Ancient Civilizations

in Asia
The word civilization
describes a society that has an
advanced level of cultural and
technological development.
It came from the Latin word
‘civitas’ which means “city”
Therefore, civilization refers to
“life in the cities”.
In this sense, the communities in
Sumer, Indus, and Shang are
civilizations.
Meanwhile, the term kabihasnan
is used as a synonym for civilization.
It originated from the term ‘bihasa’
meaning “with adequate experience”
or “expert in one thing.”
People’s expertise can be measured
in different aspects of their lives,
such as political, economic, social,
and many others.
The scope of kabihasnan is broader because
it includes the things humans are developing
such as language, arts, religion, and many
others,
In this sense, all kinds of way of life
anywhere in the world are civilizations – in
the city, in the nomadic lifestyle in the desert,
or in the way of life near the coasts.
Among the factors of civilization
are existence of centralized
governance, organized religion,
systematic economic and social
aspects, and knowledge of arts,
technology, writing, science, and
architecture.
The Civilization in
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia, now part of modern Iraq,
was the home of the first civilization.
The word Mesopotamia came from the
Greek word meso or “middle” and potamos
or “river”
Therefore, Mesopotamia means “between
two rivers.”
This river is Tigris – Euphrates.
The fertile land of Mesopotamia called the
Fertile Crescent became a settlement of
people and was conquered by various
civilizations, such as Sumerian, Akkadian,
Babylonian, Assyrian, Chaldean, and Persian.
Many cities rose and fell in Mesopotamia
and were replaced by other civilizations.
 Sumerian
From the mountains located in the
northeast of Mesopotamia, the
nomadic Sumerians went to the
agricultural land back in 3500 BCE.
They interacted with the first
settlers in Mesopotamia.
Later on, southern Mesopotamia was
called Sumer.
The communities near the rivers started
to multiply, resulting in creation of city-
states led by a king.
Some of the well-known cities are
Eridu, Kish, Lagash, Uruk, Ur, and
Nippur
In each city-state, you ca find a temple
called a ziggurat, the home and temple of the
patrons of the city.
Because ziggurats are sacred places, only
priest can go inside them.
Sumerians, like other ancient humans,
follow the belief of having many gods or
polytheism.
In polytheism, people worship and
believe the powers of gods and
goddesses, accompanied by the
performance of their rituals.
They are possible representations
of the different forces of nature.
Some of the gods or goddesses of Sumerians are:
Anu (god of heaven)
Enlil (god of wind)
Enki (god of water)
Inanna (goddess of war)
Ninhursag (goddess of earth)
Utu (god of the sun)
Nanna (god of the moon)
Sumerians recorded the events in
society through their systematic way of
writing, which is the first in the world.
It is called cuneiform, which means
“wedge-shaped”.
The wheel and the plow are also
important inventions of Sumerians.
 Akkadian
In 235 BCE, Sargon I occupied
the city-states and established the
first empire in the world.
Sargon I came from the northern
part of the Mesopotamia in the city
of Akkad (or Agade).
Akkadian was the first empire
in the world.
Sargon I started this empire,
and his children continued it
The empire lasted for 150
years.
With the fall of Akkadian empire and
the chaos of Mesopotamia, the cities in
the south began to promote their freedom
again.
On of the cities is Ur.
Under Ur-Nammu, Ur became the
capital of an empire that fought against
Akkadian.
In 2100 BCE, Ur got the power for
a time and led both Sumer and
Akkad.
The leaders of the third dynasty of
Ur needed to fight against the people
coming to Mesopotamia from the
surrounding mountains and deserts.
These people came to Mesopotamia
because of its fertile land.
Under the reign of the grandson of Ur-
Nammu, Ibbi-Su (2028 BCE- 2004
BCE), the empire of Ur collapsed
because of the invasion of the Amorite
and Hurrian.
 Babylonian
The rise of Babylon led to the
conquest of Mesopotamia and the
reign of Hammurabi from 1792 to
1750 BCE.
He turned the southern part of the
Mesopotamia into an empire wherein
the capital was Babylon.
The compilations of the laws of
Hammurabi, more popularly known as
the Code of Hammurabi, is an important
contribution of ancient humans to
civilization.
The code is the one of the first legal
codes preserve dup to present day.
It stated Hammurabi’s aspiration to
“prevent the strong in taking
advantage of the weak and to ensure
that the widows and orphans will be
given justice.”
In 1595 BCE, the Hittites from
Anatolia attacked Babylon.
 Assyrian
Assyria is located in the mountainous
region of the north of Babylonia.
At the end of the nineteenth century
BCE, Ashur, the first capital of Assyria,
fell into the hands of Shamsi-Adad I.
He established an empire toward the
other northern part of Mesopotamia.
During his death, in 1780 BCE,
the empire started to fall while
Ashur and the northern parts of
the empire became vulnerable to
the attacks of the forces from the
south.
In 1120 BCE, Tiglath-Pileser I,
who was considered as the best king
of Assyria, suppressed the Hittites
and reach the coasts of
Mediterranean.
He was known as the founder of
Assyrian empire.
At the start of 9 century BCE,
th

