The Origins of Human History Flashcards
A. Periodization
STONE AGE
- Paleolithic Era
- Neolithic Era
BRONZE ERA
-began by 3000 BCE
IRON ERA
-began by 1200 BCE
B. The Earliest Humans
HOMINIDS
-hominids walking upright between 6 & 7 million years ago in East Africa
-between 2.5-4 million y.a, hominids in the Great River Valley became fully bipedal
-homo Habilis (handy human); the first tool makers
HOMO ERECTUS
-2 mil y.a, they emerged in east Africa
-gradually migrated
HOMO SAPIENS
-evolved from homo erectus
-bigger brains than earlier hominids
-emergence of religion, science, & philosophy
-developed specialized tools
-issues with larger brain (labor)
HOMO SAPIEN SAPIENS
-emerged between 120000 & 90000 y.a.
PALEOLITHIC SOCIETY
-gatherer-hunters/foragers
-division of labor
•men often hunted & women often gathered (was flexible)
•mothers watched infants
-slower pace of life & healthy though still a lot of death
-family & kinship
•traveler in bands of 20/30
•mating arrangements varied in performance, mostly within the bands
-developed science
AMINISM- the idea that all living things & natural occurrences had spirits
NEOLITHIC SOCIETY
-Agricultural Revolution: dramatic transformation in human history resulting from the change from foraging to raising crops & animals
-foragers began planting seeds
•Fertile Crescent (Mesopotamia)
-harder labor
-animal domestication
•selective breeding
•increase disease
-social hierarchy
•elites, slaves, patriarchy
Writing, Cities, & The State
A. writing B. cities -growing C. the state -an organization from a tribe or kinship group in which small share of the population is able to coerce resources out of everyone in order to gain & then maintain their power -bureaucracy -Code of Laws
Sumer
A.
- city/states
- polytheism
- kinships & patriarchal Hereditary Dynasties
- all Mesopotamian societies were patriarchal, but women not a single lower-ranking group
- clients & slaves
- cuneiform
- evolved
- ideogram
Mesopotamia: from Sumer to Babylon
B. Empires of Mesopotamia
- Sargon & the Akkadian Empire
- probably used the worlds first permanent army
- capital city of empire was Akkad
- Sargon Dynasty ruled for about 150 years
Hammurabi & Kingdom of Babylon
- Babylon: 1850-1595 BCE
- Hammurabi: 1792-1750 BCE
- Shamash, Babylonian God
Hammurabi’s Law Code
•Extensive law code introduced by Hammurabi that regulated many aspects of life
- code had divine authority
- fines & physical punishments
- “an eye for an eye & a tooth for a tooth”
The Phoenicians
- master ship builders & traders
- established colonies & trading posts throughout Mediterranean as far as west coast of modern day Portugal
- alphabet
- phonetic (way things sound)
The Persian Empire
A. Cyrus The Great
-ruled from 559-530 BCE
-claimed divine favor & honored gods of conquered people (ex: Marduk, Babylon)
-constructed large empire
-some cases, Cyrus was more benevolent than most conquerors
-brought Babylonian Captivity to an end (538 BCE)
-built efficient administration system, particularly under Darius the Great
•Satrap
-built road system
The Aryans
-some disagreement on where Aryans originated
-flourishing during Heldic Age
A. Kig Veda: the earliest collection of Indian hymns, ritual texts, & philosophical treaties; central source of information for Aryans
B. settlement in India
-superior military technology
C. life in early India
-caste system: the Indian system of dividing society into hereditary groups who’s members interacted primarily within the group, especially married within groups
-four hierarchical strata/varna’s
•Brahmin (priests)
•Kshatriyas (warriors & officials)
•Vaishya (merchants & artisans)
•Shudra (farmers & laborers)
•Outcasts (untouchables)
The Religion in India
A. Brahmanism
-Samsara: reincarnation of the soul
-Karma: the tally of good and bad deeds that determined the status of an individual’s next life
B. Buddhism
-Siddhartha Gautama: Buddha
-Four Noble Truths
-Eightfold Path: established a code of conduct that helped one to triumph other human weaknesses
-Nirvana
-rejected caste system
C. Hinduism
-most direct descendent of Brahmanism
-Vedas are scared of revelations & support the caste system
-observe Dharma
-Moksha: liberation from the cycle of death & rebirth
•Union with Brahman
-all individual gods are manifestations of Brahman
-Bhagavad Gita (essential ethical text)
The Shang Dynasty
A.
-ruled from large settlements, though not as urbanized as Mesopotamia
-Anyang
•palaces, temples, alters
•palaces elaborate, but none remain
•Royal tomb example: Lady Hao, wife of King Wu Ding
•some human sacrifice
B. Army & War
-war booty was an important source of king’s revenue, including slaves
-bronze-tipped spears, battle axes, chariots
C. Religion
-Shang King served as the High Priest, offered sacrifices to royal ancestors & Di
-royal ancestors were intermediates between the King & Di
D. Social Hierarchy
-patrilineal inheritance, slavery, farmers
E. Writing
-writing emerged before 1200 BCE
-made possible for government to maintain written records and correspondence. It also helped preserve learning, traditions, & experience
-benefits of maintaining logographic system
The Warring Period
•Different states fight each other, one after another is destroyed
A. Military Advances
-crossbow
-cavalry
B. Art of War
-Sun Wu, Sun Tza
-General: master of maneuver, illusion, & deception
-heroism is useless (all it does is lead to endless death)
-discipline & deceit are necessary for soldiers
-Qin ultimately victories
C. Confucius
Analects:
-ethical ideals
-importance of order & hierarchy (the group is more important that the individual) (first four have a social hierarchy)
-5 relationships were the basis of society
•Ruler & subject
•father and son
•husband & wife
•elder brother & younger brother
•friend to friend
-women subservient to men
-Confucian gentlemen (men of morality)
Greece in the Bronze Age
A. The Minoans
-located on the island of Crete
-trade, emergence of cities travel i. Eastern Mediterranean & the Aegean
-writing around 1900 BCE
-palaces/Knossos
-development of social hierarchy, with king & nobles ruling society
-worshiped goddesses more than gods
-gender relations may have been more equalitarian in Minoan culture
B. The Mycenaeans
-located on mainland Greece, specifically Peloponnesus
-established palaces & cities in mainland Greece
-ruled by a king
-Mycenaean kings were wealthy
-war was common
C.Their relationship:
-initial contact was peaceful
-Mycenaeans attacked Crete in 1450 BCE
