The Rise of Civilizations: From City States to Empires

The Rise of Civilizations

• Core idea: Civilizations emerged when people settled near water sources; rivers provided essential functions for sustaining societies.
  • Water for human consumption.
  • Water and silt for agriculture.
  • Transportation of people and goods.
• Consequence: The earliest civilizations appeared along major river systems.
  • Tigris & Euphrates (Mesopotamia)
  • Nile (Egypt)
  • Indus & Ganges (India)
  • Huang (Yellow) & Yangzi (China)

River Valley Civilizations

• All early civilizations developed near water; rivers filled vital functions as outlined above.
• Location importance: Rivers enabled organized farming, surplus, specialization, and trade across regions.

Mesopotamia – Sumer

• Timeframe: Sumer, 3300 ext{-}1800 ext{ BCE}
• Innovations and achievements:
  • The wheel.
  • Timekeeping concepts based on base-60:
  • The 60-second minute and the 60-minute hour.
  • The unit circle based on base-60: the 360^ ext{o} circle.
  • Ziggurats (temple complexes).
  • C. 2300 ext{ BCE}: On best evidence, Sumerians invented writing.
  • The Epic of Gilgamesh: world’s oldest literature, c. 2300 ext{ BCE}.
  • Sargon of Akkad: created the world’s first empire (c. 2300 ext{ BCE}).
• Significance:
  • Writing enabled record-keeping, administration, and literature.
  • Early empire-building set patterns for later Mesopotamian states.

Mesopotamia – Babylon

• Timeframe: Babylon, 1800 ext{-}1600 ext{ BCE}
• Key features:
  • Conquered the largest empire to date.
  • Hammurabi: famous king who issued the world’s first legal code (c. 1775 ext{ BCE}).
• Significance:
  • Law codification provided a framework for governance and social order.

Mesopotamia – Assyria

• Timeframe: Assyria, 1300 ext{-}600 ext{ BCE}
• Key features:
  • Built the largest army to date, leading to the largest empire of its time.
  • Capital city: Nineveh (mentioned in the Bible).
  • The Library of Nineveh: discovered in the 1850s, a major source of information about the region.
• Significance:
  • Military organization and bureaucratic administration shaped future empires.

Mesopotamia – Neo-Babylon

• Timeframe: Neo-Babylon, 600 ext{-}539 ext{ BCE}
• Key features:
  • Conquered the Assyrian Empire.
  • Nebuchadnezzar: the most famous king.
  • Hanging Gardens of Babylon (legendary wonder).
  • Conquered Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and took the Jews into exile.
• Significance:
  • Demonstrated rapid imperial turnover in the region and the reach of Mesopotamian power.

The Ancient Near East

• The Phoenicians, 1500 ext{-}600 ext{ BCE}
  • Sailed and traded widely across the Mediterranean.
  • Invented a purple dye (royal color).
  • Invented the first alphabet in Byblos.
• The Hittites, 1400 ext{-}1200 ext{ BCE}
  • First people to work with iron.
• The Lydians, 1200 ext{-}600 ext{ BCE}
  • First people to use coined money.
• The Israelites, 1300 ext{-}586 ext{ BCE}
  • Inventors of ethical monotheism.
• Significance:
  • Trade networks, writing systems, coinage, and evolving religious ethics laid foundations for later cultures.

Egypt – The Nile: Origins

• Origins:
  • Egypt originally consisted of two kingdoms: Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt.
  • United by King Menes, 3100 ext{ BCE}.
• The Old Kingdom: 2575 ext{-}2130 ext{ BCE}
  • The era of the pyramids.
• The New Kingdom: 1550 ext{-}1100 ext{ BCE}
  • The golden age of Egypt.
  • Notable pharaohs: Ramses, Hatshepsut, Tutankhamen.

Egypt – The Nile: The New Kingdom and Beyond

• Akhenaton (Amenhotep IV): introduced a new monotheistic religion and moved the capital to Amarna.
• Amarna period: letters discovered in the 1800s reveal detailed information about the region.
• Ptolemaic Egypt: 330 ext{ BCE} ext{-}30 ext{ BCE}
  • Conquered by Alexander the Great; province of his empire.
  • Ruled by the Ptolemy family until Roman times.
• Rosetta Stone: dates to the Ptolemaic era; key to deciphering hieroglyphs.

