EARLIEST CIVILIZATIONS Flashcards
Mesopotamia
Ancient Mesopotamia refers to the place where humans first formed civilizations. It was here that people first gathered in large cities, learned to write, and created governments.
Mesopotamia was a collection of varied cultures whose only real bonds were their script, their gods, and their attitude toward women. The social customs, laws, and even the language of Akkad.
the Nile
major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa;
from Egypt, the cultivation of grain crops and fibers, such as flax and cotton, spread people along the Nile
the Indus
The Indus Valley Civilization was an ancient civilization located in what is Pakistan and northwest India today, on the fertile flood plain of the Indus River and its vicinity;
first signs of urbanization: dozens of towns and cities had been established;
Yellow River
In northern China during the Neolithic age, a millet-based agricultural system developed along the Yellow River.
The relationship between the earliest civilizations and their environment
Small groups of people stopped chasing their food from place to place and settled down in modern-day Iraq to establish permanent homes that would rely upon the environment to ensure the survival of the people. Unfortunately for these civilizations, the environment is not a consistently reliable source of survival. These first civilizations settled between two major rivers: the Tigris and Euphrates. They had access to fresh water. Heavy rains at any given time would flood the rivers, potentially destroying the farms or killing a whole bunch of people. Possessing and maintaining farm animals was a great way to help sustain early civilizations, as these animals could provide a lot of different resources for humans: eggs, meat, and clothing. The inhabitants of the first river valley civilizations had to constantly be aware of their relationship to their environment, as any sudden change in conditions could literally mean the end of their society.
Hammurabi’s Code and the Epic of Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh king of Uruk, Hammurabi king of Babylon.
Gilgamesh in Uruk and had many points to it like friendship, civilizations, and life or death situations between certain people. The story gave meaning to the people of Mesopotamia of how their indication of life may be relating to the morals and values of the people.
Hammurabi, king of the Babylonian Empire, decreed a set of laws to every city-state in order to better govern his burgeoning empire. Known today as the Code of Hammurabi, the 282 laws are one of the earliest and more complete written legal codes from ancient times
The “epic” tradition
…The Hero. Epics can be known by their formal characteristics, but great epics participate in a tradition by which each new epic refers consciously to the epics which came before it.
rosetta stone
a stone slab, found in 1799 near Rosetta, bearing parallel inscriptions in Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics, and demotic characters, making possible the decipherment of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics
Pharaohs and Egyptian politics and belief
In the social pyramid of ancient Egypt the pharaoh and those associated with divinity were at the top, and servants and slaves made up the bottom. The Egyptians also elevated some human beings to gods. Their leaders, called pharaohs, were believed to be gods in human form. They had absolute power over their subjects
Egypt
major kingdoms developed along the Nile
Egypt’s 3 kingdoms
The three kingdoms were the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms. Ancient Egyptian civilization begins. The first Pharaoh of Egypt, Menes, united the Upper and Lower parts of Egypt into a single civilization. He put the capitol at the midpoint of the two lands in a city called Memphis.
egypt art
Ancient Egyptian art must be viewed from the standpoint of the ancient Egyptians to understand it. The somewhat static, usually formal, strangely abstract, and often blocky nature of much Egyptian imagery has, at times, led to unfavorable comparisons with later, and much more ‘naturalistic,’ Greek or Renaissance art. However, the art of the Egyptians served a vastly different purpose than that of these later cultures.
the conception of the afterlife – Duat
The god Osiris was believed to be the lord of the underworld since he personified rebirth and life after death, being the first mummy as depicted in the Osiris myth. … The dead king, worshipped as a god, was also central to the mythology surrounding the concept of Duat, often depicted as being one with Ra.
- Nubia and Meroe
northern Africa
Kings at Meroe ruled Nubia. Meroe, between the 5th and 6th cataracts of the Nile, had become the new capital of the Kushite state by about 270 BC. … The rule of Meroe’s kings extended hundreds of miles to the north, and most of northern Nubia between the 1st and 2nd cataracts became a Meroitic province.
- Comparative views on government, citizenship, gender, virtue, leadership, and slavery
- You should be able to identify aspects of their impact and legacy, and the reasons these civilizations are labeled “classical”
(Сравнительные взгляды на правительство, гражданство, пол, добродетель, лидерство и рабство. - Вы должны быть в состоянии определить аспекты их влияния и наследия, а также причины, по которым эти цивилизации обозначены как «классические».)
The three areas of classical civilizations developed their own beliefs, lifestyles, political institutions, and social structures. However, there were important similarities among them:
Patriarchal family structures - Like the river valley civilizations that preceded them, the classical civilization valued male authority within families, as well as in most other areas of life.
Agricultural-based economies - Despite more sophisticated and complex job specialization, the most common occupation in all areas was farming.
Complex governments - Because they were so large, these three civilizations had to invent new ways to keep their lands together politically. Their governments were large and complex, although they each had unique ways of governing
Expanding trade base - Their economic systems were complex. Although they generally operated independently, trade routes connected them by both land and sea.
The location of Persia, Greece, Athens, Sparta, Alexandria, Rome, Silk Road, Mayan Empire • The development of Greece, Rome, Persia, India (Maurya and Gupta), China (Zhou, Qin, Han), and Mayans • The impact of Greek democracy and philosophy (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle) • Major Greek achievements: Aristarchus, Euclid and Pythagoras, Archimedes • Roman political developments: Republic, branches of government, legal code, jury trials • Roman Achievements: Aqueducts, paved roads, arch, dome, concrete • Indian Achievements: Earth is round, zero, decimals, complex surgeries
