Anthropological Origins of Human
Civilization
 According to fossil record, there are at
least three species of the genus Homo
that came about between 200 – 100,000
years ago and these were: Homo
erectus, homo neanderthalensis, and
Homo sapiens.
 These three species of early humankind
were believed to inhabit Africa and
Eurasia during the Stone Age.
 Homo erectus was the first to become
extinct 100,000 years ago. They are
believed to have learned how to use and
control “fire”.
 Neanderthals – “cave dwellers” emerged
200,000 years ago but became extinct
between 35 -25,000 years ago; They
manufactured and used tools (including
blades, awls, and sharpening
instruments), developed a spoken
language, and developed a rich culture
that involved hearth construction,
traditional medicine, and the burial of
their dead.
 Homo Sapiens (Modern Man) –
according to fossil evidence, the earlier
homo sapiens appeared in Africa 200-
100,000 years ago as cave dwellers and
hunter gatherers
 Once agriculture became important,
people established villages of permanent
houses and found new uses for caves,
mainly as hunting and herding campsites
and for ceremonial activities. In Europe,
Asia, and Africa caves continued to be
used as shelters by nomadic groups.
 Civilizations developed around rivers
because their waters provided places to
hunt and fish. Also, as the rivers flooded,
the lands around them became fertile
Western World & Western Civilization
 It is a geographic divide that
encompasses the continents of Europe
and North America
 The western world is a geo-political and
socio-cultural divide that refers to
European civilizations and their direct
offshoots such as ‘white’ Australia, and
the North American countries of Canada
and USA
 European Union is therefore a byproduct
of the continent’s historical evolution
dating back 5,000 years ago
MESOPOTAMIA
 BABYLON
o Hammurabi Code – first legal system/
written laws in history, “power need
not be based on brute force but thru
rule of law”
o Tower of Babel – tallest structure in
the ancient world
o Hanging Gardens built by
Nebuchadnezzar
o Babylonian captivity (Jewish exile led
to the creation of Hebrew/Jewish
identity and the preservation of the old
testament scriptures- Torah which
contained direct influences from
Mesopotamian culture)
 ASSYRIA
o Brutal warriors that destroyed Israel
resulting to the 10 lost tribes
o Ashurbanipal built the first library in
the world
o Their vast conquests led to the
extension of urban lifestyle to many
tribes in Asia minor
 SUMER
o First city states to emerged from the
sedentary communities in the fertile
crescent
o We could find in Sumer almost every
first in human technology that rose out
of necessity
o Cuneiform – writing on clay tablets
o Ziggurat – first major structural
engineering
o Polytheistic religion – gods and
cities; priestly class
 Hittites - established their empire in Asia
Minor and were responsible for the
contacts with indigenous western people
from the Greek world.
 Phoenicians – first maritime traders who
traveled across the entire Mediterranean
world; introduced the concept of letters in
the alphabet which was copied by the
Greeks; the modern word phonetics,
phonics, and phone are references to
language.
 Philistines – nemesis of the Hebrew
tribes in their territorial dispute in
Canaan; known for their boorish
attitude, uncultured, aggressive and
“faithless” ; in modern language the
word means ignorant and uncultured.
 Hebrews – these scriptural people from
the bible made a lasting impression in the
development of western civilization
particularly in the areas of religion and
morality.
 Period of Patriarchs – formative era of
the Jewish people
•Abraham – Sarah; Hagar and Ishmael –
contrast the Jewish version from the
Islamic version, Abraham’s son being
offered to God for sacrifice
•Isaac – Rebecca the faithful servant;
Esau and Jacob’s rivalry.
