1. Early Societies in Southwest Asia and the Indo-European Migrations
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Chapter 2:
Early Societies in Southwest Asia and the Indo-European Migrations
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2. 1). What is a civilization and what are defining characteristics of a civilization? How did the civilizations of your chapter develop and grow more complex before 600 BCE? What were the effects of this increasing complexity?
A civilization is a complex, sedentary society, self-sufficient in the aspect of food production, and pursues other professions unrelated to food, advancing their society. Mesopotamians were some of the first to develop and experiment with the idea of a sedentary lifestyle. A complexity this society developed was a form of writing, called cuneiform. The Mesopotamians were able to come up with and adapt many new technologies and practices, such as law codes, metalworking, and the wheel.

3. 2). Where did the early civilizations of your chapter develop and why did they develop in those locations?
Mesopotamia developed between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. “Mesopotamia” actually means “the land between the rivers”. Though the rivers often overflowed, they provided fertile soil for agriculture, which helped Mesopotamia to start producing surpluses of food.

4. 3). What is a state? Who ruled the early states of your assigned chapter? Which segments of society usually supported the ruler?
Mesopotamia is very well known for their city-states, including Assyria, Babylon, and Sumer. Kings ruled the city-states, and nobles assisted them. They earned their positions by showing courage in battle. Kings were often said to have gotten their power from the gods, and even be portrayed as gods.

5. 4). Was your state able to expand and conquer neighboring states
4). Was your state able to expand and conquer neighboring states? Why or why not?
Mesopotamia was able to conquer states because they were able to support large military populations through artificial irrigation. With a surplus of food, people could pursue specialized professions unrelated to food, like military combat. They shared ideas and traded with those they conquered.

6. 5). What role did pastoral societies play in regard to building empires in your assigned chapter?
Pastoral civilizations by the Euphrates Rover contributed to Mesopotamia by spreading knowledge and ideas to Mesopotamian states, allowing Mesopotamia to develop. They made advancements in transportation, such as the wheel, which positively affected the empire’s economics and warfare.

7. 6). How did culture play a role in unifying populations in your chapter?
The writing system quickly became an influential part of Mesopotamian culture. It allowed people to take on new professions using the skill, and literature pieces were quickly assembled, teaching universal lessons. Religion also became a unifying element in the culture. Priests and priestesses lived in temple communities, doing jobs such as manufacturing leather, stone, and metal, and herding animals.

8. 7). What architectural forms did your early civilization produce?
Because Mesopotamia is a polytheistic society, they built temples to honor their different gods and goddesses. They created artificial irrigation systems with multiple reservoirs and canals. To protect their cities from invaders, they constructed defensive walls.

9. 8). Which social class encouraged the development of art in your civilization?
The social class of nobles and intellectuals who were familiar with the system of cuneiform were the most common art enthusiasts, since their skills in scribing assisted them in writing literature and communicating ideas through varying mediums.

10. 9). What form of writing developed in your ancient civilization?
The Mesopotamians first used pictographs to represent the amount of items, animals, or produce they had. Later, the Sumerians used a combination of pictographs and symbols so as not to make writing so time-consuming. This was called cuneiform. Scribes were specially trained to write in this language by using a reed stylus on a wet clay tablet. After the clay hardened, one could read what had been written.

11. 10). What was the relationship between literature and culture in your ancient civilization?
Mesopotamians were some of the first to come up with a system for written language. They established formal schools, where people learned cuneiform to become scribes and government officials, or even priests, architects, and engineers. Written language also led to the desire to discover knowledge in the fields of astronomy and mathematics to become more proficient in agriculture and architecture. The Epic of Gilgamesh was used to teach truths about friendship religion, and the inevitability of death.

12. 11). What pre-600 BCE religions strongly influenced later eras?
Mesopotamians influenced many later cultures and religions, such as the Hebrews, Israelites, and Jews. Hebrews inhabited lands throughout Mesopotamia. The Israelites soon inhabited Jerusalem, and they established relations with the Mesopotamians, and their religion began to spread through the area. The Hebrews also used the principle of lex talionis, from Hammurabi’s Code.

13. 12). What trade routes and outside people did your early civilization utilize?
Assyrian merchants used donkey caravans to trade with Kanesh in Anatolia, bringing tin and textiles in exchange for silver. Also, Phoenician people influenced trade and communication networks. They traded over land with the Mesopotamians and received items for the temples in Jerusalem.

14. 13). How did social and gender identities develop pre-600 BCE in your early civilization?
In Mesopotamia, traditional gender roles were followed, where women had to bear and raise children and men did more laboring jobs, such as farming and military combat, as well as holding positions of authority, such as lawmakers and governors. Also, social distinctions were developed because agriculture allowed humans to accumulate wealth. People were divided into three main social classes: kings and nobles, commoners, and slaves.

15. Naomi Boodhoo Dylan Goebel Dalton Guy Kaila Zubak
Presentation by:
Naomi Boodhoo
Dylan Goebel
Dalton Guy
Kaila Zubak
Period 2