Cradle of Civilizations PDF
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This document explores the cradles of civilization; which are the locations where civilizations emerged. It covers the geographic settings, religions, governments, writing systems, spread of culture, and contributions of Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, China, Greece, and Rome. This is a useful resource for those studying ancient civilizations.
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Cradle of Civilization Cradle of Civilizations - is a term referring to locations where, according to current archaeological data, civilizations is understood to have emerged. CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION AND THE ANCIENT NATIONS Geographic Setting Religion Government System of Writin...
Cradle of Civilization Cradle of Civilizations - is a term referring to locations where, according to current archaeological data, civilizations is understood to have emerged. CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION AND THE ANCIENT NATIONS Geographic Setting Religion Government System of Writing Spread of Culture Legacy/Major Contributions Major Events, and etc. CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION AND THE ANCIENT NATIONS (Geographic Setting) MESOPOTAMIA (GEOGRAPHIC SETTING) Known as “the land between two rivers”. The climate of the region is semi-arid with a vast desert in the north. By 6000 BCE, irrigation canals brought water from rivers to the fields. EGYPT (GEOGRAPHIC SETTING) Ancient Egypt was located in Northeastern Africa and had four clear geographic zones: the Delta, the Western Desert, the Eastern Desert, and the Nile Valley. INDUS (GEOGRAPHIC SETTING) located in the north-western region of the Indian subcontinent settled into villages in the mountainous region just west of the Indus River. Ancient India developed along a river valley. CHINA (GEOGRAPHIC SETTING) Ancient China is a country located in east Asia. Ancient China developed in east Asia along the Yangtze River and Yellow River. GREECE (GEOGRAPHIC SETTING) located in the northeastern part of the Mediterranean Sea and occupied the lower part of the Balkans. divided into three distinctive parts: the Peloponnese, Central Greece, and Northern Greece. ROME (GEOGRAPHIC SETTING) Rome began as a small village near the Tiber River on the Italian Peninsula close to the Mediterranean Sea. Covered by Alps and Apennine Mountain ranges. CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION AND THE ANCIENT NATIONS (Religions) MESOPOTAMIA (Religion) Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic. - worshipping several main gods and thousands of minor gods, though it was also henotheistic. The three main gods were Ea , the god of wisdom and magic, Anu , the sky god, and Enlil, the god of earth, storms and agriculture and the controller of fates. EGYPT (Religion) Egyptian religion was polytheistic. - worshipping several main gods and thousands of minor gods, though it was also henotheistic. The major gods were sun-god, Re (Ra), god of dead, Osiris, and It was during the Old Kingdom that kings started added “Son of Re” as one of their royal titles. INDUS (Religion) Religion of the Indus Valley Civilization ("IVC") is a debated topic and remains a matter of speculation. Other interpretations of the remains of the Harappa culture are even more speculative and, if accepted, would indicate that many features of later Hinduism were already in existence 4,000 years ago. CHINA (Religion) Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism are considered the “three pillars” of ancient Chinese society. Confucianism - Confucius, Taoism - Lao Tzu, and Buddhism - Siddhartha Gautama. GREECE (Religion) The ancient Greeks believed in gods who were involved in all aspects of human life—work, theater, justice, politics, marriage, battle. There was no separation of church and state. Ancient Greek religion was a polytheistic religion but different to others. GREECE (Religion) There were twelve principal deities in the Greek pantheon. - Zeus - Aphrodite - Hades - Dionysos - Poseidon - Ares - Hera - Hephaestus - Athena - Apollo - Artemis - Hermes ROME (Religion) The Romans believed in mythological gods, and creatures - Polytheistic. Later on they believed in the idea of a monotheistic religion. - belief in a single god. CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION AND THE ANCIENT NATIONS (Government) MESOPOTAMIA (Government) Kingship Government - political system based upon the undivided sovereignty or rule of a single person. - Enmebaragesi originally Mebarasi was the penultimate king of the first dynasty of Kish and is recorded as having reigned 900 years in the Sumerian King List. EGYPT (Government) Theocratic Monarchy - The king was understood as a representative of a god. - King Menes was the legendary first king of unified Egypt. - The government, then, was a theocratic monarchy in which the king (only known as "pharaoh") INDUS (Government) Theocracy - Governed by powerful Priests-kings. - Just like the Sumer civilization of Mesopotamia and the Egyptian civilization, the government of the Indus Valley was ruled by religion. - The Indus Valley people called their kings, rajas. CHINA (Government) Absolute Monarchy - where the emperor had unquestioned, unregulated, and unchallenged authority. - Qin Shi Huang was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of China. - Throughout Chinese history, "Emperor" was the superlative title held by the monarchs GREECE (Government) The four most common systems of Greek government were: - Democracy - rule by the people (male citizens). - Monarchy - rule by an individual who had inherited his role. - Oligarchy - rule by a select group of individuals. - Tyranny - rule by an individual who had seized power by unconstitutional means. ROME (Government) Democratic - Romulus was Rome’s first king. - Consuls were elected as the chief officials. - “Tribunes of the People” Autocracy - means that the government was made up of a single person. - Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus, also known as Octavian. - Imperial Administration, had a hierarchy of magistrates and provincial governors. - In Rome, the leader was termed as the “emperor”. CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION AND THE ANCIENT NATIONS (System of Writing) MESOPOTAMIA (System of Writing) Cuneiform - a system of writing first developed by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia. - it is logographic. - has 2 functions (phonetically and semantically). EGYPT (System of Writing) Hieroglyphics - a word that literally means “sacred engravings” in Greek. - Hieroglyphs comprise a system of “picture-writing”. - The base set of hieroglyphic signs totals around 750, with variations on them that number into the thousands. Hieratic - cursive form of hieroglyphs. Demotic - this form of writing was used at first primarily for administrative documents, letters, and tax records. INDIA (System of Writing) Indus Script/Harappan Script - a pictographic script developed during the Indus Valley Civilisation. - The writing system is called logosyllabic. - The script is also boustrophedon. CHINA (System of Writing) Jiaguwen/Oracle Bone Script - A pictographic system of writing found on oracle bones. GREECE (System of Writing) Greek Alphabet - The Greeks developed their alphabet from the Phoenicians, taking many letters from their alphabet and adding a few of their own. - Greek alphabet was divided into Ionic (eastern) and Chalcidian (Western) branches. GREECE (System of Writing) - the classical Greek alphabet contains twenty-four letters, seven of which are vowels. Here are the twenty-four letters of the Greek alphabet, in both uppercase and lowercase: Alpha - Α, α Eta - Η, η Nu - Ν, ν Tau - Τ, τ Beta - Β, β Theta - Θ, θ Xi - Ξ, ξ Upsilon - Υ, υ Gamma - Γ, γ Iota - Ι, ι Omicron - Ο, ο Phi - Φ, φ Delta - Δ, δ Kappa - Κ, κ Pi - Π, π Chi - Χ, χ Epsilon - Ε, ε Lambda - Λ, λ Rho - Ρ, ρ Psi - Ψ, ψ Zeta - Ζ, ζ Mu - Μ, μ Sigma - Σ, σ, ς Omega - Ω, ω ROME (System of Writing) Roman Script or Latin Script/Alphabet - Roman people wrote in Latin from an alphabet consisting of 21 letters. - two main types of Latin script, capital letters and cursive. Spread of Culture The Mesopotamians influenced the cultures of Egypt and Greece through long-distance trading and cultural diffusion and, through these cultures, impacted the culture of Rome which set the standard for the development and spread of Western Civilization. Spread of Culture Belief systems that came from outside China were spread mostly via trade and diplomatic exchange, and almost all of them have been assimilated into Chinese culture. There is a mutual influence in China between the development of traditions and beliefs and the advances in technology and production. A people known for their military, political, and social institutions, the ancient Romans conquered vast amounts of land in Europe and northern Africa, built roads and aqueducts, and spread Latin, their language, far and wide. Contributions Mesopotamia Egypt Indus China Greece Rome - script - Mummification - Writing - Paper - Philosophies - Military - first cities - Medicine - Trade making - mathematics - Politics -advanced - Agriculture - Art - Printing - astronomy - Social astronomical -Fermentation - Religion - Gun Powder - medicine Institutions and -Engineering - Compass mathematical -Architecture - Religion knowledge - artistic and literary outputs