the leaders of Assyria launched

military expeditions westward in
order to obtain important routes
for trading and to receive tributes
fom weak states.
Ashurbanipal II is an important leader of
Assyria during that time.
In 745 BCE, Tiglath Pileser III rose into
power, and he put the other states under one
empire.
For the next 100 years, the kings of
Assyrian expanded the empire, which runs
from Iran until Egypt.
 Chaldean
Chaldea can be found in the
southern part of Babylonia and the
cost of Euphrates.
In 612 BCE, the new empire of
Babylonia was established and was
led by a king from Chaldea,
Nabopolassar.
He led the uprising in 625 BCE
against the Assyrian Empire, which
was controlling Babylon for almost
200 years.
In 612 BCE, the combined forces
of Cyaxares and Nabopolassar
conquered the city of Nineveh.
The land remained in the hands of
Nabopolassar while Nebuchadnezzar II,
the son of Nabopolassar, was destroying
the remaining forces of of Assyrian in
609 BCE.
Nabopolassar fought with Egypt fro
610 BCE until 605 BCE.
With the return of the Medes to the
east to strengthen their control, the
Assyrian Empire eventually fell into
hands of the kings of Babylon.
Under the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar II, Babylonia
reached it golden age.
It became of one of the most important
cities in the world during its time.
Aside from this, the Hanging Garden
of Babylon, which the king had made for
his wife, was recognized by the Greeks as
one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient
World
 Persian
 In the sixty years of Babylonian
rule, Mesopotamia once again
faced danger during the reign of
Nabonidus as people witnessed
the emergence of a new power
from the east, the Persians.
In 359 BCE, the armies of Cyrus the
Great of Persia went to Babylon and
conquered the city and the entire empire.
As a result, the nearly three thousand
years of reign of Mesopotamia citizens in
their own land came to an end.
Mesopotamia eventually became part of the
greater Persian empire, which runs from
Egypt to India.
Over the next two hundred years, the
region witnessed the rise of the Greek
civilization and the fall of the Persian empire
to the hands of the king of Macedonia,
Alexander the Great.
The Civilization
of India
Even though South Asia was
separated from other parts of Asia by
the Himalayas, it also experienced
attacks and movements of people
through the mountain passes on the
northwestern side.
Various people who have their own
language and traditions came to the
region, but most of them eventually
adopted the Indian culture.
However, it is difficult to understand
the ancient history of India, especially
much of it was not recorded by ancients
Indians.
Archaeologists may have dug
tools used by ancient Indians, but
until now, the scholars still find it
hard to understand the writing
materials left by India’s ancient
civilization.
 Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro
The ancient city of Harappa,
which was established around
2700 BCE, was discovered in the
Indus valley.
It is located in Punjab, a part
of present day Pakistan.
On the other hand, Mohenjo-
Daro is in the southern part of
Indus River.
Each city was about one square
mile and had about 40 000
people.
Harappan reached their golden age in
2000 BCE. But after a thousand years in
Indus, the civilization and the culture
began to decline and fall.
People left the Mohenjo-Daro perhaps
because of the dangers from attacking
tribes on its borders.
Harappa, which is 350 miles away from
Mohenjo-Daro north ward, was destroyed
due to the Aryan’s sudden attack in 1500
BCE.
The Aryans are believed to have originated
from the steppes of Asia in western Hindu
Kush and reached South Asia through the
mountain passes.
The people of Harappa could not stop
Aryan forces so most of them went to
southern India.
Meanwhile, the survivors became slaves to
the new invaders.
Despite this events, some of the aspects of
the civilization remained and became part of
the Aryans’ lifestyle.
 Vedic Age
The knowledge regarding the first one
thousand years of occupation and reign of
Aryans in north and north-west India
came from four sacred books called
Vedas.
Vedas is a compilation of war hymns,
sacred rituals, proverbs, and narratives.
You can read in Vedas how Aryans
lived between 1500 BCE to 500 BCE.
This chapter in the history of the world
is also known as the Vedic Age.
In 1100 BCE, Aryans eventually
conquered the northern part of India.
Ancient Aryans only have three
social classes:
1. Warriors
2. Priests
3. Commoners
At the end of the Vedic Age, priests became
more powerful than warriors because of the
need to maintain the order based on people’s
beliefs about humans and gods.
Rituals and sacrifice became necessary so
as not to destroy the order of the universe.
Not long after, the caste system was form
in India.
Caste originated from the word casta which
means “clan”
It is made up of ;
1. Brahmins or priests
2. Kshatriya or warriors
3. Vaisya or commoners (who can be merchants,
artisans, farmers, and many others
4. Sudra which is the lowest social class
One large group of people that Aryans
do not consider as part of the society is
the outcasts or untouchables, which are
the lowest level of humans.
People who belong to this group do
some of these chores; cleaning of the
streets, burning the dead, and hanging of
criminals