Unit 2

 His- Story  Pre-history – time before written history.  B.C. – Before Christ  A.D. – Anno Domini – The Year of our Lord (after Christ’s birth) BC – Before ChristAD – After Christ’s Birth

 Paleolithic  Mesolithic  Neolithic – New Stone Age – this is where we will begin our study of history (Neolithic Revolution – 1 st agricultural settlements begin).  Bronze Age – 3,500-1,200 BC

 Humans, in their early stages were hunters and gatherers & nomads  As humans discovered agriculture and that animals could be domesticated they settled in groups.  As settlements grew in size, societies became more complex – civilization.  Food surpluses led to more specialization

 Larger villages built irrigation systems.  Traders profited from more goods to exchange.  Two important inventions—the wheel and the sail— traders could move more goods over longer distances.

 Social Changes  Social classes with varying wealth, power, and influence began to emerge.  Religion  Prehistoric religious beliefs centered around nature, animal spirits, and some idea of an afterlife.  As populations grew, organized religions developed

Mesopotamia Tigris & Euphrates Chinese Huang He (Yellow) Egyptians Nile Indus Civilization Indus & Ganges

“The Land Between Two Rivers” Tigris & Euphrates

 One of the first civilizations - Sumer.  Located in Mesopotamia ( Iraq )

 Surrounded by a desert climate, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flooded Mesopotamia at least once a year.  Floodwater left behind a thick bed of mud called silt - Great for farming  The floods were unpredictable

 Unpredictable flooding combined with a periods of little or no rain.  With no natural barriers for protection - Sumerian villages nearly defenseless.  Limited natural resources. Building materials and other necessities were scarce.

 The people created solutions to deal with their problems – dug irrigation ditches to bring water to crops.  For defense they built city walls made of sun dried bricks..  Sumerians traded their grain, cloth, and crafted tools for raw materials such as stone, wood, and metal..

 A civilization is often defined as a complex culture with five characteristics:  (1) advanced cities,  (2) specialized workers,  (3) complex institutions,  (4) record keeping, and  (5) advanced technology.  Advanced cites depended on trade.

 As cities grew, specialized workers developed like traders, government officials, and priests.  Food surpluses provided the opportunity for specialization —the development of skills in a specific kind of work.  Some city dwellers became artisans —skilled workers who make goods by hand.

 Complex institutions: government, religion, and economic systems  Large populations of early cities made government, or a system of ruling, necessary.  Leaders emerged to maintain order and to establish laws.

 The ziggarat was the hub of both government and religious affairs.  It also served as the city’s economic center.  It was used for storage of food and valuables.

 Around 3000 B.C., Sumerian scribes — or professional record keepers— invented a system of writing called cuneiform, meaning “wedge-shaped.”

 Ur - on the Euphrates River  About 30,000 people  Rulers, priests and priestesses had great power.  Wealthy merchants profited from surplus trade.  Artists and artisans produced lavish tools, musical instruments, and gold daggers

 Could work as merchants, farmers, or artisans. Be priestesses.  Could own property  Some upper-class women did learn to read and write.  Sumerian women had more rights than women in many later civilizations, but they were NOT EQUAL to men.

 By 3000 B.C., Sumerians had many cities.  Shared the same culture, but developed their own separate governments  Each city and the land it controlled formed a city- state – an independent country  The center of all Sumerian cities was the walled temple with a ziggurat in the middle.  Polytheistic: Sumerians believed many different gods.

 Like a city within a city, the temple was surrounded by heavy walls.  The pyramid-shaped monument is called a ziggurat- which means a stepped temple.  The temple also housed storage areas for grain, crops, and supplied as offering to the gods.  Sumer’s earliest government were controlled by priests.  Famers believed the success of the crops depended on the weather (gods).  The ziggurat was not just religious, it was also a trade and government center.  The Sumerians believed that the souls of the dead went to a hell (a place without joy).

 During war, priests did not lead the city.  Men of the city chose a tough fighter who could command the city’s soldiers until the war ended.  In time, some military leaders became full-time rulers who passed their power on to their sons, who passed it on to their own heirs.  Such a series of rulers from a single family is called a dynasty.

King rises to Power because of crisis Kingdom Prospers Future Kings Lose Control Taxes, Natural Disasters Anarchy

 Sumerians invented the wheel, the sail, and the plow and they were among the first to use bronze.  Arithmetic & Geometry - developed a number system in base 60  Architectural innovations - Arches, columns, ramps, and the pyramid.  Cuneiform- Sumerians created a system of writing. One of the first known maps.

 They united to form an empire- brings together several previously independent nations under the control of one ruler. Sargon defeated the city- states of Sumer forming the world’s 1 st empire.

 In about 2000 B.C., Mesopotamia was invaded by the Amorites. The invaders took over and established their capital at Babylon, on the Euphrates River.  The Babylonian Empire reached its peak during the reign of Hammurabi

 Hammurabi made the first uniform code of laws  He collected existing rules, judgments, and laws into the Code of Hammurabi.  Hammurabi had the code engraved in stone and copies were placed all over the empire.

 King Nebuchadnezzar restored the city and built the famous hanging gardens.  Babylon fell shortly after his death.