People and Ideas on the Move Chapter 3

Indo-European Migrations Chapter 3 Section 1

Indo-European Migrations The Indo-Europeans were a group of semi nomadic people who came from the steppes. The steppes are dry grasslands that stretched north of the Caucasus.

The Caucasus are mountains between the Black and Caspian seas The Caucasus are mountains between the Black and Caspian seas. These people herded cattle, goats, and sheep.

They also tamed horses and rode into battle on two wheeled chariots.

The Indo-European Language Family The languages of the Indo Europeans were the ancestors of many of the modern languages of Europe, Southwest Asia, South Asia, English, Spanish, Persian, and Hindi. All these languages originated with the Indo-Europeans.

Historians know where the different European tribes settled by the languages that they spoke. Slavic speakers moved North and West. Celtic, Germanic, and Italic languages moved west through Europe. Greek and Persian speakers went south. The Aryans, who spoke an early version of Sanskrit, moved into India.

Notice the similarities of the language. English mother Father Daughter New six Sanskrit Matar Puhdar Duhita Navas Sat Persian Mudhahr Puhdahr Dukhtahr Now Shahsh Spanish Madre Padre Hija Nuevo seis German Mutter Vater Tochter neusechs sechs Notice the similarities of the language.

It is unclear why these people left the land in the steppes It is unclear why these people left the land in the steppes. The land may have dried up. The population may have grown to large to feed itself. Maybe they had to escape from invaders. They may have escaped disease.

migration Whatever happened, they left the region between 1700 and 1200 B.C. These migrations, movements of people from one region to another, did not happen all at once.

By 2000 B.C. one group of Indo-European speakers, the Hittites, occupied Anatolia. Anatolia is also known as Asia Minor. It is a huge peninsula in modern day Turkey.

The terrain is high, rocky plateau, rich in timber and agriculture The terrain is high, rocky plateau, rich in timber and agriculture. There are also mineral deposits in near by mountains.

Around 1650 B.C., several Hittite city-states joined together and formed an empire. The city of Hattusas became the Hittite capital. This empire would dominate Southwest Asia for 450 years.

The Hittites occupied Babylon in the Mesopotamia, and they battled with Egypt over control of northern Syria. The most famous conflict is known as The Battle of Qadesh.

Neither one was able to win, so they ended up signing a peace treaty.

In this treaty they pledged to help each other fight off future invaders.

Hittites adopt and Adapt The Hittites spoke there own language with one another, but when speaking on an international level they used Akkadian, the language of the Babylonians that they had conquered. The reason was that Akkadian was widely used throughout Mesopotamia.

The Hittites blended their ideas with those of the Babylonians and spread them throughout Southwest Asia.

Their legal code was similar to that of Hammurabi’s Code, but it was more forgiving. Murder was not automatically punished by death. A convicted murderer could make up for a crime by giving his child or a slave to the victim’s family.

Chariots and Iron Bring Victory The Hittites were great warriors. They had superior chariots and iron weapons. The chariot was light and easy to maneuver at high speeds. It had: Two wheels Wooden frame covered with leather Pulled by two to four horses It would help make the Hittites conquerors.

Iron was used in the chariots In 1500 B.C., the Hittites were the first people in Southwest Asia to smelt iron and harden it into weapons. They got iron and wood from the mountains of Anatolia. In 1190 B.C. the empire fell apart due to the invasion of northern tribes.

Aryan Invaders Transform India At the same time the Hittites were establishing themselves in Anatolia, another Indo-European people, the Aryans, crossed over the northwest mountain passes into the Indus River Valley of India.

They did not leave much in the way of archeological record. One thing the did leave were the Vedas, which left a reliable depiction of Aryan life. The Vedas are four collections of prayers, magical spells, and instructions for performing rituals.

The most important Veda is the Rig Veda. The Rig Veda contains 1028 hymns, all devoted to Aryan gods. For many years the Vedas were passed down from generation to generation by oral story telling. If a prayer was uttered incorrectly, they believed terrible consequences might result, so accuracy was crucial.

A Caste System Develops The Aryans (nobles) called people they found in India dasas (dark). The Aryans were: Tall Had light skin Spoke a different language Counted their wealth in cows Sacrificed to heroic nature gods Indra (thunder god) Agni (fire god) The dasas dark skinned Short Lived in communities protected with walls Worshipped life giving gods Shiva (great god) Mother goddesses

Divided into three social classes Brahmins Warriors peasants or traders The class you were born in determined your role in society.

Classes The three classes mixed freely at first. Later on, non-Aryan laborers or craftsman (shudras) formed the fourth group. As the Aryans settled in India they developed closer contacts with the non-Aryans

Classes The Aryans began to make class restrictions more rigid. Shudras did work that Aryans did not want to do. Varna, or skin color, was a distinguishing feature of this system. Because of this, the four major groups came to be known as the varnas.

In the 1400’s A.D., the Portuguese encountered this social system and called these groups castes. With time, the four castes grew more complex. Whatever caste the people were born in, that was there caste for life.

Caste System Their caste membership would determine: The work they did The men or women they could marry The people they could eat with.

Ritual Purity Ritual purity – the habits of eating and washing that made a person physically and spiritually clean, became all important.

Untouchables Some people (butchers, trash collectors, gravediggers) were considered impure and lived outside the caste structure. These people were known as untouchables, because their touch endangered the ritual purity of others.

Aryan Kingdoms Arise The Aryans would extend their territories along the Ganges and Yamuna river valleys. Progress was slow until iron came in use in India around 1000 B.C. and helped them clear jungle for farming.

When the Aryans first arrived in India, chiefs were elected by their tribes. Around 1000 B.C., there was an emergence of minor kings who wanted to set up territorial kingdoms. These kings began to struggle with one another for land and power. They claimed that the gods had given them the rights to rule.

A major kingdom named Magadha emerged from this strife A major kingdom named Magadha emerged from this strife. By the 6th century B.C. Magadha had taken over the surrounding kingdoms. By the 2nd century B.C. it expanded south to occupy almost all of the Indian continent.

Mahabharata In one of the great epics of India, the Mahabharata, tells of the struggles that took place as the Aryans moved south. The poem tells the story of a great war between two sets of cousins, the Pandavas and Kauravas. the Mahabharata’s 106,000 verses make it the longest poem in the world.

Mahabharata The Mahabharata indicates that a blending of cultures was taking place between Aryan and non-Aryan peoples. The Krishna, a semi divine hero in the Mahabharata, is described as dark faced. This suggests he is non Aryan.

Mahabharata One of the most famous incidents in all Indian literature occurs when Krishna instructs one of the Pandavas, Arjuna, on the proper ways to live one’s life. Arjuna loses the will to fight when he sees his cousins lined up among the enemies he faces. He asks Krishna how he can find joy in killing his own kinsman.

Krishna answers that the eternal spirit (or Self) of every human being cannot kill or be killed. However, Arjuna must still do his duty and wage war. The violence and confusion of the time led many, including Krishna himself, to speculate about the place of gods and human beings in the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPZ-VRD6IMs