 Jacob – becomes Israel who bore 12
sons that became the 12 tribes of
Israel; married three sisters (his
beloved was Rachel) that gave him
Joseph and Benjamin
•Joseph – became a regent in Egypt;
mass migration of his family in Egypt
during the time of the Hyksos rule in
Egypt
•Moses – the exodus from Egyptian
slavery under the Rameses the Great
(Egyptian pharaoh responsible for
grandious edifices)
 Period of Judges- period of conquest to
reclaim the promised land
 Joshua – successor of Moses as
military leader who led the invasion and
retaking of Canaan from the other
Semite tribes; Moses brother Aaron
started the priesthood in the holy tent
that houses the ark of the covent; fall of
Jericho
 Other judges include Gideon and
Samson
 Period of Kings- period of expansion and
growth
 Saul – was the last judge until his
anointment as first king of Israel
 David – replaced Saul as king and was
responsible for the golden age of
Israel, built Jerusalem as capital and
built the Temple to permanently house
the arc of the covenant, and the abode
of Yahweh on earth; committed
adultery with Bathsheba and built a
shrine for Jezebel because of his love.
 Solomon – wisest king continued with
the economic progress of Israel, but
Hebrew conservatives were getting
wary of his liberal policies toward
foreigners; allowed the Arameans to be
assimilated in their society; Aramaic
became the lingua franca.
 Period of the Prophets – period of
decline, anarchy and war
•Division of the kingdom : North
(Israel); South (Judah)
•Conquest of the northern kingdom by
the Assyrians
•Destruction of the southern kingdom
by the Babylonians
•The prophets like Isaiah and Ezekiel
warned about the coming chaos and
tragedy to befall the north and south.
 Restoration – end of exile after the fall of
Babylon and Persian Collaboration
 •Persians allowed the captured peoples
of Babylon to return to their home land;
they even financed the reconstruction
of the Temple of Jerusalem
•Judea becomes a province of the
Persian empire and Jewish leaders like
Nehemiah became a Persian regent
and all praises for the new conquerors
 EGYPT
o Its history began as early as the
Sumerians in Mesopotamia
o The geography of ancient Egypt
consists of the narrow lands to the
left and right of the great Nile River-
considered to be the richest in the
region
o Pharaohs are gods who are
immortal, hence the pre-occupation
to preserve their bodies through
mummification, the spirits of the
pharaohs are reunited with the stars
and will one day come back to earth
to reclaim their bodies for their
resurrection
o Isis, Osiris and Horus—Isis and
Osiris, brother and sister, husband
and wife. From this belief made
incestuous marriage acceptable in
ancient Egyptian culture.
o Anubis, the god of mummification
o Osiris became the god of Death and
would rule the underworld to judge
all those who die.
o Isis is the fertility goddess who was
the inspiration to the Greek
Aphrodite and the Roman Venus.
o Hieroglyphs which later evolved
into hieratic
o Imhotep – is the first pharaoh to
engineer the construction of the step
pyramid
o Hyksos (Amorites) who invaded
Egypt and assimilated its culture and
ruled them for almost a hundred
years
o Egyptian society is largely
patriarchal but Queen Hatshepsut
challenged this social order when
she became pharaoh
o Ramses II is considered to the
greatest master builder of ancient
Egypt, as he has the distinction of
building the most number of temples
and monuments honoring him and
his family.
PERSIAN EMPIRE
 Medes established dominance in the
areas of the Iranian plateau and the
Perses were one of the tribes subjected
to Median rule.
 Cyrus was a Persian prince who rose to
prominence by waging a war of
independence from the Medes
 Lydians identified themselves to be part
of the emerging Greek world; invented
coinage
 Croesus consulted the oracle at Delphi
in Greece. The oracle replied that once he
did so, he will destroy a great nation. He
did but the nation he destroyed was his
own.
 Persians freed the Hebrews who were
captives since the time of
Nebuchadnezzar
 Persian Legacy
o concept of local government, the
empire was divided among provinces
called satrapy; Provinces were free to
express their native culture and
religious practices without interference
from the Persian overlords.
o Zoroastrianism: Earliest
Monotheism
 Zoroaster or Zarathustra was
the founder of this religion who
believed in one supreme spirit
being, Ahura Mazda
 Their holy book is the Zend
Avesta; and their priests are
called the magi
  this religion is almost extinct in
Iran due to the introduction of
Christianity
 Aegean Civilization
o late 19th century when the sciences of
archaeology and anthropology were at
their infant stages, Heinrich
Schliemann discovered the remains of
what was then considered to be the
mythical city of Troy.
