History of human civilization

Contents
 What is civilization?
 Mesopotamia; cradle of civilization
 Ancient Rome civilization
 Civilization across Indus river
 Most terrifying civilizations of the
world

What is civilization?
 The word "civilization"
comes from the Latin
word. To be "civilized"
essentially meant
being a
townsman, governed
by the constitution
and legal statutes of
that community

Definition of civilization
 Civilization is defined as: highly
organized society marked by
advanced knowledge of
trade, government, arts, science
and often time written language

Features of Civilization
 1.) cities
 2.) well-organized central governments
 3.) complex religion
 4.) job specialization
 5.) social classes
 6.) arts and architecture
 7.) public works
 8.) writing

Mesopotamia:
“The Cradle of
Civilization”

Earliest Civilization

 Mesopotamia is a Greek word that means “between the
 rivers”,
 specifically, the area between the Tigris River and
 Euphrates River (present day Iraq)
 Lasted for approximately 3000 years

Geographic Conditions

 Little rainfall

 Hot and dry climate

 Arid soil containing little minerals

 No stone or timber resources

History of Mesopotamia
 Over the centuries, many different
people lived in this area creating a
collection of independent states
 Sumer- southern part (3500-2000
BCE)
 Akkad- northern part (2340 – 2180
BCE)
 Babylonia- these two regions were
unified (1830-1500 BCE and 650-
500 BCE)

Religion
 Position of King was
enhanced and supported by
religion

gods were worshipped
at huge temples called  Belief that gods lived on the
ziggurats distant mountaintops

Polytheistic religion consisting  Each god had control of
of over 3600 gods and certain things and each city
demigods was ruled by a different god

Prominent Mesopotamian gods  Kings and priests acted as
Enlil (supreme god & god of air)
interpreters as they told the
people what the god wanted
Ishtar (goddess of fertility & life) them to do (ie. by
An (god of heaven) examining the liver or lungs
Enki (god of water & underworld) of a slain sheep)
Shamash (god of sun and giver of
law)

Ziggurats
 Large temples
dedicated to the god of
the city
 Temple on top served
as the god‟s home and
was beautifully
decorated
Ziggurat of Ur -
 Inside was a room for
2000BCE offerings of food and
goods

 Famous ziggurat was
Tower of Babel (over
100m above ground
and 91m base)

States included in
Mesopotamian
civilization

Sumerians
 social, economic and intellectual basis
 Irrigated fields and produced 3 main
crops (barley, dates and sesame seeds)
 built canals, dikes, dams and drainage systems
 develop cuneiform writing
 invented the wheel
 Abundance of food led to steady increase of population
(farm, towns, cities)
 first city of the world
 Developed a trade system with bartering: mainly
barley but also wool and cloth for
stone, metals, timber, copper, pearls and ivory
 Individuals could only rent land from priests (who
controlled land on behalf of gods); most of profits of
trade went to temple

 However, the Sumerians were not successful in uniting
lower Mesopotamia

Akkadians
 Leader: Sargon the Great
 Sargon unified lower Mesopotamia (after conquering
Sumerians in 2331 BCE)
 Established capital at Akkad
 Spread Mesopotamian culture
 However, short-lived dynasty as Akkadians were
conquered by the invading barbarians by 2200 BCE

Babylonians KING HAMMURABI’S BABLYON

 (6th Amorite king) who
conquered Akkad and Assyria
(north and south)
 He build new walls to protect
the city and new canals and
dikes to improve crops
 Economy based on
agriculture and wool / cloth
 individuals could own land
around cities

 Hammurabi’s Legacy: law
code

• Babylonians reunited Mesopotamia
in 1830 BCE

• central location dominated trade
and secured control

• YET AGAIN, Mesopotamia was not
unified for long…

Development of Writing

 Pictograms: picture to show meaning
 Ideograms: signs to represent words /
ideas
 Phonetics: signs to represent sounds

*Phonetics are the basis of most writing
systems

Interesting Facts!
 Mesopotamia, specifically Babylon
used a mathematical system based
on sixty as all their numbers were
expressed as parts of or multiples of
sixty
 Some parts of the „base-sixty‟ system
still remain today: 360 degrees in a
circle, 60 seconds in a minute and 60
minutes in 1 hour

Rules for Women
 During the earliest period, the Sumerian women
enjoyed the greatest social and sexual
freedom, although their strongest and most
respected positions were within the temple, as
priestesses, caretakers.. Such sexual freedom
did not extend throughout the society. Adultery
was punishable by death and a woman's social
"value" was based on the number of her
children.

