UNIT 6 - EARLY CIVILIZATIONS

1. RIVER CIVILIZATIONS

Where did the first civilizations appear?

Some 6000 years ago, some Neolithic villages became cities as a result of
agricultural and commercial prosperity.
The first great civilizations developed along large rivers surrounded by fertile land:
● Mesopotamia: Tigris and Euphrates Rivers
● Egypt: the River Nile
● India: Indus River
● China: Huang He (Yellow) and Yangtze (Blue) Rivers

Why did they appear near rivers?

The reason they appeared near rivers is that in these places they could develop a
more productive agriculture, but also, they needed to organize in more complex
societies to administer the land and the water resources. As a consequence,
societies grew more complex and the first states appeared, as well as the first
writing systems.

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The importance of writing

Writing appeared in Mesopotamia over 5,000 years ago (3500-3000 BCE). When
people lived in villages, the population group was smaller and it was easier to
memorise their names, who herds belonged to, the size and amount of the crops,
etc. But when cities grew, it became necessary to control and keep the data
which interested the king and his government: taxes, trade transactions,
contracts, wills,etc. Soon other affairs and events began to be recorded in writing.
This way the first holy books, science books and literary works appeared. For
historians the invention of writing was so important that it is from its appearance
that they establish the beginning of History.

The main characteristics of river civilizations

From the year 3000 BCE, cities grew enormously and their population consisted
of thousands of people. Life in these cities became more complex and it was
necessary to make a division of work. Each person was dedicated to a specific job
and got all his other needs at the market. People lived in different quarters of the
city depending on how rich they were and what their job was.

Cities were not self-sufficient, not all the necessities could be obtained there and
people had to buy some food, raw materials and luxury products in far away
regions. That is why trade had a great importance. The river civilizations did not
have coins so they used barter, which means interchanging products.

● Their strong political power. The king kept control of everything, from
politics to religion. He passed laws to rule his country. The king was also in
charge of the army which he created to protect his possessions, and many
times the king had religious functions. There were also civil servants who
helped the king to manage his possessions.
● Society was very hierarchical. The population was divided into two very
different groups: few of them were privileged people and the majority were
subjugated people. Most of the lands and riches belonged to the first ones,
the privileged people. Also, they were in charge of the main public offices.
● Their great artistic development. Through art kings magnified their power
so they encouraged all kinds of art.

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2. MESOPOTAMIA: ENVIRONMENT AND HISTORY
Mesopotamia: the natural environment
The Mesopotamian civilization
developed between the rivers Tigris
and Euphrates. That is where it got
its name since Mesopotamia means
land between rivers. It was located
in an arid zone, but thanks to the
irrigation canals which they built
there was an important economic
development in the area. It also
became a very important region for
trade between Asia Minor, the
Mediterranean area and Syria.

City-states and empires

City-states in Mesopotamia were ruled by kings. Some kings expanded their
territories through conquest and alliances until they became empires that
controlled the territory over many centuries. Its history can be summarised as
follows:
● In 3000 BCE, the Sumerians lived in independent city-states like Uruk and
Ur.
● In 2300 BCE, King Sargon conquered the Sumerian city-states. He founded
the Akkadian empire.
● In 1800 BCE, the rulers of the city-state of Babylon established the first
Babylonian Empire.
● In 1350 BCE, the Assyrians created a series of empires. In the seventh
century BCE, the Assyrian Empire stretched from the Mediterranean to the
Persian Gulf.
● In the late seventh century, a new Babylonian Empire was founded.
Nebuchadnezzar II was its most famous ruler.
● In the sixth century BCE, the Persians conquered the region, and
Mesopotamian civiliz
●
● ation came to an end.

Mesopotamian history timeline:

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3. SOCIETY AND ART IN MESOPOTAMIA
The king was the most powerful person in Mesopotamia. He held political, military
and religious power. Beneath the king, there were privileged and non privileged
groups:

Privileged groups were a minority who had all the rights and possessed most of
the wealth.
❏ The aristocracy consisted of the king/pharaoh, his family and the nobility.
They owned a great part of the land and were in charge of the highest
positions in the army and government.
❏ The priests, who lived in the temples, led the religious rituals. They
possessed part of the land and craft workshops and co-operated with the
government.
❏ The scribes stood out among the civil servants. They came from noble
families and had great power. They were assigned other tasks such as
being couriers, managers, cup-bearers, etc.