o Mycenaean Greece- after the mighty
kingdom of Mycenae which according
to the Iliad was ruled the by great king
Agamenon
o Trojan war - The love story of Hellene
and Paris was the cause of this great
war.
o ethnic identity: that all of them are
Hellene (Greeks) and their motherland
is Hellas (Greece)
o Minoan Greece- according to legends,
king Minos ruled a thalassocracy (sea
empire) in the Mediterranean during the
time of Hammurabi in Babylon, with its
locus at the island of Crete.
o The destruction of Thera is believed to
be the inspiration for the story of
Altantis
HOMERIC AGE
• Based on Greek mythology, the fall of the
earlier cultures was brought about by the
Clash of Titans, when gods led by
Hercules went down to engage in an
apocalyptic war.
• When gods won the war versus the titans,
the Olympic games was instituted to
commemorate the great war
• By 1000 BCE, city states or Poleis or
Polis began to appear in Greece signaling
the start of the Homeric Age, named after
the great Greek Poet Homer
• Polis is ruled by an aristocratic class
headed by a tyrant, soon two Metropolis
will dominate the Greek world: Athens
and Sparta.
• Harmodius & Aristegiton - are
considered to be the liberators of Athens.
• Parthenon, where the giant statue of
Athena once stood was the focal point of
the Acropolis
• Spartans - specialized in warfare and the
perfection of the hoplite regiment.
• Gymnasium (Athenian school); the
military training
• Symposium (where the young learners
are tutored by distinguished
philosophers).
• Aristocratic Greek culture was also
extremely patriarchal
• Greeks gave us democracy, and politics
such the republican system of government
as contained in Plato’s The Republic.
• Solon, a statesman—introduced
democratic reforms such as abolition of
slavery
• Ostracism (Ostraka, a process by which
names of unpopular citizens are voted out
of the assembly)
• Draconian (adjective meaning
harsh/arbitrary)—from Draco, an Athenian
leader who was notorious for his anti-
democratic policies
• Philip II of Macedon rose in 4 BCE to
establish his peasant army into a
formidable fighting force, the Macedonian
phalanx
• Alexander who was schooled in the
classical Athenian method of the
gymnasium and symposium
• Alexandria - new capital in the
Mediterranean
• three trusted generals: Ptolemy,
Seleucus, and Antigonus,
• Antigonus founded the Antigonid
dynasty of the Greek lands in Southern
Europe
• Seleucus founded the Seleucid empire in
the lands Asia Minor, Southwest Asia, and
Northern India
ROME
 Remus & Romulus – Twins from
Etruscan
 Etruscans – from Asia Minor or the
Aegean
 Patricians – Abolished kingship and ruled
the city
 Plebeians – demanded equal rights from
the patricians
 509 BCE Rome became a republic
 Senate – highest organ of government
 Roman Mind : Legalistic, Structuralistic,
Hierarchal
 Roman Laws – all present laws are
legacies of this laws
 Codex (Code) – legalistic
framework/system of laws
 SPQR – Senatus Populusque Romanus;
The senate and the people of Rome
 Carthage – controlled the maritime trade
in the Western Mediterranean
 Punic Wars – between Carthage and
Romans (Hannibal & Africanus)
 Hannibal – general of Carthage
 Africanus – general of Romans
 Roman Provinces – created through a
law by the Senate, controlled by Prefects
 Palestine & Egypt – two roman provinces
that were allowed to retain local kings
 Consuls – chief ruler
 Pompey – hero of the Punic Wars
 Crassus – general who defeated
Spartacus (slave who led a revolt against
Rome)
 Julius Ceacar – plotted Pompey’s
downfall
 FIRST TRIUMVIRATE – campaign for
reforms to weaken the Senate
 “Crossing the Rubicon” – conquering all
odds
 “Veni, Vedi, Vici” – I came, I saw, I
conquer
 Cleopatra – Ptolemic princess, Julius’
love affair
 Mark Anthony – protégé of Julius, had an
affair with Cleopatra
 Brutus – assassinator of Julius; “ideas of
March”
 Octavian – nephew of Julius
 2ND TRIUMVIRATE – started by Mark
Anthony, Octavian, and Lepidus to
avenge Caesar
 Caesarian – don of Julius with Cleopatra
 Octavian changed his name to Agustus,
and Caesar became tittle to all emperors
of Rome
 Agustan Age: PAX ROMANA
 Radical transformation of roman
society
 Lasted for 200 years, because there
was no threat
 Tiberius – step son of Agustus, started
the Julio-Claudian emperors
 Cherubs – young boys
 Caligula – cherub of Tiberius; also the
one who killed him
 Claudius – heir to Caligula; “When in
Rome, do what Romans do”
 Nero – successor of Claudius; burned
the city and blamed the Christians
RIS OF CHRISTIANITY
Jewish Origins—
• After the destruction of the Persian
empire by the armies of Alexander, the
forces of Hellenization imposed their
cultural dominance among the
conquered peoples of Asia.
