus Valley Culture
Around 1750 B.C.E, quality of buildings declined
Historians debate why the civilization declined
no more fertile lands as river changed course
Overgrazing
Natural disaster or attack from enemies

22. River Dynasties in China
Early rulers introduced idea about government and society that shaped Chinese civilization

23. Geography of China
Chinas first civilization arose along the Huang He, “yellow river”
The river deposited huge amounts of dusty yellowish silt (loess, or fertile soil)
Floods could help or hurt early farmers
Chinas geographic isolation made farmers supply their own goods rather than rely on trade
Still not completely isolated; invasions from the west and south occurred repeatedly

24. Civilization in Shang Times
Shang Dynasty, 1532 to 1027 B.C.E, first family of Chinese rulers to leave written records
Kings built elaborate palaces and tombs
Most important city was Anyang (capital of Shang Dynasty)
Elites lived in wood framed houses, clay and straw walls
Peasants lived in smaller houses

25. Chinese Culture Respect for ones parents most important Patriarchy
Women treated as inferior (obey father, husband and later their sons)
Bearing sons improved women's status
Chinese believed spirits of ancestors could bring good fortune or disaster to families
Every family paid respect to the father’s ancestors and made sacrifices in their honor

26. Zhou Bring New Idea
1027 B.C.E, Zhou overthrew the Shang and established their dynasty
Much of the culture remained with a few changes
Mandate of Heaven – justified the overthrow of the shang (and later dynasties), bad rulers lost divine approval p. 50
Dynastic cycle describes the pattern of the rise, decline and fall of dynasties
Zhou introduced Feudalism to control their lands (political system which lords or nobles are given land that belong to the king in return for loyalty and / or military service (much like Japan and Europe)

27. Decline of the Zhou
Gradually, lords grew stronger and towns grew into cities
Local lords became less dependent on the Zhou ruler
Local lords began to fight with one another for more territory
The later years of Zhou rule are called “warring states era”
It would take a new dynasty, the Qin dynasty, 3rd century B.C.E, to restore stability to china