Early Civilizations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Nubia

Geography and River Systems

• The earliest civilizations studied developed in the Middle East and North Africa.
• Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) and Egypt/Nubia.
• River systems were significant for early societies.
• Mesopotamia: Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
• Egypt and Nubia: Nile River.
• Mediterranean Sea borders both regions.

River System Differences

• Sumerian city-states along Tigris and Euphrates.
  • Rivers flowed south and flooded unpredictably.
  • Irrigation was necessary.
  • Speculation that early development was due to the need for collective engagement with the river.
  • Unpredictable flooding led to crop loss and destruction.
  • Region open to movement, trade, and invasions, leading to a sense of danger.
  • Mesopotamian mindset: life was unpredictable, gods were whimsical, and death was final.
• Nile-based Egyptian (and Nubian) civilization.
  • Nile flooded predictably around August 15th each year.
  • Deposited fresh soil and nutrients.
  • Regular and long growing seasons led to surplus production.
  • Rapids at the Nubian border and deserts to the east and west prevented invasion.
  • Nile's current flowed north, and winds blew south, making travel easy.
  • Sails originated in the North African/Middle Eastern region.
  • Egyptian mindset: gods were supportive, death was a transition, and pharaohs were considered divine.

Comparison of Civilizations

• Sumerian civilization developed earlier than Egypt (3-4 centuries).
• Early written language (cuneiform) in Sumer written on clay tablets.
• Egyptian sources show Mesopotamian influence.
• Scholarship suggests that divine monarchs, the afterlife, and pyramids originated in Nubia.
• Egyptian hieroglyphics depicted Nubians as equals or lesser peoples based on the relationship between the two.
• Nubia influenced sub-Saharan societies. *Sub-Saharan Africa climate and agriculture:
  • Heavy rainfall led to dense vegetation and deadly bacteria/viruses.
  • Agriculture and domestication did not occur widely. Farming communities arose around the Niger River.
  • Bantu language speakers became productive farmers and metalworkers.
    • Bantu societies: Spread across sub-Saharan Africa, assimilating or displacing other groups. Their language became dominant until European colonialism.
    • They had strong oral traditions but no writing system in early society.
    • Kinship was their governmental structure.
    • The need to move to new lands periodically may have influenced their social structure.
    • Control over individuals within extended families was more important than centralized state control.
• Mesopotamian city-states remained separated and competed for resources.
  • Sumerian peoples shared farming, language, and political/religious concepts but fought with each other.
  • City-states controlled surrounding territories.
  • The first "empire" was organized by Sargon of Akkad around 2400 BCE.
  • Each city believed a specific god(s) created that place.
  • Religious structure: multiple gods with temples, priests, and scribes.

Religion and Worldview

• Temples were grain storehouses that also collected taxes and held trade surpluses.
• Scribes arose from the religious community.
• Multiple gods, temples as storehouses, and scribes were common in both Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations.
• Egypt unified early on, with one leader uniting upper and lower Nile settlements.
  • Unified society from 3200 BCE for 2000 years.
  • The geography of the Nile allowed for prosperity and monumental architectural projects (pyramids).
  • Pyramids were built during the Old and Middle Kingdoms by Egyptian laborers during agricultural off-seasons.

Egyptian Labor

• Workers lived in villages near the sites.
• No evidence of forced labor; workers were free and willing.
• Projects honored God-Monarchs.
• Religion as a worldview.
  • Legends and stories explained nature and life.
  • Creation "myths" ordered a chaotic universe.
  • Forces of nature were acts of gods.
  • Sumerians: Negative view of gods due to unpredictable events.
  • Egyptians: Belief in immortality and the Pharaoh as a divine connection to the gods.
• Both societies recorded natural events, but attributed causes to the gods.
• Both recorded diseases and symptoms but did not seek underlying causes, instead relying on prayers, sacrifices, and ointments, for example.

Religious Shifts and Texts

• Pharaoh Akhenaton in Egypt (14th century BCE) believed in one god, Aton.
  • He closed temples to other gods and promoted Aton.
  • The idea did not last after his death, and the traditional beliefs resurged.
  • This single god concept was unknown to the Hebrews.
  • Akhenaton never denied his own divinity, so it was not a precursor to monotheism.
• In Mesopotamia, individuals sought personal help from city gods.
• Epic of Gilgamesh:
  • Written around 1800 BCE.
  • Story of a great flood caused by angry gods.
  • A boat saves humanity and other living things.
  • Connection to the "Old Testament" flood story, but with different causation.
  • Gilgamesh's friend death leads him to seek a flower that restores life.
  • The flower is stolen by a snake, and Gilgamesh is advised to enjoy life instead of grieving.
  • Connections to the "Old Testament" story of Eden with alterations.
• Egyptian Book of the Dead (16th century BCE):
  • Spells and prayers for well-being in the afterlife.
  • Concern over "purity" and avoiding sins/wrongs.
  • Included commandments like not committing murder, keeping food from children, harming children, damming water, or killing temple cattle, to maintain order and morality.

Dating Terminology

• BCE (Before the Common Era) and CE (Common Era) are used instead of BC and AD.
• BCE refers to years before the presumed year 1, and CE refers to years after.
• This calendar marks the dominance of Western/European society but is not more "natural" than other calendars.
• The 14th century BCE: 1300-1200 years before presumed year 1.
• The 1st century CE: 1-99 years after presumed year 1.
• The change acknowledges the usefulness of a common chronology without reflecting only one belief system.