Review

1. Review • Paleolithic vs Neolithic. • The apparatus of civilization.

2. Early Civilizations Mesopotamia, Egypt, Indus, Shang/Zhou, Olmec, Chavin

3. Egypt • Located around the Nile River • Hieroglyphics - writing system. Pictographic to represent syllables, words, ideas or people. • Pyramids – most constructed as royal tombs to ensure afterlife of pharaoh and royal family. • mummification • Political – centralized around a single rule (Pharaoh) – supreme leader of Egypt that was seen as a living god. Relative stability due to natural boundaries. • Cultural – polytheism, optimistic • Economic – heavily ag. Based on grain production. Barter Trade economy locally and regionally with Mesopotamia and Nubia

4. Mesopotamia • Located between the Tigris and Euphrates River in Modern day Iraq. • Cuneiform – earliest writing form. Wedge-shaped marks carved into clay tablets. • Ziggurat – large stepped-pyramids that housed temples and alters to the local deity.(monumental architecture) • Political Authority – decentralized city-states (later empire building) that developed from competitive warrior classes and need to control flooding and irrigation. • Culture – polytheism, pessimism. • Economic – heavily Ag. Based on grain production. bartering trade economy locally and regionally between Egypt and Indus Valley

5. Hammurabi’s Code 8. If a man has stolen an ox, a sheep, a pig or a boat that belonged to a temple or palace, he shall repay thirty times its cost. If it belonged to a private citizen, he shall repay ten times. If the thief cannot pay, he shall be put to death. 142. If a women hates her husband and says to him “You cannot be with me,” the authorities in her district will investigate the case. If she has been chaste and without fault, even though her husband has neglected or belittled her, she will be held innocent and may return to her father’s house. 143. If the woman is at fault, she shall be thrown into the river. 196. If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out. 198. If he puts out the eye of freed man or break the bone of a free man, he shall pay one gold mina. 199. If he put out the eye of a man’s slave, or break the bone of a man’s slave, he shall pay one-half of its value

6. Indus River Valley • Located on the Indus River Valley in modern day Pakistan. • Pictographic Writing - still being deciphered so we know very little specifics about this civilization. • Political Authority – some central planning in cities, but variation among cities demonstrates mostly decentralized authority. • Cultural – Very little known about early inhabitants. Aryans later migrate in and bring the Vedic tradition (Hinduism). • Economic – Ag. Based but local and regional trade with Mesopotamia

7. Ancient China - Shang/Zhou Dynasties • Yellow River Valley in Modern day China (later incorporates the Yangtze – “The Middle Kingdom” • Oracle Bones – pictographic form of writing. Used for divination but shed light on culture and writing. • Political Authority - Mandate of Heaven – right to govern is ordained by god. All support is left with emperor then. Can be stripped away upon poor rule. • Culture – animism/ polytheism. Ancestor Veneration developed around the importance of close family ties. • Economic – Rice cultivation heavily important. Geographically cut off from other RVCs.

8. Phoenicians • Originally located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. • Economy was based on sea trade with people around the Mediterranean and the Middle East. • Most important contribution was the development of an alphabet – where symbols represent sounds, not words or ideas.

9. Olmec • Located in Modern day southern Mexico. (Mesoamerica) • Precursor to the Mayans • Religious Stone-heads (colossal). Some form of polytheism • Cultivated maize and beans. • Developed city-state political structure

10. Chavin Cult • Located in the Andes Mnts around modern day Peru. • Agriculture based on cultivation of potatoes and maize. • No mortar in architecture • Precursor society of Moche and Incan society.