Legacies of Mesopotamia
Revolutionary innovations emerged in
Mesopotamia such as:
 codified laws
 ziggurats
 Irrigation
 Metal working, tools
 Trade
 transportation
 wheel
 Writing
 mathematics
 prosperous living based on large scale
agriculture

The ancient Roman civilization
developed:

 A written language
 A system of government
 Advances in arts and sciences
 A common culture

Physical Characteristics
Ancient Rome was….

 Next to the Mediterranean Sea
 It covered parts of Europe, Asia
and Africa
 A peninsula
 Rocky and mountainous
 Built on hills
 Next to the Tiber River

Representative Democracy
 Citizens (wealthy men) voted for
representatives to make laws for
them.
 Laws applied to everyone.

We use a representative
democracy in America today!

Adaptations to the Environment

Ancient Romans adapted to their
mountainous land by

1. Growing olives and grapes
2. Having small farms on terraced hillsides
3. Trading on the Mediterranean Sea

Jobs of the Romans

 Farmers

 Road builders

 Traders

Architecture
Romans used
arches
in buildings, bridges and aqueducts.

Aqueducts were
designed to pump water in to
the city. The water was used
for humans and for irrigation.

Road Building
The Romans created a network of
paved highways. This joined the
empire together and allowed
soldiers to move swiftly from one
area to another.

Roman Art
Roman artists created:
Pottery
Jewelry
Tools

Mosaics were a special art form that used
small pieces of tile, glass or stone.

Religion
The Romans began by worshipping
different gods and goddesses (like
the Greeks), but eventually
become Christians.

Ancient Romans also….

 Changed our calendar to 365 days
and named the months

 Gave us 1/3 of our English language

 Used Roman numerals that we still
see today on clocks, watches, and in
books
I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X

The People of Ancient Rome

 Men were citizens
 Women were caretakers
 Boys were educated
 Girls learned handicrafts

Civilization across
Indus river

The Harappan Civilization

3300 BCE - 2400 BCE

Geographical
conditions
 Flat plain formed by two
rivers – the Indus and the
Ganges
 Natural barriers of the
Himalayas and the Hindu
Kush mountains offered
protection (Except Khyber
and Bolan Pass)
 Seasonal winds called
monsoons
 Unpredictable floods, Wet
and Dry Seasons

Mohenjo-Daro
Map

True or False: Mohenjo-Daro had a sophisticated water and sewage
system.

A Male Head, Mohenjo-Daro

Dravidian

Female Skeleton with
Child, Harappa

Harappan Writing

Undecipherable to date.

The
Caste Brahmins

System Kshatriyas
WHO IS…
 The mouth?
 The arms? Vaishyas

 The legs?
 The feet?
Shudras
What is a JATI?

They fought
battles and
came back by
collecting
hundred of
heads. They
bring them
home and
decorate
there houses
with them.

The reason for
all of these
head-chopping
was that the
Celts believed
that the head
held the
soul, and so if
you cut a dead
guy's head off
before all of
that juicy soul
leaked out of it.

The Celts
would
sometimes
paint
themselves
blue and
fight
completely
naked.

The Aztecs
believed that
for every 52
years that
passed, the
world would
end unless the
gods were
strong enough.
And they
believe the best
way to toughen
up a god is with
a constant
human sacrifice

Most of the
sacrificing went
towards keeping
their Sun god
happy, and it took
place on top of giant
pyramid, so at least
the view was
probably pretty
good. Then they hold
a man and take out
his heart (which was
likely still beating).
Then, as if things
couldn't get any
worse, they'd throw
him down the
staircase.

They
were
very
cruel, th
ey don’t
hesitate
to kill a
person.

First they would
bathe the newborn
baby in wine, to
see if it was strong
enough to survive
and after that they
toss all imperfect
babies off the
cliff, letting them
splatter on the
rocks below.

Every single
Spartan male
was a soldier.
Every other job
was done by
slaves. A man
didn't even get a
headstone when
he died, he
didn't deserve it.
The only
Spartans who
got marked
headstones were
the ones who
died in
battle, during
victory. And if
you lost your
shield during
battle, you got
the death
penalty

There was an
occasion
every year
upon which
the young
Spartan men
were
encouraged to
sneak around
and murder as
many slaves
as they
could, without
having to feel
bad about it.

It is
estimated
that the
Mongols--
under
Genghis Khan
and others--
killed 40
million people
With swords.

See this
stadium? That's
100,000 people
there.
Now imagine
400 of those
stadiums, each
full of people.

During an
invasion of
India, a
Mongolian
general built
a pyramid in
front of the
walls of
Delhi out of
human
heads.

History of human civilization

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