2. The Beginnings of Civilization, 10,000-1150 B.C.E.
Defining Civilization, Defining Western Civilization
Mesopotamia: Kingdoms, Empires, and Conquests
Egypt: The Empire of the Nile

3. Defining Civilization, Defining Western Civilization
The Food-Producing Revolution
Paleolithic Age, 200, ,000 years ago
Homo sapiens
Cave art
Hunter-gatherers
Domestication

4. Ötzi the Ice Man
This artist’s recreation shows Ötzi in his waterproof poncho carrying his state-of-the-art tools.

5. Map 1.1
The Beginnings of Civilization
Civilizations developed independently in India, China, central Asia, and Peru, as well as in Egypt and southwest Asia. Western civilization, however, is rooted in the civilizations that first emerged in Egypt and southwest Asia.

6. Defining Civilization, Defining Western Civilization
First food-Producing Communities
Levantine Corridor (Fertile Crescent)
Abu Hureya
Zagros Mountains
Anatolia
Çatal Hüyük
Obsidian trade

7. Map 1.2
The Beginnings of Food Production
This map shows early farming sites discovered by archaeologists where the first known production of food occurred in ancient Southwest Asia.

8. Defining Civilization, Defining Western Civilization
Transformations in Europe
Agricultural communities – 6000 B.C.E.
Farming communities – 2500 B.C.E.
Technological shifts
Metallurgy and Plow
Megaliths

9. CHRONOLOGY: THE FOUNDATIONS OF CIVILIZATION

10. Map 1.3
Neolithic Cultures in Europe
During the Neolithic period, new cultures developed as most of the peoples of Europe changed their way of life from hunting and gathering to food production. Trade and warfare constructed networks of village communities, but two key components of civilization—writing and cities—did not emerge in these centuries.

11. Stonehenge
This megalithic monument consists of two circles of standing stones with large blocks capping the circles. It was built without the aid of wheeled vehicles or metal tools, and the stones were dragged from many miles away.

12. Mesopotamia: Kingdoms, Empires, and Conquests
Sumerian Kingdoms
13-35 major cities by 2500 B.C.E.
Uruk
50,000 people/redistributive economies
Religion and political life intertwined
End of Sumerian city-states 2340 B.C.E.

13. Map 1.4
Kingdoms and Empires in Southwest Asia
Between 3000 and 1500 B.C.E., the Sumerian city-states, Sargon’s Akkadian Empire, and Hammurabi’s empire in Babylon emerged in southwest Asia.

14. THE SUMERIANS AT WAR
This Sumerian battle wagon, a heavy four-wheeled cart pulled by donkeys, appears on the “Standard of Ur” (ca B.C.E.). Excavated in the 1920s, the “Standard” is actually a wooden box, about 8.5 × 20 inches, with an inlaid mosaic of shells, red limestone, and lapis lazuli. One panel of the mosaic depicts a Sumerian war scene, the other a banquet; hence, archaeologists have labeled the panels “War” and “Peace.”

15. Mesopotamia: Kingdoms, Empires, and Conquests
Akkadian Empire of Sargon the Great
Sargon, B.C.E.
Standing army
Composite bow
Anarchy – 2250 B.C.E.

16. Map 1.2 Sargon’s Empire, 2220 B.C.E.
Sargon of Akkad created an empire that included many distinct ethnic groups. For the first time in history, rulers had to struggle with the resistance of diverse subject peoples.

17. Mesopotamia: Kingdoms, Empires, and Conquests
Ur III Dynasty and Rise of Assyria
Ur-Nammu, B.C.E.
Administrative bureaucracy

18. Ziggurat of Ur
Built of mud-brick, the Ziggurat of Ur was the focal point of religious life. This vast temple was built by King Ur-Nammu of the Third Dynasty (2112–2095 B.C.E.) and restored by the British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley in the 1930s.

19. Mesopotamia: Kingdoms, Empires, and Conquests
Assyria and Babylonia
Assyria
Ashur
Trading network
Babylon
Hammurabi, B.C.E.

