1. Civilizations You Should Know…
From the beginning of the year

3. Mesopotamia Culture Wheel, irrigation, copper
Cuneiform – Sumerian writing
Navigation, time
Ziggurats – polytheism
Writing – Epic of Gilgamesh
Trade
State
Unpredictable flooding – need for government
City-states – control city + surrounding agricultural area
Social Structure
Priests and ruling elite
Patriarchal society

5. Egypt Culture Polytheists – afterlife>mummification
Egyptian Book of the Dead – what happened to soul, how to reach happy
Bronze tools then Kush – spread Iron to the Egyptians
Hieroglyphics – record keeping, Demotic – every day
Papyrus
Geography protects – less urban than Mesopotamia
365 day calendar, medicine, math, astronomy
State
Nile overflowed annually – predictable
Irrigation led to organized government
Pharaoh – king – power –incarnated Sun God
Social Structure
Social classes, but commoners could enter government service – rise in social status
Patriarchal – but women had some privileges (divorce, property, Queen Hatshepsut)

7. Indus Culture Streets laid out in grid pattern – running water/sewage
Harappan writing not deciphered
Trade with Sumer
Mix with Aryans affect future course of history
State
Unpredictable flooding
Large size
Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro – twin cities
Overtaken by Aryans – already dying out (river change, earthquake, erosion?)
Social Status
Dravidians rather egalitarian
Not patriarchal
Aryans later control the social hierarchy

9. Shang and Zhou Culture State Social Status Isolated by geography
Iron working, oracle bones, ancestor worship
Mandate of Heaven – Dynastic cycle
State
Dynasties
Walled cities
Central authority grows
Social Status
Patriarchal
Ancestor worship
Matrilineal before the Shang

11. Mesoamerica and South America
Culture
Lacked knowledge of the wheel
Olmec/Maya – temples
Cultural diffusion – Maize, terraced pyramids, calendars, ball games
Maya – value of zero, pictographs, astronomy
State
Small city-states
Religious centers
Social Status
Elite class of rulers/priests vs. commoners and slaves

13. Qin Culture Great Wall, Terra Cotta Soldiers Legalism
Silk cloth encouraged, weights and measurements standardized, uniform laws
State
Shi Huangdi – first emperor ends Warring States
Strong central authority
Social Status
Peasants were heavily taxed > they did not like this dynasty!

15. Han Culture Golden Age Reestablished Confucian philosophy
Paper, Calendar, rudder on ships, suspension bridges, acupuncture
Silk road develops to increase trade
State
Government beaucracy grows stronger
Confucian civil service exams
Oversaw iron production
Built canals and irrigation
Social Status
Patriarchal
Filial piety – respect for elders/parents

17. Maurya and Gupta Culture Dominated by Aryan/Dravidian relationship
Trade promoted
Missionaries spread Buddhism - Mauryan
Gupta – Golden Age – Concept of Zero, writings, smallpox vaccine
Hindus
State
Mauryan – Strong Centralized
Chandragupta Maurya – Spies and Secret Police
Ashoka – pillars, edicts
Gupta - Decentralized
Social Status
Order from Caste System

19. Achaemenid Empire Culture Indo-Europeans > Persian Nomadic
Agriculture very important – trade is also important
Monotheists - Zoroastrianism
State
Centralized rule
Darius > Satraps – local governors
Taxes
Standardized coins and laws
Royal Road – communication and trade
Social Status
Free class bulk of society
Cities- artisans, craftsmen, merchants
Countryside - peasants