Early Human History World History

The Paleolithic Era   

(From the evolution of the first hominids until about twelve thousand years ago) 

The Paleolithic Era

Paleolithic society did not lend itself to the domination of one sex by the other  

The Neolithic Era 

Neolithic Era or “new stone age”

The Neolithic Era

Neolithic peoples sought to ensure themselves of a more regular food supply by providing for the growth of edible crops and bringing wild animals into dependence on humans.hT

The Neolithic Era

Because they devoted their time to cultivation rather than to foraging, Neolithic peoples did not continue the migratory life of their paleoilClithic predecessors but rather settled near their fields in permanent villages.

Civilization

• Key markers of a civilized society are: 

• Writing

• A high degree of division of labor (class stratification) 

• Social hierarchy 

Early Mesopotamia - Sumer 

• Early Sumeria was not ruled by a single king  

Early Mesopotamia - Sumer 

• By 3000 B.C., Sumer contained a dozen or more city-states, each independent of the others. 

Early Mesopotamia - Sumer 

• By 3000 B.C. most Sumerian cities were ruled by individual kings who claimed absolute authority within their realm  

Early Mesopotamia - Sumer 

• One of the great epics of Sumerian writing was Gilgamesh 

• The Gilgamesh is the oldest surviving epic poem in history  

• deals with the relation between man and the gods and especially the meaning of life and death and the quest for immortality 

 

Akkadians 

• Sargon established the Akkadian kingdom, which conquered all of Mesopotamia and replaced the Sumerian language 

Amorites (Babylonians) 

Hammurabi, Babylonia's greatest king (r. 1792  1750 B.C.).   

Amorites (Babylonians) 

Hammurabi sought to maintain his empire with a code of laws- the Code of Hammurabi 

Amorites (Babylonians) 

The Amorites traded extensively

Assyrians 

• By 700 B.C., their empire embraced most of the Near East 

Assyrians 

The Assyrians were the most militaristic empire to dominate Mesopotamia

Assyrians 

Aramaic

Chaldeans (neoBabylonians) 

• Nebuchadnezzar was the most famous Chaldean king. It was under him that one of the seven wonders of the ancient world was built – the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. 

Chaldeans (neoBabylonians) 

• He destroyed Jerusalem and brought the Jews into the "Babylonian Captivity” beginning in 586 B.C.  

Chaldeans (neoBabylonians) 

The Chaldean rule lasted less than one hundred years

Chaldeans (neoBabylonians)

The Chaldeans were the most learned astronomers of antiquity

Palestine-Early Hebrews 

The most famous was Abraham who also came from Mesopotamia.

Palestine-Early Hebrews 

Moses organized the tribes of Israel and some neighboring Canaanites into a confederation bound by a covenant to a single god (monotheistic)

Phoenicia 

Phoenicians arose along a narrow strip of the Mediterranean (present day Lebanon).

Phoenicia 

but they Phoenicians became the foremost navigators of their time 

Hittites 

• The most influential Indo-European migrants in ancient time were the Hittites  

Egyptian Society 

• Unlike Mesopotamia that was ruled by urban kings, Egypt recognized only one ruler- 

     the king (and in the New Kingdom - the pharaoh)

Old Kingdom (Dynasties 36) 

The religion of ancient Egypt throughout its history was polytheistic

The Old Kingdom collapsed because of

• Climatic disasters reduced grain and weakened the state (N.B.) (people starved from famine) 

Middle Kingdom (Dynasties 11 and 12) 

• The god Amen reached prominence during this kingdom and was merged with Re as AmenRe and became the national god 

Middle Kingdom (Dynasties 11 and 12) 

• The god Osiris became popular during the Middle Kingdom. He was associated with the Nile River and fertility and ruled over the dead. 

Middle Kingdom (Dynasties 11 and 12) 

Ancient Egyptians long believed in a pleasant life after death

Middle Kingdom (Dynasties 11 and 12) 

They made careful preparations for the physical needs of the afterlife.

New Kingdom (Dynasties 1820) 

the New Kingdom followed a policy much more militaristic than the former two kingdoms and focused on empire building  

New Kingdom (Dynasties 1820) 

the most powerful female ruler of ancient Egypt, Hatshepsut,

Amarna Revolution (Akhnaton)  

• This pharaoh opposed AmenRe and other gods that had been for centuries the traditional gods of Thebes and promoted the concept of a single god  Aton the physical disk or circle of the sun 

Amarna Revolution (Akhnaton)  

He changed his name to Akhenaton

The Army  

The army of the New Kingdom was a large standing army,

Ancient Egyptian Contributions 

• Egyptian society made it possible to rise in stature through education and it was liberal in scope to women, i.e., much more so than ancient Greece or Rome 

Similarities of Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations: 

• Both were dependent on rivers and rich soil deposited by periodic floods 

• Both developed and organized systems of irrigation and flood control

Differences between Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations: 

• Mesopotamia was not as well protected geographically 

• Mesopotamian rivers were not as navigable 

• Mesopotamian river floods were not as reliable 

• Mesopotamian culture and religion reflected a sense of instability and pessimism  

• Women in Egypt had more rights in ancient Egypt than woman had in ancient Mesopotamia 

The Bantu 

• The earliest Bantu speakers inhabited a region embracing the eastern part of modern Nigeria and the southern part of modern Cameroon 

The Bantu 

• Today, more than ninety million people speak Bantu languages 

 

The Bantu

• The  Bantu languages constitute the most prominent family of languages in sub-Saharan Africa today