River Valley Civilizations

1. River Valley Civilizations • Sumer: 3500-2300BCE • Ancient Egypt: 2700-1100BCE • Indus Valley: 2500-1500BCE • China: • Shang 1650-1027BCE • Zhou 1027-256BCE

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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

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

7. Features of CivilizationContinued • Public Works • Irrigation Systems • Roads • Bridges • Defensive Walls • Arts & Architecture • Writing

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

9. Ancient Egypt Hieroglyphics

10. Indus Valley • Seals have not been deciphered.

11. Shang China Ancient Characters Modern Characters

12. 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

13. 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.

14. Indus Valley • Indus River • modern-day Pakistan • Barriers

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

16. 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

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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

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

21. 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

22. Ziggurat at Ur

23. Sumerian Art

24. Sumerian Art

25. Egypt’s Accomplishments • Old Kingdom – 2700-2200BCE – Pyramid Age • Pharaohs,Mummification, Pyramids • Middle Kingdom – 2050-1800BCE – Turbulent Age • Major Construction – land drainage, canal to Red Sea, templesat Luxor & Karnak • New Kingdom – 1550-1100BCE – Empire Age • Empire at its largest – from Kush to the Euphrates • Famous Rulers: Akhenaton, Hatshepsut, Ramses II

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

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. Egyptian Art

30. Egyptian Statue

31. Giza

32. Valley of the Kings

33. Egyptian Architecture

34. Luxor – the real one!

35. Obelisk

36. 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

37. Indus Valley Art

38. Indus Valley Priest

39. 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

40. Oracle Bone

41. Shang Art

42. Shang Elephant

43. Zhou Art

44. Zhou Art