1. The First Civilizations
John Ermer
AP World History
Miami Beach Senior High School

2. Prehistory Paleolithic Age (c 1,800,000 B.C.E.- c 8,000 B.C.E.)
Nomadic Hunter-Gatherers
Fire, bone tools, animal skin, stonework
Neolithic Age (c 8,000 B.C.E.-c 3,000 B.C.E.)
Agricultural Revolutions
Systematic Agriculture
Domesticated Animals
Land Ownership by Clan
Long lines of patrilineal or matrilineal kinship
Reverence for ancestors—afterlife?
Civilization
Six General Characteristics
Cities, Religion, Social Structure, Government, Writing, & Art

5. The Spread of Agriculture

6. River Valley Civilizations

7. Mesopotamia The Fertile Crescent Tigris and Euphrates rivers
“Mesopotamia” Land Between Two Rivers
Unpredictable Floods
The Sumerians
First urban dwellers; Ur, Eridu, Uruk
Cuneiform Writing
The Akkadians
Semitic language
First Empire

8. Mesopotamian Society City-States Sun-dried brick city walls
Irrigation networks
Government
Sumerian lugal
Theocracy and Monarchy
Empire Building
Sargon of Akkad
builds first empire, dominates neighbors
Hammurabi of Babylon
Code of Laws
Social Structure
1. Free Landowning Class 2. Farmers and Artisans Slaves
Patriarchal Society (males dominate politics; women retained control of dowry, owned property, engage in trade)
Religion
Polytheistic, nature based anthropomorphic gods and goddesses
ziggurat

11. The Nile River Valley (Egypt)
The Nile River Valley & Delta
“The Gift of the Nile”=Floods
The Black Land
The Red Land
Natural Defenses & Resources
The Three Kingdoms
Old Kingdom
Middle Kingdom
New Kingdom

12. Egyptian Civilization
Government
Capital cities: Memphis (Old Kingdom), Thebes (Middle & New Kingdoms with Memphis at times)
Divine Kingship—maintaining ma’at
Pharaohs as gods—sons of Re
Pharaohs vs. the Bureaucracy
Writing
Papyrus and Hieroglyphics
Urban Administrative Capital & Farming Villages
Less urban than Mesopotamia, more dependent of agriculture
Canal Building and Land Surveying

14. Egyptian Society Social Structure Religion
Multi-racial society
Upper Class: Royals and high gov’t officials
Middle Class: Priests, lower level officials, scribes, artisans, large land owners, and local leaders
Lower Class: Peasants
Women=subordinate
Property ownership, divorce, significant influence over men in private
Religion
Cycles of Renewal
Polytheistic, anthropomorphic gods and goddesses
Mummification and the Afterlife
Medical expertise
Domination of economic wealth

16. The Indus River Valley

17. Indus Societies Several hundred urban centers along river valley
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
Dravidians replaced, pushed south by Indo-Europeans
Cities
Walled with rectangular road grids
Citadels
Metal work more common than in Mesopotamia and Egypt
Ecological change and systemic failure bring Indus civilization down around 1900 BCE