1. Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Indus River Valley

2.  What do you think determines whether an area or group of people can be considered a civilization?

3.  Six Characteristics that determine a civilization  Cities  Government  Religion  Social Structure  Writing  Art

4.  Cities began to develop in and near river valleys  Able to carry on large-scale farming  Farming increased  More and more people would move into the cities near rivers and river valleys  New patterns of living emerged

7.  Development of cities led to the rise of governments  The governments grew due to these main reasons:  Growing population  Need to maintain the food supply  Need for defense  Governments were first led by monarchs  Kings or Queens who rule and organize armies and make laws

8.  Religion started to develop to explain things that could not be understood yet  Forces of nature  Roles that each person played in the world  The first civilizations were polytheistic  Belief in more than one deity  Priests became very important  Supervised rituals  Believed to have a special power  Some rulers or monarchs claimed to have divine power as well  Used to control their people and to earn trust

9.  Classes begin to develop based on the power held in the community  Upper Class  Rulers, Priests, Government Officials, Warriors  Free Class (Middle Class in our terms today)  Farmers, Artisans, Craftspeople  Lower Class  Slaves

11.  There was a trickle down effect that started with the first civilizations and is still seen today  Upper Class demanded luxury items  Free Class would make these items  Lower Class would work to obtain these items (very labor intensive)  Trade and technology began to grow because of this shift in Social Structure  Other cities would be in contact with one another and trade expanded  As trade expanded, the tools and farming techniques had to become far more advanced (increase in technology)

12.  Finally, the written word is developed!  This marks the beginning of history  Writing was used to keep very accurate and detailed records  Sales, Visitors, Schedules, Conversations, Customs  Used mostly by Rulers, Priests, Merchants (traders), and Artisans  Writing was later used for creative expression  First works of literature and written history

15.  No longer just cave paintings  Drawings, scales, literature, sculptures were all considered works of art  Architects were considered artists because of the detailed drawings of their plans  Pyramids, Temples, Burial Chambers  Painters and Sculptors could portray stories of nature, human life, and depictions of the rulers and gods they worshiped

19.  List the 6 characteristics of a civilization. Do we fall under all 6 of these categories today?  Do you think there places today that are not considered a civilization?  How did religion affect the social structure of early civilizations?

20.  The beginning of Civilizations started with Mesopotamia  Located on the Fertile Crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers  “The Land Between the Rivers”  Learned to control the flow of rivers  Irrigation and Draining  Allowed for an abundance of fertile soil for farming

21.  3 different areas of Mesopotamia  Assyria  Akkad  Sumer  Sumer  Sumerians were the first civilized culture and created the first alphabet called Cuneiform and created elaborate stories (first myths) The Epic of Gilgamesh  Formed City-States; development of the first cities and governments happened in the city-states

23.  The cities they built were made of sun-dried mud and bricks  Invented the arch and the dome and built massive brick buildings  Ziggurat was the most impressive building and was the base that the temple rested upon  Government was a Theocracy  Ruled by divine authority  King was considered a divine authority

25.  Economy and Society  Mostly farming, but trade and industry were very important  Introduced the Bronze Age-melting and combining of copper and tin  Traded the bronze for fish, wool, barley, wheat, and other metals  Sumerians invented the wheel  Made traveling, trading, and living much easier

27.  The first empires were created in Mesopotamia  Akkadian Empire and Babylonian Empire  Akkadian  First empire in history  Did not last long and created war between the city- states for power  Babylon  Hammurabi gained control of Sumer and Akkad  Code of Hammurabi  “Eye for an Eye”; “Tooth for a Tooth”

28.  Egyptian civilization thrived due to the Nile River  “The creator of all good”  Longest river in the world  The Nile flows north and divides Upper and Lower Egypt  Yearly flooding created rich soil for farming  Fastest way to travel; transportation and communication was much easier

29.  Natural barriers made Egypt easy to defend and brought a sense of security  Unforgiving deserts to the east and west, the Mediterranean Sea to the north, and harsh rapids to the south  The Nile also brought a feeling of security and confidence  Flooding to Farming to Survival

30.  Religion  Polytheistic  Sun Gods and Land Gods (River Gods too)  Sun-Source of Life; Ra or Re was the sun god  Osiris and Isis were Land/River God/Goddess  The rulers would take on the name ‘Son of Re’ claiming they descended from the sun god  Osiris was a major figure  Became the symbol of resurrection and rebirth; the afterlife  Mummification-wanted to preserve the body for a life after death

31.  Egyptian Kingdoms  Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom  Unity of Upper and Lower Egypt; ruled by a Pharaoh (king)  Old Kingdom  Age of Prosperity and splendor  Bureaucracy developed to organize the government  Vizier was most important-in charge of the government and reported to the Pharaoh  Great architectural achievements-Great Pyramids of Giza built for King Khufu

32.  Middle Kingdom  The golden age for Ancient Egypt  Conquering of lands around Egypt began and they expanded their empire  Pharaohs took on a more personal role with their relationship to their people  Trade and Transportation increased

33.  New Kingdom  New warfare developed; chariots and iron weapons  Created a new empire and became the worlds first superpower; wealth, land, weapons  First woman Pharaoh-Queen Hatshepsut  Religion became a problem-One ruler, Amenhotep IV wanted one supreme being, Aten.  Did not last; Tutankhamen became Pharaoh and restored the old gods

34.  New Kingdom  Ramses II restored Egypt to power, but Egypt later collapsed under invasion  The New Kingdom collapsed and was later ruled by Macedonians under Cleopatra VII  Cleopatra tried to reunite Egypt, but failed because of her involvement with Rome  Egypt became part of the Roman Empire

35.  Way of Life  Much like Mesopotamia, Egyptian society had an order: Pharaoh, Priests, Government Officials, Merchants, Artisans, Military, Farmers, Slaves  Marriage started to become more of a concept and believed in monogamy  Men were in charge, but women were very well respected  Nobles held the power, peasants did the work

37.  Accomplishments  Writing became very popular and hieroglyphics were the main form  Used to portray life in burial chambers, tombs, and in stories  Scribes were the writers and trained from the age of 10  Art and Science became a symbol of Egypt’s everlasting imprint on the world today  Pyramids, Temples, Sculptures, Monuments, Burial Chambers, mathematical formulas, and mummification

42.  Located near modern day Pakistan, on the Northwest border of India  Cradle of Indian Civilization  The Indus River and the Ganges River were the two rivers that surrounded the valley  Introduced streets and roads to civilizations  New technological advancements  Drainage for bathrooms, Wells used to obtain water

44.  Economy  Farming based  Trade with Mesopotamia  Built ships to carry goods through the Persian Gulf  Society  Believed that government and religion were closely connected  Sanskrit: written and oral language  Four social groups: Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Sudras  Began to suffer due to climate change and natural disasters

47.  Set up near Rivers leading into the pacific ocean  Natural Barriers kept out unwanted influence and enemies  Mountains and deserts  Located between the Huang He (Yellow River) and the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River)  Mountains and the lush rivers played an essential role in China’s survival

49. Early Dynasties of China  Shang Dynasty  First Chinese Dynasty, ancestor worship, bronze, writing  Zhou Dynasty  Classical arts, silk, new religions (Daoism, Confucianism)  Qin Dynasty  China is united, measurements and writing is universal, Great Wall of China  Han Dynasty  Silk Road, Civil Service, paper invented, Buddhism