The First Civilizations and the Rise of

EmpiresChapters 1 and 2

The First Civilizations:

The Peoples of Western Asia and EgyptI. The First Humans

II. Agricultural Revolution

III. Emergence of Civilization

a)Mesopotamia

IV. First Civilizations

a)Sumerians f) Chaldeans

b)Akkadians g) Phoenicians

c)Amorites / Old Babylonians h) Hebrews

d) Hittites i) Persians

e) Assyrians

V. Egyptians

VI. Conclusion

I. THE FIRST HUMANS

CHRONOLOGY OF THE FIRST HUMANS AND THEIR CIVILIZATIONSBC and BCE – religious versus secular, otherwise no difference in usage.BC – Before ChristBCE – Before Common EraYears ago:

4,000,000 - 3,000,000

1,500,000 250,000 - 30,000 200,000 - 150,000

Hominids Homo Erectus Homo sapiens Homo sapiens sapiens

Australopithecines "upright human being"Fire used around 500,000 ya

"wise human being"1) Neanderthal (Neander Valley in Germany)

"wise, wise human being"

Africa Left Africa for Europe and Asia

Europe, Middle East By 10,000 BC, homo sapiens sapiens replaced Neanderthal and had settled around much of what had been settled/found.

From 2,500,000 -

PALEOLITHIC AGE --------------------------------------

Paleolithic - old stone; JAVA man, PEKING man, Neanderthal man, Cro-Magnon manNeolithic - new stoneBronze - use of bronze

Years ago: 10,000 10,000 - 4,000 4,000 - 3,000 3,000 - 1,200

Homo sapiens sapiens ----------- ---------------- ----------

Ice Age ends. Agricultural Revolution

Systematic Agriculture begins between 8,000 - 7,000 BC- writing begins circa 7060

Significant technical developments: tools, metals.Invention of wheel circa 3000

Concentration of people in Mesopotamia and Egypt-emergence of civilization- 3500 - 3000 BC

Approx 3000+ BC - Sumerians

Approx 3000 BC - EgyptiansApprox 2000 BC – AkkadiansApprox 1800 BC – BabyloniansApprox 1750 BC – HittitesApprox 1200 BC – Phoenicians & HebrewsApprox 700 BC – AssyriansApprox 600 BC - Persians

PALEOLITHIC AGE ENDS.

NEOLITHIC ------------

---AGE. BRONZE AGE ------BRONZE AGE. IRON AGE ---

1st Stage:Hominids

FROM AFRICA - East and South Africa 3-4 million years agoAustraliopithecinesSimple stone tools

2nd Stage:Homo Erectus

From same area 1.5 million years agoMore tools and more varied toolsFirst to leave Africa and moved into Europe and Asia

3rd Stage:Homo Sapiens (wise human being) 250,000 ya

Two branches off of homo sapiens- Neanderthal (Nender Valley, Germany)

Dated to 100,000 and 30,000 bceRelied upon variety of stone toolsFirst to bury their dead

- Homo sapiens sapiens (wise wise human being)First anatomically modern humansDated 200,000 – 100,000

II. Agricultural Revolution

III. Emergence of Civilization

-Urban revolution: cities become focal point for politics, economics, social, and cultural

Civilization: a complex culture in which large numbers of humans share a number of common elements

Basic Characteristics of Civilization:

The basic characteristics – writing and cities

Languages:Semitic: Assyrian, Akkadian, Aramaic, Babylonian, Canaanitic, Phoenician, Syriac, Arabic, HebrewIndo-European: English, German, Greek, Latin, Persian, and the languages of India.

a) Sumerians

Time Period: 3000 BC – 2350 BCRegion: Language:Social Structure: 3 major groups – highly stratifiedLeadership:Gender Roles:Religion:Legal:Economy:Cities: Eridu, Ur, uruk, Umma, Lagash -

Notables: Epic of Gilgamesh

IV. FIRST CIVILIZATIONS

• B) Akkadian

• Time Period: 2350 – 2100 BC• Region:• Language: Semitic• Social Structure:• Leadership: Sargon: 2334-2279 BC• Gender Roles:• Religion:• Legal:• Economy:• Cities:• Notables:

c) Amorites or Old Babylonians: Time Period: 1792 BC – 1750 BCRegion:Language: SemiticSocial Structure:Leadership: HammurabiGender Roles:Religion:Legal: Economy:Cities:Notables: Code of Hammurabi – 282 Laws

Code of Hammurabi282 laws-written so as to not be arbitrary-eye for an eye-standards for professions: public officials had numerous duties,

responsibilities.-Consumer protection-sought to protect women and children / focus on family matters-sexual promiscuity permitted – for men.-reorganized and consolidated previous laws in order to maintain the

established social / economic order.