20. Mesopotamia: Kingdoms, Empires, and Conquests
Cultural Continuities: Transmission of Mesopotamian Cultures
Mesopotamian World View
Religion - Polytheistic/Ziggurat
Science - Divination/Deduction
Development of Writing - Cuneiform
“Epic of Gilgamesh”
“Law Code of Hammurabi”

21. Cuneiform Texts
This clay tablet, written on in cuneiform, or “wedgeshaped” letters, is early in the development of the script. Dating from about 3000 B.C.E., it lists what are probably temple offerings under the categories day one, day two, and day three.

22. CHRONOLOGY: MESOPOTAMIAN CIVILIZATION

23. Egypt – The Empire of the Nile
Egypt’s Rise to Empire
The Old Kingdom
Unification, B.C.E.
Kings
Pyramids
Hieroglyphics

24. MAP 1.5
Egypt: The Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms
As this map shows, Egyptian power expanded from its base along the Nile delta, first southward along the Nile River, and then, through trade and conquest, into southwest Asia. Egypt’s control of mineral resources, especially gold, turquoise, and copper, played an important role in its commercial prosperity. During the New Kingdom, Egyptians converted trading dominance into political control, with the reconquest of Nubia and the extension of Egypt’s empire into Canaan and parts of Syria.

25. DJOSER’S STEP PYRAMID
Djoser ascended to the throne of Egypt around 2668 B.C.E. and immediately ordered his
vizier Imhotep to oversee the construction of his tomb. Up until this point, Egyptians constructed
pyramids out of mud brick, but Imhotep deviated from tradition and chose stone.

26. Egypt – The Empire of the Nile
The Middle Kingdom, B.C.E.
Mentuhotep II, r B.C.E.

27. Egypt – The Empire of the Nile
Encounters with Other Civilizations
Nubia (Sudan)
Gold and ivory
Canaan
Hyksos dynasty, B.C.E.

28. Egypt – The Empire of the Nile
The New Kingdom: The Egyptian Empire in the Bronze Age
King Ahmose I, r B.C.E.
Pharaoh
Thutmose I, r B.C.E.
Thutmose II, r B.C.E.
“God’s Wife of Amun”
Hatshepsut

29. Mesopotamian & Egyptian Epic/Myths
Gilgamesh (Mesopotamia) & Isis & Osiris: As Leaders/Exemplars
Role of Gods, humans, semi-divine beings (see introduction, pp. xxxvii and after)
Gilgamesh--1/3rd man, 2/3rds god--father Lugalbanda, mother--Ninsun, goddess
Gender roles: men and women, divine/mortal beings
Humans and nature:
Relationship of gods to nature: nature functions to feed/sustain the gods
Relationship of humans to nature: humans work, produce food and goods to sustain gods
Role of magic, supernatural: to interpret dreams, omens, through which the gods speak
Humans and gods: gods control forces which determine human fate
Central role of immortality in stories
Role in History and Literature:
Gilgamesh -cuneiform tablets, found in ruins of royal library of Ninevah (near Mosul, Iraq), from Assyrian Empire ruled by King Ashurbanipal
Written in Akkadian—Babylonian
Gradual transformation of story: “Surpassing All Kings…” to “He Who Saw the Deep”
Isis and Osiris: earliest versions dates from 2500 BCE,
inscriptions on Palermo Stone, Pyramid texts (also inscribed on sarcophagi & pyramids for use of pharaoh only)
Central importance of Isis/Osiris festivals in Egypt, rituals
Connection to Greek & Roman mythology, cults
Mesopotamian & Egyptian Epic/Myths

30. Hatshepsut as a Bearded Pharaoh
Although she was a woman, tradition required that Hatshepsut be depicted as a man.

31. HATSHEPSUT: IMAGE AND REALITY
Although she was a woman, tradition required that Hatshepsut be depicted as a man, as in this statue where she wears the pharaoh’s customary beard. In 2007, archaeologists discovered Hatshepsut’s mummy. Research revealed that the queen was between ages 45 and 60 when she died, that she had cancer, and that she was quite obese.

32. Egypt – The Empire of the Nile
The New Kingdom: The Egyptian Empire in the Bronze Age
Amarna Period
Monotheism
1150 B.C.E. collapse

33. CHRONOLOGY: CIVILIZATION IN EGYPT