Non-privileged groups: The rest of the population was divided into either free
people who had rights, or slaves who had not rights and were treated as objects.
Some of these free people were:
1. Peasants, who rented the lands that surrounded the city. These lands
belonged to the king or the temple. To keep them the peasants had to give
the temple or the king part of the harvest they obtained. They usually
cultivated barley, wheat, beans, chickpeas, cucumbers, etc.
All the family participated in the different farming tasks: the men ploughed
and the women sowed; both did the harvesting. The children helped their
parents since they were very young.
Their work was very hard. Most agricultural tools that they used were
similar to those of earlier times: for example, the sickles and the hoes were
made of stone, wood or bronze. But they used a new tool which made their
lives easier: the plough. With it, it was not necessary for peasants to bend
their backs to cultivate the land. They could also make deeper furrows.
2. Craftsmen, who worked in workshops. There were different craftsmen
according to their specific work: weavers, carpenters, goldsmiths,
perfumers, etc.
3. Women were the property of men. They did not always work and when
they worked, their pay was half of what an adult man earned.
4. Slaves: they were usually war prisoners and had no rights. Most of them
were owned by the pharaoh/king, although priests and noblemen had
slaves too. In Egypt, the pharaoh used them for building great monuments,
working in copper mines or as soldiers.

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ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS: The standard of Ur
We have written documents through which we know about the early
civilizations but material remains such as the standard of Ur are still a very
good source of information to get a better understanding of these societies.

How did people solve their business?

● The relations between the inhabitants became more
complicated and to regulate them the first codes of law
were created.
● The need for other legal documents also increased, such as
contracts, receipts, judgements, wills, etc.

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Religion in Mesopotamia

The Mesopotamians were polytheistic: they believed in many gods such as Anu
(The god of heaven), Enlil (the god of wind) or Ishtar (The goddess of war and
love). Their gods were similar to human beings but they were immortal. Each
city-state was under the protection of a god.

Temples were the god’s residences on

Earth. They were built on stepped pyramids
called ziggurats.
They believed in life after death and buried
their dead with everything they would
possibly need.

Mesopotamian art

Architecture: They build magnificent palaces. Mud

bricks and adobe were widely used, stone was scarce.
Mesopotamians invented the arch and the vault. They
built splendid palaces, such as that of Khorsabad;
monumental gates, such as the Ishtar Gate; and great
temples, such as that of Marduk, in Babylon.

Sculpture: mesopotamians made stone

statues of kings, Gods and animals,
imaginary creatures. They also made
nice reliefs to decorate the walls of the
buildings showing political and
religious leaders and scenes.

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4. ANCIENT EGYPT: ENVIRONMENT AND HISTORY.
Introduction to the Egyptian civilization
Ancient Egypt is one of the most important civilizations in human history. It
developed along the River Nile in north-east Africa more than 5,000 years ago and
finished 2000 years ago. So, Egyptian civilization lasted about 3000 years.

Think about it

The most famous pyramids were built at the

beginning of the Egyptian civilization and
Cleopatra was the last Egyptian pharaoh and
died in 31 BCE. That means she lived closer to
the creation of the first smartphone than she
did to the building of the Great Pyramid

How many years passed since the construction of the Great Pyramid to
Cleopatra’s reign?

How many years passed since Cleaopatra’s death to the creation of the first
smartphone?

The importance of the River Nile

Most Egyptians lived near the River Nile,

which flows from south to north.

● They called the river valley the 'black

land' because it was covered by dark
fertile mud from the river.

● The dry deserts were called the 'red

lands'.

The River Nile was vital for Egyptian

civilization. It provided water for human
needs and agriculture. It was also the main
route of communications.

In Egypt, floodings were very regular, so

they developed a system to make the most
of the water and slime to fertilize the soil.

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The history of Egypt

In the fourth millennium BCE, independent kingdoms appeared in Lower Egypt

(near the Nile delta), and Upper Egypt (further south).
● In 3100 BCE, King Menes united these kingdoms and became the first
pharaoh, or ruler, of Egypt. The main periods of ancient Egyptian history
were: .
● The Old Kingdom (3100-2050 BCE). The Egyptian state was created, and the
pharaoh became a powerful, divine figure. The pharaohs Khufu, Khafra and
Menkaura built huge pyramids in Giza. The capital was at Memphis. .
● The Middle Kingdom (2050-1580 BCE). The power of the pharaohs
increased. New territories were conquered in the south. The capital was
moved to Thebes.
● The New Kingdom (1580-31 BCE). Thutmose I, Amenhotep II, Akhenaten,
and Ramesses II were famous pharaohs. Large palaces and temples were
built. Libya and Syria were conquered.
● From 1100 BCE, there were several foreign invasions. Egypt was conquered
by the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks and Romans.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL REMAINS: The Narmer Palette

The Narmer Palette is a large 63.5 cm shield shaped object. It was probably a
ceremonial tray for the Pharaoh’s make up and depicts the unification of
Egypt by Narmer/Menes in 3100 BCE.

