1-12: Agricultural to the Fall of Rome

Question 1

Why settle near water?

Answer 1

Fishing; abundant food source, often undangerous

Question 2

“nasty, brutish, and short”

Answer 2

Thomas Hobbes; describing the “State of Nature” thought experiment - not likely the case

Question 3

Pros of Herding

Answer 3

Food, drink, and shelter

Question 4

Cons of Herding

Answer 4

Constant moving
Requires certain animals - none of which are from the Americas (except llamas) - sheep, goats, cattle, pigs, horses, cames, reindeer, water buffalo, yak

Question 5

Agriculture

Answer 5

Process of domesticating plants to grow as a food source for humans

Question 6

Advantages of Agriculture

Answer 6

good crops = less starvation
potential food surplus - allows for larger specialization/projects
can be done anywhere with soil and a water source

Question 7

Disadvantages of Agriculture

Answer 7

often have to radically change the environment
takes lots of labor - to the point that humans enslave others to do it
can lack nutritional diversity
famine, drought

Question 8

Why agriculture?

Answer 8

We don’t really know
Larger population, settle in one place

There are other ways to get more food
Once you start, can’t really stop

May lead to inequality - but not guaranteed to

Question 9

8 Signs of Civilization

Answer 9

4 or more;

1) Surplus food
2) Cities + public works
3) Specialization of labor
4) Social stratification
5) Centralized government
6) Art and architecture
7) Writing
8) Shared values

Question 10

When was the Indus Valley Civilization?

Answer 10

~3500 BCE - 1300 BCE

Question 11

What rivers were the Indus Valley Civilization between?

Answer 11

Indus and Saraswati Rivers

Question 12

IVC: Cities and their characteristics

Answer 12

Harappa
Mohenjo Daro

Perpendicular streets - suggests zoning government
Dense, multistory homes - all had water and drainage
Plumbing system
The Great Bath - suggests shared values and sanitation
No monumental palaces found - suggests personal religion, may suggest un-royal leadership

Question 13

IVC: Writing System

Answer 13

Indus Script

Can’t read their writing

Question 14

How do know the IVC traded extensively?

Answer 14

Seals on goods (of monsters and writing)
Found in Mesopotamia

Bronze and cloth found in IVC must have come from elsewhere

Question 15

What was exceptional about the IVC?

Answer 15

They were likely pacifists

No weapons, like swords and spears
No signs of cities being burnt/razed

They had low wealth concentration

Homes roughly the same size, all had water/drainage access

Question 16

IVC: Downfall

Answer 16

1) Conquest (unlikely at this point in time)
2) Climate change and drought
3) Earthquakes (damage, change in sea level, change in water supply)

IVC peoples likely migrated eastward

Question 17

Mesopotamia Meaning

Answer 17

Meso - Between

Potomoi - Rivers

Question 18

Mesopotamia Rivers

Answer 18

Tigris

Euphrates

Question 19

What was the older of Mesopotamia’s two economic systems?

Answer 19

Proto-socialism

Famers gave crops to public storehouses

Workers received uniform wages in grain

Question 20

Themes of “The Epic of Gilgamesh”

Answer 20

City v Country - City wins - Wild Man is civilized, becomes friend and brother to King

Death

Question 21

Largest City in Early Mesopotamia

Answer 21

Uruk

Question 22

Uruk characteristics

Answer 22

Walls
Canals
Temples
Ziggurats

Question 23

Mesopotamian religion

Answer 23

Polytheistic

Moody gods

Question 24

Why did Mesopotamian gods flood the earth?

Answer 24

Humans were being too noisy and making it hard to sleep

Question 25

What were the Mesopotamian rivers like?

Answer 25

Violent
Unpredictable
Difficult to navigate
Difficult to work with (used slave labor to irrigate)

Question 26

Who was in charge in the older of Mesopotamia’s political system’s?

Answer 26

Priests; they communicated with difficult gods

Question 27

Mesopotamia: Transition from Temples to Palaces

Answer 27

1,000 years
Power moves from Gods to people
Military leaders and rich landowners marry high priests

Question 28

Mesopotamian writing system

Answer 28

Cuneiform

Mostly used to record business transactions: wheat and goats

Question 29

What is important about writing? (Mesopotamia)

Answer 29

1) Increased social stratification (literate+illiterate)

2) Recorded history

Question 30

Mesopotamia: Necessary Trade

Answer 30

Traded for most things but crops (metal, stone, wood, etc)

Question 31

Mesopotamia: Trading implies what?

Answer 31

Territorial Kingdoms

Question 32

When did the Mesopotamian City-State period end?

Answer 32

2000 BCE

Question 33

Why did the Mesopotamian City-State period end?

Answer 33

shift in rivers
drought

easy conquering for nomadic peoples (Amorites) and neighboring cities (Elamites)

Question 34

What was the newer of Mesopotamia’s two economic systems?

Answer 34

Taxation

People produced as much as they want, and paid taxes to chiefs (eventually kings)

Question 35

Who was in charge in the newer of Mesopotamia’s political systems?

Answer 35

Chiefs and Kings, who passed power to their sons

Question 36

Hammurabi

Answer 36

Law Code: presumption of innocence + retributive justice

Question 37

What was the Assyrian Empire known for?

Answer 37

Brutality
Deport + relocate people following conquest
Mutilated potential rebels

Meritocratic military

Question 38

Who was the God of Assyrian Religion?

Answer 38

Ashur

maintains the world through the King of Assyria

Question 39

What was the driving force behind the God of Assyrian religion?

Answer 39

Conquest

If conquering continues, the world continues
If conquering ends, the world ends

Question 40

Why did Assyria collapse?

Answer 40

Assyria extended its empire beyond its roads, making control difficult

Lost capital of Nineveh and major city of Harran in 600s BCE (to Neo-Babylonians and Medes)

Lost battle, and world continued; Assyrian religion proved false

Question 41

What names was Hammurabi referred to by?

Answer 41

“Father” and “Shepherd”

Abrahamic concepts