1. Features of Civilization
Cities
Organized Central governments
Priest-kings were followed by military leaders who were followed by hereditary monarchs
Bureaucracy - government organized into departments
Complex Religion
Polytheistic – belief in many gods that control the forces of nature
Most gods behave like humans

2. Features of Civilization Continued
Job Specialization/Social Classes ~ Hierarchy
Priests
Nobles
Wealthy Merchants
Government Workers
Artisans (skilled craft workers)
Soldiers
Peasant Farmers
Slaves

3. Features of Civilization Continued
Public Works
Irrigation Systems
Roads
Bridges
Defensive Walls
Arts & Architecture
Writing

4. River Valley Civilizations
Sumer: BCE
Ancient Egypt: BCE
Indus Valley: BCE
China:
Shang BCE
Zhou BCE

6. Sumer had no barriers, which led to cultural diffusion (the spreading of ideas). Egypt, India, and China all had barriers, which led to geographic isolation.

7. Benefits of Rivers
Rivers provide drinking water, fish, game, and transportation for people, armies, and products.
Flooding deposits a layer of silt – rich soil.
To control floods and store water for the dry season – dikes, reservoirs, and irrigation canals were constructed.

8. Sumer Cuneiform – 3200BCE First-Known Writing
Wedge-like shapes made on clay tablets

9. British Museum

10. Ancient Egypt
Hieroglyphics

11. Indus Valley
Seals have not been deciphered.

12. Shang China
Ancient Characters
Modern Characters

13. Sumer Tigris and Euphrates rivers – unpredictable floods
Fertile Crescent: Persian Gulf to Mediterranean Sea
Mesopotamia (between the rivers)
Modern-day Iraq
City-States constantly fought

14. Ancient Egypt Nile River – 4160 miles – longest in the world.
Center of a ten-mile wide strip of fertile land.
The desert protected against invasion, but limited settlement and the acquisition of new ideas.

15. Indus Valley
Indus River
modern-day Pakistan
Barriers

16. Huang He River aka Yellow River
Shang & Zhou China
Huang He River aka Yellow River
aka River of Sorrows

17. Sumerian Religion
Goal was to keep gods happy with sacrifices and ceremonies.
Each city-state had a special god or goddess.
Fear of natural disasters led to a pessimistic world view.
At death, people went to a huge cave filled with dust and silence.
Inanna and Dumuzi

18. Egyptian Religion Village gods
Afterlife = Good go to Happy Field of Food – Bad go to crocodile-shaped eater of the dead.
Mummification to provide a home for the soul.
Wealthy entombed with everything needed for eternity.
Pharaoh considered a god – son of Amon-Re.

19. Indus Valley Religion
Figurines representing a mother goddess and a three-faced god have been discovered.
Sacred animals included the bull.
Certain trees were revered.

20. Chinese Religion & Philosophy
Shang Ti ruled over the other gods.
Priests acted as intermediaries between humans and the gods.
Veneration (respect) of ancestors because deceased relatives would intervene with the gods on your behalf.
Household gods oversee activities in the home.
Taoism/Daoism
Confucianism
Legalism

21. Zhou Government
Mandate of Heaven – gods grant the right to rule to a dynasty
Dynastic Cycle – rise and fall of dynasties (ruling families)

22. Sumer’s Accomplishments
First Writing – Cuneiform
First Wheeled Vehicles – carts and war chariots
Basic Algebra & Geometry
Number System based on 6 ~ 360-degree circle & 60-minute hour
Accurate 12-month Calendar tracked seasons
Ziggurats
First to use arches, columns, ramps
Complex Irrigation Systems

23. Ziggurat at Ur

24. Sumerian Art

25. Sumerian Art

26. Egypt’s Accomplishments
Old Kingdom – BCE – Pyramid Age
Pharaohs, Mummification, Pyramids
Middle Kingdom – BCE – Turbulent Age
Major Construction – land drainage, canal to Red Sea, temples at Luxor & Karnak
New Kingdom – BCE – Empire Age
Empire at its largest – from Kush to the Euphrates
Famous Rulers: Akhenaton, Hatshepsut, Ramses II

27. Egypt’s Accomplishments Continued
Women had high status
Education for wealthy males
Geometry
Astronomy
Engineering
Painting, Sculpture, Literature
Best medicine in the ancient world

28. Tutankhamen Son-in-law (maybe son) of Akhenaton ruled 1333-1323BCE.
Died at 19.
Tomb discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter.
Curse: many associated with the opening of the tomb died soon after – fueling the legend ~ true cause = mold.

29. Rosetta Stone
Written in Hieroglyphics (important and religious documents), Demotic (everyday script), and Greek (rulers at the time).
Written in 196BCE and discovered by one of Napoleon’s men in 1799.

30. Egyptian Art

31. Egyptian Statue

32. Giza

33. Valley of the Kings

34. Egyptian Architecture

35. Luxor – the real one!

36. Obelisk

37. Indus Valley Accomplishments
Discovered in 1922
Cities: Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro and farming villages over 950 miles
First city planning: grid pattern, uniform building style, rectangular city blocks, plumbing
First to cultivate and weave cotton

38. Indus Valley Art

39. Indus Valley Priest

40. China’s Accomplishments
Shang
Zhou
Small kingdoms
Silk Making
Bronze Tools
Characters
Oracle Bones – Questions written on bones or tortoise shells
Astronomy
Feudalism
Iron Tools & Weapons
Use of Money
First Books
Soybeans

41. Oracle Bone

42. Shang Art

43. Shang Elephant

44. Zhou Art

45. Zhou Art