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Unit I : Defining Civilizations, Historiography, Urban Revolution And Bronze Age, Debating Metal Technology

UNIT II : Bronze Age Civilizations: India And China (Shang Dynasty )

UNIT III : Bronze Age Civilizations- Mesopotamia (Sumerian And Akkadian Period)/Egypt (Old Kingdom)
Ecological Context, Kingship And State, Social Pattern And Economy. Art, Religion And Culture

Unit Iv : Ancient Greece: Minoan And Mycenaean

• The word Mesopotamia has been derived from a combination of Greek words Mesos,
meaning middle, and potamos, meaning rivers.

• Thus, meaning land between two rivers i.e. Euphrates and Tigris, roughly covering
modern day Iraq and parts of Syria.

• According to the archaeological findings, the transition from Neolithic to the Bronze age
first took place in the region of Mesopotamia, which also produced the earliest
civilization, the Sumerian Civilization
Geography
• Due to different ecological conditions, Mesopotamia has been divided into two distinct
geographical regions—north and south.

• The north part of Mesopotamia consists of the areas between Zagros mountains and
middle Tigris, known as Assyria.

• While the southern part consists of two regions—Akkad and Sumeria, that is the southern
most part of Mesopotamia.

• Northern Mesopotamia had plenty of rainfall which could support cultivation in both
summer and winter.

• Southern Mesopotamia, comparatively was an arid zone with less rainfall but constituted
the alluvial flood plains of the two rivers (Tigris and Euphrates) and was therefore highly
fertile.
Al Ubaid
Culture
• This culture represents the first attempt by the people of the region to exploit the resources
of the region and adapt to the harsh environment.

• There were small fishing settlements in the beginning, but soon after this agricultural life
began.

• Wheat and barley were grown, goat and sheep were reared, fish was procured from the
Euphrates and Tigris and was an important source of food.

• Archaeological evidences suggest that people of this culture lived in rectangular houses
which had many rooms.

• People used bricks in the construction of houses and these bricks were sun-dried and not
baked.
Uruk Culture
• The population increased and many more villages came up during the Uruk Culture. Uruk
was the name given to a large Sumerian Settlement situated near Euphrates.

• This culture yielded the earliest evidence we have of the use of the wheel, plough and
writing. With the Uruk Culture we move from prehistory to protohistory.

• Uruk culture represents the final stage of advancement towards Sumerian Civilization, as
some important characteristics of civilization (as given by V. Gordon Childe) such as cities,
social hierarchy, writing, craft specialization, monumental public work, trade etc, have
been evident from the findings
• Uruk culture gives us evidences of the first wheel-turned pottery.

• From the slow turning wheel, a fast potter’s wheel was developed to produce potteries
which were more useful.

• In agriculture, plough was the revolutionary tool which made cultivation easier.

• Another major development in the regions belonging to the Uruk Culture was beginning of
writing.

• It has been suggested that since the economic advancement was taking place, it had
necessitated some form of recording,
• Clay tablets were used for the purpose of writing. Impressions were made on these tablets
with a hard stylus kind of pointed object. These tablets were perhaps dried in the sun or
baked in the oven.

• This was done to give permanent shape to the document. The tablets contained pictures
of objects such as fish, barley, sheep, goat, etc.

• these were used to depict units of measurement, the product measured, names of temple
officials and other relevant information which was economic in nature.

• The writing was mainly related to temple accounts and ration lists.
Jamdat Nasr
Culture
• Jamdat Nasr means ‘a small mound of Nasr’.

• It was situated in Akkad in Southern Mesopotamia.

• The time duration of this culture (3200 – 3000 BCE) was small yet very significant for
development in the field of technology, writing and Urban Growth.

• The Jamdat Nasr Culture is known for its painted pottery displaying geometric patterns
along with some animal figures.

• The pottery came to consist of large jars, bowls and cups. Besides this, copper objects have
also been discovered at the sites.
• A large number of seals, both cylindrical and stamp seals have been found. Most of these
seals depict humans and animals.

• This culture is evident of improved irrigation facilities, increasing trade, more craft
specialization.

• this period saw transition of most of the villages to urban centres and gradually
transforming into big cities.
Civilization In
Mesopotamia
State Organization
temples assumed the role of such an authority being at the centre of the society.

Temples also took up the responsibility of appropriating and redistributing the surplus.

It is for this reason, the state in Mesopotamia has been addressed as ‘Temple-State’.

Based on archaeological documentation and Sumerian written texts, the political history of
Mesopotamia has been divided into Early Dynastic period (3000-2350 BCE), Akkadian
Dynasty (2350-2150 BCE), and the Third Dynasty of Ur (2150-2000 BCE).

Evidences suggest the Sumerian states were ruled by chiefs and kings, who also performed the
role of priests.
Writing
• Mesopotamia was the earliest civilization in the world to develop writing.

• Writing had originated in the Uruk culture in the form of pictographic script.

• With the available written records, a detailed ‘List of Kings’ could be obtained.

• These lists are useful in working out the chronology of political events.
Temple And Religion
• Information about Mesopotamian religion is obtained from clay tablets in cuneiform script
along with artefacts recovered from archaeological findings.

• On the basis of available literary and archaeological sources, scholars have claimed that
Mesopotamian religion was the world’s oldest religion.

• The Sumerian cities had their own respective Gods and Goddesses.

