Unit 1: Ancient Civilizations & Religions

1. Unit 1: Ancient Civilizations & Religions Ms. Doyle

2. Record in your notes EVERYTHING in Red 8 Characteristics of Civilizations • Cities • Organized Governments • Complex Religions • Job Specialization • Social Classes • Arts & Architecture • Public Works • Writing

3. Day 2: Page 2: River Valleys Mesopotamia Rap http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6thAH9PdBcI&feature=plcp&context=C37fcaefUDOEgsToPDskJMuohee0N-odxk0vHHK9xH

4. Civilization Arose in the Fertile Crescent

5. Mesopotamia • The region between the Tigris River and the Euphrates River is known as Mesopotamia. • One of the first villages to emerge was Sumer. The villagers were called Sumerians.

6. Polytheism- A belief in many gods. • The Sumerians were polytheists. They believed that their gods were a lot like them except they were immortal and all-powerful. • Anu- “God of Heaven” • Enlil- “God of Clouds & Air” • Ea- “God of Water & Floods. • Afterlife: Sumerians believed that their souls went to “the land of no return,” a gloomy place between the earth’s crust & the ancient sea.

7. Who ruled Sumer? • Priests & Kings • Priests had power because they “knew how to please the gods” and keep the city safe. • Sumerians began by choosing a strong warrior to lead them into battle. These leaders eventually became kings. Kings became a hereditary position.

8. Draw pyramid and label in your notes! SOCIAL CLASSES IN SUMER Priests & Kings Wealthy Merchants *Women had more rights than women in many later civilizations. Artisans & Farmers Slaves: By working obediently day & night…they could hope to earn their freedom.

9. Purpose of Hammurabi’s Code • There are 282 specific laws. • 88 Laws deal with marriage, family, property. • 3 Fundamental Principles: • 1. Principle of Retaliation to punish crimes. (Eye for an Eye) • 2. Principle of Punishment (Double Standards existed between social classes). • 3. Principle that the Government had a responsibility for what occurred in society. “To cause justice to prevail in the land, to destroy the wicked & evil, and to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak…to enlighten the land and to further the welfare of the people.” Hammurabi

10. Phoenicians • Around 1100 B.C. the Phoenicians were the most powerful traders around the Mediterranean Sea. • 300 Phoenician cities sprouted up around Africa’s Mediterranean Sea • The highly prized purple dye for which the Phoenicians were renowned was extracted from a gland of the murex snail.  Each snail yielded only a drop of yellow liquid which darkened on exposure to light.  Processing required slow simmering for about two weeks.  Up to 60,000 snails were needed for each pound of dye.

11. Ancient Egypt

12. Geography & Trade • Located in NE Africa along the Nile River and in the middle of the Sahara desert • Fertile soil b/c yearly floods irrigated the land & deposited a rich layer of silt • Egyptians built irrigation systems to store water for the dry season • Nile River=trade route • Mediterranean=trade route with other cultures

13. Government • History of ancient Egypt is divided into 3 time period: Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, & the New Kingdom • Power passed from one dynasty to another (ruling family) • Egyptian Kings during the Old Kingdom were call pharaohs

14. Government Continued • Pharaohs ran a strong organized central state • Pharaohs were both gov’t & religious leaders • Pharaohs were believed to be Gods & they held absolute power • Pharaohs in the Old Kingdom preserved justice and order in society • Pharaohs ran a bureaucracy (a system of government that includes different job functions and levels of authority)

15. Religion • Beliefs about Gods, values, and the afterlife impacted the daily lives of Ancient Egyptians • Everything we know about Ancient Egypt’s religion we know from hieroglyphics inside the tombs • Egyptians believed divine forces ruled their world and the afterlife

16. Religion Continued • Chief God of Egypt was the Sun God (Re, pronounced Ray) …get it sun rays • Osiris= god of underworld, god of the Nile • Isis=goddess of womanly virtue • Egyptians believed each soul had to pass a test to win eternal life • Egyptians believed the afterlife would be like life on earth so they buried the dead with everything they would need for eternity

17. Social Classes in Ancient Egypt

18. Hieroglyphics • A form of Egyptian writing based on pictorial characters for words and sounds.

19. Egyptian Contributions • Developed writing: hieroglyphics • Hieroglyphics were written by scribes into stones • Created a paper like writing material called papyrus • Developed a calendar w/ 12 months & 30 days a month • Developed geometry • Advancements in medicine – diagnosing illnesses & finding cures

20. India’s Geographic Features • The Indian subcontinent is a large, wedge-shaped peninsula that extends southward into the Indian Ocean. • Subcontinent: A large region that is part of a continent, but is separated from the rest of the content in some way.

21. Identification of Geographic Features in India Indus River Ganges River Peninsula and/or Subcontinent

22. Himalayan Mountains • This peninsula is surrounded on the north and northwest by huge mountains, the Himalayan Mountains. • This has often limited India's contact with other cultures. This is known as cultural isolation.

23. Trade with Sumer • Most of the people of the Indus valley were farmers. They were the first people to grow cotton and weave it into cloth. • There is early evidence of trade with other civilizations including Sumer.

24. China’s Geographic Features Huang He or Yellow River Chinese civilization grew up in the river valley of the Huang He River (a.k.a.the Yellow River) and the Yangzi River. Yangzi River

25. The mountains, deserts, jungles and other geographic features have isolated Chinese culture. Having little contact with others , the Chinese believed their culture was the center of the earth.

26. Shang Dynasty • About 1650 BC, the Shang gained control of northern China. Ruling families began to gain control, similar to small kingdoms. • The Shang set up the first dynasty. • Dynasty:A series of rulers from a family.

27. Dynasty:A series of rulers from a family. • The ancient civilization was much like others with nobility owning the land, merchants and craftspeople trading and living in the cities and a large population of peasants living in surrounding villages.

28. Polytheistic Peoples • Early Chinese people were polytheistic, and prayed to many Gods and nature spirits. • They also looked to dead relatives to help them in daily life and to help them please the Gods.

29. Ying and Yang • Many Chinese also believed that the universe held a delicate balance between opposing forces. • The Ying and Yang must be in balance for prosperity and happiness to occur in one’s life.

30. Early Writing System • The Chinese civilizations made achievements in early writing systems that include both pictographs and ideographs and is now as one of the earliest writing systems.