Ancient River Valley Civilizations

In time, some military leaders became full-time rulers, or monarchs. These rulers usually passed their power on to their sons, who eventually passed it on to their own heirs. Such a series of rulers from a single family is called a dynasty.

Like many peoples in the Fertile Crescent, the Sumerians believed that many different gods controlled the various forces in nature. The belief in many gods is called polytheism (PAHL•ee•thee•ihz•uhm). Enlil, the god of clouds and air, was among the most powerful gods. Sumerians feared him as “the raging flood that has no rival.”

An empire brings together several peoples, nations, or previously independent states under the control of one ruler.

The pharaoh stood at the center of Egypt’s religion as well as its government and army. This type of government in which the ruler is a divine figure is called a theocracy. Egyptians believed that the pharaoh bore full responsibility for the kingdom’s well-being. It was the pharaoh who caused the sun to rise, the Nile to flood, and the crops to grow. It was the pharaoh’s duty to promote truth and justice.

Egyptians believed that their king ruled even after his death. He had an eternal spirit, or ka (kah), which continued to take part in the governing of Egypt. In the Egyptian’s mind, the ka remained much like a living king in its needs and pleasures. Since kings expected to reign forever, their tombs were even more important than their palaces. For the kings of the Old Kingdom, the resting place after death was an immense structure called a pyramid. The Old Kingdom was the great age of pyramid bu

Egyptians preserved a dead person’s body by mummification—embalming and drying the corpse to prevent it from decaying.

Although hieroglyphics were first written on stone and clay, as in Mesopotamia, the Egyptians soon invented a better writing surface. They used another gift of the Nile, the tall stalks of the papyrus (puh•PY•ruhs) reeds that grew in the marshy delta. The Egyptians split the reeds into narrow strips, dampened them, and then pressed them. As the papyrus dried, the plant’s sap glued the strips together into a paperlike sheet.

A wall of mountains—the Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and Himalaya ranges—separates South Asia from the rest of the continent. As a result, geographers often refer to the land mass that includes what is now India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh as a subcontinent—the Indian subcontinent.

Five Characteristics of a Civilization 1. ADVANCED CITIES: Center of trade for a larger area. 2. SPECIALIZED WORKERS: Food surplus allows people to do work other than farm – ex: artisans (skilled workers) 3. COMPLEX INSTITUTIONS: Formal organizations – ex: early governments, economic systems, religion 4. RECORD KEEPING: Scribes record grain storage, taxes, laws, etc. 5. ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY: Make daily tasks easier – ex: irrigation

Sumerians described their gods as doing many of the same things humans do— falling in love, having children, quarreling, and so on. Yet the Sumerians also believed that their gods were both immortal and all-powerful. Humans were nothing but their servants. At any moment, the mighty anger of the gods might strike, sending a fire, a flood, or an enemy to destroy a city. To keep the gods happy, the Sumerians built impressive ziggurats for them and offered rich sacrifices of animals, food, and wine.

Sumerians invented the wheel, the sail, and the plow; they were the first to use bronze; and they developed the first system of writing, cuneiform. Cuneiform tablets provide evidence of other Mesopotamian innovations. One of the first known maps was made on a clay tablet in about 2300 B.C. Other tablets contain some of the oldest written records of scientific

In 1799, near the delta village of Rosetta, some French soldiers found a polished black stone inscribed with a message in three languages. One version was written in hieroglyphics (top inset). A second version was in a simpler form of hieroglyphics and the third was in Greek (both are shown in the bottom inset).

In earliest Shang times, the Chinese also learned how to make silk cloth by drawing the fine threads from a silkworm’s cocoon and weaving them into a light, beautiful fabric. Nobles prided themselves on their finely embroidered silk shoes, which they regarded as a symbol of civilization.

In Chinese history, Legalism was a philosophy emphasizing strict obedience to the legal system

The Zhou dynasty were famous for their bureaucracies and intricate testing systems for bureaucrats.

Like many peoples in the Fertile Crescent, the Sumerians believed that many different gods controlled the various forces in nature. The belief in many gods is called polytheism (PAHL•ee•thee•ihz•uhm).

Their lives continue to be influenced by the ancient Hindu caste system, which assigns each person a place in the social hierarchy.

Their lives continue to be influenced by the ancient Hindu caste system, which assigns each person a place in the social hierarchy.

To provide water, they dug irrigation ditches that carried river water to their fields and allowed them to produce a surplus of crops.

For most of their history, ancient Egyptians knew only the lower part of the Nile—the last 750 miles before the river empties north into the Mediterranean Sea. Their domain ended at a point where jagged granite cliffs and boulders turn the river into churning rapids called a cataract (KAT•uh•rakt). Riverboats could not pass this spot, known as the First Cataract, to continue upstream to the south.

Feudalism is a political system in which nobles, or lords, are granted the use of lands that legally belong to the king. In return, the nobles owe loyalty and military service to the king and protection to the people who live on their estates. (Similar systems would arise centuries later in both Japan and Europe.)

The Tigris and Euphrates rivers flooded Mesopotamia at least once a year. As the floodwater receded, it left a thick bed of mud called silt. In this rich, new soil, farmers could plant and harvest enormous quantities of wheat and barley. The surpluses from their harvests allowed villages to grow.

Five key characteristics set Sumer apart from earlier human societies: (1) advanced cities, (2) specialized workers, (3) complex institutions, (4) record keeping, and (5) advanced technology.

What is economics? Economics is the scientific study of the ownership, use, and exchange of scarce resources - often shortened to the science of scarcity. Economics is regarded as a social science because it uses scientific methods to build theories that can help explain the behavior of individuals, groups and organizations. Economics attempts to explain economic behavior, which arises when scarce resources are exchanged.