ALSO devised most sophisticated mathematical system based on numerical system of 1-60 (we use hours and minutes - 60), Quadratic equation (used in computing amounts of materials for bldg)

When Hammurabi died, his son lost ½ the kingdom in revolts and thus weakened, fell to Hittites

d) HittitesTime Period: 1500 – 800 BC

Region: Asia Minor and Anatolia

Language: Indo-European

Social Structure:

Leadership: Sargon: 2334-2279 BC

Gender Roles:

Religion: adopted many of the gods of the Sumerians and Old Babylonians

Legal: modified the system of law they inherited from the Old Babylonians

Economy:

Cities:

Notables: Iron

e) Assyrian

Time Period: 800 – 600 BCRegion:Language: SemiticSocial Structure:Leadership: Ashurbanipal 669-626 B.C.Gender Roles:Religion:Legal:Economy:Cities:Notables: iron weapons, Use of terror, lay siege to cities

f) Chaldeans

Time Period: 600 – 500 BCRegion:Language: SemiticSocial Structure:Leadership:Gender Roles:Religion:Legal:Economy:Cities:Notables:

g) Phoenicians

Time Period: Region:Language: SemiticSocial Structure:Leadership:Gender Roles:Religion:Legal:Economy:Cities: Byblos, Tyre, and SidonNotables: traders, alphabet

– The United and Divided Kingdoms• Solomon (c. 970-930B.C.E.)

– Temple housed the Ark of the Covenant

• The divided kingdom– Division into the kingdom of Israel with its capital at Samaria

and Judah with its capital at Jerusalem– Assyrians destroyed Samaria in 722 B.C.E. and overran the

kingdom of Israel– Deported the Hebrews to other parts of the empire– Chaldeans defeated the Assyrians and destroyed Jerusalem in

586 B.C.E.– Persians destroyed the Chaldean kingdom– Judah remained under Persian control until Alexander the

Great

h) HebrewsThe Hebrews: The “Children of Israel” Between 1200 and 1000 B.C.E., the Israelites emerged as a distinctive people organized into tribes

• Spiritual Dimensions of Israel– Yahweh

» Created nature but not in nature» God of mercy and love» Spoke through Moses

– Covenant, law, the prophets

i) PersiansBabylon fell to the Persians in 539 B.C.E.Indo-European peopleCyrus (559-530 B.C.E.)Cambyses (530-522 B.C.E.)Darius (521-486 B.C.E.)

Civil Administration and the MilitaryDivided into 20 provinces

Satraps collected tribute, responsible for justice and securityRoads

Royal Road stretched from Sardis to SusaAll subjects were the king’s servantsProfessional army with a core of 10,000 cavalry

Persian ReligionZoroaster (b. 660 B.C.E.)

ZoroastrianismMonotheismAhurmazda, the creator, gave all humans free will and the power to chose between right and wrongEach soul faced final evaluation

First settlement around 4000 BC

Over 2500 years, most stable civilization the western world had ever known.

Included 31 dynasties grouped into four periods

EgyptiaEgyptiann

Divine KingshipThe Importance of Religion

Inseparable element of the world orderPolytheisticSun gods and land godsSun god worshiped as Atum in human formEgyptian ruler took the title “Son of Re”

King PharohHORUS (sky and falcon god)RA (sun god)AMEN-RE OSIRIS (god of the dead)Mummification – important for return of spiritual ka

Hyksos - result was the Egyptian use of bronze for improved tools and weapons, more effective methods of warfare which enabled the Egyptians to establish the New Kingdom and expand their empire, use of horse-drawn war chariots, significant increase in Egyptian imperialism.Ahmose IEmpire – Somalia, Nubia, Palestine, SyriaHatshepsut 1490-1468 BCAmenhotep IV 1364 – 1347 BCTUTANKHAMEN

New Centers of Civilization

By 6500 BC, Agriculture had spread into the Balkan peninsula

By 4000 BC, humans in what is now France, central Europe, Mediterranean area had domesticated animals

Between 3200 – 1500 BC – the druids ended up with very large stones (megalithic constructions) throughout Britain. These megalithic constructions were also evident as far north as Scandinavia and as far south as Corsica and Malta.

Role of Nomadic People

Herding, hunting, gathering, limited farmingIndo_Europeans were most significant nomadic people.

Indo-Europeans from somewhere in the steppe region north of the Black Sea or in southwestern Asia