1. Chapter One: The Beginnings of Civilization
Cultures and Values, 6th Ed.
Cunningham and Reich

3. ** Not a value judgment! **
Defining “Civilized”
Urban life: permanent constructions
System of regulatory government
Class distinction (wealth and occupation)
Tools/skills --> production/trade
Written communication
Shared system of religious belief
** Not a value judgment! **

4. Origins of Western Civilization
Paleolithic World View (Old Stone Age)
Art
Religion
Neolithic Civilizations (Late Stone Age)
Domestication of animals
Cultivation of vegetation
Community
War / Weaponry

7. The Bronze Age (3000-1000 B.C.E.) Mesopotamia Egypt Aegean Cultures
Sumerian ( B.C.E.)
Semitic ( B.C.E.)
Egypt
Aegean Cultures

8. Sumerian Culture Agricultural/Urban settlements
“Fertile Crescent”
Writing/record-keeping: Cuneiform
Shared system of religious belief
Civil ruler / Religious rulers

9. Epic of Gilgamesh Gilgamesh ruled at Uruk c. 2700 B.C.E.
Composed in Sumerian (2000 B.C.E.) on cuneiform tablets
Pessimistic work
Asserts universal questions about human existence

10. Semitic Culture Akkadian Period Babylonian Legacy Assyrians
King Sargon and descendants ( B.C.E.)
Focus on HUMAN achievement
Gutian invasion / return to tradition
Babylonian Legacy
King Hammurabi
Assyrians
Culmination of Mesopotamian culture

14. Fall of Mesopotamia Medes Persians Nomadic warriors
Conquered Nineveh in 612 B.C.E.
Conquered and absorbed by Persians
Persians
Conquered by Alexander the Great (330 B.C.E.)

15. Ancient Egypt Manetho’s History of Egyptian Greek
31 dynasties / 4 groups:
Old Kingdom (2700 B.C.E.)
Middle Kingdom (1990 B.C.E.)
New Kingdom (1570 B.C.E.)
Late Period ( B.C.E.)

16. Ancient Egyptian Culture
Unified and consistent
Resistant to change
Worldview affected by external events

17. Political Structure Pharaoh Priests Head of the central government
Regarded as a living god
Exercised absolute power
Ordered and controlled visible world
Priests
Preservation of religious beliefs
Divine kingship of Pharaohs

18. Egyptian Religion Obsession with immortality / life after death
Book of the Dead
Osiris, Isis, Horus
Deities, subdeities, nature spirits
Responsible for all aspects of existence

19. Egyptian Art
Principal function of artists: to produce images of deities
Form of worship
Standards set forth by Pharaoh
Artists also provided temples and shrines for honoring deities

20. The Old Kingdom Imhotep Pyramids Mummification
First architect known to history
Pyramids
Funerary monuments for pharaohs, upper class
Mummification
Preservation of the body was necessary for the survival of the soul

21. Great Age of the Pyramid
Pyramids at Giza (Dynasty IV)
Cheops
Chefren
Mycerinus
Who built the pyramids?
Farmers
Slaves

22. Pyramids Constructed of limestone blocks
Quarried, ferried, cut, dragged into place
Center chamber contained mummified body of pharaoh surrounded by treasures
Plundered by robbers

23. Chefren’s Sphinx Created as the guardian for Chefren’s tomb at Giza
Adopted as a divine symbol of the mysterious and enigmatic (Greeks)

25. Art of the Old Kingdom Reflects confidence and certainty
Idealized realism
Conceptual, symbolic

26. Art of the Middle Kingdom
Loss of trust in divine providence
Artists attempted to recapture lofty serenity of Old Kingdom
Troubled spirit captured in weight and somber expressions

27. The New Kingdom Artistic traditions continued
Conceptual
Pharaoh Amenhotep IV/ “Akhenaton”
Massive religious/political reform
Tel el-Amarna Art
Tutankhamen
Howard Carter ( )

32. The Late Period Artists revisited earlier period styles
Recapture realism, volume
Return to pyramid-shaped tombs
Egypt invaded by Nubians (the Cush) B.C.E.
Nubians and Nobatae preserved ancient culture

33. Aegean Culture Crete Cyclades Islands King Minos / Knossos
Bronze tools
Imaginative/humorous pottery
Marble statues/idols

35. The Bronze Age in Crete Arthur Evans, 1894-1900 Early Minoan
Increasing growth
Contacts with Egypt and Mesopotamia
Scattered Towns

36. Middle Minoan Evolution of large urban centers
Art = lively and colorful
Little interest in monumental art
Writing system of hieroglyphic signs

37. [Image 1.22] Palace of Minos at Knossos

38. [Image 1.25] Wasp Pendant

39. [Image 1.27] Snake Goddess

40. Late Minoan Period of rebuilding after earthquakes
High point of Minoan culture
Wall paintings
Religion centered upon mother goddess connected with fertility

41. [Image 1.28] Funerary Mask

42. Mycenaean Culture Heinrich Schliemann, 1870-1873
The Trojan War (1250 B.C.E.)
Strongly influenced by Minoan Culture
Art = preoccupied with death and war
Fall of the Mycenaean empire (1200 B.C.E.)

43. Chapter 1: Discussion Questions
What can be determined about the roles of women in early civilizations based on their artistic depictions? Explain, citing examples from each culture.
Based on the universal questions evoked in the Epic of Gilgamesh, what can we assume about the Sumerian people and their lifestyles? In what ways are their concerns shared by people of our culture and generation? Explain.
What role did geography play in the development and preservation of Ancient Egyptian culture? In what fundamental ways was Egyptian culture different from the Mesopotamian and Aegean cultures?
Discuss the role of the archeologist. What impact do the discoveries of ancient cultures have on us today? Explain.