India – The Indus & Ganges

• The Indus Valley Civilization: 2600 ext{-}1750 ext{ BCE}
  • Highly advanced, peaceful empire trading with Persian Gulf civilizations and Mesopotamia.
  • Two large cities: Mohenjo-Daro & Harappa; grid-pattern urban planning; advanced plumbing.
  • Writing system found but not yet read; no clear signs of military defenses.
  • Collapse possibly due to environmental changes or population movements.
• The Ganges River:
  • Located in northeast India.
  • Settled by Aryans; history written in the Vedas; central to early Hinduism.
  • Buddhism developed in northwest India.
• Major civilizations and eras:
  • Maurya: 321 ext{ BCE} ext{-}185 ext{ BCE}.
  • Gupta: 320 ext{ CE} ext{-}540 ext{ CE}.
• Significance:
  • Contributions to global mathematics and science; long-running cultural and religious traditions.

China – The Huang & Yangzi

• Geography:
  • The Huang River (Yellow River) in northern China; the Yangzi in southern China.
• Dynastic history (selected periods):
  • Shang: 1766 ext{-}1122 ext{ BCE}
  • Zhou: 1122 ext{-}256 ext{ BCE}
  • Qin: 221 ext{-}206 ext{ BCE}
  • Han: 202 ext{ BCE}-220 ext{ CE}
  • Sui: 581 ext{-}618 ext{ CE}
  • Tang: 618 ext{-}907 ext{ CE}
  • Song: 960 ext{-}1279 ext{ CE}
• Cultural and technological achievements:
  • Silk production and paper.
  • Coin money; distinct art, architecture, literature; advances in math, science, and engineering (e.g., Great Wall, Grand Canal).
  • Philosophical developments: Confucianism and Daoism.
• Influence:
  • Chinese cultural traditions profoundly influenced much of Southeast Asia.

Africa – Kush, Axum & the Swahili Coast

• Kush (Nubia):
  • Located along the Nile, south of Egypt; existed in phases from 2400 ext{-}400 ext{ BCE/CE}.
  • At times strong enough to conquer Egypt; later a province of Egypt.
  • Functioned as a trade conduit between Egypt and central/southern Africa.
  • Eventually became a client-state to Greeks and Romans.
  • Around 600 ext{ CE}, Kush was supplanted by Axum.
• Axum (Aksum):
  • Centered further south; dominated what is now Ethiopia and Yemen.
  • Axumite belief in descent from the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon; early Jewish origin, later Christian.
  • Existed roughly from 100 ext{ CE} to 900 ext{ CE}, height in the 3rd and 4th centuries.
  • Axum claimed possession of the Ark of the Covenant in their tradition (also claimed by modern Ethiopian Christians).
• Swahili Coast:
  • Swahili culture developed along the Indian Ocean coast (modern-day Tanzania and Kenya).
  • Cultural blend: traditional Bantu + Islamic influence brought by traders; includes connected trading cities.
  • Connected to camel caravans across North Africa and an extensive Indian Ocean trade network.
• Significance:
  • Demonstrates Africa’s long-standing commercial networks and cross-cultural exchanges.

Persia

• Early form: Achaemenid Empire; at its height around ext{ca. }475 ext{ BCE}, the largest empire of the Ancient World.
• Founding and expansion:
  • Founded by Cyrus the Great (r. 560 ext{-}530 ext{ BCE}).
  • Cyrus expanded east after conquering various peoples; conquered Babylon in 539 ext{ BCE} and allowed Jews to return to Jerusalem.
  • The work of Cyrus continued under Darius I.
• Governance and administration:
  • Core governance achievements: establish a common culture across a vast empire (one language, one religion—Zoroastrianism).
  • Local autonomy: divide the empire into smaller territories with local governors.
  • Standardization: common currency, weights & measures; built extensive road networks.
• Early Greek interactions:
  • In 499 ext{ BCE}, Ionian city-states revolted with Athenian support.
  • This began nearly two centuries of Persian–Greek conflict.
• Conflicts with Greece:
  • 490 BCE: Marathon – Athenian victory; Pheidippides runs 26 ext{ miles} to deliver news.
  • Darius I dies; Xerxes I launches major expedition against Greece.
  • Battles at Thermopylae and the burning of Athens (city later destroyed by Persians).
  • The Persian fleet is destroyed at the Battle of Salamis.
• Decline and aftermath:
  • In 336 BCE, Philip II of Macedon plans Greek invasion; assassinated.
  • In 333 BCE, Alexander the Great conquers the Persian Empire.
  • After Alexander’s death, Seleucus takes control; the Seleucid Empire lasts until 63 ext{ BCE}.
  • Persian cultural influence persists even after political states fade for several centuries.
• Significance:
  • Demonstrated governance of diverse peoples under a single imperial framework.
  • Integrated administration, infrastructure, and cultural policy as tools of empire.