1. LANDMARKS IN HUMANITIES
Chapter 1
Origins: The First Civilizations
ca. 25,000–330 B.C.E.

2. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Prehistory
Prehistory
Human development before written records
Paleolithic Culture
Landmark: making of tools and weapons
Hunter-gathers; use of fire by end of Ice Age
Burial of dead
Cave paintings
Lascaux caves
Naturalism
Purpose and function debated
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

3. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Prehistory
Mesolithic and Neolithic Cultures
Mesolithic
Plant and animal domestication
Neolithic
Farming and food production
Nomadic to sedentary lifestyle
Villages with mud- and limestone-faced huts
Polished bone and stone tools
Earth Mother goddess
Concern with earth’s fertility; seasonal cycle
Cycladic figure
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

4. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Prehistory
Ceremonial centers and burial sites
Megaliths/dolmen
Post-and-lintel construction
Göbekli Tepe, Turkey
Stonehenge
Celestial observatory
Site for funerary rituals
Excavations at Durrington Walls
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

5. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Prehistory
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

6. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Prehistory
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

7. The Birth of Civilization
Shift from rural to urban culture
From Counting to Writing
Writing evolved from counting
Clay balls
Pictographs
Cuneiform
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

8. The Birth of Civilization
Metallurgy: The Bronze Age
Metal began to replace stone and bone
Gave greater control over nature
Travel and trade essential to Bronze Age culture
Bronze-casting spread from Mesopotamia throughout ancient world
Chinese master metallurgists
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

9. The Birth of Civilization
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

10. The Birth of Civilization
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

11. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Mesopotamia
“Land Between the Rivers”
Mesopotamia: the Fertile Crescent formed by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
Sumer, earliest civilization
Pattern of conquering and invasion
Sargon of Akkad
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

12. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Mesopotamia
Myths, Gods, and Goddesses
Intimate association with nature; animism
Myths part of ritual fabric of everyday life
Polytheism linked to nature and its forces
Cosmology of chaos and conflict
The Babylonian Creation
Mesopotamia’s Ziggurats
Massive terraced towers made of rubble and brick
Spiritual center of city-state; shrine and temple
Abu Temple, Tell Asmar, Iraq
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

13. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Mesopotamia
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

14. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Mesopotamia
Gilgamesh: The First Epic
Epic of Gilgamesh: world’s first literary epic
Recited orally; written down centuries later
First literary work to come to terms with death, or nonbeing
Reflects human need for immortality ideology
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

15. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Mesopotamia
Babylon: Hammurabi’s Law Code
Codified existing legal practices in an effort to unify territories of Babylonian empire
Most extensive set of laws to survive antiquity
Secular, but bore force of divine decree
Written law landmark in advance of human rights
Storehouse of information regarding class divisions, family relations, human rights
Women considered inferior, but enjoyed considerable legal protections
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

16. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Mesopotamia
Iron Technology
Iron introduced to Asia Minor by Hittites
Cheaper to produce, more durable than bronze
Transformed ancient world
Landmarks of the Iron Age
Iron technology encouraged rise of empires
Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians all conquered Mesopotamia
Imperialism
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

17. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Mesopotamia
Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar rebuilt Babylon
“Tower of Babel”
Ishtar Gate
Earliest round arch on a colossal scale
Cultural innovations of small states
Phoenicians: non-pictographic alphabet
Lydians: minting of coins
Hebrews: ethical monotheism
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

18. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Mesopotamia
The Persian Empire
Largest Mesopotamian empire
Efficient administrators and powerful monarchs
First multicultural civilization
Persepolis
Vast network of roads
Monotheistic religion
Zoroastrianism
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

19. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Africa: Ancient Egypt
Africa: Ancient Egypt
Polytheistic civilization
Deeply influenced by the Nile River
Osiris
Sun god held place of honor
Amon, Re (Ra), or Aten
Resurrection central to belief system
Book of the Dead
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

20. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Africa: Ancient Egypt
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

21. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Africa: Ancient Egypt
Theocracy and the Cult of the Dead
Believed pharaoh was living representative of sun god
Burial rituals
Gizeh
Pyramids
Great Sphinx
Valley of the Kings
Tutankhamen (one of few graves to escape vandalism)
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

22. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Africa: Ancient Egypt
Akhenaten’s Reform
Monotheistic reform: elevated Aten to supremacy among gods
Built new palace at Tell el-Amarna
“Hymn to the Aten”
Nefertiti
Egyptian Women
Enjoyed economic privileges, civil rights
Land passed through female line
Encouraged brother-sister marriages
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

23. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Africa: Ancient Egypt
Egyptian Art
Most comes from tombs and graves
Style mirrors order, societal hierarchy
Both perceptual and conceptual
Hunting scene from tomb of Neb-amon at Thebes
Monumental sculpture
Balance between realism/stylization
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

24. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Africa: Ancient Egypt
New Kingdom Temples
Plan mirrored central features of Egyptian cosmos
Pylons symbolized mountains, served as gateway
Open courtyard progresses through hypostyle hall and into inner sanctuary (voyage from light to dark)
Great Temple of Amon-Ra, Karnak
Not used for communal assembly; commoners forbidden to enter
Priests performed daily rituals of cosmic renewal
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

25. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Africa: Ancient Egypt
Literature and Music
“Wisdom literature”
Satire of Trades
Lyric poetry
Song and poetry interchangeable
Musical instruments found buried with dead
No certain knowledge of how music sounded
Visual representations show music played important role in both religious and secular life
Egyptian women important in music-making
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

26. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Africa: Ancient Egypt
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

27. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Africa: Western Sudan
The Nok Terracottas
Nok, western Sudan
Terracotta sculptures
Earliest known three-dimensional artworks of sub-Saharan Africa
First evidence of realistic portraiture in African art
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

28. ©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The Americas
The Americas
Early American civilizations formed mosaic of migrant cultures
Caral, Peru
Pyramids; evidence of urban community
Birthplace of “New World” civilization?
Olmec (“rubber people”)
Elite cadre of priests oversaw spiritual life of the community
Colossal stone heads; monumental pyramids; ceremonial centers
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

29. Beyond the West: Ancient India
Indus Valley Civilization (ca. 2709–1500 B.C.E.)
India’s earliest known civilization located in Sind
Sophisticated Bronze Age culture flourished
Mohenjo-daro; Harappa
Planned communities
Written language; sculptural tradition
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

30. Beyond the West: Ancient India
The Vedic Era (ca. 1500–322 B.C.E.)
Sanskrit emerged
Vedas
Oldest devotional texts; blending of ancient traditions
Information regarding astronomical phenomena
Mahabharata (Great Deeds of the Bharata Clan)
Ramayana (Song of Prince Rama)
Caste system introduced
Priests and scholars; rulers and warriors; artisans and merchants; unskilled workers
Subdivided by occupations; “Untouchables”
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

31. Beyond the West: Ancient India
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

32. Beyond the West: Ancient India
Hindu Pantheism
Pantheism: belief that divinity inheres in all things
Basic to Hindu view that universe is sacred
Upanishads
Enlightenment through meditation
Brahman; Atman
Nirvana: reunion of Brahman and Atman
Dharma (right conduct)
Law of Karma
Reincarnation, Wheel of Rebirth, nirvana
Bhagavad-Gita (Song of God)
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

33. Beyond the West: Ancient China
The Shang Dynasty (ca. 1520–1027 B.C.E.)
Rulers were considered intermediaries between people and spirit world
Lord on High (Shang-di)
The “dragon throne”
The Aristocracy of Merit
First system in which individuals selected for government on the basis of merit and education
Written examinations tested competence, skill
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

34. Beyond the West: Ancient China
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

35. Beyond the West: Ancient China
The Mandate of Heaven
Different from divine right; required obedience to pre-established moral law
Spirits, Gods, and the Natural Order
Chinese belief in an inviolable natural order
Ancestor veneration
Yin/yang
Shang-di/Tian
I jing (The Book of Changes)
Qi: cosmic/human order a single sacred system
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

36. Beyond the West: Ancient China
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

37. Beyond the West: Ancient China
Daoism: The Philosophy of the Way
Most profound expression of the natural order
Requires simplicity, harmony with nature
Dao de jing (The Way and Its Power)
Influenced every aspect of Chinese culture
©2013, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All Rights Reserved.