• Seleucid Kingdom established its
capital in Antioch due to its proximity
to the Mediterranean
• Seleucid rulers finally agreed to give
the Jews limited autonomy by
installing Hellenist Jews into power,
the Hasmonean dynasty.
• Jewish Society in Palestine:
• Pharisees – means “the
separated ones”, religious, purist,
• Sadducees – priestly and
aristocratic
• Essenes – pious ones, authors of
the dead sea scrolls
• Zealots – marginalized sector,
mostly poor and uneducated
• Yeshua (Jesus of Nazareth) – lowly
carpenter, began teaching in the
coast of galilee
• Pauline Christianity - a separate
body of believers came into fore
when Saul from Tarsus became
Paul
• Paul preached that Jesus is the
Christos (the anointed one), who
came for the salvation of all men and
not just the redeemer of the Jews.
• Rome destroyed Jerusalem and
scattered the Jews all around the
Graeco-Roman world, called the
Diaspora.
• 70 CE, Christianity became a separate
religion from Judaism
• Where ever the apostles preached
and led a community of believers,
this became known as a church,
and with it a certain hierarchy
emerged, the apostles anointed their
successors who became the
episcopos (bishops), and under
them were the preachers known as
presbyter (priest in Latin), then the
deacons and the lay
• Antioch, Syria where believers were
first called Christians
• Canon of the Old Testament which
consisted of the 39 books of the
Torah (written in Hebrew)
• 7 additional books written in Greek,
this is called the Alexandrian
Canon
• earliest Christian writings were the
epistles or letters of the apostles
• first gospel book appeared in 65 CE
in Egypt
• Mathew’s gospel was standard for the
Jerusalem Church
• The last gospel book written was
John’s which about 90 CE
appeared in Asia Minor. John
established a church in Ephesus
• the Dormitio or the Assumption
• Many Christian converts in the
Hellenist provinces were former
followers of Mitraism and
Zoroastrianism
• Christianity was already a dominant
religion in the empire; Emperor
Diocletian issued the edict of
toleration which outlawed all forms
of persecution against Christians.
• Constantine – sole emperor ;
Christianity as the state theory or
CHRISTENDOM
• DIVINE RITE THEORY- believed that
power was given by god
• Emperor became the protector of
church
• The First Council of Nicea was
convened by Constantine in 325 CE
to address the Arian Heresy: Arius,
a minor bishop in Alexandria taught
that Jesus as the Son, is not the
same substance as of the Father;
that Jesus is a human lord but not
fully God.
• In 330 CE, Constantine transferred the
capital in Byzantium in Bosporus
region and called it Constantinople-
New Rome.
• 2nd Council was held in 381 CE in
Constantinople-New Rome,
convened by Emperor Theodosius.
He declared Christianity as the only
official religion of the empire
• 3rd Council was held in Ephesus to
resolve the conflict caused by the
teachings of the bishop of
Constantinople
• Theotokos—Mary is the Mother of
God
• Marcian convened the 4th Council in
Chalcedon and overturned the
decision of the previous council
• In Christ there are two natures, the
human and divine, which are
consubstantial, and indivisible in
one person.
• Politics, language, geography, and
culture are the factors that led to the
gradual estrangement of the two
church centers.