Advanced cities

• Large concentration of a population that is also a center for trade and artsmanship

• Ur, Lagash, Uruk and Umma all had large populations of at least 10,000 people by 3000 B.C.E

• These are called city-states in Mesopotamia 

Specialized workers 

• People who have skills in a specific kind of work, including:

• Artisans - Skilled craftsmen such as potters, weavers, and metal workers

• Merchants - Engaged in trade and marketing

• Soldiers - Protect the community

Complex institutions

• Long lasting patterns of organization within a community including:

• Government: Creates and enforces laws 

• Religion: Maintains religious sites (temples) and conducts rituals

• Each city had one statue of a deity that was on top of the temple. People would make offerings to each deity depending on what they needed.

• Education: Trains scribes

Advanced Technology

• New tools and techniques that are created to solve complex problems and advance society 

• Ex: Sumerian metal workers combine copper and tin to create Bronze.

• This ushered in the Bronze Age in c. 3300 - 3000 B.C.E

Record keeping 

• Allows for documentation of important legal, historical, and economic records

• There wasn’t any currency now, instead they used bartering.

• Bartering: A system of trading

• Scribes were the record keepers. They used cuneiform style writing to keep records in clay tablets

• Cuneiform: wedge-shaped

What was Mesopotamia? 

• Mesopotamia means: “The land between two rivers”

 Environment/Rivers

• The Tigris and Euphrates rivers deposited thick silt each year, which allowed farmers to produce large crops of wheat and barley each year

Sumerian Writing and Mathematics 

• Sumerian cuneiform emerged as the first formal writing system, scribes used a stylus to make wedge-shaped marks in wet clay tablets

• Sumerians followed a polytheistic system of religious belief 

• Polytheistic: The belief in many gods, each of whom have a controlled aspect of nature 

• Sumerians believed the souls of the dead passed on to a horrible afterlife. They didn’t have a concept of a release from life/a pleasant afterlife

Akkadians 

• Akkad was located in central Mesopotamia, was the first city-state to try dominate the region 

Hammurabi’s Code

• Hammurabi created the first written law code called, “Hammurabi's Code”

• It provided some rights for women and lower class citizens 

• The rules were harsh, but provided the basis a stable society 

• The punishments fit the crime

• The phrase “An eye for an eye” came from this society. The punishment was if a man had “destroyed the eye of another man, his own eye shall be destroyed”

• The Code was posted all over the empire for people to read

Hittites

• Since Egypt was right next to them, the Hitities created a peace treaty with Egypt so they didn’t have to worry about war

Assyrians 

• Originally under Babylonian rule, they fought their way to freedom and were their own city-state for two centuries 

Geography: The Nile 

• The Greek historian, Herodutus, referred to Egypt as the “Gift of the Nile”

achievements of ancient egypt

• Added to navigational and boat building skills that were first introduced by the Sumerians 

• Advanced engineering and architecture 

Egyptian Hieroglyphics

• Egyptian tombs and temples are covered in art and hieroglyphics that give insight into Egyptian life 

• Hieroglyphics: “Sacred carvings”,Egyptian writing 

• Economy depended on using their goods, mostly crops including grains, in a bartering system 

• Bartering: trading goods through their shops and in public marketplaces 

• Egyptians traded gold, papyrus, linen, grain for cedar wood, ebony, copper, iron, and ivory

Egyptians had a strict and rigid social class system:

1. The Pharaoh, who was also considered a God, was on top

Politics: Unification of Egypt

• Menes is also considered the first “Pharaoh”

Pharaohs

• Pharaohs were believed to be living gods and were worshiped as the sons of the Gods

 Religion: Ancient Egypt

• Pyramids were designed as tombs to help Pharaohs ascend to the heavens and join Ra

Rameses II

• 19th Dynasty, 1279-1213 B.C.E

• He expanded the Egyptian empire and secured its borders against attackers (Hittites, Syrians, Libyans, Nubians)

• He outlived his 12 sons and had a long rule

• He established one of the first major peace treaties in history with the Hittites

• This helped to establish a peaceful Northern border throughout the rest of his rule 

Kush/Nubia’s control of Egypt 

• After Ramses II, Kush (the Kingdom in Nubia) took control of Egypt by 728 B.C.E

• Kushites considered themselves of the same religion and culture and regarded their leaders as god-kings as well 

• Eventually the Assyrians took control of Egypt and the Nubians lost control 

• Kush continued to thrive as an independent empire, as they were not raided by the Assyrians 

Why is India called a subcontinent?

Even though it’s in the continent of Asia, the Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and the Himalayas ranges create a border on the northern part of India. It also forms its own distinct area of Asia. 

Harappa civilization 

• It’s a series of pictograms like Sumerian cuneiform 

The Ganges and Indus Rivers

• Unlike Egypt, this flooding was unpredictable and the rivers sometimes changed their course completely

Monsoons

• The rivers were unpredictable due to the monsoon weather pattern that India received 

Indus Geography 

• The Indus River Valley is now in modern-day India/Pakistan

Chinese Rivers 

• The two important rivers for Ancient China were the Chang Jiang (Yangtze) River and 

• the Huang He river. 

• When the Huang He flooded, it left behind silt known as Loess. This stained the river yellow.  

Shang dynasty 

• From 1600-1050 B.C.E

• The first dynasty to have written records 

• Archaeologists have found palaces, tombs, and other artifacts from the Shang 

• One of the most important cities under the Shang was Anyang 

• Similar to Mesopotmia, city walls were important to the Shang Dynasty

• Despite the isolation due to natural barriers, Ancient China still experienced massive invasion, so these walls provided further protection.

• The extensive nature of this walls show how much control the Shang dynasty had over its people

Zhou dynasty 

• The Zhou overthrew the Shang and created a dynasty that lasted from 1027-265 BCE. Becoming China’s longest ruling dynasty

Hebrews 

• Hebrews were the chosen people of God who first started the rise of Monotheism 

• The ancient Hebrews, led by such figures as Abraham, Moses, David, and Solomon, brought about a revolution in ancient religious beliefs and practices through the introduction of monotheism. 

Moses: Leader & Lawgiver 

• According to writings, between 1500 - 1200 B.C.E., God chose Moses to lead the Hebrews back to Canaan 

• This is known as the Exodus 

• During the Exodus, (which took 40 years), Moses climbed Mt. Sinai and God presented him with the ten commandments 

• Ten commandments: A set of moral codes that influenced the way Jews and Christians live 

• Traditionally, Moses is considered the author of the Torah, which is the religious text of the Jews 

• The Torah is also the Old Testament in the Christian bible

• After the birth of Jesus Christ, these two religions diverge 

• Moses died during the Exodus so a leader named Joshua, (Abraham’s grandson) finished the journey back to Canaan 

• There, the 12 tribes were established as a loose confederation 

Foundation of the Kingdom of Israel 

• By 1000 B.C.E, King David defeated the Philistines and made Jerusalem the capital of the kingdom of Israel 

• David’s son, King Solomon, built the first temple: Solomon’s Temple 

• Solomon’s Temple was a religious center for Jewish life and expanded Israel’s power and influence 

• However, he taxed the 10 northern tribes more than the 2 southern tribes to pay for this temple 

• The Jewish people split into 2 kingdoms after Solomon’s death around 920 B.C.E. and war broke out between the two kingdoms

• Israel: 10 northern tribes

• Judah: 2 southern tribes 

The Torah 

• Hebrews lived by the Torah

• The Torah (made of 24 books) provided instructions on how to live a just life, eat Kosher foods, and value education and charity