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5. EGYPTIAN SOCIETY.

The different social groups shared in Mesopotamia and

Egypt shared many common aspects: there were privileged
and non privileged groups, the scribes played a key role in
society, most of the people were peasants, etc. However,
Egyptian society includes some specific characteristics that
deserve to be studied.

The Pharaoh
Pharaohs were the rulers of Egypt
(Pharaoh = king = monarch). It was a
hereditary charge and there were thirty
dynasties over Egyptian History.
They had absolute power. They owned
much of the land. Their functions were:
● To govern the country.
● To decree laws.
● To lead the army.
● Religious leader (Pharaohs were
seen as gods by the Egyptians).

The role of women in Ancient Egypt

Egyptian women had some rights, and enjoyed more freedom than in most early
civilizations. For example, they could inherit and own property, and get divorced.
Most Egyptian women did housework, or worked as peasants or servants. It was
unusual for women to hold official posts. However, a few women, like Hatshepsut
and Cleopatra, were female pharaohs.

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 6. RELIGION AND ART IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Religion in Ancient Egypt

Egyptians were polytheistic. The main god was the sun, called in different ways:
Ra, Amun or Atum. Other gods were Isis, Osiris and Horus. The Egyptians also
worshiped natural elements (earth, river Nile), animals (crocodile), and the
pharaoh.

Ra / Re / Was the king of the Gods, the Sun god, seen as the creator of men
Amen-R Falcon head with a sun on top.
a Since heaven and the underworld have water, Ra uses a boat while rising and when
setting. He often has help from other gods to successfully navigate his boat.

Osiris Was the god of the earth and vegetation, symbolized the yearly drought and flooding
of the Nile.
Was married to his sister Isis, and was killed by his brother Set, and chopped into
pieces that Isis put together.
He is represented mummified with green skin and some of the attributes of the
pharaohs: the beard, the atef crown, the flail and the crook.
He is the king of the afterlife.

Isis Was the sister/wife of Osiris.

Shown as a woman wearing a vulture head-dress and the solar disk between a pair of
horns.
Isis suckles the pharaohs, she is the example of the loving wife and mother.
She put together all of Osiris’ pieces after being killed by Set, she has great magical
powers.

Horus Falcon headed.

The Pharaoh was supposed to be his earthly embodiment.
Son of Osiris (after his resurrection), Set is always trying to hurt him.

Set God of evil, the desert, storms, and chaos.

Hates Osiris (jealous) and kills him and becomes king before he is killed by Horus.

Hathor Usually depicted as a cow or as a beautiful woman wearing a horned headdress

She is both wife/ daughter of Ra, also married Horus.
Suckled Horus when he was young and took care of him after Set blinded him.
Her milk is food of the gods
She offers food and drink to the dead

Anubis Son of Nephthys and either Set or Ra – adopted servant of Isis.

Guides the dead to the underworld and weighs their heart (bad deeds make your
heart weigh more).
Works with Osiris in the underworld and is the mummification god.

Toth Moon god, head of an ibis

Scribe (records the weight of the hearts in the underworld)
Invented writing

Ammut “Eater of the Dead” She stands by the scales of the hearts and eats the hearts of the
wicked (a final death). Head of a crocodile, body of a leopard, hind legs of a hippo

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Religious rites were carried out in the
temples. Rites were necessary to preserve
the order of the universe. There were priests
for each god and a great temple was built to
keep the statue of the god where he could
be worshiped.
The Egyptians believed in life after death
and wanted to keep the bodies for the new
life. Dead people were converted into
mummies, that is, corpses were dried and
wrapped with bandages. Mummies were
put into a sarcophagus and buried in tombs

The sarcophagus was surrounded by

different things that the deceased could
need in their life after death: food, clothing,
servants’ statutes...This was the treasure.

Art in Ancient Egypt.

● Architecture.

Temples had colossal dimensions and they were decorated with enormous
columns. The most famous temples are those of Karnak and Luxor, both in
Thebes, and that of Abu Simbel, in the south of the country.

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Funerary buildings are also famous which evolved through time, and varied in
size and complexity depending on the buried person: the biggest funerary
monuments were for the pharaohs, then for the nobles, and peasants were buried
in the desert sand.

The oldest funerary monuments were mastabas, then the pyramids and then the
hypogea. The most famous pyramids (khufu, Khafra and Menkaura) were built
during the Old kingdom by the first Egyptian ruling dynasties. After all these
years, they still stand having witnessed 5000 years of History.

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