• The main deity of the city had a big temple (ziggurat) dedicated to it. For example, a big
temple was dedicated to god Anu at Uruk.

• Some female goddess cult was also present in the region. The most popular female
goddess was Inanna (goddess of fertility).
Trade
• The literary sources inform that centralized agencies organized the exchange
of grain, fishes, and animals.

• Besides this, there were separate administrative officers appointed to look after the canals
for transportation of goods

• long-distance trade

• Sumerians traded with far off regions such as Iran, Syria, Anatolia, and India. Initially this
role of organizing trade was played by the temples, but later taken over by the state.
Society
• The wealth generated in the hands of the elite, along with religious and secular authority,
created conditions for the growth of social differentiation.

• There was inequitable distribution of resources, with larger share reserved for the King,
priests, and warriors.

• It is because of this reason that some scholars have pointed towards class differentiation in
the bronze age society of Mesopotamia.
 Egyptian
Civilization
• The fertile lands of the Nile helped in the origin and growth of the Egyptian Civilization.

• Herodotus has termed Egypt as ‘the gift of Nile’. However, the Nile civilization was not
the first civilization of Egypt.

• Settlements and human movements were recorded much before the rise of the Egyptian
civilization.

• A very significant part of Egypt is a dry and arid region with very little rainfall

• Egypt was also surrounded Arabian Desert in the east and the Libyan desert that merged
with the Sahara Desert in the west.

• However, the region had rich deposits of metals (like gold and copper), precious
stones(turquoise, cornelian and jasper) and minerals.
• For the Egyptian civilization, river Nile was the
basic life-line.

• It originated from region near east of Africa,

flows through a valley from north to south and
drains out in the Mediterranea sea.
• The features of civilization and urban revolution began to appear in Egypt later than in
Mesopotamia.

• But still, the transition from the neolithic age to bronze age civilization occurred faster in
Egypt and by abound 5000 years ago the entire region had been unified politically.

• Scholars divide Egyptian history into three major periods:

• the Old Kingdom,
• Middle Kingdom,
• and New Kingdom.
Egypt’s history begins around 3100 b.c., when King Menes (MEE•NEEZ) united Upper and
Lower Egypt into a single kingdom and created the first royal dynasty.

A dynasty is a family of rulers whose right to rule is passed on within the family.

From then on, the Egyptian ruler would be called “King of Upper and Lower
The Old
Kingdom
• The Old Kingdom, which lasted from around 2700 b.c. to 2200 b.c., was an age of prosperity
and splendor.

• Like the kings of the Sumerian city-states, the monarchs of the Old Kingdom were powerful
rulers over a unified state.

• Among the various titles of Egyptian monarchs, that of pharaoh— originally meaning
“great house” or “palace”—eventually became the most common.

• Egyptian pharaohs possessed absolute power

• At first, members of the pharaoh’s family provided this help.

• During the Old Kingdom, however, a government bureaucracy—an administrative

organization with officials and regular procedures—developed
• Egypt was divided into 42 provinces,
which were run by governors
appointed by the pharaoh.

• An example of the splendor of the

Old Kingdom—and one of the great
achievements of Egyptian
civilization—is the building of
pyramids.

• Pyramids were built as part of a

larger complex of buildings dedicated
to the dead—in effect, a city of the
dead.
To preserve the physical body after
death, the Egyptians practiced
mummification, a process of slowly
drying a dead body to prevent it from
rotting.
• Pyramids were tombs for the
mummified bodies of pharaohs.

• The largest and most

magnificent of all the pyramids
was built under King Khufu
(KOO•FOO).

• Constructed at Giza around

2540 b.c., the famous Great
Pyramid of King Khufu
 Writing
• The earliest system of writing has been
termed as ‘Hieroglyphs’ or ‘Sacred Carving’
• by the Greeks who ruled over Egypt in
332 BCE.

• Hieroglyphs were a combination of

pictographs and phonetic signs. These have
been found engraved on stone, carved on
temple walls and tombs.
Religion And Society
• Religion In Egypt Also Revolved Around The Forces Of Nature.

• Plants, Animals, Sun, Sky, Water Were Personified As Divinities

• Authoritarian Character Of Kingship As The King Was Simultaneously Identified With The
Supreme God.

• The Belief In Life After Death Had Become Popular Therefore Elaborate Funereally Rituals
• Were Performed In Order To Preserve The Mortal Remains Of The Dead.

• In The Dynastic Period There Was A Decline In The Importance Of Female Deities And
Mother Goddess Worship. Female Deities Either Disappeared Or Were Subordinated To
The Male Gods

• Patriarchal Society
Monumental Public Works
Archaeologists have found several tombs bearing the names of the rulers of the first
dynasty. One of the important tombs was that at Saqqara.

During the third dynasty royal tombs in the form of pyramids came into existence

Djoser was the first ruler who constructed the earliest pyramid at Saqqara.
Economy
• People lived in houses made of mud brick and plaster. Since these houses were of
different sizes, social differentiation is marked. Perhaps traders and artisans were the
most important class as the lived in bigger houses.

• In the Old Kingdom, land taxation appears to be the most important source of revenue.
Mining and quarrying projects also delivered mineral wealth to the central government.

• Contemporary evidence shows that the state took part actively in the mining activities of
ancient Egypt.

• The barter system was widely used as the medium of exchange.

• The Egyptians grew staple food grains like the wheat and barley and commercial crops
like flax and papyrus.