Unit 1: 8000 B.C.E-600 C.EAncient World, Classical Empires, and the Fall of the Classical World

We begin at about 8,000 BCEwhen village life began in the New Stone Age. . . Also known as the

Neolithic Revolution

NEW STONE AGE

A TOTALLY new way of living: From Hunter-Gatherers

to Agriculture

DEVLEOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE• Mesopotamia [Southwest Asia]

(We think, but new evidence is proving contrary!! It may have been CHINA!)

• Around 8000 BCE• Cereal crops

• Wheat• Barley

• Herd animals• Sheep• Goats

Human/Environmental Interaction• Tools and weapons• Social and political organization

• Homes• Broad language groups appeared

System of POSSESSIONS

To meet the needs of agricultural production:• Pottery

• Baskets

• Wool and Linen

• Tools and Weapons

RESULTS OF AGRICULTURE

•Required intensification of group organization

• Neolithic farmers lived in settlements

• Ranged from 150 (Jarmo) to 2000 (Jericho) in population

OUTSIDE CONTACTS:• Neolithic communities WERE in contact

• Walls indicate some were more fearful

• Others were more peaceful, no walls

Jericho

Origins and Spread of Agriculture

What does it mean to be civilized??• 18th Century European Term = Eurocentric Bias

• Civilized vs. primitive• White vs. everyone else

• Historians have determined 6 characteristics of civilization:

• Specialized Workforce (trained workers)

• Complex Institutions (government, religion, etc.)

• Advanced Cities (large population AND trade)

• Advanced Technology (anything that makes work easier = tech)

• Record Keeping System (written OR oral traditions)

• Social Hierarchy (class system)

UNIQUENESS OF CIVILIZATION• Settlement (Civilization) was NOT simply next inevitable step from Neolithic Age

• Many peoples remained at simple food-raising stage for thousands of years (Pastoralists)

• Only FIVE locations developed civilizations entirely on their own

• China• Indus River Valley• Mesopotamia• Egypt• Central America and Peru

Ancient River Valley Civilizations (RVCs)

Early River Valley Civilizations

•Flooding of Tigris and Euphrates unpredictable•No natural barriers•Limited natural resources for making tools or buildings

Environment

Mesopotamia

Egypt

Indus River Valley

China

•Flooding of the Nile predictable•Nile an easy transportation link between Egypt’s villages•Deserts were natural barriers• Indus flooding unpredictable•Monsoon winds•Mountains, deserts were natural barriers•Huang He flooding unpredictable•Mountains, deserts natural barriers•Geographically isolated from other ancient civilizations•Mountains and ocean natural barriers•Warm temperatures and moderate rainfall•Geographically isolated from other ancient civilizations

Mesoamerica & Andes

Mesopotamia – Fertile Crescent

• Sumer – The Earliest of the River Valley Civilizations

• Tigris and Euphrates River Valley

• Modern Day Iran/Iraq

Inventions:• Cuneiform Script

• First know written law code: Hammurabi’s Code - 1792 BC

• Wheel

• Base 60 – using the circle . . . 360 degrees• Time – 60 minutes in an hour, 60 seconds in a

minute

• 12 month lunar calendar

• Brick technology• arch• ramp• ziggurat

EGYPT

Nile River

Sahara Desert

• Nile River Valley• Hieroglyphics• Engineering: Pyramids• Geometry• Advances in medicine and surgery• 1st Monotheist Religion

Indus River Valley2500 BCE – 1500 BCE

• Harappan culture • Well planned cities

• Grid pattern

• Modern plumbing • Built on mud brick platforms

• Protected against seasonal floods• Larger cities

• Houses built of baked brick• Smaller towns

• Houses built of sun-dried mud brick

Aryan Migration – Spread of Hinduism?

pastoral depended on their cattle

warriors horse-drawn chariots

Shang China1600 BC – 1027 BC

• Yellow River Valley• Advanced culture

• Religion• Astronomy• Calendar• Medicine• Bronze, jade, stone, bone and ceramic artifacts

• Less contact with foreigners led to belief in:• Strong sense of identity• Cultural Superiority• Center of earth• Sole source of civilization

Zhou China (sounds like “Joe”)1122 BCE – 256 BCE

• Bronze, jade, silver, gold

• Mandate of Heaven (NOT theocracy!)• Power to rule came from heaven• Power could be removed if ruler was unjust

• Veneration of ancestors (RESPECT, NOT worship)• All must honor family responsibilities

• Period ended with division (Warring States)• Confucianism developed in response to LACK of

organization

Mesoamerica and Andean South America2900 BCE – 1400 BCE

• Mesoamerica• Maize, chili peppers, avocados, beans• Pottery• Stone bowls• Beads• Waddle and daub structures• No draft animals

Mesoamerica and Andean South America2900 BCE – 1400 BCE

• Andes• Textiles technology • Sophisticated government (Socialism)• Religion • Lacked ceramics• Monumental architecture

• Large platform mounds • Sunken circular plazas

Classical Civilizations: 600 BCE- 600 CE The “Golden Era”

Classical China

Qin [Ch’in] Dynasty (221-206 BCE)

1st Verifiable DynastyShi Huangdi (1st Verifiable Emperor)

Legalism• Bureaucratic, centralized

control• Military expansion• Book burnings --> targeted Confucian Scholars

• Buried protestors alive!

Strong, centralized bureaucracy Civil Service Examination System

Extended Great Wall Roads (including Silk Road), canals TRADE Emperor Wu Di (141-87 BCE)

Public schoolsColonized Manchuria,

Korea, & Vietnam

Han Dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE) = EPIC!

Classical India

Mauryan Empire (320 BCE-320 CE)Mauryan Empire (320 BCE-320 CE)

• Chandragupta • Unified northern India after Alexander the Great withdrew• Set up efficient bureaucracy

• Asoka (grandson)• Dedicated life to Buddha• Continued bureaucracy• Hospitals, roads• Law Codes

Gupta Empire (320-647 CE)Gupta Empire (320-647 CE)

Chandra Gupta I

Bureaucracy Allowed local

government in south Patriarchal Hinduism

Caste system continued

Advances Medicine Math (decimal, pi)

Classical Persia

Persian Empire (550 BCE-651 CE)

• Cyrus the Great in 550 BCE• Zoroastrian Monotheism • Religious and Cultural Tolerance• Persian Royal Road System• Darius I

Classical Greece

Early History (3000 BCE-750 BCE)

• Minoans • Crete• Seafaring merchants• Sophisticated civilization

•Hellenes• Merged with native Greeks

•Dark Age Homer

Geographic Influence = TRADE

•Mountains• Independent city-states

• Insufficient farmland• Founded colonies on Mediterranean

coast

•Location• Peninsula in Mediterranean• Exchange of culture/trade

•Deep harbors• Numerous good harbors on its

irregular coastline

City-States

•Athens• Democratic, leading city-state

•Sparta• Aristocratic/military city-state

•Corinth• Trading center

• United by language, culture, and fear of the AWESOME Persian Empire

Alexander the Great (336-323 BCE)

• Taught by Aristotle• Conquered Persian Empire

• Created Hellenistic culture (blended culture)

• Died suddenly at 33

Athenian Contributions

• Theater, poetry and historical writing• Science and math• Architecture and sculpture• Philosophy

• Socrates• Individual

• Plato• Group

• Aristotle• World

Classical Rome

Ancient Rome (1500 BCE-500 BCE)

•1500BC-Latins crossed Alps • Founded Rome • Conquered by Etruscans

•New Romans• Roads, walls, & buildings• Metal weapons

Republic500-27 BCE• Social aristocracy

• Patricians (upper class)• Plebeians (everyone else)

• Senate

• Conquered Mediterranean world• Italian Peninsula and west• Client states

• Spread Greek culture

• Ended with Julius Caesar (aka Dictator for Life)

Empire27 BCE-476 CE• Octavian (Augustus)

• Began Pax Romana

• Spread Greco-Roman civilization• Law, language, historical writing• Trade, industry, science, architecture

• Diocletian• Divided Empire

• Constantine• Reunited empire• Converted to Christianity

Germanic Invasion = Fall of Rome • Germans allowed to settle• Huns pushed more Germans in• 476 CE—last Roman emperor

Trade Routes of the Classical World

Trade Routes of the Classical World

Goods TradedGoods Traded

spices

spices

gold & ivory gold & ivory

rice & wheathorses

cotton goods

cotton goodssilks

Classical MesoamericaGeographically isolated = slower development, but no less capable

Maya (1800 BCE-800 BCE)

• Led by ruler-priests• Only known fully developed written language of time/area

• Art, architecture• Writing, math, astronomy, calendar• Cultural diffusion across Mesoamerica

Chavin (900 BCE-200 BCE)

• Pottery• Metalwork (including gold and silver)• Religion promoted fertility

• Built temples• Used hallucinogens

• Trade

Why civilizations fall??•External Forces

•War•Natural disaster•Disease

• Internal Forces• Overpopulation• Economic

problems• Social disruption• Political struggles

How do civilizations collapse?• Population size and density decrease dramatically

• Society tends to become less politically centralized

• Less investment is made in things such as architecture, art, and literature

• Trade and other economic activities are greatly diminished

• The flow of information among people slows• The ruling elites may change, but usually the working classes tend to remain and provide continuity

Is it possible to prevent collapse?• Every society must:

• answer basic biological needs of its members: food, drink, shelter, and medical care.

• provide for production and distribution of goods and services (perhaps through division of labor, rules concerning property and trade, or ideas about role of work).

• provide for reproduction of new members and consider laws and issues related to reproduction (regulation, marriageable age, number of children, and so on).

• provide for training (education, apprenticeship, passing on of values) of individuals so that they can become functioning adults in society.

• provide for maintenance of internal and external order (laws, courts, police, wars, diplomacy).

• provide meaning and motivation to its members.

What comes next?

The Post-Classical Era (600-1450)