River Valley Civilizations 3500-600 BCE

Common Terms Political: refers to who is running the society and controls the power (government) Society: the economic status and classes (rich elites, soldiers, slaves, etc.), as well as gender roles Cultural: refers to characteristics of the local people (religion, language, art) Economic: how they traded, bought, or sold goods / services

The Need for a State (gov.) As civilizations emerged, they domesticated the local animals Cows (Eur/India), pigs (central Asia), donkeys (Africa), Llamas (South America) Additionally, specialized labor (experts) resulted in tech. advances Pottery (pop. growth), the wheel, and metallurgy This resulted in a greater surplus, expanded villages into cities, and resulted in some people gathering more power / resources than others Social disparity: some people having more power / resources than others This led to the need for a more complex state (gov.) to provide law, order, and protection to large, permanent settlement populations

Hierarchy Kings Priest Soldiers Citizens Slaves

The State Monarchies were placed at the head of these new, permanent settlements Kings and priests were placed at the top of these new states, and chose advisors and officials These largely replaced the chieftain systems of kinship and rewards for small groups of hunter/gatherers There was now a need to coordinate and exercise authority over cities, with thousands of people Cities needed to manage surpluses, build walls, sewers (Harappa and – Indus Valley), defend, etc.

River Valley Civilizations Mesopotamia – Tigeris and Euphrates Rivers Indus Valley – Indus Rivers (Harappa, Mojeno-Daru) Olmec (Mexico) Chavin (Andes Mtns.) Yellow River Egypt – Nile River

City-states in Mesopotamia Cities Name of Empire Uruk Sumer Akkad Akkadians (nomads)--> Hittites Mycenae Mycenaeans Nineveh Assyrians Babylon Babylonians

Society Elites emerged both as chosen officials, as well as those with more land or resources than other Women quickly lost equality, remaining subject to men who were the rulers, soldiers, scholars, and heads of the household Local culture was defined by monuments & structures were built by laborers & slaves Ziggurats, Pyramids, city walls, sewers, irrigation Writing was also developed for detailed record keeping in the 4th millennia BCE Cuneiform (Sumer), Hieroglyphics (Egypt), alphabet (Phoenicians) Additionally, written law was developed to provide consistent laws /order (unequal) Code of Ur-Mammu, Sumer, 2100 BCE; Code of Hammurabi, Babylon, 1754

Power Through Divinity Kings justified their power through divinity—either as stewards of the gods, or as gods themselves to maintain prosperity In Egypt, pharaohs lived as gods, and in Sumer (Mesopotamia), they acted as stewards (crowns and scepters symbols) In China, rulers were legitimized by the Mandate of Heaven The Mandate of Heaven: that rulers must rule benevolently and maintain social harmony To violate the Mandate as a ruler would result in you losing your position of king Example: Shang Dynasty being overthrown and replaced by the Zhou Dynasty

Expansion In Mesopotamia, these cities began to compete for territory and resources, and empire building began (Mesopotamia – city-states) States that could acquire the most surplus resources experienced rising populations and power Those positioned advantageously to resources (iron) were able to more easily expanded (Hittites and Assyrians) Pastoralists contributed heavily to the spread of technology and resources They introduced iron, horses, chariots, and bows between civilizations, as well as becoming conquerors themselves