Soc- Ch. 19- Start of Religion

THE DAWN OF HISTORY

*Old Stone Age or Paleolithic age, until about 10,000 BC The people were know as hunter

gatherers or nomads People made tools, digging sticks,

spears and axes from natural materials

Learned to build fires and wear clothing

Developed spoken languages Before writing systems are developed Religions began- How do we know? Sungir, Russia, buried

some 25,000 years ago

*NEW STONE AGE OR NEOLITHIC AGE….11,000 YEARS AGO

*Humans learned to farm, a development that transformed the way people lived Planting seeds and domesticating

animals * By about 5,000 years ago, the

advances made by early farming communities led to the rise of civilizations. Social hierarchy Accumulation of personal property New technologies

BEGINNINGS OF CIVILIZATIONS

*Cities, first rose in river valleys Water Farming Renewable soil Animals Transportation

Mesopotamia

• •

Climate: • Unpredictable

flooding -Why a blessing? -Why a curse?

Topography: • No geographical barriers

-Why is that a problem? •

SUMERIAN RELIGION

* Polytheistic Gods controlled

every aspect of life

More pessimistic than Egyptians

The Bull-man is a demon. He is a man above the waist and a bull below the waist. He also has the horns and the ears of a bull. He helps people fight evil and chaos. He holds the gates of dawn open for the sun god Shamash and supports the sun disc.

Ishtar is the morning and evening star (the planet we call Venus), and the goddess of love and war. She is shown as a woman standing on a lion, generally holding several weapons.

RELIGION• Believed gods controlled every aspect of

life. • Anthropomorphic - gods possess same

characteristics as man • Man at the mercy of the gods - Why?

Natural disasters Natural blessing

The Code of Hammurabi

–first written set of laws

–282+ laws –“Eye for an eye, life

for life” What does that mean?

Hammurabi

Babylonian Leader

1792-1750 B.C.E

Egypt: “The Gift of the Nile”• 4,160 miles longest

river in the world• Predictable

flooding• carried rich

deposits of silt along with it.

• primary means of communication and transportation.

EXPLAIN HOW THE FIRST EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION WAS SHAPED BY ITS NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

Imposing natural barriers of desert and harborless seacoast provided what?

protection from outside influences and threats and allowed Egypt to develop a unique culture in isolation and security

DISCUSS THE IMAGE OF THE PHARAOH AND THE REASON FOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE PYRAMIDS.

Pharaoh god on earth maintain ma’at, the divine order of the

universe He was the link between the people and the

gods, therefore ensuring the welfare and prosperity of the country.

The death of the pharaoh was critical because the well-being of the state

depended on him. every effort was made to ensure that he

had a safe journey back to the gods in his afterlife.

Religion in the Lives of Ancient Egyptians

• Egyptians, like all ancient peoples believed that the Gods controlled nature, especially the weather and illness

• Egyptian Priest

Most Honored Egyptian Gods

Major Gods: -Amon-Re (ra) was the sun god – Most Powerful God! -Osiris was the god of the underworld and of the Nile.

-Isis was the most powerful mother goddess worshiped all over Egypt

Mummification–Mummify to

preserve a sound body for the Ka to return to

–70 day process –Improper

embalming leads to second true death

Mummification• Ka

–Spirit created when all men are born

–This spirit of life returns once the body has passed the test…

A FATEFUL TEST…• Egyptians had to pass test after they died. • It was believed that dead souls were ferried

across a lake of fire to the hall of Osiris • The heart of the dead was weighed

against a feather if the heart weighted less he was allowed to go on

• Those who were viewed as sinners were fed to the crocodile-shaped eater of the dead/ those who were viewed as worthy entered the happy field of food.

WHERE ARE THE RELIGIONS?