About 5,000 years ago something profound

happened…

Civilization

Where were these ancient civilizations?

• Most are in river valleys• Location near the equator

What is Civilization?

Civilizations have these five components:1. Advanced Cities2. Specialized Workers3. Complex Institutions4. Record Keeping5. Advanced

Technology

Advanced Cities Monuments Irrigation Walls

Specialized Workers & Complex Institutions

Specialized Workers Bureaucrats Soldiers Priests Merchants

Complex Institution Government Armies Religion Trade

Complex Institutions - Religion

Animism – belief that forces of nature are inhabited by spirits.

Myths – stories to explain the working of the world. – Need to keep in mind that they didn’t

view them as stories, but as facts. Polytheism – Religion with multiple

deities. Monotheism – Religion with one

deity.

Record Keeping - Writing Pictograph –

symbols using pictures

Cuneiform – wedge shaped symbols

Hieroglyph – combination of ideograms (represent things) and phonograms (represent sounds).

Record Keeping - Writing

Benefits Bureaucracy Trade Communication Preservation of

Knowledge

Keep in mind that VERY few people could read or write.

Advanced Technology Bronze

– 3,000 to 1,200 BCE– Combination of

copper and tin.

Wheel Sailboat Calendar Plow

Disadvantages of Civilization

Writing laws formalized the inequality between men and women.

Trade increased divisions in social structure.

More people, new technology and government allowed the creation of armies.

The Development of Civilization...

Belief Systems Rulers Culture Laws

Our goal for the first semester is to trace the early paths of “civilized” humans

These are the early sources of “western civilization.”

Mesopotamia Egypt

Greece Rome

Mesopotamia and Egypt paved the way for:

The United States is a product of western civilization.We can trace our religion, laws, and political ideas to these cultures. Also known as Greco-Roman.

The fall of Rome led to…

The Middle Ages

Here we’ll look at Judeo-Christian and Islamic Culture.

India China

Finally, eastern civilizationswill also be studied: